Cadash ports

[NoSexGex]

While the TG-16 music for Cadash isn't great, neither was the arcade soundtrack. I have the feeling this was not one of their major priority titles.

I wonder if there's a ROM hack for Cadash to improve the music, and yeah. The genesis music is much more blissful. I know there a SNES everdrive that creates richer music on original hardware, so that would be cool if that existed for the turbo as well.

[CrackTiger]

While the TG-16 music for Cadash isn't great, neither was the arcade soundtrack. I have the feeling this was not one of their major priority titles.

I wonder if there's a ROM hack for Cadash to improve the music, and yeah. The genesis music is much more blissful. I know there a SNES everdrive that creates richer music on original hardware, so that would be cool if that existed for the turbo as well.

The powerful chip in the SD2SNES streams full quality recorded audio and extremely fast data, drawn from massive sd cards. Sound-wise, porting Cadash to CD or giving the HuCard rom control of the CD player would be the same as far as audio.

[Koa Zo]

While the TG-16 music for Cadash isn't great, neither was the arcade soundtrack. I have the feeling this was not one of their major priority titles.

Speaking of Cadash music
HuCard Disc in Taito Vol.1 was just released by Clarice Disc, and features the BGM and jingles from Cadash, Don Doko Don, The Newzealand Story, Parasol Stars: The Story of Bubble Bobble III, Rastan Saga II, Kiki Kaikai, Jigoku Meguri, Champion Wrestler.

These Clarice releases are usually very well done and comprehensive and I love the artwork for this release. After reviewing the BGM for most of the games I realized I might not be a fan of the Taito stuff outside of the prominent Zuntata tracks.
None of the Taito HuCard BGM is something to sit back and listen to.

[NoSexGex]

The powerful chip in the SD2SNES streams full quality recorded audio and extremely fast data, drawn from massive sd cards. Sound-wise, porting Cadash to CD or giving the HuCard rom control of the CD player would be the same as far as audio.

Ahhhh yes that's right, it's a specific everdrive. Definitely something to look into

[Pokun]

It's an open source flashcart designed by a German guy. It's not an Everdrive, but the guy that designs the Everdrives is one of those that are making and selling it.
https://sd2snes.de/

I have it, definitely the best flashcart for Super Famicom, it's expensive though.

[esteban]

While the TG-16 music for Cadash isn't great, neither was the arcade soundtrack. I have the feeling this was not one of their major priority titles.

Speaking of Cadash music
HuCard Disc in Taito Vol.1 was just released by Clarice Disc, and features the BGM and jingles from Cadash, Don Doko Don, The Newzealand Story, Parasol Stars: The Story of Bubble Bobble III, Rastan Saga II, Kiki Kaikai, Jigoku Meguri, Champion Wrestler.

These Clarice releases are usually very well done and comprehensive and I love the artwork for this release. After reviewing the BGM for most of the games I realized I might not be a fan of the Taito stuff outside of the prominent Zuntata tracks.
None of the Taito HuCard BGM is something to sit back and listen to.

I generally concur about the "harsh" music of many Taito titles in arcade/PCE (outside of Zuntata)...

..but!

I absolutely ducking love the main tune from NINJA WARRIORS!

It is such a perfect tune.. I have listened to so many times and I never tire of it.

So catchy.

So adrenaline-pumping.

So punch-in-your-face.

So dance-in-a-club.

So awesome.

Jump to 00:48 seconds:

[roflmao]

Yes, this song is BOSS!

[NoSexGex]

Boom, finally made the time to play through it! Not particularly hard, but a good game.

Never watched a full play of the PC Engine version, personally. Man. That Baarogue fight is pathetic. That guy takes everything you've got in the arcade, and grows a second head to double-team you and your puny elixir. The port looks like a cakewalk in comparison.

Shame on Working Designs for that lame Carl Sagan name-drop.

Yeah wtf, the final boss was kind of a joke. I forget who was talking about this game earlier being "rushed" by Working designs, but I understand it now. It's pretty unbalanced. I believe this was their first north american translation too? (correct me if i'm wrong).

I mean the plot is as generic as a zelda game, but that's no problem overlooking. All the towns I thought were unique and memorable. The controls were pretty good. But bad going down slopes, a tad clunky jumping and climbing off ropes was a problem at the end castle. Would have been cool to have a pause screen listing all the character stats, the manual even acknowledges this. The herb item was kind of weird as well. In most games you would just select the herb and use it, but in Cadash it acts the same as the elixir.
It only activates when you die lol, so if you have a full inventory it's basically like 60 extra health points (or however many you're allowed to have).

