So, what ever happened to Robotech: The Macross Saga for the SCD?

[bishopcruz]

Ok, I realize of course that this game was Macross 2036 and came out just fine in Japan, but when I was looking through Ebay for my collection I came across this:




I never realized that TTI had planned to release Macross 2036 in the US as Robotech, the Macross Saga and went as far as featuring it on the cover of one of its brochures. Now I know that Fantasy Star Soldier got a proto, but was never released here, did Macross get as far as that as well? It's a damn shame that we never got it over here, and being a huge Macross fan, I would have loved to have seen it.

So does anyone know the story of how/why this almost got released but never did?

[ParanoiaDragon]

My understanding was that it was pretty much done, but there were bugs near the end of the game, & it sounds like the budget ran out at the end of the Turbo's life.  How true that is, I can't be sure.  I either got that from one of the Shirley Bros. over at WD or from the final secretary of TTI, Eun Lopez.  If I got it from Eun, I'm sure she got it from someone else, & for all I know, that person got it from someone......purple monkey dishwasher!  So, it could be the telephone game at play. 

Ofcoarse, budget-wise, you'd think using the Robotech name would've killed the project?

[bishopcruz]

My understanding was that it was pretty much done, but there were bugs near the end of the game, & it sounds like the budget ran out at the end of the Turbo's life.  How true that is, I can't be sure.  I either got that from one of the Shirley Bros. over at WD or from the final secretary of TTI, Eun Lopez.  If I got it from Eun, I'm sure she got it from someone else, & for all I know, that person got it from someone......purple monkey dishwasher!  So, it could be the telephone game at play. 

Ofcoarse, budget-wise, you'd think using the Robotech name would've killed the project?

Damn, I wonder then if there are any Beta's floating around? That would be cool as all hell. But yeah, knowing how much Harmony Gold loves cashing in on anything Macross I figure that must have cost a pretty penny for the rights. Then again, in 1993, Robotech was well and truly dead. I remember trying to find any stuff at all and I was just non existent. Hell, I think that was around the time I was psyched because Palladium was releasing episodes on VHS for like 3 eps for $25 or so. Little did I know a few years later Toonami would cause a renaissance.

Still, quite a shame it never came out here.

[johnnykonami]

It's been a while since I've played it, but did 2036 even have any Japanese text to localize?  Eien no Love Song had a bunch of course, I remember that...  but if I recall, the only text was the boss name at the beginning of each stage in 2036 - already in English, right?  Maybe they had to change the mecha names to match up with the Robotech TV series better or something.

[bishopcruz]

It's been a while since I've played it, but did 2036 even have any Japanese text to localize?  Eien no Love Song had a bunch of course, I remember that...  but if I recall, the only text was the boss name at the beginning of each stage in 2036 - already in English, right?  Maybe they had to change the mecha names to match up with the Robotech TV series better or something.

Just voice acting is all I have seen so far. That and the shop menu.

[BigusSchmuck]

Its completely playable without rune knowledge.

[esteban]

How did I miss this?

(1) Anyway, does anyone here have this brochure?

(2) more importantly, does anyone have high-quality scans of this?


I NEVER KNEW THAT TTi even flirted with the idea of releasing an official karaoke pack for the DUO, has anyone here seen this listed/mentioned elsewhere?

[geise]

With  the amount of cut scenes that were going to need dubbing I seriously doubt it was anywhere near finished.  I remember one other mention of EGM talking about Macross 2036 getting localized.  There never was any mention as to how much was ever really done.

[esteban]

With  the amount of cut scenes that were going to need dubbing I seriously doubt it was anywhere near finished.  I remember one other mention of EGM talking about Macross 2036 getting localized.  There never was any mention as to how much was ever really done.

Indeed, it would have been a major time and money commitment.

[Punch]

Hah by the time I think they were tossing in ads everything they got to hopefully survive another year or so. I don't think they got too far with the localization seeing they were with low cash at the time

[Black Tiger]

TTi, even worse than NEC Tech, promised or showed everything under the sun, including lots of things they never had a chance of acquiring the rights for.

If they did manage to bring out 2036 and Eternal Love Song (both marketed as upcoming releases), it would have been under a generic re-brandng, like Jetfire in Transformers, although likely with more changes.

As for hardware, they showed everything off for similar reasons as to why they bought cool looking PCE games and just showed them at shows and in promos. It was all a bunch of glorified tech demos, just for the shock value of "look what our multimedia box can do!"

I'm sure that they would have given us everything that existed if the TurboGrafx/Duo had become a huge commercial success. As it actually played out, they had a hard enough time bringing out games at all.

[roflmao]

I have the proto. It was 99% ready but TTI went under right before they bought the stamp to put on the envelope to send the master (now in my posession) off for pressing.

it is glorious.

I will never share it.

Yeah, well I have a proto SCD of Mortal Kombat.  It includes a secret code to play Halo (strangely, it's the same code found on the GoT disc).

AND IT'S MINE!  ALLLLL MINEEEE!

[roflmao]

I have the proto. It was 99% ready but TTI went under right before they bought the stamp to put on the envelope to send the master (now in my posession) off for pressing.

it is glorious.

I will never share it.

Yeah, well I have a proto SCD of Mortal Kombat.  It includes a secret code to play Halo (strangely, it's the same code found on the GoT disc).

AND IT'S MINE!  ALLLLL MINEEEE!

trade?

Sorry, I will only trade it for a VGA peanut butter and banana sandwich.

[esteban]

As for hardware, they showed everything off for similar reasons as to why they bought cool looking PCE games and just showed them at shows and in promos. It was all a bunch of glorified tech demos, just for the shock value of "look what our multimedia box can do!"

I'm sure that they would have given us everything that existed if the TurboGrafx/Duo had become a huge commercial success. As it actually played out, they had a hard enough time bringing out games at all.

Yup, I agree. 

Respect the DUO.

PEACE.