HeartBeat Catalyst

To do

• Clarify the exact setup method, and what each individual cable/component does.
• Per a warning card shipped with the system, plugging two Catalyst adapters into a Mega Drive could damage the system.
• A brief section about the intended market. Seriously, who was this for? Rich kids who worked out a lot? Fitness-savvy adults who were also into video games?
• This whole page needs an overhaul. But ALSO, don't forget a brief section on the rumored game "It's Serious Fun". It's not an actual game, that we know, but where did the rumor come from? I'm 90% sure the phrase "It's serious fun!" is written somewhere on some HeartBeat literature as a tagline, and someone misinterpreted that as a game title, but get a source.
• Get sources for everything. Primary sources. Send those emails. Investigate where Video Game Kraken got all of its (seemingly-exclusive) information, and verify their sources. I remember one or two being somewhat suspect.
• ALSO, the Catalyst/Personal Trainer has one of the most misinformed histories of any Sega product I've seen. Which is understandable, it's niche and unpopular (plus fitness! "fitness ain't cool", etc), but dang, there seriously needs to be a section in History on preconceptions. Namely how we went almost three decades thinking the Catalyst = the Personal Trainer, and that the other games were unreleased. Specifically use an inline of that National Videogame Museum photo, where it states that only a single game was released for the hardware despite literally displaying a second title five inches from said placard. Literally right next to it! And keep in mind that even back before this Sega Retro article, anyone could have figured out that the Catalyst plays the games and not the Personal Trainer. It's literally explained in virtually every single piece of literature and promotional material, its on the boxes and the brochures. And coming from the "National Videogame Museum", an institution formed for video game history preservation, you know we're really operating on a "we don't care enough to even name it right" level. Which, as an aside, is pm the fate of all "fitness" games/peripherals but that's another topic. For now, that one photo is a perfect summary of the History section.

CartridgeCulture (talk) 01:40, 2 July 2022 (EDT)

AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH

• Link WHAAAAT. Okay okay. So. These HeartBeat versions were entirely different releases; you'd have to purchase an entirely new game. Okay wow. This means a lot for the remainder of the unreleased Catalyst games, namely: 1) Were some of these unreleased games actually released? (Outworld?) 2) The HeartBeat version of NHLPA Hockey '93 very likely exists (as backed up by marketing stating it's more or less available "now". 3) Seriously I can't believe these were actually manufactured and sold. Wow. If the actual hardware only had a 1000 unit run, these later 1994-ish games couldn't have had a larger run (probably something smaller.) 4) Find out why all of these HeartBeat rare releases/protos/marketing material are being found in the same city (who moved there and got liquidated?) ALSO: Image of the NHLPA Hockey box here.
• CartridgeCulture (talk) 01:53, 6 October 2021 (EDT)