Racketboy

I couldn’t help but be in pure awe after watching the trailer for the upcoming Bionic Commando Rearmed and the high-resolution screenshots that were released today on IGN.
No, Capcom didn’t ditch its plan to make a fully 3D Bionic Commando game, but instead decided to please its old-school fans with this modern 2D […]

Pac-Man is one of the most popular video games of all time and it was no surprise that many companies tried cloning the game in order to make a quick buck. However, many of those clones didn’t really add much or even capture much of the original charm. Even many of Namco’s own Pac-Man spinoffs […]

Street Fighter IV Announcement & Style
In case you missed it, Street Fighter IV was officially announced less than a week ago. (I knew Capcom was smart) We also got a taste off the official Street Fighter IV Teaser Trailer soon after the announcement. If you’ve watched the trailer, you know it looks […]

Luckly for old-school gamers, there are plenty of two-dimensional games on portable gaming devices like the GBA, DS, and PSP. However, when it comes to modern home consoles like the Wii, XBox 360, and the PS3, quality 2D games are getting harder to find and often get overlooked. […]

There has been speculation and rumors about these two titles for quite a while, both Ikaruga and Rez have been officially announced for XBox Live Arcade. That’s right, Microsoft has already shown off screens of the two games at their presentation at the Tokyo Game Show Pre-Show.
(see my previous XBLA rumor coverage: Rez / […]

It Should Be Worth The Wait
You may have noticed over the last few months, that I’m being a bit more selective when I hype up a new or upcoming retro-styled release. And if you have been a racketboy.com reader long, you would also notice that Castle Crashers is one of the games I have […]

Capcom’s Past, Present, & Future
During the 1990’s, Capcom fueled many of my game cravings with their two-dimensional beatemups such as the Street Fighter, Final Fight, and Darkstalkers series. Many critics complained that they milked the Street Fighter series too much, but in reality, Capcom tweaked their popular franchises to perfection while still developing […]

Racketboy Reaction
With the recent success of bring the Prince of Persia franchise, it isn’t a huge surprise that Ubisoft has modernized the original Prince of Persia for an XBox Live Arcade download featuring goreous 3D graphics while maintaining the original two-dimensional gameplay. I may not be a huge Prince of Persia fan, but I […]

I’m always up for a good conversion of Pac-Man, but I have to say this new Pac-Man Championship Edition for the XBox Live Arcade looks mighty exciting. In addition to it’s Geometry Wars-inspired HD graphical style and some brand new mazes, it’s also filled with some useful features, including the following game modes (quoted […]

It looks like Sega is helping the XBox Live Arcade show up the Wii’s Virtual Console again.
According to SegaOnline & XBox360fanboy, Sega will be releasing a series of their Genesis/Megadrive titles on the XBox Live Arcade under the name of “Sega Vintage Collection”.

The collection will be started with the release of the original Sonic the […]

You may have read about the upcoming, remastered version of Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo that will be coming out on both the XBox Live Arcade and the PS3’s online service. Since the initial announcement, we have learned a few more details and I’ve been able to piece together my thoughts on the developments.
First […]

As one of the most anticipated games released on the XBox Live Arcade, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night would have had to be really screwed up in its XBox 360 port to not turn out well.

For those of you not familiar with the title, it is regarded not only as the best Castlevania game ever, […]

As one of my all-time favorite games of my childhood, I was glad to see the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles arcade game come to the XBox Live Arcade. It isn’t a deep game by any means, but it is filled with nostalgia and is loads of fun when whacking Foot Soldiers with a […]

While most of the guys in my dorm in college were playing Warcraft 2 and Half-Life, I was filling my free time with Worms Armageddon fire-fights. Whether it was a multiplayer tournament with my neighbors or a one-on-one battle with my soon-to-be-wife, Worms was always good for some intense strategy and lots of hearty […]

