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:
So what was my viewing experience like? Absolutely amazing. I was gripped from start to finish. I firstly fell in to a hypnotic trance over the stunning animation at the beginning of the documentary. The pacing, the music; everything ebbed and flowed in a way that hooked me in those first few minutes of: Here Comes a New Challenger.
It was interesting to hear about the Arcade market. It turned out that Street Fighter 2 helped revive the arcades in many ways and sales far exceeded what Capcom had expected. Being a consumer and a player of Street Fighter 2, I guess I never considered what went in to the graft of delivering Street Fighter 2 to arcades across the world. Watching the documentary definitely elevated my appreciation for SF2 in many ways. Perhaps one of my favourite parts was the part about the hack: Street Fighter 2: Rainbow Edition. This hack found its way in to the arcades and a soon as players got their hands on it; there was no going back. Rainbow Edition made significant improvements to SF2: Champion Edition, by speeding up gameplay and adding crazy things like giving Ken and Ryu the ability to smash out five Hadouken's in one. How did Capcom respond? The easy answer is that they released Hyper Fighting. Adding Turbo to Hyper Fighting meant that players could still experience the speed that Rainbow delivered; whilst playing an official release. You will have to watch the documentary if you want the full scoop though. Since watching the documentary, I purchased that Street Fighter 2 Player Guide VHS. This is something that was covered alongside the strategy guides. I did not expect to see the finer detail of Street Fighter Mania. I guess this proved to me, the influence of this documentary right? Right! The question on your lips is where can I watch it? There are 2500 limited run Blu-Rays that are due to be shipped at the end of May/beginning of June. You might be shocked at the hefty price tag of £34.99 but I believe it is worth it. Even though I've seen the press burner, I still snagged my copy. UK shipping is £3.50. Honestly guys, don't miss out. Enjoy.
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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. 
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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. 
The Evercade EXP has fifteen Secret Games
It wasn't until I reviewed the Evercade EXP that I realised there was an option for Secret Games. It got me thinking about how cool this actually was. At this time I had no idea how to access the Secret Games but that was until now. Someone reached out to me on Facebook with a link to the official Evercade Facebook Group with this post. It shows how to access fifteen secret games, pictures and more. (Side note: you will need to join the group to see the full post).
It's a fairly decent list of games that include titles like Pyramids of Ra (Game Boy), Arcade Rush (NES) and much more. It's worth noting that you will need some of the official Evercade Cartridges to access the secret games though. 
Back in October of 1996, a special video game launched on the Sega Saturn followed by the PlayStation 1. Tomb Raider! Tomb Raider changed everything. Lara Croft changed everything. From the debates about her massive triangle tits to Lara traversing the lost continent of Atlantis; Lara really seemed to have it all. Behind the facade though, Lara had quite the opposite. I felt like she was alone.
Playing through the Tomb Raider games as a teenage girl, I always felt like Lara yearned for more. She never seemed happy with where she was, what she had found and after-all, she grieved over the loss of her father. She was alone for the majority of her adventures with only the company of her two pistols. Perhaps this is why so many of us like Lara? Perhaps we can relate to the never ending pursuit of adventure and happiness in the midst of grief? Or maybe it was a simple as loving her triangle tits? Whatever your reasons, Lara Croft is as renowned as ever in 2022. That's what makes events like TR26 so special. TR26 took place on Saturday 15 October 2022 and coined itself as:
Interview by Gemma @ Juicy Game Reviews / TheGebs24
BitBeam Cannon are the devs behind a few upcoming Amiga titles
So you liked Final Fight and Streets of Rage back in the 90's right? If the answer is "yes" then I think you're going to get a kick out of BitBeam Cannon's upcoming Beat 'em up. If the answer is "no", well you can keep reading because Daemon Claw just might be your cup of tea.
I reached out to Mike and Corey, BitBeam's masterminds, for exclusive access in to Metro Siege and Daemon Claw. What they gave me, far surpassed my expectations. They allowed me the following interview (which I hope you'll enjoy), a first access play of Metro Siege on my Amiga 500 Mini and exclusive commentary in to the games' development. Before we take a deep dive in to the interview here is an overview of what Metro Siege and Daemon Claw are about, from BitBeam's very own, Mike: "For Metro Siege, BitBeamCannon is teaming up with PixelGlass and Enable Software to deliver a 2 player co-op beat em up for classic Amigas and many modern platforms. The team's goal is not just to make the best beat em up game for classic Amiga, but to make a brawler that can stand its ground against all of the greats of the genre, whether they be in the arcade or on consoles. Beat Em Up's have always been the favorite of Metro Siege's lead designer, and this results in one of the most sophisticated combat mechanics in any beat em up, with the most fun elements collected from many of the games he's played over the the decades. Metro Siege provides a large assortment of basic attacks, aerial attacks, combo attacks, back-attacks, low attacks, dash-attacks, super-attacks, grabs and throws to let each player mix things up and play in the style they want to play in the moment. On top of this, Metro Siege ads even more combat options in the way of blocking and counter-attacks. Holding attack and back will block basic attacks. Blocking strong attacks like jump-kicks will reduce damage, but players will be knocked back a bit, requiring a second or two to recover. Once skilled enough to initiate your block a split second before the moment of impact, you'll automatically parry the enemy attack and perform a special counter-strike, dealing bonus damage to the enemy wile also earning back a bit of health and special attack power. On top of this already robust mix of fighting options Metro Siege let's you enjoy throwing enemies into each other and multiple ways to hit them while they're down. There's a risky knee or elbow drop to deal heavy damage to a fallen foe, but if they get up or roll out of the way, or you just miss your mark, you'll slam yourself into the pavement, taking damage yourself and leaving yourself temporarily vulnerable as you recover. The final playable character is not yet revealed, but Metro Siege will offer three distinct character to play as, each offering a different move set and playing style to further add to the variety and replay value. This demo includes the first 3 mostly complete levels and the first full boss fight scene, but behind the scenes many more levels are in varying degrees of partially implemented. Metro Siege has been in development for over 3 years, but don't worry, that doesn't mean it will take the team a year to make each new level. Now that the games engine and tool set are fully developed progress on filling in the unfinished content is drastically faster. That said, because each member of the team has their own day job to deal with and fluctuating available hours on any given day, they can't yet give an estimated delivery date for the full game. The best thing to do in this regard is to follow BitBeamCannon on social media for all the latest updates so you can easily track their progress". 
Alice Sisters coming soon to the Sega Genesis and Sega Mega Drive
PRESS RELEASE
It's the comeback of the most famous duo of PixelHeart: Alice and her little sister! After having saved their mother from a tragic end, the two sisters will try to defeat the terrible villain of the mountains this time.
You can find on our website two limited editions containing the game cartridge, a manual and a certificate of authenticity. We guarantee that our Retro Gaming Games are as close as possible to the quality of the packaging of the games of the time. We use professionals to manufacture each of our products. You will have the choice between two versions: a MEGADRIVE version and a GENESIS version. 500 copies of each will be available on our website. You can can pre-order here:
About the game:
The big bad of the mountains has captured Alice and her sister's mom, help them save their mother! Each of the sisters have their own power, Alice can change her size by jumping on the magic mushrooms. Her small size will allow her to pass through narrow spaces, but be careful because she won't be able to jump very high or very far! Alice's sister can send bullets to repel enemies or break rocks. Go through the levels and solve puzzles by activating the right lever, the right switch, and by finding the coloured keys to open the different doors. Beware of the various enemies! Key Features
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