Segaiden 57: Rescue Mission & Maze Hunter 3-D [rough cut] (Patreon)

This is, I'm afraid, not the most auspicious start for the return of Segaiden! I've uploaded an incomplete episode this morning. It's not that I didn't have time to complete it, but rather that I didn't have the correct equipment.

I had previously recorded Master System footage from a modified Japanese Mark III console, which had been tweaked to allow simultaneous RGB video output and FM sound from the FM Unit attachment. It did have some limitations, however, most notably that the Mark III lacked the ability to work with the Light Phaser light gun—a gadget Sega invented for the U.S. Master System. However, for the back half of the Master System library, I decided to move my production process over to a Japanese Master System. That machine is less aesthetically pleasing than the Mark III—it looks identical to an American Master System—but it included a few enticing benefits. For starters, it supports FM audio and RGB video right out of the box, no mods needed. Secondly, it has a built in 3.5mm jack for the 3-D Glasses, no Sega Card slot adapter required. And, finally, it supports the Sega Light Phaser. It does it all!

Except... it doesn't. Despite the fact that multiple Sega history sites indicate that the Japanese Master System can use the Light Phaser, when I sat down to record footage for this episode, I couldn't get past the title screen of Rescue Mission. I even rush-ordered a replacement light gun last week, thinking my Phaser had been damaged in my recent move. But the new (tested) Phaser I received also doesn't work... and, upon further digging, I found a discussion on the SMS Power forums where dedicated Sega fans actually analyzed the pinouts of the JP Master System and determined that it does not, in fact, actually support the Light Phaser. Whoops.

Needless to say, I did not manage to record footage of Rescue Mission in time for today's post. Thankfully, MiSTer Add-Ons (misteraddons.com) is getting me hooked up with a SNAC adapter for MiSTer that will allow me to capture Rescue Mission material (and footage of the two remaining Light Phaser games I'll need to cover), so I'll repost this once that arrives. In the meantime, I've spliced in some borrowed footage from YouTube for that segment as a placeholder. Everything else about this episode is complete and ready to roll, though, so if you don't mind that little bit of awkwardness, you may welcome back Sega coverage with open arms. And it's worth doing, because the second game this episode (Maze Hunter 3-D) is kind of great.

As for the online disinformation, well, that just shows the dangers of assuming what you read online is true. Even from trusted resources... when you get to edge cases like this, even the good guys get it wrong sometimes. How many people have actually tried using a Light Phaser on a Japanese Master System in the history of the planet, given that the Japanese market never received any light gun games for that platform? Not a hell of a lot! One of the beauties of old game hardware is the weirdo edge cases that pop up when you combine different bits of tech in unexpected ways. Sometimes it results in cool stuff. Sometimes it results in you buying a surplus Light Phaser and scrambling to come up with an alternate arrangement for recording.