Forums

Sega Master System / Mark III / Game Gear
SG-1000 / SC-3000 / SF-7000 / OMV
Home - Forums - Games - Scans - Maps - Cheats - Credits
Music - Videos - Development - Hacks - Translations - Homebrew

View topic - SMS Castlevania Homebrew

Reply to topic Goto page 1, 2  Next
Author Message
  • Joined: 18 Jul 2020
  • Posts: 367
Reply with quote
SMS Castlevania Homebrew
Post Posted: Tue Jan 24, 2023 1:01 pm
Work in progress topic for a Sega Master System port of Castlevania.

Focus of the project will try to be as true to the N*s version of Castlevania, but using as much of the Castlevania Chronicles aesthetic as possible. I may introduce elements of SOTN as well, depending how they fit.

Very early stages at this point. Only some basic things put together, but we look forward to working on this title.

Also, many many thanks to Louis The Sega Nerd (https://www.youtube.com/@LouisTheSEGANerd) for their audio talents.

Small demo vid that's been slapped together:
https://www.pyxosoft.com/projects/sms_castlevania/videos/castlevania_0006.mp4

Dev Team:
Programmer/Graphics: Xfixium
Audio: Louis The Sega Nerd
  View user's profile Send private message
  • Joined: 23 Jan 2010
  • Posts: 413
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Tue Jan 24, 2023 7:02 pm
Excelent! Smooth! Music is nice too! The first scenario is great, but i dont liked of walls in 2nd scenario. The grey color with others patterns is messy in IMHO. The HUD is beauty.
  View user's profile Send private message
  • Joined: 18 Jul 2020
  • Posts: 367
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Tue Jan 24, 2023 7:11 pm
segarule wrote
Excelent! Smooth! Music is nice too! The first scenario is great, but i dont liked of walls in 2nd scenario. The grey color with others patterns is messy in IMHO.


Yeah, agreed. This was brought up before, it'll get changed.
  View user's profile Send private message
  • Joined: 02 Mar 2011
  • Posts: 165
  • Location: Valencia,Spain.
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Tue Jan 24, 2023 8:10 pm
Wow! Really good news. I do love your projects.
I am so excited everytime you start a new project or there is an update.

I really hope you could finish your job the way you want. It would be incredible to have a Castlevania game for our beloved console.
  View user's profile Send private message
  • Joined: 15 Aug 2019
  • Posts: 258
  • Location: Lancashire UK
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Wed Jan 25, 2023 6:55 am
Looks awesome mate 👌
  View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
  • Joined: 18 Jul 2020
  • Posts: 367
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Wed Jan 25, 2023 8:22 am
Thanks for the feedback. Cant wait to take this game further.
  View user's profile Send private message
  • Joined: 20 Sep 2019
  • Posts: 33
  • Location: Italy
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Wed Jan 25, 2023 9:04 am
Very cool video.

Now, take this as constructive criticism, but I would really implement a way to select the Simon Belmont sprite instead of the one being used, which is clearly Ralph / Trevor Belmont.

Castlevania fans tend to care about these things, and It'd feel weird to play a port of Castlevania constantly looking at Trevor, a guy from two hundreds years before the events of the game.
  View user's profile Send private message
  • Joined: 18 Jul 2020
  • Posts: 367
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Wed Jan 25, 2023 9:27 am
Aleste wrote
Very cool video.

Now, take this as constructive criticism, but I would really implement a way to select the Simon Belmont sprite instead of the one being used, which is clearly Ralph / Trevor Belmont.

Castlevania fans tend to care about these things, and It'd feel weird to play a port of Castlevania constantly looking at Trevor, a guy from two hundreds years before the events of the game.


I'm aware. It's a placeholder. I chose it from the web because I wanted to see how it looked with 12 frames of animation (Credits to the original artist). Eventually when I convert it to SMS standards, I'll keep that same 12 frames.
  View user's profile Send private message
  • Joined: 24 Feb 2020
  • Posts: 3
  • Location: UK
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Wed Jan 25, 2023 4:37 pm
Good work with your Castlevania, I would like to have a chat with you about this game, do you have an email address you can give me in a direct message?

Thank you.

