Yuzo Koshiro is making new MD shmup.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Game has been patched so that the villain's dying speech in the final stage happens regardless of you losing lives or not. And thank God for that, because it's impossible for me to beat Hotshot Mode without losing a life.

For xEbb1993x,

So that explains the latest patch of the PC/Steam port of Earthion with it's 24.3mb sized auto download -- I was wondering what other "quality of life" improvements were added to make it better.

----------
So what version is Earthion at now that it's surpassed the recently released Version 4 then (October of 2025)?
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PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[Sumez]

Finally an update that really matters

[Sly Cherry Chunks]

Your ship now drops gems when you die too.

The old ending is just gone. I'm out of practice but it makes me wonder if you get anything different for the no-miss now. EDIT: it Doesn't! good job YKGGG!

[xEbb1993x]

Your ship now drops gems when you die too.

The old ending is just gone. I'm out of practice but it akes me wonder if you get anything different for the no-miss now.

Probably not. And I'm glad to not see the main villain go down without any explanation behind the alien invasion. Because honestly, getting a no-miss on Hotshot is near impossible to do.

[Ms. Tea]

I wonder if this patch is a sign they're finally closing in on finalizing a Genesis build for the physical release? I hope so anyway.

[pablumatic]

I wonder if this patch is a sign they're finally closing in on finalizing a Genesis build for the physical release? I hope so anyway.

Last week Mr. Koshiro confirmed that the Mega Drive/Genesis ROM has now been finalized. Physical release should be coming soon.

https://vxtwitter.com/yuzokoshiro/statu ... 0575084901

The Earthion game ROM is now finalized. This was the last update!
A big step forward toward the long-awaited MD/Gen release.
Front-end updates for modern platforms will continue. #Earthion
5:57 AM · Feb 19, 2026

[PC Engine Fan X!]

I wonder if this patch is a sign they're finally closing in on finalizing a Genesis build for the physical release? I hope so anyway.

Last week Mr. Koshiro confirmed that the Mega Drive/Genesis ROM has now been finalized. Physical release should be coming soon.

https://vxtwitter.com/yuzokoshiro/statu ... 0575084901

The Earthion game ROM is now finalized. This was the last update!
A big step forward toward the long-awaited MD/Gen release.
Front-end updates for modern platforms will continue. #Earthion
5:57 AM · Feb 19, 2026

So is the MD/SG rom of Earthion on the Steam port at "Final Version" 5.0 then?

That's awesome to learn that the MD/SG physical release of Earthion is almost ready to go.

Makes me wonder when Limited Run Games will officially open up pre-orders for the SG variant Earthion physical bundled sets then? Hmmm.....and will it have S-Ram saving functionality to save both your high scores and high score initials for posterity via on-board backup battery (or will it be just a "plain-Jane" non-S-Ram SG cart with no high score saving capability to begin with)?

-----------
At the very least, Versions 2.2.0 and 3.3.0 of the MD/SG Earthion roms have already been patched to have S-Ram functionality via the KriKzz Mega Drive Pro and Mega Drive X7 flash carts -- so that's a small consolation unto itself as is (unless shmupper Enemy decides to release a proper "S-Ram" patch for the finalized MD/SG Earthion rom with such a setup -- seems unlikely that'll happen but you never know these days).
----------

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[ChurchOfSolipsism]

I wonder if this patch is a sign they're finally closing in on finalizing a Genesis build for the physical release? I hope so anyway.

Last week Mr. Koshiro confirmed that the Mega Drive/Genesis ROM has now been finalized. Physical release should be coming soon.

https://vxtwitter.com/yuzokoshiro/statu ... 0575084901

The Earthion game ROM is now finalized. This was the last update!
A big step forward toward the long-awaited MD/Gen release.
Front-end updates for modern platforms will continue. #Earthion
5:57 AM · Feb 19, 2026

Aaaaawwright
I intentionally held back and almost didn't play it at all so I can enjoy it in all its CRT glory

[Jonpachi]

Did they fix the awful visual issue of VFX covering bullets (ie - bullets NOT on the top layer)?

[PC Engine Fan X!]

The physical MD/SG cart of Earthion Ver.4.0 is out as a regular cart or with "unlimited lives" hack.

It's still physically possible to play the latest Earthion Ver.5.3.0 release with a Mega Drive Pro or Mega Drive X7 flashcart if you're so inclined -- it's just that an S-Ram patch for the final version 5.3.0 of Earthion hasn't been released to take advantage of saving both high scores and high score intials via the on-board back-up battery for posterity (it'd be up to shmupper Enemy to do so).

