RetroGaming

Microsoft is now doing the Nintendo thing: Xbox Retro Classics.

And thank God!

One of my big fears when Xbox acquired Bethesda and Activision was that they were just going to sit on their extensive, decades-long catalogue of classics -- just let everything rot. But looking at what they're offering, I'm genuinely excited.

To me, the most attention-grabbing thing is access to Activision's 2600 games. I'm talking Demon Attack, Kaboom!, and Pitfall! And then you have games from Sierra too. And MechWarrior is definitely a standout too.

Looks like they're partnering with Antstream to provide this. That service has been around for quite a few years, and it's pretty stable.

If this is just the beginning, Xbox might finally become the retro powerhouse it was always capable of being.

https://www.xbox.com/en-US/play/games/retro-classics/9MTVJ3HHTQGS

Lately, I've been seeing many social media posts about skyrocketing prices of retro video games.

Which is funny because I see complaints about that every few years. It's cyclical. In fact, this was my big complaint all the way back in 2013 when every copy of Earthbound seemed to be going for $100.

So let me mention how I dealt with that problem then -- which is still applicable to now.

I stopped focusing on physical console games, and I started buying PC games -- both physical and digital. This ended up being a good idea because on the PC side of retro, games are much cheaper. I regularly walk into game stores and thrift shops and find classic PC games, complete in box, for $5. Games in my collection, that I acquired for an obscenely cheap price, include Black & White, Aliens versus Predator (2000), and Myth II. I also buy tons of games off Steam and GOG.

Best of all, if you're patient, you can often get games for free. Just a few months ago, I got the Castlevania Anniversary Collection for free from Epic, which included nine classic games—titles that would’ve cost hundreds on original hardware.

Now I'm sure some of you will say, "It's not about the games, it's about the memories -- and that means playing on original cartridges/discs on original hardware."

I understand that. I still have my original SEGA Genesis and Xbox, and I still occasionally buy physical media.

But never underestimate the value of creating new memories with old games. And that's something I truly treasure as time goes on. For example, I never played Septerra Core when it originally was released in 1999. I did, however, acquire it in 2015. And after playing this game for a solid 10 years, it's become something that I truly treasure. I remember buying that game for $1, and I now love Septerra Core every bit as much as Final Fantasy VII.

Which brings me to my next thought about why collecting retro games for PC has proven so invaluable. If you're open to trying something off the beaten path, something that gets little attention -- because YouTubers rarely talk about old DOS games -- you will be surprised at how much gold is out there at a low price.

One gem I see regularly on GOG for under $1 is Nosferatu: Wrath of Malachi—easily one of the best survival horror FPS games I’ve played. If you love vampire games, this is your ticket to fun. Sure, you could pay $140 for Silent Hill without the jewel case (the current going rate). Or you can try your hand at something that's still retro but can be had for a fraction of the price.

Good retro games don't have to be expensive. They're easy to find if your heart isn't set on a complete-in-box Conker's Bad Fur Day. If you focus on deals, deals are to be found.

I have been really into Half-Life 1 and just recently finished the first 2 expansions.

Opposing force was awesome. I loved all the new weapons. The expanded lore into the kinds of research that Black Mesa was doing was nice. And the HECU squad mates were so much more helpful than the scientists and Barneys.

Blue Shift on the other hand was much shorter and didn’t have any new weapons but it did have a bigger focus on the lore of black mesa and had references to Half-Life, Opposing Force, and even Decay. Dr. Rosenberg did a lot of exposition to explain the lore further as well. Overall it was a good experience with very little downtime compared to Half-Life.

I’ve even started playing Decay now with my 8 year old and we are having a lot of fun with that. Its mission structure compared to the unbroken chapter structure of the rest of the games is quite the difference but it works with the co-op gameplay. We are only about 4 missions in but I look forward to experiencing more of it. Dr Rosenberg is back too so I love that it’s another perspective of the events that happened in the other expansions and base game.