Between the fact that I have been waiting years for a new game like Guardian Heroes and my love for The Behemoth’s artistic style, Castle Crashers is the most highly-anticipated XBox Live Arcade game in my book. (see my initial Castle Crashers post)
I didn’t have many doubts about the game after seeing early versions […]

As a child of the 1980’s, I was all but obsessed with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles when I was a kid. (Fortunately, it didn’t make this much of an impact on me) So imagine the nostalgic thrill I’m having with the new wave of Ninja Turtles goodies resurfacing to coincide with the […]

I have been a huge fan of the indie masterpiece, Alien Hominid, for quite some time, so I’ve glad to see the attention the game is receiving for its appearance on the XBox Live Arcade. The enhanced version seems to fit in on the XBLA and the critics are eating it up…

“Commercial-grade digital distribution […]

Electronic Gaming Monthly (EGM) shared the strong possibility that Rez, a cult classic on the Dreamcast and PS2, will be coming to the XBox Live Arcade.
The rumor section in EGM has a relatively good track record, so I would not shake this rumor off too easily.
No additional information is available just yet, but if this […]

This Week: Paperboy

February 14th
400 Microsoft Points
Official XBLA Page
Screenshots
Gameplay Video

Additional XBLA Developments:
Ikaruga Confirmed?
Why Partnernet is a PR Nightmare for Microsoft
Pinball FX: New Website & Screenshots
Puzzle/Strategy/RPG Hybrid Galactrix Announced
Jetpac Refuelled Confirmed for XBLA
ESRB Hints At Super Ghouls ‘N Ghosts
Another World could make it to Live Arcade
Toy Wars: Looks Like Toy Commander Remade
Double Dragon Info & Screens
Rare working […]

This is basically a rumor, but there is some solid evidence that one of the games from my XBox Live Wishlist might become a reality.
According to Eurogamer, Ikaruga, the cult classic 2D shooter from Treasure apparently has shown up on the XBox 360’s top-secret (only for developers and journalists) area, Partnernet.
Eurogamer stated,
“There are two downloads […]

The XBox Live Arcade has slowly become the best place for classic games to find a new beginning. While the Wii’s Virtual Console was hyped as the ultimate device for housing nearly every classic game, the XBLA has been topping the Virtual Console in terms of quality and features.
The XBLA has seen a trickle […]

While the XBox 360 doesn’t try to keep up with the pace of the Nintendo Wii Virtual Console, it makes up for it in quality and value.
This Week: Heavy Weapon

January 17

800 Microsoft Points
Official XBLA Page
Screenshots
Gameplay Video

Hands-On Impressions from Kotaku
Hands-On Impressions for XB360 Fanboy

Additional XBLA Developments:
Castlevania SOTN Impressions from 1UP
Preview of Assault Heroes
Last Ninja, […]

While the XBox 360 doesn’t try to keep up with the pace of the Nintendo Wii Virtual Console, it makes up for it in quality and value.
This Week: Ms. Pac-Man

January 10

400 Microsoft Points
Official XBLA Page
Screenshots

Additional XBLA Developments:
XBLA Gameplay Video of Castlevania: SOTN
Next Week: Heavy Weapon
Geometry Wars and Others Headed to Vista
First Worms HD […]

It’s been an exciting week for fans of Sega’s trademark side-scrolling braweler, Streets of Rage.

First of all, an ambitious homebrew effort has been started to revive Streets of Rage with added visuals, moves, and feautures. Of course, a Dreamcast port is anticipated, but some of the community is devoted to keeping it strictly […]

One of the genre’s most associated with modern gaming (at least here in the US) is the First Person Shooter. The FPS is always the prime candidate to show up cutting edge graphics and gameplay.
And while the FPS genre didn’t really take off until the later part of the 1990’s, the First Person Shooter […]

As a young gamer, I grew up in the arcades. And in those early years I lived primarily on the grand-daddy of all beatemups, Double Dragon.
So I was more than pleased to hear that Double Dragon will officially be making its way to the XBox Live Arcade in the near future.
The original was the […]

