Sega2 Mini Video Games #4 – Shadow Basketball

shadow basketball box

This is the latest mini video game from McDonald’s – Shadow
Basketball. I reckon Shadow thinks of himself as something of a bad
ass, posing in that confrontational attitude. πŸ˜‰ Unfortunately, the
game places you on his side, so you can’t do a full on body block to
show him who’s in charge of the court here.

shadow wrap

The plastic wrap shows Shadow in either a “come get some” or “I’m
doing some serious air” pose, I can’t decide which. πŸ˜‰ The color theme
of this mini video game is black, with a see through black casing.

shadow manual

The manual now comes in the double printed English/Chinese instructions we saw in the previous game in the series.

shadow game

Here’s what the Shadow Basketball handheld game looks like. It’s on a vertical play field.

shadow controls

Shadow Basketball is the most complex game to date – it has two
yellow arrow keys to move Shadow left, right or center and a red button
for Shadow to take a shot.

shadow bg

Here’s a look at the pre-painted color background…it shows the three pointer circle of the opponent’s end.

shadow play

Shadow Basketball starts out with one robot looking defender trying
to block your shots at the hoop. Shadow can score if the robot is not
in front of the shot angle. He can also score if the robot is in front
of the shot angle, but the robot’s hands needs to be down, or “off
guard”. The robot blocks the shot when its hands are up during an
attempt at the hoop. The game increases the number of robot defenders
up to three and also steps up the speed of their repetitive blocking
attempts.

I took a video of the game play, including the final stage, and the
winning animation. This is taken as macro as the first video is barely
viewable. Rest assured, this one is perfectly clear:

shadow basketball

Download: Shadow Basketball [sixthseal.com]

I don’t know why I kept referring to Shadow Basketball as Knuckles
Basketball in the video. Something must have confused me. πŸ˜‰ It’s
Shadow Basketball.

Despite the apparent complexity, it’s not that hard to make blind
shots and win. I won during the first attempt and the winning animation
shows Shadow taking shots from all three angles.

Sega2 Mini Video Games #3 – Tails Soccer

tails soccer

Tails Soccer is the third in the Sega2 and McDonald’s joint venture
promotional series. Basically, you get to purchase one with every
McDonald’s meal for RM 6. Tails Soccer comes in the now standard spiffy
Sega2 packaging, with box and all the frills.

tails soccer wrap

The plastic wrap it comes in is also the standard Sega 2 packaging,
with the name of the game and the character printed in monotone on the
outside and the game with a manual (a nice word for a piece of paper)
inside.

tails soccer man

The manual is superfluous really, its just the same three stage,
game goes faster as you up a stage, left-middle-right movement typical
of the Sonic Team Sega2 games.

tails soccer man chi

What I found unusual is that the back of the manual has the
instructions printed in Chinese (Mandarin) as well. That wasn’t the
case with the others in the series.

tails soccer game

Tails Soccer itself is molded like a console game controller, but it
seems to be meant for smaller hands than mine coz it wasn’t really
comfortable to play. There is no flip-top clamshell design this time,
just a standard mini video game design. It’s interesting to note the
similarities in the Sega2 Tails Soccer and the original Sega Knuckles Soccer [sixthseal.com]. Probably used the same chipset with minor mods.

tails soccer bg

Here’s the pre-painted background…same old, same old.

tails soccer play

Tails! God dammit, you missed the ball!

Sega2 Mini Video Games #2 – Cream Flower Catch

cream flower catch

Cream Flower Catch is the second one in the McDonald’s and Sega mini
video games promotional tie in. It comes in a nicely designed cardboard
box with a yellow motif, showing whom I presume to be Cream from Sega’s
Sonic the Hedgehog series.

cream mcd
The box has the McDonald’s logo, it’s “i’m lovin’ it” tagline…

cream sega
…and the SEGA logo as well.

cream wrap

This is the contents of the box – a nice plastic wrap with the
manual and the mini video game. The Sega2 series is much better than
the first Sega promotion – the new ones all have a box with colored
printing and a higher quality plastic wrap. The first ones only come in
a small plastic wrap.

cream clamshell

Cream Flower Catch also features the same flip top, translucent
clamshell design that was in Sonic Skateboard. However, Cream Flower
Catch is longer, with a very vertical design and a yellow based theme.

cream back

Here’s a look at the back of the Cream Flower Catch mini video game
– it shows all the internal circuits, including the battery. There is a
red on/off toggle switch as well. It’s a definite improvement from the
more boring first iteration.

cream manual

The manual from the Sega2 series remains similar to the original
Sega mini video games though – it’s just a piece of one-sided printed
paper, with minimal instructions. The game play is typical of handheld
systems – the usual repetitive motions with everything moving faster
with each level increase.

cream open

This is what Cream Flower Catch looks like in its open state – the
yellow top flips up to reveal a sticker on the back of the top with
Cream and her…er, friend. There are two red buttons to move Cream
left, middle or right.

cream bg

The Sega2 series maintains the standard of a pre-painted color
background with grayscale game play elements superimposed on top when
it’s switched on.

cream play

Go catch the flowers, Cream!

