What kinds of new games would you like for the Sega Genesis / Mega Drive?

[JurassicDope]

From what I have seen, fans are really excited for Arcade style titles that the homebrew scene has been hard at work on lately. Genres such as Beat 'em Ups, Run 'n Guns, Action platformers, Fighters, and the classic side-scrolling shmup are looking promising with a mix of original and fan-port titles such as ZPF, Water Margin, Rtype, and Final Fight MD, just to name small fraction.

 

However for me, I am very interested in original titles with not only arcade gameplay, but also adventure, strategic ai, character growth/progression, a touch of immersion from 5th gen, and other interesting gameplay mechanics whether as each as their own game, or mixed and matched as a hybrid. A non-traditional jRPG even, but with traditional gfx. 

 

I guess you can say I am more asking for a general "type of genre" discussion here, rather than a full-blown game-idea sharing thread (not sure if that would cross into the Homebrew subforum here). This info is extra interesting for me, as I do work with Homebrew devs, insight is very good to hear 👍 (as well as maybe interest other developers lurking about).

[Steven Pendleton]

Something that uses the power of the MD, CD, and 32X together to push the limits of what that combination can do as far as possible while still maintaining an unbroken 59.92 FPS at all times.

Edited September 22 by Steven Pendleton

[Tanooki]

I'd like to see more along what is being developed now, and to be more specific, some of the ...wow you can do that ports?! that are under development.  Metal Slug MVS arcade, Final Fight which is not only intact but adds characters/features, and Castlevania SOTN.  Those are some big goals and they're happening.  I'd like to see more port/conversions, or some apology releases of sorts which Final Fight would fly under where you uncensor, fix, add missing content, etc bringing the package up to how it should have been if not exceeding it (like Doom Resurrection on 32X.)  That is what I'd like.  Perhaps SNES got a game that would work like mad on Genesis too?  What if someone ported Wing Commander, that could get interesting.

 

I like the idea above too on technical pushing merit, but I'd emulate, no way I'm buying that tower of pain.

[JurassicDope]

4 hours ago, Steven Pendleton said:

Something that uses the power of the MD, CD, and 32X together to push the limits of what that combination can do as far as possible while still maintaining an unbroken 59.92 FPS at all times.

We got a taste of possibilities with Doom Resurrection! 😲... I am loving the idea of base Genesis games unlocking extra features if connected to a Sega CD or 32x! They could be small, I thought about use of the Ricoh stereo pcm channels if connected to the MCD, and adding an enhanced far bg on 32x with nice gradients. Something to give add-on users a little treat, as long as 32mega power permits! (I'm one of those very interested in keeping with era authentic limitations, I fancy working on what was available circa '95-98 Genesis!)

1 hour ago, Tanooki said:

I'd like to see more along what is being developed now, and to be more specific, some of the ...wow you can do that ports?! that are under development.  Metal Slug MVS arcade, Final Fight which is not only intact but adds characters/features, and Castlevania SOTN.  Those are some big goals and they're happening.  I'd like to see more port/conversions, or some apology releases of sorts which Final Fight would fly under where you uncensor, fix, add missing content, etc bringing the package up to how it should have been if not exceeding it (like Doom Resurrection on 32X.)  That is what I'd like.  Perhaps SNES got a game that would work like mad on Genesis too?  What if someone ported Wing Commander, that could get interesting.

 

I like the idea above too on technical pushing merit, but I'd emulate, no way I'm buying that tower of pain.

I'm with you on surprising the fans with limit pushing ports! Imagine more of those 32-bit 2d games ported on to the MD (and Pce, St, Amiga, or Snes)! We are seeing arcade fighters with large sprites with smooth animations intact! We've seen what could have been with the homebrew remaster of the Sunset Riders port, or rather, built from the ground up? Even though I'm personally more interested in working on original titles myself, I am getting a kick out of these awesome fan ports and would strive for that kind of quality!

 

You know what's a real shame? Sega CD not getting any of the classic super scalers! No Space Harrier, no Galaxy Force 2, no Outrun, no Thunderblade, no Super Hang On, not even a proper Afterburner!!! I know they wouldn't be near arcade perfect, but it would've been awesome! Well, atleast we got the 2 Batman games, Thunderstrike, and Soul Star to give us a peek to what that could have been 😋

 

 

Edited September 22 by JurassicDope

[Tanooki]

Despite what some person on here thinks, the Genesis as gimped as it was is more capable than Sega allowed it to be too.  Super scaler games could have been handled far nicer than Galaxy Force 2 and Space Harrier were you mentioned.  There's power there on stock hardware if not with the accessories.  I mean in perspective how awful sega was at times, some of their SMS ports of their own arcade library are worse than the JP exclusively stuck versions of the same games on the FAMICOM of all things and not even using special expansion chips too.

