WELCO METOT HENEX TLEVEL - INXS: Make My Video

Publisher: Sega Developer: Digital Pictures Release: 1992

I have made being a Sega CD apologist a full-time job, and even I can't justify the existence of the Make My Video series.

Here's the 411.

In each of these games you're presented with three songs from the featured artist (in this case, Heaven Sent, Baby Don't Cry and Not Enough Time). Your job is to remix the video for each song by drawing from one of three simultaneous video feeds – usually one feed is the official video while the other two feeds are hilarious stock footage of things like motorcycle races, old fashion shows, explosions, animals, etc.

You also have access to a series of special effects which can be layered onto the video feed. Distort the image, change the contrast, saturate with a particular colour, strobe, and so on.

The best part about these games is the setup. In each one you get a rather elaborate backstory as to why you've been tasked with remixing these perfectly fine videos. With INXS, two attractive young ladies control a table at the local pool hall, and thus control the jukebox. Three groups of other patrons want to change the music, but have to “beat” the two girls in order to do so.

The players are hilarious charicatures – Bill & Ted style surfer dudes complete with Hawaiian shirts and white dabs of sunscreen on the tips of their noses, hardcore biker gang chicks, and so on.

The challenge lies in what each group tells you they want to see in each video remix. They'll normally mention something like making a scene red, and also include three still images of video they want to see included in the video.

There are two major problems with this: these are some of the earliest Sega CD titles, and thus the video is postage-stamp size and extremely low-quality. It's next to impossible to tell what you're looking at when you're presented those still images. The other problem is the video runs on random tracks and there's no way to tell when and where the required shots will appear during your first play. Thus, the game is basically impossible.

The Make My Video games are the worst example of the “Siliwood” movement that marred the Sega CD's reputation so completely. These are tech demos that prove the system can handle and manipulate multiple video streams and someone, somewhere decided they could be pushed out as a viable product. Big mistake.