Without wanting to sound like a broken record, there was a time in the late ‘90s and early noughties when 2D visuals had fallen out of fashion. Some ‘90s critics even scoffed at the PS1 and Saturn versions of In The Hunt – a precursor to the almighty Metal Slug, sporting a similar art direction. …
If you’re familiar with the GBA’s library, you may have come across Blender Bros. – one of the few 2D platformers for the handheld that wasn’t based on a kids’ show or animated movie. Originally developed by Hudson Soft and published by Infogrames in the US, it’s one of the GBA’s rarer games nowadays, routinely …
Shoot’em up fans can take a bite out of Flying Shark and Fire Shark this August, with a new collection titled Toaplan Arcade Garage: Flying Fire Shark planned for PS4 and Switch. Six games feature in the collection: Developers M2 are including a new Super Easy Mode for newcomers in both Flying Shark and Fire Shark. Arcade Challenge …
Long time PlayStation fans may recall Namco’s Cyber Sled – an arcade sci-fi tank shooter that came to Sony’s brand spanking new console not long after the publisher’s own Ridge Racer. While Cyber Sled will likely gain an Arcade Archives re-release at some point, Hamster has chosen to release this 1994 follow-up first. Considering Cyber …
Following in the footsteps of the Game Boy, Atari 2600, and NES comes the LEGO SEGA Mega Drive (or LEGO SEGA Genesis, if you prefer) – due out 1st June. That’s less than a month away! Whereas past console sets were on the expensive side, the £220 NES, especially, this brick-based recreation of SEGA’s 16-bit …
October will see the release of two new retro handheld computers from Blaze’s HyperMegaTech label. This is the same team of people responsible for the Evercade and the Super Pocket range. TheC64 and TheSpectrum are intended to be evocative of their respective systems, while reimaging them as handhelds. Sporting a clamshell design not unlike the …
Due to being described as a retro style survival horror, I thought I had a pretty good idea of what to expect from Malformation Games’ debut release. While it definitely makes good on its promise to provide an experience recalling Capcom’s 32-bit era horrors – with a little bit of Silent Hill and Parasite Eve …
When PC CD-ROM drives started to hit the market, a whole bunch of developers sought to harness the new possibilities of the medium, creating software that wasn’t possible before. Slowly, a catalogue of cutting-edge software was formed, led by the likes of Myst, Star Wars: Rebel Assault, and The 7th Guest. Many early PC CD-ROM …
Back in 2024, a Kickstarter launched to fund this brand new Mega Drive shooter – one intended to push SEGA’s humble 16-bit system and delight dedicated fans who still have a Mega Drive (or Genesis) hooked up to a dusty CRT somewhere. News of ZPF’s campaign spread through the retro gaming community, helping to smash …
After successfully bringing back the Atari 2600, Atari 7800 and the Intellivision, Plaion are now turning their attention to SNK’s NeoGeo AES. The NeoGeo AES+ isn’t a mini console but rather a 1:1 recreation that can play existing and new cartridges, with ten games lined up for the 12th November launch. Neither is it merely …
Considering its relative obscurity, Jaleco’s Goal! series has quite a confusing history. Different regions gained versions under different branding, with examples including Super Goal! rebranded as Super Cup Soccer for the Japanese market, and the Famicom sequel ditching the ‘2’ in the title – making it appear the same as the US original. Then there’s the …
There was a time in the early noughties when few publishers were willing to take a chance on something new and innovative, sticking to following trends and only shipping software that appealed to the widest audience possible. One genre remained untouched from this stubbornness, however – the humble puzzle game. It was perhaps believed that …
Batter up! Rock It Games has expanded its assortment of retro re-releases with two new Jaleco sports collections. You may recall that we reviewed Jaleco Sports: Goal! a few months ago, finding it to be a reasonable package that was also reasonably priced. Out now on PS5 and Switch are Bases Loaded II: Second Season and Goal! …
True to its name, new retro-inspired survival horror Ground Zero entails exploring a site of devastation. In this case, a meteor impact site. So devastating was the impact that much of South Korea – the game’s setting – has been wiped out. In typical sci-fi fashion, the meteor has spawned all manner of abnormalities, including …
From fixed camera horror games to retro-style first-person shooters, indie developers have successfully brought back numerous previously defunct genres over the years, all of which were once deemed no longer profitable or popular by the biggest publishers out there. One genre indie studios don’t get much credit for reviving is the humble single-screen platformer. There …