I just wanted share my thoughts and maybe here more of the community thoughts as I just love Half-Life despite never really experiencing it until last year

From the description:

In this episode of PC-88 Paradise, I finally learn how to play Falcom's classic, "Sorcerian", which was a huge hit action RPG in Japan which received several expansion packs! The game was also released in North America for MS-DOS PC's. Can I actually learn to play and finish the original PC-88 version of the game?!

Its Steam page deliberately sells this as "Slavjank". And yeah, I guess that's what it is -- a janky mess full of bugs.

This FPS was released in Russia all the way back in 2006, pretty much stayed in Russia for 18 years, then suddenly got a worldwide release last year with English localization.

The voice acting is hilarious. And despite all the bugs -- and the greenish-brown colour palette -- there's fun to be had here.

I think keeping the charm of 2d sprites within a world that feels 3d has been done very well, it feels really ambitious for a fan project but definetly has a lot of potential.

Itch.io link: https://undreamedpanic.itch.io/gamma-emerald

cross-posted from: https://fedia.io/m/europe@feddit.org/t/2170141

Country	Statements of support	Threshold	Percentage	Signatures required
Austria	10162	13395	75.86%	3233
Belgium	13911	14805	93.96%	894
Bulgaria	4597	11985	38.36%	7388
Croatia	4163	8460	49.21%	4297
Cyprus	565	4230	13.36%	3665
Czechia	7421	14805	50.12%	7384
Denmark	12032	9870	121.90%	0
Estonia	3035	4935	61.50%	1900
Finland	15319	9870	155.21%	0
France	49153	55695	88.25%	6542
Germany	98063	67680	144.89%	0
Greece	5018	14805	33.89%	9787
Hungary	9902	14805	66.88%	4903
Ireland	10353	9165	112.96%	0
Italy	24712	53580	46.12%	28868
Latvia	2679	5640	47.50%	2961
Lithuania	5123	7755	66.06%	2632
Luxembourg	946	4230	22.36%	3284
Malta	533	4230	12.60%	3697
Netherlands	26374	20445	129.00%	0
Poland	53599	36660	146.21%	0
Portugal	8402	14805	56.75%	6403
Romania	12377	23265	53.20%	10888
Slovakia	4987	9870	50.53%	4883
Slovenia	2473	5640	43.85%	3167
Spain	36391	41595	87.49%	5204
Sweden	19849	14805	134.07%	0

Just under 3000-4000 people are required per country in Lithuania, Latvia, Malta and Luxembourg. Come on now... that's a small town and in some places even just a village. Are there really that few gamers in those countries?

And here's the screenshot for the C64 version:

Plus I cloned my Wii's NAND so I have all of the Virtual Console games and savegames, and I also dumped all of my GameCube memory cards and put everything to the Dolphin memory cards images.

Everything is cool and future-proof now!Highly recommend doing this if you have a working Wii - just install Homebrew Channel and CleanRip.

You know how people say the PC never had good platformers? Those people are out of their minds. But I get it—when your only exposure to “PC gaming” is Minesweeper and some blurry memories of Oregon Trail in the school lab, you're not exactly primed for this wonderful world of keyboard mashers.

But buried under all that VGA static is gold. Here are games made for the beige box, and nowhere else. Let’s dig ‘em up:

1. Bio Menace (1993)

"The CIA has learned that gigantic mutants are wreaking havoc in Metro City and their sources say that the destruction is caused by a scientist calling himself Dr. Mangle. For this reason, they send Snake Logan, the CIA's top secret agent, on a dangerous mission: fly over Metro City, investigate what’s going on, then report back to the captain. Unfortunately, Snake’s plane is shot down, forcing Snake to walk the streets and kill mutants."

https://www.mobygames.com/game/236/bio-menace/

2. Hocus Pocus (1994)

"Hocus Pocus is a young magician apprentice who has two goals in life: to join the Council of Wizards in the land of Lattice, and to marry his sweetheart Popopa. Unfortunately, both objectives cannot be accomplished without embarking on a long and dangerous journey to gather magical crystals on behalf of the wizard chief Terexin. The quest for career and love begins!"

