At the annual 90s-style gaming convention, Retrocon in São Paolo, Brazil, Lucas Munhoz presented his Alex Kidd hack Noturno, which is set in the famous Transylvania and, unsurprisingly, features Count Dracula himself, who once again wants to conquer the land. Here is my article of this new game, which not only makes the hearts of all 8-bit gamers beat faster, but is also perfect for Halloween!

Facts

Developer/Publisher: LMS Retro
Platforms: Sega Master System, Sega Mega Drive, Sega Dreamcast
Release: July 25th, 2025
Genre: Platformer
Number of Players: 1

Noturno by LMS Retro from Brazil

Development

Lucas Munhoz, alias LMS Retro, is a Sega fan from Brazil who has already released several hacks and homebrews under the LMS Retro banner. With Noturno, he has released another game created with Calindro's KiddEd editor, which can be considered a hack heavily inspired by Castlevania and even reminiscent of Ghost House or Ghouls'n Ghosts. Munhoz presented and released the game at Retrocon 2025, which took place in São Paolo from July 25th to 27th, 2025. The music for the game was contributed by Guilherme Chirinea, who documented the creation of the soundtrack on his YouTube channel and has also composed many remixes of well-known video game tracks in general. The 4 MEG game cartridge has been tested on all versions of the Master System as well as on the Power Base of the Sega Mega Drive.

A look inside the instruction manual

Story & Gameplay

In 1591, during the Middle Ages, Europe was plagued by several disasters, but in Transylvania, the bloodsuckers led by Dracula were the greatest fear. Every winter solstice, he tried to rule the region, but always encountered resistance in the village of Bran, where wise women protected the place with seven magic balls. Nevertheless, Dracula attacked by surprise, stole the balls, and kidnapped the virgin Vania. Now the warrior Ricardo embarks on a mission to rescue her and protect the village from the next attack.
With the D-Pad, you can travel with Ricardo through Transylvania. He will jump by pressing Button 1 and with Button 2, he attacks the enemies. Press buttons 1 and 2 simultaneously to perform an aerial attack. The pause button takes you to a screen where you can see your current score and the number of extra lives you have. Ricardo can duck, but he cannot attack from this position. If you do a run-up and press the D-Pad up, you can perform a higher jump to reach certain places more easily.
The adventure takes the hero Ricardo through eight levels: the entrance to the castle, the sewers beneath the castle, a watchtower, the dungeon, the prison, machine rooms, Dracula's crypt, and the treasure tower. On his travels, Ricardo can find extra lives, treasures, and bags of gold. Cracked blocks may appear, and in some of them are extra lives hidden. The gang of enemies includes zombies, bats, burning skulls, snakes, and flying Medusa heads, but Ricardo also faces several bosses, such as Medusa herself, a giant spider, a skeleton, and finally the Count himself.

The graphics remember of Master System classics of the same genre, such as Master of Darkness or Bram Stoker's Dracula, and features eight differently designed levels with a rich color palette and many details. Lucas Munhoz has given free rein to his imagination and designed the walls in the background, as well as bridges and towers, in the best style of a real Dracula game. The night clouds in the sky, as well as water and other liquid substances, are animated and make the atmosphere even better. When enemies are defeated and stones are smashed, you hear the familiar sounds from Alex Kidd in Miracle World, but I think these sounds are quite fitting and will appeal to nostalgics. The pause screen and the overview map of the castle before the start of each level are also inspired by Miracle World, but have been reworked into something completely unique. The soundtracks fit perfectly to the respective levels and are nicely done with many different tunes. I didn't notice any notable bugs during gameplay.

Gordman's opinion

Noturno is great. Chirinea's soundtrack has some really cool beats, and each track not only sounds completely different from the previous one, but is also pure Master System and could easily be the soundtrack for a classic from the heyday of 8-bit legends. The story is simple and nothing new, but the intense colors and different levels make you want to play through the game to the end. Since Noturno was made with the KiddEd editor, it's no surprise to recognize the gameplay mechanics of Alex Kidd in Miracle World if you see the enemies. It took me about six attempts to crack the game, and that took an hour and a half to two hours. You don't always need games that take 30 hours to play, and Alex Kidd in Miracle World isn't any longer than that once you know it well. Noturno is much easier than Alex Kidd, though. It's a shame that the money you collect alongside the points can't be exchanged for anything. The money could have been left out and the value of the crowns collected could have been credited to the score.

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my gaming buddy Andreas Bendix, also known as Benne, who helped me to import the game. That was really helpful, because communicating with Lucas can be a bit unusual :D Nevertheless, he is a really nice guy who has put together a great game in Noturno, which is perfect for a free weekend evening or a nice Christmas holiday. I am proud to have Noturno in my collection now, with its very impressive cover, and recommend it to all fans of dark 8-bit games who also enjoy classics such as Master of Darkness.

Availability

You can get Noturno directly from LMS Retro, for example via Instagram. For a good understanding, I recommend the Deepl translator, but it is important to know that the shipping costs are very high. Shipping without insurance from Brazil to Germany currently costs around €30. It may be worth purchasing more than just one game from him. The ROM has not yet been published by Lucas Munhoz.

Links

- LMS Retro on Instagram: lms_retro
- Unboxing and gameplay video by 8BitBoyUK: Noturno on Sega Master System (Physical Edition)
- Longplay video by Chirinea: Noturno [Longplay]

Do you like my work? If you would like to help me cover the annual server costs for Game Treasure, you are welcome to send me a voluntary donation via PayPal to marco_kelm@yahoo.de. I am very grateful and appreciate any help!

All used pictures and screenshots in this article belong to their respective owners and have been taken for journalistic purposes only.