Forums

Sega Master System / Mark III / Game Gear
SG-1000 / SC-3000 / SF-7000 / OMV
Home - Forums - Games - Scans - Maps - Cheats - Credits
Music - Videos - Development - Hacks - Translations - Homebrew

View topic - Sega '87 Summer Catalog (Japan)

Reply to topic
Author Message
  • Site Admin
  • Joined: 08 Jul 2001
  • Posts: 8643
  • Location: Paris, France
Reply with quote
Sega '87 Summer Catalog (Japan)
Post Posted: Fri Oct 10, 2008 12:00 pm
Last edited by Bock on Fri Jun 25, 2010 1:20 pm; edited 1 time in total
From rigveda's blog:
http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/rig_veda/56227718.html

Heaps of Zillion stuff, and a Zillion-oriented Sega Mark III 1987 catalog.
He's not showing all pages here.

  View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
  • Joined: 14 Oct 2006
  • Posts: 256
  • Location: NYC
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Fri Oct 10, 2008 4:14 pm
Nice :D I would've killed for all those toys when I was younger.
  View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
  • Site Admin
  • Joined: 08 Jul 2001
  • Posts: 8643
  • Location: Paris, France
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Wed Oct 15, 2008 9:43 am
Some more posted here:
http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/rig_veda/56261973.html
  View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
  • Site Admin
  • Joined: 08 Jul 2001
  • Posts: 8643
  • Location: Paris, France
Reply with quote
Sega '88 Winter Catalog
Post Posted: Mon Jun 01, 2015 1:41 pm
Courtesy of Adol.

Some of the interesting games in the future releases section:

'Party Games' > Released as 'Family Games'
'Protector' > probably 'Galactic Protector'
Alex Kidd Ushinawareta hoshitachi > Lost Stars
Akai Koudan Zillion II > Tri Formation
Super Man
Moonball
Billionaire 3D
Space Shooting

  View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
  • Joined: 24 Jun 1999
  • Posts: 232
  • Location: Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Mon Jun 01, 2015 1:48 pm
I will scan it later :)
  View user's profile Send private message
  • Joined: 01 May 2011
  • Posts: 467
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Sun Jun 07, 2015 2:40 pm
Bock wrote
From rigveda's blog:
http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/rig_veda/56227718.html

Heaps of Zillion stuff, and a Zillion-oriented Sega Mark III 1987 catalog.
He's not showing all pages here.


Some more pages here. Plus some other retailer game document.

Future Releases;

1987/07
グレートバスケットボール (Great Basketball) [87.03.29]
ファンタジーゾーンII (Fantasy Zone II) [87.10.17]

1987/08
アレックスキッドのBMX (Alex Kidd BMX) [87.11.15]

1987/09
覇邪の封印 (Miracle Warriors: Seal of the Dark Lord) [87.10.18]
エルドラド (El Dorado/Nazca '88/Aztec Adventure) [87.09.20]
ワールドサッカー (World Soccer) [87.07.19]

1987/10
SDI [87.10.24]
赤い光弾ジリオンII (Akai Koudan Zillion II/Tri Formation) [87.12.13]

1987/11
麻雀戦国時代 (Mahjong Sengoku Jidai) [87.10.18]
スペースファンタジー (Space Fantasy/Phantasy Star?) [87.12.20?]
スペースシューティング (Space Shooting) [?]

1987/12
パーティゲーム (Party Game/Family Games/Parlour Games) [87.12.27]
ウインタースポーツ? (Winter Sports?) [?]
キャラクター? (Character?) [?]

