Released in 1989; Bomber Raid for the Master System is a vertically-scrolling shoot-em-up developed by Sanritsu and is infamous for being the final Master System game officially published by SEGA in Japan during the console’s lifespan. As a result of being a game that released in Japan, it also has a secret FM soundtrack that anyone in the PAL territories could never really access during the console’s original run, as those regions never received the FM Sound Unit or a version of the Master System where it’s built into the console itself.
ZPF is a brand new horizontally-scrolling shooter for the Mega Drive that has been in development for quite some time now. The three person team of Gryzor Rozyrg, Mikael Tillander and jgvex.eth have been toiling away on this impressive-looking shmup since 2020, and they are now close to launching a Kickstarter campaign to secure funding for the last stage of development, as well as give players the opportunity to secure a boxed version of the game which will now be published by Mega Cat Studios.
Mega Cat Studios have been very active in the indie Mega Drive space, publishing games like Coffee Crisis, Phantom Gear, Tanzer and Romeow & Julicat. You can view ZPF’s entry on the Mega Cat website by clicking here. You can also subscribe to the Mega Cat newsletter for updates on ZPF and the Kickstarter as soon as it happens via this same page. Check out the latest development update on ZPF via the embed below:
Grind Stormer by Toaplan is a vertically scrolling shoot-em-up that seems very traditional on the surface, but it hides an extra gameplay style that drastically alters the main mechanics. Join us as we take a look at Grind Stormer for the Mega Drive!
The Western release of Cotton: Fantastic Night Dreams Reboot! has finally been confirmed for June 2021 on both Switch and PS4. The game will release both digitally and physically and will be published by Inin.
The Cotton remake was developed by Beep based on the Success original which was released on SEGA’s System 16 arcade board back in 1991. The Cotton series is a franchise of cute, horizontally-scrolling shoot-em-ups where you play as a young witch called Nata de Cotton who has to battle several monsters through a fantasy world to obtain her Willow candy. You can check out a trailer for the Cotton Reboot! by clicking the embed below:
Cotton Reboot! adds a new, HD art style to the game as well as the ability to play the 1993 X68000 port of the game. In addition to this there is also a newly arranged soundtrack as well as online leaderboards.
M2 are having a serious amount of fun with the Aleste franchise at the moment. Following on from their brand new release of GG Aleste 3 that featured in the recent Aleste Collection, M2 are bringing another new Aleste title called Senxin Aleste to arcades. This title is very much a throwback to the 16 bit tate shooters of the early 90s and features 4 playable characters. You can check out a trailer for the game below:
There is currently no release date set for Senxin Aleste, but it will be arcade exclusive; specifically to SEGA arcades in Japan for the time being. Fingers crossed the game doesn’t stay Japan exclusive for long. Western fans will be more familiar with the Aleste series through games like Power Strike and M.U.S.H.A.
Legendary side-scrolling shoot-em-up Advanced Busterhawk Gley Lancer is getting a reprint 27 years after its initial release for the Mega Drive. This new run will release on the 6th of June 2019 and pre-orders can be placed on Amazon Japan right now. It’s not a cheap item though. Pre-orders are priced at 11,966 yen which currently converts to around £81.70 in British sterling. Regardless, this is still substantially cheaper than the current resale value of an original print copy.
This new print is not officially sanctioned by SEGA and comes courtesy of the people at Columbus Circle, who previously released Rhythm Land for the Mega Drive in February.
Developed by Nendo, Omega Blast is a vertical ‘bullet hell’ shoot-em-up for the Mega Drive and a near complete version of the game is now available as part of the 30th anniversary of the Japanese launch of the Mega Drive.
This homebrew title is a free download and can be played in a Mega Drive emulator or directly on a Mega Drive itself with use of a flash cart. It’s a very impressive-looking title that reminds us of the infamous NES bullet hell shmup Summer Carnival ’92: Recca. You can see the game in action below:
Hucast return for another entry in their DUX series with the reveal of Redux 2 for Dreamcast. Redux 2 will follow in its forbears’ footsteps by being a horizontal scrolling shoot-em-up in the vein of R-Type. It has been revealed that the game will feature 2 player co-op.
No release date has been revealed at this time. You can read our review of the first Redux by clicking here.
Hucast’s next Dreamcast release is the vertical-scrolling shooter Ghost Blade and after a serious set-back when the previous programmer left the project, the game is now set for a release this year on September the 17th.
You can pre-order the game now. A standard and special edition is available with the standard simply featuring the game and a manual while the special edition also includes the game’s soundtrack on a separate disc.
Homebrew devs 1985 Alternativo are currently hard at work developing Antarex; a new shoot em up for the Mega Drive. Check out the latest gameplay trailer below:
Antarex currently has no release date. The game seems to have been in development for quite some time as a video featuring it went live in November 2013. We’ll keep you up-to-date regarding Antarex as we learn more.
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