[M-S]

It would be awesome if any of the companies officially released some Mega Drive updated ports, Capcom already released Mega-Man: The Willy Wars some years ago, they could contact the creators of FF, Ghosts n' Goblins Arcade Edition and MM: The Sequel Wars.

[JurassicDope]

44 minutes ago, Tanooki said:

Despite what some person on here thinks, the Genesis as gimped as it was is more capable than Sega allowed it to be too.  Super scaler games could have been handled far nicer than Galaxy Force 2 and Space Harrier were you mentioned.  There's power there on stock hardware if not with the accessories.  I mean in perspective how awful sega was at times, some of their SMS ports of their own arcade library are worse than the JP exclusively stuck versions of the same games on the FAMICOM of all things and not even using special expansion chips too.

Hmm, I think I remembered Altered Beast and Afterburner on Famicom, but not sure if those were bootlegs. I gotta check those out! I think I'm one of the few that finds SMS Space Harrier, Galaxy Force, and Golden Axe to be really interesting attempts.

 

I've heard the VDP on the stock MD could have easily been more capable. Something about doubling the clockspeed with 2x more VRAM? And that it has a pin to allow external increases to CRAM but it's simply not exposed. More colors would've been nice, I've done a mockup utilizing S/H mode to increase color detail in-gameplay scenarios, and I've done 2 SGDK demos using different methods of pseudo additive blending on a silhouette sprite, that can freely move around and only using hardware tricks (no software rendering because I'm still learning to program lol):

 

S/h as color detail for environment 

 

Pseudo Additive blending:

 

(Not sure if I can post rom here)

 

37 minutes ago, M-S said:

It would be awesome if any of the companies officially released some Mega Drive updated ports, Capcom already released Mega-Man: The Willy Wars some years ago, they could contact the creators of FF, Ghosts n' Goblins Arcade Edition and MM: The Sequel Wars.

We've gotten strange things happening, like M2's GG Aleste 3, and that new Darius port... perhaps they are keeping their radars pointed at the homebrew scene especially now Yuzo Koshiro has been making a waves with Earthion 🙀

 

Edited September 22 by JurassicDope

[Tanooki]

As long as you don’t pull a Kirk and keep it honest you’re good. Seems you have a good idea go there and at least you’re trying to learn.  
 

I have after burner famicom, it’s not the tengen release but AB2 with more to it and some minor enhancements.  Space harrier, two fantasy zones, shinobi, altered beast, alien syndrome come to mind might be missing something. 

[JurassicDope]

38 minutes ago, Tanooki said:

As long as you don’t pull a Kirk and keep it honest you’re good. Seems you have a good idea go there and at least you’re trying to learn.  

I honestly thought about keeping my personal works off subject, though I couldn't help just a little haha 😆 thanks for the feedback, I appreciate that!

 

39 minutes ago, Tanooki said:

I have after burner famicom, it’s not the tengen release but AB2 with more to it and some minor enhancements.  Space harrier, two fantasy zones, shinobi, altered beast, alien syndrome come to mind might be missing something. 

I'm gonna search these out when I get some free time, I'm really intrigued 🤔 

 

Everyone:

I do feel like there is a lack of interest for classic jRPG games overall amongst the current MD retro scene... I understand they might have some pitfalls such as excessive repetition and us older gamers may be repelled by games that take too long, though if these old problems can be reworked, they could become more popular on this system! Also, to be honest, I gotta play some more myself, as most of my jRPG experiences were on the ps1 and ps2... I've just been dazzled from looking at the older ones from afar. 

[Tanooki]

@JurassicDope I can give you some insights.  Shinobi is the same FC as NES, the stages it retains from the arcade/SMS releases are decently well done, but there's enough missing, including the iconic bonus round with stopping ninja with first person throwing star tossing it maybe hard to recommend.  Altered Beast is almost a definitive 8bit home version release as it has the arcade game, but it adds stages, tightens up a few things and even adds a few more monster forms for those stages!  Alien Syndrome is virtually identical just the NES one drops some anime art story/images.  Fantasy Zone was a dual release it and a sequel in Japan, hit and miss which people prefer but both are superior to the US game which is a turd compared(a good turd but compared it is.)  Space Harrier works, it's strange as it kind of shouldn't and doesn't super scale obviously but it plays nicely and has enough intact a fan should like it still or someone who didn't know better would be pretty cool with the third person running shooter aspect of it.  And as I said Afterburner on the FC is actually AB2 adding far more arcade nastier challenge level, an afterburner itself pressing select, smarter lockon, more stages, slightly better graphics, added visuals, cleaner audio including speech bits.

[JurassicDope]

Nice breakdown 👌 I checked a few  videos that run through them, a lot of the ports don't look too bad! Especially Afterburner and Alien Syndrome look like they really kept the gameplay tight and flowing smoothly.

