Three Wonders
Image: Capcom

Update []:

It's been over a year since we last checked in on DomKid's port of Midnight Wanderers to the Neo Geo, and there's been an exciting update, according to the developer.

A new demo has just been released, featuring completed versions of two of the game's five stages, letting you get a taste of how the Scorpion Engine port is coming along.

If you want to give it a try, you can now download the demo itch.io now for free. To play it on real hardware like a Neo Geo AES/MVS or a Neo Geo CD, you'll need a flash card like a "BackBit, Darksoft, NeoSD Terraonion, NeoCd SD loader." It's also reportedly playable on emulators like MAME and Raine.

To coincide with the release of the demo, DomKid has also published the video below, giving you an idea of what to expect:

Original Story []: The developer of the Castlevania fangame Maria Renard's Revenge, DomKid, has announced that they are currently working on an exciting port of Capcom's Midnight Wanderers for the Neo Geo.

Midnight Wanderers, in case you've never heard of it, was a run 'n gun platformer that was first released in arcades back in 1991, which saw up to two players take control of the hobbits Lou and Siva on a quest to retrieve a stolen chariot from a demon's castle. It was originally released as one of the three titles in Capcom's Three Wonders arcade compilation, alongside the side-scrolling shooter Chariot and the puzzle game Don't Pull.

All of these titles were designed to run on Capcom's CP-1 hardware and were also briefly advertised for the Capcom Power System Changer — Capcom's home rival to the Neo Geo AES. However, this release never materialised, with Xing Entertainment instead publishing the collection exclusively on the Sony PlayStation and Sega Saturn in Japan in 1998. It has since been reissued in numerous retro collections in the years following these initial ports, with its most recent appearance being as part of 2022's Capcom Arcade 2nd Stadium for the Nintendo Switch, PC, Xbox One, & PS4.

According to DomKid, the port is being built using Earok's Scorpion Engine and won't be a 1/1 copy of the original game. It features 30 animations for the main player, as well as a fairly basic recreation of the main HUD. No music or sound effects have been implemented, but DomKid intends to take the project further, so we can expect some interesting updates in the future.

[source youtu.be]