Retro

Secret code for Clockwork Knight 2, unlocking the original Clockwork Knight, discovered after 28 years

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Tell me, Sega Saturn fans: Do you own a North American copy of Clockwork Knight 2, but not the original Clockwork Knight? Well guess what? You actually do own a copy of the original Clockwork Knight after all.

It turns out the North American version of Clockwork Knight 2 contained a secret code all along that unlocks access to the game’s prequel, right off of the same game disc. For many years, this code was actually rumored to exist in old video game magazines, but until Christmas Eve, 2023, it was never actually confirmed to exist. Now we know for sure. It is indeed real, it works, and you can access it with a simple button combination from the title screen.

Check in after the break if you wanna see what this long rumored code is, then you can try it for yourself.

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Homebrew Genesis/Mega-Drive port of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night demo now available

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Genesis/Mega-Drive homebrew developers are at it again. For a long time now, retro game developer and YouTuber Pigsy, has been hard at work porting Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, the legendary sidescrolling adventure from the PlayStation and Saturn, to the Sega Genesis. Call him crazy, but he’s made some great progress, and now he’s ready to prove it with a playable demo that you can download right now. Pigsy has made a video of the demo, shown above, but also prepared a demo that’s able to run on real Genesis hardware using an Everdrive flash cartridge. You can also play it with an emulator or with the MiSTer FPGA console too.

You can check the description of the video above for the download links, or find them here past the break.

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The Video Game History Foundation unveils never-before-seen cut levels from Sonic the Hedgehog 2

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We’re a little late reporting on this, but we just could not let it go. Not when it concerns one of the most important Sonic games of all time. Celebrated video game preservationist Frank Cifaldi, of the Video Game History Foundation, has come into contact with some American artists formally employed at Sega Technical Institute, where Sonic 2 was developed, and with their help, has unearthed some never before seen artwork and information about cut content from Sonic 2. He’s even learned about a whole different Genesis/Mega-Drive game the studio was working on that got canned in order to bring all hands on deck for Sonic 2.

You can see the video right up above and check in past the break for a summery of what was shown off in the video.

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Eliminate Down Genesis/Mega-Drive cartridge reprint announced from Retro-Bit; Pre-orders open now until January 2nd

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It’s Retro-Bit time again, but I can’t say I predicted they’d pick up this game. Eliminate Down (1993) is coming back in style with an all-new collector’s cartridge, officially licensed for its first ever official release in North America and Europe, and playable in any Genesis/Mega-Drive console or associated clone console. This should resemble Retro-Bit’s other recent collector’s cartridge releases, including Gley Lancer, El Viento, and Sol-Deace. Pre-orders have already begun in North America via Castlemania Entertainment, Rondo Products, and Limited Run Games, and in Europe via 8BitMods, Dragon Box Shop, RetroCables, Spel & Sant, Strictly Limited, XtraLife, and Zed Labz.

Update: New pre-order links are available. North American customers can now also pre-order from Canada-based store PNP Games (Which Americans may wanna consider as the US Dollar is currently more valuable than the Canadian dollar) and Europeans can now also pre-order from Arcade Dreams and Just For Games.

Check in past the break for more info and for a bit of history on Eliminate Down.

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Hunter Girls kickstarter campaign cancelled, refunds issued, and game cartridges now on sale at PSCD Games website

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Some of you may recall Hunter Girls, a new Genesis/Mega-Drive game being developed by PCSD Games, which launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund the game’s development. On July 30th, 2023, their Kickstarter campaign was launched and then was successfully funded on August 29th. Despite the fact that the game has completed development and cartridges have been manufactured, PCSD Games has been forced to cancel shipment of all Kickstarter rewards due to an unanticipated issue with the firm that managed their Kickstarter campaign, Meridian 4. Fortunately, PSCD Games is currently assisting fans in obtaining refunds from Meridian 4 and will instead sell the game cartridges through their own website.

Check in after the break for extra info on this kerfuffle.

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Fanmade R-Type Genesis/Mega-Drive port demo out now

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You know what the Sega Genesis/Mega-Drive needed? A port of Irem’s 1987 arcade shooter R-Type. The Master System and NES had one. Even the Turbografx-16 had one. Well, one fan developer, TheRoboZ, decided to rectify that and develop their own brand-new R-Type conversion for the Genesis, and they currently have a demo available for the general public to test out.

This new fan port, titled Mega R-Type, will be a full conversion of the arcade game with all-new features, such as the exclusive stage from the Master System version and a few customization choices from the Turbografx-16 port and even the recent R-Type Dimensions remake. The music has also been remixed, although the original arcade game’s music has also been adapted for the Genesis FM sound chip, and both options are available in-game. This demo is limited to three levels to play, but you can still see the music player and all of the customization choices. The demo also adapts for 60hz and 50hz, so PAL Mega-Drive fans can play without concern.

