Retro

Hunter Girls, a brand new Genesis/Mega-Drive game, launches on Kickstarter

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We return once again to Kickstarter with an all new game for a Sega console. An all new action runner called Hunter Girls, starring three hunter girls of course, is in development for Sega Genesis/Mega-Drive from retro game publisher PSCD Games and has launched on Kickstarter. They have a surprisingly modest financial goal of $4,991 USD and has already made more than half of that goal by the time of this writing.

As an unusual style of game for a console as old as the Sega Genesis, Hunter Girls plays like an endless runner game that you may have played on a mobile device before, though Hunter Girls is not endless. This game stars, by order of their formation within the game, Agnes with her sword and shield, Kim with her bow and arrow, and Flora with her magical staff. All three girls run together automatically and each has their specialty for dealing with enemies in their paths, similar to The Lost Vikings, which is cited as an inspiration on the Kickstarter page. You’ll have to use each girl’s skills at the right time to direct them past each enemy, because if even one of them is attacked, you’ll have to start the level all over again.

Throughout the game, you’ll be treated to full screen cutscenes that flesh out the journey of these titular hunter girls, which are quite detailed and should be enticing enough to get you to check in after the break just to see them.

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Daytona USA 2001 online multiplayer restored thanks to Dreamcast Live

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Another Dreamcast game has had it’s online multiplayer mode reinstated thanks to Dreamcast Live. Daytona USA 2001 (Known in North America as simply Daytona USA) is now back online through the Dreamcast Live service, thanks to the efforts of a new member of their team called Ioncannon. This makes Daytona USA the 25th Dreamcast game supported on Dreamcast Live. (26th if you count the all new game Driving Strikers, from my last article.) This is fantastic news for fans of the game, especially considering the game had a few unlockable cars only attainable by playing online.

Take a rolling start past the break for more info.

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First brand new online Dreamcast game in 2 decades, Driving Strikers, now available for purchase

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How’s this for an impressive new leap in Dreamcast indie game development? All new Dreamcast car soccer game (Think Rocket League, but played from an overhead camera perspective), Driving Strikers, is now finally available to purchase as both a physical game package and as a digital download from WAVE Game Studios. Built around the modern Dreamcast online infrastructure Dreamcast Live, which I have detailed in an earlier article, Driving Strikers can be played online through that service either with an original modem adaptor and DreamPi or an official Dreamcast broadband adapter. To celebrate the occasion, WAVE Game Studios is currently selling the game at a discounted price of £19.99 ($25.66 USD as of this writing). 

Some of you may even remember Driving Strikers as the one Dreamcast game from the recent Homebrew Games Summer Showcase. Looks like it made it in after all.

For more info, break in after the check.

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Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack updated with Crusader of Centy, Ghouls n’ Ghosts, Landstalker, and The Revenge of Shinobi

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On June 27th, 2023, Sega added Crusader of Centy, Ghouls n’ Ghosts, Landstalker, and The Revenge of Shinobi to Sega Genesis – Nintendo Switch Online. Japan, of course, gets the same four games at the same time.

All four games are immediately accessible to Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack subscribers following a quick patch update to the app. For more info on each game, check in after the break for a synopsis on each game.

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First ever Homebrew Games Summer Showcase airing live this Thursday, June 29th; confirms games for Sega consoles

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Live video showcases of new video games are all the rage now ever since Nintendo debuted their popular Nintendo Direct showcase over a decade ago. Many large companies are doing their own showcases now, including Sega with their new Sonic Central showcases. There are a few indie showcases as well, but this is gonna be one to watch for retro gaming enthusiasts, especially as it’s confirmed that some of the games showcased will be for Sega Genesis/Mega-Drive, Master System, and Dreamcast.

Make sure to sign up for a notification for the above video’s premiere, taking place this Thursday, June 29th 2023 at 12:30 PM PST. After the break though, you’ll see more information about the consoles confirmed to have games shown.

