Racing Lagoon prologue translation released

"Hey all! You can download and play the prologue night in Racing Lagoon, 100% in English! Download it from the attachment in this post, instructions are included in the zip file.

This is a huge milestone for the patch. A TON of work was frontloaded on this project, with several text, image, and menu formats needing to be hacked before we could release a playable portion of the game. I'm so excited to finally be able to share it with you."

https://www.patreon.com/posts/53009625

Rare Touhou 6 - EoSD trial ver. 0.08 found on demo disc

Revenant1 writes: "and here it is: the DOS/V Power Report Sep. 2002 CD-ROMs, featuring the nearly-lost Embodiment of Scarlet Devil v0.08+ demo!"

Download:

https://revenant1.net/kouma_tr008p.lzh

Alt:

https://archive.org/details/dosvpr-0209

Source:

https://twitter.com/notrevenant/status/1407506447022317569?s=20

Nintendo Iris Prototype showcased on youtube

The youtuber writes: "I would like to connect to people that knows more about this prototype (Iris TEG 01 as you can see on the boards). It seems that Nintendo dropped this project middle way after deciding that the successor of the gameboy advance was going to be a dual screen device and not a single screen one.

It is extremely hard to find lots of information about this prototype. This is different from the GBA prototype shown in another youtube channel"

J.B. Harold: Blue Chicago Blues - a game that was ported to everything, but is only available in English on Laseractive/Windows, an excellent fmv-swapparoo-translation candidate.

Riverhill Softs most successful franchise before they went bankrupt in 2004 was J.B. Harold, which was controversial on the Turbografx/Pc-Engine cause it features a rape incident that you have to solve. Now the PCE entry was localized in English, but for some reason when they decided to make the new fully fmv game shot with a american actors in the US of A they first released it on Laseractive in English, but then decided to only release it Japanese dubbed on all other consoles! but luckily not on Windows!.

So here we have a title that could potentially be easily fan translated just like DeathMask on Sega Saturn is currently being done by Segaxtreme/Sega Saturn Shiro people just by swapping out the fmvs from the English PC version, so if you take the Windows version (or uh Laseractive version but I don't think you wanna go that route) you could use it to translate the following ports:

Sega Saturn,Pc-Fx,3DO,Playstation and Macintosh versions now that is a great low effort/catch many fishes at the same time reward!, of course you'd have to find a fmv encoder for every system, Saturn and Psx is easy cakes, but the PC-FX on the other hand (but maybe the PC-FX SDK has one).

Ok the topic title is a bit of a lie, peculiar enough the IOS version retains the English dubbing so that version could also be used, and may actually be easier to transcode than the dated Windows version, just one problem, it appears to have burnt in Japanese subtitles, outch!.

 

                                 Laseractive playthrough. 

Main source and information about this game over at fullmotionvideo: http://fullmotionvideo.free.fr/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1458

Macaw writes:

"The Windows version of Blue Chicago Blues is the only complete version of the games, heres an overview:

- Despite being a Japanese developed game, Riverhill assembled an American team for producing the video, with all American actors, director and production staff. The script was localized into english and the whole production was carried out while a few of the Japanese people from Riverhill supervised. Obviously the game was originally shot with all the characters speaking english.

- The Windows and Laseractive versions of the games are the ONLY ones that retain the original English voices (along with Japanese subtitles), all other versions (Playstation, saturn, 3do etc) have Japanese dubbing. It's amazing Riverhill went to the effort of creating a proper english script acted out by decent actors but then replacing it with Japanese dubbing for all the mainstream console versions.

- The Windows and Laseractive versions retaining the english voices and having Japanese subtitles is probably because consumers on those systems would have mainly been adults in Japan, and the adults would have appreciated the authenticity of the original English voices given the theme of the game.

- Another MAJOR DIFFERENCE is the fact that the Windows version is the only one with all the original footage, and footage for ALL of the conversations. All the other versions, because of space restrictions, only have video footage for main scenes, and then still images with voice during most of the conversations.

