Author Archives: Big Elk

Sonic Racing Crossworlds launches on Nintendo Switch 2 on December 4th, 2025

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Sonic Racing Crossworlds fans on Nintendo’s ecosystem rejoice. The long awaited Nintendo Switch 2 port of the game finally has a release date: December 4th, 2025.

The game will finally launch for Nintendo’s newest hybrid console digitally first on that date. Physical versions (Which will not be installed on one of the dreaded Game Key-Cards) will come sometime in early 2026. If you have the game on Nintendo Switch already, a $10 upgrade pack will be available to convert your game to the native Switch 2 port, giving you sharper graphics and higher resolutions and framerates not possible in the Switch 1 version even when playing it on a Switch 2 console. Even better, the upgrade pack will be available for 50% off until December 10th.

For fans of Sonic’s Werehog form, you’ll receive the Werehog character DLC, originally a pre-order bonus for all other versions of the game, if you purchase a Day 1 edition of the Switch 2 version’s physical release. If you already have any DLC from the Switch 1 version, including the Werehog, it will remain accessible in the Switch 2 version after upgrading, along with any saved progress you’ve made.

More info on the Switch 2 version of the game is available in Sega’s updated Switch 2 version FAQ page, such as the max resolution and framerate of the game.

Do you already own Sonic Racing Crossworlds on Switch or any other platform? Were you holding out for the Switch 2 version? Let us know in the comments below.

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New visual coding program for Genesis/Mega-Drive, MD Engine, coming soon

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Look. I get you, Sega fans. You saw all these cool new homebrew games for Genesis/Mega-Drive coming out and you wanna make a game just like those, but you don’t know how to write code for Genesis. Thankfully, Two Black Cats have got you covered.

MD Engine is a new visual coding program made for easy development of games for Sega Genesis. A visual coding program, much like Game Maker or Clickteam Fusion, allows for the development of video games with an interface that allows for you to build a game with visual assets and menus without having to rely so much on writing code. With this, and a bit of patience and inspiration, you should be able to make your very own new Genesis games without having to write one line of code.

MD Engine was made as a fork of GB Studio, an open source visual coding program for making games for Nintendo’s Game Boy (Color) handheld. It uses much of the same interface and menus, so MD Engine should look familiar to anyone who has worked in GB Studio. However, MD Engine touts some extra special features that are not available even with GB Studio, such as exporting your game as a special PC or HTML5 game with extra features not possible on Genesis, such as a widescreen visual mode and CRT visual filters. Of course, if you just want to make a game ROM that can play on Genesis consoles or in Genesis emulators, you can do that as well.

Be sure to take a dive past the break to find out more about how MD Engine could help you make the Genesis game of your dreams.

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Earthion Review – Ancient Returns to the SEGA Genesis

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Where does the time go? It only feels like yesterday that I reported on the one and only Yuzo Koshiro being hard at work on his first new Genesis/Mega-Drive game since 1995’s Beyond Oasis, which we later heard would be named Earthion. Now, before I even knew it, Earthion had released on Steam and just came out for modern consoles earlier this month. Limited Run Games also started pre-orders for physical copies of the game on those modern platforms until September 28th, as well, but have yet to open pre-orders on cartridges for your old Genesis consoles. (Sorry for not letting you know sooner.)

Yuzo Koshiro’s studio Ancient has been kind enough to offer us a review code for Earthion on Steam, and I have run the game through its paces many a times. Now that the wait to experience this modern Genesis classic is finally over, it’s time for me to report on how this shooter turned out. Suffice it to say, the game pushes the Genesis to limits never thought possible, but is the game fun to play? Find out now after the break.

(Neither Ancient nor Limited Run Games have influenced this review or seen it before it has gone live.)

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Unseen photos of Micheal Jackson, made for an unreleased Sega game, surfaced from a developer interview

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Sega fans will know that the infamous King of Pop Micheal Jackson had quite the interesting history with Sega during the 90’s, but this may be something many of you weren’t privy to.

In a recent interview with designer Kazunori Sasaki with News Post-Seven, as reported on by MJ Vibe, Sasaki-san spoke about how he met with Jackson during his HIStory World Tour stop in Japan in December 1996 to do some photography and motion capture work for an unreleased game, presumably a new entry in Sega’s Digital Dance Mix game series for Saturn. The above photos of Jackson were taken during that shoot and were never publicly shown before. (The Ghost album cover has been available to the public for many years, but News Post-Seven just attached it to the pictures, for some reason.)

