Fan made

SEGA Genesis Aladdin’s Chicago C.E.S demo rom released

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AladdinCESdemoBack in 1993 SEGA showed off the SEGA Genesis version of Aladdin during the C.E.S show in Chicago, this was a early prototype showing off what players can expect when Aladdin hit store shelves during the 1993 holiday season.According to Hidden Palace wiki, differences between Aladdin’s Chicago C.E.S demo compared to the retail versions are:

  • A lot of levels have enemies either missing from the final or incomplete pencil tests.
  • The level music for Level 2 “The Desert” is a completely different tune that was cut from the final. It’s based on a track from Jungle Book.
  • Aladdin’s lives icon looks different.
  • The “Inside the Lamp” level is completely different from the final. Instead of going all the way to the right of the level, the player instead has to reach the very top by riding on Genie bowling balls and jumping on springs. A lot of graphics appear that are not in the final iteration of the level.
  • The final level uses a different background.

The Aladdin’s Chicago C.E.S demo was dumped thanks to the user Billscat-socks, who has also dumped a ton of different prototypes. Its thanks to users like him that the retro scene gets all these interesting prototypes and we get to see changes made in prior versions. You can download Aladdin’s Chago C.E.S demo below.

Download Aladdin’s C.E.S Demo Here

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Japanese SEGA Mega Drive ‘Star Cruiser’ gets fan translation

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The Japanese exclusive Mega Drive space gameStar Cruiser has now been translated to English thanks to dedication from fans in the retro scene. The guys over at RetroCollect.com describe Star Cruiser as a hybrid between Star Fox, Elite and Phantasy Star. While we are talking about the Mega Drive version, Star Cruiser has been ported to the NEC PC-88, NEC PC-98, Sharp X1 and the Sharp X68000. Star Cruiser was suppose to be released in North America way back in 1994 and was going to be published by Namco, but game’s localization was cancelled for unknown reasons.

This game features four solar systems and over thirty planets for the players to get through, players are tasked with the goal of traversing the galaxy to get rid of a evil militaristic nation. By looking at the video you will notice that most of the game’s action is played through space dog fights featuring some really meh Super FX polygon visuals and the story elements are done through anime style cutscenes.

The Star Cruiser translation is in the form of a .IPS patch, so you will need to have a Japanese Star Cruiser ROM as well to apply the patch with LunarIPS. According to the person working on the patch, there are still plans to fix a few things but you can try it right now, since it seems playable.

DOWNLOAD HERE

[Source: RetroCollect]

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Pokémon GO releasing to the Dreamcast VMU in 2017

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The creator of Flappy Bird for the Dreamcast VMU, known as guacasaurus_mex on Instagram, has been hard at work on cool fan made VMU games since we last featured him. His Flappy Bird follow-up, Street Race, featured six OutRun-style tracks and a unique grayscale graphics trick which has to be seen to be believed. His latest project dives back into the smartphone remake world with a Dreamcast VMU version of Pokémon GO. Due to the time it takes to draw all the Pokémon, and laziness, the game won’t be ready until 2017. However guacasaurus_mex does promise a randomly generated map grid, in place of a GPS map, and a timing-based mini game to throw Pokéballs. More info on the game, including the release, as we hear it.

Note: Yeah yeah, I know. Any Pokémon GO article in gonna get us clicks, but to be fair we don’t make any money off of site traffic nor do we have ads. At least we didn’t try and tie No Man’s Sky into SEGA… yet.

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Opening & Eating 15 Year Old Cans of Sonic the Hedgehog Pasta

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Courtesy of Justin Todd – whose Sonic collecting can be followed on instagram under the username @treasurehuntingsonic – we have a video unboxing (uncanning?) of Franco-American Sonic the Hedgehog Pasta with Meatballs in Tomato Sauce! These two cans date from around 2000/2001 and are the second and third, and so far final, iterations of the Franco-American Sonic canned pasta. The first version of the can was featured on the latest episode of our own Fastest Food Alive Sonic the Hedgehog promotional foods video series.

