Before Polygons : Sega's Legacy of 3D

I take a look back at the pseudo 3D games Sega made in the 70's, 80's and 90's, before mainstream polygon technology took over. Many of these games are often overlooked, especially the stuff at the very beginning.
Fonz game footage courtesy of andys-arcade.com
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Episode Notes:
1. Most of this stuff is playable on MAME now. Only the Fonz games and the old electro-mechanical stuff are not. In fact, MAME is the only way to play some of it, because Sega never brought them home in any real form.

[@JeffreyOsb]

I know that it's just nostalgia and the mind of a child but arcades were such a magical place as a little child. I really wish I could have that exploration back, where I walk in and see all kinds of games I've never seen before, carefully planning where to spend my quarters and begging for more when I ran out.

[@davealaya]

Galloping Ghost, just outside Chicago. You must go there.

[@philwalkercounselling]

Yes was amazing. Great memories.

[@Boogie_the_cat]

As a poor child arcades were a magical place where I could spend one quarter and then I had to leave. No iffs ands or buts. Begging gets you nowhere when your mom works 3 jobs to pay rent. The end.

[@nigelhighlands3131]

As someone who grew up after the peak of arcades, I often look at the history of consoles when it comes to graphical upgrades. This video absolutely blew my mind and opened my eyes to how advanced arcade games were at the time, and how revolutionary Sega truly was when it came to pushing gaming forward. I don't think I fully understood their genius until this video, and this is coming from someone who has owned a Dreamcast and a Genesis. Thank you for this great work.

[@TheColdest247]

Man as a gamer, I just didn't realize how many gems Sega released in the arcade. Keep up the good work man..

[@nimaiiikun]

The final 2D scaling games certainly looked a lot better than the early 3D games!

[@notyetskeletal4809]

Reminds me of Mortal Kombat 4. Looked like shiet and still does compared with 3

[@danielcarroll7730]

If only 2D would of had 15 more years....the industry switched to 3d at a time when you wonder what coulda been.

[@Justforvisit]

@@danielcarroll7730 Well, at least since 2008 or so developers realized that 2D is still a beautiful artstyle and we are granted with many modern retro looking classics nowadays just with modern tech behind it.

[@MrSEA-ok2ll]

Space Harrier, to this day, simply has me completely hooked. Since I first stumbled upon it in the arcades, it has been one of my favorite arcade titles of all time.

[@robertdaone]

Its awesome on the Sega Ages cd that came with the Sega Saturn. Came with Outrun, Afterburner and Space harrier all on one disk and was a carbon copy of the arcade.

[@ErwinSchrodinger64]

It should also be noted that Sega's hardware was so advanced, like the Y-board (technically a 16 bit system), it took over 10 years before home consoles could play perfect ports like Galaxy Force for the PS2. Sega's hardware may have been 16-bit but it took 32bit/64bit systems to be finally able to handle the output of that 16-bit hardware (3CPU's (running at their max-speed), two large mother boards with a graphical co-processors, math processors; the other mother board with it's own CPU's, Zilog Z-80 running the sound processing) . No home computer, even the Amiga, couldn't even come remotly close to the Y-boards sprite scaling, rotation, color output, and all the while pumping out incredible music. I've always been a Sega Fanboy. My respect for Sega came from the arcades. They were simply the most advanced game developer out there.

[@paulclinton6414]

Sega arcade was looking at the future.

[@SerBallister]

Home computers had hardware to cover the massive spectrum of home computing. Any purpose built arcade game is going to easily kick the ass of a generic home computer from the same era. Not to mention these arcades had thousands of dollars of hardware in them.

[@mmremugamesmm]

That’s how it used to be, pc kicks all ass now

[@portnawak]

and 28 years waiting to see those billboards in glorious stereoscopic with the 3ds.

[@alexojideagu]

Motorola 68000 processors used in Sega arcades and most Arcades were half 32 bit. Including the Megadrive.

