Game Gear games that fail to get to gameplay

[the1ross]

Today I went through the entire Game Gear library testing each and every game to see which didn't work. Out of the ones that didn't work, I tried about half in Kega Fusion and they all ran fine, so I don't believe any are bad rom dumps.

These games didn't boot at all and just display a black screen: Gear Works Kawasaki Super Bike Challenge Lemmings Micro Machines Micro Machines II Pac Attack Puyo Puyo 2/ Dr Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine Puzlow Kids SS Lucifer Super Space Invaders World Series baseball games / Major Pro Baseball

The next list of games do boot but the title screen graphics display incorrectly and part of the screen is cut off on some, they also crash before gameplay unless otherwise stated: Chase HQ Micky Mouse Castle of Illusion Olympic Gold Barcelona Prince of Persia Predator 2 RC Grand Prix (this one has similar issues as the others in this list but it does manage to get to gameplay) Super Kick Off WWF Steel Cage

These games also refuse to get to gameplay: Ceasor's Palace (game crashes after registering your name) GP Rider (crashes at title screen when you push start) Joe Montana Football (crashes at coin toss) Mortal Kombat 2 (screen goes black after Acclaim licensing info) NFL 95 (crashes at Sega logo) Pop Breaker (at title screen you can move up and down between game options but it wont register a button press, so you can't start the game) Primal Rage (crashes at the title screen after the intro) Stargate (hangs at Acclaim logo) Tanto R (screen goes black after title screen, game doesn't boot)

Other glitches/ bugs I noticed: X-Men games (X-Men logo on title screen is glitched)

[the1ross]

Outrun and Outrun Europa also refuse to boot and just display a black screen.

[theflynn49]

this fixes most of the "don't boot" list : https://github.com/theflynn49/SMS_MiSTer/commit/53f909fb1205fe4a542c535c3c292c2bb66e6b9f

[theflynn49]

These games didn't boot at all and just display a black screen: -Gear Works ... Done -Kawasaki Super Bike Challenge ... Done -Lemmings ... Done -Micro Machines ... Done -Micro Machines II ... Done -Pac Attack ... Done -Puyo Puyo 2/ ... Done -Dr Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine ... Done -Puzlow Kids ... Done -SS Lucifer ... Done -Super Space Invaders ... Done -World Series baseball games ... WONTFIX Emulicious doesnt work either (mess with $8000 mapper) -Major Pro Baseball ... WONTFIX Emulicious doesnt work either (mess with $8000 mapper)

The next list of games do boot but the title screen graphics display incorrectly and part of the screen is cut off on some, they also crash before gameplay unless otherwise stated: -Chase HQ ... Done (rename .gg to .sms or .bin thanx to gyurco) -Micky Mouse Castle of Illusion .... Done (rename .gg to .sms or .bin thanx to gyurco) -Olympic Gold Barcelona .. Done (rename .gg to .sms or .bin thanx to gyurco) -Prince of Persia .. Done (rename .gg to .sms or .bin thanx to gyurco) -Predator 2 ... Done Works, but my copy is a .sms to start with though. -RC Grand Prix (this one has similar issues as the others in this list but it does manage to get to gameplay) .. Done (rename .gg to .sms or .bin thanx to gyurco) -Super Kick Off .. Done (rename .gg to .sms or .bin thanx to gyurco) -WWF Steel Cage ... Done (rename .gg to .sms or .bin thanx to gyurco) notice : all these games belong to the SMS-GG tagged category : http://www.smspower.org/Tags/SMS-GG

These games also refuse to get to gameplay: -Ceasor's Palace (game crashes after registering your name) ... Done (Works) -GP Rider (crashes at title screen when you push start) ... Done (Works) -Joe Montana Football (crashes at coin toss) ... Done (Works) -Mortal Kombat 2 (screen goes black after Acclaim licensing info) ... Done -NFL 95 (crashes at Sega logo) ... Done (Works) -Pop Breaker (at title screen you can move up and down between game options but it wont register a button press, so you can't start the game) ... NEXT REL added OSD region -Primal Rage (crashes at the title screen after the intro) ... NEXT REL : canary overwrite -Stargate (hangs at Acclaim logo) ... Done -Tanto R (screen goes black after title screen, game doesn't boot) ... Done (Works)