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Retro-Bit announces official reprint of El Viento and Sol-Deace for Genesis/Mega-Drive; pre-orders open now until July 30th

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Guess who’s back with more officially licensed collector’s edition reprints of valuable Genesis/Mega-Drive classics? Retro-Bit have just announced their latest project with Edia Co., the current rights holders to the back catalog from Renovation: Special Edition reprints of El Viento and Sol-Deace. Pre-orders for North America are now open from Limited Run Games and Castlemania Games. European Mega-Drive fans can pre-order both from 8BitMods, Arcade Dreams, Dragon Box Shop, Nedgame, RetroCables.es, and Spel & Sant. Wherever you get them from, act before July 30th 2023, when pre-orders close, as this will be the only run for both, like with all other Retro-Bit collector’s edition reprints.

EDIT: More European retailers have opened pre-orders for both games: Funstock, Just For Games, Strictly Limited Games, and Xtralife. The Sol-Deace pre-order page on Castlemania Games has also gone offline, probably due to a temporary error. Keep checking if you really want to buy it there.

You can check out Retro-Bit’s official website for El Viento and Sol-Deace for the most up-to-date information on pre-orders and links to pre-order as well as to scope out their FAQ on both games. To hear more about each game and see pre-order links, check in after the break.

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

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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.

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New Genesis/Mega-Drive indie game Mega Slow Mole coming soon; demo and beta available now

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We all love new games for Sega hardware. Well, here’s another one for ya. Mega Slow Mole is an ultra-difficult, precision platformer being developed by SlowMoleStudio for the Sega Genesis/Mega-Drive. SlowMoleStudio was formed by accomplished animator and filmmaker, Erik Rosenlund, who also animated the claymation trailer for the original NES Slow Mole game. You can see some of his animations on his YouTube page. His 12-year-old son, Linus Rosenlund, created the soundtrack and is currently working on Mega Slow Mole’s soundtrack as well.

This is the latest in their series of Slow Mole games, which started on NES with Slow Mole. Mega Slow Mole is planned to launch sometime within 2023, but SlowMoleStudio has already launched a free demo ROM on their itch.io page, where their earlier Slow Mole games are also available. The full game is already available in beta form on itch.io for $12 USD (Currently on sale at $8.40 as of this writing). Paying for the beta ROM should entitle you to any updated ROM files in the future. Future updates will include more levels and music, along with some secret screens.  A physical cartridge release is also planned, but no information is currently available on that yet.

Check out some extra screenshots after the break.

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New Phøde ODE, supporting Dreamcast, Saturn, Sega CD, and more, launches pre-orders

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Phøde ODE

If you’re looking for a device to play your digitized disc backups of your favorite Sega console classic games, then look no further than the Phøde, a brand new Optical Drive Emulator created by engineer Fixel. This single device supports almost every CD-Rom based game console from the 90’s, not just including the Sega CD (Models 1 and 2, Genesis CDX, and JVC X’Eye), Saturn (Both the 20 and 21-pin models), and the GD-Rom based Dreamcast (Models VA0, VA1, and VA2), but also various models of the Sony PlayStation and even the Philips CD-I, with more to be announced later. Fixel has just launched pre-orders for the Phøde in batches from their website. Batch 1 is still available, as of this writing, at $249.99 USD.

Check in after the break for extra info.

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Special interview with Ross Kilgariff, the creator of Harlequest!

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Many of you probably remember the announcement of Harlequest!, a brand new action RPG in development for Sega Dreamcast that is now live on Kickstarter. As of this writing, there are 5 days remaining for the Kickstarter to raise as much money as possible.

Since I have written that article, I have gotten the opportunity to speak with the game’s main creator, Ross Kilgariff (ross:codes) to learn more about him and the inspirations behind Harlequest! Check in after the break to hear more from the man himself. Special thanks goes to Ross for reaching out to us for this opportunity.

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Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack updated with Street Fighter II, Pulseman, Kid Chameleon, and Flicky

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On April 18th, 2023, Sega added Flicky, Kid Chameleon, Pulseman, and Street Fighter II: Special Championship Edition to Sega Genesis – Nintendo Switch Online. This is the first update to the NSO Sega Genesis collection for 2023. Japan, of course, gets the same four games at the same time.

All four games are immediately accessible to Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack subscribers following a quick patch update to the app. For more info on each game, check in after the break for a synopsis on each game.