I can't translate the Kanji in the last two games.
img_2.jpg (108.84 KB)
img_2.jpg
img_3.jpg (109.12 KB)
img_3.jpg
img_4.jpg (106.48 KB)
img_4.jpg
img_5.jpg (109.23 KB)
img_5.jpg
img_6.jpg (112.37 KB)
img_6.jpg
img_7.jpg (108.68 KB)
img_7.jpg
img_8.jpg (108.19 KB)
img_8.jpg
img_9.jpg (108.12 KB)
img_9.jpg
img_10.jpg (106.46 KB)
img_10.jpg
img_11.jpg (111.44 KB)
img_11.jpg
img_12.jpg (107.54 KB)
img_12.jpg
img_13.jpg (110.29 KB)
img_13.jpg

  View user's profile Send private message
  • Joined: 27 May 2015
  • Posts: 7
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Mon Jun 08, 2015 12:15 pm
BKK wrote
パーティゲーム (Party Game/Family Games/Parlour Games) [87.12.27]
ウインタースポーツ? (Winter Sports?) [?]
キャラクター? (Character?) [?]
I can't translate the Kanji in the last two games.


It's just "mono", in this case used to broadly denote an item or thing.

I would guess that "Winter Sports" may refer to the Japanese version of Great Ice Hockey, before they decided a full retail release was pointless and ended up giving it away as part of a Phantasy Star contest in early '88. There don't seem to have been any other winter sports themed games in the works at Sega at the time, in any case.

"Character game" was sometimes used as a very early placeholder name or generic description in the upcoming releases/rumors sections of Japanese game magazines. It often denoted a licensed media property, so in this case my best guess is that it ended up being Tensai Bakabon, after a lengthy delay.
  View user's profile Send private message
  • Joined: 14 Oct 2008
  • Posts: 507
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Mon Jun 08, 2015 1:52 pm
Pretty unlikely but I don't suppose they could've been thinking about Winter Games? Seems like it was ported to almost everything else (though it never made it Master System, though the other "Summer Games" games did, though later)
  View user's profile Send private message
  • Joined: 27 May 2015
  • Posts: 7
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Mon Jun 08, 2015 2:40 pm
KingMike wrote
Pretty unlikely but I don't suppose they could've been thinking about Winter Games? Seems like it was ported to almost everything else (though it never made it Master System, though the other "Summer Games" games did, though later)


It's a logical conclusion to draw, but seems to not be the case. Sega didn't finalize a licensing deal with Epyx until well after these listings were printed, and for whatever reason Winter Games was left out of the deal entirely.

From the April, 1988 issue of Computer Entertainer:

  View user's profile Send private message
  • Site Admin
  • Joined: 08 Jul 2001
  • Posts: 8643
  • Location: Paris, France
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Mon Jun 08, 2015 5:34 pm
Note that both California Games and Summer Games have FM music/code, which is interesting because it imply that they were intended for the Japanese market at some point. Or that it was expected that the FM unit would be available in Europe but that information would have to come from Japan.
  View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
  • Site Admin
  • Joined: 19 Oct 1999
  • Posts: 14652
  • Location: London
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Mon Jun 08, 2015 6:23 pm
Given the amount of music engine reuse including inactive FM support, couldn't we just suspect the same plus reuse of the startup region detection code enabling FM?
  View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
  • Site Admin
  • Joined: 08 Jul 2001
  • Posts: 8643
  • Location: Paris, France
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Mon Jun 08, 2015 6:31 pm
I don't think it is really something automatic, even assuming you had an engine you'd have to put some work to get FM music going on, even if it was using the same data. Else more games would have it?
  View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
  • Joined: 01 May 2011
  • Posts: 467
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Fri Jun 12, 2015 11:35 pm
Brain Breaker wrote
BKK wrote
パーティゲーム (Party Game/Family Games/Parlour Games) [87.12.27]
ウインタースポーツ? (Winter Sports?) [?]
キャラクター? (Character?) [?]
I can't translate the Kanji in the last two games.


It's just "mono", in this case used to broadly denote an item or thing.

I would guess that "Winter Sports" may refer to the Japanese version of Great Ice Hockey, before they decided a full retail release was pointless and ended up giving it away as part of a Phantasy Star contest in early '88. There don't seem to have been any other winter sports themed games in the works at Sega at the time, in any case.