Toni.
  View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
  • Joined: 30 Nov 2017
  • Posts: 74
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2023 2:04 pm
Wow. Oh WOW. :) This is awseome! I can't wait to see how this develops!!! :) Watching a NES walkthrough beside it...the SMS blows the NES out of the water, even the music is great! Love it.
  View user's profile Send private message
  • Joined: 29 Jan 2023
  • Posts: 11
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Sun Jan 29, 2023 10:27 pm
Damn, you really are unstoppable! I assume Louis has become your audio partner, eh?
  View user's profile Send private message
  • Joined: 18 Jul 2020
  • Posts: 367
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Sun Jan 29, 2023 11:21 pm
Cris1997XX wrote
Damn, you really are unstoppable! I assume Louis has become your audio partner, eh?


Well, I'm grateful for whatever he puts out there. He has stated he does this casually, and doesn't really associate with a team, or project. He has created a few more tracks recently, which are all excellent.

Progress vid:
https://www.pyxosoft.com/projects/sms_castlevania/videos/castlevania_0008.mp4

I have some new graphics created, next step is collision detection. I have to update the metatile data as well. From there, entities.
  View user's profile Send private message
  • Joined: 30 Jan 2023
  • Posts: 53
  • Location: Manchester, England
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2023 3:36 am
Last edited by Louis The SEGA Nerd on Mon Jan 30, 2023 3:44 am; edited 1 time in total
Cris1997XX wrote
Damn, you really are unstoppable! I assume Louis has become your audio partner, eh?


Hi it's Louis here. I just created an account on here as I saw that I was getting a bunch of external views from smspower and wanted to see what the fuss was about!

As xfixium says, I'm not 'officially' part of anything so to speak, but at the same time I fully intend to cover the whole soundtrack for the Master System when I get chance to as this project is really exciting ^_^
  View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
  • Joined: 30 Jan 2023
  • Posts: 53
  • Location: Manchester, England
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2023 3:41 am
xfixium wrote

I have some new graphics created, next step is collision detection. I have to update the metatile data as well. From there, entities.


Yooooooooo the title screen and intro is looking awesome! Loving the soundtest feature as well :D

As for the number and naming scheme I have in place on google drive, I'm mimicking the layout used by vgmrips so that's why it looks a bit weird with the gaps and stuff at the minute.
  View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
  • Joined: 30 Nov 2017
  • Posts: 74
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2023 1:26 pm
Louis The SEGA Nerd wrote
Cris1997XX wrote
Damn, you really are unstoppable! I assume Louis has become your audio partner, eh?


As xfixium says, I'm not 'officially' part of anything so to speak, but at the same time I fully intend to cover the whole soundtrack for the Master System when I get chance to as this project is really exciting ^_^


Hi Louis and welcome to the forums! It's very exciting to hear music made for the SMS that makes the chip shine. Fantastic work. I look forward to hearing what you do with the rest of the Castlevania soundtrack and to seeing this project come to completion. It is looking and sounding incredible!!!
  View user's profile Send private message
  • Joined: 15 Jan 2018
  • Posts: 70
  • Location: Tokyo
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2023 2:30 pm
Wow it looks and sounds very interesting!!

The closest we got to Castlevania in the Master System are Master of Darkness (1992) and Silver Valley (2017). They're great games in their own right, but I certainly won't complain if we do get THE Castlevania :D
  View user's profile Send private message
  • Joined: 30 Jan 2023
  • Posts: 53
  • Location: Manchester, England
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2023 2:35 pm
NewHorizon wrote
Louis The SEGA Nerd wrote
Cris1997XX wrote
Damn, you really are unstoppable! I assume Louis has become your audio partner, eh?


As xfixium says, I'm not 'officially' part of anything so to speak, but at the same time I fully intend to cover the whole soundtrack for the Master System when I get chance to as this project is really exciting ^_^


Hi Louis and welcome to the forums! It's very exciting to hear music made for the SMS that makes the chip shine. Fantastic work. I look forward to hearing what you do with the rest of the Castlevania soundtrack and to seeing this project come to completion. It is looking and sounding incredible!!!


Awwwwww thank you :)

More music is on the way!
  View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
  • Joined: 29 Jan 2023
  • Posts: 11
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2023 6:41 pm
I just wondered something...will you ever include content from the other two NES Castlevania games, Simon's Quest and Dracula's Curse? It would be cool to have some of their stages (And the monsters) as alternative routes
  View user's profile Send private message
  • Joined: 18 Jul 2020
  • Posts: 367
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2023 7:08 pm
Cris1997XX wrote
I just wondered something...will you ever include content from the other two NES Castlevania games, Simon's Quest and Dracula's Curse? It would be cool to have some of their stages (And the monsters) as alternative routes


While I haven't fully fleshed out the milestones for this project, I think copying the original body of work is quite a lot as it is. As it stands, I have no plans to add anything outside of the orginal game. Maybe something to revisit when the project is complete.
  View user's profile Send private message
  • Joined: 30 Nov 2017
  • Posts: 74
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2023 7:21 pm
xfixium wrote
Cris1997XX wrote
I just wondered something...will you ever include content from the other two NES Castlevania games, Simon's Quest and Dracula's Curse? It would be cool to have some of their stages (And the monsters) as alternative routes


While I haven't fully fleshed out the milestones for this project, I think copying the original body of work is quite a lot as it is. As it stands, I have no plans to add anything outside of the orginal game. Maybe something to revisit when the project is complete.


