New Genesis Games?

Last year, there were 33 new original games and 3 new hardware devices released for the Commodore VIC 20. 17 games the year before. This machine was released 10 years before the Sega Genesis, and still has an active hobbyist scene. So, why aren't there any new games for our beloved Genesis (a machine with at least 50 times the number of users at the time of each system's respective peak)???

I've been waiting for years for something. Anything. Berzerk was great, but that's all? Not even some hacks? I've been pleading for map hacks of Herzog Zwei for years, but it seems to be outside of my abilities and the abilities of other genesis owners. It's embarrassing.
 
Well, I think there are two very important differences between VIC-20 and Genesis/MD (and most consoles, for that matter):

1) Expectations are much higher for a Genesis/MD game than for a VIC-20 game, for reasons of both technical capacity and of the overall production value standard of the existing body of software. The overall threshold of "this is a worthwhile game to create/release" is correspondingly going to be much higher.

2) Very few people have the means to play a new Genesis/MD game on the actual system unless it is produced as a ROM cartridge, which is a fairly expensive undertaking for a hobbyist project. VIC-20 games can be published "for real" on floppy disks.
 
I appreciate both points. However, simple games like Paul Lee's Berzerk are always enjoyed.

On that first point, there's currently a version of Berzerk in development (publicly available at Denial, the Vic 20 community website), and it is, dare I say, equal if not better than the Genesis version. I would PAY to see a port of Donkey Kong, just as a challenge to programmers. Anyone up for a commissioned game?

On the second point, both machines have great emulators and flash carts. Access to new games is fairly equal. Working disk drives are not as easy to find as one might think.

For the first time ever, there was a Genesis game in the annual minigame competition, and it was... sigh, PONG. Yawn. I think that was the first Genesis game developed in the last 5 years. And this is a machine with an active market in Brazil (Tectoy), China and India.
 
Kuta said:
There has also been Legend of Wukong , Beggar Prince, and a frog themed game which I can't think of the name at the moment.
Legend of Wukong and Beggar Prince are new translations, but not "new original games" as Jeffrey was asking about. They were both originally developed well over ten years ago.

Also, you're probably thinking of Charles Doty's Frog Feast.
 
If you want to count the SegaCD, then there are no excuses; CDRs are the most accessible medium. A game could be mass produced for pennies (or at least much cheaper than carts, tapes, or floppy disks).

I was thinking of simple ROMs. Berzerk was the last thing I saw on the Genesis that really excited me. I was serious about the Donkey Kong port. Anything made by Nintendo is exciting to see on a Sega console. And this game doesn't have excessive levels. I would say it's a reasonable target for a new game.

I also think a significant modification of an existing game would also bring new life into the scene. I think Herzog Zwei is a great base for this option. I was excited about the sprite editor made for this game years ago, but everyone would prefer new maps.

Who's up for the challenge? Donkey Kong or Herzog Zwei (with new maps).
 
I think another big point to make is that the Mage Drive wouldn't have as good development tools available than the old Commodor has. There are any new Mega CD games because that particular console didn't sell very well so there's not that many operational units out there.

As for new ideas for new material; I always wished someone would create Act 4 levels for Sonic the Hedehog using the same graphics and sprites from the original game. The upcoming release of Sonic 4 looks interesting though and it would be cool if you were able to collect all eposodes af the game and compile them on a Mega CD disc. Anyone know if that would be possible?
 
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