Sega2 Mini Video Games #1 – Sonic Skateboard

sonic big

The Sega/McDonald’s promotional tie-in is back again, and it’s
better than ever. The aptly called Sega2 series is the second batch of
mini video games from the original Sega mini video games
[sixthseal.com]. The first one in this series is Sonic Skateboard.
Sonic is the flagship intellectual property of Sega and Sonic
Skateboard looks to be one of the better mini video games in this
McDonald’s and Sega promotion with its see through flip top clamshell
design with all the internal ICs visible.

sonic skateboard clamshell

I did not actually know about the second promotion until it was too
late – Sonic Skateboard had already sold out! Luckily, the store
manager has one in her possession and was willing to part for it for RM
50. She assured me that it was in mint condition, but it didn’t come
with the nice packaging and manuals, so I offered her RM 30 instead and
she agreed. The normal retail price is RM 6 with any McDonald’s meal.

sonic skateboard open

The design seems to be the same as the first batch of Sega video
games which came out last year – a grayscale screen with pre-painted
backgrounds and two buttons for movement control.

sonic skateboard bg

The game play is still the basic simple arcade style handheld video game which can be finished in 10 minutes.

sonic skateboard game

There are three levels to Sonic Skateboard. Basically, the game play
requires you to use the two red buttons to move Sonic to one of three
possible positions – left, right and center. You have to avoid the
landmines while controlling Sonic, who’s on a skateboard on a half
pipe, while collecting rings. It’s simple and fun.

bernice video

Download: Sega2 Sonic Skateboard video [sixthseal.com]

sonic skateboard

Here’s a video of me playing the first mini video game in the joint
McDonald’s/Sega promotion. The person who’s taking the video is
Bernice, one of my coworkers.

McDonald’s/Sega Mini Video Games

mcsegahg.jpg

Here are the direct links to all the 5 Sega mini video games that
were released once a week (in a series) for five consecutive weeks from
26th June 2003 – 30th July 2003 as a McDonald’s promotion:

Sonic’s Speedway
McDonald’s & Sega Mini video game #1 – Sonic’s Speedway [sixthseal.com].

Knuckles Soccer
McDonald’s & Sega Mini video game #2 – Knuckles Soccer [sixthseal.com].

Tails Sky Patrol
McDonald’s & Sega Mini video game #3 – Tails Sky Patrol [sixthseal.com].

AiAi Banana Catch
McDonald’s & Sega Mini video game #4 – AiAi Banana Catch [sixthseal.com].

Sonic’s Action Game
McDonald’s & Sega Mini video game #5 – Sonic’s Action Game [sixthseal.com].

McDonald’s & Sega promotion – Sega mini handheld games – Sonic’s Action Game

McDonald’s and Sega’s Sonic the Hedgehog mini game #5 – Sonic’s Action Game

sonicpf.jpg

sonicpb.jpg

This is the final one in the series – it came out yesterday, and I
went to get one early in the morning. The quality of the photos are
quite dismal because they are taken using a webcam, the Logitech
Quickcam Pro 3000 that I had since the beginning of this blog. My
digicam is still out of service, and probably will be for at least a
week. Anyway, Sonic’s Action Game differs from the others in that it
only has one button instead of the standard two. The background is the
most colorful and detailed in the series and the game play is different
– this one is a platform game, like the first Sega Sonic the Hedgehog
games. The single red button is used to make Sonic jump over obstacles
(where there sometimes are rings) and the game speeds up at each level.
It seems to have 4 levels instead of the usual 3 and the last two
levels are quite fast – rather challenging, until you find out that
depressing the jump button repeatedly will get you through the final
two levels without even looking at the LCD screen. It’s an interesting
game nevertheless, different from the others and a nice one to end the
McDonald’s/Sega mini video game promotion series.

sonicman.jpg
The manual for Sonic’s Action Game

sonicf.jpg
The front of Sonic’s Action Game

sonicb.jpg
The back of Sonic’s Action Game

sonicact.jpg
Sonic’s Action Game in action!

McDonald’s & Sega promotion – Sega mini handheld games – Sonic’s Speedway

McDonald’s and Sega’s Sonic the Hedgehog mini game #1 – Sonic’s Speedway

sonsf.jpg

sonsb.jpg

This is the first one in the series, the only one I don’t have. It’s
called Sonic’s Speedway and it’s a racing game that follows the same
game play as the others in the series. The three photos are taken by Daniel
[geocities.com]. His sister owns this game. Tomorrow is the day the
last one comes out, going to send out some more resumes tonight and
sleep earlier to queue up tomorrow.

sonsact.jpg
Sonic’s Speedway in action!