For those unaware, Digital Dance Mix was a planned series of rhythm games with each entry themed after a single popular singer. However, only one game in that planned series ended up releasing exclusively in Japan, based around the Japanese pop singer Namie Amuro. Apparently, she was popular enough to be known as the “Queen of J-Pop“, so she and Jackson may have been equals, depending on who you ask.

For more info from the interview, be sure to moonwalk right past the break.

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New Chao Garden inspired indie game, Star Garden, launches Kickstarter and downloadable demo

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Hey, Sonic fans. You miss the Chao Garden. I miss the Chao Garden. We all miss the Chao Garden. Game Garage misses the Chao Garden too, so they made a whole new game based on it.

Star Garden is an all-new 3D action racing game from indie developer Game Garden. Taking the cuddly creature customization and caring aspect of Sonic Adventure 1&2’s Chao Gardens, the unconventional, yet fun racing action of Nintendo and HAL Labratory’s Gamecube classic Kirby Air Ride, and the cute and whimsical Y2K stylings of many games on both the Gamecube and the Dreamcast, Star Garden promises a unique racing and exploration experience for you and up to 5 other players in multiplayer. Now the game is ready for the big time, with a demo now available on Steam and a Kickstarter which has burst WAY past it’s initial fundraising goal of $35,000 USD. As of this writing, the game has raised over $140,000, 4x their goal, with no sign of slowing down and more and more stretch goals coming in. People seem to think this game’s kinda neat.

Currently, the game is only planned for a PC release on Steam, with Nintendo Switch 1&2 ports being considered as a potential possibility. A stretch goal was added later on to guarantee PlayStation and Xbox ports when (At this rate, there’s no point in saying “if”) the Kickstarter raises $165,000.

EDIT: Sure enough, that stretch goal was reached. PlayStation and Xbox ports are happening now.

To find out more about this game, and its surprising star power that Sega fans may be familiar with already, as well as directions to the Kickstarter if you got money to spare, you can race past the break and learn more.

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Atari CEO Wade Rosen expresses desire to remaster Panzer Dragoon Saga and Snatcher

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Have you played your Atari today? A better question would be “Have you played Panzer Dragoon Saga or Snatcher today?”

Under the leadership of Wade Rosen, Atari SA has been busy reviving tons of retro game franchises. From famous Atari classics like Yars Revenge, Centipede, and Missile Command, to obscure Atari classics like Caverns of Mars and Fatal Run, to even Bubsy, which Atari SA acquired only two years ago, Atari’s making one impressive comeback. Atari SA owned developers Digital Eclipse and Nightdive Studios are even bringing back classic games not owned by Atari, such as Mortal Kombat and Outlaws, which makes Mr. Rosen’s wishlist of classic games to remaster a bit more plausible than you’d expect.

In a recent interview with VGC, Wade Rosen expressed his personal desire to arrange remasters of Panzer Dragoon Saga, Snatcher, and Ogre Battle. Of course, this is not to be taken as confirmation that Atari SA or any companies under its ownership are currently working on such remasters.

You can see his exact quote right below the break.

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Irena Genesis Metal Fury is 90% finished; new Summer demo released just for Kickstarter backers

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*Ahem* Now that we got your attention, it’s time for an update on a promising indie Genesis/Mega-Drive shooter that was kickstarted all the way back in 2021. Perhaps at least a few of you remember this one?

Irena Genesis Metal Fury, henceforth Irena for short, is an all new indie scrolling shooter that’s been in active development for Genesis from White Ninja Studio since before launching their Kickstarter, which succeeded in reaching its goal. They ended up raising €62,240, almost double its goal of €35,000. (About $40,708.96 USD, adjusted for inflation) This was thanks, in part, to an impressive demo they worked on and launched simultaneously with the Kickstarter. Thousands of Genesis shooter fans downloaded and played that demo and were so impressed they couldn’t wait to fund its completion.

Four years later and White Ninja Studio’s fortunes took a drastic turn. They had gained new publishers, Mega Cat Studios for North America and Broke Studio for Europe, only for those publishers to drop the game this year. Last year, they also suffered the passing of the game’s lead artist OHKO. The project lead also took an extended break to preserve their own mental health amidst all these challenges, something we could all use now and then. Even so, the team soldiered on, including OHKO in his last remaining days, and even as the team missed several projected release dates, they’ve announced now that the game is 9/10 of the way to completion and a new, updated demo just for Kickstarter backers is now available. This comes in a recent update to Kickstarter backers on August 23rd, 2025, where news of the loss of their publishers was also shared.

