It cracks me up that you got calls from gaming dev stalkers.
I called WD once in the late 90s to place an order for a few games that were no longer available by retail. The lady who took my order was really nice. It boggles my mind that people would call just to chat.
I would say that the SEGA fans were crazier than the Turbo fans, but considering that most of the crowd at PCEFX are a bunch of weirdos (no offense to a few here), maybe it doesn't surprise me at all.
Both games are really collectable now. They are nearly among the more difficult Turbo games to acquire (glad I have mine).Originally Posted by vicireland
Parasol Stars is the better game of the two, but Cadash was fairly popular in US arcades. That's probably one of the reasons for its success. That genre was big during the 16 bit era.
My 4 year old just played Parasol Stars on my Express after I recapped it recently. It was a bit tough for him but he tried to give it a shot.
You have NO idea how crazy that got. We had people flying in from other parts of the country and just showing up on a whim because their fantasy was that we would drop everything and hang with them or put them in a game on the spot or whatever. There was also some lady named Holly who was a dominatrix that used to call in her down time to chat about games for hours on end. It was an office joke that we would put her on hold and transfer her to someone else (she had a very distinctive voice) immediately and they would be stuck with her for the duration of that call while they tried to get their work done, too. It was like call hot-potato. Some of the craziness was amusing, but some was downright freaky. The "normal" plain old enthusiastic fans were a welcome relief.
The TG-16 version of Cadash is the more desirable to have since the Genesis cut two characters (a travesty!) and has a less pleasing color palette.Both games are really collectable now. They are nearly among the more difficult Turbo games to acquire (glad I have mine).
Parasol Stars is the better game of the two, but Cadash was fairly popular in US arcades. That's probably one of the reasons for its success. That genre was big during the 16 bit era.
My 4 year old just played Parasol Stars on my Express after I recapped it recently. It was a bit tough for him but he tried to give it a shot.
The caps on a TurboExpress die? I didn't know it had electrolytic caps in it. How SMALL are they? Mine is still going strong (fingers crossed).
There are many surface mount electrolytics in the Express. The solder flow process for these boards was pretty new when the system was released. They tend to leak and electrolyte eats away at the board. The audio section is the worst, as it tends to pull up the traces.
It's a big problem with a system. They all seem to ultimately fail. Cap kits are cheap but I have enough parts to recap about 3 or 4 of them.
Considering the price of these systems *broken*, I'd suggest most people have them carefully checked by an electronics engineer or bench tech before too much permanent damage occurs. Normal symptoms are weak audio or a really dim picture. Even the control pad PCB has a cap that leaks. It's sad.
Mine was mint in box and I purchased it new from TZD back in the day.
Failure rate seems to be a little higher than the Game Gear. Fortunately they're easy to replace...I've had to do a half dozen or so in the past year. The only tough part is that the traces on the PCB are super easy to lift even while being careful with heat and duration. Luckily I've only lifted one trace and was able to fix it, but keep it in mind when the day comes.
Still it's better than working with the Game Gear since once you're done you have a system that's actually worth the time you put into it.
I have a GG I need to change the caps in. Worked when I bought it. Started playing and slowly the screen went. Oh well. Looks real easy to fix. Just need to pick them up.
That does sound like it would be creepyYou have NO idea how crazy that got. We had people flying in from other parts of the country and just showing up on a whim because their fantasy was that we would drop everything and hang with them or put them in a game on the spot or whatever. There was also some lady named Holly who was a dominatrix that used to call in her down time to chat about games for hours on end. It was an office joke that we would put her on hold and transfer her to someone else (she had a very distinctive voice) immediately and they would be stuck with her for the duration of that call while they tried to get their work done, too. It was like call hot-potato. Some of the craziness was amusing, but some was downright freaky. The "normal" plain old enthusiastic fans were a welcome relief.
When I was little, I answered the phone and whoever was on the other end screamed into it, god that terrified me
They had a few years from then to Dune 2, it's a genre that's best on PC.
I know, it's juts that it has such a unique archetype as an RTS (one that has never been replicated afaik, though I don't know every single RTS out there to make that assumption) that I can't help but wonder if developed further could have spawned a console variant of the RTS genre. (Much like how console and computer RPGs pushed the genre in different directions.)
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