Download the demo from the Mega R-Type page on itch.io, then open it with your preferred Genesis emulator or flash cartridge—such as the Mega Everdrive series—in your original Genesis/Mega-Drive console. After that, be sure to leave some feedback for TheRoboZ to consider by joining the Mega R-Type community on itch.io by clicking the “Join the community” button at the bottom of the page. You can also follow TheRoboZ on Twitter and provide feedback there. Be sure to also tell us what you think of the demo in the comments and check out a few choice screenshots beyond the break.

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Official Genesis/Mega-Drive 99Vidas port “Mega 99Vidas” announced; physical cartridge coming soon

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Announced just yesterday in their QByte Connect 2023 showcase, Brazilian game publisher QByte Interactive have announced an official Genesis/Mega-Drive port of 99Vidas, a classic indie beat-em-up that they released to modern platforms in 2016. No release date was given yet, but they have made it clear that they intend to make this available as a working Genesis cartridge, giving enthusiasts of original hardware something new to look forward to.

Check in after the break for more info on this exciting new retro game and the original 99Vidas game.

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NBA Jam announcer Tim Kitzrow (and Fox) just discovered as hidden players in Saturn version of NBA Jam: TE after 28 years

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As reported by SEGA SATURN, SHIRO!, Saturn hacker Malenko, who created Saturn romhacks (For lack of a better word) Drift King ’97 and NBA Jam TE Walrus Edition, discovered two never before seen or reported on secret characters in NBA Jam: Tournament Edition, who seem to be exclusive to the Saturn version for whatever reason. The first, and most exciting, is NBA Jam’s legendary announcer, Mr. BOOM-SHAKA-LAKA himself, Tim Kitzrow. (Who was also featured in other sports titles like NFL Blitz, NBA Showtime, NCAA College Slam, and Frank Thomas Big Hurt Baseball) The other is some guy named Fox. (We’re sure he’s a nice guy)

To anyone’s knowledge, the existence of these characters has never been revealed by anyone after all this time. Who knows if even Tim Kitzrow himself was aware? (UPDATE: He was not.) Malenko discovered this just from perusing the Saturn game’s hex data and finding curious entries within the character data area, which allowed him to figure out the secret codes for both characters.

Check in after the break for the secret codes to play as these two special guests.

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Several Sega Forever mobile games unceremoniously delisted + End of Service announcement

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Remember Sega Forever, and how that started out in 2017 as Sega Europe’s initiative to bring classic Sega games to mobile app stores as free, ad-supported games? Well, Sega Forever is now “Sega For-never,” as more than half of the games released through Sega Forever have now been delisted from the Apple App Store and Google Play Store without so much as an official announcement. On top of that, the games now display an “End of Service” message like the one shown above saying that the games will remain playable, but will lose their online features, which amounted to save states being stored online, leaderboards, and offering you the option to pay $1.99 USD to play without ads. It also has a “More Info” button to show you where else the games available through Sega Forever can be played, but it only currently leads to Sega’s home page. (The above message comes from the Space Harrier II Classic app. I have not been able to confirm if the non-Genesis games display a message like this.)

Check in past the break to see what the remaining games are, as well as some more unsettling news…

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Earthion releasing for Genesis/Mega-Drive and modern consoles in 2024 from Limited Run Games

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Looking forward to the new Genesis/Mega-Drive scrolling shooter from Yuzo Koshiro and Ancient known as Earthion? We have learned from them and Superdeluxe Games at this year’s Tokyo Game Show that Earthion is on track to release in 2024 both as a cartridge for Genesis consoles and on modern consoles from Superdeluxe Games and Limited Run Games. The former will handle Japanese distribution and the latter will distribute the game internationally. Put some money aside for that now if you want it.

Of course, when more concrete info comes out about when you can buy the game and how much it will cost, we’ll be sure to let you know as we come closer to 2024. Until then, tell us in the comments below how excited you are for this game.

Before we leave you to absorb this news, here’s an interesting fact about the “YKGGG” sign shown with the Sega font in the intro of Earthion straight from Koshiro-san.

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Jurassic Park: Classic Games Collection from Limited Run Games adds two Sega Genesis/Mega-Drive Jurassic Park games; is still up for pre-order

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A while back, Limited Run Games announced their partnership with Universal Pictures to make the Jurassic Park: Classic Games Collection on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5/4, and Xbox, a compilation of all the official Jurassic Park games on NES, SNES, and Game Boy using their all new Carbon Engine emulation platform. We didn’t talk about this at the time because it wasn’t relevant to Sega in any way, until now. Just today, Limited Run Games has announced the collection will now also include the two Sega Genesis/Mega-Drive games: Jurassic Park (1993) and Jurassic Park: Rampage Edition (1994). Life finds a way for Sega Genesis to get its dues after all.

