A remarkable demo has just been released online for a new MSX2+ game that pays tribute to Video System's arcade Sonic Wings / Aero Fighters series.
MSX Wings is the work of the Brazilian fan developer André Silva and was first teased on the MSX.org forums over three years ago as an experiment to push the MSX 2+ to its limits.
It utilizes the MSX2+ screen 11 video mode (which supports a mix of RGB and YJK colour models and up to 12499 simultaneous colours) to realize the developer's vision of a smooth vertical scrolling shooter for the MSX computer, and is described on its GitHub as a "port of a famous shoot'em up arcade game [from] the '90s]." However, the game doesn't seem to be a straightforward conversion, instead seemingly remixing elements from a bunch of different Sonic Wings titles.
The demo that is available, for instance, features three levels, with the first of these being a Japanese city that seems to be modelled after Sonic Wings 3's opening stage.
It's currently unknown whether Silva plans to develop this tribute further, with the developer not being particularly sure of it himself. In the description on GitHub, he describes it as "probably just a demo" or "a proof-of-concept", but we're sure he won't be short of people wanting him to expand on what he's already built.
You can download the ROM of the demo here, or watch a video of it in action below: