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I've figured out how you're supposed to read the titles of Sega's "Great" sports series. It's not "what a great ice hockey game" but rather "oh, great... ice hockey." 

Anyway, the star of this week's episode is not a game (both of which featured here are fine but largely unremarkable) but rather a peripheral. It's called Sega Sports Pad, but really it works best with not-sports games. Confusing, I know. Sorry about that.

Files

Padded-out content: Great Ice Hockey & Astro Warrior | Segaiden #035

An unlikely star emerges in this week's Master System episode: The Sega Sports Pad. Required for (but not bundled with!) Great Ice Hockey, this analog-ish trackball controller ultimately didn't have much purpose in terms of deliberate tie-ins, but thanks to its alternate mode it proves surprisingly effective with a number of other titles, especially shooters. Such as... Astro Warrior, this episode's B-side, which goes from being OK-ish to OK (if a bit easy) when played with the Sports Pad. Production notes: Why watch when you can read? Check out the massive hardcover print editions of NES Works, Super NES Works, and Virtual Boy works, available now at Limited Run Games (https://limitedrungames.com/collections/books)! Look forward to SG-1000 Works: Segaiden Vol. I, due summer 2023. 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! Plus, exclusive podcasts, eBooks, and more! Most Master System footage captured from U.S. carts running through an adapter on Sega Mark III hardware with FM Sound Unit and RGB bypass modification by iFixRetro. Most arcade and Master System Light Phaser footage captured from MiSTer, with thanks to MiSTerAddOns. Video upscaled to 720 with xRGB Mini Framemeister.

Comments

Joel Berube

Would you happen to have an ETA for the video which will feature Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap? It feels very much like a game that suited to your tastes and interests and will almost certainly make for a great analysis.

Sven Mascarenhas

The weirdest thing about the Sports Pad is that you'd THINK that they saw the arcade version of Blades of Steel (based around trackballs), and used that as the inspiration - but that hit arcades in mid-87. I'm trying to think who would have done a mainstream sports game using a trackball at this point; after being used for a couple of sports titles in the late 70s, they pretty much went out of style for sports games in the interim.

Kevin Bunch

Based on the Egret II Mini, there were a couple of Taito sports games from the early 80s that used a trackball - golf and bowling spring to mind - so maybe that served as an inspiration?