Genesis - Blog Posts

Savaged Regime – Boss 2

30-Day Video Game Music Challenge (Super Hard Mode) Day 16: 16-Bit music From Xeno Crisis (Genesis/Mega Drive, 2019)

Holy crap! Is this Prodigy-sounding jam coming from 16-bit hardware?? This narrowly beat Vapor Trail for my Genesis/Mega Drive pick.

Source: YouTube via Retro Core, challenge by OverClocked ReMix I think?, via NintendoCapriSun

Retro Core Mega Drive Audio Showcase

I've been following Retro Core for 15 years from its original video game reviews to its recent videos about ports of games and the Chinese knock offs that play them. He's tired of people dissing the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive's sound chip, so he brought several examples of clean instruments and heavy bass. There's more Mega Drive music and a couple Super Nintendo ones where that came from.

Source: Retro Core via some search for video game reviews in 2005

RetroAchievements for Romhacks

RetroAchievements adds Xbox 360-style achievement hunting and leaderboards to thousands of classic games and romhacks. Uncommon games often have romhacks that work with RetroAchievements. Check Romhacking.net for patches you can apply with utilities like Floating IPS. I’ve already recommended Rockman 4 Minus Infinity but it also has RetroAchievements.

Dynamite Headdy delocalization by M.I.J.E.T. (RetroAchievements) The localization we got here removed most of the dialogue, added American pop culture references, and made the annoying tower boss fight four times as long. This fan translation doesn’t do any of that. Go collect those secret bonus points.

Pulseman translation by M.I.J.E.T. (RetroAchievements) My favorite game on Sega Channel had you build up static electricity and then discharge it to attack and move around. Most of the team that made it went on to make Pokémon Red and Blue.

Super Mario Land DX by toruzz (RetroAchievements) Also Super Mario Land 2 DX by toruzz (RetroAchievements) Super Mario Land is the first game I ever beat and a fine place to get started with romhacks. This turns Super Mario Land and its sequel into Game Boy Color games with some graphics redrawn for better visibility. The RetroAchievements add some nice challenges to keep things fresh.

Extra Mario Bros. by ATA (RetroAchievements) This romhack gives Mario a dose of Metroid-like exploration with collecting keys and permanent upgrades to reach new places. It’s still Super Mario Bros., so the screen only scrolls to the right.

Umihara Kawase translation by satsu (RetroAchievements) A new Umihara Kawase game just came out and I’m afraid to start it because I get hooked on these games for a long time. We’ve got a wedding to plan! The original game’s RetroAchievements keep track of every door and backpack you’ve reached, so try to get them all.

Source: RetroAchievements, Romhacking.net, and My Life in Gaming

Corruption as Art – Go Straight (remix EP)

Corruption as Art uses a real-time corruptor mod for BizHawk to flip random bits in memory while a game is running. Usually this just crashes the game, but sometimes things break in interesting ways. When applied to Streets of Rage 2, the music keeps playing but goes out of sync and creates strange remixes. Be warned that some posts, like How to Draw Kirby, feature “extreme flashing”. Lately I’ve been tearing things down and putting them back together in better organized ways, but this has introduced some glitches.

Source: Go Straight (remix EP), by ramon via corruptionasart via kinsie

Here’s a new bandcamp thing I put out just now, I’ll be sure to come up with clever track names and stuff like that when I get home from work later but the tracks are all there for your ears i guess

Dr. Fatbody - Sonic the Hedgehog 1 at AGDQ2019

Awesome Games Done Quick 2019 brought us a Sonic 1 run by Dr. Fatbody, a highly entertaining player with the speed and precision of a yung Wumbo. He tries risky tricks that backfire sometimes and will goof off a little for style. When everything works, he’s really fast! He reminds me of my own playaround style, and now I know why. He’s also from the fighting game community and plays Zangief in Street Fighter V! It all makes perfect sense now.

Source: Games Done Quick via GeekNights

GameHut Coding Secrets

GameHut is a YouTube channel run by Jon Burton, founder of Traveller’s Tales and producer of Lego games and movies. His series on Coding Secrets dives deep into the Sega Genesis versions of Sonic 3D Blast and Toy Story to explain how he achieved those great graphics. He really used all the resources to do things the hardware was never meant to do.

Source: GameHut via YouTube Recommmendations on Did You Know Gaming? videos

Awesome Games Done Quick

Awesome Games Done Quick 2015 is underway and my favorite games are already getting destroyed by top speedrunners. Check the schedule for the games you don’t want to miss. The Sega Genesis/Mega Drive block has just begun. I keep the Twitch stream in fullscreen on one monitor and the QuakeNet IRC chat open on the other. While this is going on, I’ll be working on my own broken platform game for the VOGJam.

Wait, how did I post about this last year? Click the banner to go to the stream.

Source: https://gamesdonequick.com, YouTube, and the banner via the AGQD 2015 megathread via the FAQ

MixerProductions Sonic Mashups

Video game mashup artist MixerProductions found out that the sound of 16-bit Sonic games makes for natural hip-hop beats. Now every time I play the Flying Battery zone, I’m going to hear MC Hammer in my head. It’s been stuck in my head for days, and now it’s going to be stuck in your head too.

Yo Dawg, I herd you like Sonic, so I put Sonic in your Xzibit track so you can spin while you spin. OK, no fair mashing up Michael Jackson with himself.

Source: MC Hammer vs Sonic – Cant Touch This Battery – YouTube via Backloggery livestream chat. Also here and here.