Jeremy Parish

Segaiden #25: C-So! / The Castle / Gulkave (Patreon)

Published:

2022-01-05 13:29:13

Imported:

2024-04

Tags:

Compile sega segaiden sg-1000

Content

We begin the new year with a new year for the SG-1000, which enters 1986 with sound and fury and, most importantly, some danged impressive games. C-So! I could live without, but The Castle and Gulkave are impressive. With only three episodes left in this corner of Segaiden, it's nice to see that Sega's original platform does not intend to go quiet into that good night.

The Castle is a beefy adventure, a game so enormous Sega had to bust out the cartridge format that they had so eagerly left behind in favor of MyCards. And Gulkave, well... it's an original Compile shooter on hardware they had absolutely mastered over the space of three or four years. You'd better believe it absolutely demolishes everything else on the system in terms of performance.

Files

C-So! / The Castle / Gulkave retrospective: Shoots and ladders | Segaiden #25

The SG-1000 didn't have much going on during 1986, with Sega's attention focused primarily on the shiny new Mark III console, but what little did make its way to the older console was pretty strong. After an indifferent shrug of a vintage-style single-screen arcade-format MSX port with Compile's C-So!, we get to the good stuff: ASCII's The Castle and Compile's Gulkave. The former, also an MSX port, is a game so demanding and expansive Sega had to bust out the cartridge format again. The Castle simply wouldn't fit onto a MyCard. And as for Gulkave, you may have trouble believing it fit onto the SG-1000, period. Definitely Compile's swansong for the platform, and the culmination of several years of development work for this hardware and architecture, and unsurprisingly a highly sought-after collector's piece. Video Works is a patron-funded project. For early video access, exclusive content, books, and more, please support my work at patreon.com/gamespite — next up is NES Works 1987! Production notes: SG-1000 footage captured from Sega SG-1000 II (RGB mode by @iFixRetro) and @Analogue Mega SG with card adapter. NES/Famicom footage recorded via RGB from @Analogue Nt Mini. Upscaled from standard definition to 720 via @Retro Tink 5X.