This is a game I’ve wanted for a long time. It’s been hard to get simply because it’s expensive. If I were to guess I think it might be because Dahna never made it outside of Japan. And that is part of why I’ve wanted this game. I enjoy experiencing games that were exclusive to Japan. I feel like I’m finally getting a taste of some of the things I missed out on.
I actually had this game back in the day on my Mega Disk which is how I knew about it. I really liked the game but the floppy I had it on failed and Dahna and I were parted before I was ready. Now so many years later I have it again; properly. 🙂
Dahna
Dahna is a platformer and it controls reasonable well. The only thing I have trouble with are her three stances. You can stand, crouch and go prone. From standing you can push down and she’ll crouch, push down again from a crouched position and she’ll go prone… and then pressing up will cycle back through the three positions. Sometimes when I’m smashing the joystick a bit much I get stuck in a position I didn’t want. But really this is not an issue I just need more practice.
Despite not doing anything really well you can do some cool stuff. Jumping is well done and you have an upward thrust attack, you have magic and you can ride various mounts like horses and giants.
It’s a good fun game but not worth the typical price tag that I’ve seen it for. Dahna cost me $50 (including shipping). I’ve been looking for a good long while and I’ve never seen it complete and in good shape for less than $40. For me this is one I’ll play and enjoy having in the collection.
If it wasn’t for the fact that Japanese Sega Mega Drive games are slightly larger than Sega Genesis cartridges most of the Japanese Mega Drive library would be playable on the Sega Genesis. The larger Mega Drive carts just don’t fit into the slot opening of a Genesis.
A lot of games didn’t have any form of region encoding. If a game wasn’t too language dependent (as many are) non-Japanese speaking gamer would have access to games that didn’t get translated. It would also increase your chances of finding a particular title if English (or another non-Japanese language) was not a requirement for you.
I still have my same Genesis that my parents bought me many years ago when it was new. Back then I had the store I bought it from modify it for me. Now as I’m getting into my Sega games again I’m enjoying learning about some of the mods you can perform on the Sega Genesis.
I would say that widening the slot opening to accommodate a larger cart is the simplest mod and well worth doing. The concept is simple. File or shave away plastic from the edge of the cartridge slot opening. My choice of tool for this is the Dremel.
Test Subject
Not Bad. Pretty close to the mark.
Since I have never used a Dremel before I decided to test it out first. I wanted to get a feel for how it works. I used the plastic cover from a spool of DVD’s as my test subject. I marked off a section that I wanted to cut out… then I cut it out. The Dremel is basically a file that spins. As it spins you press the head against the surface you want to file down and it does just that. It was very easy and quick. I noticed that it was important not to spend too much time on one spot. I was constantly moving the Dremel head along the surface I wanted to remove trying to keep each edge uniform as I worked my way to my black line. After that simple test I was already confident that I could do this.
Nice snug fit.
“Sunsoft!!” Why?!
As I said my Genesis had already been modified and it could accommodate most Japanese Mega Drive games already. But there was one company called Sunsoft that used a cartridge that was slightly larger and these carts would not fit into my Genesis.
You can see above how a regular Mega Drive carts fits well and how the Sunsoft cart doesn’t fit at all. So there wasn’t much work to do which helps because this is my first attempt.
Dremeled
Dust Cover re-Installed
Just like my test on the DVD’s spool cover the Genesis was also easy to Dremel. The plastic was much harder and it took longer but it still was not hard to do. The Sunsoft carts are not much wider but just more square around the corners. So most of my time was spent expanding the four corners of the slot opening.
With the dust cover installed again you can easily see the size difference of the Sunsoft games compared to the Genesis carts.
Sunsoft cartridge now fit!
Playing Sunsoft
And here is it. My North American Genesis which can now fit a larger Sunsoft cartridge and any other Japanese Mega Drive carts as well. The second image shows my Genesis playing the Sunsoft game Panorama Cotton. The only mod required was to widen the opening.
I know this will not work for all Japanese Mega Drives games. For Example Golden Axe 3 and Sonic 3 are region locked and will display a message on screen and not load. Click Japanese region locked games for a more complete list.
There are some games that I really want in the collection.
I’ve started noticing that a lot of these games are the earlier releases from when I was most into my Genesis. Shadow Dancer is definitely one of those games. It’s a great game from a great series. The mechanic of your companion dog was really well done. It wasn’t over powered but still very useful. You could set your dog on an enemy and while the enemy was busy wrestling with the dog he wasn’t able to do anything else allowing you to easily take him out. This is a very good game.
This copy is in excellent condition and cost me $20 including shipping.
I’ve surprised myself at how pleased I am with these three new additions. Because of the language barrier I wouldn’t be able to play two of them and the third is unofficially ranked as the worst Sega Mega Drive/Genesis game ever… So why am I excited about these additions?
