Post by Phlimbob84 in I'm collecting LCD Sonic Games for preservation

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Heyo again! Just a couple updates:

I have a new YouTube channel now for LCD gameplay footage! So far I have footage for Sonic 3, 3D Blast, and R.

I also have a manual for 3D Blast now, courtesy of RinShiro on Reddit ("Rin-Dev" on the Internet Archive).

In other news, I'm having some technical difficulties with two other LCD's... First, I got a hold of the Tiger Sonic Spinball one you were looking for. It turns on just fine, however, there are some errors with the lcd display --- when certain elements are lit, it will also light other unrelated elements. So I can still playtest the game for you and capture footage, but it will have these occasional errors. Good news is at least every one of these graphical errors is consistent and therefore predictable. If this already-existing video isn't enough footage, I can playtest any additional scenarios you might need --- just let me know.

Second, I have two new-condition LCDs of SegaSonic the Hedgehog, both of which don't work, and I'm looking for advice on what to do to see if they're repairable. They're very rare, so I'd love to capture footage of them if possible. I replaced the batteries in both, but neither will turn on aside from some beeping sounds to indicate that at least something is working. I took one to a guy who knew a guy who was willing to look at the circuit board, and he said he could get it working just fine except the lcd screen wouldn't display anything. So I don't think it's screen rot since I can't get anything to light up in the first place, right? Is this a known issue with LCDs? If you have any advice, please let me know. Thanks!

Itizso164 days ago (1 edit)

Thanks for posting your playthroughs of these games. I'll let you know when I start work on each game if I require any additional info. And thanks for sourcing a scan of the instructions for 3D Blast. That's awesome!

Great news on getting hold of Sonic Spinball. Despite the display issues , it's really helpful to know you could still use it as a reference to playtest my builds of the game to ensure the gameplay is accurate. I'm not sure when I'll start working on it, but I'll let you know when I have something you could test. In the meantime, it would be really useful if you could provide some gameplay footage so I can capture the audio. The videos online do not have the best sound quality. Also, not sure how easy it would be, but if you could also try to include in the playthrough a few runs with as little actions as possible so I can create a loop of the background music without the sound effects?

It's unfortunate your SegaSonic games don't work. Regrettably I don't have experience repairing LCDs, but hopefully others in the community who do can help.

Phlimbob84161 days ago

Good to know! In that case, I just uploaded a video of Sonic Spinball gameplay, and made sure to record the music loop at least twice on its own with no other sound effects at the beginning.

As far as my current Sonic LCD collection, then, that's all the resources I have to share right now. If you ever need any specific extra footage / playtesting / sound samples for any of these in the future, just let me know.

In the meantime, thanks for all your hard work on this super cool project. Happy I've been able to contribute in my own little way so far.

Itizso161 days ago (1 edit)

Thanks so much! The sound quality is perfect. And watching your video I wonder if you wouldn't be able to get a better photo of the screen background than the one I have. If you can let me know. Thanks again for your contributions to this project. It's very much appreciated.

Phlimbob84156 days ago

These are the best pics I could get with my current setup

Itizso156 days ago (1 edit)

Thanks! These are great. I've updated the build using this one. I've left the RetroFab version as the old one for comparison. Just press TAB to switch between the two. Thanks again for your contribution.

Itizso147 days ago (2 edits)

Hey there! I've put together an initial build of Sonic R here. I need a good quality screenshot with all the lcd segments on screen at once to recreate the graphics. Do you think you could provide that? Thanks in advance.

Phlimbob84144 days ago (1 edit)

Whoah, looks great! Here is a video of me turning the LCD segments on a couple times at different angles. My Sonic R game has a decent number of scratches, so hopefully one of these comes out cleanly enough. (Maybe the page in the manual can help provide reference for areas that are obscured by scratches on mine...?) At any rate, if these aren't sufficient, let me know and I'll see if I can get anything better.

Also, for additional reference I am planning to make another video where I playtest the game and describe some of the details that might be hard to notice just by watching. I can let you know when I have that uploaded if you'd like.

Itizso144 days ago

Thanks! I'll try to work around the scratches as best as I can. Additional gameplay footage with commentary would be great! Let me know when its uploaded.

Itizso142 days ago (1 edit)

Thanks again for the Sonic R screenshots. Unfortunately I'm struggling to extract the segments. Next time you have your camera out could you maybe try taking a few more. Try to get the camera as close to the screen as possible. And I know lighting is a challenge but the best is to try to get the background as light possible. Thank you for all your efforts.

Phlimbob84141 days ago

Sure thing, I'll see what I can do. In the meantime, I just uploaded some more gameplay with commentary here.

Itizso141 days ago

Thanks! This is super helpful. And I saw you got one of the SEGA Sonic handhelds working. That's awesome!

Phlimbob84140 days ago

Yeah!! I was so excited when I finally got it working! I even found a way to get a picture of all the lcd segments lit! Good pics of the packaging are here on SonicRetro, and there is no separate manual that comes with this game - the instructions are on the back of the packaging. So I guess that's everything for this game, too, whenever you have time to get around to it. I was going to wait to mention it because I didn't want to overwhelm you with requests since you're doing this all non-profit (and mostly on your own I'm guessing...?).

On that note, let me know if you ever need to get a patreon or something like that; I'd love to support you in more ways than just putting more work in your lap if possible. Thanks for all you do. I have more rare LCD games still to record that I'd love to be preserved, but I can wait if you need some time for other things first. Just let me know.

Itizso140 days ago

Thanks for providing all these great resources. I'm so excited to be able to preserve these games here on RetroFab with your help. I've still got a few games backed up in the queue to finish before I can start tackling the coding on these Sonic games so I appreciate your patience. It may be a good few weeks before I can start working on them. Although I might take some time out to take a stab at SegaSonic since it looks like the gameplay is very similar to Tiger's Snowboarding, in which case it should be relatively easy to put together :) As for additional support, if you're interested I have a new RetroFab related project in early development you might want to get involved with. If you rate RetroFab and leave your email address in the rating comments I can provide more details via email so you can decide if you want to help out.

Phlimbob84141 days ago

These are the best I could get without taking mine apart (which I would be willing to try if it comes to that).

Itizso141 days ago

You did it! These are great! Thanks so much.

itch.io

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