Yes, as I speculated a while ago, SNK will be bringing a number of its solid Neo-Geo games to the next-gen download services. And as you may have noticed from the title of this post, these downloads are planned for the XBox 360’s Live Arcade and the PS3’s download service. That’s right, […]

Who thought with all this Next-Gen action going on the last couple of months we would have so many modern retro gaming news?!?
This time around we have word that the Worms series will be making its way to XBox Live Arcade — in fact it’s almost completed and ready to go!
And don’t worry — this […]

When Nintendo first announced their Virtual Console concept for the Wii (then the Revolution), many gamers were under the assumption that ALL NES, SNES, and N64 games will be available for (possibly free) download. While that rumor was eventually defeated, we weren’t quite sure what the available titles would be or how much games would […]

With Nintendo’s commitment to having their (along with Sega and NEC’s) back catalog of games avalible on the Wii’s Virtual Console and Microsoft’s success with the XBox Live Arcade, Sony has a lot of catching up to do.
One of the nice things (at least for us retro gamers) about the Playstation 2 is that it […]

I reallyt like Dig Dug. When most people were playing Ms. Pacman in the arcades, I was playing Dig Dug. I was a kid at the time, so I never was really good, but it still has a nostolgic place in my heart.
Dig Dug also happens to be one of the most recently […]

The XBox Live Arcade has been a haven from old-school gamers on the cutting-edge console and so far, developers are making a nice pocket-full of cash from all the XBLA downloads.
Author Doug Walsh has been taking a look at the numbers behind Xbox Live Arcade (additional commentary availible from Gamasutra). Here are […]

With SNK’s recent announcement of bringing the original Fatal Fury game to XBox Live Arcade, you could tell that the developer was interested in bringing its collection of old-school games to the modern platforms.
While Fatal Fury may have seemed like a logical choice after the success of Street Fighter 2 on XBLA, but I figured […]

Joystiq attended the recent PAX convention and apparently the new game from The Behemoth (the masterminds behind Alien Hominid), Castle Crashers was the big hit of the show.
Many of the attendees stated that the game was good enough to warrent the purchase of an XBox 360 on it’s own. It looks to be the […]

Update 10/16/2007: Street Fighter 4 Has Officially Been Announced!
You can read more about all the details as they progress right here.
Update 10/23/2007: We now know a bit more about Street Fighter 4 based on a video interview with Capcom 

More Capcom Developement Updates: More 2D Fighter Plans
Original Post:
Seems like every year we hear this rumor again […]

The stakes keep getting raised in the upcoming battle between the XBox Live Arcade and the Nintendo Wii Virtual Console.
Tecmo, one of the biggest third-party developers behind the NES, just announced that they will be publishing a number of their classic games on the Virtual Console.
This is welcome news to many NES fans that have […]

Microsoft continues its mean streak on the XBox Live Arcade. As if Street Fighter 2, Castevania: Symphony of the Night, Alien Hominid, and Castle Crashers wasn’t enought, Jeff Minter (of Tempest 2000 and Tempest 3000 fame) is now showing off his progress on an upcoming version of Tempest for the XBLA.
At first glance, it […]

Street Fighter 2’s successful resurrection on the XBox Live Arcade has tempted SNK Playmore to join in on the action.
SNK just recently announced that Fatal Fury Special will be on its way to the XBLA in the near future. A release date and price has not yet been announced.
Teamed with Street Fighter II […]

The XBox Live Arcade is truly shaping up to be a old-school gamer’s playground running on a cutting-edge console. With the Nintendo Wii’s Virtual Console on its way, Microsoft has been furiously finalizing deals to bring some of the most treasured arcade and console games of old (Street Fighter 2, Pac-Man, Castevania Symphony of […]

Microsoft is lining up a flurry of impressive deals to pump up its already-exciting XBox Live Arcade Lineup. The latest announcement is that Konami will be bringing Castlevania: Symphony of the Night to the online distribution system for the XBox 360.
For those of you not familiar with the title, it is regarded not only […]