Mega CD Review

[@ReplayRetro]

@Woodsamrow it's difficult to talk about graphics with FMV games because essentially the graphics are videos but yeah i know what you mean

[@BoyoOfficial]

Why can't this be fullscreen? You are sacrificing simple convenience just to make it seem realistic. I feel dizzy from the flickering.

[@pferreira1983]

It's the realisation that I'm watching the grainy video of Tomcat Alley on a bad TV that's playing in Matt's 4:3 Replay Retro video. Ha, ha!

[@johntracy72]

@@pferreira1983 , that's because he's got it all on UHF.

[@pferreira1983]

@@johntracy72 Having said that it's part of the charm I guess.

[@ReplayRetro]

@dreamcastII thanks, i aim to just point out a few things, share my thoughts on key areas of the game, and hint at how the game develops with further play. good to see i'm achieving my aim :p

[@grimmah1978]

Ive been looking forward to this episode all week, and you again do not disapoint. Good review as always, i will again look forward to the next show, and the 32x!

[@ReplayRetro]

@RetroGamerVX @RetroGamerVX i didn't say in the video because i'm not sure and felt stupid but afaik its for clamping down a mixing cable if you run one from the headphone port on the MD1 to the mixing port on the MCD1 enabling stereo sound from your Mega Drive games

[@ReplayRetro]

@grimmah1978 big praise indeed! thank you very much and i'm glad you've enjoyed it, here's hoping i can do just as well with the 2nd part

[@ReplayRetro]

@CNHR1 thanks mate, will do. As for your controllers idea its one i've thought of so wait and see

[@ReplayRetro]

@Woodsamrow some FMV games are pretty good, the worst ones are things like Road Avenger where literally the only way to win is to play it several times untill you know what happens but actually i quite like Night Trap, it's got all the fun of a B Movie and it does play slightly differently depending where you look and when so it does have some replay value to it

[@marccaselle8108]

Might power power rangers is ridiculous and I'll explain why. On easy you only play through a few levels and the game tells you play on normal or hard to see more of the game. You can't see all the levels unless you play on hard. Also the harder the difficulty the less time you have to react to attacks and the more health you lose . The final insult is you have to earn enough points for a continue lol. I can't even get that far on normal let alone hard lol.

[@bravotwozero007]

great review, you put alot of effort in your research of a product, keep up the good work, love the vids!!

[@kayeplaguedoc9054]

I don't know why, but for whatever reason I love these early CD based systems, and next to the 3DO - the SegaCD is my favourite. I know, the majority of the games are crappy FMV games but.... I have a huge soft spot in my heart for them. I find them interesting, and somewhat nostalgic since I grew up with a lot of them due to the fact that during the Fourth Generation we shelled out for a 3DO... and then found we couldn't afford any of the other systems and I wouldn't get my hands on a Genesis until 1995, and only because my neighbor gave it to me with his game collection as a sort of reward/goodbye present when he moved to Italy and I helped him do the majority of moving out since he had a broken leg and a pregnant wife. He had the CD addon too and a whole binder of CD games, I later found out he actually had almost the entire US library (!) and I don't go out of my way to collect entire libraries, but I went ahead and got the rest. I think that getting the machine from him was one of the reasons it has such a dear place in my heart, same with the base Genesis if not more so since I do still admit it has the better games. Great review of the system. I like how fair you are, as well as detailed about the history and specs. Something that always bugged me about Batman Returns on the SegaCD is... where the fuck is the Batman music? It was SERIOUSLY a huge missed opportunity to have Danny Elfman's badass music play, but they picked some generic crap that doesn't fit at all. Ironic since the 16 bit regular version had renditions of the movies themes. Also I wish that the American console had those nice Dual CD cases... they look neater, and they look like they were made sturdy. Its not a huge deal for me since most of my collection is in binders, but when I have gotten them in cases the cases are not sturdy at all and love to break and they can cut you. My cat is literally afraid of the Sega CD cases, it decided to rest on Sonic CD once since I had it out and it snapped and cut her a little and now if I am carrying a SegaCD game case and set it near her she freaks out :(

[@RideTheSolarWinds]

Great review man, you pay incredible attention to detail! I'm glad you talked about the dual CD case for Mega CD games as I recently got a copy of Sonic CD and thought the second disc was missing.

