Paid Homebrew on RetroAchievements
Hello all and welcome back to another issue of the RetroAchievements News! This month, I wanted to do an in-depth look at some of the paid homebrew we have available on RetroAchievements as sets. I've picked a few select titles to talk about, and will bring you through the history of the developers and the games themselves, and of course the achievement sets themselves. I've tried to be as diverse as possible and have excluded some of the more popular ones for that reason, which I may save for an eventual part two and beyond. With Homebrew games now having its own DevQuest, we will be seeing more of these titles as time goes on, so it's as good an opportunity as ever to jump on the hype train!
Of course, it goes without saying that we urge you to support these developers through purchasing their game. Every title mentioned today will have a direct link to their Itch.io or other sites where you case purchase them and start playing right away!
First up is a game I've actually played the original of on Steam. What's interesting about this release however, is that is has more content than the original despite being on inferior hardware!
| Game |
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 Alwa's Awakening (NES/Famicom)
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| Release date | November 6, 2002 |
| Price (default) | $9.99 |
| Purchase link | Itch.io (Also available via Steam) |
First up is Alwa's Awakening by Elden Pixels, an indie development- and publishment studio from Sweden founded in 2016. Alwa's Awakening was conveniently also the first game they ever made, which was released initially for PC and later ported to all modern platforms. Although not as well-known as many other indie hits, this ended up becoming a beloved game that set the stage for this studio, releasing a 16-bit sequel three years later and also helping in the publishing of several other beloved indie games like Cathedral and Kraino Origins--all excellent modern platforming games taking inspiration from the classics. Elden Pixels' latest game came out only two months ago, which is an atmospheric narrative platformer called A Void's Hope. The 8-bit version of Alwa's Awakening was released two years after the sequel to the original game, and is the game we are talking about today. This is a Metroidvania game starring Zoe, who has been sent to help free the land of Alwa. She does this with the help of her magic staff, which comes with a variety of different upgrades that allow her to traverse the lands better. This is where the game shines, as Alwa's Awakening is a bit more original than many other games in the same genre, using unconventional upgrades rather than your usual double jump. That's because Alwa's Awakening is also more of a slow-paced puzzle platformer rather than one heavy on action, though combat is definitely still part of the game. Don't take that as an idea that the game will be easy either, as it definitely has some tricks up its sleeve. It highly encourages replayability, which the set also portrays in excellent fashions such as the achievements for not dying once or beating the entire game within an hour. Though my favourite ones are definitely the (intentional) sequence breaks you can do, by getting items or upgrades completely out of their intended order with some clever usage of movement or other upgrades. I consider myself somewhat of a Metroidvania connoisseur, and Alwa's Awakening is definitely one of the more original ones I've had the pleasure to play.
Let's move over to another console and genre for the next one. And hey, what a fitting combination we have here!
| Game |
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 Atlantean (PC Engine/TurboGrafx-16)
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| Release date | August ??, 2014 |
| Price (default) | $10.00 |
| Purchase link | Itch.io |
Aetherbyte is a small team of software developers that create homebrew for various older systems, with the TurboGrafx-16 being their favourite. The team consists of three developers, all having a long history with game development, starting programming on many early PCs such as Amiga, DOS, and ZX Spectrum. At the time of writing, they have created a total of nine homebrew titles, of which eight of them are for their beloved system and one for the MSX2. They also made a music creation tool for the TurboGrafx-16, neat! It's a bit hard to find the definitive history of this company, but to my knowledge they started with a game called Insanity, inspired by the classic Berzerk gameplay that ended up also being released on Xbox 360. Their latest game, Inferno was released for the MSX2 in 2017. Checking their Twitter, it does look like a new homebrew is still in development but no news has been given on that. Atlantean was one of their later releases, which as hinted at during the introduction is a Shoot 'em Up! Atlantean is an underwater horizontal Shmup where you control a mechanic fish, shooting out lasers to destroy other robotic creatures. Being a fish, it can easily turn around and attack enemies that are behind it as well! In a way, it can most easily be compared to the Arcade classic Defender in general controls, with a more standard Shmup structure like having four levels with a boss at the end of each. That's also how the set is structured: Beat every level on every difficulty, beat the bosses without dying, and get a high score in endurance mode. The game also saw a Christmas variation that also has a set and is free to download, so if you want a taste of what the game has to offer, consider giving Santatlantean a shot!
Let's see what the handheld space has to offer up next, which is another popular place for homebrews to be made. The Game Boy is especially popular due to a program called GB Studio, and one of the games made through it is...
| Game |
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 Traumatarium (Game Boy)
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| Release date | March 13, 2022 |
| Price (default) | $9.99 |
| Purchase link | Itch.io |
This one immediately got my attention when looking at the graphics. Those are some really, really nice graphics for the handheld, super impressive. Traumatarium is a dungeon crawler developed by Eligos Games/Hotariu, a mostly solo developer that often collaborates with other Itch.io users for their games. Under Eligos, there have been a total of 7 Game Boy games thus far, dating all the way back to 2020 with the release of Neighbor. Five games have been released for free, of which three currently have a set (Bitterroot, Cargo, and the before-mentioned Neighbor), with AF+ER being the only one without a set so far. Beyond these games, there's also the sequel to Traumatarium called Traumatarium: Penitent, and the upcoming Catacombs of Tracia. I'm not sure how this developer pulls it off, but every single one of these share the amazing artstyle seen in Traumatarium. Not too surprising when the description directly states that it's "a short Game Boy game where the goal was trying to push the visual limitations of the hardware". And surely, they did. In Traumatarium, a deadly famine broke out in an ancient kingdom, and the cause is an ancient evil reawakening. The brave hero is sent out to slay the creatures originating from this evil through randomly generated dungeons, crawling his way through ten random rooms. Find food and bandages to survive, and slay your way through the five dungeons. It's not a very long game, but it's bound to be one to please the dungeon crawling fans!
