Two years ago, I was in the Pacific Northwest, researching SG-1000 games and wondering what would come of this overwhelming Sega project. Today, I’m in Austin, Texas, playing Mega Drive/Genesis games and still wondering what’s going to come of this overwhelming Sega project.
Sega Does started a mere month and a half after I completed my quest to review every NES game over on questicle.net. In retrospect, taking on such a massive project so quickly after I finished a lesser, but still large project wasn’t the wisest idea, but I was hungry to jump into Sega. “The Quest to Review Every NES Game” was more of a freewheeling, humorous romp through the North American NES library, but I’ve tried to aim for a more measured and consistent approach with Sega Does reviews. This means chronological reviews instead of alphabetical, more in-depth reviews versus a brief paragraph or two, and historical information when appropriate. I haven’t always succeeded with my intentions, but for a one-man operation (save for the podcast), I think I’ve done alright.
If I’m honest, I can’t even count the number of times I’ve wanted to give up on Sega Does. Not because I don’t enjoy playing and reviewing Sega games, but because the task at hand – to review every game ever released for a Sega console – doesn’t always seem like the best use of my time. I’m young-ish, in relatively good health, and still at a point where I can live on very little money. Surely I should be pursuing some other avenue of writing that might possibly provide a living?
I find myself consistently drawn back to Sega Does, though. I enjoy playing and exploring these old games, many of which I’ve never heard of until the day I play them. The community is warm, knowledgeable, and enthusiastic about Sega. I’m grateful to the blog and to the readers whose thoughts have lifted me up on the worst of days. I would still probably do this without you all, but it would be a lot less satisfying.
Thanks for all your support and for continuing to read my ramblings on old Sega games. You’re the best. Around. And not even an image of Dr. Robotnik in a thong can keep you down.
– DC
20 replies on “Sega Does Turns 2!”
Happy Birthday Sega Does.
It’s been really enjoyable following your reviews and I sincerely hope we all get to the Saturn and Dreamcast together.
Regarding suggestions, I do have one but the length of your journey is long and this is probably a detour you won’t want to make. Despite it’s fine console history the bulk of Sega’s heritage is in the arcades and perhaps arcade game reviews would be a nice sidequest ? Perhaps as a Xmas special with short reviews on Sega’s different arcade boards and their games.
Hey Sut, thanks for coming along for the ride. Checking out Sega’s rich arcade legacy is a great idea. Sam has a ton of knowledge on old Sega arcade boards. Let me chat with him and see what we cook up.
Congrats on your milestone, Dylan. I’m a latecomer to reading Sega Does but I never fail to enjoy the reviews even though I’ve never played most of these games.
I know from experience, it’s not so easy keeping a blog fresh and active. I salute you on keeping this one going, and doing it with style and wit.
Cheers,
Steve
Thanks Steve! My goal is for people to enjoy the review, regardless of whether they’ve played the game or not. I appreciate your feedback and compliments!
Thank you, Matt! Just show her the wonders of Wonderboy 3 and that should clear things up.
Congratulations! Thank you for all the effort and time you are putting into this. Although I just recently discovered your blog, I am really enjoying it thus far.
Thanks Elmar!
Just had a thought regarding the per system game lists. It would be great if these were in table form including the data presented at the top of each review, and of course your review score:
name, players, publisher, developer, genre, release date per region, score, link to review, link to box art
Allowing to sort per column would be really handy, f.e.: sorting per review score would allow readers to quickly find the top rated games for a system.
While I agree with you that this would be an ideal solution, I really wouldn’t know where to begin on how to create a table like that. If you have any suggestions, feel free to e-mail me.
Gah! For the love of Cthulu put some clothes on, Robotnik!
At any rate, two years already! Its odd when something becomes a part of your daily routine, you don’t even think how long it’s been around. Thank you for the many early mornings of interesting reading and the company during lunch at work. Here’s to many more! Now where is my Sega Does t-shirt? Haha, jk. Or am I???
You’re welcome, Kurdt. Thanks for reading all this time!
As for that Sega Does t-shirt, alas, Sega would probably threaten to sue me for co-opting their logo. Lousy copyright laws.
Did you have any plans to pursue further classic Nintendo systems? Say, the SNES, and on through N64 or Gamecube, at least catching up Nintendo with the Sega reviews, if you indeed plan on going all the way through Dreamcast? Sounds pretty daunting, I suppose.
Might also be nice to hit TG-16/CD games someday.
I realize none of this has anything to do with Sega, so hey! Keep doing what you do. It’s been highly enjoyable and this is one of the primary blogs I regularly read. Keep blogging. 🙂
Thanks TJ! I would love to hit up Famicom, Super Famicom, and maybe PS1 and PS2. Alas, I am one man! If these projects paid me a living wage, I would definitely branch out more. For now, Sega all the way.
