Homebrew

Shinobi arcade game ported to SNK’s Neo-Geo; Golden Axe arcade port coming soon

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Mock cover art by Pedro Soares https://x.com/peachflavor3d/status/1876277610961043787

The Sega arcade classic Shinobi (1988) has just been unofficially ported to the Genes- sorry, I meant the Dreamca- wait! No! It’s been ported to SNK’s Neo-Geo system. That sounds like a first.

Yes. Hobbyist developer h0ffman has just brought Shinobi to the Neo-Geo system by seemingly disassembling the original arcade ROM to make their own source code and then converting it to run on Neo-Geo hardware just to see if they could. They first got the game running from a physical CD on a Neo-Geo CD console and have since released versions that run on that as well as the Neo-Geo AES and Neo-Geo MVS. What’s more, they’re also currently doing the same with Golden Axe (1989), though they have not yet finished that port as of this writing. For now, you can download Shinobi and try it on your favorite Neo-Geo emulator or any Neo-Geo hardware you may own.

For download links, sneak on in past the break.

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Mega Drive Tracker website set up to catalogue upcoming physical indie game releases for Genesis/Mega-Drive

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Brand new games for Genesis/Mega-Drive, coming from talented indie enthusiast developers, are a common occurrence today. It is rather exciting, but it might be a little tough to keep track of them all. Of course, you can search SegaBits for our own articles about new Genesis game releases, but what if I told you there’s now a website with an easy to read catalogue of upcoming releases to look out for?

Developed by fellow Sega fan and writer Mollie L Patterson, Mega Drive Tracker is a WordPress site keeping track of upcoming Genesis releases that are planned to come out on physical cartridges that you can buy and run on original Genesis hardware. The pages for each game include links to the websites where the games can be bought or pre-ordered, if they are still available. This includes a couple of games we have written about before too. They’re grouped by four categories:

  1. New Releases, which are brand new games being developed from the ground up for Genesis. (Examples: Phantom Gear, Earthion, ZPF)
  2. Ports, which are conversions of games that already exist on other hardware. (Examples: Black Jewel Reborn, P47 II MD, Asuka 120% Re-bon)
  3. Reprints, which are brand new printings of games that already released on Genesis years ago. (Examples: Aero The Acro-bat, Grind Stormer, Twin Cobra)
  4. Localizations, which are translated releases of games originally unreleased in English speaking countries. (Example: Eliminate Down, Slap Fight)

Take a look after the break for a link to the website for you to bookmark and look at.

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Homebrew Genesis/Mega-Drive game Hayato’s Journey finishes development; now available to download for free

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An all new homebrew action platformer for Genesis/Mega-Drive, called Hayato’s Journey, has just finished development and is now free to download. Developed by Master Linkuei, Hayato’s Journey is a fanmade spiritual sequel to the Master System game Kenseiden (1988). The game is now available on his itch.io page for whatever price you wish to pay. Although it is free, it couldn’t hurt to give Master Linkuei a buck or two to reward their hard work.

Have a look beyond the break for a trailer and a link to the game.

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Fanmade Dreamcast port of Grand Theft Auto III being worked on; WIP footage shown

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How many of you were aware the Grand Theft Auto III (2001) was originally meant to have a version on Sega Dreamcast? It moved away from Dreamcast after developer DMA Design, today known as Rockstar North, came into agreement that the Dreamcast was no longer a viable platform for the game, most likely due to Sega bowing out of the console hardware race in 2001. Had the game released on Dreamcast as originally intended, it would’ve gone on to be a major feather in the Dreamcast’s cap for years to come.

While we can’t go back in time and make DMA Design stick to it’s original Dreamcast release plans, one fan has taken it upon themselves to convert the game over to Dreamcast. Homebrew developer SKMP has been building a new Dreamcast GTA III port using assets and reverse engineered code from the original PC version. Lately, he’s even gained some help from a few other Dreamcast homebrew developers, including Frogbull, who’s best known for creating a Metal Gear Solid 2 tech demo for Dreamcast. While the port is still work-in-progress as of this writing, what’s been done so far is nothing short of amazing. After all, just because GTA III was originally meant to be a Dreamcast game, doesn’t mean that bringing the finished game to Dreamcast is as simple as you might think.

You’ll find out more about what I mean past the break.

