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GamesRadar
GamesRadar
Technology
Dustin Bailey

"Pirated ROMs hurt small indie teams": Legendary Japanese dev asks gamers to "please support us through official channels" after a "hacked ROM" of new 16-bit shooter appears following Steam release

Steam Sega
A space pilot in a 16-bit pixel art style, from Earthion.

Earthion, a new 16-bit shmup, launched on Steam last week to no shortage of praise from retro fanatics. This is a genuine Sega Genesis (or Mega Drive, if you prefer) game developed to run on retro hardware, and the Steam version is essentially an emulator with an encrypted ROM file packaged in. That ROM file has now made it to the internet at large, but the devs are begging players to support the official release.

"A hacked ROM of Earthion is being circulated online," according to a tweet from Yuzo Koshiro, legendary Streets of Rage composer and game director on Earthion. "Some people may think it’s official, but it’s not. The official version is available only on Steam for now. The MD/Gen version will launch next year as a cartridge only. No downloadable ROM is planned. Please support us through official channels."

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