Yes, I think making a stable port of the original game will be a major achievement and one that I am really looking forward to. What I have seen graphically is gorgeous and the music is kicking! :) If an FM soundtrack was supported alongside the standard SMS soundtrack, that would be even more amazing...especially if it worked on real hardware. I have the SMS FM module from the etim website.
  View user's profile Send private message
  • Joined: 30 Nov 2017
  • Posts: 74
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2023 2:12 am
Given how awesome Louis PSG music sounds, not having FM wouldn't be a huge loss.
  View user's profile Send private message
  • Joined: 30 Jan 2023
  • Posts: 53
  • Location: Manchester, England
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2023 2:33 am
NewHorizon wrote
Given how awesome Louis PSG music sounds, not having FM wouldn't be a huge loss.


Thanks ^_^

It would be nice to implement FM if possible though because that way not only will the graphics be better than the NES version but also the sound!
  View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
  • Joined: 16 Oct 2022
  • Posts: 41
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2023 2:45 am
It's looking and sounding fantastic. It's criminal that the Master System never got certain games, and you're putting it right!!
  View user's profile Send private message
  • Joined: 23 Jan 2010
  • Posts: 413
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2023 10:50 am
Based in Kasesan´s knowledge i think that is better put all effort in preliminary version only with PSG and after with everything working well think about a FM version. I hope that SMS Castlevania can be submitted in 2023 Compettition!
  View user's profile Send private message
  • Joined: 12 Dec 2010
  • Posts: 77
  • Location: Sheffield, England
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2023 10:54 am
xfixium wrote

After being inspired by Louis's SOR 2 stage 01 music. Might as well link that too :P



That is incredible.
  View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
  • Joined: 30 Jan 2023
  • Posts: 53
  • Location: Manchester, England
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2023 11:12 am
segasonic wrote

That is incredible.

:)
  View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
  • Joined: 30 Nov 2017
  • Posts: 74
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Thu Feb 02, 2023 11:41 am
More goodness!!!

https://youtu.be/y54n897wmJo
  View user's profile Send private message
  • Joined: 16 Oct 2022
  • Posts: 41
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Thu Feb 02, 2023 5:16 pm
NewHorizon wrote
More goodness!!!

https://youtu.be/y54n897wmJo


Fantastic stuff. FM would be a nice extra but these PSG tracks more than do the job.
  View user's profile Send private message
  • Joined: 29 Jan 2023
  • Posts: 11
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Thu Feb 02, 2023 6:05 pm
It would be awesome, but people just can't decide on what frickin' driver to use. Plus a combination of PSG and FM Synth would make things even more difficult
  View user's profile Send private message
  • Joined: 30 Nov 2017
  • Posts: 74
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Thu Feb 02, 2023 6:12 pm
Cris1997XX wrote
It would be awesome, but people just can't decide on what frickin' driver to use. Plus a combination of PSG and FM Synth would make things even more difficult


Based on the Sonic SMS FM Hack, PSG+Synth may be well worth the effort. It sounds incredible.
  View user's profile Send private message
  • Joined: 29 Jan 2023
  • Posts: 11
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Thu Feb 02, 2023 9:36 pm
Many MSX2 games use that combination and it sounds amazing, too bad it gets fucked up on Sega Mark III
  View user's profile Send private message
  • Joined: 30 Jan 2023
  • Posts: 53
  • Location: Manchester, England
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Thu Feb 02, 2023 11:32 pm
I would definitely like to do FM versions at some point (and who knows maybe even FM+PSG) but I want to get the full PSG soundtrack done first. I also don't want to commit to doing another full soundtrack when there isn't currently a way to even implement it yet :-P
  View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
  • Joined: 30 Nov 2017
  • Posts: 74
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2023 1:44 am
Cris1997XX wrote
Many MSX2 games use that combination and it sounds amazing, too bad it gets fucked up on Sega Mark III