[@SithDarthGendo]

There's a unique charm to these pseudo3D sprite scaler games

[@MattHalpain]

I wish a variety of games where made with pseudo 3D today like Sega has done in this video in the past when this style of tech was cutting edge. I am in my mid 40's and I love this type graphics in this video as it is so appealing to me as I grew up on these types of graphics.

[@GraveUypo]

holy shit those scaler games after outrun look absolute gorgeous.

[@zucchiniboi6306]

Somehow these old sprite scaling games give a much better sense of speed than modern racing games

[@lordterra1377]

In person most definitely because of the CRT monitors used then. Smoother frame/ refresh rate and better color depth.

[@BIGGIEDEVIL]

@@lordterra1377 you're right it's much better on crt the way it is supposed to be played

[@rizzo-films]

ZucchiniBoi You're right, for the most part, but not to say that it's superior to true 3D. It's because sprite scaling is throwing hundreds to thousands of small, flat plains, facing you directly right at you. Moving fast down a hallway in a forward-scrolling, sprite scaled game is like someone shooting thousands of objects at you at once, instead of true 3D which would just be running down a hallway and pretty ordinary. And do all that in at least 60fps and it's mesmerizing. Of course true 3D can have a similar effect, but not necessarily in a fast-paced CoD Warzone firefight, more in any bullet hell game or something like NieR Automata where, again, thousands of sprites (and 3D objects) are flying at you quickly and hopefully at a high frame-rate.

[@rexclark1155]

you all prolly dont care at all but does anybody know of a method to get back into an instagram account?? I stupidly forgot the login password. I appreciate any tricks you can give me!

[@ahmedluke9834]

@Rex Clark Instablaster :)

[@Ricksta66]

Back when Arcades were amazing places of fun and entertainment, cool video 👍

[@crestofhonor2349]

Some of these sprite based games look much better than many of the 5th gen games in my opinion

[@mikesanchez7358]

Isn't it crazy how much more challenging retro games were than some of the newer ones?

[@tuberoyful]

Yes conceptually and functionally, in contrast with design.

[@prateekpanwar646]

They focused more on great games and less on technical specifications

[@mikesanchez7358]

@@prateekpanwar646 oh the good old.days.

[@PsychomachineryEBM]

That's why old school is the real and only one golden age of gaming

[@Nexus9_KD6-4.8]

Some of these super scaler games look absolutely incredible. I grew up with the NES and then later the Genesis and never went to arcades so I didn't even know about Sega's super scaler arcade games until later in life. Seeing these games now I'm just totally blown away. We need more home ports of these super scaler games.

[@low_e_music]

The arcade super scalar games still impress me to this day. There is just something magical about them.

[@smakx7049]

These retro gaming history docus are awesome, and you do a great job producing them. Another excellent video, excellent channel - well done and thank you.

[@J.Crooner]

AGREED, THAT'S AN AFFIRMATIVE👍😎

[@DisgruntledPigumon]

Except for the strange pronunciation and grammar mistakes...

[@Ch1n4m4nn]

This sums it up perfect!

[@jamesforest5245]

JASON SQUIRE did you think his profile pic is a police badge or are you just being weird lol

[@theindiediary5950]

I still play half these arcade sega games through my mame emulator. Those arcade games are all but forgotten today. Cannot be played anywhere other than emulation. Rail chase is still impressive even today.

[@LegendaryGauntlet]

Galaxy Force 2 remains my all time favorite, when played on its amazing dedicated cabinet. The complete motion range was so breath taking, especially combined with the crisp pseudo 3D fast action, i was completely amazed for years. I clearly remember having my jaw drop once more when approaching a planet, entering the tunnel... Everything was so fluid.

[@atomicskull6405]

You didn't go into exactly how the VCO object hardware worked, and that's pretty interesting because it was basicly analog scaling. They did not use math to resize bitmaps, instead the VCOs were used to provide the clock pulses as the object ROMs were read out and drawn to the screen as the electron beam scanned each line of the display. By changing the VCO frequency the time it took to read out the ROM could be changed. The lower the frequency of the VCO the longer it would take to read out the object and the larger the object would be drawn on the display.

