 Who doesn’t love a remake, remaster or sequel to one of their favourite gaming franchises? I know I do. The last couple of years alone we have seen some amazing titles such as Resident Evil 4, Final Fantasy 7 Remake and Tears Of the Kingdom to give us that buzz we had been craving for so long. I’ve no doubt there are many more games we can look forward to in the next few months. Tekken 8 is one that I am really looking forward to. However. There is always the need for more. Is it lazy to do remakes and remasters and sequels of games? I don’t think so. It gives the player more of what they want and especially with the technology available to game developers these days, there is no end to what they could recreate for us. Think of all the games out there you have played in the past, think of all the games you may have recently played. Now think about what you would like to see in the future from those IP’s from your favourite game developers. Here are my picks for remasters, remakes and sequels. F-Zero Did anyone else get really excited at the last Nintendo Direct? The anticipation of seeing Captain Falcon’s blue vehicle and then the lovely 16-bit graphics of Mute City. Hoping that in a few seconds time we would get a glorious new F-Zero racing around at maximum speeds. Then it turned out we were getting F-Zero 99! Don’t get me wrong I think F-Zero 99 is a lot of fun and really is a clever idea from Nintendo. But it wasn’t what I wanted. It’s criminal to think the last real F-Zero game was twenty years ago back on the GameCube with the fabulous F-Zero GX. I just don’t understand why Nintendo aren’t bringing this quality franchise to this generation. Could it be they’re concerned how the Switch can handle a high fast paced racer, given that we know it struggles with frame rate sometimes in games when there is too much action on the screen? Maybe the next set of hardware from Nintendo can bring us that high octane futuristic race to us once again and we can bask in the views of Mute City once again. Final Fight Side scrolling brawlers have had somewhat of a resurgence in the last couple of years with games such as Streets of Rage 4, Final Vendetta and the awesome Shredders Revenge gracing us with their presence. I think now the time would be perfect to bring us another instalment of Final Fight. We’ve seen Metro City being used as a hub world in the recent edition of Street Fighter. I think it would be so much fun to bring Cody, Haggar and Guy back to us for another mission to take down the Mad Gear gang. Capcom have always insisted that the Final Fight and Street Fighter franchises are within the same type of world. Could you imagine if we could bring some of the Street Fighter characters into a 2d scrolling environment, or even create some new characters who could cross over into Street Fighter games at a later date, whether that be DLC for Street Fighter 6, or the inevitable Street Fighter 7 ? Come on Capcom make it happen.  Earthworm Jim (NTSC SNES) Earthworm Jim
Back in the 90’s there was a plethora of platform games which came out on both the Mega Drive and the SNES. Each game developer hoping to try and create the new Mario or Sonic. Plok, Mr Nutz, Bubsy all come to mind. None of them were as good or as quirky to me as Earthworm Jim. We can forget about the dodgy attempt at 3d on the N64. Earthworm Jim 1 and 2 I feel were really good games. Good level design, lovely graphics, decent sound track and it was silly. It didn’t take itself too seriously and that’s what made it fun for me. I think a new Earthworm Jim game could work in this generation, whether it sticks to the classic 2d origins or ventures again into the world of 3D who would know what’s best. We’ve seen what the PS5 can do with a game like Ratchet and Clank. Would Sony or Microsoft be interested in taking this IP and making it super special for us. I genuinely think there is enough nostalgia for us older gamers to bring it back. I also think a new polished artwork style combined with the silly humour would resonate with new younger gamers too. Gauntlet I had to think about this one in terms of how you could recreate Gauntlet to cater for a modern audience. No doubt about it Gauntlet was an arcade classic. Whether you selected Warrior, Elf, Valkyrie or Wizard you know you was in for fun battling the demons in the dungeons to escape to the exit collecting treasure and keys along the way. I think there could be three ways you could recreate or reimagine it. Number One would be an action style RPG where the four characters start an ultimate quest to the end. Number 2 a potential rogue style game in the form of Diablo or Hades which could keep that traditional top down view. Or Number 3 a team based game similar to that of the recently released Exo-primal where you battle through waves of monsters levelling up your characters and as you do, unlock parts of the story. Could this one happen? Let’s hope so. Guardians of the Galaxy My last pick is a personal favourite of mine. I genuinely feel as though this game released a year or so ago is a true hidden gem and did not get the recognition it truly deserved. It’s an awesome third person action game with a great plot, fantastic combat and an epic soundtrack with complimented everything so beautifully. Eidos Montreal did a great job in developing this game. I would love to see Star-Lord, Drax, Groot, Gamora and Rocket in another romp around space battling their enemies along the way. A sequel would have been music to my ears, especially as this game was such a departure from the Avengers game, as no DLC, no micro transactions and a true fulfilling single player experience. So that’s five picks from me. What would your picks be? Give me a shout and let me know. In the meantime stay tuned here for more content from me. Guest Blog post by Adam @AngelicWiganer / @snoopfozziefozz
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Blog Post by Corey and Mike @BitBeamCannon
Daemon Claw: Origins of Nnar is a new fantasy retro side scrolling action game.
