It is time again for the annual SegaXtreme homebrew game competition! This is the sixth annual SEGA Saturn Anniversary Game Competition that I’ve hosted on SegXtreme since restarting the competition in 2019. As ever, this is not in association with or officially approved by SEGA. The competition is hosted on my website, and on the SegaXtreme forums.
We’ve had a bit of a delayed start on organizing this year’s competition. Some judges come and go, new and old friends join in, and perhaps the prize pool isn’t quit as extravagant as in some other years, but this is the big 30. The theme for this year is pride, the love of the game, and flexing on the Sony Ponies and Nintendo Naysayers. There are already several developers working on Saturn games in 2024, and the big 3-0 anniversary is the perfect opportunity to celebrate Saturn for the sake of the Saturn.
This year’s judges are Cerbero, Christa Lee, David Gámiz Jiménez, G to the Next Level, Jason Steele, Johannes Fetz, PandaMonium, Saturn Dave, and TraynoCo. New to this year’s Supreme Court of Saturn are Cerbero and G to the Next Level. Cerbero returns as an incumbent judge as a longtime community member of SegaXtreme. G to the Next Level is a Youtuber and Twitch streamer with a heavy emphasis on classic SEGA content. Check out his Twitch channel where G has been playing through Phantasy Star II.
This Supreme Court of Saturn was assembled out of a diversity of perspectives and tastes to ensure fair and impartial judging, and to encourage developers to appeal to multiple audiences. Removing myself from the judging process also allows me to compete with everyone else! The judges will rank all entries in the three competition categories: Original Games (OG), Hacks Patches and Translations (HPT), and Utilities (U).
The prize pool is currently around $550 at time of writing, split up in a weighted distribution between 16 winning rankings of the competition: top 7 OG, 6 HPT, and 3 U. The prize pool is donation driven (donate here to contribute.) Physical prizes include 3D prints from That’s It guys 3D Printing Service, courtesy Meleniumshane90. Anyone with a cash prize is entitled to their choice of the following 3D prints: SEGA CD/Saturn Game Case Snap Hinge Replacement, SEGA Saturn Battery Door Replacement, SEGA Saturn Controller Stand, SEGA Saturn Display Logo, ODE Tray Insert (options for Saturn and Dreamcast available).
There is a long history of homebrew game competitions on SegaXtreme dating back to the Rockin-B competitions from 2005 onward. For more on that history, read last’s years article on the SEGA Saturn 29th Anniversary Game Competition.
Every year, the competition gets dozens of entries. Many from known quantities, but often some surprise newcomers blow everyone away with projects from out of the blue. PandaMonium refers to the top ranked OG winners as “Iron Devs.” Previous Iron Devs include XL2, Fran Matsusaka, JBeretta and, incidentally, Xenos and myself as part of 2021’s Team Starlane. I have already assembled a team to make another attempt at this title, and I hope to see as many people as possible try the same.
It’s never too late to try your hand at game development. For beginners, Jo Engine augmented with ponèSound gives you everything you need to start out with some nice looking 2D games. The original SEGA developer library, SGL, is also available and mostly well documented, with tutorials available. We also likely will see some more skilled and forward-looking developers using mrkotfw’s Yaul, an open source Saturn library replacement. I, however, have a secret weapon that I will be relying on this year.
This year, entries are due on a Google form to ensure none of the logistical nightmare I’ve subjected myself to year after year. And NO MORE TIME EXTENSIONS.
Today is the Saturn’s 30th birthday in Japan. All entries need to be in by noon UTC on April 11, 2025 (8 a.m. EDT, April 11, 2025). This will give the judges a month to score the entries before we celebrate the Saturn’s 30th American birthday and announce the winners on a live stream on May 11.
Happy coding, everyone, and happy 30th Segata. セガサターン、シロ!
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