retro

Cannon Dancer is a 2D platform/beat ’em up that has quite the enigmatic history. It was an arcade title that came out in 1996 and was the spiritual successor to Capcom’s famous Strider. Albeit without Capcom’s involvement. Kouichi “Isuke” Yotsui, the lead designer of both games, had moved onto the less […]

Cannon Dancer Osman – PS5 Review

April 19, 2023 in PS5 / Reviews tagged arcade / cannon dancer / coin-op / port / retro / strider by Richie

Atari Mania is the latest game to show up as part of the ongoing 50th anniversary celebrations of legendary software publishers, Atari. We’ve recently seen Atari 50, a huge compilation spanning Atari’s time in the industry, and a whole heap of remastered games in their Recharged range, Atari Mania is something else altogether. Essentially, this […]

Atari Mania – PS4 Review

April 13, 2023 in PS4 / Reviews tagged atari mania / mini games / retro / warioware by Richie

It’ll be no surprise to you that Guns N’ Runs is a run and gun shooter/platformer and it comes to us from Brazilian coders Statera Studio following its initial PC release back in May 2021 that was seemingly missed by most gamers and reviewers out there. But it’s here on PSN […]

Guns N’ Runs – PS4 Review

March 27, 2023 in PS4 / Reviews tagged 16-bit / 2d / platformer / retro / run and gun / runs n' guns by Richie

Fight’N Rage is a side-scrolling beat ’em up from Uruguayan developer, and fighting game enthusiast, Seba Games Dev and it is very much inspired by the classics of the genre, a genre which arguably had its heyday back in the late ’80s and early ’90s but repeatedly gets dipped back […]

Fight’N Rage – PS5 Review

March 19, 2023 in PS4 / Reviews tagged 90s / Beat em up / fight'n rage / final fight / retro by Richie

Heidelberg 1693 is a 2D action platformer from Andrade Games who we became aware of when we reviewed Sturmfront: The Mutant War which was a wild top-down shooter in the vein of Total Carnage (itself a successor of sorts to Smash TV). It was a good looking game that was absolutely stuffed with […]

Heidelberg 1693 – PS5 Review

November 21, 2022 in PS5 / Reviews tagged 2d / ghosts 'n goblins / hack and slash / heidelberg 1693 / retro / run and sort of gun / sturmfront / undead germans by Richie

Atari 50: the Anniversary Celebration is a compilation of retro titles spanning most of the life of famed software publisher Atari and has been put together by Canadian coders Digital Eclipse. Aside from such keywords as Atari and 50, the one that rings truest about this collection is ‘celebration’ as […]

Atari 50: the Anniversary Celebration – PS5 Review

November 11, 2022 in PS5 / Reviews tagged atari 50 / compilation / retro by Richie

Originally released on PC in 2019, Rick Henderson is the latest porting effort from EastAsiaSoft. Described as an ‘endless horizontal-scrolling shoot ’em up’ the game combines 16-bit visuals and classic shoot ’em up gameplay in a package that is kind of traditional but not entirely lacking in its own ideas. You […]

Rick Henderson – PS5 Review

August 31, 2022 in PS5 / Reviews tagged horizontally-scrolling / retro / rick henderson / shoot em up by Richie

Now, this is a tricky one. Thunderbolt Collection is another retro-collection from QuByte. They previously brought us the Humans Collection and have now dug even further into the archives to pull out this collection of two little-known shoot ’em ups. What you get with this collection are Thunderbolt Fighting Plane and Thunderbolt II. Now you’d […]

Thunderbolt Collection – PS4 Review

August 5, 2022 in PS4 / Reviews tagged console / megadrive / NES / retro / shoot em up / thunderbolt collection / vertically scrolling by Richie

Pocky & Rocky Reshrined is a top-down, multi-directional shoot ’em up based on a 1992 SNES game that was itself a sequel to an arcade game called Kiki Kaikai from Taito. The game has been given the remake treatment by Tengo Project who developed Wild Guns Reloaded and The Ninja Saviors for modern consoles […]

Pocky & Rocky Reshrined – PS5 Review

June 24, 2022 in PS4 / Reviews tagged arcade / pocky & rocky / retro / run and gun / shoot em up / SNES / top down by Richie

It’s been a pretty good time recently if you are a retro gaming fan on the PS4. There has been a ton of great content coming out, what with the excellent Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge, Cotton Fantasy with all its charm and a myriad of retro collection releases, […]

Final Vendetta – PS4 Review

June 22, 2022 in PS4 / Reviews tagged Bitmap Bureau / brawler / final fight / Final Vendetta / nineties / nostalgia / ps4 / retro / review / streets of rage / Utah Saints by Grizz

As mentioned in my Wonder Boy Asha review from last year, the Wonder Boy franchise is one that had passed me by, despite being a self-professed Sega fanatic ever since the glory of the Mega Drive days. Despite owning original copies of Wonder Boy III on Master System and Monster World […]

Wonder Boy Collection – PS4 Review

June 2, 2022 in PS4 / Reviews tagged Asha / Collection / Land / Monster / retro / Wonder Boy / World by Grizz

If you look at the screenshots, you may already have an idea of how you feel about this one. The unfortunate side effect of reviewing games over an amount of time, is that you will inevitably encounter trends or tropes that just keep coming back and it becomes very difficult […]

Glam’s Incredible Run: Escape from Dukha – PS4 Review

April 21, 2022 in PS4 / Reviews tagged challenging / Escape from Dukha / Formulaic / Glam's Incredible Run / platformer / retro by Grizz