Jeremy Parish

Segaiden #13: Othello Multivision, Pt. 1 (Patreon)

Published:

2021-06-02 12:00:01

Imported:

2024-04

Tags:

othello segaiden tsukuda original

Content

Before we can truly move along to Sega's momentous ’85 lineup, we first need to take care of some business back in 1983 and ’84. There were eight (technically nine) games released for the SG-1000 outside of Sega's purview—or rather, eight (technically nine) games released for a different platform that happened to have exactly the same innards as the SG-1000, as well as the same physical cartridge format and compatible pinouts.

The Othello Multivision is a curious little corner of Sega history, in that it's not technically Sega's history as Sega had no real involvement with it that I can determine. But the Multivision is based around the SG-1000, its games run on SG-1000, and one of its exclusive releases would be adapted by Sega for SG-1000 under license from the Multivision manufacturer Tsukuda Original. It's all pretty weird and interesting! Which is why I've put together this episode (and the next) in the first place.

Files

Othello Multivision retrospective pt. 1: A seriously @!#?@! footnote in Sega history | Segaiden #13

While Segaiden has covered every SG-1000 release through the end of 1984 at this point, there's technically still a set of games for the system that need to be touched on. Eight (or technically nine) unique releases for SG-1000 appeared in 1983 and ’84, under a non-Sega publisher, branded for release on a different console. Nevertheless, they're a part of SG-1000 history, as each of them runs on the system with no fuss. Yes, this episode we look at the SG-1000's semi-official clone, the Tsukuda Original Othello Multivision. With eight unique carts and one built-in ROM, it's worth exploring... but only barely. These games are generally of MUCH lower quality than Sega's own releases. In this episode, we explore: • Othello • Q*Bert • Guzzler • Space Mountain Buckle in. It's a pretty bumpy ride. 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! Special thanks to Omar Cornut for his assistance with this and the next episode!