Sega Saturn Coding Contest 2007

Youtube was recently filled with videos showing just how passionate some Saturn fans are, struggling to program for a console usually ignored by the rest of the homebrew community. The Sega Saturn Coding Contest certainly helps motivating these devoted fans, rewarding the more talented with some sweet prizes. The 2007 edition is about to come to an end, with the judges having an hard-time choosing the best entries, and what awesome entries we got this time!

Just to show you what these brilliant minds are capable of, take a look at the following videos. Now, remember that the Saturn homebrew scene is not exactly as prolific as the Dreamcast's, so don't expect full-blown games. This is not to say that they don't exist, but Saturn coders usually invest more time in technology demos and the like. Still, there are some "real" games out there, just take a look:

SEGA Blur



A Techology demo that shows a nice blur effect (I doubt its usefulness, but it's still nice).

Libyaul Demo



According to the creators of this little piece of software "It shows a linescroll effect and a color calculation effect at startup.". Now, I have absolutely no idea what they're talking about, it's probably coders talk, I presume, but maybe some of you will understand.

Dezaemon 2 Save Game Manager



Remember Dezaemon 2? That nice "game" that let's you create the shmup of your dreams? If you're a fan of that rather interesting title, I'm sure that this program here will be relevant to your interests. I don't exactly know all of its features, but judging from the title it at least should help you manage Dezarmon's save games.

Now, on to actual games:

Destiny's Kingdom



A rather interesting tactical RPG. I'm not exactly a fan of the genre, but it looks good anyway and apparently it's pretty complete for a homebrew.

Police Officer Smith



Now this one looks really good. According to its creators "The game is entirely in the highest possible resolution (704x512), features over 30 different image blending methods, has got animations, supports all types of RAM carts (optionally) and a lot more. All written text is available in english and german. All voice samples are currently spoken in german."

Wow... I'm really interested in this one and I'm sure to follow its development from now on. One of the contest's strongest candidates, in my opinion.

Gaganoid



The last game may at first seem like just another clone of Arkanoid...and to be honest it is, but nevertheless it's pretty complete for a Saturn homebrew and its one game that I wouldn't mind playing. Another strong candidate, me thinks.

And that's all for now, folks! Expect me to post the results of the contest once they're announced and may the best coders win!