Segaiden

Continuing on from last week, we go from Hang On II to just plain ol' Hang On. But this in no way feels like a downgrade; quite the contrary. With Hang On (and Teddy Boy Blues), Sega brings its home hardware into line with Nintendo's Famicom/NES, boosting the basic SG-1000 architecture with a monstrous upgrade to its graphical capabilities and essentially creating a new console in the process. The continuity created between Hang On and Hang On II offers a remarkably convenient way to compare the SG-1000's state of the art with the capabilities of its successor, and frankly, there simply is no comparison. Also in this episode: Notes on the Mark III hardware (which will be expanded when we make it to the Master System's U.S. launch) and extensive rumination on the history of pop idol video games. We're not done with SG-1000, though, so we'll resume exploring Mark III/Master System once that little journey is complete.

The SG-1000 didn't have much going on during 1986, with Sega's attention focused primarily on the shiny new Mark III console, but what little did make its way to the older console was pretty strong. After an indifferent shrug of a vintage-style single-screen arcade-format MSX port with Compile's C-So!, we get to the good stuff: ASCII's The Castle and Compile's Gulkave. The former, also an MSX port, is a game so demanding and expansive Sega had to bust out the cartridge format again. The Castle simply wouldn't fit onto a MyCard. And as for Gulkave, you may have trouble believing it fit onto the SG-1000, period. Definitely Compile's swansong for the platform, and the culmination of several years of development work for this hardware and architecture, and unsurprisingly a highly sought-after collector's piece.

A brief break in the SG-1000's strong run of final releases with a set of titles that will remind you of the not-so-good ol' days when the console's library was generally pretty rough. This trio earns most of its points for effort from Ninja Princess, which converts an arcade game quite convincingly save for one massive technical hitch that has a hugely disruptive effect on the action. Unfortunately, it's followed up by Super Tank, a much less enjoyable game that basically uses the same basic shooter-action premise as Ninja Princess, but poorly. And finally, Champion Kendou, the final original "Champion" sports creation for this console. It's not good, but as a game about kendou, it has the novelty of being... unique.

The penultimate set of SG-1000 games arrives as the system does its best to remain current and competitive in the medium's changing landscape with technology built around the expectations of an earlier generation of game design. Although the SG-1000 is woefully underpowered to hold its own amidst the new creative frontiers being explored on Famicom, Mark III, and in arcades, these final releases push the hardware well beyond anything its designers could possibly have intended or foreseen. The Graphics Tablet peripheral and Terebi Oekaki cart bring the creative functionality of a personal computer to SG-1000. Wonder Boy brings Mario-esque scrolling action to the system. And Champion Billiards... well, you'll recognize it when you see it. You can almost smell the flop sweat as the hardware tries to keep up—but it tries, dammit, and that counts for a lot.

In this episode, we look at the SG-1000's 1987 release lineup in its entirety... and, with those two games, we also wrap up the SG-1000 library as a whole. That's it! Go home! From now on, it's just Master System and beyond here on Segaiden. These two works are not necessarily the kind of thing you'd want to spend much time playing in the modern day and age, but they are very impressive from a technical perspective. Imagine playing games like Borderline and Space Slalom in the early days of the SG-1000, then ending up with a complete graphical adventure set in Victorian London with Loretta No Shouzou, or playing a sprawling dungeon RPG with The Black Onyx! No question about it, the SG-1000 went down aiming for the fences. Bless this mess of a machine.

Our shared journey through the SG-1000 library has been illuminating, and in this episode I attempt to encapsulate much of what has been covered here over the past year. This episode isn't simply a recap and recontextualization of the system, though—it's also an attempt to reconcile some issues in my coverage of the individual games. Part of what I've learned since early 2021 has been how to properly record the SG-1000 color palette, something I struggled with all along whether I was recording from Analogue clone hardware or an actual SG-1000. The system's limited but distinctive color options are a big part of what defines it! Also, we have a MUCH better sense of the actual release order of SG-1000 games thanks to the work of Gaming Alexandria. So, this episode is one part recap, one part quick review of 70+ games in proper order with proper color. From here, I'm going to take a brief Sega break before returning late this spring or early summer to dive into the Mark III and transit