Remakes of old games usually do a couple of things for me. They remind me what an amazing experience a particular classic game was back in the day. Highlighting just how “ahead of its time” it was.
Conversely, said Remakes if not done with enough modern vigour, have a damaging effect on my rose-tinted glasses, laying bare how very far video game design has actually come.
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Back in May, I saw the first gorgeous gameplay trailer for Flashback 2 and I was SOLD! I played the hell out of OG Flashback on the Sega Mega-Drive and a modern take of this classic would totally be my jam.
Well….to say I am disappointed is putting it mildly.
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To show how old I am, I played the original Shatter on PlayStation 3 back in 2009.
Describing it in a review as (and I quote) “one of those simplistic, visually appealing games that has a brilliant soundtrack and wears its retro roots proudly on its sleeve”.
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Arcade Paradise is a game that has me squarely in its sights. I have been lucky enough to go through evolution of coin-op gaming.
From the lone Space Invaders in the corner of the Family Bar at the local pub. Through the side room at the fish n’ chip shop filled with Commando, Ikari Warriors, TMNT, and the likes.
Arcade Paradise is letting us relive that golden era of side rooms filled with glorious fun.
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What’s better than yearning after some retro Turrican goodness? Playing all the Turrican versions on Switch of course!
Turrican holds strong ground in my Amiga memories, I know I played a couple of them right through. Although I cant remember exactly which episodes they were.
That said the gameplay was always strong, wide open levels, secrets, enemies and upgrades. There was a forgiving respawn system and enemies stayed dead, which was nice.
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If the Commodore64 signified my formative years in gaming, then the Amiga 500 dragged me through my angsty teens.
The leap from 8-bit to 16-bit was enormous, the leap in quality and engagement groundbreaking.
Not forgetting the transition from twiddling Azimuth Heads on a tape drive to the joy of slotting in a floppy disc or six.
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Gearshifters is a game that fits right into a classic arcade niche. Up until recently it was completely off my radar, but for catching a Tweet and having my fancy tickled. It turns out this indie game is right on the money.
Red Phantom Games have pulled out a fun, playable homage to cult car games and arcade shooters. Now, I’m off for one more go before bed.
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Part 2 of the series, where I build my own Arcade Machine.
There is plenty of mystery surrounding the homemade arcade scene, until you get under it’s skin. Wherever you live there will be local knowledge and country related forums. This is as true in Australia as it is elsewhere. On the way to picking up and deciding on which cabinet I was going to tackle first I came across lots of useful resources.
Google and Youtube are absolutely your friend, especially if you’re an okay-ish handyman like myself.
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Growing up in the 80’s gave the Arcade Machine a special place in my heart. While I wasnt ever able to fervently feed all my money into them I knew my way around. There was a time when you could stumble across a cabinet literally anywhere, from the local greasy spoon cafe to the common room at college. It was the best of times, etc. Even school swimming lessons would see us running across the road at the last minute after crowding a dark back room in a takeout. Shouting out ‘dibs’ on your mate’s last man in Frogger.
This is part one of a series. I’ve made my decision to go with the path of least resistance, in the next instalment I will share a wealth of useful resources I’ve been finding to make sense of the process. Along with some updates on the build itself.
For now, join me in wistful yearning to be able to play The Speed Rumbler again.
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Sitting down to write this I thought I’d just have another quick run to get me ready. That was almost three hours ago.
Loop Hero, from small Indie developer Four Quarters, is one of those games. One quick run and next minute you have missed that meeting, forgotten to pick up the kids, or been unable to start writing that review. And at first glance Loop Hero doesn’t look like much. Definitely not something that will grab huge chunks of your precious gaming time.
Thankfully Devolver Digital saw differently and got this gem of a game out to the masses.
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The older we get, we tend to look at things we loved or admired from the past through rose-coloured glasses. Thinking they’re better than they actually were. I think this is the case with MediEvil, a game from the era of the first PlayStation and now been lovingly remastered for the modern PlayStation.
Off the bat, MediEvil seems a strange PS1 game to remaster when there are better candidates that could have received the remaster treatment.
I remember playing a MediEvil game on the now long forgotten PSP (PlayStation Portable), and from memory it wasn’t that well received.
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