So yeah, the Windows version is the definitive version of the game. Original English voices as well as all the original video footage during all the conversations"˰

Just my thoughts on this specific game, have a nice dayyyy!. /Mr^Burns

Unfinished Xeno Crisis Sega Saturn port by anonymous Segaxtreme user

Recently a Segaxtreme member shared a unfinished port of Xeno Crisis that runs on real hardware so I decided to make a video of it, sadly I won't be posting the iso of it cause the game is still being sold so it would be a hot potato for us if we did that.

 

Here's what the creator of this port has to say:

"Originally I just wanted to do a full first level (up to the boss). Kinda like, what if it got a Saturn version as there's a MegaDrive and Dreamcast version. I hope it just spurs an interest for the Saturn version, and then maybe the Bitmap Bureau will make one. 

I hope someone paves a way for a Saturn publishing, one way or another." 

Source: https://segaxtreme.net/threads/unfinished-xeno-crisis-sega-saturn-port-by-anonymous-segaxtreme-user.24920/

Racing Jam 1 & 2 attract mode now working in Mame

"Racing Jam was originally intended as a showcase title for Konami's new COBRA hardware. After rumors of a hardware switch to the lower-end Konami Hornet hardware, Racing Jam was eventually released on Konami NWK-TR hardware." 

Ville Linde writes: "Attract mode seems to work fine now. However both games go full spastic ingame, probably due to the network board emulation."

X-Men vs. Street Fighter for Megadrive undumped as of June 2021

"There exists a Mega Drive/Genesis version of "X-Men vs. Street Fighter". It's rare and is currently undumped. It differs from the SNES version in that the Mega Drive/Genesis version uses the Mega Drive fighting engine, the same sound engine and a Chinese title screen."

Nintendo LodgeNET promo video found on a cd-r in a parking lot of a hotel

This small story is very fun and amazing, BLUamnEsiac from the LodgeNET community found this cd-r in a rough shape in a parking lot outside a hotel and it was marked "Adult Collections November 2001" and on in was this promo video for the now defunct and very hard to find hardware of the Nintendo LodgeNET service!. With his permission I uploaded it to youtube.

"LodgeNet partnered with Nintendo to bring video games directly into guest hotel rooms through streaming over the LodgeNet server, with the special LodgeNet controller plugging directly into the TV or LodgeNet set-top box, transmitting the game over phone lines connected to a central game server. Pricing was usually $6.95 plus tax for 1 hour of video games. After 1 hour, the game would immediately stop and prompt the user to purchase more play time. Many games were modified for single-player play only."

As of 2021 no surviving LodgeNET containing a HD has been found and dumped but coolmod has posted a few pictures of it's internals (HD missing). 

More pictures: http://mikejmoffitt.com/img/ln64/

Some sweet recent Cdda hacks of Megadrive games

Recently I bumped into the zeldix forum, here you can find various cdda hacks of Megadrive games, some have been deleted elsewhere but are still uploaded there, I recommend grabbing them all for archiving since they are on filelockers that will be dead in a year.

https://www.zeldix.net/t2321-target-earth-assault-suit-leynos-msu-md#38707

And more: https://www.zeldix.net/f66-md-and-msu-md-hacks-database

Outback Joey dumped for Megadrive by Nikaotix - a game that makes use of a heart rate monitor

"Outback Joey is an extremely rare Sega Mega Drive game. It was bundled with the Heartbeat Personal Trainer exclusively in North America and was not sold separately. As the Heartbeat Personal Trainer only had a production run of 1000 units, it is assumed only 1000 copies of Outback Joey exist too." 

"You'll need a new nightly of BlastEm to play it, as it requires emulation of the HeartBeat Trainer peripheral. The peripheral controls are mapped to X/Y and Z/C on the six-button controller."

