Space Harrier II and Super Thunder Blade were the very first games released for the Mega Drive in 1988. They could have likely been improved a bit, but the MD/GEN did not have hardware sprite scaling, so it would never have been this good unless Sega invested more money into adding this to the console. This might have drastically altered how their system sold. It was $189.99 at launch, but would people have spent $249.99? It's hard to say. That would be $598 when calculated for inflation.
@@videogameobsession That's what M2 is emulating here on the MD Mini 2: the originally planned VDP with hardware scaling features. They didn't really save a huge amount on production costs by eliminating them either, according to estimates by people that know what chips like that would cost, the expanded VDP would have added more like 20 bucks to the MSRP. I would have been happy to pay $210 for a Genesis with scaling hardware.
@@maroon9273 That was a weird decision by Sega: everybody else was using planar graphics at the time because it was so much more memory efficient than what is called chunky (or packed pixel) graphics, and thus allowed for a far richer color palette for the small amount of color RAM available back then; it also makes using a transparency layer much easier. Packed pixel allows for faster processing time, but that's really only helpful on truly processor intensive graphical effects, such as Mode 7 scaling and rotation or polygonal games; it does alleviate slowdown also. Sega restricted the Genesis to using chunky graphics exclusively, so its small allotment of 128 Bytes of color RAM could only handle 9-bit color and 4 palettes. The SNES was alloted 512 Bytes of CRAM, and could use both planar and packed pixel modes. Hindsight being what it is, Sega should have given the Mega Drive at least 256 Bytes of CRAM and dual planar/packed pixel graphics modes as well.
Considering that the Genesis does not have any hardware sprite scaling and a limited color palette, this is an amazing achievement. The graphical presentation of the backgrounds seem to be enhanced to reflect the style of the original Space Harrier. Plus it seems they used all of the digitized sound effects from the original Space Harrier game and the FM sound palette for the BGM tracks from the original as well. One thing I have notice is that there is a lot more sprite flicker present in this version. I guess that is a tradeoff stemming from the sprite limitations of the Genesis hardware. Or perhaps this version is coded to run a hypothetical "enhanced version" of the Genesis hardware??
So what M2 did is they created an emulator that basically is "What if the actual Genesis hardware could do sprite scaling". That was planned for the Genesis but Sega could not get it to fit on the chipset without raising the cost of producing the Genesis. They did something similar with the 3DS ports of Genesis games. Created an emulator for an imaginary system. A Genesis that could do 3D called the Gigadrive.
As someone who played the ever-loving crap out of the original Mega Drive version as a kid, I would definitely love to get my hands on this version to give it a go. There's some observations I've made watching this that's got me curious: - Is it me or does the rapid fire in this new version feel a LOT faster? I noticed how certain bosses were pretty much turned into Swiss Cheese. - Wizard and the Neo Tomos definitely got an upgrade in terms of challenge for this new version. I remember only having to smack the real Wizard only once or twice each phase to fully eliminate him. With the new scaling, the Neo Tomos can certainly catch veteran players off guard.
Truth be told, I only enable Rapid Fire so I'm not busting my fingers throughout the stages. But you may have a point. Rapid Fire in _this_ version of SH2 does seem to be a little faster than in the original MD version. Mind you, I tend to turbo-mash (that is to say: mash the A, B and C buttons with three fingers) for most of the bosses.
3 pontos pra esse port que eu notei A escla de sprite é apenas a animação aproximando e diminuindo, SGDK tem essa função pra imitar o recurso de scaler, mas gostei do resultado, porem tem muito sprites frikando. Segundo ponto! O jogo roda a 60FPS, por que a Engine é o SGDK. Terceiro ponto! O numero de cores esta bem maior contra port anterior, parece que o devs pegou e soube lidar melhor com a cores do console, usar uns dithering bem sutil.
Esse port não é exatamente um port para o Mega Drive, ele é mais um exercício de realidade alternativa mais ou menos como o que a M2 fez quando eles portaram Fantasy Zone II - The Tears of Opa-Opa para a placa System16 (neste caso, "e se o Mega Drive tivesse hardware para scaling?"). O Sega Mark V que você vê na abertura seria uma espécie de expansão para o Mega Drive nessa hipotética realidade alternativa, por isso a maior quantidade de cores (e, lógico, o scaling). Se esse port do jogo roda num Mega Drive normal, eu quero ver. Porque o Mega Drive até tem maneiras de fazer scaling, mas ou ocuparia muito espaço na ROM porque todas as versões da imagem teriam que ser armazenadas nela, ou o Mega Drive teria que realizar o scaling por software (impraticável porque o CPU do Mega Drive é lento demais para isso).
