Ultimate Sega Genesis 2.1.0

HyperSpin is not just a way to play games. That is secondary to me. I see it as a sort of 'digital museum.' That is the inspiration behind my 'Ultimate' default themes. You don't just get the best quality images (box arts, cartridge scans, wheels) I could find. You also get a huge number of custom genre databases, showcasing the games in a filtered fashion. Want to check out all of the 'Mega Mouse' games? With this setup, you can. Want to check out some 'Sega Channel' exclusive games? No problem. Want to see every game that Konami published? I've got you covered.

I've tried to imagine every common filter for games that you could imagine, and implemented it in a fun way. Because emulation to me is about preservation of our culture. 20 years from now, your kids and your grandkids will be able to look at the work we've done here, and hopefully appreciate our culture as much as you and I do.

This is my contribution to the community, I hope you enjoy it. If you like the work that I do, please show your appreciation by clicking the 'like' button or saying a few words. A little bit of appreciation goes a long way, and it keeps me motivated to keep giving you more.  

What is included: Full (as in every game) wheel art, full cartridge art, full 3D box art, 857/954 2D box backs +2D box fronts (this will display in Rocketlauncher's 'Pause' if you have it configured correctly),  an updated and very much improved official database (using the 'publisher' instead of the developer),  116 different publisher wheels/databases (all but 14) including wheel art, several custom genre wheels+art+backgrounds, regular genre wheels+art+backgrounds, a default theme, letters, sounds, pointer, and every game theme I could find (a couple of them fixed+improved).

What is not included: Videos, games
 

Instructions:

1.In your HyperSpin\media folder, rename your current 'Sega Genesis' folder to '1Sega Genesis' to disable it (in details view, it will autosort to the beginning of the list). Drag and drop the new 'Sega Genesis' folder that is included into the HyperSpin\media folder. You can delete the old '1Sega Genesis' folder later on, if you decide to keep everything included in this pack.

2.In your 'Databases' folder, rename the 'Sega Genesis' folder to '1Sega Genesis to disable the original database folder. Drag and drop the 'Databases\Sega Genesis' folder that is included into the 'databases' directory.

3. Copy or move your old Sega Genesis videos (or download new ones from emumovies.com) into the new HyperSpin\media\Sega Genesis\Video folder.

4. Open 'HyperHQ/Wheel Settings' go to your Sega Genesis wheel, and click on the 'wheel' tab. Change the wheel image sizes as follows:
Large: 290

Small: 195

This is so that the wheels don't interfere with the Genesis console/cartridges theme, and everything displays properly. The proper settings are pictured below.

Credits: Most or all sounds, wheels, letters, themes, 3D box art and cartridge art came from various sources in the community, I take no credit. 2D box fronts and backs I got from the following thread: https://gbatemp.net/threads/cover-collections-for-emulators-with-cover-support.324714/  and credit goes to the respective contributors. The default theme is not mine, however it was tweaked by me, as were the themes for 'ShadowHunt' and Streets of Rage 2 (to make the videos display correctly), and Sonic Spinball (background was not sized properly).

My own personal contributions:

1. The database. I went through the official database, and changed the manufacturer field to reflect the publisher of the game, rather than the developer. Most people don't care about some obscure developer that developed one or two games, only to never be heard from again. People remember the name on the box. That is what i wanted displayed in the info above the game name. Other changes include adding "Battle Mania Daiginjou - Trouble Shooter Vintage (Japan, Korea) (Translated En)." This is an alternate trasnlation for "Battle Mania Daiginjou (Japan, Korea) (Translated En)," as the creator of both patches stated that both versions were worth a playthrough for fans of the game. I ditched the one French translation "Surging Aura" and reverted it back to the Japanese game. No sense putting extra effort into patching a game or hunting down a patched game if you still can't understand what is being said. Miracle Piano is not an adventure game. Changed to 'Educational' genre. Body Count is a gun game, not a platformer. I'm concerned about the quality of the genre field in the official database as well, but I already put 2 days into this, and to be frank I have better things to do. Hopefully someone will overhaul it in the future. For now, I consider what I've done a significant improvement over the official database and I'm betting you will too. Last change - if a translated game has an alternate title in English, that was preferred as the 'description' entry. The 'name' entry was left alone so that your videos will still work without having to rename them.

2. Collecting, editing, and creating publisher genre wheel art for 116 different publishers for the Sega Genesis. I combined 'Virgin' and 'Virgin Games,' 'Hi Tech Expressions' and 'Hi Tech Entertainment,' and 'Sportsmaster' and 'Codemasters' (Sportsmaster was a shortlived sub label of Codemasters, and I couldn't find a quality scan, and since it was just a few games, I just combined them). There are only 14 rather obscure publishers that were not included, and they are: C&E, Chuanpu Technology, CYX, Home Data, KABAL_MK (creator of Ultimate Mortal Kombat Trilogy Hack, so not even an actual publisher so much as a hacker), King Tec Information Co., Never Ending Soft Team, Senchi Technology, Shogakukan Production, Sik, Soft Vision, Sportsmaster, Supervision, and Wonder Amusement Studio. I'm only listing them here in case someone wants to contribute the last missing publisher wheels, then this project will be even more complete than it already is. But most (if not all) of those publishers only produced 1 or 2 games. This project was a ton of work. I redrew many (probably 20+) logos. The quality is decent, even with my very average photoshop skills, because I put a lot of work into them. That, and I'm getting better.

3. Custom genre databases, from various sources I've found. They include:
American Games - All games with (USA), (World), or (USA, Somothercountry) in them. 

European Games - All games with Europe in parentheses, that did not also have 'USA' in them. Does contain games with '(Japan, Europe).'

Australian Games - The one Australian game (Daze Before Christmas)

Brazilian Games - All games with 'Brazil' in parentheses.

Chinese Games - All games with 'China' in parentheses.

Japanese Games - All games with 'Japan' in parentheses, that did not also contain 'USA' or 'Europe.'

Translations - All translated games.

Prototypes - All prototypes.

Homebrew - All homebrew games in the official list I was able to research and verify.

Hacks - All hacks (only 2 games) that were included in the official database.

Co-op games - All or most co-op games. Very accurate. Credit goes to: http://segaclassics.blogspot.com/2012/11/genesis-multiplayer-co-op-games.html

Best of co-op games - The 'co-op games' database contained 106 games. The source that I used had them rated. This database contains the top 50.

Multiplayer - A list of multiplayer games, data was compiled from multiple sources. Not verified. May contain errors or omissions. Should be considered a guide, not 'the last word.' 

Mega Mouse - All 'Mega Mouse' games from the official list.

6 buttons - A list of games that utilize the 6 button gamepad compiled from multiple sources. Not verified.  May contain errors or omissions. Should be considered a guide, not 'the last word.' I considered adding a '3 button' database, but since it would be quite a chore to compile the accurate data necessary for such  a task, I decided against it.

Sega Channel - A list of 'Sega Channel' exclusives. May have some ommissions, but reasonably accurate, as it's a short list.

Themes: All games with themes included (everything that I could find).

Action, Adventure, Beat'em-up, etc. - Your typical genres. It should be noted that I personally found a few errors without even trying. This database needs an overhaul, but it most likely won't be from me.

That about covers it. If you find any errors, no matter how small, please share them here so that I can fix them.