Development Tools/Software
Emulation
| Name | Creator | Description |
|---|---|---|
Ares Prerelease v146 2025-08-19 1.04 - 1.png) |
Ares Team +MegaLD support by Nemesis |
An unnofficial Ares v146 prerelease with functioning MegaLD emulation support, serving as a reference implementation for following work by others. MegaLD emulation support was built from extensive reverse-engineering of the register interface of the Pioneer PD6103A IC using the MegaLDRegEditor program below on real hardware, and most aspects of the hardware are emulated fully and correctly at this time. This is the first LaserActive emulator capable of booting and running games, and currently supports all titles available for download here, with no known differences from the real hardware. Notes: -Bios files are required to play, and can be found at archive.org. Select them in Ares under Settings->Firmware. -Define your input keys under Settings->Input by selecting “Mega LD” from the combobox. -Load games under Load->Sega->Mega LD. -It is strongly recommended to run games off a solid-state drive. -Laserdiscs have more than one side. For games that have content on more than one side (IE, JB Harold), you can change sides under “Mega LD->Change Sides” in the main menu. -Any reasonably modern mid to high end PC should achieve full framerates during gameplay. -Games are stored in a new .mmi (Mixed Media Image) file format, which contains the full analog audio, video, and digital content in a single file. This can be loaded directly into Ares. The MMI format has internal compression support. Do not compress. |
| Ghost Rush! (J) - PEASJ1018 2025-08-19 Release - 32GB torrent  - PEASJ1018 - 1.png)  - PEASJ1018 - 2.png) |
Hary & Company | A dungeon crawler through a haunted mansion where you try and capture ghosts. A quirky and reasonably well done title. Region free, multi-language. Note that this is an initial release. Analog video quality improvements will come later, as more copies are ripped and stacked together to correct errors. |
| Goku (J) - PEASJ1010 2025-08-19 ReleaseRelease - 36GB torrent  - PEASJ1010 - 1.png)  - PEASJ1010 - 2.png) |
Multimedia Creators Network | Edutainment title exploring the 7 wonders of the ancient world. Region free, however discs are not multi-language, with baked-in language matching their region. Note that this is an initial release. Analog video quality improvements will come later, as more copies are ripped and stacked together to correct errors. |
| Hi-Roller Battle (U) - PEASU1002 2025-08-19 ReleaseRelease - 33GB torrent  - PEASU1002 - 1.png)  - PEASU1002 - 2.png) |
CRC Research Institute | A fairly sub-par rail shooter with below-average gameplay, and disappointing in-game visuals. It has intro footage taken from high quality recordings which have been properly converted however, making the intro of this game one of the better examples of how good FMV sequences could look on the hardware. Region free. Currently unknown if language differs between region. Note that this is an initial release. Analog video quality improvements will come later, as more copies are ripped and stacked together to correct errors. |
| Hyperion (U) - PEASU5019 2025-08-19 Release - 31GB torrent Hyperion (J) - PEASJ5019 2025-08-19 Release - 32GB torrent  - PEASU5019 - 1.png)  - PEASU5019 - 2.png) |
Taito | Quite a well done Star Fox-style rail shooter, where you control the movements of a craft on the screen within a flight route on rails, dodging scene elements rendered via the analog video which can damage your craft. Coming out over two years before Star Fox 64, this is probably the most impressive rail shooter of this form from the era. Region free, however voices/text are English in both regions. Note that this is an initial release. Analog video quality improvements will come later, as more copies are ripped and stacked together to correct errors. |
| J.B. Harold - Blue Chicago Blues (J) - PEASJ5036 2025-08-19 Release - 134GB torrent  - PEASJ5036 - 1.png)  - PEASJ5036 - 2.png) |
Riverhill Soft | FMV murder mystery detective game, with a surprising amount of freedom. You have control over where to go, what actions to take, and what questions to ask. This title came on a double-sided CLV disc, giving it four times the video content of a typical single-sided CAV LaserActive title. The game also used separate video streams per field, to squeeze a whopping 4 hours of footage into one disc. You pay for this in file size though - this title is considerably larger than most other LaserActive games. Region free, multi-language. Note that this is an initial release. Analog video quality improvements will come later, as more copies are ripped and stacked together to correct errors. |
| Myst B Test (U) - 02-111 (Prototype) 2025-08-19 Release - 32GB torrent  - 02-111 (Prototype) - 1.png)  - 02-111 (Prototype) - 2.png) |
Cyan Sunsoft |
The first of the two LaserActive Myst prototypes known to exist. This game is generally more broken than the second beta, with multiple instances of incorrect footage being shown, and the main menu not showing. It does however not have as many long video sequences which fail to stop at the correct point in time. Generally the second prototype is better for playing however. Note that this is an initial release. Analog video quality improvements will come later, as more copies are ripped and stacked together to correct errors. |
| Myst B2 Test (U) - 02-110 (Prototype) 2025-08-10 Release - 33GB torrent  - 02-110 (Prototype) - 1.png)  - 02-110 (Prototype) - 2.png) |
Cyan Sunsoft |