You can check your Kickstarter account or your email if you were a Kickstarter backer, where you’ll hear the news directly from White Ninja Studio. For everyone else, go right past the break to hear more.

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Source code for Lobotomy Software’s FPS game engine for Saturn: Slavedriver, uploaded online as open source code

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In a rather unexpected move, the source code of the Slavedriver game engine, developed by Lobotomy Software for use with the games they developed for the Sega Saturn, has been uploaded to Github and the Internet Archive as open source code.

Lobotomy Software first used this engine to create their own original FPS game, Powerslave (Known as Exhumed in Europe), and used a modified version of the same engine to create the Saturn ports of Duke Nukem 3D and Quake, both legendary classic FPS titles for MS-DOS which ended up also being reputable games on Saturn. Lobotomy since closed their doors in 1999, so the group responsible for uploading the code from this engine goes by “Lobotomy Software Open Source Group” and consists of an unknown party. For what it’s worth, they claim to have the blessing of Ezra Dreisbach, who was the main programmer for Lobotomy’s 3 Saturn FPS titles and seems to have left the video game industry behind him after last being credited for the Xbox 360 port of Death Tank, a game he previously designed for Saturn and hid within Saturn copies of Powerslave and Duke Nukem 3D.

It’s important to stress that only the engine code has been uploaded online, and it’s the 1996 version of the engine that was used for Powerslave, not the amended version used on Duke Nukem 3D or Quake, which both came out the next year. None of the assets from any of those three games are included. The engine is available now under GNU General Public License 3.0, which basically allows anyone to look at, share, and modify the code to their heart’s content. You’re also allowed to share any modifications you make to it.

For more info, including the perspective of experienced Saturn homebrew developers whom you would think this engine code would be a huge boon for, check in after the break.

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Indie Genesis/Mega-Drive developer Kai Magazine Software caught tracing artwork in their games

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When someone who loves developers making new games for old consoles as much as I do has something negative to say about one of them, you know it’s bad news.

Some of you may not know about developer Kai Magazine Software. I have only written one article about them, that being about their then upcoming Genesis/Mega-Drive action RPG The Secret of Four Winds. Now it turns out they were exposed for stealing art from several artists online and some retro games and tracing it to use in their own games, including The Secret of Four Winds. They’ve also allegedly been stealing art in a less direct way by using AI-generated art in their games too.

SNES fan translator Krokodyl noticed this and showed his findings on Bluesky Social. He had managed to find several examples of traced over art in Kai Magazine Software’s games Life On Mars, Metal Dragon, The Secret of Four Winds, and their newest game currently up for pre-order: Death & Lead, shown above. Sorry if this is how you first learned about Death & Lead. (It’s how I first heard of it.)

So, if you’d like to see all the art these varmints pilfered from innocent artists and some of the best games in video game history, mosey on down to the link below at sundown.

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Special interview with Retro Sumus, creators of Sovietborgs and Xenocider

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Some of you may remember Sovietborgs, the hot new Genesis/Mega-Drive top-down shooter being developed by Retro Sumus, previously known for their work on modern Dreamcast classic Xenocider. As of this writing, Sovietborgs’s Indiegogo campaign is still live and they are halfway toward their monetary goal to finish the game.

As their crowdfunding campaign soldiers on, we’ve had the lucky opportunity to speak to the people hard at work on Sovietborgs. This way, all of you, whether you’re excited for the game or still on the fence about supporting it, can get a look within the minds of this USSR themed 3D shooter and see what inspired them in their work.

Join us after the break as we learn about this history of Retro Sumus’s developers and what inspired them both technologically and creatively. As a special bonus, you can also see some photos of the game at this year’s Retrocon, which took place in São Paulo, Brazil from July 25-27th, 2025.

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Sonic Racing: Crossworlds physical copies for Nintendo Switch 2 confirmed not to be Game Key-Cards; two new trailers uploaded

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In a recent FAQ regarding, specifically, the Nintendo Switch 2 version of the upcoming Sonic Racing: Crossworlds, Sega confirmed the physical versions of the game will not be on a Game Key-Card. The entire base game will instead be built into a standard game card with no downloads required besides free patches as they come. This also makes it Sega’s first Nintendo Switch 2 game to not be sold in retail stores as a Game Key-Card. You can check here to see the other games they launched as Game Key-Cards and learn how those are different, and less desirable, from regular physical releases.