-X-Men games (X-Men logo on title screen is glitched) ... Done -Outrun refuse to boot and just display a black screen. ... Done (Works) -Outrun Europa also refuse to boot and just display a black screen. ... Done (rename .gg to .sms or .bin thanx to gyurco)

[the1ross]

Thanks! Awesome work mate. I'll check some of these out when I get home. Out of the games left to do, most can be played on Master System (or other systems) anyway. Being an exclusive shmup to the system, Pop Breaker is probably the only really desirable game left on the core to get working.

[the1ross]

Predator 2 does certainly exist by the way, it got a US and European release. https://segaretro.org/Predator_2

[theflynn49]

Hello. Thanks for your dedication trying all these games ;) I finally found Predator2. Be careful to use the lastest core sources to date if you want to try these games, as the binaries have not been published yet.

[gyurco]

SMS-GG type games: just rename them to .sms or .bin

[theflynn49]

... hmmmpff I was getting ready to add an option in the config menu for that; Emulitious kind of detects this automatically, it is using the region code at $7FFF but it's unclear. the trick works for Chase HQ I just tried it ... master elegant move Mister Gyurco :) edit: just tried the other games. it works obviously. Finally it's like the real GameGear has a SMS emulator embedded...

[gyurco]

The original GG has a pin on the cartridge port which switches to SMS mode. That can be emulated by OSD or renaming the file :)

[theflynn49]

If you ask me, it's worth a line of explanation in the README.md file...

[theflynn49]

Ok, I have updated my comment above with all the status of all games. The status NOT SURE is a weird bug someone might look at in the future since other good emulators don't support them either. There are two interesting bugs I will look into asap : the lack of the GG parallel and serial ports, and the sprite double-sized bug. Most of the rest works with the latest core.

[theflynn49]

35 should fix X-Men and Pac Attack

[theflynn49]

36 Should fix the GG-specific hardware issues

Now I need to rest a little ;) :sleeping_bed:

[sorgelig]

Everybody needs a rest :)

[theflynn49]

"Primal Rage" in fact has a bug : it uses the normal mapper, but writes something at ROM address 0000 unlashing hell. So I had to write a stronger mapper selection mechanism. -> next release

[theflynn49]

I fixed Pop Breaker, it needs a "Japan" region parameter.

The only two games I couldn't fix are -World Series baseball games -Major Pro Baseball

It seems to me that they use a standard mapper, and then they mess with address $8000; so they probably have a dedicated hardware or mapper. I couldn't find any more info about this, so I give it up.

I will make a PR within minutes, if someone wants to make some early testing, he can use my latest core

[sorgelig]

Probably they use EEPROM as many sport games on Genesis. From my point of view these games are plain rubbish - not worth the effort.

Sport games usually go to trashcan as new console out with more realistic video. It's not like Sonic or Mario which won't get old regardless how good graphics on the modern consoles.

[theflynn49]

lol ... I was just trying to make a full strike with this issue :D

[the1ross]

That's excellent. Can't wait to get home and try Pop Breaker on the big screen.

It'll be a struggle, but I think I can just about live without Major Pro Baseball in my life.

[the1ross]

Ok, tried a few of the games that didn't work beforr and they're fine now. Pop Breaker still has the same issue, but I guess I misunderstood you and that'll be fixed in the next release.

[theflynn49]

Did you use my latest core ? And you need to select "Japan" in the new "region" OSD parameter to have this game working

edit: Micromachines II seems to freeze again

[theflynn49]

Micromachines II is back online ;)

[thehughhefner]

Has this issue been solved? If so then this ticket can be closed