I would imagine so. I have Retro-Bit controllers that I've used on the Mini 1 and they also work on the Mini 2. Not sure about 8BitDo, as I don't have any of those, myself, but I would reckon they'd work just fine if they also work on the Mini 1.
It looks like for the Neo Dom boss, they wanted to retcon his name to “Neo Doom”, but they messed up and ended up callind him “Ned Oom”, which makes no sense. 😅
That's disappointing that the game only runs at an effective 30fps. Maybe if/when the Mini2 gets emulated, a clever hacker will force all the elements to a proper 60fps.
meio cara de pau a empresa chamar o jogo de Sega Mark 5, sabendo que é apenas o próprio Mega Drive rodando o jogo com SGDK, tanto gamedevboss falou SGDK tem uma função de fazer especie de gif fingindo ser uma scaler, por isso jogo esta cheio de frick, não tem nada de VPD melhor, tem poha nenhuma pra chamar de SEGA mark 5. só Mega rodando Space Harrier com uma Engine atual, com programadores atuais, aí resultado é esse aí, similar ao Arcade, alias obrigatório ser desse jeito a nivel do Arcade, q é um port de 2022.
That rapid fire is WAY too fast. Kinda ruins the game. (The original also had a rapid fire and hidden, but easy access (just hit "A") secret menu.) Also I prefer the original art style of the flooring. There is actually nothing wrong with original Space Harrier 2, and remains a better game than the arcade version. (Superior graphics does not make a game better.) The first game just repeated the same boss over and over.
I like the original one more than part 2 in several ways. For me, the soundtrack on part one sounded fresh and very interesting. Part 2, to me, has its moments in that department - but overall, it seems good to me. Secondly, the graphics on part one were better (arcade, that is). But... if the Genesis was able to have a full-scale production of the same arcade board, it might have made a difference for me. Part two (the original release), looking at it now, seems choppy... but it worked and they did a fine job with what they had. SH for the arcade had a full advantage since it had a custom board while SH2 had to use something that had to be universal and practical for cost reasons on the game system production side. Also, one thing to remember is people/companies left and right were porting SH for nearly every system on earth prior to SH2. When you look at SH2 in another interesting angle for the Genesis, this takes virtually all those ports of the original version and conquerors them - even though it's a sequel. I can also say there was no other better SH2 port on Atari, Amiga, C64 - the Genesis was the OG!
@@trevorsong3054 What makes SH1 boring is something that plagues a lot of arcade titles-you can just keep dumping quarters into it, so beating the game is trivial. SH2 gives you the incentive to chase the high score in way that SH1 doesn't.
I differ a bit. Space Harrier 2 was decent for a sequel and a Genesis port, but it definitely lacked _"the punch"_ of Space Harrier 1(arcade version & 32X version) regarding fullness of sound and animation detailing of enemies. For example, the Doms in Space Harrier actually moved their limbs a little bit such as crouching or making sideways shots. Plus the Space Harrier Doms close up looked like giants. The Neo Doms in Space Harrier 2 do not differ in body movement at all. And even though they were bigger than Harrier, they just dont have that same threatening giant appeal.
@@willia3r This a purely graphics over gameplay argument thought. Space Harrier 2 is just more fun. Space Harrier 1 recycles the same bosses over and over. Space Harrier 2 throws unique bosses at you. Space Harrier 1 can just be completed by spamming continue. You actually have to try and play good in Space Harrier 2. While graphics are limited by technology, good art style isn't. While subjective, I enjoyed the art style of Space Harrier 2 more. If Space Harrier 2 was remade for smooth sprite and animation, nobody would argue that Space Harrier 1 was better.
![1985 [60fps] Space Harrier Nomiss ALL](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/JLOf2StF_zY/mqdefault.jpg)
The fact that M2 re-ported the game from scratch using SGDK (I think) along with their in-house tools is a marvel achievement.
Imagine what the genesis can with the other scaling games like outrun and afterburner and many more with sgdk. Much better than the original port.
This is how Space Harrier 2 should have been like when it originally came out
Space Harrier II and Super Thunder Blade were the very first games released for the Mega Drive in 1988. They could have likely been improved a bit, but the MD/GEN did not have hardware sprite scaling, so it would never have been this good unless Sega invested more money into adding this to the console. This might have drastically altered how their system sold. It was $189.99 at launch, but would people have spent $249.99? It's hard to say. That would be $598 when calculated for inflation.
@@videogameobsession That's what M2 is emulating here on the MD Mini 2: the originally planned VDP with hardware scaling features. They didn't really save a huge amount on production costs by eliminating them either, according to estimates by people that know what chips like that would cost, the expanded VDP would have added more like 20 bucks to the MSRP. I would have been happy to pay $210 for a Genesis with scaling hardware.