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Fanmade Genesis/Mega-Drive port of Neo-Geo classic Real Bout Fatal Fury Special now available to download

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The Genesis/Mega-Drive did have a few ports of SNK’s Neo-Geo games, but until now, Real Bout Fatal Fury Special was not one of them. Brazilian Genesis homebrew developer RheoGamer sought to rectify that by developing his own port, titled “Real Bout Fatal Fury Genesis” which he has just now completed and released to the public to try as a free download. You can see his video of the game in action above.

Real Bout Fatal Fury Special was originally made by SNK for their own Neo-Geo arcade and home console hardware in 1995 as the sixth game in the Fatal Fury fighting series. SNK also made an official Saturn port of its predecessor, Real Bout Fatal Fury, the very next year, but released it only in Japan. The first two Fatal Fury games, Fatal Fury 1 and 2, did see official ports to Genesis in 1993 and 1994 respectively, while the latter got to be part of the Genesis/Mega-Drive Mini 2. Now we get to see what could’ve been had SNK brought the Real Bout chapters of Fatal Fury to the Genesis.

You’ll find the download link to the game rom in the description of the above video, but I’ve also included it here beyond the break, along with some more helpful information about RheoGamer’s port.

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Fanmade, open source Doom 64 port for Dreamcast now available to download

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We’ve all heard about Doom and how it can be made to run on just about everything (Including Dreamcast), but now it’s Doom 64’s turn for a Dreamcast port, thanks to fan developer JNMartin (@falco_girgis on Twitter). JNMartin has been working hard on a new port of quasi-sequel Doom 64, originally released for the Nintendo 64 in 1997. He continues to work on it now, with the above video being his latest progress showcase as of this writing. The port is now available and open sourced, so anyone is free to help develop the port as well as download and try it for themselves.

The game isn’t totally complete yet, with many assets missing, such as the HUD and certain enemies and sounds, but being able to run the game at all on Dreamcast is an incredible feat already. It even runs at a smooth and stable framerate. It shows that developers who love the Dreamcast are capable of doing amazing things with the hardware to this day.

Dare to journey past the break for a link to the latest build and instructions on how to play.

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A new Genesis/Mega-Drive shmup, ZPF, begins crowdfunding on Kickstarter; already achieves its goal nearly 5x over

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Are you guys ready for an especially wonderful new Sega Genesis/Mega-Drive experience? Apparently a lot of people were. A Kickstarter has been recently opened up for an incredible new shooter by the developer of indie Genesis darling Tänzer and its publisher Mega Cat Studios. ZPF is a game that aims to push the beloved 16-bit console like few modern indie hits have before, and it’s already gone way past it’s initial modest goal of $15,000 USD in less than half an hour after going live on July 1st, 2024. In fact, it is already over $100,000 raised. I think people might be a bit impressed so far.

ZPF is a horizontal scrolling shmup, much like Genesis classics such as the Thunder Force games, Steel Empire (1992), Arrow Flash (1991), and another hotly anticipated indie hit which was also a smashing success on Kickstarter, Irena: Genesis Metal Fury. ZPF aims to set itself apart with some incredibly detailed and imaginative artwork, three playable characters with their own unique attacks, and many secrets, including hidden stages and endings. ZPF aims to go hard or go home.

Suffice it to say, this game’s coming out with or without your support, but there’s still all of July to put a couple of bucks down and earn yourself some rewards. For a rundown of what you can get, as well as more of the game itself, scroll on past the break and be ready to contain your excitement.

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Homebrew Games Summer Showcase 2024 showcases 120 new homebrew games, including many for Sega consoles

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Yesterday, on June 6th, 2024, NES Homebrew developer extraordinaire Matt Hughson aired the second ever Homebrew Games Summer Showcase video presentation. The 34 minute long presentation showcased a whooping 120 games across many retro game systems, most notably including many Genesis/Mega-Drive, Master System, and Game Gear games, as well as even one Saturn game and two Dreamcast games. You can also expect many games for NES, Game Boy, Game Boy Advance, and SNES, as well as two Turbografx-16 games and even a Virtual Boy game. This is one video you can’t miss if you’re really interested in seeing what talented developers are doing with long retired game hardware today.

You can watch the whole video above, but join me past the break for a quick list of all the games shown that are coming to Sega platforms, as well as links to follow their developers and/or download the games.