What does Justin find when he opens these 15 year old expired cans of pasta? Learn for yourself by watching the video! Follow Justin on Instagram for more Sonic goodness and join the Sonic the Hedgehog Collections group on Facebook, where this video debuted.

If you enjoy our videos, make sure to subscribe to us on YouTube where we post a grab bag of SEGA and Sonic content. Thanks for watching.

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Multi-System Emulator Mednafen Now Has SEGA Saturn Support

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The SEGA Saturn emulation scene is pretty lacking compared to other, more popular consoles from the same time period but we have gotten impressive emulators like Yabause and SSF. But if that wasn’t enough the SEGA Saturn has now been added to the multi-system emulator Mednafen.

If you never heard of Mednafen, it is trying to provide an all-in-one emulation package that spans a ton of consoles including:

  • Atari Lynx
  • Neo Geo Pocket (Color)
  • WonderSwan
  • GameBoy (Color)
  • GameBoy Advance
  • Nintendo Entertainment System
  • Super Nintendo Entertainment System/Super Famicom
  • Virtual Boy
  • PC Engine/TurboGrafx 16 (CD)
  • SuperGrafx
  • PC-FX
  • Sega Game Gear
  • Sega Genesis/Megadrive
  • Sega Master System
  • Sony PlayStation

According to the new Mednafen 0.9.38.7 update, the SEGA Saturn emulation is being added as experimental. You can check out a video of the emulator running Guardian Heroes above.

[Via: Retro Collect]

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This Virtua Fighter fan made robot is very impressive

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A Japanese Virtua Fighter fan has embarked on a project to make a Akira robot based on the Virtua Fighter polygon model. Using specs from the recently released Virtua Fighter  action figure, 3D modeling software and of course a 3D printer we got ourselves a robot Akira Yuki that looks like he is straight out of the game.

A few little things I noticed on the Virtua Fighter themed robot was that they added a small SEGA Saturn on his back, sort of how SEGA did it for their Typing of the Dead characters but with a small Dreamcast backpack. According to the video the robot is 50cm (19.6 inches) in height and I have to be honest the movement is rather impressive. Look at his side steps! Can someone put this thing on sale, please!

[Via: VFDC]

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SEGA Saturn copy protection cracked after 22 years

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The SEGA Saturn has long been that one SEGA console that was near impossible to crack, and console owners could forget trying to easily play copied games (which currently relies on a mod chip and burning CDs). But now, thanks to electronics fellow and coder James Laird-Wah aka “Dr Abrasive”, the Saturn’s copy protection has finally been cracked.

Detailed in the extended video above is the process which Dr Abrasive took to achieve this. Essentially, games are loaded from USB via the expansion card port. The Saturn was so difficult to crack due to DRM requiring discs to have a physical mark on them (called a wobble) which was etched into the CD. Dr Abrasive got past this by figuring out how the disc drive worked and emulating it via USB. The project is still in the testing phase, but there are plans to make boards available for sale. The work will eventually open up doors to homebrew communities and preserve the console’s functionality years beyond the eventual death of the CD drive.

You can follow the project at Dr Abrasive’s Twitter account and at the official Assembler Games topic, and you can join the discussion at the SEGAbits forums.

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Cave Story being ported to SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive

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If you haven’t played the 2004 indie game ‘Cave Story‘ then you are really missing out on a classic PC game. But don’t worry a retro developer is ‘demaking’ the classic for release on the SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive. The game will scale down the graphics to run on the SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive 16-bit hardware (I think it still looks pretty damn close though) and will have the full soundtrack (remade for Yamaha YM262 sound).

Not only that, the developer has already released a playable demo of his Cave Story demake. You can download it here. The Cave Story demo is limited to the first few areas of the game. You can also see gameplay of Cave Story running on SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive hardware above.

Download Demo Here

[Source: Retro Collect]

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‘Swabby’ a new homebrew SEGA Game Gear game out now

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Do you still have your SEGA Game Gear and looking for a new Shoot’em up game to keep you busy? Look no further than the just released Swabby, a new homebrew game from the developer of Hang-On is now available for you to download via SMS Power. That means that the SEGA Game Gear lives!

