Hellfire Saga
By Red Miso Studios
Hellfire Saga is back in the Sonic Hacking Contest once again. And this time, we brought you a completed game.
This is a hack of Sonic 3 & Knuckles that is a cross-over between Castlevania, Ghosts 'n Goblins and Sonic game series, focused on boss fights (but not forgetting fast-paced platforming either!) and providing a unique story and aesthetic not seen in other hacks of the Sonic games.
If you only remember us from the last contest we appeared in, the game has received a monstrous amount of polish and new content, and is now completely playable from start to finish.
Overall features:
- 10 acts of fast-paced platforming and hard-as-nails fights across 4 zones;
- 15 mini-bosses to fight, 3 major bosses to really sink your teeth into, and one final boss that really is something special;
- A soundtrack of remixes and original songs that pushes the console to its absolute limits, available in the Sound Test as well;
- Four difficulty modes, including Normal, Hard, Assist (if you're struggling, and we don't judge by the way!), and Maniac (if you are truly insane);
- And finally, a mode that disables flashing effects, if you need that.
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Now, if you've played our January 2023 release, we've still got a few things for you in this v2.0 update...
- The game has received a lot of tweaks and polish.
- The final boss now has a new music track for the second phase.
But for those who remember the original and want an excuse to perfect their skills...
Welcome to Extra mode. Your playthroughs will be judged. You will need to train to achieve a perfect run and be set free. The world has not forgotten your misdeeds. You reap what you sow.
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Emulator/hardware support:
- We recommend Kega Fusion, Genesis Plus GX, BlastEm and real hardware.
- Unlike v1.0 and like v1.1, Picodrive is supported.
- Gens is not supported.
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We are grateful to every single one of you who have supported us over the course of these long five years. We hope to meet the same amount of support in our next ventures.
Red Miso Studios Staff
These are the people who stayed with us until the end.They are the ones who have made this game possible.
- FoxConED -- Red Miso Studios founder, project lead, music lead, music composing and arranging, programming, some visual design, programming development tools
- Narcologer -- Project lead, main game concept, bosses, enemies, general programming
- TheBlad768 -- Programming lead, SCE game engine, bosses, general programming, level gimmicks, art rips, music ports
- pixelcat -- Art, level design and writing lead, tilesets and backgrounds, sprites, animations, level layouts and gimmicks, logo and UI art, music
- Sergey ESN -- Extensive sprite art contributions
- VAdaPEGA -- Sprite art, minor SFX design
- Dolphman -- Sprite art
- CatswellMeow -- Sprite art
- SoS -- Final boss concept art
- MarkeyJester -- Final boss implementation, some art, general programming
- ProjectFM -- Bosses, general programming
- lavagaming1 -- Object programming
- DeltaWooloo -- Level design, writing
- Gerry Trevino -- Music composing
- GENATAR_i -- Music composing and arranging
- Yamahearted -- Music composing and arranging
- N-BAH -- Music arranging
- Hotmilk -- Writing
- Solareyn Eylinor -- Tie-in animations, cutscene supervision
- sndk -- Major support
Retired Staff
These are the people who were in the team at some point during the project's development, but left before the project was complete.
- VladislavSavvateev -- General programming, early splash screens, programming development tools
- SHooTeR -- General programming and programming development tools
- Trickster -- Sprite art, some help with the SCZ1 background
- Naoto -- Sprite art
- JustMe -- Sprite art
- Dakras -- Sprite art
- ViruSSoFT -- Writing
- SuperEgg -- Early level design
- LuigiXHero -- Early level design
- AURORA*FIELDS -- Programming, sound driver, error handler mods, level design
Testing
These people helped us iron out bugs and imperfections during the game's development.
- malamus
- Valeev
- Tailsovich
- pbj
- KGL
Special Thanks
Although they have not been a permanent part of the team, their open source or direct contributions have been invaluable to the project.
- Vladikcomper -- Programming, improved Kosinski, Nemesis alghorithms, Advanced Error Handler
- Flamewing -- Ultra DMA Queue, improved Kosinski Module alghorithm
- John Tay -- FDZ2 and credits music arrangement
- ralakimus -- HUD implementation and bugfixes
- cuberoot -- Help regarding programming development tools
- shinbaloonba -- Sonic and Tails sprites
- Skylights -- Tikal sprites
- teamhedgehog -- Honey sprites
- Gabriel_aka_Frag -- Rouge sprites
- VBL -- Early draft of the final boss art
If you're not on the above list of people and think we forgot you, contact us!
Art used from other games
As a Sonic hack and a tribute to other series, we have used art from various games to represent bosses and enemies.Most of it has been heavily reworked, but we still want to give credit where it is due.