"Character game" was sometimes used as a very early placeholder name or generic description in the upcoming releases/rumors sections of Japanese game magazines. It often denoted a licensed media property, so in this case my best guess is that it ended up being Tensai Bakabon, after a lengthy delay.


The following "Winter '88 catalog" lists Superman as a 1987/12 release, so I guess that could be "Character Game".

Winter Sports seems a bit vague for Great Ice Hockey, especially as it had already released in US and the later release "Great Basketball" is listed. If they weren't sure of the JP title I would expect them to just list it as Ice Hockey.

KingMike wrote
Pretty unlikely but I don't suppose they could've been thinking about Winter Games? Seems like it was ported to almost everything else (though it never made it Master System, though the other "Summer Games" games did, though later)


Winter Games is listed in this 1990 US catalogue. Note that despite not getting released until 1991, Summer Games actually has a copyright date of 1988 on the title screen, so they seem to have sat on that for quite some time. The Winter Olympics was held in February 1988, so I guess this title's release was planned to coincide with that.
  View user's profile Send private message
  • Joined: 27 May 2015
  • Posts: 7
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Sun Jun 14, 2015 2:33 am
BKK wrote
Brain Breaker wrote
BKK wrote
パーティゲーム (Party Game/Family Games/Parlour Games) [87.12.27]
ウインタースポーツ? (Winter Sports?) [?]
キャラクター? (Character?) [?]
I can't translate the Kanji in the last two games.


It's just "mono", in this case used to broadly denote an item or thing.

I would guess that "Winter Sports" may refer to the Japanese version of Great Ice Hockey, before they decided a full retail release was pointless and ended up giving it away as part of a Phantasy Star contest in early '88. There don't seem to have been any other winter sports themed games in the works at Sega at the time, in any case.

"Character game" was sometimes used as a very early placeholder name or generic description in the upcoming releases/rumors sections of Japanese game magazines. It often denoted a licensed media property, so in this case my best guess is that it ended up being Tensai Bakabon, after a lengthy delay.


The following "Winter '88 catalog" lists Superman as a 1987/12 release, so I guess that could be "Character Game".

Winter Sports seems a bit vague for Great Ice Hockey, especially as it had already released in US and the later release "Great Basketball" is listed. If they weren't sure of the JP title I would expect them to just list it as Ice Hockey.

KingMike wrote
Pretty unlikely but I don't suppose they could've been thinking about Winter Games? Seems like it was ported to almost everything else (though it never made it Master System, though the other "Summer Games" games did, though later)


Winter Games is listed in this 1990 US catalogue. Note that despite not getting released until 1991, Summer Games actually has a copyright date of 1988 on the title screen, so they seem to have sat on that for quite some time. The Winter Olympics was held in February 1988, so I guess this title's release was planned to coincide with that.


Regarding "Character Game", that's a good call. Based on the timing, it does seem more likely than Bakabon. It's too bad that more isn't known about Superman.

However, in the case of "Winter Sports", I'm sticking with my first theory, unless better evidence comes to light. As posted above, the licensing deal with Epyx wasn't signed until the spring of '88, was almost certainly handled by SOA/Tonka, and did not include Winter Games from the beginning. I doubt that SOJ company documents or catalogues from nearly a year earlier would reference the one "Games" series title that this later, US-instigated deal DIDN'T end up including. The 1990 US catalogue is interesting, but was way after the fact.

I agree that "Winter Sports" is vague, but the entire titling and release history of Great Ice Hockey was somewhat odd, as has been discussed here. It's just a theory of course, but I still think it's more plausible.
  View user's profile Send private message
  • Site Admin
  • Joined: 08 Jul 2001
  • Posts: 8643
  • Location: Paris, France
Reply with quote
Billionaire 3D = Maze Walker ?
Post Posted: Fri Sep 04, 2015 2:46 pm
Based on the date above and this

http://www.smspower.org/forums/6961
ビリオネア3D - 3Dが年末、ブームを呼びそうだネ。

It looks like Billionaire 3D may be just Maze Walker?
Which was released in December 1987.
  View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
  • Site Admin
  • Joined: 08 Jul 2001
  • Posts: 8643
  • Location: Paris, France
Reply with quote
Billionaire 3D = Maze Walker!
Post Posted: Fri Sep 04, 2015 2:53 pm
Courtesy of Segabit, this appearing in Beep 1988 January issue (published in December).

