Retro Roundup: Best of June 2008
With old-school gaming catching on more in both the modern, mainstream gaming market and the traditional, classic console aftermarket there is a lot of interesting topics and developments going on. Since I don’t have time to cover them all in detail, I will have a monthly round-up of the most interesting happenings that I haven’t already covered in full. I’ve also included a Racketboy Rewind section that takes a look at my favorite articles from a year ago from this past month.
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Space Invaders Extreme Is Awesome.
This month, one of the biggest surprises is how great Space Invaders Extreme for the DS and the PSP is. Â I will do a full review once I’m able to spend even more time with it, but I can give a strong recommendation for this $20 release without any hesitation. Â Check out Amazon.com and eBay for this wonderful game. |
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Wario Land: Shake It Revealed
I don’t know about you, but I love most of  the side-scrolling Wario games.  After seening the coverage of the upcoming Wario Land: The Shake Dimension on Wii Fanboy, I can’t help but be entranced.   High-resolution 2D Wario is a very good start.  If the typical Wario gameplay is included, it’s a sure winner. |
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HG101: Profiles Treasure’s Best
Treasure is a well known amongst gamer circles as one of the best developers out there. They consistently combine incredible action with inventive mechanics and imaginative characters, with a distinct retro mentality that few other companies possess. This month, HG101 covered most of their titles, including Gunstar Heroes, Guardian Heroes, Radiant Silvergun & Ikaruga, Sin and Punishment and Bangai-O, along with many of their other glorious gems. |
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Lost Winds Arrives on Wii Ware If you are looking for a beautiful and innovative platformer with a 2D perspective, take a look at Lost Winds of the Wii’s fresh download service. Â As Eurogamer states, “LostWinds is a great example of what can be achieved on WiiWare. By combining a few simple gesture-based controls within a tightly focused platform-puzzling framework, Frontier has created a mini-masterpiece at the first attempt.” Â Check out Metacritic for more reviews and watch this gameplay footage on YouTube to get a better feel for the game. |
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First Details for Raiden IV for Xbox 360 The XBox 360 may still not be a big player in Japan, but that hasn’t stopped this modern shmup from coming to the platform. Â In Arcade Renaissance’s writeup, the mention “In addition to the standard arcade game, the console version of Raiden IV will also include 2 new stages, Live support, and replay saves that can be shared online with friends.” Â Be sure to check out AR’s post for the Famitsu scan. |
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Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix Beta & Combos
What’s another month without more SSF2T HD Remix updates? Â First up is a combo vid that shows off the remix mode (which also causes some frustration in real life). Â The game also has an open beta to those that purchased Commando 3. See some HD gameplay footage on GameTrailers.com |
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Some New & Interesting Dreamcast Homebrew Projects
The Dreamcast Homebrew community is still chugging along…. Caleb over at The Dreamcast Junkyard rounded up some of the newest Dreamcast homebrew projects including Gens4All and Neverball |
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Mixed Reviews Dished Out For Commando 3
I was very interested to see how Wolf of the Battlefield: Commando 3 would turn out for XBox Live Arcade. Â After reading through some of the reviews on Metacritic, it doesn’t sound like a bad game if you’re into top-down shooters, but don’t expect anything outstanding. Â I’ve also heard you may just be better off playing the original games in the series…. |
Racketboy Rewind
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The Games That Defined The Nintendo NES
Here’s a look back at the defining games for ones of the industry’s defining consoles. Â Probably won’t be a lot of surprises here, but it’s always fun to reminisce about the NES. |
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TurboGrafx-16 101Â & Games that Defined the TG-16
Marurun did a great job educating us all on the TurboGrafx. Â I still hope to acquire one some day. Â Much like the Saturn, its a great console that didn’t quite get the respect it deserves. |
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The Cheapest Playstation (PS1) Games Worth Your Time
If you are like me and were late to the Playstation party, here’s how to get started on a budget. Â Even if you have a PS2 or PS3, many of these cheap classics will be great additions to your library. |
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Might want to look into some of those closes following your hyper links. WordPress has been doing that to me lately, very frustrating I know.
Wow, I never actually realized that the new Wario Land actually used sprites. I only ever looked saw the thumbnail screens. I too love the Wario Land games. ^_^
LostWinds and Space Invaders Extreme look like awesome titles as well.
With each new Wario game, my love for blue Hedgehogs and mutated Foxes lessens. I am not sure if that is because Nintendo does a great job with the series, or because Sonic Team keeps letting me down.
seeing yet another street fighter 2 turbo hd remix video really makes me wish i owned an xbox 360…
Thanks for the heads-up on the link, Daniel.
And I guess I was drawing my own conclusions from the screenshots on the Wario game. Have you heard otherwise on the graphics?
SIE is indeed ace! And priced just about right too.
Yeah, it would be a bit harder to recommend at $30, but it’s one of the best DS games that has every came out at the $20 price point.
That Wario game looks nice. It is pretty nice to see 2d games even in the newest generation of consoles. Just fyi, nintendo is also making a Kirby Super Star remake for the ds called Kirby Super Star Ultra. Looking forward to this and the new Wario game!