 

 

[CapitanClassic]

Not sure what type of games I would like on Genesis, but I would like to see a return to whomever ran the marketing department for Atari in the 90’s. 

 

[JurassicDope]

New MD shmup, Earthion, being co-developed by famed VGM composer, Yuzo Koshiro! Some footage here from the Tokyo Game Show a few days ago, looks very action packed!

 

Should start around 3:31:00 

 

We also have 3 new titles underway all recently funded through Kickstarter!

 

Hunter Girls

Fast-paced puzzle-like runner

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1541392639/hunter-girls

 

Sacred Line 2

Appears to be a Choose Your Adventure Horror

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/megacatstudios/sacred-line-2-an-original-game-for-sega-genesis-mega-drive

 

 

Daemon Claw

Badass Combat-based Sidescroller

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/neofid-studios/daemonclaw

 

Edited September 27 by JurassicDope

[Tanooki]

You know what would be good?  Using coding routines and tricks to pull off what was exclusive to the SNES.

 

A certain buddy on this forum wouldn't appreciate it, but it can be done.  MODE7 was done on Adventures of Batman and Robin for instance.  Given that was pulled off, maybe someone could do a F-Zero sequel/spiritual spinoff of that.  Maybe a cool flight training game like Pilotwings too.  The base hardware has enough kick given what we're seeing done with newer level ports of Final Fight, SOTN and Metal Slug.

[JurassicDope]

1 hour ago, Tanooki said:

You know what would be good?  Using coding routines and tricks to pull off what was exclusive to the SNES.

 

A certain buddy on this forum wouldn't appreciate it, but it can be done.  MODE7 was done on Adventures of Batman and Robin for instance.  Given that was pulled off, maybe someone could do a F-Zero sequel/spiritual spinoff of that.  Maybe a cool flight training game like Pilotwings too.  The base hardware has enough kick given what we're seeing done with newer level ports of Final Fight, SOTN and Metal Slug.

Every once in a while a crazy demo for MD pops up like that, from Starfox to F-Zero, and Doom-like engines.

 

With Halloween creeping up, I want to play some 16bit horror!

[Tanooki]

Yeah I'm aware, that's why I was thinking, why not take it to the next level?  Starfox was a bit of a reach, it works, just very basic, very alpha, and not up to speed but a nice proof of concept.  The F-Zero demo though does work, and what the DSP does for Pilotwings I thikn could be done.  Hey maybe someone should just port Mario Kart and hack the visuals, audio, sprites to Sonic Kart.

 

Doom is possible in some means, I mean you do have that brazilians tectoy Duke Nukem that's quite nice and functional, kind of makes Zero Tolerance look pretty miserable.

[smds]

6 hours ago, Tanooki said:

Yeah I'm aware, that's why I was thinking, why not take it to the next level?  Starfox was a bit of a reach, it works, just very basic, very alpha, and not up to speed but a nice proof of concept.  The F-Zero demo though does work, and what the DSP does for Pilotwings I thikn could be done.  Hey maybe someone should just port Mario Kart and hack the visuals, audio, sprites to Sonic Kart.

 

Doom is possible in some means, I mean you do have that brazilians tectoy Duke Nukem that's quite nice and functional, kind of makes Zero Tolerance look pretty miserable.

Gasega68k's starfox demo is quite amazing though 😁 and so is his Wolfenstein port, which IMO is a lot better than the Duke Nukem port. Even Bloodshot from back in the day looks better

 

Then there's Erik's doom like game (Video is quite old by now):

 

Edited September 27 by smds
Name correction

[Tanooki]

@smds  Good call, was Wolf3D ever finished?  I lost track of it mid-beta as my attention got distracted.  I remember it looking and sounding pretty on point.

[Steven Pendleton]

On 9/23/2023 at 2:55 AM, JurassicDope said:

We got a taste of possibilities with Doom Resurrection! 😲... I am loving the idea of base Genesis games unlocking extra features if connected to a Sega CD or 32x! They could be small, I thought about use of the Ricoh stereo pcm channels if connected to the MCD, and adding an enhanced far bg on 32x with nice gradients. Something to give add-on users a little treat, as long as 32mega power permits! (I'm one of those very interested in keeping with era authentic limitations, I fancy working on what was available circa '95-98 Genesis!)

The only thing that needs it more than this is the SuperGrafx + Arcade CD.

 

Anyway, if you really want to do something cool, support the XE-1AP and make a game that has online multiplayer on real hardware somehow. The Demons of Asteborg dudes wanted to do this as part of the Kickstarter project, but they wanted a ridiculous amount of money for it, so it of course never happened.

[smds]

11 hours ago, Tanooki said:

@smds  Good call, was Wolf3D ever finished?

