Tempo: The Franchise?

[Sega Uranus]

I have been playing quite a lot of it recently, and I must say it was far better then I would have imagined. Now with the Game Gear Tempo JR (which was poor at best), and the Saturn Super Tempo I think it's quite obvious Sega wanted to make this a franchise.

So why did they give up?

[Dirt Ball Gamer]

I have 32x Tempo, but didn't know about the other two. How is the saturn one? I don't really hate tempo as much as some people, I just think if they had done a better job with colision detection and a few other things it could have been good. Really psychadelik. It takes a second to get all the control issues and gameplay down. Horrible intro song though, I cringe when I hear it and imediatly hit mute so the neihbors don't think im weird!

[Joe Redifer]

So why did they give up?
Because it sucked.

[Aarzak]

Oh no, you done did it now.......:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCURCyxdUpU

Here's a video on the sequel "Super Tempo" for Sega Saturn........fantastic animation!:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vlSCTQXiRQ

Anyone think that these games resemble the 2D "Rayman" platformers? The first game of both series came out in 1995. I briefly owned the first Rayman for PS1 (GH copy) after salivating and secretly wanting it out for years due to the reviews and tantalizing screen shots. When I finally got it in late 2000......I just couldn't get into it. The graphics and music were nice........but I couldn't get into it.

Hope that "Super Tempo" doesn't have the horrible collision detection/control problems that prevented the original from being an alright game. One of the handful of Japanese-developed games for the 32X.

I don't think Tempo became a full-fledged series because it wasn't O&O (owned and operated) by Sega: the developer and owner of the series is RED of "Gate of Thunder" (PCE CD-ROM) fame. Besides..........too many damn mascots and platformers by '95. And the first game being on the 32X? That explains it all.

[Genesis Knight]

Isn't J-Factor a die-hard fan?

[TmEE]

Tempo kicks ass on 32X... I konw nothing about the other versions though... nice tunes, GFX and its pretty challenging. Great game.

[0x15e]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vlSCTQXiRQOh. My. God. I never realized it looked that good. I'm going to have to come up with a copy now.

On topic: all this was happening near the end of the console wars. The 2D mascot-based platformer was a dying breed. Sure, there were still a few trickling out here and there, but for the most part, it was all going to 3D.

[Elusive]

Super Tempo is like Japan's Earthworm Jim, it's got a daft sense of humour. I can't not like a game about a funky grasshopper sharing his beats with the world :D

Here's the Super Tempo theme song (http://h1.ripway.com/Elusive/Music/tempotheme.mp3)! It's the Tempo theme in redbook audio!

[Joe Redifer]

Tempo sucks on the 32X. I think the Genesis does the majority of the graphics and what's there really doesn't look very good. And the music/sound is absolutely atrocious.

[Aarzak]

I think you exaggerate. Tempo's level bosses definitely utilize the 32X hardware seeing as they scale and rotate, as does pretty much the entire intro sequence. I can kind of tell because those segments powered by the 32X have a perpetual touch of slowdown.

I dunno...........does anyone have the cart and can check what parts of the game are done by the 32X and Genesis respectively?

The music is alright, and a big part of the entire game since its based on music. It does the same YM2612+PSG+PWM mix that "Knuckles Chaotix" did.

But the collision detection and 'tarded control really take away from the game.

[evildragon]

Give me a PM to the ROM, and I'll get you a screenshot showing what is 32X graphics..

[Genesis Knight]

You can't find your own ROM?

[evildragon]

I really don't have the time to be hunting one right now. Anyway, I got a ROM, I'm just trying to figure out how to get past the begining intro thing, to get more screenshots. I'm not familiar with this game at all.

[j_factor]

Isn't J-Factor a die-hard fan?

Ha. Not quite. I do like it, though. Mainly I just love the soundtrack, the visuals, and the overall feel of the game. It's so cheesy it's awesome. It's not the best in terms of playability, but it definitely has a lot of charm. Super Tempo is a lot better in the gameplay (and graphics) department.