[@ReplayRetro]

@HLGFreeman i've been thinking about it for a while, but as this series is over it doesn't seem totally worthwhile, however i may stop the flickering and just keep the surround for the rest of the series as a compromise of sorts :p

[@Utoobyourself]

Great video man. Enjoyed every minute of it

[@RetroGamerVX]

Nice review, but what is the 'little lock' for on the Mega Drive cd 1? :o)

[@JellyPants7]

sonic cd is one of my all time favourites, keep it up dude you make excellent videos!

[@marsiozo]

stop those flickering borders.....i cannot watch it without some epileptic fit....

[@pferreira1983]

It's the realisation that I'm watching the grainy video of Tomcat Alley on a bad TV that's playing in Matt's 4:3 Replay Retro video. Ha, ha!

[@BubblegumCrash332]

I know it's 11 years too late but you're really good at announcing. No jump cuts and one steady stream of thoughts. Modern KZbinrs take note

[@gamesessions]

I'd have liked to have seen a mention for Pier Solar, which is a new release for the Mega Drive / Mega CD and uses a cartridge running on the Mega Drive for gameplay and a CD on the Mega CD for sound - quite ingenious imo :) Anyway, really, really great review and you've definitely got a subscriber in me :)

[@CortinasAndClassics]

The mixing socket on the back of the mk1 plugs into the megadrives earphone jack for better audio. Not into a hifi.

[@emojo1990]

im on the look out for a megacd but it will have to take a back seat until i get a megapc computer

[@bangerbangerbro]

12:40 what bout the 32x if it has no cartridge in it and you've got a 32x cd game in the mega cd

[@666vhd]

Is guy from Tomcat Alley opening video the Last Resort Bartender from Total Recall?

[@pferreira1983]

Just checked, yes.

[@basman2006]

I'd say this is a great console to emulate for but not to buy because that can be tedious and very costly especially when you want the better games for it. but you really want to play Snatcher, Sonic CD, the Lunar games, Robo Aleste, Shining Force CD and quite a few more.

[@marccaselle8108]

Exactly. 🙂 I used to have a Sega CD model 2 but all the good games were well beyond what I could spend. 3 years ago I made a RetroPie setup and never looked back. I have all the games I always wanted and all the Sega CD games too. I'm not paying 500 dollars for snatcher complete in box for example.

[@CamaroWarrior]

tomcat alley was my first Sega CD game and i loved it i thought the fmv was awesome on my old ass 25" big box television set back in the mid 90s

[@marccaselle8108]

That's a good FMV game along with wirehead

[@ReplayRetro]

@markvergeer Thanks Mark, always good to receive positive feedback from the pros. The Mega CD catalogue isn't massive and finding the good games amongst the junk isn't easy but its well worth trying

[@markvergeer]

Excellent review of the Mega CD. I own the toploading MegaCD Megadrive 2 combination. Cool system, yet not too many games out for it.

[@KevinTwiner]

Enjoyed this. Thanks for the great video!

[@ReplayRetro]

@RetroBob2084 Sewer Shark was one which was reviewed twice i believe

[@9ElevenGamer]

Awesome video pal, you have a new subscriber.

[@ReplayRetro]

@erin0033 based on market share figures (like those mentioned in this video) the Megadrive had the lead at the beginning of the battle (more so in the UK & Europe than NA) and actually held it for most of the time, it was only towards the end of the 4th generation when sega were too busy messing around that Nintendo regained the lead. In Japan however Sega were never in the lead Sega have always done very well in Brazil though

[@ReplayRetro]

@Doomzdayxx thanks man glad you enjoy what i do

[@ReplayRetro]

@davidhass3lh0ff you have heard correctly, my MCD2 blew a fuse, easy enough to fix but a bit of a pain in the bum, don't think there is much difference between how well they play though

[@marccaselle8108]

The Sega CD was interesting because at the time it's predecessor was the turbo grafx 16 CD but nobody had that add on.

