Castlevania Port Lets You Whip-Crack Through Dracula’s Castle on the SEGA Master System

SEGA Master System owners can finally get their hands on a playable Castlevania. Developer xfixium stunned everyone by releasing sample version 0.1 on the SMS Power forums on February 14, 2026, right in the midst of Valentine’s Day. This homebrew project ports the 1986 NES classic to the 8-bit SEGA console, retaining the majority of the original while adding visual flare drawn from the X68000 version that inspired Castlevania Chronicles.

Xfixium handles the coding and visuals, while Mondo adds some great visual elements and Louis The Sega Nerd brings the soundtrack to life. When you boot up the ROM on an emulator or your actual hardware, you will see the title screen, intro sequence, and even a sound test. From there, you may choose between traditional mode, which looks like the NES, and enhanced mode, which has finer redrawn details that expand the Master System’s limited color palette.

All six stages are available for exploration, however for the time being, Trevor Belmont’s sprite from Castlevania III serves as a temporary hero, whipping through castles that are still mostly vacant. You can climb stairs, avoid hazards, and cross dangerous platforms, but power-ups and adversaries are currently placeholders, with large empty spaces begging for your attention. There are a few problems, but the movement feels robust, and xfixium developed smooth scrolling from the start as a proof of concept.

In enhanced mode, the graphics really come to life. On the Master System display, the colors are more bright, the backgrounds have some depth, and the sprites have lovely sharp edges.Side-by-side comparisons reveal the difference, as what appeared blocky on the NES now appears much more detailed and with deeper tones. According to forum members, it appears similar to what the Mega Drive was capable of years ago and has a higher visual impact than the 8-bit NES.

The soundtrack conversions are straight from the NES but have been reworked to accommodate the Master System’s PSG chip. Louis has done an excellent job on songs such as the stage themes and boss music, and he has made the entire set available online for anyone to listen to. Right now, the early plays reveal some beautiful melodies, however a few notes fall short of the NES versions. The FM sound chips will be upgraded in the future, but the existing mix is already receiving high accolades for making the best use of the hardware.

The standard two-button control scheme makes gameplay extremely simple. The whip button is on one side and the leap button on the other, while the D-pad controls all other movements with precision. There are no fancy additions yet, only pure action that requires you to properly timing your swings and hops. The good news is that real hardware testing show it operates extremely well, even on original Master Systems and newer clones, with no slowdowns in sight. Download it here.
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