First, they’re were cheap and they are all in Excellent condition. Yay! Second, they all have pretty good artwork. And finally (and oddly) I found a positive review about Sword of Sodan on Sega-16.com that does a great job painting an entirely different impression of what is commonly thought of as a horrible game (more on that below the screen shots).
Rent a Hero looks like it could be a very cool game. I’ve read that it is a RPG that uses the Phantasy Star 2 engine but the combat is real time and similar to 2D fighting games. Sounds very interesting! I believe there is translated ROM lurking around the Internet. I might have to check it out.
Super Hydlide is a RPG that I almost bought back in the day. I loved the cover art so much I found it very hard to resist. A good friend was able to talk me down and save me from some disappointment. To this day I don’t know if Super Hydlide is bad or if it would have just been too complex for me as a kid… But now when cover art is enough I finally have this one for the Mega Drive side of my collection.
Rent a Hero
Super Hydlide
Sword of Sodan
Rent a Hero – $8.00
Super Hydelide – $5.00
Sword of Sodan – $10.00
Plus $14.00 for shipping (approx $12 per game)
Now, back to Sword of Sodan. I had never played this game and from all I read and what I saw of it on youtube I was ready to agree with the common consensus that it sucked really very hard. Then when browsing Sega-16.com I found a fans lengthy comments about his experience with Sword of Sodan and I was impressed. Not with the game but this gamers point of view and ability to explain the mechanics of the game and all the details that everyone else seemed to have missed.
Brothers and sisters, I am now among the few, the proud, the “WTF-is-wrong-with-you?”: for scarcely an hour ago, I beat Sword of Sodan on its highest difficulty setting. That is, Normal difficulty, three starting lives, and using the guy character — whose name is, I kid you not, “Brodan”.
Jokes aside, I think the game is far better than its reputation. Don’t get me wrong, it’s got loads of problems, and I totally understand why people are frustrated and annoyed by it. It also didn’t help that the game defaults to the hardest difficulty setting — it makes the first level almost unplayable, at least without a lot of experience and patience.
But it seems like Sword of Sodan is yet another entry in the long line of offbeat games with strange controls, and apparently high difficulty, that get trashed relentlessly as “worst game ever” (paging Bokosuka Wars)…but which, if you actually take the time to learn their idiosyncracies, are totally playable and even fun. I’ve gotten to the point where, on any setting except Normal/Brodan, I can beat the game at least 50% of the time.
I think I even…am I allowed to say this here?…likeSword of Sodan. A lot of people complain about the stiff animation, but it doesn’t bother me at all — it’s as if I’m playing a medieval painting come to life. And I like the fact that there’s no music during the levels, it’s a welcome change from all the in-your-face Poochie power-chord bullshit that plagues so many games from the early 1990s.
For the record, I want to dispel a few myths and misunderstandings about Sword of Sodan:
“You have to crotch-stab everyone” – Totally not true, and a really bad strategy to boot. The overhead (Up+C) and thrust (Forward+C) attacks are the key to this game, and 99% of the time, they’re the only attacks you’ll use.
“The pits in Level 5 are invisible” – Again, not true, they’re just concealed. If you look at the backgrounds closely, there’s a little divot in the stone floor that shows you exactly where they are. Almost everyone gets this wrong, including the guy who wrote the GameFAQs walkthrough, but kudos to the Sega-16 reviewer who gets it right.
“The hit detection sucks” – OK, it kinda does, but at least it’s consistent. Once you learn where the hit boxes are on your enemies, they’re pretty reliable.
“It’s unbelievably gay” – I can’t really argue with that, because it’s easily one of the most homoerotic games I’ve ever played, on a par with NES Ring King even. (Cue Jerry Seinfeld saying “Not that there’s anything wrong with that!”) I’d normally assume it was all unintentional, but when even the programmer bio in the manual says that “he may be on Uranus”, you really start to wonder. Actually, I think it’d be totally awesome if the whole game was deliberate camp; maybe John Waters could direct a sequel? “Sword of Sodan 2: The Battle of Baltimore!”
Having said that, there are two things that 100% suck in this game, at least if you’re playing on Normal difficulty. One is the first level, which is relatively easy with Shardan (the girl), but a nightmare with the guy, who doesn’t have enough reach to match the pikemen; a flaming sword (ahem) is the only answer here. The other one is the giant soldiers at the start of Level 5 where, unless you have an orange potion or a shield, it’s basically impossible to kill them if they double up on you.
There are some other things missing from the GameFAQs walkthrough, and I’ve thought about either emailing the author, or writing a second walkthrough of my own. For example, you can get through Level 4 (the zombie level) without taking a hit, simply by immediately jumping to the far right side of the screen and attacking repeatedly. Done correctly, it works every time: the zombies never have a chance, because you push them offscreen faster than the scrolling can catch up.
