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I'm a big fan of the Shadowrun games for SNES and Genesis. I enjoy both, but I got totally hooked on the SNES game a few years ago. Well, there is an upcoming indie Genesis game titled The Secret of the Four Winds, with a similar battle system as the SNES version of Shadowrun.

The game almost looks like a mix of Shadowrun with cutscenes and a main character that is reminiscent of Snatcher. It's being developed by Kai Magazine Software who created Life on Mars, which is a short metroidvania title, and a few other titles for the Genesis.

The other impressive feature is that the developers included an extra chip in the cartridge, so that it has CD quality audio from a cart. The game can be played with this enhanced audio or you have a choice to play it with the FM sound. The one caveat is that it seems the cart doesn't work with Genesis Model 3s or clone consoles, in case anyone might be using that hardware. I'm also curious if there is compatibility issues with consoles connected to a Sega CD, but I haven't read anything specifying that just yet.

Just from watching the demo, I can tell the script needs another copyedit. But other than that, I'm looking forward to this one, as we don't get too many games in this genre, especially for an older console. It also looks like the game has multiple paths and endings, based on dialogue choices made, which is also shown in the demo.

The cover art, demo, video of the demo below, and a few screenshots below:



Demo DL: https://mega.nz/file/r4QAgahY#_YnDaH59z ... T4qWMogq9I

Demo video (from Retro Gamer Boy on YouTube): https://youtu.be/P578pl05Q08?si=wRlpCBZzB37ShkaH

Wow, that looks pretty cool. I love what we can keep doing with these older consoles.

Totally agree, Maru! I've been impressed with the Genesis homebrew/indie scene.

I did read the post yet, but those screen shots look awesome. Thanks for sharing this!

Those screenshots remind me tremendously of Illusion City on the Mega CD--and MSX, X68K, FM Towns, etc.

It does look a lot like Illusion City as well. The MSX version of that game has amazing artwork, BTW!

Hopefully we'll see an English fan translation released one day, because it seems like something myself and others who appreciate the genre would really be into.

That looks rad. The developer really should reconsider the title, though. “Secret of the Four Winds” doesn’t exactly scream cyberpunk to me.

Note wrote: ↑Wed Jul 10, 2024 4:51 pm It does look a lot like Illusion City as well. The MSX version of that game has amazing artwork, BTW!

Hopefully we'll see an English fan translation released one day, because it seems like something myself and others who appreciate the genre would really be into.

I played through Illusion City on the Mega CD a number of years ago, and it was pretty killer. I enjoyed it. Had 16-bit sex scenes, an implied romance between a grizzled cyborg mercenary and a trans bar owner/informant, plus a few things that felt kind of inspired by The Golden Child.
If I were ever motivated to translate anything, personally, it would probably be the third one, behind Linda Cube Kanzenban and Terra Phantastica, though.

prfsnl_gmr wrote: ↑Wed Jul 10, 2024 8:27 pm “Secret of the Four Winds” doesn’t exactly scream cyberpunk to me.

For real, for real. Initially, I kind of thought it had to be a medieval fantasy game, just from reading the title.

prfsnl_gmr wrote: ↑Wed Jul 10, 2024 8:27 pm That looks rad. The developer really should reconsider the title, though. “Secret of the Four Winds” doesn’t exactly scream cyberpunk to me.

Totally agree with you about the title. The current title seems like something that would be for a game with some type of ancient setting or something fantasy related, like pierrot mentioned. I was actually brainstorming alternative titles the other night. Lol.

pierrot wrote: ↑Wed Jul 10, 2024 9:00 pm I played through Illusion City on the Mega CD a number of years ago, and it was pretty killer. I enjoyed it. Had 16-bit sex scenes, an implied romance between a grizzled cyborg mercenary and a trans bar owner/informant, plus a few things that felt kind of inspired by The Golden Child.
If I were ever motivated to translate anything, personally, it would probably be the third one, behind Linda Cube Kanzenban and Terra Phantastica, though.

That's awesome you know Japanese and can play through games we never got here. Illusion City sounds amazing based on your description. Now I really want to play it!

This looks SICK!!!