[@0MoTheG]

Were these CCD-RAMs?

[@RetroAsiaChannel]

Yu Suzuki, Shigeru Miyamoto of Sega who truly deserve a lifetime achievement award for his work but never got the recognition he deserved

[@ChristianGiaconiBonaguro]

Naka is more of the Miyamoto type. Suzuki is more like Kojima. But nicer and more innovative 😉

[@ChristianGiaconiBonaguro]

@G1zm0 abizmo you misunderstood his comment.

[@ChristianGiaconiBonaguro]

@G1zm0 abizmo he compared him and said he was the, "Miyamoto of Sega." You don't need to me tion Ninty.

[@ChristianGiaconiBonaguro]

@Harris Zaindi 1 and 1A in gaming. Kojima also didn't create technologies in the arcade AND console market that literally changed the landscape for those respective titles.

[@tuberoyful]

@Harris Zaindi Ok besides metal gear what else?????

[@DenkyManner]

Great video. I still find Galaxy Force II to be the most astonishing use of 2d to create a 3d space.

[@Mechakick]

I think it cost over a dollar for the first credit when I was playing the arcade version... no choice but to play!!

[@Asterra2]

Outrun is a perfect example of a game that fulfills a time-honored Japanese tradition of making games that simulate what the designers passionately wanted to do in real life. In Outrun's case, drive their own Ferrari at illegal speeds down a Miami coastline with a hot blonde in the passenger's seat. Another fine example: Everblue 1 and Everblue 2 on PS2 -- games which were put together by folks at Arika who wanted to basically live in the Bahamas and scuba dive for treasure every day.

[@Andy_Robotsan]

Brilliant video. Great work. I've always enjoyed the pseudo 3d effects of the old games. Thank you.

[@paulclinton6414]

Those fake 3D games hold up better than 98% of games from the PS1 era.

[@theindiediary5950]

They did age. But those games were incredible in their day. It was an explosive time for developers to experiment with polygons.

[@maroon9273]

Wish there was a open world or city 2.5D game during that era gaming or the 5th gen era.

[@SomePotato]

I think Thunder Blade at 9:11 looks the most impressive for a sprite scaling game. It uses the tech so cleverly to give you a real perspective view. Just look at the buildings when you fly left and right! It's so 3D!

[@JM-hx9ew]

Galaxy force 2 visual and game play still looks impressive to this day.

[@Skaarxiong1]

"here's your problem. it's made in Japan." "what are you talking about Doc? all the best stuff is made in Japan."

[@Ti-JAC]

@@suprememasteroftheuniverse maybe but women dont age as well.

[@legendaryguitarhero]

Master of the Universe I think most of the men like Japanese women. Maybe you prefer fat Americans woman

[@HereForAStorm]

@@suprememasteroftheuniverse da fuq? Japanese women are gorgeous!

[@RazorEdge2006]

@@suprememasteroftheuniverse They made Japanese women. Not sure if they're the best, but they're certainly up there among the best women.

[@tarasybnios5356]

Not only that since the Western developers started overshadowing Japanese developers with their AAA titles and millions of dollars in production gaming went downhill and lost its true essence. Lost the art, gameplay, fantasy and soundtracks we had in the 80s and 90s and early 00s. Now all we get is top of the end visuals.. Not all games of course but the vast majority of games released are hollow.

[@mrnicktoyou]

It’s amazing how Segas arcade division pushed 3D graphics, but the Saturn was never designed to push polygons, even though we all knew where technology was going.

[@maroon9273]

Shame the Saturn did not have a faster andprogramming friendly 3D coprocessor.

[@jeremybowers3181]

Man I had No idea those effects date all the way back then!! SEGA was truly ahead of the curve. Awesome video!

[@loganjorgensen]

Yeah further back than I thought too. Btw it's "ahead of the curve" jsyk.

[@jmbenetti]

Great video! I still remember playing Outrun on arcades and being blown away the first time I saw Rad Mobile. I love super scaler games and I'd love to see new retro games using this technology.