It explicitly says that Maze Walker is the game that was previously referred to as Billionaire 3D.

  View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
  • Joined: 01 May 2011
  • Posts: 467
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Fri Sep 04, 2015 7:30 pm
Ten year mystery solved! That's really great. I was researching this one a little while ago, but couldn't come up with anything concrete. We could really do with getting issues of Beep! scanned, but they're pretty rare and expensive. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be as much of a Japanese magazine archiving scene compared to the west. Maybe due to bigger concerns over copyright?
  View user's profile Send private message
  • Site Admin
  • Joined: 19 Oct 1999
  • Posts: 14652
  • Location: London
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Fri Sep 04, 2015 8:51 pm
Last edited by Maxim on Sat Sep 05, 2015 9:10 am; edited 1 time in total
If there is a reasonably fluid market to buy them, then it is possible to buy, scan and resell them at a smaller cost. Would that be achievable?
  View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
  • Joined: 01 May 2011
  • Posts: 467
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Fri Sep 04, 2015 9:28 pm
There is actually an auction on Yahoo now. 25 issues, 1986: 1,2,3,4. 1987: 7,11,12. 1988: 1-12. 1989 1-6. That many doesn't come up too often. I'm willing to put a decent amount down (£100-£200, would prefer if it was towards the lower end), and scan them.

Scanning is really monotonous and time consuming, so it could take a significant amount of time to scan them all. The good thing about Japanese magazines is that they are usually smaller than A4, so easy to scan. I can do one of those in a night, but then it needs editing, you can add another night for that. You're generally not going to want to do that more than once a week, so maybe 6 months to go through all of those? That can be cut down if others want to help scan or just edit (which is easier to be collaborative on as unedited scans can be shared online).

The magazines can be sold after, and probably still for a decent amount as these never show up on Ebay. That could go back to contributors, or used to buy other unscanned issues, or maybe some contributors would like to keep them?.

A big issue is costs for buying from Japan. I literally use "fromjapan" and their fees can add significantly to the costs, it may reduce costs if a member located in Japan could act as an intermediary.

Another major cost is shipping, magazines are heavy! This can be significantly cut by surface shipping, but that significantly adds to the delivery time. That's not a big deal for 25-30 year old news, but maybe some contributors would like to see a more immediate results.

Here's some examples of my scans;

S - The Sega Mag (Despite being low in page number this is a pain to scan due to it's large size, requires scanning each half of page twice and then stitching the two images back together).
Tech Saturn Tsuushin (Despite having a lot more pages, this Japanese magazine was so much simpler to scan due to the smaller than A4 size).

Maybe we can start a contribution thread or something?
  View user's profile Send private message
  • Site Admin
  • Joined: 08 Jul 2001
  • Posts: 8643
  • Location: Paris, France
Reply with quote
Game Preservation Society
Post Posted: Fri Sep 04, 2015 10:23 pm
My friend Joseph of http://www.gamepres.org/ has been single handedly (well, with his association) doing that, preserving magazines and preserving Japanese computers. Their magazine/book collection is probably one of the biggest in Japan, he spent a fortune acquiring obscures issues of obscure magazines.

I guess they are too busy too scan the stuff right now but they did a great move: they are opening their library to the "public" (basically all interested people registering for a time slot, etc.). It looks amazing. I assume the opening to the public was an important step because Japanese community are often very anonymous and preservation being grey area can have negative connotation. So this library I imagine helps them connect and meet with new people. They also worked on reverse engineering the Data East Deco Cassette System that used a proprietary tape system and an encryption dongle and enabling those nearly lost games to be playable in retro Japanese arcades again.