As long as it works with the add on board that people can get for the SMS1, I think it would be fine and of course people can also play on emulators that support FM + PSG. A Rom cart with FM add on support would be awesome too, if that were possible.
  View user's profile Send private message
  • Joined: 18 Jul 2020
  • Posts: 367
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2023 4:04 am
Thanks for all involved with the FM conversation. I, at least, have a better understanding of everything. Plus all the amazing contributions over the years for audio support. I do love the passion for the master system.
  View user's profile Send private message
  • Joined: 21 Oct 2015
  • Posts: 303
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2023 8:45 am
Woooow sounds amazing Louis
  View user's profile Send private message
  • Joined: 18 Jul 2020
  • Posts: 367
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2023 9:59 am
law81 wrote
Woooow sounds amazing Louis


Phenomenal work, and blazing fast!

Vid of all his tracks, sampled in game:
https://www.pyxosoft.com/projects/sms_castlevania/videos/castlevania_0010.mp4

Work in progress stuff:
https://www.pyxosoft.com/projects/sms_castlevania/videos/castlevania_0011.mp4

Last update post for awhile. Until next time!
  View user's profile Send private message
  • Joined: 30 Nov 2017
  • Posts: 74
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2023 1:09 pm
Gorgeous work!!! Looks and sounds amazing!
  View user's profile Send private message
  • Joined: 23 Jan 2010
  • Posts: 413
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2023 1:17 pm
Last edited by segarule on Fri Feb 03, 2023 1:51 pm; edited 1 time in total
NewHorizon wrote
Cris1997XX wrote
Many MSX2 games use that combination and it sounds amazing, too bad it gets fucked up on Sega Mark III


As long as it works with the add on board that people can get for the SMS1, I think it would be fine and of course people can also play on emulators that support FM + PSG. A Rom cart with FM add on support would be awesome too, if that were possible.

Not just possible but already exists. Here:

But it only play FM channels like as Mark III and not PSG+FM . But this prove that possible all kind of mapper in SMS.
  View user's profile Send private message
  • Joined: 30 Nov 2017
  • Posts: 74
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2023 1:28 pm
Ahh, cool. Yeah, since it is bypassing the internal chip completely it requires the sound cables to be plugged into the FM cart. Probably no way to have FM + PSG in that configuration, unless the SMS cart pins have one that allows the FM to be pumped through the system. I don't know though. The etim FM module seems like the best solution...although it doesn't work with the SMS 2 sadly.

Editing to say I was wrong and the SMS 2 can use Tim Worthingtons FM module with an adapter. :)

https://www.consolesunleashed.com/product/sega-master-system-model-2-fm-sound-mo...
  View user's profile Send private message
  • Joined: 29 Mar 2012
  • Posts: 879
  • Location: Spain
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2023 1:42 pm
There's also a card adaptaer for Megadrive than brings FM to Master System games there :-)
  View user's profile Send private message
  • Joined: 17 Sep 2013
  • Posts: 128
  • Location: Gravataí, RS, Brazil
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2023 2:07 pm
segarule wrote
NewHorizon wrote
Cris1997XX wrote
Many MSX2 games use that combination and it sounds amazing, too bad it gets fucked up on Sega Mark III


As long as it works with the add on board that people can get for the SMS1, I think it would be fine and of course people can also play on emulators that support FM + PSG. A Rom cart with FM add on support would be awesome too, if that were possible.

Not just possible but already exists. Here:

But it only play FM channels like as Mark III and not PSG+FM . But this prove that possible all kind of mapper in SMS.


I asked bout PSG+FM in the comments od this video. They tested with the Sonic FM hack in other video, and works fine. The cartdrige emulates the PGS chip also. It's not a very good emulation though, the samples in ALex Kidd Lost Stars sound kinda bad, but for the regular square waves and noise, it works just fine.
  View user's profile Send private message
  • Joined: 21 Oct 2015
  • Posts: 303
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2023 3:08 pm
segarule wrote
NewHorizon wrote
Cris1997XX wrote
Many MSX2 games use that combination and it sounds amazing, too bad it gets fucked up on Sega Mark III


As long as it works with the add on board that people can get for the SMS1, I think it would be fine and of course people can also play on emulators that support FM + PSG. A Rom cart with FM add on support would be awesome too, if that were possible.

Not just possible but already exists. Here:

But it only play FM channels like as Mark III and not PSG+FM . But this prove that possible all kind of mapper in SMS.


