Gaming News

2023 was a great year for gaming! But what does 2024 have in store for us? Let's take a look at at some hot new gaming trends, and see what games we can get excited about!

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Rest assured, we do what we can to comb through the updates and bring you the ones we deem fit to suit your cultured tastes. As such, we cap off the month with even more creepy unsettling retro games that pack the right amount of punch when it comes to action and new upcoming console that pays tribute to the classics the best way it knows how.

If you're just about as ready as we are for the yuletide season, just around the corner, Stick around as we bid spooky November farewell and brace ourselves for the first days of snow. 

Let's go! 

SHADOW MAZE

Now, the CPC Retro Dev 2023 brought us a lot of potential bangers, and Rayon Studio just might have a game you'll find quite interesting, especially if you own an Amstrad CPC. Shadow Maze is a game that finds players traversing a dark tomb, only illuminated by precious glowing stones. There's a lot of darkness and a lot of exploration. Two things that don't really mix, but make for a good game mechanic.

In this title, you portray Gwydion, a young Celtic magician who finds himself in a temple to find a way to craft a potion of invincibility. Things won't be so easy, though. As Merlin, your rival looks to foil all your plans and transform the temple into a dark tomb, and seal you inside for all eternity, like all evil villains do.

It's a race against time to escape the dark tomb, follow the luminous stones, and craft that badass potion as destiny foretold. If you're into finding your way out of the dark and enjoy exploring while you're at it, Shadow Maze is a game to get hyped for.  

TOWER OF EVIL

This time, we take a look at another title for the Commodore 64. It's a nice part of the old-school classic game Tower of Evil, a title which first came out on the Commodore 16, plus/4, ZX Spectrum, and VIC 20 way back between 1984 and 1985, thanks to Creative Sparks. This top-down action game sees you playing the role of Andross, a hero banished years ago by a terrible king and can only return once he rescues the kidnapped princess and finds the king's lost treasure.

This would all seem nice and easy, but with an evil necromancer standing in your way, well, you'd be dead wrong. You explore the game by going through each floor, searching the rooms, looking for treasure, and battling various creatures until you manage to find the princess. It's an intense gauntlet of stages where you must be on your toes or fall flat on your face.

Pretty intense, given how high the stakes are. You're saving the princess and saving the world, after all. Looking to climb the Tower of Evil? then check hitport out. 

ANALOGUE POCKET CLASSIC

Now we're looking at a classic design handheld that'll tug on your heartstrings and bring back many fond memories of childhood. Yes, Analogue just unveiled yet another special limited edition run of their insanely popular Analogue Pocket Classic.

Last time, we had a glow-in-the-dark and transparent. Now, we're getting a variety of pretty colors. And by pretty colors, I mean red, green, blue, yellow, pink, orange, indigo, and silver. Yes, the Analogue Pocket Limited Edition is definitely a whole lot of eye candy, with a generous 3.5-inch LCD panel with a 1600x1440 resolution in a 10x9 format. You can see where this is going. 

Yes, the sweet devices are all modeled specifically after your favorite classic Game Boy Pocket and Game Boy Advance colorways. If you're a 90s kid, then you know exactly what I'm talking about. Aside from playing original game cartridges for Game Boy and Game Boy Advance, you can emulate using ROMs thanks to the dedicated FPGA chip and microSD card slot. Definitely a modern classic. As for pricing and availability, the limited edition Analogue Pocket Classic is now available with new colorways retailing for $ 249.99 each and limited to two per order. If you want to snag one of these colorful bad boys, best to check out Analog's official website. 

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November is in full swing, boys and girls, and for all of us, that means more retro games and consoles are in the pipeline. So it looks like we’ve got nothing but fun and excitement until the year ends. So, if you’re curious about why, then this week’s news will convince you.

Continuing with our theme of old-school action-packed gaming, we have a sweet side scroller, a fast-paced title for all the daredevil gearheads out there, and yet another brand-new handheld in the works. If that works up your appetite, stick around to find out more!

STUNT CAR RACER

First off, we’re getting a port for an unlikely console this week, namely the Apple II. For those who were gaming through the golden years of the 80s, you’re probably familiar with a certain title that involved a lot of racing and a lot of stunts. It’s in the name, after all. Jeff Cramlin’s Stunt Car Racer was a game that gave us fast-paced competition, satisfying crashes and the ever-infamous ski jumps, to name a few.

Thanks to some modern gaming magic, It’s finally making its way to the Apple II after finding some success on the Commodore 64. It’s nice that everyone gets to have a turn behind the wheel. This did come with a few compromises, though. For those who’ve been used to driving around with all the original features, a few had to make the cut. Like multiplayer championships or the ability to save your entire season on disk.

Still, it’s nice to see Stunt Car Racer getting more releases in 2023. Hopefully, we’ll be getting more of it in the following year.