I'm almost curious to play through the game again on the Genesis and see the differences. Overall it's a good game, I really liked it. But with more detail I feel like the game could have been an A+ title

[crazydean]

Overall it's a good game, I really liked it. But with more detail I feel like the game could have been an A+ title

I agree. The game is definitely worth a play through. I finished it a few months ago. Once you understand that you need to grind sometimes, the game is much less frustrating. It actually reminds me of Neutopia because it feels like they didn't spend enough time with it. Instead of having a great game, it turned out a bit bland and doesn't really stand out like it could have.

[NoSexGex]

Arkhan conviced me to play through again as the priest, he said something about there being an "experimental" ending with the priest and the princess.

So looking at my health in the picture, I obviously died almost instantly fighting the dragon.
Adding another kicker to the list, you can't heal yourself after the first boss battle

It actually reminds me of Neutopia because it feels like they didn't spend enough time with it. Instead of having a great game, it turned out a bit bland and doesn't really stand out like it could have.

Definitely Similar to Neutopia in that manner. Even the translations are meh, but I guess this was their first NA released game. So w/e, Parasol Stars onwards had more polish. But still though idk what happened with Whicked Phenomenon, I guess they had more time on other projects.

[spenoza]

We know exactly what happened with Wicked Phenomenon (allegedly). Vic has spoken about it several times. Working Designs didn't do any reprogramming. Their translation license and contract included x number of programming updates to insert text and change the game with the original publisher/developer. With Wicked Phenomenon, they wanted to make it a little more challenging since they thought it was too easy. They asked for a minor adjustment, but because they didn't totally understand the calculations behind the scenes (and didn't ask for an explanation, I guess), that one minor change cause unforeseen consequences, and by then they had used up all their contracted updates. So because they delayed the difficulty adjustment until their final programming update instead of implementing it earlier, they were stuck with a game with a broken difficulty curve.

[CrackTiger]

Whenever reading anything Vic has said, always take into account that it's more likely than not to be completely untrue or mostly untrue and always intentionally misleading.

As bad as most game industry types are for revisionist history and pulling things out of their ass when they don't remember at all, Vic is in a class of his own and will blame you for anything/everything (even if you weren't alive at the time), before he admits to being responsible for anything negative. He also gladly takes credit for anything remotely positive and has much better taste in games than you ever will.

"Exactly/allegedly" is a good way to frame his tall tales.

Imagine if their last contracted update made the game display "FUCK YOU!" in giant letter axross the screen and play the static audio from the data track and nothing else? We really lucked out avoiding that one, because Vic would have had no choice but to ship it as-is, because of the contracts and all. And as we all know now, no one was a better negotiator than him.

[spenoza]

Well, at least he kind of admitted it was their screw-up. They requested a bum change and hadn't planned ahead. The explanation I read didn't make it sound like him blaming anyone else. That's why I'm willing to give it the benefit of the doubt. Yeah, Vic definitely has a reputation, but this one doesn't sound like a deflection, which is what his excuses often sound like.

[NoSexGex]

Anyone know if there's anything I can do?
I think I glitched the game somehow and can't pick up the amulet that lets you talk to the dog. Even though I already talked to that lady in the hidden town.

I finally play through the game as the wizard and this happens 

[esteban]

Damn. That sucks. Did someone else mention this, or a similar, bug in the game? I vaguely remember hearing about a frustrating situation like this before.

[johnnykonami]

I played through the TG-16 version dozens of times as a kid, I don't ever remember this happening to me.  I do vaguely remember looping around that level once or twice to get the events to trigger, though.

[NoSexGex]

Damn. That sucks. Did someone else mention this, or a similar, bug in the game? I vaguely remember hearing about a frustrating situation like this before.

It's possible I left the widows house before picking up the necklace. I was rushing a bit to clear the game before I had to go to the gym. As i've played through the game a few times now, I don't read the dialogue. I'de be very curious if this had happened to someone else. Then we can talk about our feelings n stuff.

I played through the TG-16 version dozens of times as a kid, I don't ever remember this happening to me.  I do vaguely remember looping around that level once or twice to get the events to trigger, though.

I probably went back and forth 5+ times to each event trigger. I even left the country a couple times hoping I could restart the sequence.
But to be honest, I was so OP at that point from non intentional grinding the rest of the game wouldn't have been a challenge at all. But, I mean it's a very short game. It's not like it'll set me back more than 30 mins haha, sometime in the future i'll have to return as the wizard and this time carefully do the sequencing.

In the mean time though, I wanna go through all the (two) characters on the genesis port and spot all the differences. Since now i'm really familiar with the TG16 version.

[GoldenWheels]

Been a while since I played but as I recall doesn't the dog start out his dialog by saying "woof woof I'm a dog".

I vaguely remember laughing my ass off over something like that in Cadash a few years ago.

[NoSexGex]

Been a while since I played but as I recall doesn't the dog start out his dialog by saying "woof woof I'm a dog".

I vaguely remember laughing my ass off over something like that in Cadash a few years ago.

