Ben 10 Homebrew Minimum Requirements

[mugenfighter]

I'm looking to homebrew a fan game with a couple of levels that is based on by Ben 10 Protector of Earth for DS on a retro console. I was wondering if anyone happened to knew which of the following retro consoles (without an addon) would be the minimum requirements to do something like that if I wrote my own code: NES, SNES, GBC, Game Gear, or Sega Genesis?

Note the the game would use some code to transform into several other characters.

[GradualGames]

That's a pretty complex question. No doubt you'd have to make some compromises no matter which system you picked. The older the system, the more compromises you would have to make. The number and nature of these compromises probably can't be anticipated in full just by glancing at the game on youtube as I've done. My suggestion would be, start working on a fan game that doesn't violate any ip, on a system you think you'd enjoy learning to write code for, and then see where it takes you. You might be happier with something that's all your own that's simply inspired by a game you like. Depending on how much programming experience you have, you would be well advised to start small first (think: small arcade game clones to learn the basics) before jumping to a full scrolling platformer with a large featureset like multiple player characters with differing behavior. I'd consider myself a pretty experienced programmer and I have yet to go for something quite that complex.

[mugenfighter]

That's a pretty complex question. No doubt you'd have to make some compromises no matter which system you picked. The older the system, the more compromises you would have to make. The number and nature of these compromises probably can't be anticipated in full just by glancing at the game on youtube as I've done. My suggestion would be, start working on a fan game that doesn't violate any ip, on a system you think you'd enjoy learning to write code for, and then see where it takes you. You might be happier with something that's all your own that's simply inspired by a game you like. Depending on how much programming experience you have, you would be well advised to start small first (think: small arcade game clones to learn the basics) before jumping to a full scrolling platformer with a large featureset like multiple player characters with differing behavior. I'd consider myself a pretty experienced programmer and I have yet to go for something quite that complex.

I was going cut out a bunch of other stuff. I do however, see your point. Maybe I could make it one you play as a pre-chosen character for each level (or part in some cases) Also I could get rid off the for alien and skin, but maybe add a bonus level where you play as a villain. I could also just make it a beat em up where it is just a single screen and make it a little more like a fighting game. I do have some experience with programming, not much with video game systems though, but I tend to learn pretty fast. However this seems to be less complex now, but still out of my league at the moment. I'm going check if there is a engine for the snes or genesis that has either be disassembled or written from scratch (with code available) that I can use.

Edit: Sorry I'm tired, I don't need the code.

[GradualGames]

Using an existing engine would likely prove to be more challenging than writing a game from the ground up. The reason is that due to the heavy constraints most retro systems need to contend with, most engines are tailored very specifically to the featureset of a given game. Therefore, the likelihood of finding an engine suitable for porting the specific game you have in mind is probably quite small. You'd wind up modifying it enough you may as well have written it from the ground up.

Disclaimer: I don't really know you or your capabilities, so take the below with a grain of salt.
My advice is to choose your favorite retro system, maybe the one you've spent the most time with, then search for tutorials or example code for that system. Then take baby steps and make simple programs and arcade clones. Once you feel confident with most of the basic parts of putting a game together, then move on to a larger project. I just fear if somebody doesn't try to gently push you in the right direction here, you're just going to flounder and be disappointed. What you're hoping to do is not easy---but not impossible. It will just take a lot of time and dedication. Give yourself 5 years. 1-2 years to get confident with the basics and then 3 years to build a (close to fullsized scrolling) game, and any tools you may need to write to support the effort. Some folks can get away with a smaller timeframe than that, but for someone with limited hobby time say to the weekends, this is quite doable.

[dougeff]

Super Mario World disassembled...
http://www.smwcentral.net/?p=section&a=details&id=4727

Sonic the Hedgehog disassembled...
http://info.sonicretro.org/Disassemblies

I didn't look at them closely, but I think these are them.