@@thepeller210 Over half of the units were the Genesis version. Majority rules, pal.
@@ostiariusalpha plus, larger colors and color pallete as well
@@maroon9273 That was a weird decision by Sega: everybody else was using planar graphics at the time because it was so much more memory efficient than what is called chunky (or packed pixel) graphics, and thus allowed for a far richer color palette for the small amount of color RAM available back then; it also makes using a transparency layer much easier. Packed pixel allows for faster processing time, but that's really only helpful on truly processor intensive graphical effects, such as Mode 7 scaling and rotation or polygonal games; it does alleviate slowdown also. Sega restricted the Genesis to using chunky graphics exclusively, so its small allotment of 128 Bytes of color RAM could only handle 9-bit color and 4 palettes. The SNES was alloted 512 Bytes of CRAM, and could use both planar and packed pixel modes. Hindsight being what it is, Sega should have given the Mega Drive at least 256 Bytes of CRAM and dual planar/packed pixel graphics modes as well.
Considering that the Genesis does not have any hardware sprite scaling and a limited color palette, this is an amazing achievement. The graphical presentation of the backgrounds seem to be enhanced to reflect the style of the original Space Harrier.
Plus it seems they used all of the digitized sound effects from the original Space Harrier game and the FM sound palette for the BGM tracks from the original as well.
One thing I have notice is that there is a lot more sprite flicker present in this version. I guess that is a tradeoff stemming from the sprite limitations of the Genesis hardware.
Or perhaps this version is coded to run a hypothetical "enhanced version" of the Genesis hardware??
So what M2 did is they created an emulator that basically is "What if the actual Genesis hardware could do sprite scaling". That was planned for the Genesis but Sega could not get it to fit on the chipset without raising the cost of producing the Genesis.
They did something similar with the 3DS ports of Genesis games. Created an emulator for an imaginary system. A Genesis that could do 3D called the Gigadrive.
Why does he need a foot glider thing for the Bonus stage? He flies during the entire game...
He gets tired and he needs to rest 😔
Incredible work, plays silk smooth.
Yay sounds like it should be on arcade
I want to play this so bad LOL
As someone who played the ever-loving crap out of the original Mega Drive version as a kid, I would definitely love to get my hands on this version to give it a go. There's some observations I've made watching this that's got me curious:
- Is it me or does the rapid fire in this new version feel a LOT faster? I noticed how certain bosses were pretty much turned into Swiss Cheese.
- Wizard and the Neo Tomos definitely got an upgrade in terms of challenge for this new version. I remember only having to smack the real Wizard only once or twice each phase to fully eliminate him. With the new scaling, the Neo Tomos can certainly catch veteran players off guard.
Truth be told, I only enable Rapid Fire so I'm not busting my fingers throughout the stages.
But you may have a point. Rapid Fire in _this_ version of SH2 does seem to be a little faster than in the original MD version. Mind you, I tend to turbo-mash (that is to say: mash the A, B and C buttons with three fingers) for most of the bosses.
Was some program code done for the Sega Mark V enhancements?
PS. Imagine for example, Panorama Cotton with Super Scaler tech.
What is with the sound fx
Updated and remastered from the original Genesis version, to use the original arcade version of Space Harrier 1's sound board.
This has to be another modern MD game built with the SGDK library, right?
Eu simplesmente não creio que a trilha sonora e os efeitos especiais desse jogo lendário foram feitos como SE FOSSE NOS FLIPERAMAS!!! Aonde compra?!
Megadrive mini 2
3 pontos pra esse port que eu notei
A escla de sprite é apenas a animação aproximando e diminuindo, SGDK tem essa função pra imitar o recurso de scaler, mas gostei do resultado, porem tem muito sprites frikando.
Segundo ponto! O jogo roda a 60FPS, por que a Engine é o SGDK.
Terceiro ponto! O numero de cores esta bem maior contra port anterior, parece que o devs pegou e soube lidar melhor com a cores do console, usar uns dithering bem sutil.
Esse port não é exatamente um port para o Mega Drive, ele é mais um exercício de realidade alternativa mais ou menos como o que a M2 fez quando eles portaram Fantasy Zone II - The Tears of Opa-Opa para a placa System16 (neste caso, "e se o Mega Drive tivesse hardware para scaling?"). O Sega Mark V que você vê na abertura seria uma espécie de expansão para o Mega Drive nessa hipotética realidade alternativa, por isso a maior quantidade de cores (e, lógico, o scaling). Se esse port do jogo roda num Mega Drive normal, eu quero ver. Porque o Mega Drive até tem maneiras de fazer scaling, mas ou ocuparia muito espaço na ROM porque todas as versões da imagem teriam que ser armazenadas nela, ou o Mega Drive teria que realizar o scaling por software (impraticável porque o CPU do Mega Drive é lento demais para isso).
