Pirate Dragon

From Sega Retro

Pages with quotation marks broke?

--Pirate Dragon (talk) 15:00, 10 April 2013 (CDT)

This is still an issue, can anyone fix it?

--Pirate Dragon (talk) 08:11, 27 April 2013 (CDT)



for bogus pages use {{delete}} - Andlabs (talk) 21:16, 2 August 2013 (CDT)

About those Sega Power covers?

I was SO excited to see those as long as I'm a Sega Power fan (cause that was the longest running Sega mag ever). Anyway, about the low quality of those covers, of course I can read whatever's on them, but not everyone can read that. Also, there are some texts that can be barely seen on the very edges of each SP mag. I'm not criticizing, I'm just advising you if you could reupload them in a much higher quality and a longer width and length. OK, understand? Good.

-The low quality ones are from issues I do not own, they are scanned from small images in the back issues page of later magazines. Like most British magazines Sega Power was larger than A4 size, thus do not fit my A4 scanner, which explains the blurred and missing edges. If I ever get an A3 scanner I will rescan and upload all my larger than A4 scans, but until then I think this is better than nothing. --Pirate Dragon (talk) 14:59, 9 September 2013 (CDT)

Hey, Pirate Dragon. How are you getting down what issue and pages of Sega Power are the games reviewed when no true pdf full-issue scans of Sega Power have been found on the Internet?

-From my personal magazine collection. --Pirate Dragon (talk) 09:49, 23 January 2014 (CST)

Wow! By the way, as long as you got the whole Sega Power collection, would you be able to upload those full-issue pdf scans for everyone else who also wants to read them like the entire Mean Machines Sega collection at the texts section from archive.org? I mean really, am I the only one who wants to read Sega Power so badly?

-I don't have a complete collection of Sega Power yet, basically the ones marked off of the magazine reviews are the ones I own. Scanning all of them would take forever on my A4 scanner, and most of them are too big for it anyway.

I scanned and uploaded issue 10 here; http://forums.sonicretro.org/index.php?showtopic=32134&view=findpost&p=774377

I may scan more issues of S as they don't have too many pages and even though they are oversized the cropped edge is usually just a wide border with no content. Issues 13-22 are A4 sized so I may scan those at some point.--Pirate Dragon (talk) 08:38, 25 January 2014 (CST)

Uh, how much Sega Power issues are you gonna do for the game reviews?

-Those are all of the issues I currently have, when I get some new issues I'll add the reviews from them--Pirate Dragon (talk) 14:57, 27 February 2014 (CST)

You know the Hard Line feature in the Sega Power magazine that reviewed and rated every game on the Sega consoles, especially the ones that weren't regularly reviewed in previous issues (example: Desert Strike, Super Off-Road (Game Gear), Bulls versus Blazers, Air Rescue (Master System), etc.). So, how about you get down those reviews with the source containing the issue number and The Hard Line as the page source? That would be a favor... Thanks.

-I've already added the Hard Line reviews from when it started in issue 23. I have not checked to see if they added more games in later issues which they did not give proper reviews for. That can go on the todo list. You can sign edits here by using the second from right button at the top of the page. It makes it easier to see who I'm replying to--Pirate Dragon (talk) 09:32, 9 March 2014 (CDT)

-Some reviews may have just been missed by me, like Desert Strike which was reviewed in a different part of the magazine compared to the regular reviews. When adding literally tens of thousands of reviews there is bound to be a few misses or errors.--Pirate Dragon (talk) 09:45, 9 March 2014 (CDT)

-Air Rescue: never appears in Hard Line, Bulls versus Blazers: never appears in Hard Line, Super Off Road: Probably reviewed in issue 37. --Pirate Dragon (talk) 12:32, 9 March 2014 (CDT)

What about the review of Sonic 2 for Game Gear? We know it was reviewed in 38 where it got a 97%, but what about the pages it was on? And what games could be possibly reviewed in Issue 37?

-Sonic 2 GG, Issue 38, Page 67, 97%.

Issue 37 (probably incomplete); MD Dungeons & Dragons: Warriors of the Eternal Sun 80% MD James Bond 007: The Duel 76% MD Lemmings 85% MD Lotus Turbo Challenge 81% MD Predator 2 36% MD RBI Baseball 4 71% MD Side Pocket ??% MD Sonic 2 89% MD Super High Impact 48% MD Team USA Basketball 64%

MS Lemmings 89% MS Sonic 2 93% MS Taz-Mania 65%

GG Super Off-Road Racer 88% GG Wonderboy III: The Dragon's Trap 52% --Pirate Dragon (talk) 17:45, 16 March 2014 (CDT)

I want to know what games were reviewed in Sega Power Issue 53? I got down PGA European Golf, Yumemi Mystery Mansion, Barkley Shut Up and Jam, Mutant League Hockey, and the 8-bit versions of both Zool and Road Rash. Can you tell me what other reviews are in there?

-I don't have that issue I'm afraid--Pirate Dragon (talk) 18:35, 19 April 2014 (CDT)

But you're in luck; there is a copy of Issue 53 and it's on gamesworldbodmin.co.uk, so check it out.

Did I ever mention about the Sega Power Issue 53 copy at Games World Bodmin? Read my comments above and you'll soon get the point. I'm not even bluffing. So, could you respond back? Thanks.

