Fans of Halo probably know there was never an official 2D side scrolling game based on the franchise (at least not to my knowledge). Sure, there are several fan made games that are not endorsed by Microsoft. That includes this remake of Halo Zero by Earok over on Itch.io’s website based on the classic fan game of the same name. This is a fan port of a fan game. Confused yet?
They Might Be Okay with This, Might Not Be
Microsoft has been lenient with fans when it comes to Xbox games getting fan ports to other platforms. I have not heard of them shutting down a fan made game, now commercial ones by studios they purchased is another story. This means, they might be okay with Halo Zero and not pursue legal action like Square Enix or Nintendo do.
With all that said, I think the creator of Halo Zero will be okay as long as they keep away from putting their release behind a paywall (donations on Itch.io are a different slippery slope).
Created Using Scorpion Engine Coming to Many Platforms
The Scorpion Engine is cross platform for a few platforms such as the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive, Commodore Amiga, Neo Geo, etc. This means games made with it are very easy to release on those platforms, likely with minimal changes required.
This is a remake of Halo Zero by Dobermann Studios originally released in December 2005 for Windows. I wanted to make sure proper credit is given (Earok did as well on their itch.io page).
I do hope that there are some changes made to this port of Halo Zero to the various platforms. I doubt there is which is a shame that the different platforms won’t have versions optimized for their hardware like we saw in the 8 and 16-bit days. Still, if you are a fan of Halo Zero and wanted to play it on your Sega Genesis, Neo Geo or Commodore Amiga computer, here is your chance to at least play the first level.
Source – itch.io via Indie Retro News