[@DreamcastQ]

Those were the days! This was what arcades looked like when I was a kid, when the name Sega was synonymous with fast arcade action. "What the heck is a polygon?" Great stuff, I really love the history aspect of these videos.

[@derrickthegatorriverboat6993]

This channel is a Sega lover's dream! Keep up the good work!

[@xjosue2007]

this was a real history class. Thank you so much

[@petes1721]

After Burner is still one of my favorite Sega games of all time. Even though the gameplay isn't the best, the cab, the music, the whole experience transcended the actual gameplay.

[@norkokipte5511]

I've been binging on your videos. I have such a new appreciation for SEGA now, and you earned a subscription from me

[@andrewt6338]

Norko Kipte Check out the Dreamcast man. That’s around 20 years old and still looks pretty good. I got mine for around $40.

[@norkokipte5511]

t oh dude. I have a Dreamcast. You're right, lots of great games for it. And I'm still discovering games for it. I just found out Mark of the Wolves is on there and I don't have to pay hundreds of dollars to play it, unlike the Neo Geo version

[@simonrobinson2836]

The games were getting amazing at the end. F1 Superlap was basically a true 3D game rendered entirely with sprites. Great video.

[@uniqutilities2831]

There is just something so... charming about pseudo-3D... Funny thing, I'm actually racking my brain now, working on adding an old-school 3d scene to the game I'm working on now.

[@LaurensSecretAdmirer]

Friggin love your content man please keep it up

[@Kos4Evr]

Just goes to show how Sega were real innovators in the gaming industry. Perhaps more so than any other game company m

[@christophersavart5589]

I too, remember how turbo was mind-boggling back then. I was 7 years old when zaxxon came out and it felt like true 3d to me

[@Markis5150]

I went crazy with two games in 1981 - Donkey Kong and Zaxxon in the arcades. They just totally stood out above everything else and sucked me in next to everything else out there. While Nintendo would go on to carve their own glorious path after Donkey Kong Sega chose their own path. It wasn't until I had a Colecovision that it was then I started noticing Sega as a major player for me. Zaxxon,Buck Rogers, Turbo, SubRoc, these were the games that I played more often than others on that system and I started noticing Sega allot after that. Everytime I went to the arcades I would see new Sega games and they were always cutting edge. Its their heritage,move the industry with cutting edge technology with fast fun gameplay.

[@alanharrison2726]

Saturn should have ports of all super scalers . Even rail chase an line of fire . It would have gained momentum just with these ports .

[@drspod]

Fascinating video, and very well researched. My earliest arcade memories are of Sega's super-scalers, and they blew me away at the time too.

[@learrus]

I really appreciate that you put this together, showing how they build up their tech and knowledge step by step in increments; and the insane results it lead to.

[@jonnyreverb]

7:20 Space Harrier was a mind blow for me too.

[@MattLacey]

Can't get over that Rail Chase... seriously impressive visuals. Without the commentary and context it'd definitely take a few minutes to realise it wasn't a raycasting engine.

[@Omgtired]

Yet another amazing video. Thanks mate! I like how some of your videos are not just entertaining but also educative.

[@PaulMillard1973]

That was an amazing experience! Thank you for a great presentation and a flash back to the awesome Sega arcade systems! I particularly feel nostalgia for the Space Harrier and Outrun games as these are clearly memorable. Great research on the systems, so thank you.

[@hipflask]

Outstanding video. Thanks for your hard work on this !

[@DDCecil]

My dad used to own a Subroc-3D cabinet. Loved that game.

[@plastique45]

It would have been cool to talk about Sega's Masster System 3-D liquid crystal glasses which were so advanced that IMAX bought the technology to use on it's IMAX 3D!

[@dtester]

Um, are you sure that is a true story? Today's IMAX 3D is not using the same tech of the SMS Sega Scope 3D. I'm also pretty sure the technology is open to all (ie - patent expired or something) since even Nintendo made their own version (in Japan only) which was the same exact technology as Sega.