-Buy it then

I'm sorry, but I can't. The website ships goods anywhere in the UK only. I'm not in here. You could buy it, so you'll have the opportunity to complete a bit more of your collection. Sorry pal, it's down to you. -Firbin4576

No, well duh, I just wanna know the games reviewed in Sega Power Issue 53, for crying out loud!

As I have already said, I do not have this issue. Please don't be so demanding, this is just a hobby, this magazine is not a priority for me at the moment. As I have also told you previously, I will add reviews for other issues as/when I have them. --Pirate Dragon (talk) 06:15, 3 May 2014 (CDT)

Um, Pirate....? You there? It's been two weeks since your last activity... -Firbin4576

Pirate, I have some things to tell you, and it's not another magazine request. 1. How long has the Hard Line been in Sega Power? Issues 23-?? 2. I saw that Alien 3, Evander Holyfield, and Prince of Persia (all for Game Gear) were found on the Hard Line. Those Hard Line reviews like these can go on your to-do list, as you said before. That's all I have to say for today. -Firbin4576

- 16-bit: 54, 8-bit: 53 (8-bit and 16-bit alternate every month in later editions)--Pirate Dragon (talk) 12:24, 29 May 2014 (CDT)

Are there any more reviews in Sega Power Issue 85? -Firbin4576

- How do you mean? I've already added the reviews from that issue--Pirate Dragon (talk) 16:32, 30 May 2014 (CDT)

-Any more issues of Sega Power or other mags? -Firbin

-I hear Depressor has tons full PDF scans of some magazines (Sega Visions, Sega Force Mega, Official Sega Saturn Magazine) on this site. Maybe at least a few PDF scans of Sega Power are to be done here. I've been searching every nook and cranny around the Internet, looking for a true full PDF scan of Sega Power aside from Issue 46 on archive.org and Issue 10 on some other site. But when I hear of PDF activity on segaretro.org, I think tomorrow will be the chance you put some more PDFs of Sega Power (best Sega mag ever!) on the site. You already have enough issues to get started, even though you don't have the complete collection. I am tired of wasting my life just looking for another Sega Power issue to read! I'm sorry I'm impatient, but it's time I want to read it after all these years... -Firbin4576

Look at what I typed up (the paragraph above). -Firbin4576

My scans can be found here; oldgamemags.com/consoles/sega/s-the-sega-mag Issue 62 can be found here (not mine); docdroid.net/gj0e--Pirate Dragon (talk) 14:04, 22 August 2014 (CDT)

You missed one game, Evander Holyfield for the Game Gear in Sega Power Issue 43. I filled in the SP column for you.

Uh, did you know it is possible to upload PDF scans of Sega Power on this website? I know you got many, but could you at least try to do so? And get Issue 53 off of gamesworldbodmin.co.uk? -Firbin4576

Look a few posts up, I already gave you the links to all pdfs I'm aware of, feel free to upload them yourself. I have no intention of getting issue 53 from there, so feel free to buy it yourself.--Pirate Dragon (talk) 16:43, 19 October 2014 (CDT)

You already know that Issues 13 and 14 are already uploaded on oldgamemags.com. So, can I have more issues uploaded there? -Firbin4576

Look above...

Yes I scanned those, I don't have any more issues scanned,--Pirate Dragon (talk) 16:05, 27 January 2015 (CST)

I mean, can you scan and upload more issues so we can get more information on the magazine's history including its many redesigns, the complete list its staff workers, the number of pages for every issue, and its monthly circulation? -Firbin4576

Yes, I plan to scan and upload more eventually, but it's time consuming with my current scanner, so it may be some time until I upgrade my scanner and scan some more. Did you download issue 62? I could do with an upload of this as I lost my copy of this when I updated my OS. --Pirate Dragon (talk) 12:40, 6 February 2015 (CST)

I beg your pardon, but if you could do me a favor and at least scan Issues 22 and 23 of Sega Power online to point out the bigger, more colorful, more feature-packed transition from the mag's first generation to the second, as well as exposing the details about Sega purchasing Virgin Mastertronic and turning it into Sega Europe in those issues? Sorry to bother. -Firbin4576

Bad Influence

I'm behind the times - I just learnt today there was a magazine

The TV show did reviews. Not very good ones, but do you think we should care? -Black Squirrel (talk) 13:23, 26 February 2014 (CST)

-You've probably already found it, but Bad Influence scans and TV shows are available here; bad-influence.co.uk/mag.htm

I guess we could also include TV show reviews. Other British gaming shows were Games Master (126 episodes), Games World (800+ episodes!), Movies, Games and Videos (Tons of episodes), Ben the Boffin on The Big Breakfast (probably tons of these too), and likely several others just from the UK alone. There was also the teletext service Digitiser (updated daily 1993-2003), and similar teletext gaming pages on other channels such as MTV. The vast majority of these teletext services were never archived though. Then we have radio station gaming programmes, I expect those would probably be difficult to come by too. I guess the ratings template would need to be adjusted to somehow incorporate broadcasts alongside publications. Many of these were mentioned in magazines, I'll see if I can collate some kind of a list. --Pirate Dragon (talk) 15:23, 27 February 2014 (CST)

