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

DICE Dice (singular die or dice) are small, throwable objects with marked sides that can rest in multiple positions. They are used for generating random values, commonly as part of tabletop games, including dice games, board games, role-playing g ...

. Originally due to be released for

Amiga Amiga is a family of personal computers introduced by Commodore in 1985. The original model is one of a number of mid-1980s computers with 16- or 32-bit processors, 256 KB or more of RAM, mouse-based GUIs, and significantly improved graphi ...

Genesis Genesis may refer to: Bible * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of mankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Book of ...

, and

Sega CD The Sega CD, released as the in most regions outside North America and Brazil, is a CD-ROM accessory for the Sega Genesis produced by Sega as part of the fourth generation of video game consoles. It was released on December 12, 1991, in Japan, ...

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 Hether ...

, in 1994 after it had been almost finished. The game was salvaged by publisher Strictly Limited Games and released together with the

Mega Sg The Mega Sg is a home video game console manufactured by Analogue (company), Analogue, released in 2019. It runs games developed for the Sega Genesis, Master System, Game Gear and SG-1000, systems released by Sega in the 1980s and early 1990s duri ...

aftermarket console in March 2019. Ports for

Nintendo Switch The is a hybrid video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. The console itself is a Tablet computer#Gaming tablet, tablet that can either be docking station, docked for use as a home video ...

PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013 in ...

, and

PlayStation Vita The PlayStation Vita (PS Vita, or Vita) is a handheld video game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 17, 2011, and in North America, Europe, and other international territo ...

released in 2020. A version compatible with original Sega Genesis systems was released in Japan in October 2019.

Gameplay

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

levels Level or levels may refer to: Engineering *Level (instrument), a device used to measure true horizontal or relative heights *Spirit level, an instrument designed to indicate whether a surface is horizontal or vertical *Canal pound or level *Regr ...

Development

Digital Illusions EA Digital Illusions CE AB (trade name: DICE) is a Swedish video game developer based in Stockholm. The company was founded in 1992 and has been a subsidiary of Electronic Arts since 2006. Its releases include the ''Battlefield'', '' Mirror's Ed ...

initially developed ''Hardcore'' for

, 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 that consists of five home video game consoles, two handhelds, a media center, and a smartphone, as well as an online service and multiple magazines. The brand is produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment, a divisi ...

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 Commodore may refer to: Ranks * Commodore (rank), a naval rank ** Commodore (Royal Navy), in the United Kingdom ** Commodore (United States) ** Commodore (Canada) ** Commodore (Finland) ** Commodore (Germany) or ''Kommodore'' * Air commodore, a ...

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 Fredrik Liljegren, also known as Fredrik Liliegren, is a Swedish programmer and businessman. He has worked at RedJade and co-founded the studio Digital Illusions and the demogroup The Silents. Early life and education Liliegren was born in Lund ...

and other former DICE employees, used an original Sega Genesis

development kit A software development kit (SDK) is a collection of software development tools in one installable package. They facilitate the creation of applications by having a compiler, debugger and sometimes a software framework. They are normally specific to ...

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 desi ...

the game to

and

, two modern systems, afterwards. At the time,

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...

, 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 exp ...

. Prior to release, ''Hardcore'' was retitled ''Ultracore'' due to licensing issues. ''Ultracore'' was first released as part of the

, 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 is also planned. In Japan, this version was released by Columbus Circle on 17 October 2019.

References

External links

* {{Portal bar, Video games 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