Classic Replay

If you dig through old ZX Spectrum, Commodore and Amstrad magazines, you'll find interviews and a whole treasure trove of information from our long lost almost forgotten past. It's slow going, plod like almost, but every once in a while you might come across something that you've never seen or heard of before, things that can't be found on the internet. For example; I've searched high and low on the internet for information about old game sales i.e. Units sold for my favourite 8-bit games, across many formats, but unfortunately this consistently turns up nowt. However, this hasn't deterred me, my mission is to seek out old information pertaining to these forgotten classics, the information is out there, but mixed up in a mass of detail. I'm quietly convinced this slug like approach has legs, heck I've even approached ex-programmers in a bid to find out as much information as humanly possible. With that in mind, this is what I've uncovered thus far, ...

How a new Dizzy game might look on the Amstrad CPC... I’ve always thought that the Dizzy series, when taken in its entirety, is as wonderful, wacky and varied as anything you see in a Sonic or Mario adventure. But our egg-headed friend desperately needs a comeback, and a Mario game mixed with the speed of a Sonic adventure might just be the ticket to bring Dizzy kicking and screaming back from the success of the 80's. Dizzy is a sleeping giant; why can't Codies see this? He should be up there with Sonic and Mario in terms of brand and mascot; it's almost criminal to keep him under wraps like this. Now for the weird part... He could be revived on the Amstrad CPC, the true home of Dizzy. He could use the Amstrad’s hardware scroll, as seen in Killer Cobra - look at the speed that game runs at! Now just imagine replacing the main sprite with an egg, then force upon him the laws of gravity, stick a rocket up his arse and watch him go. I can just see him now, rolling, bounci...

New games continually arriving for the Amstrad CPC...  I’ve been playing quite a lot of Amstrad CPC games of late, it's quite easy to forget about the commercial world of gaming if you allow retro gaming to take over. Recently there's been all sorts of 8-bit competitions and some seriously good games have come out the other end. The library of new games and projects in the pipeline is phenomenal, for example, I'm playing Magica and Doomsday Lost Echoes on the CPC at the moment, with the classic Amiga game Pinball Dreams arriving shortly. I haven't even mentioned the new games I'm playing on my other retro systems, but what a fantastic problem to have, seriously though I can't keep up.  I have  Uncharted 4 and the new Tomb Raider just sitting idle on the shelf gathering dust, nowhere near enough hours in the day to play 'em all.   My Amstrad CPC in 2016 has a wad of original titles, on par and exceeding in most cases the stuff I owned as a kid. I...

What's next for Nintendo? The NES Classic has sold out! More have been promised and I've already seen them selling on eBay for crazy prices. Here's the thing, I wager Nintendo are already considering a Super Nintendo classic console, with thirty maybe more great games. Here're fifteen of my own personal must-have games to be included with the system. Star Fox, Super Star Wars, Mario Kart, Mortal Kombat, Super Mario World, Axelay, Street Fighter II Turbo, Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, Chrono Trigger, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Super Metroid, Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest, Secret of Mana, Earthworm Jim 2 and Contra III: The Alien Wars. There's much more I'd like to see, but Nintendo can be a bit stingy when it comes to their back catalogue of games, especially the Super Nintendo, you can see this play out with their current availability and pricing structure within the WiiU and 3DS virtual console, so not holding ...

A brand new and original game for the SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive, to be released on cartridge in winter 2017! About this project  Tanglewood is a brand new and original game for the SEGA Mega Drive, to be released in physical cartridge form in winter 2017. Set in the realm of Tanglewood, the game follows a young creature, Nymn, separated from the pack after the sun sets. Unable to get back to the safety of the family's underground home, Nymn must find a way to survive the night terrors and get to morning. Tanglewood’s world is a dangerous one after dark; guiding Nymn you must use your skills of evasion, traps and trickery to defeat predators. Help back this project by clicking here!