Yep:

https://gendev.spritesmind.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=31102#p31102

https://gendev.spritesmind.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=31102#p33633

 

However, I don't think a ROM with all 6 episodes were ever released (due to legal fear ?), so only a demo with the shareware episode were released (going by memory here, I may be very wrong about this)

 

On 9/22/2023 at 7:55 PM, JurassicDope said:

I'm one of those very interested in keeping with era authentic limitations, I fancy working on what was available circa '95-98 Genesis!

In my hardware purist view I only allow for memory mappers, everything else is cheating 😆. I really like to see the base system get pushed and not just being a glorified controller input device.

[Tanooki]

1 hour ago, smds said:

Yep:

https://gendev.spritesmind.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=31102#p31102

https://gendev.spritesmind.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=31102#p33633

 

However, I don't think a ROM with all 6 episodes were ever released (due to legal fear ?), so only a demo with the shareware episode were released (going by memory here, I may be very wrong about this)

 

That sounds familiar to me too, I'm most nostalgic and caring of the episode one than the rest.  IT was my first bought shareware/pc game, Simspons Arcade was full first game.  I always liked the E1 of Wolf3D most because later it seemed to just drag and get a bit bloated just for content to where it almost overstays the welcome after you chum out hitler.  I think that 2nd link is new to me, the other with the images, that seems familiar.  Stellar job, I wish I could learn to code or at the least, compile, compile would be fantastic.  I had such a scarring god awful treatment by this angry(he was, some students were talking of hurting him or his car) little vietnamese shit of a professor in college I never touched it again.  Guy had a one track mind, if you did anything right, but not right HIS way it was a C to an F rating, C was the highest grade of the class.  I never could ask questions or figure out how to do stuff, as such when I've tried to figure it out using web resources I get confused, frustrated, and erase it because I can't even figure out how to install the tools themselves to compile or try and re-learn to code stuff again.  Key it would be, so if I could throw in more episodes to Wolf there, I'd do it, since I own the game legitimately.

[JurassicDope]

8 hours ago, Steven Pendleton said:

The only thing that needs it more than this is the SuperGrafx + Arcade CD.

 

Anyway, if you really want to do something cool, support the XE-1AP and make a game that has online multiplayer on real hardware somehow. The Demons of Asteborg dudes wanted to do this as part of the Kickstarter project, but they wanted a ridiculous amount of money for it, so it of course never happened.

Yes!!! I've thought, for the XE1-AP, if only I had a big time company to my name, and maybe strike some deal with Retrobit and whoever owns the license to manufacture a new batch to coincide with a release of a title that fully utilizes it.

 

I have a great interest in Amiga, ST, PCE, and Genesis, including their cool upgrades / variations (however I also have a different mindset of games that could fit Snes, Neo Geo, DC, and 5th gen)

6 hours ago, smds said:

Yep:

https://gendev.spritesmind.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=31102#p31102

https://gendev.spritesmind.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=31102#p33633

 

However, I don't think a ROM with all 6 episodes were ever released (due to legal fear ?), so only a demo with the shareware episode were released (going by memory here, I may be very wrong about this)

 

In my hardware purist view I only allow for memory mappers, everything else is cheating 😆. I really like to see the base system get pushed and not just being a glorified controller input device.

Yes!!!💪I do have 1 or 2 exceptions I'd like to implement hardware for networking, but for the most part all something that can be measured up fairly with tech of the past (within reason, will definitely take advantage of the dev resources we have these days, lol)

 

What is the Sega Mapper storage limit?

[Steven Pendleton]

4 hours ago, JurassicDope said:

Yes!!! I've thought, for the XE1-AP, if only I had a big time company to my name, and maybe strike some deal with Retrobit and whoever owns the license to manufacture a new batch to coincide with a release of a title that fully utilizes it.

Micomsoft is still around; you'd have to talk to them about it, but given that they put out the USB Cyber Stick themselves last year, they could probably make more XE-1APs if they wanted to.

[smds]

14 hours ago, JurassicDope said:

What is the Sega Mapper storage limit?

The Sega Mapper has 6 bits to select 64 banks of 512KB, equalling 32MB (MegaByte).
The upper 2 selection bits are ignored afaik, however if they could be used it could map up to 128MB in theory.

 

@Tanooki Heh I had a similar kind of teacher, his first words to the class were "You are all going to fail so I'm not going to bother with you. Here's 1 copy of the class study book, use a copier to make copies for everyone in class and then I want the original copy back" 😅

[Tanooki]

Wow brutal, at least that guy was honest.  The other was just a nasty sadist I even had trouble understanding and growing up where I did, those accents largely are not a problem then or now, and his accent wasn't the issue.

 

Seriously though if I could setup the tools I know of stuff I'd attempt compiling but yikes.