Daze Before Christmas – Sunsoft’s snow coated 16-bit platformer

Publisher Sunsoft made a name for themselves in the ‘80s by releasing high quality licensed games on the NES and Game Boy, based on such properties as Batman, Gremlins and Looney Tunes. Terminator and Superman games were once in development for the NES too, only to have their licenses revoked mid-development. It seems this played …

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Archer Maclean’s DropZone 40th Anniversary launches next month

System 3 has announced plans to release Archer Maclean’s DropZone 40th Anniversary on digital stores next month. Curiously, it’s skipping Xbox One and PS4 and gunning for PC, PS5, Xbox Series and Switch only. The refreshed HD visuals must pack a clout. The late Archer Maclean first released Dropzone in 1984 where it quickly became …

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Claymation shooter Platypus is set to return, resculpted and refreshed

Here’s a remaster different from most. Back in 2002, the colourful Claymation side-scrolling shoot’em up Platypus launched on PC before making its way to PSP in 2006. It’s about to gain a remastered re-release which isn’t merely a HD iteration – original creator Anthony Flack has been working with the Sheffield-based Claymatic Games to rebuild the …

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Five ‘Net Yaroze’ PlayStation games arrive on Antstream Arcade

Back in August it was revealed that Net Yaroze games are coming to Antstream Arcade. Today, the first five games are ready to launch on the retro game streaming service. Firstly though, and for the uninformed, Net Yaroze was Sony’s home development system based on the PS1, allowing budding programmers to create their own games. …

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Aero The Acro-Bat: Rascal Rival Revenge review

Over the past few months prolific indie publisher Ratalaika has been re-releasing games in the 16-bit platformer series Aero The Acro-Bat, including spin-off Zero the Kamikaze Squirrel. We’ve duly arrived at the last entry in the franchise, and it’s something of a departure. Whereas the previous games were for Mega Drive and SNES, Aero The Acro-Bat: …

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Atari 50’s ‘The First Console War’ DLC launches 8th Nov

In September, the retro collection Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration received its first paid DLC, The Wider World of Atari. Next week (8th Nov) the second piece of paid DLC launches, featuring another 19 games. The First Console War, as it’s known, details the battle between the Atari 2600 and Mattel’s Intellivision through a new …

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Konami’s Metamorphic Force is a forgotten fusion of Altered Beast and Golden Axe

Konami’s scrolling arcade beat’em ups from the ‘90s are well documented online, with countless ‘let’s play’ videos available on YouTube and full written histories for certain key entries. Some of these games are even playable on modern consoles, with the likes of Turtles in Time and its predecessor gaining re-releases via The Cowabunga Collection. Nowadays …

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Seasons bleepings – TAITO Milestones 3 launches 10th December

It looks like we’re in for some retro action this December, with TAITO Milestones 3 set to launch on 10th Dec. This is, as it happens, the same day the scrolling beat’em up Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Rita’s Rewind is out. A potentially expensive day for retro diehards! TAITO Milestones 3 is due both digitally …

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Two more modern Mega Drive indies are coming to Evercade in December

December sees another dual game cart for the Evercade. As many owners will testify, Blaze’s dual carts tend to be pretty good, with the standard generally higher and the games themselves more complex. Metal Dragon and Life on Mars are two modern indie Mega Drive games from Spanish studio Kai Magazine Software, known for pushing …

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Toaplan Arcade 4 announced for Evercade, including Snow Bros. 2

We never expected Blaze’s line of Toaplan cartridges to reach number 4 quite so quickly, especially when Toaplan Arcade 3 hasn’t released yet. We aren’t complaining though – Toaplan’s back catalogue hasn’t exactly been overexposed over the years. Due out in December, Toaplan Arcade 4 will include six titles. Oddly, they aren’t exclusively arcade titles. …

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Tomb Raider IV-VI Remastered leaps out of the shadows next February

Following on from yesterday’s STAR WARS Episode I: Jedi Power Battles re-release reveal, publisher Aspyr has officially announced Tomb Raider IV-VI Remastered. Due February 14th, it’ll be the third re-release from Aspyr in so many months, with Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1-2 Remastered also due in December.  Core Design’s Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation, Tomb Raider: …

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Tetris Forever’s game list finally pieced together

Digital Eclipse’s block rockin’ Tetris Forever collection – the latest in their Gold Master Series – will include over fifteen games in total, mostly stemming from Nintendo formats. This is in addition to new title Tetris Time Warp, which mixes different mechanics from various Tetris games. Here’s the list of confirmed titles, as provided by …

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