TOKI

Heading back to the Commodore 64, we’re looking at yet another 80s classic that’s a good number, if you might remember. In 1989, Akira Tsukuma brought his arcade platformer and shooter, Toki, to the NES, Sega Mega Drive, Atari, Amiga, and of course, Commodore 64. So you’ll be hyped to know that it’s getting a well-deserved remaster.

For those unfamiliar, the game has you playing as a powered-up ape, transformed from a human, that shoots energy balls from his mouth. Now, if you know 80s Japanese pop culture, you know this was all the rage back then. Honestly, it still is now.

The goal is to keep defeating strange creatures and eventually an evil wizard with your psychic simian fire powers. It’s pretty badass and an absolute classic. The C64 port is still in development, with no specific release date. They did give a rough estimate of a 2024 launch, so at the very least, we can be hyped for the near future. Especially if you’re a true blue Toki fan. Feel free to go bananas!

ANBERNIC RG ARC

In the past couple of weeks, we’ve been talking peripherals, attachments, and even colorways. This time, we’ve gotten news on a completely new console. Yes, boys and girls, Anbernic’s coming through with the RG ARC handheld. If they look a bit familiar to our eagle-eyed, cultured viewers, you’ll notice that the new Anbernic RG ARC handhelds are heavily inspired by the good old Sega controllers of yesteryear. Especially the Sega Saturn controller, which also got a retro bit makeover recently. Long story short, it’s an absolute blast from the past.

It’s also worth noting that out of the recent handheld emulation devices to come out. It’s one of the very few to feature a 4-inch screen and no analogue joysticks, so that means it’s old school as they come. It's perfect for any Sega Classic title and 2D arcade fighting game you can think of.

As for specs, you can rest easy with both the dual OS and single OS models sporting a beefy RK3566 chipset with emulation capabilities up to 64-bit. The single OS version will retail for just under 70 USD. On the other hand, the dual OS RG ARC, which can run both Linux and Android 11, retails for just under 90 USD.

As of right now, you can score one of these bad boys over at the Anbernic official website. This is an absolute must for any hardcore, old-school Sega aficionado.

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For most peeps around the globe, it's prep time for the yuletide season, but in the US of A, we still got Thanksgiving rolling in, which is right on the ground because there's definitely a lot to be thankful for, especially in the realm of retro gaming.

We've covered new games and consoles every week, and this time, it's no different. If you're looking for a new title to get lost in for hours or a new handheld that can keep up with your badassery, you've come to the right place. Many thanks. So hang on to your seats because this ain't your average retro turkey dinner.

WORRIORZ

We're kicking things off with an absolute arcade classic. If you've been around and spent your fair share of coin currency, then you probably remember the 1980s arcade game Wizard of War. If not, maybe you played it on the Atari and C64, which was equally fun. Well, that brings us to a modern version named Worriorz, and its C64 release is coming to the Commodore Amiga thanks to 2ndMoon.

This is some really early news, as there's very little news to go around. We know it's at a very early work-in-progress state with a very early downloadable demo. Worriorz have up to four players battling against each other around the Pac-Man-like maze, while many disappearing enemies try to take you out first. For a game this cute, it's pretty intense for sure. 

So, if you want to be a warrior and go to war against your closest friends, best keep your eyes peeled for this title. 

CRIMBO

As we said earlier, Christmas comes early for many people. Mariah Carey is good to go, and so are we. So, for anyone who played on an old-timey PC or emulates using DOS Box, you might enjoy the wholesome Christmassy family game Crimbo by Blackjacket.

All we're getting is an unofficial ZX Spectrum to DOS conversion by Little Shop of Pixels, which, as we all know, is already a ton of fun. The mission is clear and simple. You're jolly old St. Nick, and it's your job to collect all the scattered presents while avoiding some holiday-hating duck demons and surprisingly dangerous pine trees.

Yes, we never knew the Yuletide foliage could be so deadly. Of course, once you clear each area, you've essentially saved Christmas. And you can do it all again next year, or maybe immediately if that tickles your fancy.

GORETROID GUNMETAL RETROID POCKET 2S

It's only been a couple of weeks since Retroid gave us all a taste of the Pocket 2S, and this time, we're getting quite the snazzy update that not only looks good but feels even better. Safe, even. While people clamoured for something badass, GoRetroid gave an equally badass answer with the GoRetroid Pocket 2S Gun Metal version. Make no mistake, colorful hard plastic is all well and good, but there's something satisfying about wielding a solid steel handheld console. So badass. Currently, there's no news of the release, only an official teaser.

Still, with GoRetroid saying it's coming soon, we can at least be relieved to know that it's actually going to happen. So, if you want a bit more, GoRetroid's Gunmetal Retroid Pocket 2S might just be up your alley. 

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