Why no Bust a Move love for the Genesis?

[GohanX]

No, but the Mega Drive in Japan was, and Taito is a Japanese company. The only hope for a US port would be if a seperate American company wanted to handle the port themselves and only release it in the US and Europe. Not gonna happen.

[A Black Falcon]

No, but the Mega Drive in Japan was, and Taito is a Japanese company. The only hope for a US port would be if a seperate American company wanted to handle the port themselves and only release it in the US and Europe. Not gonna happen.

No, Sega released games for the Genesis in Japan until the end of 1995... the SNES version of BAM released that year,s othere was a window for a Genesis/MD release. They obviously just didn't care to fill it because of the fading, unsuccessful in Japan nature of the system. This is probably the explanation for the lack of a Turbografx Super-CD version of the game too; while that system was successful in Japan, by late 1995 it was very late in its life and definitely fading rapidly.

As for the Game Gear, that one was later in its life too, in 1995-1996 when that game came out, but that was less obvious at the time than for Sega's other consoles, I think, because there was no replacement out there... it probably is one of the best later GG releases, though.

True, but the Game Gear wasn't discontinued by Sega until 1997, and Majesco made Game Gears as late as 2001. Bust a Move GG was released in 1995.

This is true in the US, but in Japan the last GG games released in 1996; the US only had the only 1997 GG release, The Lost World.

And actually, even though Sega of Japan had said in fall 1995 that they were stopping internal development for everything other than the Saturn, they did release Game Gear and Genesis Virtua Fighter games in 1996, both Japan-developed I'm pretty sure... but while the Game Gear one released worldwide, the Genesis one was US/EU-only, because Sega stopped publishing on the Genesis in Japan in late 1995.

But it was on bloody Game Gear. GAME GEAR.

I think a better reason than looking at end-of-support dates, though I do above, is this -- puzzle games were considered ideal for handheld platforms. Ever since Tetris's success on the Game Boy, puzzle games had been an important genre on handhelds, more so than they were on TV consoles. I'll bet that factored into their decision to bring BAM to the GG but not the Genesis, for sure. And also, if they wanted a handheld version, the GG was the system for it... as much as I love the GB, a color-based game like BAM just does not work very well on the Game Boy.

And indeed, BAM1 wasn't released on GB; it wasn't until 1998 that the GB got some BAM games (2 and 3), thanks to Acclaim, and without color they are a bit harder to play.

You guys are listing consoles that were far from commercial successes. Genesis was huge while Game.com was in the bargain bin. Of course, publishers wouldn't risk putting the game on Virtual Boy! But there would have been a lot of financial reasons to bring it to the Genesis.

Hey, you never know, the VB did get a version of Hudson's Panic Bomber (the only console version of the game released in the US, bizarrely enough)...

[Black_Tiger]

You guys are listing consoles that were far from commercial successes. Genesis was huge while Game.com was in the bargain bin. Of course, publishers wouldn't risk putting the game on Virtual Boy! But there would have been a lot of financial reasons to bring it to the Genesis.

The PC Engine was huge in Japan, the home of the developer, while the Mega Drive was not. Taito supported both though and likely the only reason that neither received ports of Bust-A-Move is because both consoles received 32-bit successors the same year that Bust-A-Move was first released in arcades.

[Jeff-20]

I think a better reason than looking at end-of-support dates, though I do above, is this -- puzzle games were considered ideal for handheld platforms. Ever since Tetris's success on the Game Boy, puzzle games had been an important genre on handhelds, more so than they were on TV consoles. I'll bet that factored into their decision to bring BAM to the GG but not the Genesis, for sure. And also, if they wanted a handheld version, the GG was the system for it... as much as I love the GB, a color-based game like BAM just does not work very well on the Game Boy.

Ah, the portable theory is very apt! With that in mind, I wonder if there's any way to play game gear roms on my gen. I can use the Everdrive flash cart to play SMS games. It seems like I should be able to somehow realize bust a move on my gen via some kind of conversion like many of the GG games that appeared as SMS carts.

Does that sound possible? Any ideas on how to make that happen?

[sketch]

Sounds like the general consensus is that timing kept Bust a Move from the Genesis, thanks to an early swan dive of the Mega Drive in Japan. I guess that means I can indirectly blame Nintendo for not having Bust a Move on my favorite console (in addition to them keeping Tetris from the little black box).

It took almost three years, but my question has been answered Thanks all.

[Christuserloeser]

Taito supported both [PC Engine and Mega Drive / Genesis] and likely the only reason that neither received ports of Bust-A-Move is because both consoles received 32-bit successors the same year that Bust-A-Move was first released in arcades.

^ This.

[djshok]

Well, while not a complete Bust A Move clone, there is the unlicensed game called Magic Bubble.

[Drakon]

Ah, the portable theory is very apt! With that in mind, I wonder if there's any way to play game gear roms on my gen. I can use the Everdrive flash cart to play SMS games. It seems like I should be able to somehow realize bust a move on my gen via some kind of conversion like many of the GG games that appeared as SMS carts.

Does that sound possible? Any ideas on how to make that happen?

I inquired about this a while ago. I think the answer I got was the gamegear is more powerful than the sms. So both the genesis and gamegear are backward compatible wtih the sms. But the genesis wouldn't have the necessary built in hardware to do gamegear games....as funny sounding as that may be. I thought the gamegear was basically a small portable master system, apparently that's not the case.

[j_factor]

Game Gear has a higher color palette, that's all.

[Black_Tiger]

The Game Gear isn't more powerful, it's just different. If this one game is a big enough deal, it can be hacked to use a SMS pallete so that it runs off of Genesis hardware. Chris Covell has at least one example of a GG to SMS conversion he worked on on his site.

[j_factor]

That's basically what Tec Toy did with Sonic Blast (and a few others).

[Drakon]

I wonder how much work is needed. I romhacked mario adventure to work with a rgb ppu and that wasn't difficult at all. We need some kind of gamegear to sms porting team!

puzzle bubble on a genesis.....yeah that would have been cool but I honestly have no clue why it didn't happen. I didn't know the genesis was already dead by '95....was too busy playing chrono trigger I guess....

[Jeff-20]

Well, while not a complete Bust A Move clone, there is the unlicensed game called Magic Bubble

I was hoping to test this game out using my Everdrive, but I can't find it anywhere! Plenty of information, but no game. Has it never been ripped?

[djshok]

I was hoping to test this game out using my Everdrive, but I can't find it anywhere! Plenty of information, but no game. Has it never been ripped?

Not yet

[Smii]

I was hoping to test this game out using my Everdrive, but I can't find it anywhere! Plenty of information, but no game. Has it never been ripped?

Sort of.