Segaiden #27: Graphic Tablet / Wonder Boy / Champion Billiards

Segaiden #27: Graphic Tablet / Wonder Boy / Champion Billiards

Author: Jeremy Parish January 30, 2022 Duration: 18:55

The penultimate set of SG-1000 games arrives as the system does its best to remain current and competitive in the medium's changing landscape with technology built around the expectations of an earlier generation of game design. Although the SG-1000 is woefully underpowered to hold its own amidst the new creative frontiers being explored on Famicom, Mark III, and in arcades, these final releases push the hardware well beyond anything its designers could possibly have intended or foreseen.

The Graphic Tablet peripheral and Terebi Oekeki cart bring the creative functionality of a personal computer to SG-1000. Wonder Boy brings Mario-esque scrolling action to the system. And Champion Billiards... well, you'll recognize it when you see it. You can almost smell the flop sweat as the hardware tries to keep up—but it tries, dammit, and that counts for a lot.


Jeremy Parish's Video Works by Jeremy Parish is a curated collection of his long-running projects diving deep into the history and design of classic video games. Rather than a single focused series, this podcast serves as an archive and hub for several distinct endeavors. You'll find episodes from Game Boy World, which meticulously documents every pre-Game Boy Advance handheld title in chronological order, offering a unique historical perspective. Another strand explores the interconnected world of "Metroidvania" games, analyzing the design principles that define this beloved subgenre. The Anatomy of Games segments provide thorough, thoughtful critiques of classic game design, breaking down what makes these titles endure. Each episode, whether originally audio or adapted from video content, carries Parish's knowledgeable and considered commentary. This podcast is for anyone with an appreciation for gaming's foundations, presented not as dry history but as an engaging exploration of the artistry and innovation that shaped the medium. Tune in for a consistently insightful look at the pixels and philosophies behind the games you might have played-or always meant to.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

Video Works by Jeremy Parish
Podcast Episodes
Segaiden #020: Chack'n Pop & Bank Panic [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 13:54
More arcade ports for SG-1000? Say it ain't so! These titles aren't especially well known in the U.S., since they've never seen a proper console release here (outside of maybe some collection that doesn't come immediatel…
Segaiden #019: Doki Doki Penguin Land & Drol [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 11:43
This week brings us two SG-1000 releases that feel miles removed from the console's earliest days of serious-looking war game: Doki Doki Penguin Land and Drol. Rather than involving the relentless destruction of military…
Segaiden #018: Zoom 909 / Choplifter / Pitfall [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 14:22
Beginning with this episode, I'm knuckling down to wrap up as much of the SG-1000 video series as possible by the end of 2021. There are only about half a dozen episodes to go after this! It's a pretty small library, but…
NES Works Gaiden #29: Castlevania Special: Kid Dracula [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 13:07
Halloween season is upon us, and you know what that means: Where other people decorate their homes with cobwebs and giant skeletons, I decorate mine with a Castlevania-related video. This time around, it's a look at a Ca…
NES Works 1985: Golgo 13: Top Secret Episode [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 24:39
I may have gone a little overboard with this episode, but it seemed worth doing. For one thing, the creator of the Golgo 13 series, Takao Saito, recently passed away. And for another, upon revisiting this game in the con…
NES Works #084: Life Force & World Class Track Meet [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 19:16
We have a follow-up to a 1986 classic here, in deed if not in name: Life Force, the sequel to Konami's Gradius. Well, sort of. It's complicated. But since we never saw the actual Gradius II on NES, this will have to do.…
NES Works #083: Bases Loaded & Lee Trevino's Fighting Golf [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 17:08
This episode focuses on perception, especially vis-a-vis Bases Loaded. A certain demographic of NES owners LOVES Bases Loaded. However, in my experience, people who discovered the NES later (when better and better-lookin…
Segaiden #17: Othello / Space Invaders / Card Catcher / Dragon Wang [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 16:48
Sega's 8-bit family goes on a diet this episode, with the SG-1000 media format suddenly slimming down from chunky cartridges to the svelte MyCard format, a credit card-sized chip that was so well-received that Hudson rip…