Strange gaming rituals you have

[wakka]

I always thought the sound test was from the arcade days, to literally do what it says and test the sounds to make sure none of the chips have gone bad.

Anyway, options, invert, video, graphics and audio settings and look at the other control options before I actually play.

I googled it and it seems both you and Yakumo are right. It has its origins in testing for arcade game boards and, since it could not have this purpose on a home cart, we are left to assume it was basically always intended as a kind of jukebox there.

[hudson]

Did you know Altered Beast's Mega drive sound test was hidden behind a cheat code you input on the title screen?

Hold A + C + Up/Right and then press Start