City Carnage 32X
A top-down crime sandbox for the Sega 32X, a clean-room reimplementation of the game design of Carnage3D, the open-source GTA 1 reimplementation, with its own city and assets.
Links go to the official store or developer page. Last verified Nov 3, 2026.
Rights holder / original work: Grand Theft Auto (Rockstar Games / Take-Two Interactive), via Carnage3D
A top-down crime sandbox that, according to its README, was built by reverse engineering Carnage3D, an open-source reimplementation of the first Grand Theft Auto, and re-implementing its game design system by system for the 32X. The README says the cartridge contains no GTA or Carnage3D assets and that the engine, tools and assets are original; the game uses GTA's “WASTED” death message, and the README lists Carnage3D's MIT-licensed weapon table among the repository's third-party reference data. No source mentions a licence from the rights holders. (Dmar3000 (itch.io))
VibeGameDB lists this game only to document that it was made with AI coding tools. We do not host it, we do not represent the rights holder, and listing it does not mean it is licensed.
Where to play
Every platform this game is on. Links are checked against official sources; we never host or mirror games.
- View on itch.ioitch.ioReleased · Homebrew Sega 32X ROM for a flashcart (Mega EverDrive Pro and X-series confirmed for saves) or a 32X emulatorFree
Download from itch.io.
Desktop · Official link verified Nov 3, 2026.
About City Carnage 32X
A top-down crime sandbox for the Sega Genesis with the 32X add-on, played as a score run: on foot or in a stolen car you earn cash by wrecking cars, taking out targets, grabbing pickups and finishing kill frenzies in one harbour city, Dockside, while a police wanted level rises; get busted and you lose a quarter of your takings, drive off the quay and your car sinks with you in it. There are five weapons (fists, pistol, machine gun, flamethrower and rocket launcher), 32 respawning crates, cars drawn at 64 headings, a fake-3D city of extruded buildings that can be switched off for 30 fps instead of 20, eight in-game radio stations, a two-player split-screen score attack and a top-five high-score table saved to the cartridge. The README calls it an original game built by reverse engineering Carnage3D, an open-source reimplementation of the first Grand Theft Auto, and re-deriving its design for 32X hardware, with no GTA or Carnage3D assets. The listing calls it “Vibe-coded” by D-Mar The Daytripper (Dmar3000 on itch.io), without naming the AI tool. The radio plays the developer's own instrumentals, and the box art is credited to Double K. A free 3.5 MB ROM for a flashcart or a 32X emulator.
How it was built
Partially verifiedThe itch.io listing describes the game as a “Vibe-coded Top-down Sandbox game for the Sega 32X”, it is tagged “vibe-coded”, and the page's AI disclosure ticks AI Assisted, Code, Graphics, Sounds and Text; the README says “Ported by D-Mar The Daytripper”. No source names the tool or model that wrote the code. The README says only the test harness and verifier templates come from Haroldo-Ok's sega-32x-skill-for-claude reference kit, so Claude is not recorded as the coding tool. In a comment on the page in early September 2026, the developer wrote that “we have to remind Arena” to cater to original Mega Drive and 32X hardware, which suggests the third-party chat service Arena AI was used; it does not say which model.
- UnverifiedREADME licensing: “The test harness/verifier templates come from the sega-32x-skill-for-claude reference kit. Everything else — engine, tools, assets — is original to this project.” It does not say Claude wrote the code. — Dmar3000 (itch.io)
A clean-room reimplementation of Carnage3D's game design, subsystem by subsystem, for the 32X; the README says a reverse-engineering document maps each system. The boot and startup files derive from the MIT-licensed marsdev 32X skeleton; the README says everything else, including the engine, tools and assets, is original to the project. The simulation uses 16.16 fixed point with table-driven trigonometry, the slave SH-2 mixes music, engine noise and one effect into the PWM output at 22 kHz from banked ROM, and the game uses the SEGA SSF banked mapper. Version 0.26.0 cut the cartridge from 5.5 MiB to 3.5 MiB by storing the radio as 4-bit ADPCM (the README says the whole saving came from the radio and nothing was cut) and, separately, reduced the game to one city, removing the other seven districts. The README says 19 scripted emulator tests plus six structural ones pass in PicoDrive, and that saves are confirmed on Mega EverDrive Pro hardware.
- Engine / framework
- No engine (32X homebrew code; boot files from the marsdev skeleton)
- Languages
- C
- Team size
- Not disclosed
- Development time
- Not disclosed
- Development cost
- Not disclosed
- AI-written code
- Not disclosed
- A lot of new updates! (itch.io devlog)
- I added instrumentals to my official music into the game!!! (itch.io devlog)
Verification notes: Listing text, AI disclosure, features and licensing from the itch.io page (updated 12 Oct 2026 19:44 UTC) and the README downloaded from it; devlogs dated 4 Sep, 5 Sep, 6 Sep and 7 Oct 2026. The itch.io information panel shows no publication date, and the earliest devlog (4 Sep 2026) already describes version 0.11.0, so no release date is recorded. AI tool: “Vibe-coded” is stated, but no tool is named for the code; the Claude skill kit is credited only for test templates, and the developer's comment about reminding “Arena” points to Arena AI, a third-party chat service not in our tool list. Language: the README lists C source files. Music: a devlog of 5 Sep 2026 says the radio stations are instrumental versions of the developer's own songs, while the page's AI disclosure also ticks Sounds; which sounds are AI-made is not stated. IP: the README says the game re-derives the design of Carnage3D, an open-source reimplementation of Grand Theft Auto (1997), and uses no GTA or Carnage3D assets; the death screen says “WASTED”, as in GTA. No source mentions a licence from Rockstar Games or Take-Two. The rating was observed on the itch.io page on 4 Nov 2026 (UTC). No source code repository is linked. The ROM was not run.
Development history
The first devlog on the page lists updates up to version 0.12.0; the developer writes “Still learning as I go!”.
DeveloperDmar3000 (itch.io devlog)The developer adds instrumental versions of their own songs as the in-game radio, per a devlog.
DeveloperDmar3000 (itch.io devlog)An update shrinks the ROM to 3.5 MB for wider flash-cart compatibility, per a devlog.
DeveloperDmar3000 (itch.io devlog)
Game performance
Each figure measures something different — concurrent players, owners, downloads and sales are never interchangeable and are never added together. Labels show where each number comes from.
itch.io
Free download: the ROM (3.5 MB), a README, hardware setup notes and a report on fitting the game into 4 MB.
Not publicly available: Gross revenue.
Reviews & rankings
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Sources
| Source | Type | Published | Accessed |
|---|---|---|---|
| City Carnage 32X by Dmar3000 itch.io | Store page | Not confirmed | Nov 3, 2026 |
| City Carnage 32X README.md (download on the itch.io page) Dmar3000 (itch.io) | Official site | Not confirmed | Nov 3, 2026 |
| A lot of new updates! Dmar3000 (itch.io devlog) | Devlog | Sep 4, 2026 | Nov 3, 2026 |
| I added instrumentals to my official music into the game!!! Dmar3000 (itch.io devlog) | Devlog | Sep 5, 2026 | Nov 3, 2026 |
| Possible additional flash cart compatibility!!! Now 3.5MB ROM update!!! Dmar3000 (itch.io devlog) | Devlog | Oct 7, 2026 | Nov 3, 2026 |
| Official game page (language check) Dmar3000 | Official site | Not confirmed | Nov 3, 2026 |