The Simpson's Arcade was a classic
Do you love the NES as much as we do?
I'm getting straight to the point here: Here Comes a New Challenger, is the Street Fighter 2 documentary I never knew I always wanted. It's tremendous. But what is it? Here Comes a New Challenger is an absolute love letter to the global phenomenon; Street Fighter 2.
Directed by Oliver Harper, the documentary covers a wealth of Street Fighter information; literally starting with Street Fighter. Now, we all know that Street Fighter was nothing in comparison to the monsoon of fame, hype and hysteria that arrived with Street Fighter 2. Here Comes a New Challenger takes a deep dive in to this world and to help the story along the way, the documentary is packed with some big names. From the likes of Mick McGinty (artist), Yoshiki Okamoto (Street Fighter 2 Producer), James Goddard (Dev),Steven E. de Souza (SF2 Movie Director) and many more key players that facilitated the Street Fighter 2 craze of the 90's. Now I can assure you that throughout your two hours and twenty minutes with this documentary, there are some seriously juicy topics to sink your teeth into. The following synopsis is taken direct from the Here Comes a New Challenger website:
Immortal Joysticks are the new Sticks on the Block
Roguecraft is a new game coming to Amiga in 2023
The Amiga is the gift that keeps in giving. Why, I hear you ask? Indie Developers like Badgerpunch Games Studios, continue to churn out amazing games, and not just for the Amiga. No! The Commodore 64 is also supported with games like Rogue 64.
Badgerpunch Games caught my eye during some research I did for an Amiga Episode titled 6 Amiga Upcoming Games that will tickle your fancy. Perhaps I should change what I said here because it was shortly after I had edited this video that I learnt about an upcoming title called Roguecraft. What is Roguecraft? Rather than me sit here and whaffle; I decided to reach out to Ricki Sickenger (Lead Programmer) to find out more about what we can expect from this upcoming Amiga Game. 1/ So Rick, tell us a bit about your gaming history? I got a Commodore64 when I was 11 years old, with the 30-Games Collection from Argus Press. That was the start of a lovely relationship with the C64 and gaming. I started programming BASIC on the C64, and when I upgraded to an Amiga a few years later I made myself learn 68k assembly. I never made any games on the C64 or Amiga even though I was pretty active in the Amiga demo scene for a while. That was where I got to know Henning Ludvigsen, who makes the pixels in our games. I ended up getting a computer programming degree and in my mid-twenties starting my own gaming company with some friends. We wanted to make an MMO, and after 10 years of development we released Darkfall Online in 2009. After that I was pretty fed up with games development and started working as an IT consultant. It only took a couple of years before I started making games again, but in my spare time now. My friend Henning Ludvigsen and I started Badger Punch Games to make retro-inspired games. In 2019 I was missing the good old times I had with my Commodore 64, and decided to try to make a C64 game. Henning and I ended up making multiple games. The last game was a roguelike called Rogue64 that got quite a lot of attention, and excellent feedback from the players. It even got some mainstream gaming press attention, and it was nominated for multiple game-of-the-year 2022 awards. I never really had any consoles growing up. I used to play games on the C64 and Amiga, and then I got a PC and continued gaming there. I do have a Nintendo Switch though, and I love playing games on it. :-) 2/ What inspires you to create video games? Mostly the fact that creating video games is a way to express creativity that I do not have an outlet for in my day job. There is something about making something that needs to work, look ok, sound good, and on top of that has to be fun. My part of the job is programmer and game designer, and seeing all the parts come together to make a great game is magical! 3/ Badger Punch Games; Is this a game studio you created? Badger Punch Games is a studio Henning and I created to make retro-inspired games. We ended up making games on Retro systems (C64, Amiga and Mega65 so far), but we have also made games for modern platforms like Android and Windows. 