The second of the two LaserActive Myst prototypes known to exist. This game is one of the most advanced uses of the LaserActive hardware, making extensive use of single-frame or short animation sequences, looping sequences, and overlapping up to four distinct video streams with audio in the same disc regions. Being a prototype, the game contains numerous errors, which also occur on the real hardware. Some notes to help with playing this title: -Due to a game logic bug, video sequences which use frame skipping often play either 2x or 4x longer than they are supposed to, causing random following video data to appear on the screen. This happens for the main game introduction, as well as for many animation sequences in game. If you are patient, the “overrun” will eventually finish and the game will return to its correct position. This issue is likely fairly simple to fix as a hack, but it makes the game difficult to play currently. -Unless you select a language, the game runs in a broken mix of English and Japanese. Set the language when starting a new game to correct this. -The cursor can disappear in the pause menu. Be careful where you click. -The game save feature appears to be non-functional. |
| Pyramid Patrol (U) - PEASU5001 2025-08-10 Release - 28GB torrent Pyramid Patrol (J) - PEASJ5001 2025-08-19 Release - 31GB torrent  - PEASU5001 - 1.png)  - PEASU5001 - 2.png) |
Taito | Quite well done on-rails shooter, with some limited branching. Fairly difficult. Note that this is an initial release. Analog video quality improvements will come later, as more copies are ripped and stacked together to correct errors. |
| Rocket Coaster (U) - PEASU5013 2025-08-10 Release - 32GB torrent  - PEASU5013 - 1.png)  - PEASU5013 - 2.png) |
Taito | Racing simulator. No branching, but makes advanced use of video playback speed control, including playing in reverse. Note that this is an initial release. Analog video quality improvements will come later, as more copies are ripped and stacked together to correct errors. |
| Space Berserker (U) - PEASU1003 2025-08-10 Release - 28GB torrent Space Berserker (J) - PEASJ1003 2025-08-19 Release - 28GB torrent  - PEASU1003 - 1.png)  - PEASU1003 - 2.png) |
Hary & Company | Fairly average on-rails shooter, with no branching. Region free and multi-language, however the Japan release fails to play Mega Drive sounds under the US bios. Run with the Japan bios instead, or use the US version of the game, which works fine under either the US or Japan bios. Note that this is an initial release. Analog video quality improvements will come later, as more copies are ripped and stacked together to correct errors. |
| Time Gal (J) - PEASJ5039 2025-08-19 Release - 36GB torrent  - PEASJ5039 - 1.png)  - PEASJ5039 - 2.png) |
Taito | An animated quick time event (QTE) game in the style of Dragon’s Lair, with on-screen prompts to guide your actions. Region free, but only made available in Japan with Japanese voices. Note that this is an initial release. Analog video quality improvements will come later, as more copies are ripped and stacked together to correct errors. |
| Triad Stone (U) - PEASU5014 2025-08-19 Release - 34GB torrent  - PEASU5014 - 1.png)  - PEASU5014 - 2.png) |
Data East | An animated quick time event (QTE) game in the style of Dragon’s Lair, with on-screen prompts to guide your actions. Region free, multi-language. Note that this is an initial release. Analog video quality improvements will come later, as more copies are ripped and stacked together to correct errors. |
| Vajra (J) - PEANJ1001 2025-08-19 Release - 29GB torrent  - PEANJ1001 - 1.png)  - PEANJ1001 - 2.png) |
Data West | Not currently playable! This is an LD-ROM2 disc for the LaserActive, requiring the NEC PAC-N1/PAC-N10 module rather than the Sega PAC-S1/PAC-S10. This is here as a reference, to assist in future emulation efforts of the NEC PAC module. Note that this is an initial release. Analog video quality improvements will come later, as more copies are ripped and stacked together to correct errors. |
Original Tools
| Name | Creator | Description |
|---|---|---|
| PAC-PC1 Program Editor | Pioneer |
Community Tools
| Name | Creator | Description |
|---|---|---|
| DumpMegaLD | Nemesis | A Mode 1 MegaCD ROM with source, capable of initializing the Laserdisc hardware from the PAC-S1/S10 device, and performing a rip of the digital content of a MegaLD/LDROM2 disc over the second controller port. Full raw sector data and subcode extraction supported. This is obsolete with full RF capture and decoding techniques. |
| MegaLDRegEditor | Nemesis | A Mode 1 MegaCD ROM with source, capable of initializing the Laserdisc hardware from the PAC-S1/S10 device, and allowing full interactive reading/writing to the PD6103A IC register block, which is what bridges the MegaCD hardware in the PAC-S1/S10 with the LaserActive system. The presence of this chip and the features it provides is the only thing that makes the PAC-S1/S10 meaningfully different from a standalone Mega Drive with a MegaCD attached. |
| LDBIOS.INC | Nemesis | Reverse-engineered BIOS routine entry points for the MegaLD bios on the PAC-S1/S10, in the same format and style as the CDBIOS.INC file from the official MegaCD SDK, however this is not an official file provided by Sega. In addition to the BIOS routines, the header contains detailed notes on efforts to reverse-engineer the functionality of the PD6103A IC register block. The information contained in this document is sufficient to make an attempt at emulating the LaserActive hardware, using a working MegaCD emulator as a base. This file would enable the development of custom MegaLD titles, as well as assist with the reverse-engineering of the LaserActive bios and LaserActive games. Note that this file is currently out of date. Updated notes with new and corrected information can be found in source comments within the Ares fork listed above. |