----------
I didn't realize that the "Final Version" MD/SG release of Earthion is at Ver.5.3.0 (as mentioned on Reddit) -- that's definitely new news to me!
----------

Here're all of the various Versions of MD/SG Earthion released so far:

Version 1.8.0 (initial debut release)
Version 2.2.0 -- S-Ram patch released for Version 2.2.0 (and applied to patched rom via Mega Drive Pro & Mega Drive X7 setup)
Version 3.3.0 -- S-Ram patch released for Version 3.3.0 (and applied to patched rom via Mega Drive Pro & Mega Drive X7 setup)
Version 4.0
Version 5.3.0 (Final Version)

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Here's a Japanese online store with a Sega Genesis Earthion LE set for pre-order (with some pre-order swag included): https://www.emporiumretrogamingshop.com ... 22%20model)

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Here's Time Extension's article on Limited Run Games with it's well-known widespread delays with it's upcoming game releases: https://www.timeextension.com/news/2026 ... optimistic This will surely affect the upcoming release of the Sega Genesis Earthion cartridge for sure.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[ryu]

Here's Time Extension's article on Limited Run Games with it's well-known widespread delays with it's upcoming game releases: https://www.timeextension.com/news/2026 ... optimistic This will surely affect the upcoming release of the Sega Genesis Earthion cartridge for sure.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

Regardless of the delays, do I have it right that there's still no release date and no way to preorder?

[Sengoku Strider]

Here's Time Extension's article on Limited Run Games with it's well-known widespread delays with it's upcoming game releases: https://www.timeextension.com/news/2026 ... optimistic This will surely affect the upcoming release of the Sega Genesis Earthion cartridge for sure.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

I'm so glad I'm not waiting on anything from them. And I'd consider them the most reliable of these boutique publishers I've ever had to deal with too. I 100% want to order the MD version, but seeing that track record of formal apologies and "not up to our usual standards" and "we promise to do better" statements makes me just want to wait and pay the premium from eBay or something.

I know they say that one of the founders is stepping down next month to restore customer faith, but colour me skeptical that one guy was the whole problem. There's a point at which getting jerked around as a customer becomes your own fault, and publishers offering hollow marketing-speak apologies for 'aggressive overly optimistic' dates is it. Of course they knew there was no realistic chance of hitting those dates; I get why they don't want to open themselves up to lawsuits or false business practice charges, but they're still lying to people now by pretending they weren't lying and just stringing people along then. Patterns are patterns.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

The latest version of MD/SG Earthion is at Version 4.0 bootlegged-wise (either in regular version or unlimited lives version variants), whereas if you want to play the "Final Version 5.3.0" of it, you'd have to decompile the MD/SG rom of Earthion and play it on either a KriKzz Mega Everdrive Pro or the Mega Everdrive X7 flashcart setup (there isn't any other way to play the "Final Version" aside from properly extracting it and loading it on a micro SDHC card to place into said flashcart to "boot it up/play it," of course).

Who knows when pre-orders will officially open up for the MD/SG Earthion sets through Limited Run Games in 2026 (it's already approaching the end of April of 2026 and still no word/news to pre-order) or possibly later on, perhaps, in the upcoming 2027 timeline (would seem more likely these days)?

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[MintyTheCat]

Here's Time Extension's article on Limited Run Games with it's well-known widespread delays with it's upcoming game releases: https://www.timeextension.com/news/2026 ... optimistic This will surely affect the upcoming release of the Sega Genesis Earthion cartridge for sure.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

I'm so glad I'm not waiting on anything from them. And I'd consider them the most reliable of these boutique publishers I've ever had to deal with too. I 100% want to order the MD version, but seeing that track record of formal apologies and "not up to our usual standards" and "we promise to do better" statements makes me just want to wait and pay the premium from eBay or something.

I know they say that one of the founders is stepping down next month to restore customer faith, but colour me skeptical that one guy was the whole problem. There's a point at which getting jerked around as a customer becomes your own fault, and publishers offering hollow marketing-speak apologies for 'aggressive overly optimistic' dates is it. Of course they knew there was no realistic chance of hitting those dates; I get why they don't want to open themselves up to lawsuits or false business practice charges, but they're still lying to people now by pretending they weren't lying and just stringing people along then. Patterns are patterns.