4/ Roguecraft is your upcoming title for the Amiga (and other platforms). How would you describe Roguecraft? Roguecraft is a turn-based roguelike where the focus is simple and fun gameplay. A roguelike is often a dungeon crawler game where the aim is to get as far as you can in the dungeon. If you are lucky you might get to the end where a boss-monster and treasures await. You only get one life, but since the levels are randomly generated then every play of the game is a unique experience. There is an element of strategy to playing a roguelike, and as you learn the game mechanics you get further and further into the game. Roguecraft tries to balance keeping the mechanics interesting without making them too complicated, to maximize the joy of playing the game and the replayability of it. You should be able to complete the game in around 40 minutes if you have a perfect run. We are also making sure Roguecraft looks as good as possible for a non-AGA Amiga game. 5/ What kind of experience will players feel when they play Roguecraft? The players will hopefully feel joy, dread, a tiny bit of frustration, and lots of accomplishment playing Roguecraft. 
OLL23: TheGebs24, John Riggs, Dawbs and Olly (Retro Gaming Revival)
OLL '23 will once again be celebrating the biggest and best of the region’s gaming scene alongside Norwich's gaming communities, as well as showcasing the region's largest exhibition for indie game studios, curated by Debug.
Over the past weekend, Retro Gamers, content creators and vendors from across the world descended upon Norwich Showground to take part in the mighty schedule of OLL 2023. What is OLL I hear you ask? OLL is a popular Video Game Convention that brings thousands of people together with classic stage shows like The Retro Game Championships, Quizzes, independent retro game shops, traders, gaming artists, Indie Developers and much, much more. But before we talk about the tremendous lineup, let's take a moment to mention the Safe In Our World Charity; whom OLL teamed up with to promote this event. It's wonderful to have affiliations to such a wonderful cause. Well done to Jon and his team for this.
Lineup and Traders OLL was packed with us content creators from as far away as Seattle, USA to Sweden! The full lineup was:
Bitmap Bureau are an Indie Game company that recently released Final Vendetta; a side scrolling Beat 'em Up that was influenced by Streets of Rage and Final Fight. Of course, the lads at Bitmap Bureau have other games to their name, including Xeno Crisis, which is just about to release on the N64! I was lucky enough to be given one. I would personally like to thank Mike for this gift, along with the signed, framed Xeno Crisis poster. The Retro Game Championships took place on Saturday. We were placed in to teams of two and were pitted against another team of two. The games varied from round to round.
Now, I'm probably going to get roasted here as I may have gotten the order wrong! What I can tell you indefinitely are two things: John Riggs and I were team mates. We were playing Pilotwings with Dawbs and Olly from Retro Gaming Revival. Sadly we lost by two points. The mighty John Riggs took a massive gamble and attempted to land on the moving platform on Rocketbelt. Needless to say, we could not have conceded to a better pair to be honest. (SPOILER ALERT: Adam Koralik and Nostalgia Nerd won). Well done everyone. After 6pm, we all hung out at the after party with a small bar and a Super Smash Bros tournament rattled on in the background on stage. Jess, myself, John Riggs and his amazing wife Michelle, left before the quiz and music started pounding and off to dinner we went. Traders, vendors, Indie's and more OLL23 kept us all busy for the entire weekend. From the amazing RAW Talent Art to Sega Mags to Last Level Games to Wave Game Studios and more. For the full lineup you can click here. You'll see how the show was set out in my YouTube Episode from day one. Compared to OLL22, it felt clear that the organisers have gone much bigger this year. Every time I saw Jon, I thanked him for the amazing job him and the OLL Team had done. Well done from everyone here at Team24. I mean, anyone that can get a wall of CRT TV's at short notice is a legend in my eyes. I would love to see more Retro Video Game vendors at OLL24 (assuming there will be one). In fact, a few people said this to me. If you did not fancy purchasing any retro games, you could sit down and play them. Norwich Amiga Group had lots of hardware and new software on show, Game Cubes, N64's, PS1's, loads of retro games consoles were all free to play and it felt great seeing people relive their childhoods all over again. I close this blog with a huge and heartfelt thank you to you, the reader, the fans! Without you, none of this would have been possible. See you at the next one. 
