The Homebrew Community is As Alive As Ever!

With all the frustration and problems of next-gen consoles that we face everyday (that means you Xbox 360, with your Red Ring of Death!), one must miss the simplicity of the consoles of the past. But, for those of you longing to relive the days of 8-bit graphics, pulse wave sounds, and cartridges instead of CDs, all hope is not lost. There is still a community of people devoted to keeping these antique systems alive. Not only have they done a great job of spreading the word of these old consoles, but a few select people actually create their own games for these systems. These homebrew games may be remakes of older games, or they might actually be original creations.

Popular systems to create homebrew games on include the Ataris, NES, and SEGA Master System. RetroZone is a great place to find some homebrew NES games, but don't expect to be paying in pennies. Glider goes for $42, and a remake of NWC 1990 goes for $45.

The AtariAge Store is home to many homebrews for the Atari 2600, 5200, and 7800. These games are as cheap as $20, but when you think about it, that much is still a pretty high price to pay for a game for a system that isn't even made anymore. But, considering what fun the Ataris have created, it is worth it. Recently, one of the store's more popular products has included Adventure II a homebrew sequel for the the popular 2600 game Adventure. Now that the game is on the 7800, the graphics and gameplay have increased considerably.

Although homebrew cartridges for the SEGA Master System may be rare, SMS Power! is a great place to find homebrew ROMs for emulators, as well as a ton of information on programming SMS games in assembly language. There is a great tutorial by Maxim on how to get started with SMS programming, but those who are not familiar with the Z80 CPU or ASM may have trouble understanding it.

There is no need to cry anymore. Now that you own and have completed every game for the NES, you can spend your money on brand new games as they come out. Heck, you can even develop them yourself! I wish you happy gaming as you spend your life's saving on that limited edition glowing copy of Glider.

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