https://www.mobygames.com/game/515/hocus-pocus/

3. Vinyl Goddess from Mars (1995)

"In the year 200 billion a small ship races across the galaxy taking The Vinyl Goddess From Mars to the esteemed intergalactic B Movie convention. In mid transit, a meteor shower strikes without warning and the ship is engulfed in a sea of rocks and debris. Badly damaged by the cosmic storm, the ship careens off course. Desperately, The Vinyl Goddess twists knobs and pulls levers to regain control. The best that she can hope for is to eject and let the ship crash land on the strange planet below. It's up to you to help the lovely goddess find and repair her ship and collect all of her belongings before it's to late to reach the convention."

https://www.mobygames.com/game/1381/vinyl-goddess-from-mars/

4. Monster Bash (1993)

"The evil Count Chuck has kidnapped all the world's animals in order to turn them into soldiers in his dark army. Johnny Dash's dog, Tex, has been captured along with the other animals, and it's up to him to enter the Night World and save him!"

https://www.mobygames.com/game/1008/monster-bash/

5. Xargon (1994)

"An archaeologist named Malvineous Havershim was studying strange ruins in Madagascar, remnants of buildings constructed during the age of a long-forgotten civilization of the mysterious Blue Builders. One day Malvineous spotted glyphs on one of the structures. As he attempted to translate them, Malvineous was hit by a wave of gas and fainted. In his dream, a talking eagle named Silvertongue tried to warn him of upcoming dangers. The archaeologist awoke in a strange and hostile world, unable to understand anything. With Silvertongue's guidance, Malvineous will have to overcome all dangers and eventually confront Xargon, the tyrannical ruler of that world."

https://www.mobygames.com/game/1057/xargon/

6. Secret Agent (1992)

"As Agent 006, you are the world's only hope: the terrorist organization known as the D.V.S. has captured the blueprints to a new, powerful weapon known as the "Red Rock Rover". Your mission is to infiltrate several islands occupied by the D.V.S. and retrieve each part of the blueprints. The shareware version only has the first episode available; the registered version consists of three installments, packed as separate executables."

https://www.mobygames.com/game/982/secret-agent/

7. Cosmo's Cosmic Adventure (1992)

"On a trip with his parents to every kid's favorite place in the universe (Disney World, of course), Cosmo becomes stranded on a planet, his parents vanished. You direct him as he runs and jumps through different lands, such as alien tropics, haunted forest, ice cave, and future world, to find his parents. Along the way he encounters the various platform baddies that he must either jump to death in the classic style or destroy with bombs. Bombs are also useful for finding secrets. Cosmo is also armed with suction cup arms which he can use to climb up tall walls."

https://www.mobygames.com/game/910/cosmos-cosmic-adventure/

8. Realms of Chaos (1995)

"Endrick, the warrior, and Elandra, the sorceress, have to travel through 26 levels, split into 3 'episodes' to find the source of what's corrupting the land of Mysteria. Endrick uses his sword to fight enemies in close combat, and Elandra uses a supply of gems to blast them with fireballs from a distance."

https://www.mobygames.com/game/913/realms-of-chaos/

9. Claw (1997)

"Captain Claw, also called "The Surveyor of the Seven Seas", is an infamous and successful pirate. The feats of Nathaniel Joseph Claw are legendary as is his ability to slip out of situations and find treasure. Frustrated, the Cocker-Spaniard Kingdom issues a gigantic reward of one million gold pieces for the Captain's capture. This attracts legions of bounty hunters to Claw's tail, and eventually he is captured by Captain Le Reux and imprisoned at La Roca. However, even in prison, Claw's luck continues to work, as he stumbles across an old letter from Edward Tobin containing the location of the "Amulet of Nine Lives", a mystical item said to grant near-immortality. Inspired by this new challenge, Captain Claw manages to break out of his prison cell and embarks on a perilous journey."

