The Sega Master System may have been released almost four decades ago now, but that hasn't stopped a vibrant homebrew community from popping up around the beloved console, which is intent on delivering new experiences to keep fans glued to their controllers.
Out of all these developers, Badcomputer, the creator behind Star Runner and Blast Arena, is arguably one of the more prolific examples and has recently returned, yet again, with another promising title for the Sega hardware that we believe is worth checking out.
Frontier Force, as the project is called, is a fast-paced shoot 'em up for the SEGA Master System/Mark III, which appears to be a fresh take on the Space Invaders' style of fixed shooter gameplay.
Players step into the shoes of a sunglasses-wearing, laser-rifling-toting hero who must defend Earth's final outpost against waves of alien invaders, with the goal being to move the character left and right to evade projectiles while delivering your own devastating attacks on the encroaching army in between their attacks.
There are 5 stages to play through, 2 bonus stages to discover, and bosses ranging from minor threats to "HUGE end-stage" enemies. It also includes a soundtrack from the musician-composer Crisp and a bunch of different weapons that you can toggle between using the D-Pad on the Master System controller.
Here are some of the other features you can expect:
- Colourful SEGA Master System graphics
- 6 different weapons
- Over 40 unique enemies
- Dynamic difficulty
- Scoring mechanics to discover
Fancy giving it a go? You can grab the game now from itch.io for just $4.99. It also comes with a printable manual.