Racketboy

The Sega Saturn has been out of retail channels for about ten years now, but that hasn’t stopped a handful of dedicated individuals from creating their own software and games for the vintage machine.  The Rockin-B is not only one of my long-time online contacts from my days on Sega Xtreme, but he is also […]

Even though its younger sibling, the Sega Dreamcast, may get all the fame when it comes to a great homebrew community, the Sega Saturn still has a loyal following of developers.
The yearly Saturn Coding Contest hosted by Rockin’-B has concluded for 2006 and the results are quite impressive.
The winners are:

Bounty Getters (proof of concept) by […]

It’s been an exciting week for fans of Sega’s trademark side-scrolling braweler, Streets of Rage.

First of all, an ambitious homebrew effort has been started to revive Streets of Rage with added visuals, moves, and feautures. Of course, a Dreamcast port is anticipated, but some of the community is devoted to keeping it strictly […]

I’ve known about AtariAge and their excellent resources for classic Atari fans, but I had no idea that they sold homebrew game cartridges on their site until this recent Kotaku post.
Anyway, the AtariAge community has put together a homebrew compilation of Pac-Man games and created a spiffy little package that is playable on the Atari […]

Thanks to the great people over at gp2xstore.com, I have a new gadget to play with (and I will be playing with it a LOT). The GP2X is basically a Dreamcast (with its great homebrew scene) in a PSP shell.
I have known about the GP2X (and its predecessor, the GP32) and its emulation/media capabilities […]

Every now and then I receive an invitation to review a gaming product or website in return for some goodies or some cash to pay the bills. Each time I do my best to point out the enjoyable aspects of the product as well as what needs work.
This time around I will be taking […]

The Sega Dreamcast is quite possibly one of the most versatile console of all time. They also happen to be quite affordable and plentiful. If you don’t already have one, you need to pick one (or two) up. If you already have one, take a look at some hardware and software that […]

I haven’t found many reasons to even consider a PS3 anytime soon. Up until now, Virtua Fighter 5 is basically the only thing that caught my attention. However, Sony recently announced that every PS3 will come with a Linux-based homebrew kit.
MattG at PressTheButtons pointed out that this may confuse a number of potential PS3 owners […]

One of the few games that makes me wish I have a Sony PSP is a little puzzler named Lumines. Not since the original Gameboy Tetris was there so much buzz over a puzzle game.
Up until now, GBA fans have been in the dust when looking for a new puzzler. But there is a new […]

One of my good friends, Rockin’B is at it again with another software package to make life easier for Sega Saturn enthusiasts.
His latest project is the Atlas Game Pack. In a nutshell, it is the Saturn equivellent to the Self-Boot Inducer for the Dreamcast.
According to Rockin’B on his website:
“An AGP contains a game/demo/application that […]

I don’t know why nobody thought of this project before… Instead of having ports of all your favorite shooters on the Gameboy Advance in order to practice techniques, why not just have a enemy fire simulator?
BulletGBA is an ingenious homebrew effort that replicates the bullet patters of many popular shmups and let you practice […]

After doing my research for my recent “Games That Pushed The Limits” article, I have become a bit more fascinated with the TurboGrafix 16 (aka the PC Engine)
When getting started with a new retro console, many gamers like to be able to try out a variety of games without having to shop eBay for a […]

While the news of this homebrew Neo-Geo shooter has made the rounds this past month, I just recently noticed that a Dreamcast version is being planned by the developers. Yes, yet another Dreamcast shmup is on its way. (Check out the Dreamcast’s extensive Shooter Lineup)
Currently, Last Hope is only availible as an expensive (I’m […]

Even though the system only comes with a standard 2 controller ports, the Sega Saturn is one of the best multiplayer systems of all time. With the help of two Multi-Tap accessories, you can have up to 10 — yes 10 — players at the same time on supported games. With the Multi-Tap, […]

planetweb Multi Game CD Tutorial v.0.2
**This is a basic tutorial on how to load multiple games on one cd using the Planetweb browser. This assumes you have knowledge and experience selfbooting DC Backups with the Echelon Selfboot Kit.**

Things You Need

Planetweb Browser
Echelon Selfboot Kit
A CD Burner
Isobuster or CDMage
Game Files

The Process
Go ahead and extract the Echelon Selfboot […]