As to why Tempo was given up, Aarzak is correct that it is a RED property. Sega used to own RED, but not anymore.

[Joe Redifer]

Yeah, it is hard to figure out even how to get to the damn stage in Tempo. You can move in front of 3 different things and then I think you press down. Took me awhile as well, and it certainly isn't intuitive. I think the sprites may be 32X powered. The slowdown when 32X stuff is on the screen is unacceptable. I've never made it to any boss since I turn the game off before that and/or can't figure out how to complete a stage. It is a bad game.

Red is also behind many other projects, like Bonk's Adventure. I don't think they do their own programming.

[evildragon]

Here's a surprise...

http://blackevilweredragon.spymac.com/tempo.PNG

Title screen is all 32X, except the copyright at the bottom of the screen.

[Joe Redifer]

Do a stage. If you can get to one.

[evildragon]

not at my Vista laptop right now, it's in another room shut down.

i'll try it tomorrow.

[Aarzak]

Aha, I should've known he would've used that feature on Gens!

I should try it myself with other games, but Gens' 32X emulation is nowhere near as good as Fusion's.

[Genesis Knight]

Fusion really is the best.

@J-Factor: did you ever open that sealed Tempo 32x? Or was that Joe?

[Joe Redifer]

If my Tempo was sealed, I opened it.

[evildragon]

Fusion, as far as I know, doesn't let you screw with the layers, only Gens KMod does, as it's a developers version.

But I am a fan of Fusion myself. Gens seems to have constant problems on my laptop.

[j_factor]

@J-Factor: did you ever open that sealed Tempo 32x? Or was that Joe?

That was me. I opened it... when I got a second sealed copy as part of a lot.

[evildragon]

Ok, I give up. I tried to start a stage, and can't figure out the damned thing. I went left, right, up, down, start, A, B, C, nothing.

I personally think the game stinks.

[j_factor]

You think the game stinks... but you haven't even started a stage? Kind of a hasty judgment, don't you think?

In any case, you press C to start a stage. When you press C, he should jump on the little green thing and the "doorway" will scale into the screen. I recommend the middle of the 3 stages.

If it doesn't work, perhaps you have a bad dump.

[evildragon]

I say it stunk because it's not very user friendly. ;)

EDIT: Okay. Putting Gens in XP Compatibility mode allowed it to register the keys on my gamepad correctly.

http://blackevilweredragon.spymac.com/temp32x.PNG

[Joe Redifer]

Show the stage with the bouncing buildings.

[evildragon]

I really can't play this game, I've tried, but to me, it's not easy. If you can give me the password for that stage, i'll do it.

[Joe Redifer]

It's the 3rd one (on the right). I just tried playing this game again. Wow, it really is quite bad. Even Chuck Rock might be better. I can't make it to a boss. Indeed, this is perhaps one of the most awful playing games that dares to exist.

Why did they choose to make those large, purple, dancing aliens in that stage so blocky and shitty looking? Unfortunately I have the answer. Back in those days, crappy looking blocky ugly-ass graphics were associated with scaling, and scaling was, like, totally rad, dude. So therefore blocky, vomit-inducing, low quality = cool.

[evildragon]

here..

http://blackevilweredragon.spymac.com/tempbounce.PNG

[Joe Redifer]

It's interesting that it's almost the direct reverse of what was done in Knuckles' Chaotix, yet Chaotix is still the better looking game by leaps and bounds.

[Aarzak]

Guess the Genesis is going the foregrounds and sprites, while the 32X does the backgrounds, level bosses and the intro sequence.

As I said, a tell-tale sign that the 32X is handling the graphics in this game is the slowdown that part experiences. The 32X port of "Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure" suffered GREATLY from this. The 32X apparently did the foregrounds and the sprites, while the Genesis handled the far backgrounds. The Genesis portions were transplanted from the vanilla Genesis Pitfall cart while the 32X stuff was lifted from the Jaguar/PC versions. The 32X portion ran sluggish and I mean SLUGGISH as hell, sub-30 FPS people, while the Genesis portion remained at 60 FPS. It made for a very disorienting, disconnected appearance to the graphics.

