The Sega Mega CD

[ShadowDancer]

Even I want snatcher, I've heard this mentioned here many times...

[speedlolita]

Naturally, Kojima made it after all.

[Escape-To-88]

Keio Flying Squadon is ace
The Japanese Mega-Cd version Final Fight is one of my favourite games of all-time. The Time Attack is a barrel of fun and the music is awesome.

[Nu-Eclipse]

I had a PAL copy of Snatcher BITD.

Got it for peanuts and sold it for peanuts. STILL haunted by that absolute clusterfeck of a decision.

[nakamura]

the xbox RGB output is truly gash. However up the resolution and it does really shine via component. Whack in a scanline generator (if you want a more CRT look) and bobs your auntie

It's too filtered. Too much flicker reduction.

[dvdx2]

It's too filtered. Too much flicker reduction.

You can turn that off with a certain dash, but its still gash

[samanosuke]

I love the Mega CD; it's a real guilty pleasure of mine. I know I'll get flamed for saying this but I even prefer it to the PCE CD. Maybe it's because it looks so damn sexy in its battleship guise, maybe it's because it does add significantly to the base MD hardware (even if underused), and maybe it's simply just a case of nostalgia, but I do love a lot of its library.

Whether it be mediocre MD ports with added CD music, turd like Cobra Command, or the glut of so-so PC ports such as Dune and Wing Commander, I love all of it. If you truly dig then there are some real gems to unearth such as Keio, Popful Mail, Shining Force CD, the Lunar games and of course Snatcher. There are some good/great arcade conversions in there too such as Final Fight and Night Striker. Then of course you have the kind of games that could not have been done on cart due to their size/FMV/complexity such as Silpheed, Jurassic Park, Soul Star and Sonic CD.

Yeah, sure, most will turn their noses up at most of these titles or play them on another console/PC/whatever, but for those who take the time to explore the MCD's library there is a lot to like besides all the FMV guff and MD ports.

One thing I would say is get a Mega Cart to play imports with. It also has a feature to back up the MCD's woefully inadequate internal save memory and also lets you flash MD ROMs to the cart which is a great way to play homebrew on your MD.

[Cepp]

How do PAL games react when switched to NTSC samanosuke? Specifically Snatcher if you have it/have tried it?

[samanosuke]

How do PAL games react when switched to NTSC samanosuke? Specifically Snatcher if you have it/have tried it?

Many run fine at 60Hz, even FMV scenes. The only one I've had issue with is Microcosm whereby the audio/video has sync/choppiness issues. I can imagine any games that have animated scenes over Redbook audio will have sync issues too.

I have PAL Snatcher and can verify that it plays fine at 60Hz. Admittedly my PAL library is pretty small compared to Jpn/US titles so I may just have got lucky, but it does seem that by and large they play okay. I think most problems arise when imports are slowed down to 50Hz but I have not used this configuration as I have a Jpn MD with PAL MCD via Mega Cart.

[Cepp]

Cheers I was trying to confirm it for myself earlier on using Fusion but could only find ancient cue/mp3 rips of the PAL release and they all had audio sync issues when playing in PAL let alone NTSC. It was consistent on both settings though so I thought/hoped it might be OK.

[Yakumo]

A title that nobody seems to mention on the Mega CD is Cyborg 009. It's a pretty cool platform run and gun. May not look that great in places but it's fun to play.

[Team Andromeda]

I love the Mega CD; it's a real guilty pleasure of mine. I know I'll get flamed for saying this but I even prefer it to the PCE CD. Maybe it's because it looks so damn sexy in its battleship guise, maybe it's because it does add significantly to the base MD hardware (even if underused), and maybe it's simply just a case of nostalgia, but I do love a lot of its library.

Whether it be mediocre MD ports with added CD music, turd like Cobra Command, or the glut of so-so PC ports such as Dune and Wing Commander, I love all of it. If you truly dig then there are some real gems to unearth such as Keio, Popful Mail, Shining Force CD, the Lunar games and of course Snatcher. There are some good/great arcade conversions in there too such as Final Fight and Night Striker. Then of course you have the kind of games that could not have been done on cart due to their size/FMV/complexity such as Silpheed, Jurassic Park, Soul Star and Sonic CD.

Couldn't agree more , though I don't quite get the love for Shinning Force on the Mega CD . And while everyone goes on about Snacther ... I'll say Rise of the Dragon is far better game (really feels more grown up) and can be got for a fraction of the price .

I also don't get the lack of respect for Batman Returns - It plays and looks like a classic SEGA Yu Suzuki Arcade racer (right down to the tight time limits for check points) Plus it looks and sounds incredible for a 16 bit title

And I also love Switch - One of my fav games of all time; Pure Japanese madness

[Nu-Eclipse]

I don't think that people go on about Snatcher, or at least those who have played/completed it don't.

It's just the Kojima-san connection that gives Snatcher its enduring popularity imo - that and the massive overpricing of MCD/Sega CD copies of the game nowadays. Actual content and/or game-wise, there really isn't much to see in Snatcher other than a storyline that resembles a very poor mash-up of Dune, The Terminator and Blade Runner. It can be finished in less than a day.

P4P, I personally consider the spiritual sequel Policenauts (Lethal Weapon in Space! ) to be a better game than Snatcher.

[Yakumo]

Batman Returns is crap. Sure, nice graphics, bla, bla, bla but as a racing game it's awful and very messy.

[S3M]

though I don't quite get the love for Shinning Force on the Mega CD

That be fighting talk on any other day, that said as it's only a quick update of two of the Game Gear games, I can see why people would prefer Shining Force 1 & 2. Shining Force III blows them all out of the water but that is a different console generation.

The driving sections in Batman Returns are ace, but you have to turn off the awful platform sections. Are there no decent HD video of the racing section from Batman Returns, otherwise I might knock one up.