The deadline for the SegaXtreme Sega Saturn 30th Anniversary Game Competition passed this morning, shortly followed by competition coordinator EmeraldNova revealing the entries, which totaled more than two dozen.
There were 25 entries across three categories, including nine original games; nine hacks, patches and translations; and seven utilities. The full list is as follows:
Original Games
- Seniriu – Emerald Nova, et al
- Lost Days 0 Queen’s Dream – Gabriel Sansigolo
- Micro Motor Mayhem – JBeretta
- Pixel Poppy Pong – Hassmaschine, Random
- Puff Pastry Panic – Tails of Saturn
- MOAI talks – Team Starlane, Xenos, Reye
- SECRET ENTRY
- Haiku – Nova
- Pulitzer – Ervilsoft
Hacks, Patches, & Translations
- Jung Rhythm (English v1.0) – ateam
- Rabbit (English v1.0) – ateam
- Mobile Suit Gundam (English 1.0) – Shadowmask
- Logic Puzzle Rainbow Town translation – Malenko
- Silhouette Mirage – English RETRANSLATION Patch – Rasputin3000 and wiredcrackpot
- Burning Rangers Co-Op Mod – Bo
- Bomberman Fight!! Translation – Malenko
- SECRET ENTRY
- Doom fix patch v0.2 – fafling
Utilities
- savefileconverter – euan
- SaturnRingLibrary – ReyeMe, robertoduarte, 7shades, willll, nemesis-saturn, jae686
- SF3Tools (Shining Force 3 Editing Tools) – Synival
- Sega Saturn FILM Tools 3.0.1 – TrekkiesUnite118
- Cinepak Movie Disc – TrekkiesUnite118
- NYA model converter – ReyeMe
- Seniriu Terrain Demo – 7Shades, Emerald Nova
Most entries can be downloaded by finding the associated developer’s post in the competition thread or the competition discussion thread. Many of them also can be found in SegaXtreme’s Resources area.
The numbers are mostly down from last year, when there were 16 original games; 13 hacks, patches and translations; and five utilities. Still, it’s a good turnout full of exciting entries from talented homebrew developers.
Last year, JBeretta’s Cold Case won best original game. He’s back this year with another new game, Micro Motor Mayhem. Shadowmask, who was one of the team members who worked on last year’s winning hack/patch/translation Stellar Assault SS’s English patch, led a team that translated Mobile Suit Gundam for this year’s contest. And TrekkiesUnite118, developer of last year’s highest-scoring utility, FILM Muxer, returns this year with two utilities: Sega Saturn Film Tools 3.0.1 and Cinepak Movie Disc.
A panel of nine judges, including SHIRO! members TraynoCo, PandaMonium and SaturnDave, now have one month to try out all the entries and give their scores. Winners will be announced during a livestream by EmeraldNova on May 11, the 30th anniversary of the Saturn’s release in North America. The two secret entries will be revealed at that time.
While the main purpose of the contest is to highlight and celebrate homebrew efforts, there are prizes on the line, too, including a cash pool of nearly $850 and 3D-printed Saturn accessories like an optical drive emulator insert, a display logo and a controller stand.
This is the sixth year for the EmeraldNova-led competition, which began in 2019 with the 25th Anniversary Game Competition. But it was really a revival of an annual homebrew contest tradition on SegaXtreme that began in 2003 with the Sega Saturn Coding Contest. That line of contests fizzled out in 2009 amid a difficulty to find judges followed by a failed attempt to revive it in 2010-11.
Looking forward to it! 🙂