Xeno Crisis

Xeno Crisis is a twin-stick run-and-gun developed and published by the British studio Bitmap Bureau. Funded on Kickstarter, it released in 2019, initially for the Sega Genesis / Mega Drive and then across modern platforms including Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC. In 2023 Bitmap Bureau produced unofficial, unlicensed cartridge ports for the Nintendo 64 and GameCube — full boxed releases that run on original hardware, region-locked in the same way as period cartridges.

Players take the role of marines Bryce and Sarah, fighting through an overrun military outpost and clearing room after room of aliens in tightly designed arcade combat. The game wears its influences openly — Smash TV and Total Carnage — and layers in modern roguelite touches: a dodge roll, scarce ammo that forces melee improvisation, branching routes and per-run upgrades. It supports one or two players in local co-op.

The N64 edition matters as a flagship of the modern N64 homebrew and aftermarket-cartridge scene, evidence that new commercial software is still being authored for the console nearly three decades after launch. It is one of the four launch titles for the ModRetro M64 — but, as standard N64 software, it runs equally on an original Nintendo 64.