That sounds like something that would be on the Genesis port. All I remember is that the dog growls when you first come into the town and talk to it

[GoldenWheels]

Been a while since I played but as I recall doesn't the dog start out his dialog by saying "woof woof I'm a dog".

I vaguely remember laughing my ass off over something like that in Cadash a few years ago.

That sounds like something that would be on the Genesis port. All I remember is that the dog growls when you first come into the town and talk to it

Hadn't thought of this but since I won't pay up the dough for Cadash, I emulated it to play it. Maybe I emulated another version.

[NoSexGex]

Just finished playing through the genesis version. They're both very different, and to be honest i'm not sure which one I like more. They both have pros/cons.

The genesis version obviously has less replayability with only two characters, but the mage proves to be the honourable choice anyways (Bithead1000,2008). And what I mean by that is the game is too easy with the other characters, so i'm glad the mage wasn't replaces by the ninja/priestess in the Genesis version.

Genesis you can fully see all your stats in the menu screen, huge plus. And the stores have accurate prices, as you can easily run out of money and have to grind for more. Like herbs in the TG16 were only 40, while they're 200 in the Genesis version. TurboGrafx version I felt like you always had too much money, and just had to spend it on life bells so it wasn't wasted. As well Genesis has continues! Just like in the arcade, and you can even buy more continues in a specific shop. But each time you buy one, the price goes up a ton. While in the TG16, after your herbs/elixirs run out you're just dead as shit.

The sounds/graphics are hard to compare because they're just on different hardware. Comparing the sound especially isn't fair, but they each had sound effects I could have lived without or would have liked to have on the other. Graphics also varied. Like the animation of the final boss on the Genesis was way better. His head graphically blows up, just like something you would see in Splatterhouse. But the TG16 had better animation for every other boss I thought, especially the fire demon. The zombies in the destroyed town looked much better on the TG16, as well as many other enemies. Some backgrounds on the Genesis look absolutely terrible, reminds me of a boring abstract portrait you would see at an arts studio.

TG16 had way better scaling I thought, as some areas on the Genesis are not consistent. You really notice this at the bandits hideout, which the layout/overall proportions reminded me of something like the Lion King game on the SNES/Genesis. So you feel really big in the bandits hideout, but the green area before the gnomes village makes you feel really small. Which didn't fit the layout of any other part of the game. So I thought the TG16 universally had consistent scaling; It's kind of hard to describe.

They took out the optional boss from the TG16 version too which was a little disappointing. Instead of rewarding you with an elixir, I believe they just "hid it" elsewhere in the level. But eh, the boss was too easy on the TG16 anyways. So not really a big deal.There was also a couple secrets I noticed them taking out of the Genesis, which was kind of disappointing.

Near the beginning of the game on the TG16, I found hitting enemies going downhill was a pain if they had shields. Didn't notice this to be a problem at all on the genesis, But found it interesting the enemies would chase you down a ladder if you were running away from them. While they did not do this on the TG16. Enemies in the last tower on the Genesis version had some problems spawning as well. Instead of them spawning when you entered a room, they were already there waiting for you to enter. Making it impossible to avoid getting hit. I understand why the devs made it this way, so you wouldn't have to wait each time you entered a staircase. But this wasn't a problem at all on the TG16.

The translation Working Designs did was pretty bad, the Genesis blows it out of the water. Each piece of dialogue makes sense, and has detail that the TG16 version did not have. The TG16 translation just feels rough and choppy, you almost read it anticipating mistakes. "I HOPE YOU SAVE THE TOWN. THANK YOU". << That's the type of sentences I would expect seeing.

But the end chick was way hotter on the TG16, so besides that who gives a fuck about anything else haha

[esteban]

Gex, that was a great rundown/side-by-side comparison.

I don't think it would have taken much effort to polish up the translation in the TG-16 version...it's a shame that very little effort was put into the text...it could have been given the game a little personality.

[NoSexGex]

Gex, that was a great rundown/side-by-side comparison.

I don't think it would have taken much effort to polish up the translation in the TG-16 version...it's a shame that very little effort was put into the text...it could have been given the game a little personality.

Hey thanks man! I wrote it right after I beat it so it was fresh in my head. I'm shocked at how different they are, didn't think I would have this much to write about.

The text is especially disappointing coming from Working Designs . I'm no fanboy or anything, but they've done amazing translations with other games. The best example I can think of top of my head is when you need that caterpillar silk to climb the ledge. On my first play through on the TG16/ever I had no idea what to do with this silk, even though I talked to every NPC possible. The only hint given was "It can hold a lot of men" or something similarly worded. So I thought you had to tie up a bunch of people or something, never did I think of using it as a rope. Only discovered its actual use by total fluke.
While on the Genesis version I believe it's a lot more decisive.