Fortunately, Limited Run Games’s pre-order period for the collection is going on until October 15th, 2023, so you still have plenty of time to pre-order a physical copy of the game if you’re interested. There are standard editions and two different collectors editions available. Photos of each are below. (The extras in the two collector’s editions are the same for every console.) You can select and pre-order them from LRG’s Jurassic Park: Classic Games Collection page.

Will you be picking up this collection? Were you interested in it before the Sega games were added? Tell us in the comments below, won’t you?

And while you’re at it, listen to Barry and George talk about the original Jurassic Park game on Genesis in their latest Sega Talk episode.

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Two new Dreamcast games from Nape Games: Reknum Souls Adventure and Ploid, now available from VGNY Soft

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Here’s two more brand new Sega Dreamcast games for ya. Reknum Souls Adventures and Ploid, both originally made for NES by Nape Games, are now available for Dreamcast and up for pre-order in North America through VGNYSoft, a known publisher of physical indie games who also dabbles in Dreamcast games. Both games, like most other indie games on Dreamcast, are VGA compatible and region-free as well. Both can be had for $29.99 USD each.

Check in past the break for trailers and pre-order links.

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Disney’s Gargoyles Remastered, a remake of the Sega Genesis game, announced and up for pre-order digitally and from Limited Run Games

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Just announced earlier today at this year’s Disney D23 event, Gargoyles Remastered is a full-blown HD remake of the Sega Genesis game. That game, based on the classic Disney Afternoon cartoon series Gargoyles, originally released in November 1995, only in North America and only on Genesis. (It’s also most notable as the one game besides Virtua Racing that cannot run on a V2 model Genesis 3 console) Gargoyles Remastered launches on October 19th, 2023 and is now up for pre-order on PlayStation 4/5, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, Steam, and GOG. 

While the game should play the same way the original did, it’s been completely rebuilt with a widescreen aspect ratio and an all new clean HD look, plus you can switch back and forth between the original pixel graphics at any time, just like Lizardcube and Dotemu’s Wonder Boy: The Dragon’s Trap remake from 2017. There’s also a new rewind function to save you from dumb mistakes. All this is highlighted in the trailer above, which is narrated by Keith David, the original voice of series and game protagonist Goliath. 

See past the break for screenshots and a rundown on the game’s other new features.

EDIT: Various physical copies of Gargoyles Remastered are going up for pre-order from Limited Run Games, including working Genesis cartridges of the original game, starting September 8th, 2023 (That’s right. Tomorrow.) Info about this is also available after the break.

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Obscure SegaSoft Classics Rocket Jockey and Obsidian now available on Steam and Zoom

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Here’s one for fans of mid 90’s PC games. Some of you may remember the publisher Segasoft, the independent publishing arm set up by Sega of America to develop and publish games, not just for Sega Saturn, but also for Windows PCs and for competing consoles. (Though they never got to release anything on other consoles in the end.) Many of their games have been lost to time since Segasoft closed down in 2000, but two of their most beloved PC classics have been saved from the game preservation crisis. Rocket Jockey (1996) and Obsidian (1996) are coming to modern PC game platforms Steam and Zoom on August 28th, 2023, published by Zoom Platform and another company named Call Your Vegetables.

You may have heard of Steam, but what is Zoom Platform, you may ask? The short answer is that they’re another web storefront for PC games, mostly for retro PC games, created by the Jordan Freeman Group. Saturn era Sega of America President/COO Bernie Stolar, who sadly passed away last year, actually served as the original Executive Chairman. You can read more about them from their “About Us” page.

You can see more information on each of these games, along with links to buy them from either Steam or Zoom, past the break.

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Gunslugs for Genesis/Mega-Drive has opened pre-orders for physical copies

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Ready for another new Sega Genesis game? The new Sega Genesis/Mega-Drive version of Gunslugs is now available to pre-order in physical cartridge form, complete with box and manual. You can order it from The Retro Room Games right now as either a complete set for $44.99 USD, or just the cartridge and nothing else for $24.99. At the same time, a limited edition Gunslugs t-shirt is also available to pre-order for $20, but only until August 7th, so act quick if you want one. (EDIT: Despite the t-shirt page saying the shirt will not be available past August 7th, it is actually still there. If you try to order one, let us know in the comments if it works.)

Slug your way past the break for extra info.

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