Authorized Sega Genesis ROM hacks now available in Steam Workshop

As promised, Sega released the Genesis & Mega Drive Classics Hub on Steam today, giving fans of the company's 16-bit console games a virtual game room to relive those classics. Sega also added Steam Workshop support to its library of some 50 Genesis games, making it possible for modders to upload and share ROM hacks of Genesis and Mega Drive games.

While Sega says it's not releasing any official modding tools alongside today's update, Steam Workshop support is giving creators and fans a new way to share and experience these older games.

"Steam Workshop functionality is a platform to share the wealth of custom Mega Drive & Genesis ROMs out there and support the highly talented and engaged community of modders behind them," Sega community manager Daniel Sheridan wrote on the company's blog. "Now content creators can easily share their custom ROMs with other Mega Drive & Genesis fans giving a new perspective on so many beloved retro titles."

Some of the earliest contributions to the Sega Genesis Steam Workshop are character and sprite swaps for games like Sonic the Hedgehog and Ecco the Dolphin. Others, like Sonic 3 Complete and Ecco the Dolphin Rev. 01, are more like fan edits, offering a litany of tweaks and bug fixes. At least one upload is a fan translation: a Portuguese-language update to role-playing game Beyond Oasis.

There's also this:

Currently, it appears that some of the mods are uploaded by their original authors, like Stealth's Knuckles the Echidna in Sonic the Hedgehog mod, while others appear to have been uploaded by a third-party — specifically the Sonic 2 XL mod, which offers an overweight Sonic. One user has already uploaded a non-Sega published game: Konami's Contra: Hard Corps. It appears that Steam community members are trying to self-police the Workshop, asking unauthorized uploaders to allow original creators to bring their hacks and mods to Steam.

To celebrate the release of the Genesis & Mega Drive Classics Hub on Steam, Sega is discounting its five game collections by 66 percent. Each pack is now $2.55 each, down from $7.50, meaning you can get 50 Genesis titles for $12.75.