So, I came across something interesting today and it looked like this:
The original Mega Man? Seems legit, right?
Yeah, it’s Mega Man, but it’s not running on an NES. It’s running on a TurboGrafx-16. Random NES conversions aren’t an uncommon thing, but what really makes this special is the attention to detail the programmer is doing. The color palette matches up nice, the sound is very accurate, the speed is spot on, and the control is fluid. There aren’t many, if any, weird graphical glitches. It actually seemed a bit more accurate than the versions that were released on PlayStation, which was very impressive.
What’s even cooler is Tomaitheous, the programmer, has it working on the Turbo CD, complete with redbook audio tracks. Very cool stuff! I love stumbling across these kinds of homebrew projects because it reminds me that people still have passions for these old consoles.
He’s working on a few other games too, including Mega Man 2. It’s clearly a work in progress. The scrolling seems a bit janky and it runs a bit faster than the real thing. It has potential, especially after seeing the progress he made with the first game.
While we’re on the subject of old games running on new hardware, SEGA announced that their line of 3D classics would be coming to the 3DS in North America and Europe. The line-up includes:
Altered Beast
Space Harrier
Galaxy Force II
Shinobi III
Ecco the Dolphin
Sonic the Hedgehog
Streets of Rage
Super Hang on
Touch control? I’m not sure if I should squee or scream.
All I have to say to SEGA is “Shut up and take my money.” I do hope we see more titles down the line. I’ve loved the 3D classics games since I bought my 3DS and it came with Excitebike. It brought back memories of the 3D games on the Master System. It’s a shame that nobody can play those games without tracking down the original hardware. Hopefully SEGA will see an opportunity to make those games rise from their grave.