"SEGA Classics" idea

[Mystic Monkey]

So there are threads for proposals for "SEGA Master System Classics" and threads for proposals for "SEGA Saturn Classics"

Heres my proposal: Rename and rebrand SEGA Mega Drive & Genesis Classics to simply be called "SEGA Classics":

SEGA Classics

The very same program but will have menu's for SG, Master System, Mega Drive (including 32X, Mega-CD), Sega Saturn and even Dreamcast.
Meanwhile the virtual bedroom updates how many consoles under the telly whenever you buy a game for a console you don't have.

(Those who purchased the Dreamcast collection may also have virtual copies of those Dreamcast games on SEGA Classics, except for NiGHTS who will end up on the Sega Saturn shelf.)

Also, perhaps SEGA can come to agreements with third-party developers they had history with and allow certain games to be unlocked for free when certain Steam games are purchased.
For example if you purchase Grandia II Anniversary Edition, SEGA Classics would give you the original Dreamcast version of Grandia II. (But it depends if the third-party developers who made games for Sega consoles would agree to such ideas.)

But wait, theres more!

If you own a physical copy of an actual Mega-CD, Sega Saturn or Dreamcast disk, just go ahead and stick it in your PCs disk drive and run it on "SEGA Classic". After all PCs run CDs, the mentioned consoles are CD-playing consoles, it just makes sense right?

Here are some other ideas of mine:

A Sega Museum
A 3D virtual museum, perhaps explorable with basic GMod like controls where you get to see old consoles, watch old documentaries, a game box art gallery and the like. It's interesting that Sega goes far back as "Service Games" in 1945, Hawaii with slot machines so there is a lot of history that Sega can tell us about.

Sega Shop ( shop.sega.com )
I do not know if this will be allowed in any of Steams policy on content of games but what if the game had a link to the Sega Shop online and allow purchase of merchandise with Steam Currency?

Recently on eBay, just roughly half an hour a go, I purchased a Master System. The first place I looked for my business was the Sega Shop but I'm honestly kinda suprise they don't actually sell their older technology (I'm well aware they're out of production but figured they would have third-party suppliers). Not even those AtGames Flashbacks which would make sense if they did. After all Nintendo sell their Mini-Consoles on their shopping channel, would it make sense for Sega to sell the Flashback on theirs?

I was also looking in the market for either a Sega Logistic Service Gamepad (That doesn't cost 98-200 US$) or the very least a licenced Sega DE-9 to USB adaptor which would allow '80s to mid-'90s gamepads to be playable on PC. The closest I can find was a bar of soap.

Steam users would appreciate an officially licenced DE-9, Mega Drive, Saturn or Dreamcast adapter to play SEGA Classics with, or very least sell LGS gamepads at a more reasonable price.
(I had to resort with a PlaySEGA gamepad.)

In all serious Sega, you can do A LOT with this "SEGA Classics" than just a modern emulator to sell your old games. Given your old consoles are becoming more difficult and expensive to come by, it would be a service not only to your interest but to the history of your company and to the interest of video games.

[Mystic Monkey]

I just had one more idea that is perhaps important for those who play the Dreamcast games:

Theres an App for that!

An official licenced Dreamcast controller adaptor to play SEGA Classics with would be vital if you want to play with a VMU. However given the impracticality, maybe there can be a phone app to allow multiple VMU games to be played. That way if you play Sonic Adventure on SEGA Classics and used the VMU Machine then your chao will be uploaded to your mobile phone so you can look after him while you're on the go.

[Beato_dim]

Most of it is kind of too good to be true considering we're talking about Sega, but possible (Museum, other consoles) - and Sega seems to be making SOME good decisions lately, so who knows. Third-party games and general emulation are, well, not bloody likely.

Oh, and wasn't Dreamcast on some proprietary non-CD format? Sure, it also supported CDs, but most/all games came out on that format instead.

[Mystic Monkey]

Originally posted by Beato_dim:

Most of it is kind of too good to be true considering we're talking about Sega, but possible (Museum, other consoles) - and Sega seems to be making SOME good decisions lately, so who knows. Third-party games and general emulation are, well, not bloody likely.

Oh, and wasn't Dreamcast on some proprietary non-CD format? Sure, it also supported CDs, but most/all games came out on that format instead.

Dreamcast games were made on GD-ROM. Can these discs be used on computers? Well yeah, you could find hidden artwork if you put Sonic Adventure in your PC but I don't think CD-Rom drives can read them.

I think how it works is that the Dreamcast functions like a CD-drive but it spins the GD at a different speed in order to read it. I'll admit I do not know the full mechanics of it but given computers with modern technology these days maybe it's possible?