"Tempo" is an an acquired taste I guess. There was this other game for Genesis that many people probably gave up on the first level due to its difficult/crappy controls, "Wolverine: Adamantium Rage" (WARNING: An Acclaim game). I managed to have patience and actually work with and around the flaws, and eventually I hammered down the controls. I went on to totally whup ass in what was a pretty decent, fast-paced game.

[Joe Redifer]

I find that the 32X loves slowdown.

[Aarzak]

Makes sense, considering what it was working with (an already archaic 16-Bit console with drastically different specs). Surprisingly the 32X and Genesis vibed together better than SCD & the Genesis did, with their similar processors and all.

Still, they were both restricted by their parent hardware. But man, Pitfall 32X has to have the worst slowdown I've ever seen in a 32X game. Keep in mind though, I'm going by Kega Fusion's emulation on it, I'm still waiting to see if anyone has an actual copy of this port and can tell me any different.

[Joe Redifer]

Makes sense, considering what it was working with (an already archaic 16-Bit console with drastically different specs).

Actually, I think the 32X itself is responsible for most of the slowdown, especially since everything it did was through software since it didn't have hardware support for much of anything.


Surprisingly the 32X and Genesis vibed together better than SCD & the Genesis did, with their similar processors and all.

I disagree.

[evildragon]

32X had some horrible cache issues. ;)

[Dirt Ball Gamer]

I have the sega cd version of pitfall (which I like), never played the 32x version, but it can't slowdown more than cosmic carnage. That game has the worst slowdown Ive ever seen. Dreadful dreadful slowdown.

[Aarzak]

"Cosmic Carnage".........yeah that's a candidate for worst slowdown in a 32X game. Again, it occurs when there's too much fireworks/scaling on-screen.........courtesy of the 32X hardware.

Talmac's Stage BGM owns all of your souls though. That's like the friggin' theme song to the tragic life of the 32X. Can anyone record and post it up? :)

[Joe Redifer]

I never realized how good some of the tunes in Cosmic Carnage are. I'll record a few and post them hopefully tomorrow in this thread (http://www.sega-16.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2006).

[Dirt Ball Gamer]

I was too busy barfing to notice the jams

[Aarzak]

I never realized how good some of the tunes in Cosmic Carnage are. I'll record a few and post them hopefully tomorrow in this thread (http://www.sega-16.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2006).

http://www.joeredifer.com/stuff/CosmicCarnageOC.mp3

Hell yeah! It's friggin Talmac's BGM! Thanks Joe. Like I've mentioned many times over, it just seems to invoke the tragic, troubled life of the 32X, and the dark road that Sega was steadily going down through. Plus, 32X came out in mid-November when its already dark by liek 5PM, SAD disorder and all that shit. Talmac's BGM IS the 32X's theme song, and it also owns all of your sawls.


Ironically though, "Cosmic Carnage"'s soundtrack was entirely produced by the Genesis sound suite. Didn't touch the 32X sound hardware at all from what I can see, which explains why the soundtrack has been ripped in .vgm format. I thought .vgm was of badass quality liek .spc, why doesn't it sound as good as even Kega Fusion's sound output?

[xbrinkx]

Ironically though, "Cosmic Carnage"'s soundtrack was entirely produced by the Genesis sound suite. Didn't touch the 32X sound hardware at all from what I can see, which explains why the soundtrack has been ripped in .vgm format.
If the music from Cosmic Carnage is produced entirely by the Genesis, then I'm impressed. The drums sound great compared to most Genesis titles.


I thought .vgm was of badass quality liek .spc, why doesn't it sound as good as even Kega Fusion's sound output?
The .vgm format is very accurate, but the plugin utilized in most players (i.e. WinAMP) is based on the Gens sound core.

[Aarzak]

Oh yeah, what is the best vgm player/plugin then?

Man, if they would only adopt Snake's core.......