https://www.mobygames.com/game/1123/claw/

10. Jazz Jackrabbit 2 (1998)

"Jazz the jackrabbit was just about to marry his girlfriend Eva Earlong, when his arch-nemesis, the turtle Devan Shell, stole the wedding ring. To add insult to injury, Eva's hostile mother has locked Jazz and his brother Spaz in a dungeon. The two hares must escape, retrieve the precious jewel, and punish Devan for his evil deeds."

https://www.mobygames.com/game/1348/jazz-jackrabbit-2/

So yeah—turns out the beige box had platforming chops. These games were killer, not shovelware filler. All of them have charm, grit, and sometimes suction-cup arms.

Hope: A Sky Full of Ghosts is a sci-fi point-and-click adventure where you, as Agatha Hope, captain a disjointed crew on a stolen spaceship.

Your goal? Escaping the corporate tyranny on Earth.

Your decisions and wits will decide the course of the mission, your relationship with the crew and whether you survive or not.

It blends the spirit of old-school point-and-click games with a deep narrative full of character and secrets.

Dialogue choices, puzzles and minigames will help you unravel the ship’s secrets and reveal your crew’s motives.

Post of the video

I've been getting back into the classic Close Combat games, and they're some of my very favorite of the wargame genre.

I'm curious what retrogaming's favorites are. I'm not too particular on what constitutes a "wargame," it could be anything from Final Fantasy Tactics to Steel Panthers.

To throw a couple more out, I really enjoyed Rome: Total War for the 4x strategy and the Combat Mission games for their simulation systems as well.

One of the Saturn’s oldest emulators got its first update in nearly a year last month, with SSF preview version 34 sporting a bevy of technical improvements. Many of the preview versions of S…

Ecco the Dolphin, a classic from the 1990s, is making a return with both remasters of its original titles and a brand new game. This revival was confirmed in an interview with Xbox Wire and will be led by series creator Ed Annunziata.

Development Team and Games

All members of the original development team are reuniting for these projects, including Annunziata who stated: "Me and the entire original team are going to remaster the original Ecco the Dolphin and The Tides of Time games". Following these remasters, they plan to create a new, third game with contemporary play mechanics.

Release Schedule

The countdown on the official Ecco the Dolphin website points to April 25-26, 2026 — approximately 353 days from now. While specific platforms haven’t been confirmed yet, Xbox Series X|S releases and PlayStation 5 versions are likely.

This revival comes after a long hiatus for the franchise, with the last entry released in 2000. SEGA had previously filed trademarks for Ecco-related properties in Japan on December 27, 2024.

Gameplay and Reception

The original Ecco games were notable for their unique underwater gameplay, atmospheric storytelling, and high difficulty level. This new release aims to capture both the spirit of the past and enhance it with modern sensibilities.

Reviving Classic IPs

This is part of SEGA's broader strategy of resurrecting classic properties like Jet Set Radio and Crazy Taxi.

What do you think about seeing Ecco the Dolphin back in action after so many years?

Rich Whitehouse, the creator behind BigPEmu, is set to launch his new and improved Killer Instinct emulator in beta. Initially a fully-commercial project, funding had been pulled back in March this year, but now it seems that enough support has come through on Patreon to keep the development going.

According to Rich Whitehouse's statement, the beta release will be made available in just a few days, giving fans of the classic fighting game an exciting opportunity to try out what could very well be the best way to experience Killer Instinct and Killer Instinct 2.

Some key features include:

• Silky Smooth Multiplayer
• Brand New Stereo Sound Script
• Fast MIPS III Interpreter

You can gain access to the emulator by backing Rich on Patreon.

What aspects of this new emulator do you think will most improve the gameplay experience?

Picked up a Hyperkin Dreamcast cable that outputs via HDMI. I tried it out and it’s displaying in this tiny box on my TV. The box on the cable has no settings and the TV is a 1080 Sony Bravia.

I’m not sure what options I have aside from stretching the image via the TV settings but if anyone can assist, it would be appreciated. Thanks.