I’m sitting here staring at a blank white Microsoft Word background. My head is swimming with random retro thoughts, however, I haven’t got a clue where I’m gonna go with this, but I'll give it a shot.  I've currently been thinking about all these new remakes i.e. The NES, Megadrive and five hundred other devices that are currently available or incoming. Initially, I was really excited by it all, but in essence, these are just more lumps of plastic that I’ve already collected. In 2016, shouldn't we be able to play all our favourite games on a single platform? For sure we have the PC and Raspberry Pie, but I’m thinking more along the lines of a SEGA console that plays all SEGA games, for example; SMS, Megadrive, Game Gear, 32X, Saturn, and Dreamcast all in one lovely lump of Japanese plastic. The same goes for Nintendo, Atari and any other console manufacturer, sick of the prospect of buying yet another lump of plastic and feeling restricted to only one genre of consol...

It's been a while since I've played the original Sonic CD game on an actual MegaCD, setting the console up can be a messy affair at best, spaghetti quickly comes to mind. For me it was a great console, that never fully realised its true potential, but Sonic CD gave us a glimpse of what might have been. I read an article somewhere last week, that mentioned Sonic CD would be released as a 'Free App of the Week', I got really excited about this announcement, as I've been looking for a good excuse and the right time to play this game on iOS. For me, this is not only the greatest Sonic game ever made, but it featured some of the best locations, level design and music I've ever heard on a Sega console. Everything appears to have survived the transition, from Mega-CD to iOS, only this time they've ditched the 90s 4:3 in favour of a 16:9 aspect ratio, it's not stretched either, as seen with so many other games in the App store, it's as if they've reb...

In a surprising turn of events, Sega has authorised TecToy to bring back their classic Sega Megadrive console in limited edition form. Brazil is the first place the console will be launched, and TecToy are already taking orders. It looks exactly like the classic design of the 90s original, only this time includes an SD Card slot and 22 (allegedly) unforgettable games. TecToy are calling it an 'historic moment' "...but what do you think? Is Sega simply cashing in? Or is this great news for Sega fans?".   Personally, I will probably end up buying one given the chance. I know there's lots of other more affordable alternatives, such as the 'EverDrive', 'Raspberry Pie' and the 'PC' for emulation, but for me you can't beat an original lump of plastic, and that is exactly what this is, with an SD Card bolted on.   For more information... See below link or watch launch trailer http://www.tectoy.com.br/pre-venda-mega-drive-e...

I've finally played it, admittedly only a demo of the first level, but so far things look and play just as good as the Amiga original. This will never replace a real life Pinball experience, but it's bloody good for a computer simulation. The ball moves exactly as you'd expect, and the flippers are highly accurate, you can even give the table a shove. Graphically I've never seen anything like it on the CPC, initially I was convinced it was Plus only, but the programmers have outdone themselves with this one.  Time will tell how good this game translates to the CPC, but so far, on current form, this could go down as the best game ever for the CPC! Published on 27 Oct 2016 * October 2016 PREVIEW for Amstrad CPC * First presented at RetroSevilla 2016 * IMPORTANT! We strongly recommend to play the game on real CPC & monitor! * Minimum requirements: - 128kb of RAM - Floppy drive * Instructions: run"disc

The Soviets strike again, only this time with innovation! I'm still struggling to understand how this one slipped me by. Twenty-six years later I'm scouring eBay, and the next minute, it's delivered through the letter box. This is basically Tetris with a 3D perspective, created by the same Alexey Pajitnov. There're three levels of difficulty, starting with beginner, advanced and finally expert. Each difficulty settings features its own game speed, with the latter seeming almost ridiculous. WELLTRIS continually chucks shapes at you, this bit being similar to the original, the difference now is that you can rotate each shape around the four outer walls as you watch it fall deeper towards the ground. There's sound, but nothing in the music department, sad really as I half expected the Tetris original, instead I found myself humming the original Korobeiniki soundtrack. The graphics are well defined, but seriously lack any real colour, it's also disappoin...