Download: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pDmc50w4XI_Hxllm5m6eOQpck74ytX1W/view?usp=sharing

Source: https://segaxtreme.net/threads/outback-joey-dumped.24914/

Dee Dee Planet beta released for Dreamcast by pcwzrd13

"It was developed by Dori Dock and it's a fun little action-arcade game with a gameplay similar to the Worms series. A release in Japan was scheduled for August 10, 2000. However, due to technical issues, it had to be postponed."

Download:

https://www.mediafire.com/file/amascy8tqojoze1/Dee_Dee_Planet.zip/file

Source:

https://www.dreamcast-talk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=61&t=14554

Official site on archive.org: 

https://web.archive.org/web/20000816081526/http://www.sega.co.jp/dreamcast/software/deedee/

Tomba manga scan and translation project by Tomba Club

Did you know that the great Psx series Tomba had a manga? well neither did I, but now n i c o, AtanoK Si and belay of the Tomba club community have begun scanning and translating it!.

The raw Japanese scans in one .7z 1.9 GB chunk: https://u.pcloud.link/publink/show?code=vlqrtalK

 

Fan translation of the September 1999 chapter:

https://u.pcloud.link/publink/show?code=8XzctalK

For more info check out this google spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1HOASx4abUhohDJjL9vGdNTbTmX9Wmw0aMR8rDx8y15E/edit?usp=sharing

Some info in Japanese about the manga: 

http://musekinindou.web.fc2.com/tomba/manga.html

https://mobile.twitter.com/WhoopeeCamp

Metal Gear Solid Mobile now works in the Symbian/N-gage emulator EK2L1

"Metal Gear Solid Mobile was released by Nokia on the N-Gage platform in 2008. It features original content, 3D art and camera works, an in-game camouflage system, and additional controls specific for N-Gage mobile devices."

https://github.com/EKA2L1/EKA2L1/releases/tag/continous

https://archive.org/download/Dance.Fabulous.nGage/N-Gage%202.0/Games/Full/Metal.Gear.Solid.Mobile.n-gage

Resident Evil Degeneration now works in the Symbian/N-gage emulator EK2L1

"Resident Evil: Degeneration is a 2008 mobile phone and smartphone game. Originally made by Ideaworks3D and Capcom for the Nokia N-Gage, they would later release an iOS version in May 2009, followed by Beeline Interactive's own BlackBerry version. The game is loosely based on the 2008 film"

https://github.com/EKA2L1/EKA2L1/releases/tag/continous

https://archive.org/download/Dance.Fabulous.nGage/N-Gage%202.0/Games/Full/Resident.Evil.Degeneration.n-gage

Crash Team Racing Mod for PS1 by Niko & CTR Community

"Niko started the CTR ModSDK back in March 2020 while being bored in the house during the Covid Pandemic. Out of all the things to do while bored, this happened. 

This video shows Ring Rally, the latest mod created with the SDK. When it is finished, it will be playable on every track, and credit will be given to everyone who helps expand Ring Rally into something much larger than what is already done. The ModSDK was an effort of the entire community (credits in the zip). Every researcher came together to document how Crash Team Racing works, with as much detail as possible, in every category imaginable."

http://www.mediafire.com/file/msbbvml52u8mjgp/ModSDK_Nov17_2020.zip/file

Crash Zone - unreleased Neogeo game showcased on twitter

Oh, there's yet another Viccom/SNK collab(?) that didn't pan out. Multi-event sports game called Crash Zone, featuring Terry Bogard, Kyo Kusanagi, Athena, and Kim Kaphwan, alongside two original characters. In development for arcade (likely Neo Geo) in 1996. @Unseen64 pic.twitter.com/l0YU7UO1Jr

— Sam Derboo (@samderboo) June 13, 2021

Sub-Terrania prototype for Megadrive dumped

Here we have Sub-Terrania prototype for Sega Mega Drivehttps://t.co/nuKysj2rEy#gamedev #gamedeveloper #megadrive #prototype #subterrania #games #gaming #SegaGenesis #SegaMegaDrive

— Aetius For Real (@aetiusforreal) June 8, 2021

The Starcraft Ghost prototype now playable in Cxbx-Reloaded

"StarCraft: Ghost is a rather strange title. The original StarCraft was an RTS legend, however this game was announced in 2002 as a third-person shooter. 