[@Doomzdayxx]

Oh man I got this for christmas when it forst came out, my Mom got me Ground Zero Texas, Proze Fighter, and......Marky Mark and the funky Bunch? Yikes! Anyway I love all your retro gaming videos, very informative and very cool

[@blackmoorX]

I'm sure you know it, BUT the mix in jack on megacd 1& 2 is for Megadrive 1 phones output to connect to. Because Megadrive 1 did not pass audio through the side connector. Megadrive 2 did, so the mix in cable was not needed (and md2 did not even have phones output)

[@BigDaddyZakk420]

I love the Sega CD, I love the 32x as well but the CD has such a kick ass library. It definitely makes up for the lack of RPG titles for the Genesis. Great review though man, keep it up !

[@ReplayRetro]

@bravotwozero007 thanks loads, always good to have my work appreciated

[@LuffyMcDuck]

Another piece of hardware I haven´t seen in play before. Back when I was kid, there was NES, SNES then N64. It was wierd to see a 3D game for a first time, Mario 64 after expecting to see another 2-D Mario (well I was only 6 years old so...). Then there was something called Sega. Years later I started to learn more about these weird consoles I didn´t know even existed. Virtual Boy? Jaguar? 3DO? etc.These videos have been really entertaining and it´s great to see games from these wierd systems.

[@tardistardis8]

Wait, is that a Virtual Boy behind him?

[@kayeplaguedoc9054]

Yeah, and he's reviewed it and actually said arguably the nicest things anyones ever said about it, granted its only about the games not the hardware.

[@thaddeusmcgrath]

I respect you for referring the Mega Drive / Genesis, the United States of You Tubers forget what a Genesis is and confuses the crap out of every one with calling the U.S. model Mega Drive. Cheers, love your videos!

[@sanny87]

Cool video. Minus the poor intro that blasts static white noise into your ears

[@blackmoorX]

Also the Sonic cd did not stream music for the PAST version of levels from the cd. They were megadrive soundchip generated music. Because the game contained so many tracks that the cd space would not have sufficed :)

[@visker81]

i remember mega cd I only being out in the UK ( lived in germany back then ) and only when mega cd II came out it was available everywhere else in Europe.

[@1sibbo]

Great review thanks mat.

[@james42519]

@ReplayRetro funny i never had that happen. i have lots power a few times and stuff.

[@ReplayRetro]

@squirm13 i agree, the system gets a lot of abuse but actually when developers used it properly it was capable of good stuff

[@johntracy72]

Kudos to Working Designs.

[@aarondavies8943]

Flink, Final Fight, Terminator, Earthworm Jim, Robo Aleste, Lords of Thunder, Mickey Mania, Snatcher, Android Assault, Senkoku 1 and those tittles from working designs arn't to bad either. Also worth noting when you buy any of these games the values just keep going up and up.

[@Woodsamrow]

@ReplayRetro ye i like the concept of using video to play the game no question it was ahed of its time

[@luftman]

This video is awesome, but why have this "tv-frame" around the video? It's really distracting :/

[@Rockythefishman]

Great review mate, I always wanted a Mega Cd when I was a kid however I did not even own an MD back then. When I finally got one years later I found out how crap some off the games can been. However I still love Dune, the classic amgia / PC with a "video" intro. No copy protection so you can just download the roms and burn them to CD. Wing Commander is another good one. Its a shame Sega reall had no clue what they were u to :(

[@davidhass3lh0ff]

cool review. i have the model 1 mega cd. iherd the mega cd 2's tend to blow fuse's easly and the model one was better. there are some realy good games for this system with snatcher being my favourite ;D

[@YukoAsho]

Small little factoid. The Genesis Model 2 (and the SCD model 2) both had black buttons rather than red in the US, and the CDX only had black buttons here as well. Great little look at the Sega CD, though. Very informative, and clearly well-researched. Honestly, I'm surprised there wasn't any discussion about Night Trap, a game which created a huge stink here in the US, one of the Sega CD's few moments in the popular consciousness. Honestly, if not for the Lunar games, Popful Mail and Sonic CD, the system would be a waste, much like the 32X.