Micromania, Gametype

Kudos to ICEknight:

Recently leaked - a Spanish magazine scanning project. I can't be arsed to deal with 100GB+ torrents (particularly on The Pirate Bay, because my ISP blocks it), but maybe one for the future -Black Squirrel (talk) 05:12, 17 March 2014 (CDT)

Yeah, I have those Micromania scans from when they were on Underground Gamer before it closed down. Also Spanish magazines Mega Sega, Mega Force, and Todo Sega. I'm not sure if they're available anywhere else now, so maybe I need to reupload/torrent them somewhere. They're all on the todo list once I've caught up with my UK backlog.--Pirate Dragon (talk) 15:25, 17 March 2014 (CDT)

Try this to get around ISP block; http://pirateproxy.ca/user/theflying/ --Pirate Dragon (talk) 15:35, 17 March 2014 (CDT)

Does anyone has thirteenth issue of Todo Sega? I Found the others but not this.... *Depressor (talk) 00:02, 9 April 2015 (CDT)

I have it, but it's too big to upload here (235mb), can upload somewhere else if you suggest where.--Pirate Dragon (talk) 14:06, 9 April 2015 (CDT)

It would be great... I think any filehosting is acceptable. Usually i use our russian "cloud" services with mail portals, but something like filefactory, transferbigfiles or even on google might be working. *Depressor (talk) 16:26, 9 April 2015 (CDT)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9EQ-1TXtelOLWV6Z3RkZFduZHc --Pirate Dragon (talk) 06:22, 11 April 2015 (CDT)

Thanks. Download it. May be later ask you about some Spanish magazines) *Depressor (talk) 06:20, 12 April 2015 (CDT)

Captcha: What is the international name for the Sega Genesis?

Is there any correct answer for this? Previously it would give a different question after an incorrect answer, but now it just repeats this one over and over again, and doesn't seem to accept any spelling or capitalisation.--Pirate Dragon (talk) 11:10, 30 November 2014 (CST)

You're better off contacting Scarred Sun directly for these sorts of wiki troubles - most of us don't have access to this sort of thing and I hate to see requests be buried. -Black Squirrel (talk) 11:25, 30 November 2014 (CST)
Will do, Thanks--Pirate Dragon (talk) 11:42, 30 November 2014 (CST)

Missing reviews from Sega Power

Issue 43: Evander Holyfield's "Real Deal" Boxing (Game Gear) Issue 75: Virtua Fighter 2, Sega Rally (both Saturn)

Added "Real Deal" now, there was a problem with the wiki at the time where pages with quotation marks in would not display. Issue 75 is also missing Virtua Cop, unfortunately those were reviewed in a supplement that came with the magazine which I do not have. Did you download Issue 62 that I uploaded before? The link is now dead and I no longer have that file.--Pirate Dragon (talk) 12:44, 2 December 2014 (CST)

I've seen that box before

If this is a legitimate, Sega-endorsed box (i.e. a Japanese-style Mega Drive in European-style packaging)... I might have been making mistakes, or rather, overlooking legitimate Sega stuff

I have these two marked as unknown clones:

200px 200px

does this mean they're not unknown clones?

Also I'd forgotten how horrendous that unlicensed list of consoles had become. What a mess. -Black Squirrel (talk) 15:47, 13 February 2015 (CST)

Yeah, Turkey is the same (Asian MD, EU packaging) will be uploading that shortly. I'm thinking that Japanese style Asian packaging may have been limited to East & South East Asia.--Pirate Dragon (talk) 16:10, 13 February 2015 (CST)
Turkey had the same packaging as both of those "clones" that you posted, so I think they're probably official.--Pirate Dragon (talk) 16:13, 13 February 2015 (CST)
Although the "official" sticker doesn't look too official, so it's quite possible that clones copied the official box design with fake stickers. It's difficult to know without being able to make out a known distributor's label.--Pirate Dragon (talk) 17:50, 13 February 2015 (CST)
That sticker turns up all the time, which is why I thought these were unlicensed clones in the first place:
MDClone1 Box Front.jpg MD2Clone22 MD Box Front.jpg MD2Clone15 MD Box Front Pink.jpg
I think it says "CEE Official". Which might mean Central and Eastern Europe. Or something else -Black Squirrel (talk) 04:31, 14 February 2015 (CST)
That probably stands for "Communauté économique européenne" or European Economic Community (EEC) in English, which became the EC in 1993, that doesn't leave a big window for those to have ever been used on real MD2s, but it's possible that clone makers copied it from an actual Sega sticker. I guess that's why Sega switched to holograms.--Pirate Dragon (talk) 07:08, 14 February 2015 (CST)
Okay I might have spotted the problem:
http://forum.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?172834-Sega-Mega-Drive-II-fake
It's the design of the box. The official ones flip open (disregarding any sleeves), while these clones come out of the side. Maybe. Honestly I don't know, although you're definitely right about the Turkish ones. -Black Squirrel (talk) 07:43, 14 February 2015 (CST)
Good spot with the flip top. The DOTTS one has that too, you can also see the same logo used in the back of this SMS Altered Beast [AlteredBeast_sms_arabic_manual.pdf|manual].--Pirate Dragon (talk) 07:53, 14 February 2015 (CST)

what's your thoughts - "Produced by U.M.C.":

http://www.ebay.com/itm/281601645591?rmvSB=true

also got relatively high-res shots of this one: http://www.ebay.com/itm/251864971663?rmvSB=true http://www.ebay.com/itm/111513276713?rmvSB=true

it all feels a bit odd to me -Black Squirrel (talk) 08:57, 4 March 2015 (CST)