In addition, the physical Switch 2 version will not be available until early 2026, while the digital release will come on Holiday 2025. All other versions of the game will launch on September 25th, 2025 as planned.

In the very same FAQ, Sega also confirmed that the Nintendo Switch 1 version of the game, whether physical or digital, will include the option of a $10 USD purchase to upgrade to the Nintendo Switch 2 version later on. Using this upgrade option will also allow you to carry over any save data and paid DLC, including pre-order bonuses, from Switch to Switch 2 with ease. This should all serve as excellent news to anyone considering either the Switch or Switch 2 versions of the game.

At the same time, Sega have aired two new trailers, as well as shown some of their special pre-order DLC bonuses. Check in after the break to see those.

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Retro-Bit announces new Undeadline Collector’s Cartridge for Genesis/Mega-Drive; pre-orders open until August 10th, 2025

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When there’s an ultra-rare, ultra-expensive, and especially Japan exclusive shooter for Genesis/Mega-Drive, you can bet your bottom dollar that Retro-Bit will try to bring it to the western world as one of their Collector’s Cartridges, as they have done a few times before. This time, they’ve set their sights on the monster filled shmup known as Undeadline (1991).

Pre-orders have already begun in North America and Europe for this ghoulish shooter, which is at a big time bargain compared to trying to track down even a loose cartridge of the original Japanese copy of this cult Mega-Drive classic. This comes licensed from the current rights holder D4 Enterprise and with a brand new English translation made in cooperation with D4.

Come on down past the break for a closer look at this game and for pre-order links.

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Fundraiser started to rescue and preserve hundreds of Sega 3DS and DS game prototypes before August 2025

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Video game preservation organizations Obscure Gamers and Video Game Preservation Museum are in the midst of a public fundraiser to help them bring in £61K to rescue some 300 prototypes and showroom demos of classic Sega games on Nintendo DS and 3DS from becoming e-waste. This includes never-before-seen early builds of memorable DS/3DS Sega classics such as Sonic Colors DS, Sonic Generations 3DS, some Mario & Sonic Olympics games, and even a DS build of Project R, better known as Rhythm Thief & The Emperor’s Treasure, which would release on Nintendo 3DS instead of DS in 2012.

Sadly, even with multiple fundraisers set up to pool money, they have not made it far reaching their goal by now, and they must raise the necessary funds before the start of August 2025. Otherwise, they may not have another chance to rescue all this precious Sega history before it returns to the e-waste bins they were pulled from. There’s still plenty of time as of this writing, so it’s too soon to give up now. We encourage you to give whatever money you can spare to help with this noble preservation effort. Obscure Gamers have promised that your money can be refunded in August at your request if the fundraiser fails, so you at least have nothing to lose if they lose, other than tons of important information on the development of these games that could be documented online for all to see, as well as the digital rom files themselves for you to try out.

Links to the various fundraisers, as well as a list of every game prototype hanging in the balance, will be below the break here.

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Gamescare announces a December 2025 release date for their new FPGA Genesis/32X console: the GF-1 Neptune

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The Brazillian company GamesCare have announced a December 2025 release window for their hotly anticipated Genesis/32X hybrid FPGA console: the GF-1 Neptune. At the moment, pre-orders are not yet available and no price has been announced, though they have stated it will be average for consoles of this nature. Given the usual cost of most FPGA consoles, I would estimate somewhere in the ballpark of $200-300 USD, but we’ll see soon. (Expect tariffs to be an issue as well) They have also promised that crowdfunding will not be part of their plans.

This announcement was made public through GamesCare’s Twitter, along with a link to a signup page for their new email newsletter. You can sign up there to hear when more info comes out. The link will be right below the break.

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Sega’s Japan exclusive Mega-Drive turn based strategy game The Hybrid Front receives a fan translation

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Sega’s classic cyberpunk turn-based strategy game for Genesis/Mega-Drive, The Hybrid Front (1994), has finally been fan translated.

This translation was 7 years in the making, as the team of fans responsible, Nebulous Translations, had announced this translation back in 2018. Due to some difficulties with packing English text into the game’s visual interface, which was intrinsically designed for kanji-heavy Japanese to be written out vertically, the translation patch took a lot longer to put together in the team’s spare time. After much difficulty, a translation patch is now available for the public to download and try. The Hybrid Front and its surprisingly in depth story and dialogue for its time is now far more accessible to curious English speaking fans.

If your interested in trying it for yourself, strategize your way past the break for the download link.

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