[@vincentm.7462]

Sega had the strangest add on accessories. Fans stopped giving a shit and paying for half a new system when the competition came out with totally new platforms altogether.

[@borobengal]

CD consoles and add-ons just didn't take off until the PS and Saturn came along. The Mega CD was a big step up from carts. Ironic that the Mega CD was made by Sony for SEGA.

[@Pai3000]

Did you know that you have to kill your enemies in Batman Returns driving stages to advance in the game?

[@HLGFreeman]

I really like your videos but the whole stuff with the flickering screen gives me instant migraine headaches. Waste of screen real estate too. You might want to consider doing fullsize vids for those of us who are 'a little older' ;)

[@basman2006]

Well i'd say it's because they had more games, they were priced pretty well and the first playstation was released a year before the n64, which gave it a headstart. other then that it isn't my favorite either though it did had great RPG's

[@zeinebtorchani3076]

Also it would've great if it was a seperated console

[@ReplayRetro]

@onealseebalack thanks

[@TheNinwii]

you really deserve more attention

[@millgiass]

Dark Wizard is a recommended game for Sega CD.

[@squirm13]

Its so easy for people to attack the mega/sega cd, because of the fmv games, it had so many great games, most did not come out in uk, such as snatcher, which did, the lunar games, popful mail etc.

[@toddoroi4947]

erin0033 The MD outsold the SNES in both Europe and North America, it was however beaten by the Super Famicom in Japan.

[@1337Shockwav3]

Introduction needs more gestures!

[@Jerkwad152]

Good review, but the flickering border almost gave me a migraine. :(

[@james42519]

i played snatcher on a burned disc. it was good. penn and teller smoker and mirrors was also worth burning. sonic megamix is a hacked sonic 2 and worth getting too. can downlaod on sonic retro.

[@Utoobyourself]

It was, but Mega Drive took over.. And became the system of choice

[@ReplayRetro]

@RetroBob2084 the MegaCD was very capable and a few games prove that (silpheed for example) but yeah its unfortunate that so much of its library is just FMV games, and so many of those are cack

[@marccaselle8108]

I have a soft spot for the cheesy FMV games but luckily the Sega CD has other great NON FMV games to enjoy. Popful Mail is one of my favorite games because I like action adventure rpg games and the voice acting was top notch too. You can't say Sega CD without final fight CD which goes for 80 dollars on up now. I play my Sega CD games on my retropie and have all of them. I have loads of fun with them too. 🙂

[@pferreira1983]

It's the realisation that I'm watching the grainy video of Tomcat Alley on a bad TV that's playing in Matt's 4:3 Replay Retro video. Ha, ha! I like the Mega CD. Fun games like Ground Zero Texas. Not all FMV game on it were bad.

[@MegaAstroFan18]

Sonic CD's past made the level easier, and future made the level harder.

[@SSteelification]

With these addons the CD was a good idea to give an edge to the MD/GEN but as we all know the 32x was a waste of money. the PC-Engine's CD addon had plenty of righteous games on it so why couldn't SEGA do the same. Shame though they couldn't have one single power adaptor.

[@jesuszamora6949]

The Sega CD was really hamstrung by the base Genesis unit. Since everything had to go through the Genesis' video out, the CD's system couldn't pump out its full power. By contrast, the Turbo CD (especially with System card 3.0 or as the Turbo Duo) really was able to shine over the HuCard base unit. Honestly, Sega COULD have resolved the issue similar to how they did with the 32X, but the Sega CD was SO focused on multimedia/FMV gaming that conventional games seemed an afterthought...

[@zeinebtorchani3076]

If Sega CD was an ugraded version of the Genesis and of couse it has its own library of games. That would've been great

[@doujindance]

I loved Night Trap.