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Sega 8-bit game publisher 2Minds opens pre-orders for Game Gear adventure “The Sword of Stone” + new Mark III and Genesis/Mega-Drive games

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Looking for something new to play on Sega’s 8-bit console library, including the Game Gear? French publisher 2Minds has reopened their online store as well as opened pre-orders for a new narrative exploration adventure for Game Gear titled “The Sword of Stone”. In addition, they’ve also opened pre-orders for new Mark III and Genesis/Mega-Drive cartridges of their Master System game library, along with a new Game Gear version of their existing Master System puzzle game “Heroes Against Demons”. The new Game Gear games cost €59 ($63.65 USD), Mark III games cost €55 ($59.33 USD), and Genesis and Master System games cost €50 ($53.94 USD). All pre-orders are estimated to ship in September, while Master System games, as of this writing, are already available to ship. Make sure you get the correct game cartridge for your personal setup.

All of the games are packaged with high quality cartridges containing brand new game PCBs of 2Minds’s own special design. They also come in a box with a color manual. The Game Gear games also come with brand new plastic shells for the cartridges, just like all brand new Game Gear games had. Really takes you back, right? Keep in mind, the Genesis cartridges are still Master System games, but playable on Genesis without the need of a Power Base Converter. They may not work with Genesis consoles incompatible with Master System games, such as the Nomad and Genesis 3, as well as the 32X. (Fun fact: Sega actually released a Master System game in a Mega-Drive cartridge themselves once.) Mark III games will have all text on the box and manual written in Japanese.

You can see links to the store after the break, along with picture galleries of all the available games.

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Homebrew Saturn port of X-Men arcade gets updated demo, adding 3-player co-op and playable Storm

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Remember the homebrew port of the 1992 X-Men arcade game for Sega Saturn being worked on by hotrodx? They just came out with an all-new version of their demo adding Storm to the playable roster, as well as 3-player co-op and a new 2nd stage.

Might as well cut to the chase. Check in past the break for info on the update as well as a download link.

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Demon Girls homebrew game for Genesis/Mega-Drive demo now available

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It’s Genesis/Mega-Drive homebrew time again. Coming to us from developer and artist JuiceLizard, Demon Girls is still in active development for the wonderful 16-bit console, and now a demo is currently available for all to try from his itch.io page. The demo consists of the entire first level of the game and is absolutely free, but if you’re feeling particularly generous, you can also leave JuiceLizard a gracious tip as you download the ROM file. Like any Genesis ROM file, it can be played in your favorite Genesis emulation software, on original hardware with a Mega Everdrive flash cartridge, or on the MiSTer FPGA console.

You’ll find download links beyond the break.

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240p Test Suite now available for Sega Saturn

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This is for retro gamers who love to get very technical with their TVs and monitors. The well known 240p Test Suite, created as an open source software by Artemio Urbina, is available on all sorts of retro consoles, but until now, the Sega Saturn was not among them. A version of the Test Suite has now been ported to Saturn by SegaXtreme forum member hitomi2500 for this year’s Sega Saturn Homebrew Competition. However, the Saturn version is currently work-in-progress, so it may still have some issues that need to be worked out, but for now the port is available for you to mess around with on your Saturn.

Check in after the break to learn more about what 240p Test Suite is and to download it.

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Homebrew port of Konami’s X-Men arcade game being worked on for Saturn; playable demo now available

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Arcade flyer scan courtesy of arcade-museum.com

We’ve talked al lot about homebrew developers porting games to Genesis/Mega-Drive lately, so lets switch things up with a homebrew Saturn port this time. Developer hotrodx is working on converting the 1992 X-Men arcade beat-em-up by Konami to the Sega Saturn and now has a demo ready for the public to try out.

X-Men is one of the most beloved arcade classics of all time and one of the shining examples of classic beat-em-ups, right up there with Sega’s own Streets of Rage series, but somehow the game never received an official home port on any game console in the 90’s. Decades later, it would finally receive official home ports to PS3 and Xbox 360 in 2010, an iOS port in 2011, and its own Arcade1up home arcade cabinet in 2011. Only the latter is still available, as the digital-only 2010 port was removed from the PlayStation Store and Xbox Live Marketplace in 2013 with the iOS version going away in 2014.

The port is early in development, with the demo available as of this writing being version 0.1.1. The demo only consists of the first stage and gives you access to only two characters: Wolverine and Cyclops. Developer hotrodx also has a message displayed in the demo saying that they’re not using any source code derived from the original game and are, instead, eyeballing the whole game, trying to match the arcade game’s feel as much as possible. It sounds difficult, but based on this demo, they seem to be on the right track, but you can try it with an ODE such as a Fenrir, Satiator, or Phøde on real NTSC Saturn hardware and judge for yourself.

The download link will be past the break, along with a video of the demo in action.

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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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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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