The game was stuck in development hell and quietly brushed aside in 2005, eventually being confirmed as cancelled in 2011. 

The game was also given to Swingin' Ape Studios at some point, who redesigned it before their version was cancelled as well.

A 2003 build of the Nihilistic version was leaked in February 2020."

All creds to Tamamo-no-Bae of Tcrf for the information and links.

https://github.com/Cxbx-Reloaded/Cxbx-Reloaded/releases

https://archive.org/details/starcraftghostxbox_202002

https://tcrf.net/StarCraft:_Ghost

Homebrew Snake game released for PS1 by rubixcube6

"This is a homebrew PSX Snake game that you can run on your PlayStation classic, PSX emulator, or your real PSX console. It took a little over a month to make and supports 3D graphics, 2D sprites, custom fonts, sound effects, and CD music."

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Gjqr8DrH6XxbA2P00tABFoQrTK_yg2Ps

Shadow Dancer PC rerelease removed the Twin Towers and merged them into one building

All creds to Gerbilsoft for noticing

Nintendo 64 Paint by ManfriedN64

"Now you can switch between 2 palettes of 16 colors (Can add more palettes), save in whichever pak you want, set file name and change canvas size. Only missing stuff is sound which I'll add at a later stage of the project."

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DwVAlZ1viiPqeX-NaVC6Tw9uqGfcOJTv/view?usp=sharing

Insane Pain - Kickstarter for new Megadrive game

"INSANE PAIN (still in development) is a new fighting game for the SEGA MEGADRIVE / GENESIS videogame system. The game is inspired by the first MORTAL KOMBAT games and it contains 3D pre-rendered character sprites like the first KILLER INSTINCT games. It's a homage to the old classic fighting games from the 90’s."

www.insane-pain.com

Blazing Star tech demo for the Megadrive by TheElf

http://www.theelf-megadev.com/index.htm

Street Fighter II tech demo for the Nes by Parisoftgames

"Street Fighter II - Nostalgic Edition is a DEMO to show how I ever imagined my favorite game of all time running in our beloved NES and Famicom. In this demo you can choose only Ryu and play against the computer. There's some known bugs but the game is still playable."

https://parisoft.itch.io/street-fighter-ii-ne-demo

Simone - New commercial Jaguar CD game released

"SIMONE is a brand new Jaguar CD homebrew game released in 2021, the first official release by RISC Games. Dust off that Jaguar CD of yours and fire up those thumbs and brains for some memory testing, colorful pattern sequencing fun in this 64-bit memory game - a quick and challenging game everyone in the family will enjoy!"

https://atariage.com/forums/topic/321321-simone-for-the-atari-jaguar-cd-now-available/

Hidden level found in 3DO Deathkeep

Shining Force III Collection Deluxe version 2.2 (06.03.2021) by Meduza Team released

"The most complete collection of all the scenarios the game Shining Force III for Sega Saturn console in the form of a collection Shining Force III Collection Deluxe on 2 CDs (new version). The collection includes the 3 scenarios (eng. version), Premium Disk (eng. version) and a bonus video showing gameplay of the previous 2-part series (Shining Force and Shining Force 2) on the console Sega Mega Drive / Genesis."

http://meduza-team.ucoz.net/publ/romkhaking/sborniki/shining_force_iii_collection_deluxe_ss/4-1-0-8

Super Bat Puncher demo 10th anniversary physical copy release

"A limited run of 20 cartridges were made for the NES back in 2011. This is a physical re-release for the Famicom of the original Super Bat Puncher demo. The game was never finished and probably won't be!"

https://www.brokestudio.fr/product/super-bat-puncher-demo/

Abandonware gazette, keeping track of abandonware site history

https://awgazette.blogspot.com

I found this blog very endearing with interviews with people who ran abandonware sites at the turn of the century. If you were hunting for iso+mp3 rips of Full Throttle, Day of the Tentacle or The Dig in the early 2000's you will be familiar with some of these sites.