There’s a warp in Level 5, triggered by falling into the third pit (IIRC), that sends you straight to Level 6 and bypasses the rest of the giant soldiers. And in the final boss battle, you can actually drive him backwards just by kneeling right next to him! I also think he has some sort of regeneration timer — sometimes I’ve had to kill him three or four times before he changes into the wizard form, but if I do a lot of damage quickly, it only takes one cycle. (The occasional audio chime might have something to do with this? Not sure.)
So…anyone else out there who’ll stand up for this much-maligned but lovable freak of a game?
If you grew up in the ’90s in North America, you most likely have memories of the FBI logo screen and slogan “Winners Don’t Use Drugs” in most arcade games. Indeed, it has become a cultural icon of the time, although now merely relegated to a retro and sarcastic saying (Major League Baseball proved this false). At the time, it was on the forefront of the very serious War on Drugs… which in retrospect is sort of ridiculous.
However, to really get that arcade feeling, the kind people at Electronics Arts added a unique Easter egg for players looking for a quick fix. During the game, if you drink one of each kind of potion at the same time, your character’s chest bursts open and you fall to the ground, dying. Text appears that reads “Winners don’t do drugs.”
I’ve wanted the Final Zone the Genesis version of FZ Axis for a long while. It’s one of the few examples where the Genesis had different artwork but was also good. Good game, good artwork and very good condition. It’s a nice one for the collection.
Final Zone
Atomic Runner strikes me as an old style video game that managed to find it’s way to the Genesis. Similar to some of the Wonder Boy games where the levels always move to the right forcing the pace of the game. It’s also a one hit and you’re done game. I played it for a bit and it is very hard! It’s in very good condition and looks pretty good for the collection.
I know stopxwhispering over at retro-video-gaming is getting ready to post a review for this one but I’m guessing she still hasn’t beaten it; which for stopxwhispering is a prerequisite for her review. Good luck with this one! It’s a real challenge.
Atomic Runner
Global Gladiators is a franchised McDonald’s game. I wouldn’t have considered it except it was very cheap, complete and in excellent condition. The graphics are surprisingly good.
Global Gladiators
One of my main interests here is Land Stalker and unfortunately it’s not in as good shape as I thought it would be. I’d say the condition is good and I was expecting very good. I went back to the sellers pictures and there is no fault there. Sometimes pictures can be misleading. It’s a very good game but for the money I wish it was in better shape.
Land Stalker
Batman Forever was cheap and in excellent condition. <– That’s a big weakness of mine. But the game play is horrible. Global Gladiators is much much better.
Batman Forever
Final Zone – $24.95
Atomic Runner- $19.95
Global Gladiators – $5.95
Land Stalker- $29.95
Batman Forever – $8.95
Plus $3 for shipping. It wasn’t actually three but I was able to work out a deal and the seller took it out of the shipping cost. ($18.55 per game)
Here are four new addition for the collection. These four Mega Drive games are nothing too exciting but three of them are somewhat unique.
Darwin 4081 is another top down spaceship shooter. It’s in excellent condition and the game itself looks just ok. So nothing very special here.
Darwin 4081
Ringside Angel is the only Mega Drive/Genesis game to have a hologram cover and this copy is in excellent condition.
Ringside Angel
SHIKINJOH looks like it might be a good puzzle game. Music is good, graphics are simple and it could be a solid puzzler. What I like most about it is that it’s one of those few Sunsoft games to come in a very small case. If you look close you’ll also notice that the case spine is on the right. This style case is thoroughly Japanese! I’m curious why all Japanese Mega Drives games don’t open this way.
SHI KIN JOH
TEL TEL MAHJONG is another Sunsoft mini case and that’s the only reason I wanted this mahjong game.
TEL TEL MAHJONG
Darwin 4081 – $12.00
Ringside Angel – $10.00
SHIKINJOH – $12.00
TEL TEL MAHJONG – $10.00
Plus $23.50 for shipping (approx $17 per game)
Below is a picture of my four Sunsoft mini case games. I did a quick search and I couldn’t find any others. These might be the only mini cases releases for the Mega Drive. I do know that not all Sunsoft games come in these mini cases. Panorama Cotton for example has the over sized cartridge but with a normal size clam shell case.
Edit (Update): Roger posted a great comment below about these Sunsoft mini cases. Turns out there are seven in this style: Super Fantasy Zone, Batman, Shi Kin Joh, Tel Tel Mahjong, Flashback, Lemmings and Tel Tel Stadium. It might be hard to get these last three but I will try 🙂 Thanks Roger!
My Sega Mega Drive Sunsoft mini cases.
Edit (Update): My fellow collector geelw made a good point about Ringside Angel. What I described is not actually a hologram cover but instead a lenticular printing. But at the time of my original post “lenticular” wasn’t in my vocabulary.
geelw‘s comment below made me realize that I didn’t actually know what was on the cover and hidden by the lenticular printing. I was curious enough to pull it out and take a few pictures:
Lenticular Portrait
Lenticular Gun Show
So there is nothing too shocking (or interesting) here but finally we can put this Mega Drive mystery to bed.
Dahna
Retro Megabit 