[@vimster]

Excellent video. Great memories of these pre-polygon 3D games, tons of scaling, you simply couldn't do this on a computer or console at the time. They were properly impressive.

[@RetroBreak]

wow, some of that later sprite scaling is super impressive! Still think it looks amazing! :D Great video!

[@andy6576]

The amount of research you put into these things, together with the editing and production...top notch, man. Yours are one of the rare selection of retro videos that I actually download to keep. So many thanks and much appreciated.

[@Riz2336]

The super scalers are all my favorites of this era for sega. They're all great fun games

[@nima9276]

Absolutely here for more Sega arcade retrospectives. They had a great console run, but what they pulled off in the arcade in the 80’s was and still is unmatched. PS I still have a working Turbo arcade cabinet I picked up for like $100 at a garage sale many years ago. Is it worth anything? 👀

[@tuberoyful]

Possibly $1,000,000😅😂🤣

[@nima9276]

@@tuberoyful lol i wish. Happen to know a place that lists comprehensive price ranges? I googled it and the prices are all over the place.

[@quickview100]

Great Video, brings back lots of memories playing these games in the arcade

[@littlejason99]

Wow, what a trip down memory lane. Thank you so much for a thorough video!

[@fedeac31]

I just wanted to thank you for the quality of your videos, and the hard work and effort you put into making them.

[@brazilmugenteam]

Great work on the video! I remember of being shocked when seeing those pseudo 3d games in action back on that day.

[@gtrzdaddy]

man.. u hit another one out of the park! what an awesome episode this is. thank u Sega Lord X

[@shortboypinoy]

It still makes me sad that Sega went from a 1st to 3rd party company. I always loved the Genesis over the SNES for how smooth and vibrant the games were at the time.

[@mrspook7393]

I've always liked the Sega better too.

[@guspaz]

This video is all about arcade hardware, and Sega never stopped making arcade hardware. Their most recent design was the Sega ALLS in 2018.

[@voutespancar]

@@guspaz ALLS that runs Unreal Engine 4 and had exactly 1 game. Nothing impressive compared to their glory days,

[@priscilam.9808]

Amazing video as usual. Thanks for the time and effort to bring Sega's history to us.

[@DoggoneNexus]

Never fails to amaze me what interesting topics you consistently come up with to cover. Great video!

[@wildjiggaboo1]

It's a shame that by the time home consoles could faithfully reproduce these games, we had already moved onto fully polygonal graphics. It would have been amazing to get arcade perfect ports of these games in the 90s when sprite based graphics were still relevant.

[@andrewpattie3528]

Excellent presentation. Really enjoyed that. Its apparent the amount of work and research that went in to this. Love some SEGA arcade.

[@jamesbell1204]

Long time fan, first time poster. This a great video, generally. One of your best. Your knowledge and love of gaming, really, shows here. You should be proud of this one. I hope you'll make more hardware / tech / historical centered videos.

[@techromancer8387]

Extremely informative!! Thanks for your great work man💯

[@jonnyd9132]

Considering that I grew up in this era of arcade gaming, this video was very informative and fun to watch, thanks! Also bonus points to you for playing the rad Genesis Batman music for the outro. ;)

[@DrGamelove]

Great video as usual SLX, a ton of these I didn’t know about. We had two dedicated arcades in my hometown growing up but neither were huge. I supplemented my exposure on vacations and such, but there still seems to be a lot I missed out on.

[@zachsteiner]

This is such a cool video. Thanks for making it!

[@realonezx4841]

So much nostalgia in one video.

[@Rohaldos]

Amazing job. The video is fantastic. I learned quite a bit from it. Thank you

[@muhdewd9727]

Surprisingly in depth, thanks for the video. I remember playing a bunch of these scaling sprite titles in the 80s and being blown away... but in hindsight, we’ve really come a long, long way.

[@malcolmar]

Another excellent video! Boy do I miss the old innovation and fun from classic Sega. Thank you for helping to bring me back to some old classics I was fortunate enough to see in the arcades in person as well as introduce me to some arcade classics I missed. Keep up the great work and Happy 4th of July!

