Keep your eye on Tanglewood - it might be the next Shovel Knight

Everybody knows the story of 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Shovel Knight by now - a nostalgic throwback to the days when you could count a character's pixels on one hand and lightning-fast reflexes were all you needed to save the princess. But what made Shovel Knight stand out in a sea of like-minded games was that it was true to the time period it was shaped by. For example, developer Yacht Club Games limited itself to the NES' color palette, and the user interface is actually a background layer o🎉f graphics being displayed, not an overlay like it would be in modern games.

But now, developer Matt Phillips has created something that might go even further than Shovel Knight in presenting an authentic retro experience: a brand-new game called Tanglewood, now available for... Sega Genesis (Sega Mega Drive as i🅠t was known outside North America).

True to form, for better or worse

In Tanglewood, you play as a small fox separated from its family. You'll run, jump, avoid predators, and solve puzzles to reach the safety of your den in a world d⛎escribed as "a mix of the Mega Drive titles Another World and The Lion King." In other words, Tanglewood is to the Genesis / Mega Drive what Shovel Knight was to the NES.

Now, to be clear, Yacht Club Games is a studio made up of multiple people, and Shovel Knight was successfully to the tune of more than $300k. Phillips (while an experienced developer) is just one person who made Tanglewood after a much . So in terms of scale and precision, Tanglewood is not on par with Shovel Knight - and even Shovel Knight itself breaks a🔴way from the limitations of the NES in 🍸some respects.

But it's how Tanglewood was created that makes it interesting and more authentic to an era when we still cared about bits. Phillips didn't use modern trickery to make Tanglewood look like a Genesis / Mega Drive game - it is a Genesis / Mega Drive Game. Phillips used an actual Mega Drive dev kit, running on a Windows 95 PC, to code the game, and worked within the system's memory limits to༒ make it as authentic as possible. And yes, there were technical breakdowns. A lot of them.

"I've had more repairs on this thing than I can count," Phillips told in a recent interview. Another thing that's gone defunct? Sega's own QA testing. Phillips said he approached Sega to see if the company would be interested in officially licensing the gam🀅e, but the company flat-out doesn't have the processes for quality assurance on Genesis / Mega Drive games anymore.

How to get your copy

If it sou🗹nds like Tanglewood's development was a headache, its physical production is even more daunting. Phillips, who lives in the UK, partnered with a Chinese manufacturer to create the molding for Tangelwood's cartridges, while an unnamed partner in Canada helped produce the actual circuit boards. It's really a worldwide collaboration, helmed by one guy who just wanted to challenge himself to work within old system constraints.

If you've still got a functioning Genesis / Mega Drive (and a TV you can hook it up to), you can that will play on your system just like any other game from the 90s for £54. Phillips expects to begin shipping copies in June. If you don't have a classic-style setup but would like to, check out our 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:beginner's guide to sett🐭ing up a retro h🦩ub.

If you'd rather not bother but are still interested in Tanglewood, just be patient:🐬 Phillips says he'll be porting the game to modern PCs in the near future (and you can right now).

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Sam is a former News Edito🐼r here at GamesRadar. His expert words have appeared on many of the web's well-known gaming sites, including Joystiq, Penny Arcade, Destructoid, and G4 Media, among others. Sam has a serious soft spot for MOBAs, MMOs, and emo music. Forever a f🐻arm boy, forever a '90s kid.