A homebrew port/demo for “Batman Returns”—a SNES exclusive 16-bit Konami beat-em-up from 1993—was released for the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive this week, giving Sega fans the chance to experience it on original hardware. The team behind this port includes programmer TiagoSC, artist Gabriel Pyron, and musicians Inglebard and Vector Orbitex. The demo only contains the game’s opening and first level, and it should be noted that the team does not currently intend to port the whole game. I’ll let the devs speak for themselves below:
“Our goal was to bring the essence of the original, taking advantage of the Mega Drive’s graphics and processing power, making the game closer to an arcade-style experience.”
“We made this tech demo to test out various concepts and fulfill a dream I had as a teenager: to receive a port of Batman Returns for my favorite console. We don’t intend to finish the game, but the good results we got here will be used in future projects.”
As for compatibility, so far I haven’t had any problems getting it to run on real hardware via a flash cart, the current MiSTer Mega Drive core, or the Analogue Mega Sg. For more information about the project and to give the demo a try, head to the project’s itch.io page.