I can't agree more with your sentiments : I would have pre-ordered a copy myself, but the only reason that I didn't was due to Limited Run Games being involved.

I have bought many titles from Retro-Bit and never had any issues what so ever.

I find it really to be in poor form to take the piss out of retro gamers and just assume that their money is a given.
You can't realistically keep buyers waiting forever more like LRG often do.

I am hoping that Earthion will be released by some other, more reputable company such as Retro-Bit and we'll have fewer reservations in ordering a copy.

Fuck LRG and all their bullshit.

[Restart_Point]

We are now in the fourth year since the game was announced as a Mega Drive game and all we've had is a Steam / Console release that was hacked within hours.
I have to say that my initial excitement about playing this game for the first time on an official cartridge on my vintage Mega Drive has pretty much gone. If Limited Run remain in charge of the physical release, I think I'm out completely by now, I already bought it on Steam (but haven't played it yet) so i'm just going to play it via flash cart now. Sad state of affairs. If those involved had got the cartridge out in a timely fashion I would have already bought more than one copy and spent a lot on the no-doubt-high asking prices, but I feel like they are just treating us as fools now. I mean, Yuzo himself has been banging on about how cool this game is to play on CRT on a Mega Drive (check his X account) and four years later we still don't have it for Mega Drive.

[Firehawke]

And if he'd released it as fast as you demanded, you'd be bitching about how it had balance issues and bugs.

He can't catch a break from you whiners...

[Restart_Point]

And if he'd released it as fast as you demanded, you'd be bitching about how it had balance issues and bugs.
He can't catch a break from you whiners...

There have been plenty of good Mega Drive releases that don't have bugs and didn't need to get bug-testing done by Steam users.

[DietSoap]

And if he'd released it as fast as you demanded, you'd be bitching about how it had balance issues and bugs.
He can't catch a break from you whiners...

There have been plenty of good Mega Drive releases that don't have bugs and didn't need to get bug-testing done by Steam users.

I have a sneaking suspicion many of those (absolutely not all) still have bugs, but they aren't noticed as much if at all. Shmup players are far more scrutinizing of the finer things than most. Doubly so when they're scrutinizing a shmup.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

And if he'd released it as fast as you demanded, you'd be bitching about how it had balance issues and bugs.
He can't catch a break from you whiners...

There have been plenty of good Mega Drive releases that don't have bugs and didn't need to get bug-testing done by Steam users.

I have a sneaking suspicion many of those (absolutely not all) still have bugs, but they aren't noticed as much if at all. Shmup players are far more scrutinizing of the finer things than most. Doubly so when they're scrutinizing a shmup.

Hence thus making Earthion a better stg overall compared to most MD/SG stg titles released back in the 1990s heyday. I'm sure Earthion would've done quite well, sales-wise, had it been released during the twilight years of the MD/SG "being on life support" back in the mid-1990s era.

----------
Fellow shmupper, TheEnemy, did release an S-Ram patch for MD/SG Earthion v4.0 (two versions to choose from): https://archive.org/details/earthionv-201-hi-trex It can be used on both KriKzz's Mega Everdrive Pro and Mega Everdrive X7 flashcarts.

And here's an S-Ram patch for the JPN region MD Thunderforce IV stg: https://archive.org/details/thunderforce-iv-hi-trex TF4's high scores and high score initials are both saved for posterity with the usual Mega Everdrive Pro & Mega Everdrive X7 flashcart setups.

Another cool S-Ram patch for Mega Cat Studio's ZPF stg on the MD/SG: https://archive.org/details/zpf-4-h-trex This particular patch does save both high scores and high score initials but only on the ZPF regular game mode and not on "trainer mode" (whereas on a real genuine MD/SG cart of ZPF, there's no "on-board" back-up battery for saving functionality whatsoever). Works on the previously mentioned Mega Everdrive Pro and Mega Everdrive X7 setups with the factory-installed "back-up" battery from the get-go -- you'll be glad to save your newest + current high scores & high score initials with the ZPF S-Ram patch upon powering down the ol' MD/SG gaming console for the night.

A big thank you to fellow shmupper TheEnemy for providing the above three listed S-Ram patches, they sure do get the job done right the first time indeed.
----------

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[MintyTheCat]

I'm still hoping that another group releases Earthion so that we can all bypass Limited Run Games and all their bullshit.

