Sega Mega Drive is getting a native port of Columns II after 36 years

Developer masterlinkueibr is working on something Sega never released during the Mega Drive era: a native port of Columns II: The Voyage Through Time for Mega Drive and Genesis hardware. Yes, Columns II on a Mega Drive. Finally. The project takes Sega’s 1990 arcade puzzle game, originally built for the System C board, and moves it across to the company’s 16-bit home console. It’s already well beyond the early experiment stage, too. The main game has been ported, the sound driver is running, SRAM saving works, and a new options screen has been written for settings previously controlled through arcade DIP switches. There’s still work left. Colour palettes need more attention and bugs remain on the list. The core conversion, though, is already in place.

Columns II never received a proper Mega Drive release

The original Columns needs little introduction for Mega Drive players. Sega’s answer to the early falling-block puzzle boom traded Tetris-style shapes for vertical stacks of three coloured jewels. Players could rearrange each stack before it landed, with matches made vertically, horizontally or diagonally. Chain reactions quickly became the real attraction.

It was simple, fast and a natural fit for Sega’s home hardware. Columns II arrived in arcades in 1990 under the full title Columns II: The Voyage Through Time. It kept the same basic rules, then mixed things up with extra modes and changing visual themes.

Flash Columns became one of its main additions. Instead of chasing a high score alone, players had to clear a flashing piece buried beneath other objects. Stage graphics changed across the game, swapping the familiar jewels for themed items linked to different historical periods.

Yet Sega never produced a standalone Mega Drive version during the console’s commercial run. The first Columns made the jump. Its sequel didn’t. Masterlinkueibr’s project now aims to fill this rather curious gap.

Sega System C makes this port unusually direct

There’s a useful technical reason why Columns II suits this kind of conversion. Sega System C hardware shares plenty with the Mega Drive architecture, including its Motorola 68000 CPU foundation. So this isn’t a case of rebuilding an arcade game from scratch for a completely unrelated machine. Large parts of the original program can move across far more directly.

Masterlinkueibr describes the game itself as having received a near one-to-one conversion. Sega’s closely related hardware gives the project a useful head start, but some differences still need manual work. Colour has proved to be the big one.

The colours are taking the most work

System C and Mega Drive hardware don’t produce their palettes in quite the same way. So copying the arcade colour values across isn’t enough. Masterlinkueibr has recreated the palettes by hand, with further adjustment planned before release.

It’s the sort of problem capable of making a port technically correct yet visually wrong. A title such as Columns II relies heavily on clear, distinct objects across the playfield, so small colour differences can become obvious very quickly.

Palette work remains one of the biggest jobs left. The developer has created a custom test mode partly for this reason. Screens and colours can be inspected directly, making graphical errors and other bugs easier to track during development.

The original sound driver is running too

Sound has proved more straightforward. The System C version doesn’t rely on a separate Z80 programme for its audio in the same way many Mega Drive games do. Its audio code runs from the 68000 side and uses FM channels, giving masterlinkueibr a much cleaner route for the conversion.

The sound driver has now been ported successfully. Rather than rewriting the music system from scratch or creating a loose recreation, the Mega Drive version can use code closely related to the arcade original. For a port built around accuracy, that’s a useful win.

Arcade DIP switches now have a proper options menu

Some changes make more sense on a console. Arcade operators originally configured parts of Columns II through DIP switches on the hardware. That isn’t terribly useful once you’re sitting in front of a Mega Drive with a controller. Developer Masterlinkueibr has replaced this setup with a new in-game options menu. Players can change the relevant settings without touching anything outside the game.

It’s a small addition, but exactly the sort of work needed when arcade software moves into a home-console format. There’s SRAM support too. High scores and bookkeeping data can survive after the console shuts down, giving the port persistent storage suited to cartridge hardware. The original arcade structure remains, with a few sensible changes around it.

What’s left before Columns II is finished?

The remaining list is refreshingly short. Developer Masterlinkueibr plans to continue improving the palettes and fix outstanding bugs. No release date has been announced yet, with the Mega Drive port still described as work in progress.

Much of the difficult groundwork appears finished. The game code is running. The FM sound driver has crossed over. Arcade settings have a console-friendly menu. SRAM saving works. Testing tools are in place. For a Sega sequel missing from the Mega Drive library since 1990, Columns II is suddenly much closer to having the 16-bit conversion it never received.

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