Just a few thoughts on the tribute game made with AGD, for the Sinclair ZX Spectrum. It's great and everything, but I'm confused? I'm still a massive fan of the original Donkey Kong arcade-style platformer from the 1980's. It is said to be the game that launched the career of Shigeru Miyamoto, but more importantly, Mario and Donkey Kong. The game went on to give Nintendo international stardom, with Miyamoto creating a legacy so powerful, that Nintendo and Japan should pray daily for his continued existence. However, Donkey Kong Jnr wasn't a great sequel, in fact, Miyamoto himself thinks it's a weaker game. It sold well, but so did the USGOLD home conversion of Outrun, so sales don't really mean diddly squat, in regards to us gaming enthusiasts. I did like the way this game reversed the characters roles, with Kong now caged and Mario becoming the antagonist. The game featured a good premise as well, instead of ...

In development since 2008, the journey through the Cave of Monsters to rescue their girlfriends is finally on! Right now... CPC style! The game-play remains as simple as ever. You'll need to corner, capture and surrender all enemies using your bubble blowing antics before they can escape. It wouldn't be fair to compare BB4CPC with the other 8-bit versions, especially when considering the timeline. Instead, what we have here is the best damn conversion, we could have ever wished for, on the humble CPC. It completely trounces firebirds effort of the 1980's, and unlike the CPC original, in this new version, the bubbles can't simply be popped by walking straight into them (I always hated that). This time around, we've been treated to the original infectious theme tune, cute sprites, strategic gameplay, oodles of secrets, tight controls and a largely responsive, albeit hit and miss Jumping system (Something's gotta give). As usual, with this type of CPC ga...

Super smooth sideways scrolling and great graphics are nothing new to the CPC these days. CPC bunnies expect the graphics and scrolling to be good as a matter of course, so a game needs to have a little bit more going on underneath than just flashy graphics. Fortunately, Invasion of the Zombie Monsters does the CPC justice in all areas. It has a great look and feels excellent, with hauntingly tinny music and fantastic presentation. At first glance, it'll remind you of the arcade classic 'Ghouls and Ghosts', but not the dafty version by USGOLD. I'm talking arcade quality. Essentially it's a run and gun shooter. Evil forces have inherited the earth, and our hero, the chosen one 'Ned Friks', is the only guy around to save mankind. You'll need to man up, though, as there are all sorts of undead out to get you. There are classic zombies, zombie werewolves, zombie reptiles, zombie plants, zombie souls and a zombie grave-keeper to keep things real. ...

On patrol... Amstrad, Speccy, Arcade and C64 Robocop the movie is stunning, the prime directives still resonate in my head even today. I recall from one scene good old Murphy getting blown to smithereens and in another ED-209 powering up with the immortal words - 'Please put down your weapon. You have 20 seconds to comply'. The game is every bit as enjoyable as the movie and in some ways just as memorable. I'd already experienced Operation Wolf, Chase HQ, Gryzor and Combat School, but nothing prepared me for what I was about to receive. Delta city had never looked so good, it was littered with dark alleyways, ruined building and crime infested streets. Scenes from the movie were cleverly replicated, including the hostage and drug factory encounter. You could never walk more than a few feet without all hell breaking lose. You start out all guns blazing... ultra violence a plenty. The weapons were as devastating as seen in the movie. In between the horizontal scroll...

In development since 2008, the journey through the Cave of Monsters to rescue their girlfriends is finally on! Right now... CPC style! The game-play remains as simple as ever. You'll need to corner, capture and surrender all enemies using your bubble blowing antics before they can escape. It wouldn't be fair to compare BB4CPC with the other 8-bit versions, especially when considering the time line. Instead, what we have here is the best damn conversion, we could have ever wished for, on the humble CPC. It completely trounces Firebirds effort of the 1980's, and unlike the CPC original, in this new version, the bubbles can't simply be popped by walking straight into them (I always hated that). This time around, we've been treated to the original infectious theme tune, cute sprites, strategic game-play, oodles of secrets, tight controls and a largely responsive, albeit hit and miss Jumping system (Somethings gotta give). As usual, with this type of CPC game, B...