Ancient/Yuzo Koshiro’s new Genesis/Mega-Drive shooter now named “Earthion”; Video footage shown

Since last year, retro game musician legend Yuzo Koshiro and his game development studio Ancient have been hard at work on an all new scrolling shooter for Genesis/Mega-Drive consoles, their first game for the classic 16-bit platform since Beyond Oasis (The Story of Thor outside of North America) from 1994. As of June 16th, 2023, Koshiro-san has finally revealed the decided upon title for this new game: Earthion. Along with that, he has also shared some new video footage of the game’s title screen and opening level. Looks cool, doesn’t it?

Of course, if you have been following Yuzo Koshiro on twitter like we have (And we do recommend it if you are still on twitter) you will know this is not the only sneak preview Koshiro-san has shown for Earthion throughout the months. Come see some more of them after the break.

First, here’s the video update featuring the title.

Here’s a very early update on development, but one of the coolest updates. This was the very first video footage shown off of what we know know as Earthion. Ancient is preparing some insane sprite scaling effects previously unheard of on Genesis/Mega-Drive

The next video update focused solely on sound effects, but also gave a bigger glimpse into what you could expect from gameplay.

Here’s the part most of you were waiting for, a look into an all new song from Koshiro-san for Earthion, though it may be tough to hear clearly over the sound effects when looking at the gameplay footage. He seems to think he can make a better song to use instead, but what do you think of it?

Finally, Koshiro-san stated that he is still considering his options for releasing the game, while adding that he really wants to do a cartridge print run for original Genesis/Mega-Drive consoles. He adds that he would also like to port the game to modern consoles, but arranging for a release to be played on original Genesis/Mega-Drive consoles is a priority for the project. Once he does figure out a plan, we’ll be sure to let you know here at Segabits.

So what do you think of Earthion so far? Do you like the name? Are you just excited to see Yuzo Koshiro work on Sega Genesis again, regardless of what the game is like? I’m sure you will likely let us know in the comments below. (Or don’t. What am I? Your mama?)

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