McDonald’s & Sega promotion – Sega mini handheld games – Ai Ai Banana Catch

McDonald’s and Sega’s Sonic the Hedgehog mini game #4 – Ai Ai Banana Catch

aiaipf.jpg

aiaipb.jpg

Ai Ai Banana Catch is the fourth one in the McDonald’s/Sega
promotion series. I got this last Thursday morning at the McDonald’s in
Sibu, but didn’t get around to posting it till today. The branch
supervisor actually recognized me (probably due to my impatience ;))
from that Monday where they were selling off the rest of the back
stock. Anyway, I found that Ai Ai Banana Catch is the hardest mini game
I’ve played to date – the third (last) level is actually quite
challenging if you aren’t concentrating, unlike the other two in the
series preceding it. The game play is still very much the same. Two
buttons move the protagonist (Ai Ai) into three positions (left, middle
and right) in order to catch falling bananas. Oh, and I noticed that
the batteries of these handheld games doesn’t last that long. I don’t
think I’ve even played them for one hour, before noticeable
manifestations of battery drainage occurs – volume decreases, screen
becomes dimmer etc.

aiaiman.jpg
The manual for Ai Ai Banana Catch

aiaif.jpg
The front of Ai Ai Banana Catch

aiaib.jpg
The back of Ai Ai Banana Catch

aiaiact.jpg
Ai Ai Banana Catch in action!

McDonald’s & Sega promotion – Sega mini handheld games – Knuckles Soccer

McDonald’s and Sega’s Sonic the Hedgehog mini game #2 – Knuckles Soccer

knuckpf.jpg

knuckpb.jpg

I got this back issue from the McDonald’s Sibu offer last Monday,
where they reintroduce the sold out games (only #2 Knuckles Soccer and
#3 Tails Sky Patrol, not #1 Sonic’s Speedway). It was supposed to go on
sale at exactly 12 noon and man, the place was packed! Everyone was
jostling, shouting around etc. and the staff finally had to resort to
giving out numbers, and I got Number 2. Heh. Anyway, after a long wait
and a lot of pushing around, we (me and gf, she was still in Sibu at
that time) walked out with two copies of Knuckles Soccer. Yay! The game
features Knuckles in front of a goal and you control him using the two
right-left buttons to guard the goal from incoming balls. Fun, but all
too easy to win again. The background has a wider variety of colors
compared to Tails Sky Patrol though – colorful. I couldn’t post it up
before because of my broken digicam (didn’t have photos). Why do I have
photos now? I’ll write about that in the next post, here are the photos
that I took:

knuckman.jpg
The manual for Knuckles Soccer (scanned)

knuckf.jpg
The front of Knuckles Soccer.

knuckb.jpg
The back of Knuckles Soccer.

knuckact.jpg
Knuckles Soccer in action!

McDonald’s & Sega promotion – Sega mini handheld games – Tails Sky Patrol

McDonald’s and Sega’s Sonic the Hedgehog mini game #3 – Tails Sky Patrol

tailsmcd.jpg

tailssp.jpg

I did not wake up early because I was still sleeping, so I didn’t
queue up at 9 am. I only got up at around 10:45 am after a call woke me
up. I rushed down to the local McDonald’s and I’m happy to report that
I have managed to acquire two of Tails Sky Patrol (the Sega mini
handheld game this week – a new one every week). I’m planning to
collect one (unopened, in shrink wrap) and play with one.

tailsad.jpg
Sonic’s Tails Sky Patrol game.

tailspf.jpg

tailspb.jpg

Well, the construction of these Sega mini games seems to be pretty
solid – the only one I have (Tails Sky Patrol) feels light, but sturdy.
There’s a bit of a rattling sound when it’s agitated though. The back
of the game has a simple On/Off toggle switch and the front is molded
to the Tails character from Sonic the Hedgehog. The LCD is about the
size of a postage stamp and has a pre-rendered background. By that I
mean the background is “painted on” and shows up even if the game is
not on. You know what I mean if you’ve been messing around with
handheld games before.

segapro.jpg

tailsf.jpg
Front of the handheld game.

tailsb.jpg
Back of the handheld game.

The background has scenery of a blue sky, with nicely rendered
cumulonimbus clouds. The two red buttons to move Tails up and down
seems to be able to handle a bit of rough play, but I haven’t put that
to the test. This game also has sound – it emits beeps, boops, and
squeaks, depending on whether you made Tails eat a ring, you missed
one, or the game is over. πŸ™‚

tailsact.jpg
The game in action!

The game is pretty compulsive, a lot of fast reflexes are needed to
get through the levels, but I suspect that this isn’t a device that
would take a lot of punishment, so personally, I don’t think it’ll last
for all that long. It’s great value for RM 5 (A$ 2.50) so I would be
getting the other two in the series. Please email me
if you have the first two in the series, I’m interested in getting two
of each (but one would do if that’s all you’re willing to part with),
just offer a price in the email. Thanks!

tailsspm.jpg
The manual

P/S – Has anyone taken photos of the back of Tails Sky Patrol? I
noticed this very interesting visual distortion where the blue bits
swirled and blinked and moved around. It’s not an isolated incident so
I wouldn’t call it a flashback. Try taking a close-up photo of the back
of this mini game and see if you experience the same visual distortion
when viewed through the LCD viewfinder. The front and other parts did
not produce the same effects, only the blue back of Tails Sky Patrol
did. I had to think very hard to remember whether I consumed any
mushrooms or blotters during the night! I’m pretty sure this phenomena
occurs because of the silvery finish at the back of the game – it just
messes with the digicam’s autofocus and that translated to bizarre
visual distortions in the LSD viewfinder.

tailspro.jpg

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