Dinomod/Dinopatch - Project that tries to fix the Dinosaur Planet prototype for N64

"Fixes several crashes and makes it possible to play certain passages of the game which were not playable or even accessible before. With all the fixes it is now possible to play about 5 hours of the game without much trouble."

https://dinosaurpla.net/Main/Tech/Mods/dinomod-exploration-testing-debug-tool-xdelta/

https://dinosaurpla.net/Main/Tech/Mods/dinopatch-various-game-fixes-xdelta/

Wonderswan sales binder found containing info on a few unreleased games

"A really cool thing I bought (that will eventually be scanned and live at the @GameHistoryOrg archive) — this shiny Wonderswan sales/promo binder!." 

"This one appears to be a sequel to the Japanese PS1 game Kuroi Hitomi no Noir: Cielgris Fantasm"

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1316564608061112320.html

Tenori-on - super rare Wonderswan game dumped by therealsugarjoe

"This is a ROM of Tenori-on for the WonderSwan. This title was made by Toshio Iwai, the creator of the DS game Electroplankton, along with BBKY (Kayo Baba). It was only available at an expo in Japan back in 2000, where around 120 were believed to have been sold. It can be seen as a prototype of sorts, as the Tenori-on would later be produced as a standalone electronic instrument by Yamaha in 2007."

https://archive.org/details/tenori-on-wonder-swan

Flappy Bird 64 by someone2639 for Nintendo 64

It's 2021 and not 2013, but Flappy Bird versions are still coming, this time for the N64.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/yk961nkgt9hsbn3/Flappy%20Bird%2064%20by%20someone2639.zip?dl=0

C-12: Final Resistance preview disc with debug menu dumped by SmilingMango

"C-12: Final Resistance Couple months before release. Contains debug menu."

https://www.obscuregamers.com/threads/lot-of-ps1-p-reviews.3555/post-23493

172 Japanese Karaoke discs from 1992 until 1999 dumped for Philips CD-i

"We all know that CDi mostly died off after 95/96, though of course continued in professional markets until at least 2009. In one market, Japan, the common wisdom was that CDi came and went fairly quickly. As it turns out, that wasn't the case at all. Not only did it actually last until at least 1999, the mysterious Japanese karaoke CDis hold the record for the longest continuous series of CDi titles! From 1992 through 1999 quite a few were released each year!"

https://www.theworldofcdi.com/japanese-karaoke-set-from-1992-until-1999

https://www.theworldofcdi.com/community/topic/the-longest-running-cdi-series/

https://archive.org/details/cdi-karaoke-japan

Soul of the Beast - Shadow of the Beast inspired Atari 2600 game

"SOUL OF THE BEAST is an Atari 2600 game inspired by an Amiga classic. Stolen as an infant child, moulded and twisted into a creature of violent servitude; You have at last awakened. Now defeat the vile horde, kill the sorcerer Rynkar, and regain your humanity.

 :: 15 unique enemy types and variants

 :: 4 massive areas to explore

 :: Non-linear game design Runs on physical Atari 2600 NTSC systems, and Stella, Gopher2600, OpenEMU or other Atari 2600/VCS compatible emulators."

https://aeriform.itch.io/beast

Studio Vetea making rapid progress on their Megadrive port of Metal Slug

Hey #Fans,
Need more #Action, more #Sprites ... No problem !! 😱😱
Here we go again !! 🍻🍻😁🥳#Sgdk Rulez with #MetalSlug #Demo on the #Megadrive !! 🙏🍻
#68000 on fire ! 🤖🤖
Stay tuned !!! 💪💪#SEGAForever #Retrogaming #16bits #gamedev #pixelart pic.twitter.com/QisTUFiiSs

— Studio Vetea (@StudioVetea) June 1, 2021

Metal Slug tech demo for Sega Master System by Révo SEGA 8-bit