Wolfenstein 3D
Image: id Software

It's fascinating to see how modern-day programmers are able to stretch the limitations of vintage hardware to run games that, by all rights, they shouldn't be able to play. We've seen a few examples lately, including more than a few Castlevania projects, but this latest effort by Under4MHZ is especially impressive.

Under4MHZ has managed to get a playable version of id Software's seminal FPS Wolfenstein 3D working on the Sega Master System and Japan-only Sega SG-1000.

The game is very much a work in progress, with the current version being 1.06. There are a lot of limitations, which shouldn't come as a shock – for example, enemies are static, they only shoot when visible to the player and only one object (enemy or item) can be displayed on-screen at once. If you choose to play on the weaker SG-1000 hardware, then collectable objects are removed due to that console's limited memory.

Even so, it's an impressive piece of work given the humble nature of Sega's 8-bit hardware. All of the objects are present in the Master System version, guards are animated when shot, and the game moves at a fair pace. There are no textures to speak of, but the core gameplay is still intact – no mean feat when you consider that, at the time of release in 1992, Wolfenstein 3D would have required a reasonably powerful PC to run and the Master System would have been considered somewhat antiquated in comparison, even then.

You can read more about the port here.

[source indieretronews.com]