Let's move a bit out of my comfort zone for the next one, and into the best console RA has to offer: The Atari Jaguar CD! Hype!!
| Game |
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 Elansar (Atari Jaguar CD)
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| Release date | 2015 |
| Price (default) | $8.00 |
| Purchase link | Itch.io |
Well technically it's not just for the Atari Jaguar CD but also Steam and Dreamcast, but it's the only version we have as a set so I'll take it. Elansar is a Point-and-Click Adventure game by OrionSoft, a solo developer who has been active in the homebrew space ever since 2010. They have worked on a serious amount of retro consoles in their career, ranging from the Genesis/Megadrive and Dreamcast, to the PlayStation, Game Boy Advance, and a disturbing high amount of Atari systems. Not only that, but the developer has also made a bunch of tools for each of the systems that can benefit other upcoming homebrew developers. Going over all the games they've made would take some time, and that doesn't even include the demos, but some of the more well-known ones are the puzzle-platformers Alice's Mom's Rescue and the sequel Alice Sisters, the JRPG Zia and the Goddesses of Magic, and of course Elansar and its sequel Philia. The game we are talking about today is a small Myst-like, one of the more popular Point-and-Click Adventure games of its era. You arrive on a mysterious island, and you need to explore is and solve puzzles to unravel the mysteries behind it. A fairly generic premise but hey, it does the job. It's pretty much exactly what you expect: a short Myst-like game, so if that tickles your fancy, you might want to check it out!
I need to get back into my comfort zone. Let's see what we have to offer on Sega's side!
| Game |
|---|
 Demons of Asteborg (Genesis/Mega Drive)
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| Release date | August 4, 2021 |
| Price (default) | $14.39 ($9.75 on Steam) |
| Purchase link | Neofid Studios or Steam |
Word of warning before I start writing is that I saw some reports on the forum about different versions of the game. Not familiar with the rom myself to validate that, but if you are planning to check this out, some research in advance is recommended.
This is another game that has been on my list to play for quite a while now. Demons of Asteborg is a great looking Action-Adventure Platformer for the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive, and also available for Steam and the Nintendo Switch. Of the developers I'm talking about today, they are some of the newer faces in the industry--but that is definitely not a limiting factor. Demons of Asteborg was their first title released in 2021, and one of the successful Kickstarter stories I like hearing about. The goal of $35,000 was met with about $10,000 over it, and work started on it right away. The plan is also to make it somewhat of a series, with another game called Astebros being released two years later, which is a roguelike game detailing the beginnings of the kingdom of Asteborg. Right now they are also working on a Game Boy Advance and Neo-Geo AES/MVS remake called Demons of Asteborg DX, as well as a game called DaemonClaw that is also going to be available for the Genesis/Mega Drive. Suffice to say, this studio is one to keep an eye on for the coming years. Astebros is also currently claimed on RetroAchievements, but in the meantime you can check out the very first game. Demons of Asteborg is inspired by multiple retro titles of the time, like Ghouls'n Ghosts, Castlevania, and some rail shooters too like Panzer Dragoon. At the time of release, Demons of Asteborg ended up being the largest game ever published for the system with a total of 120 MB of content. Not surprising when there are 10 big levels and 4 playable characters to choose from, in an epic tale of humans and demons living in harmony in the kingdom until war broke out between the two. And with such a massive game, it also comes with a worthy set of a whopping 108 achievements! Speedruns, No Deaths, Collecting, and Minimalist; it's all here. You'll definitely get your money's worth with this one and hey, there is an achievement for petting the dog! Instantly one of the best homebrew games ever made, no question.
Alright, one more game to finish off today's article. There is still more than enough games to choose from, but I wanted to let my bias shine through once again.
| Game |
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 Repugnant Bounty (Game Boy Color)
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| Release date | December 23, 2022 |
| Price (default) | $15.00 CAD |
| Purchase link | Itch.io (Also available on Steam) |
Of course I would start- and end today with a Metroidvania, who do you think I am? I love my Metroidvanias! Repugnant Bounty is a Metroidvania game developer for the Game Boy Color by Starlab. I somewhat lied with Demons of Asteborg, as this homebrew developer is actually the newest face of this list, with Repugnant Bounty currently being their only game; but fret not, a new Zelda-like Action RPG game is in development called Children of Tydes, and it looks great. On their Twitter I also saw a Game Boy demake for Cave Story and a platformer called Kiwi World, but I couldn't find much information about both so this is what I have to offer for now. Good thing that what I have to offer is pretty good! Repugnant Bounty is inspired by hits such as Super Metroid, Cave Story, and more specifically Metroid II which is already on similar hardware and is often used as comparison. Starring alien princess Rosemarie, you are on a quest to seek genocide on the evil monsters responsible for killing her mother and people, killing all 28 threats in the process. And of course, I feel like a broken record throughout this article but the graphics look fantastic for the colored handheld. The achievement set also embraces the Metroidvania genre, with completion, anti-completion, and speedruns all being very much present for a good amount of replayability--and it comes with an RAguide too that has been previously featured on RAnews! If you're a fan of Metroidvanias, this is definitely one worth checking out.
And that's all for today! A very fun topic to write about and certainly one I have the intention to revisit again in the future. After all, I haven't even mentioned other popular titles like Goodboy Galaxy; I have to come back to this topic one day. But that's for the future. I hope you all enjoyed reading, and I'll see you again next month with another surprise topic!