Watching out for Genesis/MD shmup releases

[shmupsrocks]

These are the best ways I can find to keep an eye on Genesis/MD shmup releases:

https://www.timeextension.com/tags/mega-drive
https://segabits.com

Anything better out there? Twitter accounts are good too.

[Jonpachi]

Time machine

[shmupsrocks]

Including re-releases!

[pablumatic]

There's a good thread for retro homebrew games on the Video Game Sage forum.

https://www.videogamesage.com/forums/to ... e-horizon/

There's also Kickstarter's video game section.

https://www.kickstarter.com/discover/ca ... eo%20games

[shmupsrocks]

That VGS thread is excellent.

[shmupsrocks]

Have there been any physical Genesis/MD shmups released (or re-released) in modern times besides these?

Steel Empire
Darius
Sol Deace
Gley Lancer
Gaiares
Eliminate Down
Thunderbolt II
Toaplan Shooters Collector's Edition

[DietSoap]

Time machine

Earthion, ZPF, Irena Genesis Metal Fury, and Luftoheit are all in the pipeline atm.

[Bear78]

Have there been any physical Genesis/MD shmups released (or re-released) in modern times besides these?

Steel Empire
Darius
Sol Deace
Gley Lancer
Gaiares
Eliminate Down
Thunderbolt II
Toaplan Shooters Collector's Edition

There's been a couple other, more limited releases that you can see on this list here: https://169.45.167.69/forum/showthread. ... l-releases

As for newer stuff, there's been some stuff like Xeno Crisis and Arkagis Revolution (arena shooter) and The Cursed Knight and FX Unit Yuki (platformer with shooter levels) which have come out.

SLG also did a re-release of Panorama Cotton

[Sengoku Strider]

Time machine

Earthion, ZPF, Irena Genesis Metal Fury, and Luftoheit are all in the pipeline atm.

I'd imagine with hardware patents expired any kind of licensing is a non-starter, but someone at Sega should put together a certification program for an official seal of quality for indie games specced for their legacy hardware that meet a certain standard. The retro dev community seems like a garden worth watering with a tiny investment for the sake of brand identity. Anyone born in the last 20 years has lived entirely in a world without Sega as a platform holder.

[Necronom]

I'd imagine with hardware patents expired any kind of licensing is a non-starter, but someone at Sega should put together a certification program for an official seal of quality for indie games specced for their legacy hardware that meet a certain standard. The retro dev community seems like a garden worth watering with a tiny investment for the sake of brand identity. Anyone born in the last 20 years has lived entirely in a world without Sega as a platform holder.

May sound rude, but...Why should Sega do these things?! The indie scene is mostly using SGDK, a free and open dev kit that has nothing to do with Sega the company. SGDK is the reason why this scene thrives and imho the last thing it needs are certification programs and standards. The only exceptions to this may be new arcade (fan) ports since you can't distribute them commercially without a license - this is how they published Darius 1 for MD Mini and then on cartridge.
In most cases it's probably not worth it since the ports are projects of passion meant to be played by as many people as possible. Donations are welcome of course

[Sengoku Strider]

I'd imagine with hardware patents expired any kind of licensing is a non-starter, but someone at Sega should put together a certification program for an official seal of quality for indie games specced for their legacy hardware that meet a certain standard. The retro dev community seems like a garden worth watering with a tiny investment for the sake of brand identity. Anyone born in the last 20 years has lived entirely in a world without Sega as a platform holder.

May sound rude, but...Why should Sega do these things?! The indie scene is mostly using SGDK, a free and open dev kit that has nothing to do with Sega the company. SGDK is the reason why this scene thrives and imho the last thing it needs are certification programs and standards. The only exceptions to this may be new arcade (fan) ports since you can't distribute them commercially without a license - this is how they published Darius 1 for MD Mini and then on cartridge.
In most cases it's probably not worth it since the ports are projects of passion meant to be played by as many people as possible. Donations are welcome of course

I have that Darius MD release, it's one of the things that started me down this line of thinking; I was kind of surprised not to see a Sega logo/seal anywhere on it.

I certainly didn't mean Sega should implement some sort of gatekeeping mechanism. Like I said, with patents expired I don't even think they could force such a thing on anyone. Rather I was thinking an opt-in program that would give indie releases a higher profile, while building up the dev community around their legacy platform specs.

Ever since the moment Peter Moore murdered the Dreamcast in cold blood, I've thought Sega made a huge PR mistake dropping their first party identity altogether. They instantly lost the Sega tab at the top of every news site on the web, and all the millions in free advertising that came with it. Even if they couldn't sustain the expense of floating their own AAA walled garden, opening up the Dreamcast to hobbyist development to keep the fires burning would have been a much more forward-thinking move. Releasing a hobbyist software equivalent of Sony's Net Yarouze based on the Mega Drive for all the global markets where that name was long synonymous with video games would have been another good idea for brand loyalty retention. There is nobody who will evangelize for your brand harder online than people with that type of connection to it, and they'll do it for free for years. Yeah, any random mobile game might bring a bigger near-term financial return, but it gives up the type of brand identity and following you can't just buy. Sega still benefits from an afterglow from their console and arcade glory days, a glow that will fade into memory over the next decade or two. Without that, who's even considering limiting their project around their bottlenecked platform specs? Eventually they'll just be another big software conglomerate with a spotty track record (let's be honest here) like any other. Aside from sonicsexuals, to anyone born in the last 25-30 years they probably already are.

[shmupsrocks]

Is there anything as good as SGDK for any of the other retro consoles?

[Steven]

Columbus Circle's Mega Drive cartridge quality is terrible. Avoid if possible.

[FRO]

Time machine

Earthion, ZPF, Irena Genesis Metal Fury, and Luftoheit are all in the pipeline atm.

Good looking out on all these! I was going to mention these 4, but you're on top of it. I backed Irena on Kickstarter, and am waiting to back ZPF once that launches. Both Earthion and Luftoheit look like they'll be very good technically. Hoping the game play matches the audio-visual flash.

[Restart_Point]

Mega Drive R-Type Demo coming along nicely, seems to have a little more slowdown that I'd have expected in places but looks great and has nice extras like the *secret* Master System stage https://theroboz.itch.io/mega-r-type
And the Earthion footage so far is very exciting

[shmupsrocks]

Any plans for a physical R-Type release?

[MintyTheCat]

I managed to get a pre-order copy of Eliminate Down - one of the most 1970s' looking covers that I've seen on the MD. Really a nice game and I've played it for years but actually owning a copy, well, rather pricey these days. I am happy that they have decided to release it again.

ZPF with Royrg's input is one title that I look forward to the most.

With Shmups the gameplay has to be there, and, well, I haven't seen many indie games on the MD besides Xeno Crisis deliver decent gameplay.

It is good that people are developing still, and I look forward to seeing the Final Fight port for the MD that one group is working on at present.

Our own MD development work hasn't seen any action these last few years due to other commitments, but I would love to get back to the MD.