I have this gadget and a japanese master system.
I think that I prefer PSG sound for Castlevania
  View user's profile Send private message
  • Joined: 30 Nov 2017
  • Posts: 74
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2023 3:18 pm
law81 wrote

I have this gadget and a japanese master system.
I think that I prefer PSG sound for Castlevania


Depends how it's done though. If it were composed in the way Louis is doing it and not just converting the PSG soundtrack into FM by substituting the PSG with the default FM settings, it could sound incredible.
  View user's profile Send private message
  • Site Admin
  • Joined: 19 Oct 1999
  • Posts: 14685
  • Location: London
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2023 8:38 pm
I split the discussion of FM music engines to https://www.smspower.org/forums/19407-FMSoundtrackDriversForHomebrew .
  View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
  • Joined: 23 Jan 2010
  • Posts: 413
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2023 11:41 pm
gvx32 wrote
segarule wrote
NewHorizon wrote
Cris1997XX wrote
Many MSX2 games use that combination and it sounds amazing, too bad it gets fucked up on Sega Mark III


As long as it works with the add on board that people can get for the SMS1, I think it would be fine and of course people can also play on emulators that support FM + PSG. A Rom cart with FM add on support would be awesome too, if that were possible.

Not just possible but already exists. Here:

But it only play FM channels like as Mark III and not PSG+FM . But this prove that possible all kind of mapper in SMS.


I asked bout PSG+FM in the comments od this video. They tested with the Sonic FM hack in other video, and works fine. The cartdrige emulates the PGS chip also. It's not a very good emulation though, the samples in ALex Kidd Lost Stars sound kinda bad, but for the regular square waves and noise, it works just fine.

Excellent.
Explaining: I also saw 1 comment that claimed dont be possible the FM+PSG. For this i did those statement:
gabriel Guolo Leffa
há 10 meses:
"O problema aí é que ele também não teria da onde obter o áudio do chip original, o que impediria, a principio, de misturar o resultado dos dois chips. Felizmente, nenhum jogo comercial lançado utiliza os dois ao mesmo tempo."
But if work both is a great new!
  View user's profile Send private message
  • Joined: 30 Jan 2023
  • Posts: 53
  • Location: Manchester, England
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Sat Feb 04, 2023 3:06 am
Well, that's it. The full PSG soundtrack is now done!
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1NAjic_zIpE4KutiG7yqib_JieXY8V0Cg?usp=sha...

I'm off to Sapporo on Wednesday for the snow festival so won't be working on anything for a bit but when I get back I've got some exciting ideas related to this project so keep an eye out for those ^_^
  View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
  • Joined: 16 Oct 2022
  • Posts: 41
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Sat Feb 04, 2023 3:15 am
Louis The SEGA Nerd wrote
Well, that's it. The full PSG soundtrack is now done!
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1NAjic_zIpE4KutiG7yqib_JieXY8V0Cg?usp=sha...

I'm off to Sapporo on Wednesday for the snow festival so won't be working on anything for a bit but when I get back I've got some exciting ideas related to this project so keep an eye out for those ^_^


Man, what an enviable life you lead! :)

Great work!!
  View user's profile Send private message
  • Joined: 30 Jan 2023
  • Posts: 53
  • Location: Manchester, England
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Sat Feb 04, 2023 4:02 am
Mondo wrote
Louis The SEGA Nerd wrote
Well, that's it. The full PSG soundtrack is now done!
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1NAjic_zIpE4KutiG7yqib_JieXY8V0Cg?usp=sha...

I'm off to Sapporo on Wednesday for the snow festival so won't be working on anything for a bit but when I get back I've got some exciting ideas related to this project so keep an eye out for those ^_^


Man, what an enviable life you lead! :)

Great work!!


The joys of being an exchange student :D
  View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
  • Joined: 29 Jan 2023
  • Posts: 11
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Sat Feb 04, 2023 4:12 pm
Louis The SEGA Nerd wrote
Well, that's it. The full PSG soundtrack is now done!
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1NAjic_zIpE4KutiG7yqib_JieXY8V0Cg?usp=sha...

I'm off to Sapporo on Wednesday for the snow festival so won't be working on anything for a bit but when I get back I've got some exciting ideas related to this project so keep an eye out for those ^_^

Damn son! You really have a busy life, meanwhile I can't even afford a trip to Japan...
  View user's profile Send private message
  • Joined: 20 Feb 2023
  • Posts: 2
Reply with quote
Post Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2023 3:05 am
For some reason I was able to watch till video 011. Plus, able to acess the folder 'download'. That's normal?
  View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
Reply to topic Goto page 1, 2  Next



Back to the top of this page

Back to SMS Power!