"Produced by U.M.C." looks legit, same sticker as on Tianli VCD players, a clear picture here; http://www.sega-16.com/forum/showthread.php?18035-Compatible-Genesis-with-of-household-appliances-SEGA-authorized-a-third-party
I need to finish off editing those Tianli models, I have a lot of research already organised. Here is a 1998 page from Tianli's website; https://web.archive.org/web/20010509093453/http://www.xintianli.com.cn/copyriht.htm
Google Translate; "First, the correct identification of genuine Sega product:
       1, in a prominent position game VCD chassis have security signs:
            The flag has the following contents:
            UNDER LICENSE FROM SEGA PRODUCED BY U.M.C.
            (Meaning: Sega Enterprises Ltd. is authorized by the Japanese license, Taiwan UMC Co., Ltd.)
      2. After loading the game software, logo (SEGA) Sega Enterprises Ltd., and following appears on the TV screen
            PRODUCED BY OR UNDER LECENSE FROM SEGA ENTERPRISES LTD.
            (Meaning: Sega Enterprises Ltd from Japan or license production)
      3, who do not have these two games VCD, are counterfeit products, will be punished by law."
Mega Drive 3 (2000) also has a "Under licence from SEGA Produced by U.M.C." hologram. So it seems that during the late 90s and early 00s UMC were a licensed Mega Drive manufacturer, much like Majesco with the Genesis 3 (would be interesting to research if these were possibly manufactured by UMC too).
This model also has the same documentation as Asian MDs with JP style box, so interesting to see it in Western style box.
Second one seems like a nice clone, cool pad.--Pirate Dragon (talk) 17:14, 4 March 2015 (CST)
http://www.ebay.com/itm/SEGA-MEGA-DRIVE-2-GENESIS-PAL-EUROPEAN-ASIAN-NEW-NOS-VTG-BOXED-GREEN-BOX-/271664008492?pt=Video_Games&hash=item3f406fcd2c&nma=true&si=XYS9Z2%252FbYzzw%252FdwhvCQEGJ%252FkM%252BM%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557
bigg-ish green box PAL model - also UMC -Black Squirrel (talk) 14:02, 17 March 2015 (CDT)

Euro release dates?

Hi, I'm need of help searching for European release dates (exactly by month and year) of all Mega Drive, Master System, Game Gear, Mega-CD, 32X, and Saturn games. I looked and got some done through UK magazines, but still I'm confused! Can you help, at least? -Firbin4576

Yeah, this is really needed, and something I've been working on and off with for a while, but it's not something that will be achieved through monthly consumer magazines. Outside of major titles release dates were really fluid and could change from day to day, they were often out of date by the time monthly magazines were published. Games were also often released on different dates throughout Europe, so at least for Sega we should probably concentrate specifically on UK release dates as that's where SoE were based and which was also their biggest market. For games which were released in other European countries but not UK we can attempt to find out release dates for the main country it was released in, but outside of maybe France or Germany that may be extremely difficult to ascertain to any great accuracy. At least for Saturn and the few very late Mega Drive releases we have the Internet Archive (since 1996), here's Sega's UK Saturn release dates from March 1997 to July 1998; web.archive.org/web/19981202140918/http://www.sega-europe.com/saturn/satinfo.html . Maybe other publishers had similar pages for their Saturn titles, but unfortunately many just had US specific sites without much European content.

Where this data probably can be found is in weekly trade papers, the main one being "Computer Trade Weekly" which ran from 1984 to 2002. Unfortunately, like newspapers (but with a far lower circulation) these were highly disposable and practically never come up for sale. They are however archived at the British Library in London, but are held offsite and require ordering in advance to be delivered there for viewing. I think the maximum number of issues that can be ordered is 12 (which only covers three months), so it would require many visits over a long period of time. They also only have online records of shelfmarks for this paper going back to 1994, so for issues earlier than that it might be quite complicated to order them. As I live some way from London and have an unpredictable work schedule it's difficult for me to do this at the moment (especially as you have to visit there in person to register before you can even order stuff). Still, it's something I plan on doing eventually, but I can't give any time schedule on that.

Incidentally, it's only really Japan that has a documented history of video game release dates, not even the US does, and unlike the UK I'm not aware of a way to comprehensively document them for that region. This type of thing is well documented for music and movies, so I think it's important that we attempt to document it for video games too, so whilst difficult and time consuming I think that it should be possible for the UK at least.--Pirate Dragon (talk) 20:17, 24 February 2015 (CST)

I managed to get hold of an issue of CTW, it has an ad from sega with upcoming release dates, barcodes, rrps etc. Note that those dates are Thursdays whereas Friday was the standard UK release day. As this was a trade ad those are probably the date they shipped to stores, ready to be sold the next day. http://segaretro.org/File:CTW920928_Sega_UK_Trade_Ad.jpeg --Pirate Dragon (talk) 13:16, 15 March 2015 (CDT)
Mega Games I was sold separately? That would explain the different EU covers... perhaps.
Except now I have to find out if the same thing happened to Mega Games 2 and 3 (I'm guessing not, but better check) -Black Squirrel (talk) 15:14, 15 March 2015 (CDT)
Nice spot, I guess that's why it has the barcode--Pirate Dragon (talk) 19:58, 17 March 2015 (CDT)

Oh, wow! Thanks for the CTW Sega trade ad! By the way, what does it stand for and how many are there so we can get more and more exact dates? I hope we get the exact UK release dates of the original Sonic the Hedgehog (I wonder what it is) and many more games from 1990 to 1997!

