A key figure involved in the MARS FPGA project has insisted that its development is proceeding according to plan and that it will be shown off this June – perhaps even earlier.
Todd Gill – a longstanding and influential figure within the FPGA community – has taken to Twitter to pour cold water on rumours that the machine won't actually see release.
MARS – which is a rival to the established MiSTer FPGA system and is expected to cost $699 – was supposed to launch in Q1 of this year.
This slip – along with some oddball behaviour by the official MARS FPGA Twitter account – has led some to speculate that the project is in trouble. YouTubers such as Pixel Cherry Ninja and Video Game Esoterica have both published videos exploring the situation, and there's been a groundswell of speculation online that the system may even have been cancelled.
Outside of this, there's been a lot of drama on social media involving MARS supporters and those who feel the project is little more than vaporware, with the competing parties indulging in tit-for-tat 'blocking' on Twitter.
Social media spats aside, Gill has been compelled to address speculation surrounding MARS and says we'll be seeing the machine in action later this year:
Atrac17 has backed up this claim, adding that Midway's Mortal Kombat 2 will be playable on the system:
Formally announced back in August, MARS FPGA ("Multi Arcade and Retro System") is based around the Titanium Ti180 FPGA chip. When compared to the decade-old DE10-Nano Cyclone V FPGA found in the MiSTer, its specs are highly impressive.
In addition to Gill, the MARS FPGA team also includes Flxel (developer of 3DO and Dreamcast emulators) and RetroTINK creator Mike Chi.