Wednesday 25 July 2012

First Look Master System #2

Galactic Protector by Sega (1988) - Master System

Considering the Master System, or rather Mark III's spectacular lack of success in its homeland, it's surprising to find that a few of its titles were not released anywhere else, even ones featuring popular characters. In some cases this is because they were designed for use with the equally Japan-exclusive paddle controller. I took a look at one of theses titles in a previous First Look post, and here is another - a Fantasy Zone game I knew nothing of until recently! Well, it's a bit of a stretch to call it an FZ game but it does feature Opa-Opa, and presumably Upa-Upa as well since it's a two player game. The little ships are responsible for guarding a series of planets from orbit and attempting to shoot down all the enemies and objects that head their way. It's a simple, no-frills game with basic graphics and sound and repetitive gameplay, and it's almost impossible to play with a standard controller, but I still like the look of it - I can see it being a lot of fun in short bursts. Now to find a paddle controller!

RKS Score: 3/5

5 comments:

  1. I've always loved the look of this one, but I've yet to play it. I know it's included on the Fantasy Zone Complete Collection for PS2 (Japan-only), and I plan on getting that soon, so maybe I'll finally play it then :)

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  2. Yeah, I thought about getting that as well, Bryan - I'd love the PS2 collection actually, but getting a Jap PS2 and copy of the game would probably be just as much of a pain in the arse as finding this game and paddle controller for the Mark III! :P

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  3. The Master System had the standard 9pin connector, right? I wonder if other paddles are compatible? The Atari 2600 one springs to mind.

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  4. It did indeed have that connector, my MegaDrive arcade stick works with my MS :) That's a very good point about the paddle too which makes me think of anther - I wonder if you can get a PC-compatible paddle for use with MS and VCS emulators, and perhaps ones for other systems too :|

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