Young gamers in the ‘90s were in a constant war with each other when it came to their system of choice: the Super Nintendo Entertainment System versus the Sega Genesis. The debut of Sonic the Hedgehog certainly gave Genesis diehards bragging rights when it came to speed, but there were a handful of excellent early 3D titles on the SNES that turned their blue hedgehog face paint into an envious green.
While decades have passed since those systems were in their prime, it seems it’s not too late to finally experience such games on Sega’s 16-bit system. Gasega68k is a prevalent homebrew developer who has created amazing ports of games such as F-Zero and Wolfenstein 3D for the Genesis, as well as a Sonic-branded Super Mario Kart rival called Sonic Team Racing. In his latest endeavor, he’s produced a working technical demo of the original Star Fox on the system!
…and here is a video of that demo, in this one I can move up/down like the original, but also I can move forward/backward.
Years after, I made the others demos you already know where you can move totally in 3d.
In all those demos the resolution was 256 x 160. pic.twitter.com/xfjWpVXaCF— Gasega68k (@gasega68k) December 15, 2021
If you’re not too clear on why this is a huge deal, Mike from Retro Gamer Boy has an excellent video on the project that begins with a handy little history lesson. It first runs us through how games like Star Fox were only possible due to the Super FX chip (which was added to select SNES cartridges) before moving on to the Sega Virtual Processor, the Sega Genesis’ answer to the SNES’ Super FX chip. This made the Genesis game ResQ possible which, while it was ultimately cancelled, rivaled Star Fox with similar, 3D dogfighting gameplay.
Despite lacking in AI collision and particle effects, in the latter portion of the video you can see that this version of Star Fox is fully functional and almost identical to its SNES counterpart!
This is an incredible feat and, after seeing the game in action, even the most loyal of Nintendo fans will have to admit that the Sega Genesis seems to be capable of more than what we give it credit for.
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Written by Reece Heather
A lifelong Nintendo fan and a longtime editor at Zelda Universe, Reece will forever be grateful that he somehow dodged the Naughty List of Christmas 1998, when Santa delivered the life-changing gift of a Nintendo 64 with Super Mario 64, Banjo-Kazooie, and Mario Kart 64. When he's not playing games, Reece is usually reading Punisher comics, delving helplessly into the weirdest depths of anime and manga, or spending time with his cocker spaniel Gracie -- the goodest girl ever!
