Segaiden #032: Choplifter / My Hero / Teddy Boy

Video Works by Jeremy Parish

Three episodes into the Master System run and already we have some familiar sights—but understandably so, since each of these games comes to Master System from arcades. So, while we may have seen Choplifter during our SG-1000 survey, we certainly didn't see this version of it; Sega based the older, Japan-only release on the Apple II game, while this U.S.- and European-exclusive upgrade draws its content and aesthetics from the company's arcade interpretation. Barely a year between the two home releases, but this one feels far more of-the-moment than the SG-1000 port did. Teddy Boy, of course, launched alongside Hang On with the Japanese Mark III hardware. The Western release is almost exactly the same as the Japanese MyCard, with one crucial (but ultimately immaterial) difference. As for My Hero, unfortunately it does no favors for the optics of the Master System and its Sega Card format. While it looks almost as good as the arcade game (except that sickly green sky), it lacks a huge amount of content—two-thirds of the coin-op's stages and enemies! To make matters worse, Sega's programmers clearly amped up the difficulty to a preposterous degree in order to pad out the lacking play time. Can you make it even halfway through the single stage of action here? If so, you are like unto a god.

Production notes: Why watch when you can read? Check out the massive hardcover print editions of NES Works, Super NES Works, and Virtual Boy works, available now at Limited Run Games (https://limitedrungames.com/collections/books)! Look forward to Segaiden Vol. I: The SG-1000, due summer 2023.

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Arcade footage captured from MiSTer with thanks to MiSTerAddOns. Most Master System footage captured from U.S. carts running through an adapter on Sega Mark III hardware with FM Sound Unit and RGB bypass modification (by iFixRetro). Video upscaled to 720 with xRGB Mini Framemeister.