So if I understand correctly, a PCs Disk Drive can read certain files from a GD-Rom (such as image files from Sonic Adventure disk) but I do not know if there is software that can directly tell your PCs disc reader how to read GD-Roms as well a sset the speed to do so. Way I see it, could be possible but will require some intricate fourth-wall programming to do so.

If backwards compatability is not possible then it could be cool if "SEGA Classics" has access to a database of every single Dreamcast game and just gives it to you for free by recognising the disc than actually playing it. But how I describe it, would probably be easier just for "SEGA Classics" to include the software for your disk drive to recognise GD Roms.

[ShadowAngel]

Originally posted by Mystic Monkey:

but I don't think CD-Rom drives can read them.

They can, you just need to force them too ;)
How else do you think all the piracy happened back between 1999 and 2002?
There are several ways to get a GD-Rom to be readable, though not all drives on the market back then were able to.
Those that could were used in usually 2 ways:
- The Swap Trick with a Trap Disc. Easy to do, worked fine most of the time
- Hacked firmware for the drive.

Because it has nothing to do with the speed of the drive (absurd!) but simply that the files are pack in such a way that normal drives don't read the full disc. Track 1 on a GD was always a Audio track, that was playable on all drives (and usually would tell you that this isn't a music cd). The CD Drives never looked further than this first track becuase the TOC said it only contained this one. Unless the disc contained some bonus stuff, that usually was on Track 3 with the TOC leading to that. Track 2 was the game itself and had it's own TOC.
By doing one of the two methods above, you simply forced the drive to look for that second TOC and then you were able to copy the entire content of the disc just fine.

[Chocice75]

The Dreamcast games wouldn't work because the Dreamcast had order-independant transparancy which allowed the devs of Dreamcast games to easily render transparent objects, and the author of the Dreamcast Conversion mod for SADX encountered tons of transparancy issues with the Dreamcast levels because no console before or after the Dreamcast had OIT, and only a few PCs have OIT, and those PCs are newer ones.

Many things such as water will fail to render behind other transparant objects, such as a splash of water.

[Mystic Monkey]

So on the off-chance Sega will agree to my idea and go as far as allow disk-based games to be playable on your hard drive, going as far as to emulate Dreamcast games on PC, even by Sega's licencing, would just be too much of a hassle?

[Chocice75]

Originally posted by Mystic Monkey:

So on the off-chance Sega will agree to my idea and go as far as allow disk-based games to be playable on your hard drive, going as far as to emulate Dreamcast games on PC, even by Sega's licencing, would just be too much of a hassle?

Most of the transparensy issues can be fixed, but some of them (e.g Sonic in SA1's Twinkle Park entrance with a light-speed dash charged) can't be fixed.

[Mystic Monkey]

I see. It be a pity given there are some who still own Sega-CD, Saturn and Dreamcast games but the consoles they're for are breaking down with age. After all there is only a finite number of the old consoles out there and they will only grow more expensive over time.

A Sega licenced emulator would be great to play the old games.

[Mystic Monkey]

Other ideas I recently had!

The Sega Arcade
Either corrosponds to my Sega Museum idea or a part of the Bedroom. The Sega Arcade is a wing to the Sega Museum where you can play Sega games that were exclusive to the arcade.

Steam purchaes unlock games!
Purchasing certain games, either for Steam or for SEGA Classics will give a free additional game with purchase.
Such games in mind are:
[url][/url]
Sonic the Hedgehog unlocks Sonic 1 for Master System
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 unlocks Sonic 2 for Master System
Castle of Illusion unlocks the original game for Mega Drive
Y'know, I'm sure you get the point by now.

[Przetrosz]

Sega Master System, Mega Drive, Game Gear, Saturn and Dreamcast games in one collection. I would love that.

[Ikagura]

As if Sega are actually caring about those things...

[Mystic Monkey]

THIS IS THE OPPOSITE OF WHAT I ASKED FOR!
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/34270/view/4450213135292301381?l=english

[The Mouse from Hyperion]

Well, maybe they'll do something like that after purging the MD classics and Dreamcast collection. Hope is still there, even tough it's unlikely.

[Mystic Monkey]

Originally posted by The Mouse from Hyperion:

Well, maybe they'll do something like that after purging the MD classics and Dreamcast collection. Hope is still there, even tough it's unlikely.

If they are, they better let us know they have something in mind.

This is why most are turning to emulators and roms. Not to obtain janky copies of latest games for free, but because there are some vintage video games you can only play by emulators these days.

To those who are too late to get SEGA Mega Drive & Genesis Classics after December 6th, they may have to resort to that to play some of the Mega Drive games that are unavailable on Steam any more.

I'm not condoning piracy, just it seems like most video companies are burying their old treasures for pirates to dig up.