It got the Fantasy Zone II DX treatment! I hope it got ported back to the arcades using the OutRun hardware board.
これをゲーセンで「動く筐体」に逆移植してほしい。アーケードで遊べるレベルに進化した。
カゴに乗ってパパに動かしてもらうしか！
Can you use the retrobit and 8bitdo controllers that were released for the mini 1 with the mini 2?
I would imagine so.
I have Retro-Bit controllers that I've used on the Mini 1 and they also work on the Mini 2. Not sure about 8BitDo, as I don't have any of those, myself, but I would reckon they'd work just fine if they also work on the Mini 1.
It looks like for the Neo Dom boss, they wanted to retcon his name to “Neo Doom”, but they messed up and ended up callind him “Ned Oom”, which makes no sense. 😅
I got one of the top three high scores on this game in EGM back in the day. I never got my t-shirt. 😑
@@TheVampirePredator Aww, _dude!_ That must've sucked! 😥
Still, top three is _definitely_ something to be proud about, right? 😉
That's disappointing that the game only runs at an effective 30fps. Maybe if/when the Mini2 gets emulated, a clever hacker will force all the elements to a proper 60fps.
I like the original SH 2 ..
meio cara de pau a empresa chamar o jogo de Sega Mark 5, sabendo que é apenas o próprio Mega Drive rodando o jogo com SGDK, tanto gamedevboss falou SGDK tem uma função de fazer especie de gif fingindo ser uma scaler, por isso jogo esta cheio de frick, não tem nada de VPD melhor, tem poha nenhuma pra chamar de SEGA mark 5.
só Mega rodando Space Harrier com uma Engine atual, com programadores atuais, aí resultado é esse aí, similar ao Arcade, alias obrigatório ser desse jeito a nivel do Arcade, q é um port de 2022.
That rapid fire is WAY too fast. Kinda ruins the game. (The original also had a rapid fire and hidden, but easy access (just hit "A") secret menu.) Also I prefer the original art style of the flooring. There is actually nothing wrong with original Space Harrier 2, and remains a better game than the arcade version. (Superior graphics does not make a game better.) The first game just repeated the same boss over and over.
I like the original one more than part 2 in several ways. For me, the soundtrack on part one sounded fresh and very interesting. Part 2, to me, has its moments in that department - but overall, it seems good to me. Secondly, the graphics on part one were better (arcade, that is). But... if the Genesis was able to have a full-scale production of the same arcade board, it might have made a difference for me. Part two (the original release), looking at it now, seems choppy... but it worked and they did a fine job with what they had. SH for the arcade had a full advantage since it had a custom board while SH2 had to use something that had to be universal and practical for cost reasons on the game system production side. Also, one thing to remember is people/companies left and right were porting SH for nearly every system on earth prior to SH2. When you look at SH2 in another interesting angle for the Genesis, this takes virtually all those ports of the original version and conquerors them - even though it's a sequel.
I can also say there was no other better SH2 port on Atari, Amiga, C64 - the Genesis was the OG!
@@trevorsong3054 What makes SH1 boring is something that plagues a lot of arcade titles-you can just keep dumping quarters into it, so beating the game is trivial. SH2 gives you the incentive to chase the high score in way that SH1 doesn't.
I differ a bit. Space Harrier 2 was decent for a sequel and a Genesis port, but it definitely lacked _"the punch"_ of Space Harrier 1(arcade version & 32X version) regarding fullness of sound and animation detailing of enemies. For example, the Doms in Space Harrier actually moved their limbs a little bit such as crouching or making sideways shots. Plus the Space Harrier Doms close up looked like giants. The Neo Doms in Space Harrier 2 do not differ in body movement at all. And even though they were bigger than Harrier, they just dont have that same threatening giant appeal.
@@willia3r This a purely graphics over gameplay argument thought. Space Harrier 2 is just more fun.
Space Harrier 1 recycles the same bosses over and over.
Space Harrier 2 throws unique bosses at you.
Space Harrier 1 can just be completed by spamming continue.
You actually have to try and play good in Space Harrier 2.
While graphics are limited by technology, good art style isn't. While subjective, I enjoyed the art style of Space Harrier 2 more.
If Space Harrier 2 was remade for smooth sprite and animation, nobody would argue that Space Harrier 1 was better.