They also have an absurd collection of old Japanese computer games. This association needs visibility outside Japan, perhaps someone who spoke good english and some japanese and could help foster a english front and community.

Anyway, that is to say, people have those Beep issues. But yeah, until they are all scanned..

  View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
  • Site Admin
  • Joined: 08 Jul 2001
  • Posts: 8643
  • Location: Paris, France
Reply with quote
Sega '88 Winter Catalogue
Post Posted: Sun Oct 29, 2017 3:29 pm
I have got my hand on the (final?) catalogue of the series.

The order is:

Sega '87 Summer Catalogue
Sega '88 Winter Catalogue
Sega '88 Summer Catalogue

The 1988 Summer Catalogue is mostly toys but has a few pages on games. The most interesting thing is the block that lists upcoming games for the end of 1988.

Notably here are all the games that eventually didn't get released in Japan:

8月 ポセイドンウォーズ (Poseidon Wars)
9月 アウトラン 3 (Out Run 3D)
9月 カリフォルニアゲームズ (California Games)
10月 ランページ (Rampage)
10月 バトルウィング (Battle Wing = Bomber Raid)
11月 ウルフマン (Wolf Man?)
11月 ワールドゲームズ (World Games)
12月 ウルティマIV (Ultima IV)
12月 ホットロッド (Hot Rod)
12月 ファンタジースターII (Phantasy Star II)
1月 ギャラクシーフォース (Galaxy Force)

I'm not a Phantasy Star expert, but s far as I know this is maybe the first document that suggest Phantasy Star II was initially aimed to be a Master System game?

  View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
  • Joined: 24 Jun 1999
  • Posts: 232
  • Location: Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Tue Oct 31, 2017 12:15 am
Still waiting for you to put online the pics I sent you 2 years ago from the winter catalog...
  View user's profile Send private message
  • Joined: 31 Oct 2017
  • Posts: 1
Reply with quote
thanks you
Post Posted: Tue Oct 31, 2017 7:04 am
Thanks for give me information very usefull for me
i remember
  View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
  • Joined: 29 Jun 1999
  • Posts: 380
  • Location: Brazil
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Tue Oct 31, 2017 7:24 am
Bock wrote
I have got my hand on the (final?) catalogue of the series.

I'm not a Phantasy Star expert, but s far as I know this is maybe the first document that suggest Phantasy Star II was initially aimed to be a Master System game?


It's not, there's this scan from the Beep magazine:



Nice find though.
pstariibeep.jpg (154.84 KB)
pstariibeep.jpg

  View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
  • Site Admin
  • Joined: 08 Jul 2001
  • Posts: 8643
  • Location: Paris, France
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Tue Oct 31, 2017 9:28 pm
Adol wrote
Still waiting for you to put online the pics I sent you 2 years ago from the winter catalog...

Which pictures Adol? Aren't there the ones posted here?
  View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
  • Joined: 14 Oct 2008
  • Posts: 507
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Tue Oct 31, 2017 9:50 pm
Bock wrote

Notably here are all the games that eventually didn't get released in Japan:

1月 ギャラクシーフォース (Galaxy Force)

Sega needed to be sure its graphics won't be murdering anybody in their homeland. :D
  View user's profile Send private message
  • Joined: 24 Jun 1999
  • Posts: 232
  • Location: Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Wed Nov 01, 2017 3:56 am
Bock wrote
Adol wrote
Still waiting for you to put online the pics I sent you 2 years ago from the winter catalog...

Which pictures Adol? Aren't there the ones posted here?


I thought I sent you scans?

If I didn't, my mistake..
  View user's profile Send private message
  • Site Admin
  • Joined: 19 Oct 1999
  • Posts: 14652
  • Location: London
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Wed Nov 01, 2017 9:16 am
You did...
  View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
  • Joined: 24 Jun 1999
  • Posts: 232
  • Location: Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Wed Nov 01, 2017 10:58 pm
Maxim wrote
You did...


So where are they...? :)
  View user's profile Send private message
Reply to topic



Back to the top of this page

Back to SMS Power!