have some questions to you SMS fellows 1. which japanese games never hit the japanese market (e.g. Dragons trap, aleste 2..) 2. why exactly didn't they hit the JPN market (those two above where some of the greates releases on the system, can't see any reasons of not releasing them in their own home country??). 3. where can i get some infos concerning that "back-port gender-changer" to run those mentioned games on a JPN SMS in full FM etc. 4. when (and on which sega platform) was the first game released, which still is downward-compatible with the latest SMS/MkIII hardware? 5. except of the built-in 3D-glasses device and bios v2.1, where there other differences between the SMS and MkIII? (e.g. built in games etc?) 6. i'm very right that in the SMS v2.1 never was any additional soft built-in? (eg. snail maze ..). 7. was there even a Bios with built-in soft? thanks a lot, tatsu
1) I think there are tons of them,but you'd have to check every SMS game to see if they're japanese to you or not (team who made it,developer,publisher,what counts?) 2) Well,last game produced was bomber Raid in 1989,so it died early compared to Europe..probably because Megadrive came out in 1988,and Sega Japan decided to promote and go only for MD,otherwise i don't see why ( SMS games came out up to 1994 in Europe,even later in Brazil) 3) Ask Omar/Zoop on smspower.org..he created it.
I guess that has to be "Borderline" for the SG-1000 / SC-3000 in ~August 1983 shortly after the Famicoms release. All the early Sega Cards/Carts are playable on the Mark III and if I'm informed correctly even on the SMS, too.
This is undoubtedly the best place for all these questions. To answer 6/7, MKIII has Snail Maze, SMS2 has either Sonic or Alex Kidd built in. I'm not aware/can't remember any others, but again: smspower.org will know the answers to all, and they're a very friendly bunch.
2. I assume SEGA of Japan admitted defeat in the 8-bit war, and tried with full force to kickstart the 16-bit war. The Japanese SMS pretty much was completely killed off when the Megadrive made its debut. Imagine the ignominy felt by all those 8-bit Japanese programmers who had to program games they'd never see released in their home country. 3. Bock still has some gender-changers (I'm sure) to sell, I have an extra one, and I'm sure Game Hollywood still sells them. Sorry to Bock, though, for the sake of complete information, Tototek also sells a SMS-to-Mk III adaptor that works as well, if not better: http://www.tototek.com/pio/main1/SUBMENU/PARTS/LINKS/OS/sms2m3.htm 5. The Japanese SMS also has rapid-fire built-in, whose activation button is where the reset button would be on export SMSes. Hold the rapid-fire button, press the button that you want rapid fire on, then release. Repeat to cancel rapid-fire. 7. The only built-in software in the BIOS is the simple Space Harrier-type screen that scrolls and plays PSG+FM music.
lol@#5. yeah, i figured that out, and how inconvenient. who the hell came on such a strange idea:lol: i use the MD blaster pad. perfect for any SMS games & rapid. very nice on #1. sounds very plausible:icon_bigg the PSG-FM is one of the nicest i've ever heard on an 8-bitter. unfortunately the SH game doesn't come with this nice version. @ave: thanks @willy: also thanks. was that so? thought the MkIII also had the FM built in. but cool to know. @alchy: was only asking for the japanese SMS not oversea SMS & SMS2 or MkIII. but thx anyway loved that snail maze. was that released on a card in japan separately, maybe? @adol: yeah..i'm only interessted in japanese software which didn't made it into the japanese market, as for the reason chris explained above. thinkl, daimakaimura /ghouls'n ghosts was one as well (i'm mean i'm sure it didn't made it on the JPN market, but i'm not sure if it also was programmed by the japanese).
Some games had FM sound built in, but to activate it you had to buy the FM Sound unit which made the MarkIII look (even more) like a space ship: I've got a question too, is it possible to connect a Telecon to the jpn Master System?
ah cool ave. of course i'm aware oft the FM games, but i didn't know about the FM unit add on yet. cool stuff. i have also an add. question. could you play FM tunes via the SMS to MD adaptor?
Mh you might ask cit about this. I think to remember he once mentioned that he would enjoy FM sound Mk3 games by using the Mega Adaptor.
No MD adapters have the FM chip built in (yet). Also the MD cartridge slot doesn't have audio input, so the MD output would have to pass through the adapter.
As of now, yes if you don't count emulators or mods. Someday a MD adapter may be released but it's becoming increasingly difficult to buy old FM chips so it may be more reasonable to expect a full SMS clone with FM sound in the future.
thx just made a frowsy yu0tube vid of some lil'bit R-Type..lol. http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=UtE3Be0c1no
I was playing R-Type on my japanese Master System the other day. man, that game is still rock solid if you loose all of your power-ups. Yakumo
Check out this thread over at SMSPower.org; there are other ways to get FM sound on (Western) SMSes: http://www.smspower.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=10841 Hell, we're basically telling you to check out SMSPower, as these questions have been asked and answered several times over, by the experts over there. :-|