Been following since day one and I stay loving it.
Thank you for what you’ve done.
As for a shirt design without branding…
http://www.vizzed.com/vizzedboard/retro/user_screenshots/saves15/153775/Battle%20Mania%20Daiginjou%20english%20translation_Jan1%209_40_10.png
And maybe a URL or QR code.
Get creative! Use some sick shit that’s too old and obscure for SEGA to care.
(I’d buy one, though it’d take me a little while)
Thanks silly name person!
Unfortunately, I wouldn’t want to use any of Sega’s IPs regardless of how old it is. While it might not get me in trouble, as an artist myself, I can’t in good conscience do that to someone else’s art.
I appreciate the idea, though!
Wow. Has it been two years already? Seems like yesterday. I think you’ve made pretty good progress since then. I imagine were going to be seeing a lot of Mega Drive now. 1989 and 1990 should go pretty quick. But the floodgates really open in 91 onwards. Especially with the game gear coming into the mix and the resurgence of European SMS titles. You certainly have your work cut out for you. The Mega Drive and Sega CD/32 side of Sega is probrably the side I’m most knowledgable on myself. I would say between buying games and renting them, I’ve played a huge portion of the library. At least most of the good stuff. I think notably we’ll see a lot more RPG;s , long strategy games, and PC types of games, So it could slow down a little. The Mega Drive is definetly was the system was advanced enough to make in depth home games, and compete with Nintendo on games made for the living room.
Some highlights for me over the last two years.
Discovering the SG-1000 library. Practically unknown in the west. Your reviews showed me the early Sega I never knew about. An invaluable resource.
In depth look at Japan only SMS games. I played most of the US releases up through 89. But had little knowledge of the Japan exclusives.
The podcast. I enjoy every second of it. The back and forth of you and Sam talking about specific games is great. Though sometimes I don’t agree, it’s always a good listen. interesting to hear views of people who didn’t experience the SMS first hand and from a UK perspective. (Hopefully Sam can throw in a lot of music from the games in question when you talk about them on the podcast.)
Picture captions. I don’t ever comment on these enough but you usually hit it out of the park on these. Your cultural references are top notch and witty.
User engagement. I really appreciate how you engage with your readers in a positive way and will always try to answer back to people’s comments and read comments on the air. It’s refreshing to see a writer foster a positive engagement the with their readers. And discuss points of merit about the games and system. There are some retro podcasts…. That sometimes seem like they have an active dislike for their listeners or hate comments about the show. Or are unwilling to discuss points of contention. (I won’t be naming any)
Anyway here’s to hopefully many years of reading this blog. I hope it gives you as much joy playing these games as it does me reading about them. It may not generate money or put food on your table. But it should at least be something you enjoy doing, and as long as that is the case I’ll be here following along for the ride.
Sean, reading this comment really made me realize how much has happened in the last two years. When you’re just going along and doing it every day, you lose sight of everything you’ve accomplished.
I’d like to address some of your points. First, I’m way excited to get deep into Mega Drive and to explore Game Gear and Sega CD. I’d love to get to Game Gear before year 3, but we will see. Since I’m not working on The NES Compendium like I was, I should be able to put more time into the Sega blog.
Believe it or not, prior to starting, I was going to skip writing about the SG-1000. I really assumed no one would be interested, but then I reasoned that if I was going to start with the Master System and continue to the Dreamcast, why not just do every Sega console? I’ve noticed a great response to my SG-1000 stuff, and if I’m honest, I think those reviews are still some of my favorites too.
I’m glad you enjoy the podcast because we love making it. When Sam quit for a few months, I was crestfallen. The site felt like it lost a limb. Now that he’s back, everything is in its right place again.
I wish I could make a living from those picture captions. They just come so easily.
I really strive to engage people because I genuinely want to hear what they have to say. I may not always have a lot to say in return, but if you take the time to comment, I want to at least thank you for taking the time.
I’m grateful to your presence here from the beginning, Sean. In many ways, you’re the unofficial third member of the podcast, and you always go above and beyond to keep me informed. I’ve learned so much from your comments! I wish I had more to say in response to them. Just know that I’m always thankful for your history lessons!
And yes, Lord willing, there will be many more years of Sega Does to come.
‘ clears vocal chords ‘ good show old boy what what
Happy belated birthday! I can’t believe I’ve made it through two years of content in the last month or so. Congratulations on your dedication and resilience. You’ve got a long road ahead but at least you should be getting to some consistently higher quality games for a while. All the best – all your efforts are appreciated!
Thanks Rom! I honestly can’t believe you’ve read that much either. Thanks for sticking with the site! Always enjoy reading your comments.