CTW = "Computer Trade Weekly", the paper I mentioned above. 880 issues (1984-2002). That's the only issue I've ever come across, so it's unlikely I'll come across many others. So it will probably be down to visiting the British Library for other issues. I'm pretty sure Sonic date is already known (same week as US, might be a few days different), well anyway, those were big events, so I can get those dates, for example "Sonic Threesday" where Sonic Spinball, Sonic CD, and Sonic Chaos all released on the same day in the UK. Anyway, when this issue was published Sega UK were at their peak, they were the only one advertising their latest games, so I don't know how long they put those advertisements in there for. Disappointingly the CTW release dates page from then mostly has only vague dates, and they don't include Sega (I guess because they're the only one who advertised that anyway). So I don't know how long Sega's ads go back, but I suspect that towards the mid-90s CTW's release date page probably became more exact as the industry matured.--Pirate Dragon (talk) 20:14, 17 March 2015 (CDT)

Good news!! While looking through an issue of Games-X magazine, I finally discovered that Sonic 1 on the Mega Drive/Genesis was officially released in the UK on June 24th, 1991 (a day after the US release). Isn't that a great find?

a gift from me to you

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Sega-Mega-Drive-Genesis-Model-1-Console-PAL-B-Version-Bulk-Lot-with-12-Games-/191493157472?pt=AU_Consoles&hash=item2c95e1b260&nma=true&si=XYS9Z2%252FbYzzw%252FdwhvCQEGJ%252FkM%252BM%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

(and if the auction disappears: http://i.imgur.com/E5vFUID.jpg)

Hi-Star Electronics Pte Ltd.

distributors of PAL-B consoles in "South East Asia" (at least Singapore) before Wywy took over responsibilities around 1993. -Black Squirrel (talk) 13:38, 17 March 2015 (CDT)

Cool coincidence! I remember we discussed whether this was official or not before. My opinion at the time was that Hi-Star was an unofficial importer who PAL moded Japanese consoles. The reasons being that later in the 1990s Hi-Star became quite dodgy and were busted for importing lots of pirate cartridges, they then changed name, but continued to operate from the same address. I think this was from The Straits Times newspaper archive. Well, since then I've actually come across them mentioned in UK magazines from before WyWy complaining about the grey import and pirate market in that region. Then only a few days ago I worked out Sega's serial number format (turns out I'm not the first) and searching for something else on my computer came across an old selection of Hi-Star photos with serial number, which matched what would be expected of an official console from that date. So yeah, I think I was wrong on that and Hi-Star were an official importer which "turned bad" later on. Also, now notice that the "Produced by U.M.C." console you posted before has a serial code starting with "MX" instead of "MK", and the serial number indicates a 1996 release. Maybe I could consider "MX" as relating to a licensed manufacturer (and "MK" as Sega) if it was from when Sega stopped production and licensed out manufacturing in 97/98, but in 1996? I think that's unlikely. Infact, for a non-roman alphabet language speaking person K and X look quite similar, so I think that's a big give away that this model is most likely a clone. Not sure where the Mega Drive 2 Produced by UMC sticker came from though. Mega Drive is a nightmare, Master System is so much easier thanks to no known clones.--Pirate Dragon (talk) 19:47, 17 March 2015 (CDT)

"Pulsar"

That stuff about the boxes? Forget it http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/161655061645

"Pulsar". I think it might be from Bulgaria -Black Squirrel (talk) 13:56, 29 March 2015 (CDT)

And as an aside:
http://i.imgur.com/8B7MgVB.jpg
"T&T". Have you ever come across this company before (I can't remember if I mentioned it) - it's not an official distributor (I don't think), but this logo turns up on bootleg carts from time to time, and I could never work out what the story was -Black Squirrel (talk) 13:11, 2 April 2015 (CDT)

Brazilian magazines

Just leaving an explanation here since your user page is used for magazines' info and stuff. The Brazilian magazine "Gamers" went through four different names before they decide to stick with the final name: "Gamers". "Top Games" (sometimes called "TOP Games"), "ProGames", "Gamers" and "Gamers Nova Fase" (New Phase/Stage). Their order is also very whack, and some of them are re-releases with a different cover/name (I can list their order and explain further if necessary). --AllisonKidd (talk) 17:08, 16 July 2015 (CDT)

We generally treat renamed publications as separate publications (Example: S: The Sega Mag/Sega Power/Saturn Power). It does complicate things when they republish older reviews in the newly name mags. Feel free to edit the page if there's anything you think needs adding.--Pirate Dragon (talk) 16:08, 20 July 2015 (CDT)
In that case the only important thing to note is that Top Games #2 and ProGames #1 have the same content; as well as Top Games #3 and ProGames #2. I'll list the number of issues of each magazine and add others not listed though. --AllisonKidd (talk) 17:09, 21 July 2015 (CDT)

