Yuzo Koshiro and Ancient Corp havestated via Twitterthat their modern Genesis/Mega Drive game,Earthionis aiming for release this summer at the earliest. The composer has also announced that plans to bring it to modern consoles are underway.
We’re creating Earthion, a MD/Gen shmup, with a target release for this summer at the earliest. Delays may occur. Plans for porting to modern consoles are also underway. To ensure no one misses the announcement, we’ll share further news updates periodically due to high interest.
Earthionis a scrolling shoot-’em-up in development for the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive. While that is not entirely unique in these days of homebrew development, what makesEarthionspecial is that it’s being helmed by Yuzo Koshiro, the legendary composer behind games such asStreets of RageandRevenge of Shinobi. While he did compositions for SNES games likeActraiser,Robotrek, andSuper Adventure Island, he’s perhaps best known for his Genesis contributions. His company, Ancient Corp, beyond collaborating with other developers, also createdBeyond Oasisfor the console.
The company has been tinkering withEarthionas far back as 2022, with its big reveal happening at Tokyo Game Show 2023. There,Ancient demonstratedthe game’s tremendous bosses and fancy scaling effects.
While Koshiro has moved on to composing for modern platforms with games such as theEtrian Odysseyseries, he hasn’t lost his appreciation for old hardware. For Ancient’s recent game,Gotta Protectors: Cart of Darkness, there’s a suite of DLC available that changes the soundtrack to versions arranged for various consoles. This includes not only PC-88 and Mega Drive platforms but even less common consoles such as the Wonderswan. It feels very fitting that his company would eventually go back and create and new gamefor an old console.
Earthionis aiming for a Summer 2024 release (at the earliest) on Genesis/Mega Drive. Modern console versions are planned, but none have been confirmed. Physical distribution in the West will be handled by Limited Run Games.
