Let’s take a look around the world of Saturn fandom to check out the smaller stories that have happened in the past week.
Playable build of Zygo homebrew game posted
The developer of a homebrew Saturn game named Zygo 3D dropped a download link to his in-progress build in the comments of a YouTube video showing it off.
The build can be downloaded here.
The post was made about three weeks ago in response to Retro Dad and Modern Lad, who asked if JBeretta was still working on the game — the video had been uploaded five months ago with no further updates since then.
“Yeah I’m still working on it, wanted to have a version ready for the SegaXtreme Competition but wasn’t happy with it. Here’s the latest version if you want to try it out, there’s only really 1 level at the moment, the other 2 are just trying different textures. There’s also a map editor in the pause menu.”
— JBeretta
JBeretta originally was making a 2D game — a build of which was entered into the SegaXtreme homebrew competition in 2021 — but has since decided to turn that idea into a 3D game instead. According to the video description, this 3D iteration of Zygo is being written in C using homebrew software development kit Jo Engine.
Grandia English patch updated to fix bootup issue
The developer of the English patch for the Saturn version of Grandia updated it Monday after discovering a problem that could be caused by code that runs during the splash screen that appears on bootup.
Community member Supahfly (aka Slinga) pointed out on the SegaXtreme Discord server last week that the method TrekkiesUnite uses calculate a checksum when a patched version of Grandia starts up could potentially cause players’ save RAM to report an incorrect amount of remaining space.
There have been no reports of the English patch for Grandia affecting anyone’s save RAM, but just to be sure, Trekkies issued a new version that should prevent such unintended mishaps.
The updated patch can be downloaded from SegaXtreme here.
The patch had been writing to the first 256 bytes of save RAM because normally saves aren’t written to that area and it was believed to be safe. But Supahfly suggested that area might still be read by the Saturn and interpreted as junk data, potentially causing the system to mark sectors as unusable for saving.
The checksum had been calculated to determine whether the patch’s splash screen had been altered by anyone and lock users of such unauthorized modified patches out of playing.
The English patch for Tokyo Highway Battle: Drift King ‘97 uses the checksum calculation as well. Trekkies sent a fix to the patch’s developer, Malenko, who said he’ll release an updated patch in the next few days.
Soundtrack to homebrew game Skyblaster uploaded
The soundtrack to Skyblaster, a Saturn homebrew game that’s appeared in the last two SegaXtreme competitions, was uploaded Wednesday to YouTube.
The soundtrack’s composer, Random, uploaded it after receiving requests from fans. It’s been praised for its upbeat tunes that make the shmup’s themed levels come to life.
The video’s description says that the soundtrack is still in progress — which makes sense, as the game is still in development, with its programmer Reye continuing to improve it and flesh it out.
Skyblaster can be downloaded from SegaXtreme here.
Magical Drop VI gets an April 25 release date
The latest in long-running puzzle series Magical Drop will release April 25, publisher Forever Entertainment announced today.
Magical Drop VI is set to debut on Switch and PC via Steam and GOG for US$29.99/€29.99, then come to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One later. It originally was slated for a winter release when it was announced last September.
The first three entries in the Magical Drop series were ported from arcades to the Saturn in the ‘90s exclusively in Japan, although the first game had been planned for an English localization in 1997 before being canceled. The first game did release in North American and European arcades under the name Chain Reaction.
The most recent entry in the series, Magical Drop V, launched on Steam in 2012 but was very poorly received. It was delisted in 2020.
Forever Entertainment also developed the remakes of Panzer Dragoon and The House of the Dead in recent years. The Magical Drop series originally was developed by Data East.
Danthrax is a contributor to the Shiro Media Group, writing stories for the website when Saturn news breaks. While he was a Sega Genesis kid in the ’90s, he didn’t get a Saturn until 2018. It didn’t take him long to fall in love with the console’s library as well as the fan translation and homebrew scene. He contributed heavily to the Bulk Slash and Stellar Assault SS fan localizations, and has helped as an editor on several other Saturn and Dreamcast fan projects such as Cotton 2, Rainbow Cotton and Sakura Wars Columns 2.
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