Sega Master System Hang-On Review

So here is my 4th Master System arcade Conversion review, if you prefer the written medium then my written review is below the video 

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ang-On was an arcade racing game released by Sega in the arcades in 1985 in which you control a motor bike racing against computer-controlled bikes. It was one of the first arcade games to use 16-bit graphics and uses the Super Scaler arcade system board, The deluxe cabinet version also introduced a motion-controlled arcade cabinet, where the player's body movement on a large motorbike corresponds with the player character's movements on screen. Hang-On started the trend of motion simulator games in the late 1980s, which Sega followed up with Space Harrier, Out Run (1986) and After Burner all of which I have already reviewed. The introduction of these interesting cabinets helped the arcade video game market grow during the late 1980s. Hang-On has been recognized as a well-remembered and influential arcade game. Several sequels were later made for arcades, as well as video game consoles. Every time I jump on a Arcade Machine with a bike I cant help but think of this game, not long ago I was on holiday and I played a few Bike related arcade machines including Super Bikes 3 and Moto GP and for a brief time it transported me back to my youth playing Hang-On.

Yu Suzuki began development of Hang-On after deciding to design a motorcycle racing game as a way to use a torsion bar in an arcade game, however in the end this particular item wasn't actually used in the game cabinet. Market research was conducted and the results suggested that GP 500 racing was popular and so this is what the game was based upon despite the fact Suzuki originally wanted to go with Dirt Biking an idea he would later return to.

Hang-On was very popular it was the highest-grossing arcade game of 1986 in both Japan and the United States. It received an overwhelmingly positive critical reception with people being impressed by its realism, its graphics, and the cabinet, it was just amazing at the time controlling the bike on screen by riding the model bike attached to the arcade machine., Apparently there was some initial controversy in Japan over modesty concerns involving female players with the bike cabinet.

OK So now lets talk about the Master System conversion obviously the graphics have been scaled down to meet the capabilitys of the machine, but it is instantly recognizable as being Hang-On. The music provided on the title screen is really good, but unfortunately it's the only music you'll hear in this game. Once you start playing the game you wont hear any music all you are going to hear is sounds of the motorcycle revving, and your tires screeching, I have never been a fan of this sort of sound choice for games,. Ideally I would like music with engine noises and tire screeches lower in volume just there in the background but if that's not possible due to memory constraints or something id sooner have a basic tune and not bother with engine noises and screeching tires if I cant have both.

So the objective of the game is to avoid the other bikers and race against the clock making sure to hit five checkpoints and then reach the finish line. 60 seconds are available per section, although any remaining time is automatically added to your total time once you pass a checkpoint.

The controls are simple Button 2 is the accelerator, Button 1 is the brakes, the d-pad Up/Down directions are used for changing between the three gears and left and right are used to control your bike. It was a long time since I had played this port and when I first started to play it I was going all over the shop, constantly coming of the bike not making it to any check points and on the verge of turning the air blue. After some practice though the game just seemed to click, basically you have to learn to properly manage your gear changes and I would also add you need to learn to ignore the break, what I found myself doing was letting go of the accelerator and then taping it while going round corners or trying to swerve and then putting my finger back on it when on clear straight road, this kept the sliding to a minimal and made sure I stayed on the road and helped me avoid other bikes. Soon using this method I was hitting checkpoints, over taking bikes and beginning to enjoy the game

I think that Hang-On on the Master System is a good conversion, obviously its not quiet up the standards set by the Arcade Version but I think it is a good representation of what this little machine can handle and it provides something that is in the spirit of its bigger arcade brother, I do think you need to bear with it a little and get through some teething pains to get the most out of the game. I would score this game 7 out of 10.

If you want a cart of it, well when I looked around online you were looking at about the £10 mark, at the experience of giving away what a future project might be I would Recommend you grab Mega Games 1 a multi game cart that includes the Mega Drive game Super Hang On as this can be grabbed for around the £3 mark online and includes not only a version of Hang On but 2 other games for far less than this will cost you.

Space Harrier Master System Review

Here is my YouTube Review of Space Harrier, if you prefer to read your reviews a written copy is located directly below the video.

Space Harrier is a third-person arcade rail shooter game which was both developed and published by Sega hitting the arcades in 1985. Originally Sega's idea had been to make a realistic military-themed third-person game which would feature a fighter jet, but technical and memory restrictions resulted in Sega developer Yu Suzuki deciding instead to go with the idea of a jet-propelled human character flying through a fantasy setting. 2 years later Sega would return to the military Jet Fighter idea and we would get After Burner a game I have already reviewed.