A shame really, because I feel that there's a lot of support for yuzo koshiro and his Ancient company.

I have never had any issues at all with any of the re-releases that I bought from Retrobit but I've heard countless bad stories about LRG and it just put me off entirely from anything that they touch.

Life's simply too short for that.

[Ms. Tea]

If the main thing that bothers you about Limited Run is the waiting and having to commit to buying before anyone's seen if the physical product is any good, they've said that Earthion will be also coming from their Japanese branch Superdeluxe Games IIRC. Superdeluxe releases stuff at retail in Japan instead of via preorder, and it doesn't sell out instantly, so you've got a chance to wait and see. If what's bothering you is other stuff that won't help though.

As far as I know Limited Run's contracts are also nonexclusive, so there's nothing stopping someone else doing a physical run of a game that Limited Run had already done, but a game like this feels like it's too niche for someone else to bother with a second print run for.

[spmbx]

Well i guess that would be up to yuzo to take the initiative in then? For some reason he choose LRG (god knows why)

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Perhaps Yuzo sees perceived value & trustworthiness in going with Superdeluxe Games to handle the actual physical Mega Drive Earthion bundled sets if they're slated to receive/deliver pre-orders (whenever that may be in 2026 as it's already into the 2nd quarter of 2026 and still no sign of preorders or official announcement of said physical MD/SG game release).

Assuming if the Mega Drive/Sega Genesis Earthion bundled sets are just a MD game case with full-color insert paper backing, full-color instruction manual, game cartridge and no extra bonus swag included (or extra frills for that matter), that'd be the usual "barebones" MD Earthion release as is, indeed.

As for a possible bundled MD/SG Earthion set with some extra swag goodies: a OST music CD, a poster, and/or some collectable Earthion trinket could be offered albeit at a higher price over the "barebones" MD/SG physical release to sweeten the overall deal.

As of right now, MD/SG Earthion Final Version 5.3.0 is playable on both KriKzz Mega Everdrive Pro and Mega Everdrive X7 flashcarts for the time being -- so be it.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[SavagePencil]

I had a chance to play the ExA version of Earthion this weekend and it’s interesting. You can select a number of bullet styles (I played “pink” but there are options for “new”, “old”, and an ExA specific one I didn’t try).

The default game gives you a one hit shield and three weapon slots (no level caps). There’s also a hyper mode that ups damage output and has a cooldown meter. It has a multiplier (I guess scoring?).

There’s an advanced mode which I didn’t play. Maybe just higher difficulty? I’m told the original mode can be enabled in the service menu.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

I had a chance to play the ExA version of Earthion this weekend and it’s interesting. You can select a number of bullet styles (I played “pink” but there are options for “new”, “old”, and an ExA specific one I didn’t try).

The default game gives you a one hit shield and three weapon slots (no level caps). There’s also a hyper mode that ups damage output and has a cooldown meter. It has a multiplier (I guess scoring?).

There’s an advanced mode which I didn’t play. Maybe just higher difficulty? I’m told the original mode can be enabled in the service menu.

It was at Exa-Arcadia's insistence that with Yuzo's permission do a version to run on that venerable arcade platform, hence Earthion being released on various gaming console platforms + arcades -- how cool is that? It's not everyday that you see a modern-day "old-school" MD/SG stg title being released in 2025-2026 nowadays. It's quite a treat to play/behold indeed.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[evil_ash_xero]

The latest version of MD/SG Earthion is at Version 4.0 bootlegged-wise (either in regular version or unlimited lives version variants), whereas if you want to play the "Final Version 5.3.0" of it, you'd have to decompile the MD/SG rom of Earthion and play it on either a KriKzz Mega Everdrive Pro or the Mega Everdrive X7 flashcart setup (there isn't any other way to play the "Final Version" aside from properly extracting it and loading it on a micro SDHC card to place into said flashcart to "boot it up/play it," of course).

Who knows when pre-orders will officially open up for the MD/SG Earthion sets through Limited Run Games in 2026 (it's already approaching the end of April of 2026 and still no word/news to pre-order) or possibly later on, perhaps, in the upcoming 2027 timeline (would seem more likely these days)?

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

What are the differences with 5.3.0? I found it at the usual spot, but haven't had a chance to play it. Very busy lately.

[xEbb1993x]

So many people kept complaining on how they couldn't skip the launch sequence when you start the game. Honestly, I wish there was a way to skip the end credits and final score results.