[@MuvoTX]

Awesome!!!... I played that star trek game a lot. There was a sit down version as well, the chair was modeled after captain kirks chair on the bridge of the enterprise. When you put quarters in you were greeted with leonard nimoys voice.... "Welcome aboard captain".

[@michellelincoln9987]

I love videos like this and thank you for giving Sega the love they deserve

[@losalfajoresok]

Dude, this was monumental, maybe your best video until now. I consider myself a hardcore Sega fan and you showed me a couple of games I didn't know about. Amazing stuff!

[@mystrdat]

This is excellent information, must have taken a while to prepare. Much appreciated!

[@entertainmentwizard2703]

Awesome video, Sega where true innovators!

[@paulclinton6414]

Sega arcade was at least 2 years ahead of the rest.

[@TheGoldenaxer]

Ive learned the beauty of the Space Harrier theme due to your wonderful channel! Your channel doesnt get enough credit for the awesome work you do. Who knew that there was so much content to provide about Sega?

[@randywatson8347]

My first was Afterburner 2 in the arcades back in 1988 when I was 10. I really had an adrenaline rush, very hard to control the flighstick which also had forcefeedback. Amazing. I knew Outrunners only by emulation, but I was blown away of how well they implemented the feel of depth.

[@codykeller6400]

In an ocean of retro gaming KZbin, this is a genuinely inspired video. I admire your purity brother.

[@LeoVaderBR]

Amazing way of showing us all this progression, Lord X. Thanks again for another great episode, that’ll last forever! All the best!

[@prshr6145]

I remember my cousin coming back from the navy. He was stationed in Japan and had brought SEGA with him. I remember watching him play Thuderblade and bring blown away by the graphics.

[@epicon6]

There’s not enough videos like this! These are more than awesome! Especially arcade history is too rare.

[@RyanDanielG]

Well done, cheers! I've never really wanted to collect arcade cabinets, but one of those early color vector arcade machines would look sweeet in the living room. Those machines are a special type of art.

[@lion-orichie398]

I remember as a child, in the late 80’s, when I saw the commercial for Sega’s Zaxxon 3-D & The 3-D glasses... Man, that was mind-blowing ! It’s so tragic how Sega self-destructed... We could have seen so many amazing Altered Beast sequels ( Not The bullshit PlayStation one ), and other cool stuff...

[@Markis5150]

Amazing video,saw games I had no idea had made.,wow. Great job,this is fantastic to go back and see vintage Sega in all their glory. Subscribed to your channel,keep them coming.

[@JoshuaMuse]

Saw this in my recommend. Video was put together very well and I learned a few things too. I went ahead and subscribed.

[@mikef8846]

This may be your best work yet, Sega Lord. A lot of effort and research clearly went into this video. Have a good holiday, Sega Lord. You've earned it.

[@kevinmarshall6449]

Nice job with the topic and curation here.

[@CrackerJayherber]

You make awesome videos! Great documentation. Thank you.

[@thekradeht]

Awesome video. Informative and entertaining, great work!

[@TKnightcrawler]

Excellent video, man. I love this era of arcade games.

[@Sut1978]

Really dig your arcade episodes keep up the good work 👍

[@RaptureMusicOfficial]

I played many of them Sega sprite scaling games in the 90s in the arcades at the North Sea in Belgium, super great vacation times! :)

[@MonkeyForNothing]

Thanx for a good analysis of the pre-polygon era. I too am fascinated by the SEGA SuperScaler hardware in the late 80s.. Model Y was insanely powerful in 1988.

[@gimmedaloot754]

Great work! Takes me back every time. Teary eyed and all. Thank you again for presenting my childhood. Sega for life!

[@bosybert2999]

Turbo was ALWAYS SO LOUD in the arcades! I can hear it now. 🙂

[@vidtuby]

I always considered Sega to be the masters of the arcade scene.

[@arcticridge]

man it feels like I have n't seen you in ages! glad your videos are way longer now