The Space Harrier arcade game is controlled by an analogue flight stick as well as featuring a simple stand up version the game also came in a deluxe arcade cabinet which featured a cockpit-style hydraulic motion simulator cabinet that tilted and rolled during play, this probably sounds very familiar if you watched my After Burner Video.

Space Harrier was a highly commercially successful arcade machine leading to the game being ported to over twenty different home computer and gaming platforms, some of which were done by Sega with others being handled by outside developers

Ok so on to The Master System version now how does it fair? Well I certainly think that Sega put a lot of effort in to trying to downscale this arcade game on to a Master System cart but I do have some issues with it, lets put it this way it in some areas excels but in others its problematic.

The most obvious thing to grab you is that the graphics not only are a serious downgrade but they also don't fully work, the limited colour palette, and the lack of proper backgrounds are to be expected and wouldn't really hurt the game, my biggest issue is the incredibly blocky edges around both enemies and obstacles they don't look like they are part of the actual game world, they look awful and it really breaks my immersion, it actually makes the game look like it was never properly finished. When you get to the glitchy first boss swirling round you will wonder if there is a problem with your cartridge, trust me there is not this is how the game was programmed.

This graphical issue is an absolute crying shame, because if you can get past this then the gameplay in this version is not too bad at all, your characters movement is good firing feels right, its not a bad game to play at all, its fun if you can push past these issues.

For me the best thing about this Game on the Master System is the sound. The music has been ported across from the arcade game wonderfully, the music is awesome and it really meets the fantasy feel of this game.... Maybe it has something to do with my Dad watching a whole lot of reruns of Blakes 7 with him but one of the Tracks in this game really really sounds like a remix of the Blakes 7 them but maybe that's just me. I also have to point out that they did an amazing job of porting two of the Arcade games voice samples across, you will hear both the phrase, “Get ready!” as well as the main characters death cry. Sure there are other voice samples which are missing from the arcade machine but the ones that are here are done brilliantly and really add to the feel of the game.

If I was to give this game a score I would give it a 6 out of 10, despite the fact Sega Used a large Master System Cart they just didn't manage to do quiet enough in my opinion, if only they had found a way to iron out some of the jagged graphics this would be better.

If you want to get a copy of this for the Master System well copies seem to be a bit thinner on the ground than they were for After Burner... Apparently CEX sell it for £4 for a loose cart but at present there are no copies of it available. the cheapest copy I could find online anywhere was a boxed copy missing its manual for £18 including postage and that's not a price I would recommend people to pay for this game.

Retro Game purchases: May 2018

So I had a bit of a later start this month I didn't grab my first Purchases until the 12th of Ma, so what did I get? Well I grabbed a loose GBA cart of Golden Son the lost age for £6 yesterday. I also got 2 boxed PS1 fishing games for 50p each but mostly got them as the cases look good and I have a few games I want to give nicer cases to. Its always great to get a well loved RPG for such a low amount though so not a bad start at all.

 
The following day I went into a indy shop after work and I grabbed sonic advance 2 cart only for the GBA  for £5. And then on the next day the 14th I grabbed loose carts of Pokemon Yellow and Pokemon Gold for £7.50 each from a mobile phone repair shop that occasionally has a few games.

On the 17th  Diddy Kong Racing Japanese cart only for N64 arrived through my door this cost me  £4 with free postage and was got to go with my slowly growing little collection of 60hz N64 titles. I then visited a shop where I got Shadow Dancer for Master system cart only for £3 and Indiana Jones and the last crusade for Master system cart only for £3

I didn't grab anything else then until a few days ago. On the 29th I grabbed Kwirk for the original Gameboy complete for £10, I thought this was a great pick up especially as not only was it in wonderful condition it also had a plastic cover box on it to help keep it nice. Then I got Final fantasy tactics advance cart only for £5 and Street fighter 2 turbo revival cart only for £5 , the cool thing with this is that I already have the box and manual at home waiting for Street Fighter, they were given to me a month or so ago by the charity shop my daughter works at. There is something kind of nice at getting the chance to reunite a cart with a box.

Then on the 30th I got Super Puyo Puyo for the snes Japanese cart only for £2 and Kirby's dream course for the snes Japanese cart only for £3. I just thought these were really good prices so grabbed them.

I finished the month off today with 2 games arriving in the post these were a Japanese N64 cart of DK64 for £3 and A Japanese cart of Mystical Ninja for £3(Prices include postage), I also went in a charity shop and got Tomas the Tank Engine Hero of the rails complete and sealed for the wii for £1.50.

So I spent £64.50. All in all this is not a bad month I would call it a sort of middling month, even more importantly I have taken far more old clothes and unwanted books out of the house and donated them to charity so I am actually making room not loosing it, I guess that one of the great things about so many of this months purchases having been small handheld game carts they don't take up much room at all.