[@emojo1990]

@ReplayRetro lol im lucky enough i think, and im a brilliant haggler. im goin to japan some time next year so i may see one there but then have to gut it and send all the parts via air mail lol

[@Rockford108]

SoulStar, best game on the mega cd.

[@erin0033]

Why does everyone in the UK think that the Megadrive won the 16 bit war? Don't know about the UK but I've always heard that SNES was the clear winner-both in North America and the world in general. Great channel though.

[@millgiass]

Wow, he landed right by the Metal Sonic Generator and he didn't smash it. Which is obviously part of the point of going to the past. lol

[@MegaAstroFan18]

Having a lot of games doesn't necessarily make a console appealing. In fact too many games was part of the cause of the Video Game Crash. Too many games, to me, reads more like 'lots of these are crap'. 3DO had a similar issue. It could be the pricing, or perhaps the novelty. I'd guess novelty, because Sony's boom seemed to drop off with the PS3 (which was the lowest selling console of Gen 7).

[@ReplayRetro]

@Rockythefishman sega were indeed a very lost company, thinking the time was right for CDs but then going back to carts, then back to CDs again, its clear in retrospect that they were a company in turnmoil, really is a shame but actually not all their fault, a lot of it was bad timing and unfortunate circumstances

[@Marc_Araujo]

Model 2 > Model 1 P.S. Also, thank you Sega for your official Power Strip...never try to assemble your Tower of Power without one!!

[@johntracy72]

I'm still waiting for that Nintendo CD. LOL!

[@johneymute]

i like the model 2 megadrive 2 and mega cd 2 design way better then the model 1 systems!!!

[@james42519]

thought tomcat alley and midnight raiders was alright. the systems don't have red buttons in usa. you forgot to say take the plastic cover off the connector that says "do not remove" to connect genesis to cd. most of my sega cd games are burned disc >.> 5 in 1 sega arcade classics might be worth getting. i didn't really like sonic cd. mighty morphin power rangers good for nostalgia.

[@SegaCDUniverse]

Say it!!!

[@bangerbangerbro]

i mean "about" not "bout"

[@ReplayRetro]

@emojo1990 i think you're doing it the wrong way round mate, your chances of getting a MegaPC are tiny, and even if you see one its going to set you back some real cash. I highly doubt you'll be luck enough to find one AND it be cheap

[@ReplayRetro]

any chance of yougiving me one for my birthday? lol

[@Space-Holiday]

The Sega CD FMV games have not aged well at all :S

[@MegaAstroFan18]

You know to be honest i continue to fail to see the vast appeal of the Playstation. Sure, it's a decent console, but I don't understand why the first two were so overwhelmingly popular. I usually attribute 2's success to Grand Theft Auto, cause that seemed to be all anyone ever talked about with that system. But I'd say I have more Gamecube games than Playstation 2 games, and definitely more N64 games than Playstation 1.

[@ReplayRetro]

@james42519 Nintendo only had themselves to blame, they annoyed sony by messing them about, and so sony decided to take what they learnt and apply it to their own hardware

[@Woodsamrow]

@ReplayRetro good point i played sewer shark on my channel and it was awful lol the game was not very fun in its self and the graphics for the time were good but still not great lol

[@Utoobyourself]

Sega ALWAYS pushed the envelope with innovative technology and always da first. Everyone else followed and copy what Sega did

[@PrinceRawD]

When its all said and done, FMV and Sega's idiotic belief that cheap point and click movies were the future of gaming is one of the main reasons why Sega is a software company now. Now I hear that some gamers want Sega to return to consoles. Why?

[@EvertvanIngen]

480P ;)

[@james42519]

funny nintendo was working on there version then it turned into the playstation.

[@Woodsamrow]

i like the mega cd but the fmv games are just terrible lets all think back to night trap lol

[@moogibeans9822]

Full motion video games were really lame : p

[@pferreira1983]

Not all and no different to today's games.

[@HorroRviXenKate]

bought this piece of shit add-on back in the day ,learnedmylesson lol =)

[@NonstopRam]

What a shame...