Sales charts

I have been waiting for this day:

Icon newentry.svg Icon decrease.svg Icon increase.svg Icon steady.svg

Although Wikipedia doesn't have a symbol for re-entry. Might have to invent one -Black Squirrel (talk) 04:36, 9 June 2016 (CDT)

Thanks, although I'm struggling to fit them in neatly whilst retaining the previous position's number.--Pirate Dragon (talk) 08:05, 9 June 2016 (CDT)
OK, I think I've found the best solution, a re-entry symbol isn't really necessary as it's essentially just an increase in position.--Pirate Dragon (talk) 08:48, 9 June 2016 (CDT)

part numbers

These part number codes cover waaaaay more than just games - it might make more sense to simplify the table to something like:

Number Description Reference
670-0062 JP Mega Drive cartridge sticker (back) [1]

Maybe template it out a bit - it'll get very messy very quickly otherwise:

  • Error creating thumbnail: convert: unable to write blob `/tmp/magick-nXvWLiEeuU_UJ_QhN1VbWdphCL78E6s2': No space left on device @ error/blob.c/ImageToFile/1919.

    convert: unable to write blob `/tmp/magick-crAcViB-w70SOlMxyyAevPbe2n76bCwZ': No space left on device @ error/blob.c/ImageToFile/1919. convert: no decode delegate for this image format `' @ error/constitute.c/ReadImage/580. convert: no images defined `/home/sonicret/domains/segaretro.org/public_html/images/temp/transform_42d60696f725.jpg' @ error/convert.c/ConvertImageCommand/3229. GPL Ghostscript 9.53.3: Unrecoverable error, exit code 1

this is set to be a list of everything ever - you might be better off figuring out a way to automate it a little -Black Squirrel (talk) 12:33, 29 July 2016 (CDT)

Yeah, I'm still figuring out the best way to do this before I push it out to the main wiki. It will eventually have to be broken down to separate pages to keep it managable. I'm just bothering with software and hardware "paperwork" and discs for now. I'll leave it for someone else to deal with the individual components right down down to screws and resistors :p I'm not sure that I have the skills to automate it, but I'm open to suggestions.--Pirate Dragon (talk) 13:13, 29 July 2016 (CDT)
Change of plan, kinda sorta. On the scale of pain, I put documenting part numbers ahead of documenting Japanese dating simulators, but behind documenting plastic models of underage anime schoolgirls (and the raping simulators on NEC Retro). Maybe the worst job on these wikis that doesn't question your moral choices.
I would still create tables similar to the above, but in the description field, list how it is written in an official Sega manual. So a fuse from Congo Bongo would look like
Number Name Reference
514-0002 Fuse 3A Norm. [2]
If we don't have an official description, make one up and put it in italics.
For full documentation we might want to mention where the part is used and link up photos and scans, but that would be completely insane from a standing start. "Here are photos of an official Sega flathead screw, with multiple angles!"
I suggest each three-digit code gets its own page, something like:
etc.
Sub-pages of a Part numbers page which is basically a list of these three-digit numbers and vague descriptions.
This basically means its a copy-editing exercise. It'll take an age, but I think this is the most manageable way to do it -Black Squirrel (talk) 11:41, 2 August 2016 (CDT)
I had pretty much come to the same conclusions, some of these parts are used in more than one console, and more than one region, so it's best to just stick to the "most descriptive" official description where available (the same part can be described differently in different manuals). Also agreed with three-digit code/page. Although I'm not sure how we're going to manage something like 670 which runs into five figures.

I thought I'd start with something simple (AC adapters), but I wonder if it would be useful to add a column for the consumer product code (where known). For example part number "400-5048Y" (and possibly some other part numbers) would be more commonly known as "3025-18". --Pirate Dragon (talk) 12:27, 2 August 2016 (CDT)

It's up to you, but it is more work =P -Black Squirrel (talk) 12:28, 2 August 2016 (CDT)
Actually, I'm inclined to agree :p--Pirate Dragon (talk) 16:48, 2 August 2016 (CDT)

MX-xxxx model numbers

http://www.ebay.com/itm/SEGA-MEGA-DRIVE-2-GENESIS-PAL-EUROPEAN-ASIAN-NEW-NOS-VTG-BOXED-GREEN-BOX-/281912463783?hash=item41a34ad1a7:g:juQAAOSwGWNUYFsm

real or fake -Black Squirrel (talk) 10:26, 1 August 2016 (CDT)

Fake, no space between "MODEL" and "NO", and no "MADE IN JAPAN". Also some differences to real shell. There's no metal screw hole (just an empty hole). Here's a real MK-1631-07 from that factory (A) in that year (6); http://i.imgur.com/BOgmULZ.jpg --Pirate Dragon (talk) 11:13, 1 August 2016 (CDT)
Also, no rubber foot in the middle (despite claiming to be "NOS"), and not enough characters in the serial number.--Pirate Dragon (talk) 11:39, 1 August 2016 (CDT)
So would this all mean this is fake - it looks like the same box -Black Squirrel (talk) 12:14, 1 August 2016 (CDT)
Yes, most likely. Also, the RF unit is quite funny; FOR "GENESIS" & "MEGADRIVE" SYSTEM ARE REGISTERED TRADEMARKS OF SEGA ENTERPRISES LTD. Actually, I'm not even sure that real Asian MD2s came with RF units, and Sega wouldn't bother with PAL N either, that was TecToy territory. Looking at unboxing videos, they came with AV cables. A clearer picture of that RF unit here;

