''Ultracore'' (originally known as ''Hardcore'') is a run and gun video game developed by

DICE A die (: dice, sometimes also used as ) is a small, throwable object with marked sides that can rest in multiple positions. Dice are used for generating random values, commonly as part of tabletop games, including dice games, board games, ro ...

. Originally due to be released for

Amiga Amiga is a family of personal computers produced by Commodore International, Commodore from 1985 until the company's bankruptcy in 1994, with production by others afterward. The original model is one of a number of mid-1980s computers with 16-b ...

, Genesis, and

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platforms, the game was canceled by its publisher,

Psygnosis Psygnosis Limited (; known as SCE Studio Liverpool or simply Studio Liverpool from 1999) was a British video game developer and Video game publisher, publisher headquartered at Wavertree Technology Park in Liverpool. Founded in 1984 by Ian Het ...

, in 1994 after it had been almost finished. The game was salvaged by publisher Strictly Limited Games and released together with the Mega Sg aftermarket console in March 2019. A version compatible with original Sega Genesis systems was released in Japan in October 2019. Ports for

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, and

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were released in 2020; ports for

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and

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were released in December 2023.

Gameplay

''Ultracore'' is a run and gun game. The player collects weapon power-ups while moving through levels.

Development

Digital Illusions initially developed ''Hardcore'' for

, Genesis, and

platforms. Despite being "about 99 percent finished", the game's publisher,

, ultimately canceled the game in 1994. With the then-upcoming release of the 32-bit

PlayStation is a video gaming brand owned and produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), a division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. Its flagship products consists of a series of home video game consoles produced under the brand; it also consists ...

console, Psygnosis expected sales for 16-bit Sega Genesis games, including ''Hardcore'', to wane. A few videos of its gameplay also leaked over the years. Andreas Axelsson and Olof Gustafsson, two of DICE's founders, presented a demo of the game at the 2010 Datastorm exposition for Commodore enthusiast. In August 2018, German publisher Strictly Limited Games announced plans to finish and release the game. The company's team of nine people, including DICE co-founder Fredrik Liljegren and other former DICE employees, used an original Sega Genesis development kit to finish the game's production,

porting In software engineering, porting is the process of adapting software for the purpose of achieving some form of execution in a computing environment that is different from the one that a given program (meant for such execution) was originally desig ...

the game to

and

, two modern systems, afterwards. At the time,

Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at Sony City in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The Sony Group encompasses various businesses, including Sony Corporation (electronics), Sony Semiconductor Solutions (i ...

, the makers of the PlayStation, owned the Psygnosis back-catalog. Strictly Limited Games also attempted to add tank levels that were missing from the game with input from its original

designers A designer is a person who plans the form or structure of something before it is made, by preparing drawings or plans. In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, products, processes, laws, games, graphics, services, or exper ...

. Prior to release, ''Hardcore'' was retitled ''Ultracore'' due to licensing issues. ''Ultracore'' was first released as part of the Mega Sg, an aftermarket console for Sega Genesis games developed by Analogue, on March 25, 2019. ''Ultracore'' was released for PlayStation 4 and

on June 23, 2020, with a PlayStation Vita version releasing at a later date. A physical version compatible with original Sega Genesis systems was also planned. In Japan, this version was released by Columbus Circle on 17 October 2019. The game was released for

and

on 7 December 2023.

References

External links

* {{Digital Illusions 2019 video games Cancelled Amiga games Cancelled Sega CD games Digital Illusions CE games Nintendo Switch games PlayStation 4 games PlayStation Vita games Run and gun games Sega Genesis games Single-player video games Video games developed in Sweden