- Sonic the Hedgehog 1-3K
- Castlevania (Bloodlines, Rondo of Blood, Dracula X, Symphony of Night, Super ~ 4, Java)
- Ghosts 'n Goblins (ARCADE), Ghouls 'n Ghosts, Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts
- Kid Chameleon
- The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
- Splatterhouse 2
- Demon's Crest
- Sparkster: Rocket Knight Adventures 2
- Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse
- GS Mikami
- OMORI
- Galares
- The Adventures of Batman & Robin
- Contra: Hard Corps
Music credits
- The soundtrack of the hack is comprised of both original music and covers.
- FDZ1.1: Actraiser -- Filmore, arranged by FoxConED
- FDZ1.2: Rusty (PC-98) -- Queen in the Dark Night, arranged by John Tay
- FDZ2: Super Castlevania IV -- The Forest of Monsters, arranged by FoxConED
- FDZ3: Dahna: Megami Tanjou -- Stage 5-1, ported by TheBlad768
- SCZ1: Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin -- The Gears Go Awry, arranged by FoxConED and GENATAR_i
- SCZ2: Periphery -- Captain On, arranged by FoxConED and GENATAR_i
- SCZ3: Dahna: Megami Tanjou -- Stage 7-2, ported by TheBlad768
- MGZ1: Castlevania: Symphony of the Night -- Dracula's Castle, arranged by FoxConED
- MGZ2: Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow -- Clock Tower, arranged by FoxConED and GENATAR_i
- MGZ3: Rusty (PC-98) -- Mysterious Chapel, arranged by FoxConED
- Microboss: Akumajou Dracula -- Creatures in the Depth, arranged by FoxConED and N-BAH
- Miniboss: HS Original by Yamahearted
- FDZ Major Boss: Rusty (PC-98) -- Rhythm of the Dark, arranged by FoxConED and GENATAR_i
- SCZ Major Boss: Gerry Trevino -- Imhotep, arranged by FoxConED and GENATAR_i
- MGZ Major Boss: Doom Eternal -- BFG-10000, arranged by FoxConED
- Final Boss Phase 1: HS Original -- Through Hell and Fire by Gerry Trevino, arranged by FoxConED and GENATAR_i
- Final Boss Phase 2: Periphery -- Follow Your Ghost, arranged by FoxConED and pixelcat
- Title Theme: HS Original by Gerry Trevino, arranged by FoxConED and GENATAR_i
- Options: Dragon's Fury -- Bonus Table 8, ported by TheBlad768
- Spirit World: HS Original by GENATAR_i
- Death: Castlevania: Bloodlines -- Live Lost, ported by TheBlad768
- Notice: Megami Tanjou -- Game Over, ported by TheBlad768
- Results: HS Original by GENATAR_i
- EX Mode Results: HS Original by pixelcat
- Credits: ONE OK ROCK -- Vandalize, arranged by John Tay
File Type: rom/mega-drive
File Size: 3.9 MB
the first entry i played from SHC 2023 and MY GOD.
its already a 10/10 for me. quite literally one of the best games i played this year. i love Castlevania and i loved this Sonic-Castlevania mashup. its a fantastic concept and Sonic's speed and capabilities really does compliment the horror setting that Castlevania is known for.
Level design is great , the inclusion of text boxes is fantastic , the visuals are insane
Red Miso Studios , thank you for this and thank you for your hardwork
Norm hack people are trying so hard to do it all.
Guys, we have the winner right here.
This is SO good dude
Also the disclaimer at the start is hilarious, sorry you probably had to deal with so many stupid kids begging you to port your "sonic.exe" game to mobile lol
Though I will say, the design of theghosts in Forest of Decay Act II are a little... are you from outside of the US? Because those ghost enemies bear a STRIKING resemblance to KKK members...
Last modified by AortaPlatinum @ 2023-10-23 14:26:04
While the theme is not my cup of tea, I gotta admit that this hack keeps maturing like a fine booze.
The level of polish after five years is simply great, a good product on its own. It's the little details that counts, and oh my god, this hack is a excellent example of that. Great contender, even if you do not like the setup. Top notch art, good level layouts, fine soundtrack selections, good gameplay for all players. Straight to the top three of 2023, no doubt!
I have been following this hack for several years and I am glad to see it has been completed! And I must say, it was well worth the wait! I look forward to checking out your future projects!
this is a wonderful hack, outstanding music, great visuals, awesome gameplay, and challenging bosses that are fun! one of the most amazing hacks i've seen in a very long while, final boss was visually impressive! i can't wait to see more from the team behind this hack, and much more to come :]
This hack blew me away from January's release! It deserves to reap a lot of trophies!~
This hack is certainly among those with a high probability of being in the top three. The originality in the graphics and story script are surprising. Congratulations to all of team.
perfect game! It works perfectly on real hardware, stable framerate, zoom and rotation effects without the help of Sega CD or 32x, only the best Mega Drive/Genesis developers can achieve this feat. Looking forward to seeing future projects
God! How cool is that. The best hack is here)
This is a powerful hack for Sonic, the hack is really outstanding and I like it very much