Just when you were getting over the fact that you could play Sonic the Hedgehog games on Nintendo platforms, you can now play an original Super Mario game on a Sony PSP.
While it is not made by Nintendo, Super Mario Mini is a beautiful hombrew effort by Arguru. This is by far the best and […]

I’ve recently had some interest in this nifty GP2X as it has a GREAT deal of potential if you are interested in portable game emulation in addition to watching videos on the go. Sure, Sony’s PSP is a beautiful device in the same price range and obviously has better commercial support, however Sony has been […]

The C4 Saturn Homebrew Contest is over, results are determined and the C4CD is out, too.
You can find all entries, screenshots, judge comments, and the resulting CD at the C4 results page
For reference and prize info, check out the C4 main website
Congratulations to vreuzon who one the Saturn Modchip I donated to the event.
According to […]

The big-name developers might have given up on the Dreamcast, but the independant developers can’t ignore the system’s great capabilities and easy-to-publishablity.
Cool Herders first appeared as a demo on a Dreamcast homebrew CD distributed at e3 2004. Since then, the demo has been developed into a full game and is being released as a commercial […]

Most dedicated owners of a Gameboy Advance are familiar with the concept of using flash memory cartridges to play game ROMs (homebrew or commerical) on their handheld. Now Atari console owners have a similar option.
The A52 MaxiCart and the A26 MaxiCart from Videogame Wiz are flash memory loaders for the Atari 5200 and 2600, […]

The Dreamcast is one of the best consoles ever when it comes to homebrew emulators and applications. However with some of the more demanding projects like an SNES emulator or DivX player, the Dreamcast could use a little more horsepower to make it a more enjoyable experience.
In order to give this needed boost, owners […]

MAKE Magazine pointed to an informative piece on how to create your own reprogrammable cartridge for the Sega Genesis/Megadrive. It can be used for many things, such as running demos, homebrew games and music on the real console.
Sounds like a cool project for me to take on when I get caught up on stuff. My […]

A group of French programmers are working on a new 2D shooter for the Sega Dreamcast. This will be a homebrew release, but it already has the polish of a commercial title.
You can find screenshots and discussion of “Drill” over at DCEmulation
You can also download a preview video of the game
It looks like it is […]

The talented Warmtoe is at it again. He speaks of his new project:

“It’s a puzzler - Boggle meets Tetris meets Tron Light Cycles (well kind of!)
If anyone would like to help out with graphics, or sounds, then let me know,
I see themed rounds, cutesy characters (and sprites) lots of star explosions - you know […]

I was searching Google for some more info related to my Sega Saturn 4MB RAM Carts and came across a blog entry mentioning a some emulators that run on the Saturn that utilize the 4MB RAM cart. Since some game ROMs are larger than the Saturn’s main memory, the carts are a good way […]

The Sega Saturn was one of the best multiplayer consoles of all time with the help with its multi-tap adapter which allowed up to 12 human players at one time. (And you thought 4 was a lot) Now there were only a handful of commercial games that supported more than the standard 2 […]

As posted on Slashdot:
The latest PDRoms Coding Competition has just finished. The idea was to write a homebrew Game & Watch-style freeware game for handhelds or consoles, and there were a total of 24 freely downloadable submissions.
In detail, there were 10 Game Boy Advance entries, 8 GP32 entries, 3
Gameboy Color entries, 1 Genesis/Megadrive entry and […]

The Dreamcast has been a prime console to develop some great homebrew games on. The Best of Rage engine has been especially popular for bringing everyone’s favorite gaming characters to the beat-em-up genre.
One of the first big modification projects the has spawned from the Beats of Rage community is Megaman: War of the Past, […]

The SNES classic, Chrono Trigger (and it’s PSX remake) is highly reguarded as one of the greatest RPGs ever made. While the Squaresoft’s PSX title, Chrono Cross, was supposed to be the sequal, there are some homebrew developers working on a sequal that is closer to the original.
Brownman posted this on the NintendoXtreme messageboard […]

Space Channel 5 was one of the many underrated classic titles for the Sega Dreamcast. Its sequel, SC5 Part 2, was only released in Japan during the Dreamcast’s downward retail cycle. The sequel improved on the original in terms of graphics and controls. While the game itself was great, it was near […]