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l112/nahjos_2006/18-05-09_153036.jpg~original --Pirate Dragon (talk) 12:33, 1 August 2016 (CDT)

I have a unfounded theory that distributors may have had to source their own video cables and power supplies. It doesn't seem feasible to me that Sega would be manufacturing units for every standard on the planet, but idk.
PAL-N is TecToy territory... but it's also not. TecToy seems to have flirted with the country through a third-party called Gameland:
File:ActionGames AR 002.pdf
but I'm not entirely sure they were still bothering when it came to the Mega Drive. We do have a PAL-N box (and a PAL-M one with a T&T logo that turns up in all sorts of knock-off tat). There's a small handful of Action Games scans that still need putting together - it might provide answers. -Black Squirrel (talk) 14:05, 1 August 2016 (CDT)
There's actually a limited number of PSU types needed. For example Thai MD2 came with MK-1636-18, which was the standard Euro one. IIRC Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia (and probably many other former British colonies) are the same as the UK. The only other major PAL one was for Australia. The different PSUs are listed in the service manual. By bundling composite AV cables they avoided needing different RF units.

TecToy used third party distributors for their hardware in Argentina and Uruguay (I don't see much evidence that they ever bothered with Paraguay, even though they had the distribution rights for there too), but it was still TecToy hardware. SoA had the rights to the NTSC Latin American countries. Sega never actually made anything for PAL-N countries.--Pirate Dragon (talk) 14:39, 1 August 2016 (CDT)

I got lazy and didn't read the whole conversation here, but I remember Tectoy had partners/distributors in every country of South America between the mid 1990s and early 2000s. A tad bit of evidence can be seen here, though only Argentina, Uruguay, Chile and Guatemala are listed. I remember seeing an archived page where other countries and distributors are mentioned but the bookmark is lost somewhere. Also, I dunno if this helps but the boxes in all South America looked like the ones seen in Brazil (here is an example, you can barely read the "PAL-N" sticker but "Verdadera imagen de la TV" is in Spanish). Anything without a Tectoy logo certainly isn't something official from South America. --AllisonKidd (talk) 17:54, 1 August 2016 (CDT)
Note that whilst they may have distributed their other products in Guatemala, they only had the Sega rights for Mercosur countries (which consisted of Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay in the 1990s). Basically the PAL M/N countries. NTSC countries like Chile had to go through SoA.

http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/GOTW/Brazil/tectoy.html

Arnhold then picked up the story of how things progressed over the years, eventually moving beyond the Brazilian market and into neighbouring countries. Considering how long ago events happened, his astute memory impresses. "In 1988, after our first full year in the market, TecToy launched 45 products and became the number two toy manufacturer in Brazil. In 1991 the Game Gear was introduced and turnover reached US$ 100 Million, and by 1992 we were already the largest toy manufacturer in the country. Our promotional investment reached US$ 10 Million and we started operations in Argentina and Uruguay, as Sega gave us the task to coordinate all MERCOSUL markets." --Pirate Dragon (talk) 18:04, 1 August 2016 (CDT)

Wirehead having a PAL Mega CD release? Sega Power issue 75

Hi, Do you know where i can find a back issue of Sega Power issue no.75? or at least image scans of where they review the Sega CD game Wirehead.

  • I ask because i was looking through my own copy of Issue no.83 and they quote Wirehead in the Hard line section, as being released by Sega with a RRP of £39.99, they apparently reviewed it in no.75 with a score of 10%.
  • I would like to see if PAL versions of this game really do exist, maybe as review promos or as retail releases. if the statement is true, this might of been the last PAL Mega CD game released.

(guessing they did'nt import the US version)

  • I uploaded scanned images of the statement in no.83 onto the Wirehead wiki page

Thanks in advance Jun.

    • Yes, they reviewed the PAL version, and said that it was already available, so it was planned to have been released when the magazine was published (beginning of December, 1995). However, it clearly wasn't released at retail (probably due to bad feedback by reviewers etc), but there are possibly PAL review copies about ... good luck with finding those. Other PAL Mega CD games were released after this was planned to. I'll scan this magazine next.

