From below mentioned mini stash of treasure, we have new prototypes up today!


First we have good old classic Columns [Proto] for the Master System, in all its austere cuteness, embedding a solid 2-players mode. Note sure what exactly is different in this prototype, but the title screen and menu text are clearly different.


Gain Ground [Proto] for the Master System, a rather overlooked good game. Overhead action of surgical precision, a drop of strategy and 2-players simultaenous mode as well. Read more: Gain Ground on Wikipedia !


Last but least, we have a James "Buster" Douglas Knockout Boxing [Proto] for the Master System. An uncommon US release, reskinned version of the decent Heavy Weight Champ. The only difference with this prototype and the final version are some ROM header settings, meaning there's no actual gameplay difference with final version.

Enjoy!

Hello,

Not too long ago, a lucky fellow collector stumbled with his friend on a lot of more than fourty samples/prototypes from Sega of America. He offered them for sale and needless it did not took long for them to disappear under repeated zerg-rush-boss-money-attack. Luckily I was able to enter a bid and snatch half of the lot under the clear intent of dumping them. Good hearted Rupert got three. The rest is floating in ether until we can capture them back from greedyness!

Today we have 5 releases.
The first three of them were actually first released by good bloke Rupert at segacollect.com which agreed to have them up under the SMS Power! label to maximize exposure of the new files.


Blade Eagle 3-D [Proto] for the Master System, most interesting of today's lot. It is an early build of the game, with a clearly different level and different music. The title screen bears the original Japanese name "Blade Eagle".


Castle of Illusion - Starring Mickey Mouse [Demo] for the Master System, a short rolling non-interactive demo of the game, similar in form with the Super Basketball [Demo] we unveiled some time ago. This was likely used to show off unfinished games at CES back around 1989-1991.


Moonwalker (Michael Jackson's) [Proto] for the Master System, prototype version of the game.

And two more from my newly dumped stash:

Impossible Mission [Proto] for the Master System, prototype version of the game. It has an US Gold logo that was eventually removed and different legal informations. Level seems different, but then it is difficult to tell due to the pseudo-randomized nature of the game.


Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade [Proto] for the Master System, prototype version of the game. Also bearing a giant US Gold logo and different introduction screens. The rest is unsure - playing this game successfully requires insane amount of patience and self control. Play the games and help spotting the differences between them and their final version!

As it turns out, a good proportion of the cartridges are non-final builds, so we'll have some more upcoming releases (there was a few duplicates also, I could redump the Moonwalker and Castle of Illusion prototypes from my lot of cartridge, and too many James Buster Douglas Boxing..). Thanks again to good person Rupert for releasing his prototypes. Stay tuned for more!

A nice present arrived from Nights in Korea : He borrowed cartridges from friendly Korean informed Leadkun and dumped two of them which he sent us for release.

The first release is Hwarang-ui Geom for the Master System / Samsung Gam*Boy, which is a Korean localized version of good old classic Kenseiden. They replaced the unfitting Samurai main character with a Korean warrior equivalent and the map of Japan with Korea. The text is also of course translated. This was released under the Samsung label and thus is likely an officially approved localization.



The second release is Super Boy 4 for the Master System / Samsung Gam*Boy, from a long lineage of unlicensed clone of some infamous plumber character featured in interactive entertainment software. As expected from this kind of production, still picture are not doing the game justice : justice shall be done and although the art is decent, this is barely playable and you will want to bang your head at the controls and collision system. If only for the artwork and odd curiosity you will definitively want to check this out.



Thanks!
Stay tuned for more news soon and information about upcoming prototypes releases.

Today is 27th March 2009, so it is precisely 12 years since SMS Camp opened, later to become Emucamp and then split/refocused to SMS Power!. To celebrate we have coding and music competitions, street festivals, fountains flowing with wine, general debauchery and maybe Uncle Bock will dig up some ROMs? Or maybe he's still trying to finish his competition entry...

That's right, this year we will be having another set of annual SMS Power! Anniversary Competitions.


Contribute to the fund

Music competition

Make something musical that is also Sega 8-bit related. It can be a remix of a game tune, or an original composition for the PSG, or just an original composition in cool 8-bit square-wave style. Check out previous competitions for the rules and previous entries:

http://www.smspower.org/music/competition/

Also check out http://mod2psg.kontechs.de/ for a tracker that makes music for the SMS/GG, and http://www.ocremix.org/ for loads of video game remixes.

Coding competition

Quote:

Not quite... write some new and original software that runs on a Master System, Game Gear, SG-1000, SF-7000... and impress us all. Here's the old competitions:

http://www.smspower.org/dev/competition/

Learning to code on the Master System is fun! And really hard! Suffer with us all together!

Deadline

All entries must be received by 23:59 GMT on 27th March. This has always been the deadline and we've always been at war with Eurasia.

How to enter

Email your entry to

competition@smspower.org
* Put the text "competition" somewhere in your subject line to avoid spam filtering.
* Tell us your forum name and the title of your entry.
* If you want to include a comment then write it in a text file with the same name as your entry.
* Required file formats: VGM, MP3, SMS, GG, SG, SC, SF7. Render non-standard music formats to MP3 and include the original file.
* One zip file per entry containing all accompanying files, unless you only have one VGM or MP3 anyway

That's right children, even though you've all been very naughty this year, dear old Santa is forgetful in his old age and has brought you some ROMs anyway. Let's see what's under the tree...


Let's go back to Japan in 1984 and get out our Othello Multivisions, because we have Challenge Derby [16k] for the OMV. I guess it's about horse-racing, gambling and other wholesome childhood activities. But wait! For the same low, low price of nothing you can get the exact same game only bigger: Challenge Derby [40k] for the OMV. Can you spot the differences? Both versions are actually 16KB underneath, but the rainbow title screen suggests there may be other changes too.


That should last us four years or so until 1988 when we can get hold of Miracle Warriors - Seal of The Dark Lord [Proto] for the Master System. If thou be strong and noble, a mighty quest awaits thee! If thou be not, well, it awaits thee anyway. As usual, if you can find what's different between this and the final release, we'd be happy to hear about it.


Next we have Double Hawk [Proto] for the Master System. Shoot bad guys to rid the world of 1990 of war! That makes sense. Where does Santa get all these prototype from? I guess the developers all have open fireplaces.


1990 also brought us Aerial Assault (US) for the Master System. It's just like the European version but with more spangled stars, balder eagles and pluribuser unums.


Now let's get out our Game Gears because we have four new games. First comes Galaga 2 for the Game Gear from 1992. Known as Galaga '91 in Japan, they changed the name for this European release to avoid people wondering how they missed the intervening 89 sequels.


Then we have Astérix and the Secret Mission for the Game Gear, which is pretty much the same as the Master System version but shrunken down to fit the Game Gear screen.


If you like football, you'll probably like Striker for the Game Gear (1995). If you don't, then you probably won't. It is pretty arcadey and the only option is the huge list of countries' teams. North Korea vs. Iran? No problem.


Finally, from 1996 we have Baku Baku (US) for the Game Gear. A fun little puzzle game with weird pre-rendered 3D animals popping out of the screen.