Point of Contention

The Sega Genesis Mini 2 is shaping up to be a fascinating mess, like a car crash. You want no part of it, yet you can't stop gawking at it from a safe distance. Case in point: the recent announcement that the hopeful but ultimately hapless Genesis conversion of Viewpoint will be one of the games built into the system. For those who don't know, Viewpoint was originally released for the Neo-Geo, a shooter in the vein of Zaxxon and R-Type with retro-futuristic pre-rendered graphics and a ferocious difficulty level. Polygonal crabs and spinning idol heads will throw everything they've got at you, and you'll need to be ridiculously skilled to survive the onslaught.

The Neo-Geo version of Viewpoint.
It was impressive in 1994... look, you
kind of had to be there.
(image from AL82 Retrogaming Longplays)

Viewpoint was a game so intense even the Neo-Geo had trouble handling it, infrequently buckling under the weight of Aicom's big bosses and hailstorms of bullets. The budget-priced Genesis, alas, was even less equipped to handle the game's demands. Nexus Interact watered down their port of Viewpoint to keep the system from being overburdened, but even with less impressive special effects and fewer onscreen enemies, the action suffers from slowdown and flicker almost from the moment the game starts.

This is why Sega and M2 are taking the unusual step of running the Genesis version of Viewpoint in a special Tera Drive mode, which boosts the clock speed of the emulated Genesis and leaves it better prepared for Viewpoint's hardware-melting demands. Is that cheating? Yes. Could the same thing have been accomplished on a real Genesis with the use of a DSP? Possibly, although at a hefty cost to the consumer, judging from the $100 Virtua Racing. Is it worth the bother? Arguably not. Until the release of Street Fighter II Special Champion Edition in 1993, the Genesis was Shoot 'Em Up Central, offering tons of great shmups without the bleeding edge graphics of Viewpoint, but with smarter use of the machine's limited resources.

Viewpoint was delivered to the Genesis
with more than a few dents and scuffs.
To Nexus Interact's credit, putting this
on a Genesis was like taking a grand
piano up to the second floor of an
apartment building.
(image from Sega Retro)

So I'm a little perplexed that Viewpoint was given the green light for inclusion on the Genesis Mini 2... but it does give me an excuse to share a few pages from Squirrel Burger Cookout. Here now is my review of the Neo-Geo version of Viewpoint, along with its little brother on the Genesis. I couldn't stir up much interest in this book comparing home ports of Neo-Geo arcade hits, but I may as well get some use out of what I finished. I'll probably be posting more selections from the book in the near future... collect them all!

EDIT: Reader Aaron Schnuth alerted me to a problem with the Viewpoint review... namely, it wasn't accessible without asking for permission first. I goofed, but it should be available to everyone now. Boy, is my face red!