Jeremy Parish

Segaiden Episode #007: Two for the Show (Patreon)

Published:

2021-03-03 14:00:00

Edited:

2021-03-16 13:19:49

Imported:

2024-04

Tags:

Monaco GP sega segaiden

Content

While my intent for SG-1000 coverage was to tackle four games per episode, I ended up liking both Sindbad Mystery and Monaco GP so much I devoted a full episode to just the two of them. I suppose by the standards of peak NES (circa 1990) or Game Boy Advance, there's not much to see here. But in 1983, these were pretty impressive releases, especially when their only real competition was Nintendo's Famicom... which offered no direct competition to a maze chase and a racer.

Files

Sindbad Mystery & Monaco GP retrospective: Bringing home the gold | Segaiden #007

Only two games feature in this week's episode, because both are interesting enough (and contain a rich enough history) to merit a more in-depth discussion. First, Sindbad Mystery brings the maze chase genre to SG-1000 by adopting a number of elements seen in early games from the genre—ranging from Heiankyo Alien to Crush Roller—but approaching these concepts in a fresh and entertaining way. And then, of course, there's Monaco GP, one of the real heavy-hitters for this console. While more constrained by technology than its arcade forebear, this SG-1000 racer acquits itself nicely with a great sense of speed and a variety of on-track hazards to manage. This series has been made possible in part by the work of Omar Cornut, the Game Developers Research Institute, segaretro.org, iFixRetro, and Analogue Co. Video Works is funded via Patreon (http://www.patreon.com/gamespite) — support the show and get access to every episode up to two weeks in advance of its YouTube debut! And be sure to check out the Retronauts podcast (http://www.retronauts.com), where I (and many others!) tackle a much wider array of classic gaming topics each week.