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Steel Empire Chronicles revealed for Switch and PS4, plus Sega Genesis Steel Empire official limited reprint also launched

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Steel Empire is back again! Just announced by Strictly Limited Games, Steel Empire Chronicles was just announced for Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4, containing the 1992 Sega Genesis original (known as Empire of Steel on Mega-Drive in Europe), the Game Boy Advance version from 2005, the remake that was released on Nintendo 3DS back in 2014 and then on Steam in 2018, and even the NES shooter Over Horizon, developed by the same original developers of Steel Empire and released the year prior exclusively in Japan and Europe.

So far, this game is not released on the Nintendo eShop or the PlayStation store and no release date is given yet. The game is only available currently in physical form and will soon be up for pre-order at Strictly Limited’s online store. This includes a standard and collectors edition of both the Switch and PS4 versions as well as new physical cartridges of the original Steel Empire on Genesis/Mega-Drive and Over Horizon for NES, with an NTSC and PAL version of both games sold separately. All these items are in limited quantities.

Check in after the break for more information about this new release.

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New 3D Dreamcast Dungeon Crawler “HarleQuest!” now on Kickstarter

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A brand new indie dungeon crawling RPG has just been announced for Dreamcast and PC (Including Mac and Linux), called HarleQuest!, and has begun its bid for crowdfunding on Kickstarter on April 1st. No foolin’.

Being developed by Ross Kilgariff, with assistance by Alastair Low of LowTek Games (Who have experience with Dreamcast development, porting indie NES games to the console), HarleQuest! is envisioned as a “high difficulty, procedurally-generated dungeon crawler” inspired by Gauntlet, Diablo, The Legend of Zelda, MidiEvil, and “SoulsBorne” games such as the Dark Souls series and Bloodborne. The dungeon layouts will be randomized, many different weapons and loot will be scattered around for the taking, fearsome enemies and giant bosses lurk around most corners, the option of co-op multiplayer is there, and best of all, the game will be in full 3D, a rarity for independent Dreamcast games. At the time of this writing, HarleQuest! has raised $8,214 of the $13,811 needed and has kept a good momentum after the Kickstarter campaign went live.

Go check out the Kickstarter page now, which is running until April 30th 2023, or check in after the break for more info from us at SegaBits.

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Cancelled Woody Woodpecker Racing Dreamcast port saved and archived

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The Sega Dreamcast had a handful of interesting kart racing games in its time, but here’s one that never made it past the finish line to retail shelves. Woody Woodpecker Racing was released for PlayStation, PC, and Game Boy Color, but a Dreamcast version was also planned, as evidenced by the above ad from the manual for the Dreamcast version of The Grinch video game, also from Konami.

Now, thanks to video game archivist and Youtuber Andrew Borman and video game developer @frioglobal1, the source code for Woody Woodpecker Racing on Dreamcast has been found and miraculously compiled into a functional form. Thanks to them, we now have a glimpse of what this game could’ve looked like. Check in after the break to see more.

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Samba de Amigo ver. 2000 English fan conversion now available

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While you wait for the release of Samba de Amigo: Party Central for Nintendo Switch, here’s a new development for what is probably the next best Samba de Amigo game. 

Samba de Amigo ver. 2000, which originally released on Sega Dreamcast exclusively in Japan in the year 2000, has gotten a new English conversion by Dukeblooders. While the game originally didn’t have much Japanese text in it, and didn’t strictly require a mastery of Japanese to play anyway, Dukeblooders went the extra mile and converted as much of the game’s text as possible, mostly using audio or graphics from the Wii version of Samba de Amigo from 2007, which had most of ver. 2000’s features anyway. It may not seem like too much of a change, but it should help the game feel like a more complete English release that never was.

Currently, you can download the patch from Dukeblooders’s Github page. According to this page, patching your copy of the game requires the Universal Dreamcast Patcher software by Derek Pascarella, which you can get from his own Github page. Playing the patched game currently requires a Dreamcast ODE (Optical Drive Emulator) such as a MODE or a GDEMU, as it cannot run from a burnt CD-ROM at this time. It should run perfectly fine in a Dreamcast emulator, theoretically. 

If you’re able to try this out, let us know what you think in the comments below.

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