MEGA R-Type for MD/Genesis

[Necronom]

WARNING: The big enemy is approaching at full throttle. According to the data, it is identified as...
MEGA R-Type

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HFuxim9kt4

Arrange soundtrack!
Selectable ship from R-Type Leo!
And much more!

Lots of hard work went into it...and it shows. So looking forward to it

[gradiusscrub69]

What in God's name? Sure why not Now I can get curbstomped with blast processing

[D]

It is amazing

[neorichieb1971]

Was a great candidate at the time for the MD. Same for Gradius.

I believe Nintendo held the contracts into the 16bit era so they only made Nintendo versions. With how cheap memory is these days this version will likely be the best in the 16bit line up.

[jd213]

Konami did do new Contra and Castlevania games for the Genesis, a new Gradius would have been nice. But I'm guessing the former 2 games were done more for the overseas market, while Gradius was likely more popular in Japan.

But anyway, R-Type will be a great fit for the Genesis, looking forward to it even though I enjoy the Master System port with its FM music.

[Sumez]

I believe Nintendo held the contracts into the 16bit era so they only made Nintendo versions. With how cheap memory is these days this version will likely be the best in the 16bit line up.

There is no Nintendo version of R-Type 1 (unless you consider the American arcade cabinet). But it exists on both Master System and PC Engine, so I doubt Nintendo were the ones blocking it.

[BrianC]

There is no Nintendo version of R-Type 1 (unless you consider the American arcade cabinet). But it exists on both Master System and PC Engine, so I doubt Nintendo were the ones blocking it.

There is the GB port, which also got a later GBC re-release along with the GB port of R-Type II in the same cart. I agree they didn't block it, especially since both the SMS and TG-16 versions had a US release.

[Bassa-Bassa]

Irem never had any interest in systems without some relevance in Japan, indeed. Even the Saturn was not enticing enough for them.

[BrianC]

Irem never had any interest in systems without some relevance in Japan, indeed. Even the Saturn was not enticing enough for them.

Except that had nothing to do with their R-Type ports. They gave heavy support to the Famicom, and even licensed Spartan X/Kung Fu to Nintendo, but no R-Type NES port (it does have Image Fight, oddly enough). Not to mention MS/Mark III not doing all that well in Japan and still getting a R-Type port.

[Bassa-Bassa]

Yeah, well, I just wasn't even considering the possibility of another company buying the rights for a MD port. The case of R-Type for the Mark 3 was an odd one (likely the only one with FC Spartan X before the 32bit generation?).

[Johnpv]

This looks super awesome, looking forward to trying it this weekend.

[bigbadboaz]

I've been eagely anticipating this since the first teaser. I guess there was confusion as to whether the dev is going to complete the whole game, with some early idea that he would complete half the levels, hoping another hobbyist would jump on and complete the other half..? Anyway, as great as this looks I hope we do get a complete port.

[PerishedFraud ឵឵]

What the hell? Thanks for posting. I'll be keeping my eyes on this from now on.

[Necronom]

The demo went public and can be downloaded here:
https://theroboz.itch.io/mega-r-type

Really awesome stuff, especially on a CRT. Playing R-Type with the Leo ship on hard is such a cool arrange mode!
According to the programmer, the development will end with the release of the source code! This might lead to a Doom-situation where people release new stages and hacks long after the initial project has been finished

[Restart_Point]

From that video it appears to includes the "secret" stage from Compile's Master System version, that is genius and a good selling point for me!

Someone started a Gradius (2 i think) port to mega drive once, but it was never finished, also Metal Slug. I love seeing what extra power can be squeezed out of old machines with new tricks and know-how. Hope that happens here!

[bigbadboaz]

Yeah, the Gradius stage was from a dev with a history of developing short bites as proofs-of-concept, but not generally releasing full games.

The two similar projects I'm really hoping also get out the door are the Shinobi port (~3 years in the making now?) and the Ghouls n' Ghosts "arcade" romhack. These three make a trio that belonged on the Genesis all along.

[neorichieb1971]

A bit off topic, but was it a rule that if a company released a 8 bit version of the game they didn't bother with a 16bit port as well?

For quite a few arcade ports it does seem to be the case. The PC engine sort of bridged a few gaps here and there, which is quite weird to me.

Also in another thread here we did discuss Gradius and Rtype being Nintendo Exclusive and the rhetoric was that NES contract exclusivity with Nintendo spilled over into the SNES era. At least where Sega were concerned.

NEC got ports of everything by the seems. I'm happy to learn, I'm not saying I am right. Glad to be proven wrong etc.

[StrzxgvNuvWvfld]

A bit off topic, but was it a rule that if a company released a 8 bit version of the game they didn't bother with a 16bit port as well?

I think you're probably close to the mark on this one.

It's easy to look back now and lump this entire era of arcade games into one, but back then, things were moving very quickly and games that were 2-3 years old were considered old.

I certainly don't think that you'd launch your new console with a game that has had a near perfect PC Engine port for a couple of years and by the time the Megadrive started to get a hold in the west, R-Type 2 was out in tha arcades and looked a lot more modern. And Gradius looked even more old by 89-90.

Some games are now considered classics, but at the time, a lot of people just wanted the newest thing.

[Bassa-Bassa]

However, PCE Gradius and Salamnder are late 1991, and PCE Detana and Gradus II are from 1992. Even those years, classics were already classics and port-worthy (at least in Japan).