--Pirate Dragon (talk) 14:52, 8 March 2019 (EST)

Alright!!! again, thanks, and good luck with the scans. (Jun The Detective) 00:12 10/03/2019

see facts

out of curiosity's sake, where did those teletext screens on Retro CDN come from? -Black Squirrel (talk) 17:05, 30 January 2020 (EST)

There's a bit of a community for teletext recoveries now. Digitiser being the most popular, most are uploaded here*. One of the teletext recovery guys who has been supplying Digitisers has been posting other teletext magazines to his twitter here**. I thought that as we now have Sega reviews from several different multi-format teletext magazines, then the current Digitiser page on Segaretro was outdated and this stuff would be better suited on retrocdn. As these were sequentially numbered they are easy to make into PDFs. Thanks to the "printpage" feature that you explained to me, we can also give the original page/subpage number. Just testing now, but does this seem like a good idea? Pirate Dragon (talk) 17:17, 30 January 2020 (EST)
That's fine
it was more on the off-chance that these images were generated from real teletext data - it might have been fun to use some magic web powers alongside this font to emulate a real page. -Black Squirrel (talk) 10:54, 31 January 2020 (EST)

Magazines and loops

A recent change to the loops extension settings means a few things are broken. It's nothing to worry about, just keep adding things as you would normally. It'll work after some adjustments are made. - Hivebrain (talk) 19:57, 30 January 2020 (EST)

Tonight on "things I forgot existed"

I made a cargo template to store part numbers - Template:PartNumberStore

number product format partdesc fileref filerefpagenumber
670-2847 ScanboxTest Mega Drive cover Sor2 md jp cover.jpg
670-8621 PartTable SAT JP disc Nights sat jp disc.jpg
670-8622 PartTable SAT JP spinecard NiGHTSintoDreams Saturn JP Spinecard.jpg
670-8623 PartTable SAT JP cover NiGHTS Saturn JP Box Back.jpg

it was never widely used, but with a bit of template magic you should be able to get it to generate lists.

I guess the idea would be to put part numbers on individual game pages or whatever, and this would group similar ones together and make things nice and clean -Black Squirrel (talk) 12:00, 19 May 2020 (EDT)

My plan was to list part numbers in scanboxes (see Template:ScanboxTest), along with dimensions, weights and barcodes. I haven't been able to implement it yet because loops and thumbnails are broken. I'm not sure what to do about recurring parts though (cases, stickers etc.). - Hivebrain (talk) 14:40, 19 May 2020 (EDT)
Some parts have variants with the same part number (usually just something simple like "made in Australia"), so that should probably be accommodated somehow too.-Pirate Dragon (talk) 15:37, 19 May 2020 (EDT)

Articles

Hi. Do you manage to upload one of these until end of this month ? Do you have access to more of the articles from that site, because I have a few others that could have an interesting info and maybe you can upload them too ? Geti3220 (talk) 16:04, 26 April 2023 (EDT)

I have to scan them first, I'll try to find the time over the weekend.Pirate Dragon (talk) 13:19, 27 April 2023 (EDT)
I would like to ask if there is still a chance to upload it (or maybe they have already been uploaded and I miss it, then sorry). Geti3220 (talk) 08:29, 18 June 2023 (EDT)
I known I might be little stubborn to ask about it again, but I would like to know the answer. - Geti3220 (talk) 06:23, 17 September 2023 (EDT)
I scanned one of them[3], it's very time consuming and I don't have time to find and scan the other one. It's not as easy as just uploading something. Please stop nagging now - Pirate Dragon (talk) 11:42, 17 September 2023 (EDT)
I know, I've asked you about this only twice in 5 months, not 5 minutes every day, so please understand. Thank you for this and if you will have some free time someday, consider scanning the other one missing. Cheers. - Geti3220 (talk) 12:52, 17 September 2023 (EDT)

buzz

Teletext is a bit awkward - you may have realised this

GameCentral/Archive/2003 is probably the best example of what you'll need to do to get Buzz to work on videorows. You'll want a cargo table that looks a bit like Special:CargoTables/gamecentral

if I'd known there was going to be more than one worthwhile Teletext... magazine(?) I'd have invented a less hacky solution -Black Squirrel (talk) 17:48, 22 July 2023 (EDT)

Thanks ... yeah, I was expecting to have to ask for help with this :p Pirate Dragon (talk) 17:52, 22 July 2023 (EDT)
OK, I'm stuck, how do I generate the cargo table?Pirate Dragon (talk) 07:02, 23 July 2023 (EDT)

There's probably something simple I'm missing, but still can't work out how to generate the cargo table.Pirate Dragon (talk) 05:34, 24 July 2023 (EDT)

Actions -> Create data table
Special:CargoTables/buzz -> R.C. Grand Prix/Video coverage
ding :) -Black Squirrel (talk) 05:59, 24 July 2023 (EDT)
Thanks, still not sure where that gets done, but I'll work it out for future reference Pirate Dragon (talk) 06:23, 24 July 2023 (EDT)
Ok, I guess that's on the table template page ... doh!Pirate Dragon (talk) 06:29, 24 July 2023 (EDT)

typey typey

You might be more on top of this than I am: https://archive.org/details/1986.06-bumper-book-of-pocket-programs/page/56/mode/1up this SC-3000 type-in came through overnight - not sure if it's a reprint -Black Squirrel (talk) 10:07, 23 March 2024 (EDT)

Ah yeah, this is a reprint from this issue;

https://archive.org/details/1986.01-year-book/page/159/mode/2up

that Star War one by Jan Jacobsen was also printed in a few other magazines/newsletters, I haven't worked out yet how best to deal with that.Pirate Dragon (talk) 11:26, 23 March 2024 (EDT)

  1. ↑ File:Curse MD JP Cart Back.jpg
  2. ↑ File:CongoBongo Arcade US Manual.pdf, page 172
  3. ↑ File:CTW UK 586 Europe Supplement.pdf
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