2ElvesVS1man

It’s impressive how many new titles are being released for these consoles. Mega Drive in particular seems to be having tremendous success, with a strong output of tools, finished homebrew, and quality games that keep the system more alive than the rest of the consoles from its generation.

The issue here is that this game is being developed in PAL at 50Hz, as several users and Maxwell himself have pointed out.
This is something many people in the demoscene do, since even though the system runs about 17% slower, the time available to transfer data (in this case, tiles) increases by roughly 130% from one frame to the next.

According to comments on a forum I’d rather not promote, several users point out the following:
"I counted 25 VBlank lines (Sometimes even 30; the definition is poor) dedicated solely to transfers (out of 38; the remaining scanlines are used to register positions in OAM, and there isn’t a single one left if it were NTSC):
25 lines at 165 bytes per line = 4125 bytes.
Each tile is 32 bytes: 4125 / 32 = 128 tiles.
Each character needs between 122 and 126 tiles depending on the pose to swap it during VBlank.
This can’t be 'optimized' because you can’t speed up data transfer. Any additional features (extra sprites, effects, life bar reduction processing...) would compromise the game in NTSC."

For now, it seems to be something only possible in PAL due to the extra time these systems provide.

GBA was far superior to SNES in many aspects. Many games were able to have their own versions, but this console had much greater performance in a wide range of areas. Along with Saturn, it was part of the peak of 2D consoles designed to handle this type of graphical data.

This is what time and component choices are like.

We have to enjoy these systems while they can still be used. The Game Gear has the well-known capacitor problem, although fortunately, once they’re replaced, the issue is fixed and the console’s lifespan is greatly extended.

Next comes the Super Nintendo Entertainment System with the infamous “SNES rot,” which is killing the PPUs due to the quality of the silicon that was used. There’s no easy replacement for this, since they are no longer manufactured. Reports of this issue over the last three years have been quite discouraging for owners.

On the other hand, systems like the Sega Mega Drive / Genesis or the Nintendo Entertainment System have a much longer physical lifespan. They’re real “beasts” that withstand the passage of time, and we should be grateful for that.

These projects keep consoles alive and, sometimes, add extras that make replaying them an extra incentive.
Look at how the Mega Drive or Game Boy scenes are doing, showing far greater evolution than their contemporaries of the same generation! Pushing these systems like this is a joy and dispels much of what marketing instilled in the younger, more impressionable minds of their time.

It has good ideas, but graphically it seems simple and not very polished to me. The fact that it doesn't use the system's own FM synthesis is another point that discourages me from supporting it.
I hope they can improve the artistic side.

I find it very difficult to describe the game in its current state without sounding offensive.

It’s 2026, that’s all I’ll say.

At last, the wait comes to an end.

An essential title for any collection and a true top-tier game on the console. The variety of enemies, their animations, their sheer number, and the constant, smooth scaling effects are far above the average for 16-bit home console shoot ’em ups.

An exclusive among consoles of its generation that sets the audiovisual quality bar extremely high.

I heard people say that Parodius was impossible on the Mega Drive because, on a technical level, it supposedly couldn’t recreate an effect like the pufferfish enlargement the way the SNES could using Mode 7.

Ironically, a comparison shown by a user on X ranks the Mega Drive version first in terms of size, followed by the arcade version, and lastly the SNES version, which features a static colored background with no background details due to the limitations of the graphics mode being used.

So far, the work done has been absolutely excellent.

@UtopiaNemo
Exactly, and if the animations already show flickering from exceeding the per-scanline pixel limits that the PPU can draw, what we’re seeing isn’t “realistic” in the sense that it will have to reduce the number of residual images the protagonist displays. And if the game runs using MSU-1 for the soundtrack, expect a “large” file, speaking in comparison to the average cartridge size on the console, that could only be run via emulation or an EverDrive that supports that feature.

As Turboxray also points out, “those Alucard trails are going to have to go. It's gonna cause some bad sprite drop out,” without a doubt. So I see it from a different perspective than you do: yes, it’s a pre-alpha version that already shows the console’s limitations based on what has been shown so far.

I really enjoyed the original game on PC. According to what’s being said, this version will feature more paths, be less linear, include new exclusive additions, and won’t lose any of the original game’s animations.

It’s a very good way to expand its universe and broaden the offering. Without a doubt, it will be one of the hits for 16-bit consoles this year, along with Earthion or Final Fight MD.

You have to be realistic and… this isn’t going to be completed. Basically because it’s just one person working on it, and it’s an overly ambitious and massive project that shows limitations right from the start:

With a single enemy on screen, Alucard’s “Dash” shows inconsistency with the afterimages and noticeable flickering. To make matters worse, it doesn’t even use the console’s native capabilities, since the music, according to the author, is handled by the MSU-1, meaning external hardware takes care of the music, preventing the CPU from having to manage transfers to the SPC700’s ARAM, which is limited to 64KB of audio memory where sound effects, the driver, and the soundtrack all have to fit. That could complicate things, and the MSU-1 solves it in one fell swoop.

As a curiosity, sure, it’s interesting, but… let’s be realistic.

This is spectacular.
Not only will the system have a game suited to its capabilities, but it will also receive enough extras to make playing this Mega Drive version worthwhile.

I think it's an overly ambitious project, especially for a system that's not very appealing and where the numbers don't usually reflect the community's overall demand. Starting from scratch on an RPG that already has some shortcomings (the animations are too clunky) isn't the best option, I'm not sure. It's going to be compared to many classics on the system at every turn, and I even fear it could become an Unholy Night 2.0.

I wish them all the luck in the world, but given what I've seen in the homebrew scene for this console and its capabilities in recent times... I wouldn't expect much.