The character Swabby actually has quite the history with the SEGA Master System since the snail creature starred in the hidden Snail Maze game. The game takes assets from classic SEGA games like Altered Beast, Shinobi and even Sonic the Hedgehog. So have plenty of extra batteries, turn on your SEGA Game Gear and start the nostalgia.

[Via: Retro Collect]

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Dreamcast 2 Fan Project Shuts Down

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sega-dreamcast-2Last year a group of fans got together to try and get a Dreamcast 2 console off the ground. They aggressively tried to use petition sites like Change.org and showed off several videos showing off concepts like the menus. We even did an opinion piece on the project, pointing out concerns we had with how it was being handled.

It seems that what we expected came true and now ‘Project Dream’ is officially dead. Yes, that means there is no Dreamcast 2.  They have now shut down their website and facebook group. But left this message as an explanation:

“The project has been taken offline. This is due to a schism within the team caused by inefficient and amateurish conduct resulting in members being removed and others leaving the team. In light of such unprofessional behavior and an embarrassing lack of progress, seasoned members of the gaming industry have chosen to distance themselves from the project. I too am stepping away from Project Dream. Please note the Twitter account @Project_DreamDC is no longer associated with this group.”

According to a inside source from Dreamcast Junkyard, there is a lot of ‘schism’ within the team and in-fighting. This turned into a rift between core members of Project Dream. Let’s be honest, SEGA said in 2001 that they were leaving the console hardware space, they aren’t coming back. This was bound to fail even without the in-fighting between the members. I mean why would SEGA even call it the Dreamcast 2? What are your thoughts?

[Source: Dreamcast Junkyard]

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Original Sonic Adventure Sega Dreamcast website returns thanks to a true blue fan

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Remember the days of logging on to the Internet using your Sega Dreamcast? Even when games didn’t tout online multi-player, more often than not you’d encounter a webpage option which allowed you to visit the game’s website through the in-game menu. Of course, as time passed many of the Dreamcast webpages have since gone offline, into disrepair, or were bought up by some porn site. Thankfully, fan and friend of TSSMB member JmTsHaW purchased the sonic-adventure.com domain and has (mostly) restored the Sonic Adventure’s original site in all its 640 pixel wide glory! Features include the Updates Archives, Community links including Chao Gardens, Hints and Support information. Very cool to see this piece of SEGA internet history back up and running. Check it out for yourself here, bonus points if you use the Dreamcast.

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Tails’ Channel interviews Aaron Webber about Sonic 25th Anniversary party

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Matt from Tails’ Channel got to sit down with Sonic’s social media manager and Sonic PR Aaron Webber (or how Phantasy Star people know him as Ruby Eclipse). The topic of the interview was the upcoming Sonic 25th Anniversary party including questions about what to expect, if Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice will be playable and what sort of merch will be sold at the event.

If you guys decide to go to the Sonic 25th Anniversary party, make sure you stop by and say hi to me and Barry since we will be attending the event. So are you going to Sonic 25th Anniversary party?

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SEGA News Bits: Strike Harbinger First Impressions and Exclusive Gameplay Footage

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Get ready, as our Strike Harbinger coverage continues! In this SEGA News Bits, Barry talks George through what it was like playing an early arcade build of Strike Harbinger during its debut at Galloping Ghost Arcade‘s SEGA Week. Created by the game development and design studio HitSparks Games, which is co-owned by Lead Game Designer Chris Tang and Senior Artist Kiyoshi Okuma, Strike Harbinger takes inspiration from classic SEGA titles including Space Harrier and Phantasy Star. The game is not due out until 2017, but this early first look at the game shows a lot of promise! Featuring unique controls and RPG-style elements, there is a lot more to Strike Harbinger than you’d think. So click play above and hear what Barry thought of the game and see some lovely 1080p 60fps gameplay footage courtesy of the developers.

More SEGA Week coverage is to come, including even more Strike Harbinger details and footage, so stay tuned! If you enjoy the SEGA News Bits video formats make sure to like, share and subscribe to our YouTube for more.

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