VGEsoterica
Member
Ok well not really...I don't actually think Sega hates us. I just think they forgot a LONG time ago what fans wanted vs what they thought we want! (see Game Gear Mini lol)
Of all the Sega arcade games never to receive a home port, The Revenge of Death Adder stings the most for a number of reasons. I get why maybe Model 3 games were too difficult to bring to Dreamcast even if we may have really wanted them, but with Death Adder I really can't how it's still locked to the arcade pcb.
Gameplay wise it's start to finish a beat em up masterpiece. The System 32 hardware could do some amazing things in 1992 with rotation and scaling, and Death Adder takes advantage of the hardware in the best ways possible. Huge sprites, awesome colors, and effects usage that ADDS to the game vs just being there to show off what the hardware was capable of without it making sense gameplay wise. Controls are tight, the action is solid, and the world the game inhabits is well imagines and really feels alive and filled with details. So it begs the following questions...
Firstly...how did Sega neglect to port what, at least in my opinion, is a near of not totally perfect 2D beat em up? It's one of my favorite genre's and Death Adder is in my top three beat em ups of all time. It's not like they didn't port a "meh" or a "it's decent" game home...they didn't port a gem. Everything from the graphical style and effects to the soundtrack and gameplay are examples of Sega at the top of their form. The game has everything you'd want including a decent length that doesn't make it feel like it ends just when you get into it.
Secondly..... if there was ever a game that seemed tailor made for the Saturn, Death Adder was it. Sega wasn't shying away from 2D games on the platform yet somehow this fell through the cracks. No licensing issues could have gotten in the way as it was a 100% Sega product ; no licenses cars like their racing games, etc etc. We even were given Golden Axe : The Duel...a 2D VS fighting game...so it's not like Sega didn't see value in the franchise on the Saturn. Makes a bit more sense why it wouldn't have come to Dreamcast but I'd still have happily accepted a System 32 compilation release for DC.
Were System 32 games too difficult to port to Saturn and the Hitachi SH2 processors considering it originated on the NEC V60 chip? Possibly going from a CISC to a RISC based chip made it impossible? I'd like to give Sega an out on this one and think it was a technical limitation
But honestly...its 2020 and the game could be on any number of platforms. Why Sega keeps Golden Axe : the Revenge of Death Adder behind lock and key is so confusing to me. An amazing game that, if you want to own a copy, will set you back a huge amount of money if you can even FIND a pcb for sale.
But if you haven't played Golden Ave : The Revenge of Death Adder yet....add it to your lists! Or wait until Sega releases the "Game Gear Mini 2" with a screen the size of a postage stamp and throws some System 32 games on there hahaha
Of all the Sega arcade games never to receive a home port, The Revenge of Death Adder stings the most for a number of reasons. I get why maybe Model 3 games were too difficult to bring to Dreamcast even if we may have really wanted them, but with Death Adder I really can't how it's still locked to the arcade pcb.
Gameplay wise it's start to finish a beat em up masterpiece. The System 32 hardware could do some amazing things in 1992 with rotation and scaling, and Death Adder takes advantage of the hardware in the best ways possible. Huge sprites, awesome colors, and effects usage that ADDS to the game vs just being there to show off what the hardware was capable of without it making sense gameplay wise. Controls are tight, the action is solid, and the world the game inhabits is well imagines and really feels alive and filled with details. So it begs the following questions...
Firstly...how did Sega neglect to port what, at least in my opinion, is a near of not totally perfect 2D beat em up? It's one of my favorite genre's and Death Adder is in my top three beat em ups of all time. It's not like they didn't port a "meh" or a "it's decent" game home...they didn't port a gem. Everything from the graphical style and effects to the soundtrack and gameplay are examples of Sega at the top of their form. The game has everything you'd want including a decent length that doesn't make it feel like it ends just when you get into it.
Secondly..... if there was ever a game that seemed tailor made for the Saturn, Death Adder was it. Sega wasn't shying away from 2D games on the platform yet somehow this fell through the cracks. No licensing issues could have gotten in the way as it was a 100% Sega product ; no licenses cars like their racing games, etc etc. We even were given Golden Axe : The Duel...a 2D VS fighting game...so it's not like Sega didn't see value in the franchise on the Saturn. Makes a bit more sense why it wouldn't have come to Dreamcast but I'd still have happily accepted a System 32 compilation release for DC.
Were System 32 games too difficult to port to Saturn and the Hitachi SH2 processors considering it originated on the NEC V60 chip? Possibly going from a CISC to a RISC based chip made it impossible? I'd like to give Sega an out on this one and think it was a technical limitation
But honestly...its 2020 and the game could be on any number of platforms. Why Sega keeps Golden Axe : the Revenge of Death Adder behind lock and key is so confusing to me. An amazing game that, if you want to own a copy, will set you back a huge amount of money if you can even FIND a pcb for sale.
But if you haven't played Golden Ave : The Revenge of Death Adder yet....add it to your lists! Or wait until Sega releases the "Game Gear Mini 2" with a screen the size of a postage stamp and throws some System 32 games on there hahaha