Click to ENTER The Lady Lounge
Guest Blog by Marco Hibbins @Cultofniche_design
Long live the Sega Mega Drive
I'm sitting here with my fingers hovering over my keyboard. I'm staring at a blank word document like I'm staring into an abyss. I know what I want to talk about but where on earth do you begin talking about the Sega Mega Drive whilst giving it an ounce of the importance it deserves?
I keep hearing Bane's voice in my head: “You merely adopted the dark... I was born in it! Moulded by it!” And I was moulded by it! The Mega Drive that is, not the dark. But then the Mega Drive sort of was the dark side. And the devil's always had the best tunes! Or in this case, games! Sure, there was the NES and I had a ruddy good time on Duck Hunt with the Zapper. The Gameboy too ...even though I was essentially just playing Tetris on a big calculator display that I could barely see in daylight! It was still great fun though and impressive for the time. But the Mega drive? Now that was something else... I remember the first time I laid eyes on it. It was at a friend's house. His name was William and there, on the carpet just in front of his living room TV was this mysterious, black box. Somehow it looked both slick and futuristic yet rugged and imposing at the same time. Like if Honda had designed a tank. William switched the TV to channel 00 and we were met with static. But then... he reached for the power button on the mysterious console. He slid it to the On position. The static disappeared from the TV screen and for a few seconds... nothing happened. Then all of a sudden, the screen turned white and flooded the darkened living room with light! “SEEEAAAGGGAAAA!” screamed at me from the lo-fi TV speakers! The next thing I know, there's a certain blue hedgehog waving his finger at me and the sound of one of the most glorious chip tune songs ever programmed! Where had this been all my life?! I mean I was only 7, but still!
Guest Blogger: OG Money P @Philipkelly29
From pixels to perfection - FIFA Soccers' 30 year history with EA Games is ending
Back in 2022, a shock announcement made it's way to the ears and eyes of millions of FIFA Soccer players: EA Sports would lose the license to their immensely popular video game franchise FIFA, ending a thirty year reign with Fifa 23 but will then be called EA Sports FC. How did they get here? To understand this let us look where they started.
FIFA Soccer from EA Games is an incredibly popular soccer video game that offers a realistic experience of the sport. Players can customize their teams and compete in tournaments and leagues to become the top player. The game features detailed graphics, realistic ball physics, and a variety of game modes for single-player or multiplayer gaming. On top of that, players can also participate in online matches against other gamers from around the world. FIFA Soccer from EA Games is a must-have title for any soccer fan. Soccer games aren’t new. When EA Sports launched on the 15th of December 1993 there were already a slew of soccer titles on across pc and consoles, Amiga had Microprose soccer and sensible soccer, while Super Nintendo had Super Soccer and Sensible Soccer to name but a few. In this era, fans had the chance to see their teams represented as close to the real sport as possible, being able to set up player line ups and tactics provided some depth to what could seem as too simple a genre to provide a fanbase. Even in this early stage of gaming, innovation created competition: Sensible Soccer had personalisation options, it didn’t take itself too seriously though. Alongside actual football teams, players could have fun with fictional teams like Fish FC where you would have cod and haddock as your strikers. As kids playing this for the first time it was very funny and at the time a top-down view the gameplay was tricky to begin with but if you persevered with it became easier to play, score and win! And being able to gain couch co-op bragging rights at your friends' houses. The Striker Video game immediately responded with better graphics and an indoor soccer tournament sales of this title provoked FIFA to include indoor football in FIFA 97. |
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