Super Nintendo owners are getting their own port of Bitmap Bureau’s corking top-down shooter, Xeno Crisis. It’s out later this year.
Originally developed for the Sega Mega Drive, Xeno Crisis has since been ported to numerous other systems, including the Dreamcast, Switch, N64 and Neo Geo. And, as reported by Time Extension, Bitmap Bureau’s cracking top-down shooter is finally getting a port to the Super Nintendo (or SNES if you prefer).
It’s an exciting bit of news, not least because Bitmap Bureau had previously talked to us about the difficulties of getting Xeno Crisis to run on SNES hardware.
“The SNES is a beast of its own,” Bitmap Bureau developer Matt Cope told us last year. “There are very limited, high-quality compile chains around for it. I tried porting the Xeno Crisis code to various compilers, and I could get it to the point where the code will compile, but it won’t link. Basically, the way memory banks behave is much more complicated than the Mega Drive. Also, the processor isn’t as performant in some ways. They both have pros and cons, but the Mega Drive is really great to cut your teeth on.”
Read more: Mega Drive | The indie devs still making games for Sega’s 16-bit console
Since that interview, Bitmap Bureau evidently had a technical breakthrough. “Many doubted it could be done (including ourselves!),” the studio wrote on Twitter recently, “but after some technical wizardry from our programmers, we now have Xeno Crisis running on Super Nintendo at 60fps!”
Many doubted it could be done (including ourselves!), but after some technical wizardry from our programmers, we now have Xeno Crisis running on the Super Nintendo at 60 fps! Enjoy the video and head to our online store to pre-order! #xenocrisis #supernintendo #SNES #RETROGAMING pic.twitter.com/u9Y5atesrN
— Bitmap Bureau Ltd. (@BitmapBureau) July 28, 2023
The SNES version of Xeno Crisis is available to pre-order now from the developer’s website. It’s available in PAL, Japanese and US region variants, and there’s a both regular and collector’s editions. The latter comes with a bunch of extras, including an alternate artwork on the box, postcards, posters, stickers, a soundtrack on cassette, and even your name assigned to an in-game hostage.
Shipping is expected to begin in late 2023. You can read our review of the Mega Drive version right here.
