Nicole Express

The Nintendo Entertainment System. Is it the platonic ideal of an 8-bit video game system? Well, only because it’s so prominent and successful– it’s actually kind of an oddball in its expandability and design. But there’s something else about it. The picture is a bit… wobbly. Well, over composite video anyway. Let’s dig in and learn a little big more about the nitty-gritty of composite video. This whole blog post is only going to talk about NTSC encoding and timing. PAL encoding is its own…

We’ve seen a few test PCBs now; games that were only sold alongside Japanese arcade cabinets to satisfy a law requiring a minimum amount of functionality. Sega gave us Dottori-kun, a remake of Head-On; Taito gave us Mini-Vaders, another retro throwback. But what about Konami? Let’s test out our system with Target Panic! No Expenses Spent Konami’s Target Panic is a small densely-packed PCB, intended presumably to be sold alongside cabinets like the 1996 Konami “Windy”. We haven’t seen a Konami…

I’m bringing out the truth about TMSS! Admit it! Sega never made a game console that can’t play that region’s release of Phantasy Star II, and it’s time to show exactly what that means and why. Let’s dig into the technical nitty-gritty of one of the biggest flops in console licensing history. Spoilers: It’s a little more complicated than you think, at least in Japan. Trademarks and Security and Bears, oh my This is my Model 1 Sega Genesis, VA3 motherboard. As a result, it has no security of any…

There’s a problem with my current series on mahjong games– when I say “mahjong”, people in my home country of the United States of America probably don’t think of the 2-4 player competitive game. They think of the single-player tile-matching game, Mahjong Solitaire, also known as Shanghai, beloved of office-workers and casual gamers everywhere. And that’s popular in Japan too; popular enough to get arcade releases. How did Sunsoft bring Shanghai to arcades? Why is that even a question worth…

Sprite scaling. It is the coolest effect of the 2D arcade era, a must-have for games from Space Harrier to Real Bout Fatal Fury Special. Home consoles pretty much lacked it– sorry, Nintendo, but Mode 7 only scales a background, not sprites. So therefore you might be surprised to hear that Sega’s plucky underdog Master System could do it. Well, don’t get your hopes up; this is far too limited– calling it scaling is overstating things. But let’s dig in anyway! History The Sega Master System is…