A Very Amiga Christmas! 16-Bit Festive Gaming Goodies!

A 16-bit Christmas of Festive Freebies 

Ho Ho Ho, Merry Christmas. Tis the season, etc. etc. Yep, it's that time of year again, and thus the obligatory Christmas themed gaming articles appear online. The problem is, when looking at retro games, they are the same every year - unless some clever so-and-so has created a new homebrew game with a festive spin. Sure, I could cover newer indie games that feature Santa, elves, snowmen and the rest, but there are hardly any new ones and those that do appear are so dire they don't deserve the time spend playing (and writing about) them. Hmm, so what's a guy to do? I know, take a look at games on one of the greatest computers of all time, that's what! 

Amiga Homebrew - Fire 'N Ice (Solomon's Key 2)

Underrated 8-bit puzzler gets 16-bit port

A new homebrew game for the Commodore Amiga is always reason to celebrate and this brand new port of a classic, yet little known, NES game is no exception. While many old school gamers will be familiar with classic platform puzzler Solomon's Key, not that many people realise that Tecmo released a sequel in 1993, entitled Fire 'N Ice, exclusive to Nintendo's 8-bit console. Released late in the life of the NES, Fire 'N Ice failed to make much impact as most people had moved onto the SNES. This makes finding a copy of the game difficult and very expensive these days, but thanks to emulation this doesn't stop you from playing it on your PC / PSP / Xbox or whatever other system you enjoy running emulators on (you naughty person!). Now you can also enjoy the game on your Amiga, as lone developer Hukka has ported it to everyone's favourite 16-bit home computer!

Wolfenstein 3D demo ROM released for Sega Mega Drive

Great news for both retro console gamers and fans of the original first person shooter Wolfenstein 3D as it has finally found its way onto the Sega Mega Drive. Back in 1994, the Super Nintendo was lucky enough to get a port of Id Software's ground breaking title, but it was a heavily censored and very feeble looking port that wasn't a patch on the PC original. Still, it played well enough and was extremely popular. Now Mega Drive owners can finally get some payback as this unofficial port by Gasega68k blows the SNES version out of the water. It features a far less pixellated look that is much closer to the PC version, and the scrolling is incredibly smooth for the 16-bit system. Indeed, the whole affair is incredibly impressive, with 6-button controller support, digitised speech, the ability to save your game and graphical filters to further enhance the look of the game - though these, naturally, would only work on an emulator. 

Super Mario Bros 3Mix - Fantastic NES ROM hack gives fans a brand new adventure!

The all-time classic is back with an all new homebrew adventure!

As everyone on the planet knows, Super Mario Bros 3 on Nintendo's 8-bit NES console is one of the greatest - if not the greatest - platform games of all time. It blew gamers away back in 1990 (or earlier if you were in Japan) and still remains as enjoyable as ever thanks to the expertly crafted platforming mechanics, exciting and varied worlds to explore and the multitude of different power-ups - one of which, the Tanuki suit, was brought back by popular demand in the recent 3DS outing, Super Mario 3D Land. If, like me, you have played Super Mario Bros 3 so many times over the years that it's impossible to keep count, you will be delighted to hear about this new ROM hack which is now freely available online. Three years in the making, Super Mario Bros 3Mix is the work of one man, 'Southbird', whose previous work includes Sonic Epoch, a homebrew love letter to the Sonic Saturday morning cartoon from the early 1990's.

CoinOps & Vision - Bringing the Arcade to your home in spectacular style!

Bringing the arcade to your home

Microsoft's first foray into the console market, the Xbox, appeared in 2001 (or 2002 for us European gamers) and was a huge success. But, while I have fond memories of playing Halo 2, Mercenaries, Brute Force and Tao Feng : Fist of the Lotus with my buddies in our earlier twenties, it is not a console I hold with much regard these days. Aside from the games mentioned above, there isn't much else in the Xbox's library of games that holds any appeal. Even games such as Toejam & Earl 3 and Sega's arcade beat-em-up Strike Out left me extremely disappointed. Add in the fact that it's a fairly ugly brute of a console, with one of the worst official controllers ever made - right up there with the Atari Jaguar and Sega's horrible Dreamcast controller - and you have a machine that I am happy to leave in the past. Until now!

Indie Demo - Nightmare Night - Gameboy style platformer

Nightmare Night (surely that should be 'Knight'?) stars a young squire on a quest to vanquish the evil goblins from the nearby forest. His quest may seem a simple one, but that is because this new platform game from lone developer, KG, is only in alpha stage, and thus only has the first stage complete. As you can see, the visuals are heavily inspired by Nintendo's classic Gameboy handheld, with a monochrome palette and cute, yet well drawn, sprites. Beginning with a trusty sword, you must make your way through the forest, slashing the skeletons, adorable lizard things and spiders, as you make your way to the Goblin King boss. Along the way are chests and pots that can be broken for coins or health potions, and you even get to don a Knight's helm in order to look more badass. 

Homebrew Review - Classic Kong (Super NES) with full cartridge release!

Donkey Kong comes to SNES, with actual cartridge release

Unless you have been living under a rock for the majority of your life, or have never played a video game, you will be familiar with Donkey Kong. The classic Nintendo platform game appeared in arcades in 1981 and kick-started the entire platform game genre and the seemingly generic protagonist, Jumpman, would go on to become Mario - you may have heard of him. 

Homebrew Review - Solid Gold (Amiga)

Homebrew Treasure

It's always a pleasant surprise when a homebrew game turns up and genuinely feels as though it could be have been an official release for the system in question. It's even better when the game is loads of fun and gives you bags of entertainment with a dash of nostalgia. Solid Gold, an Amiga homebrew title from Germany's Night Owl Designs, does just that, looking and playing just like any number of other 2D platformers released in the late 80's and early 90's on Commodore's excellent 16-bit computer.

Homebrew Review - Alter Ego (NES - PC - Android)

Time for the old Switcheroo!

Alter Ego is a wonderful little homebrew platform puzzler that first appeared on the ZX Spectrum in 2011 (yes, 2011!). Now, fans of brain scratching single screen platformers can enjoy the switching action on PC, Android and even the awesome 8-bit NES.

Based on the idea popularised in Binary Land, Alter Ego has you controlling two characters at the same time. Your main fellow is a little white chap who looks a little similar to Bomberman. The second is his 'alter ego', a black shadowy version of himself. When you move your character left or right, this shadow form will move in the opposite direction (but not up or down - in this case he will copy you). You have a limited number of 'switches' at your disposal per level which, when used, swap the two character's positions. The alter ego is invulnerable to the roaming skulls that patrol the stages and can walk in mid-air so this allows you to move him to areas the main character cannot access. Once there you switch characters and continue as the white character. Using this tactic, you must collect all the little square collectibles to complete each single screen stage. It's an extremely well executed mechanic and one that becomes familiar within minutes of playing the game.

Review - ACTION 53 - Function 16 Volume ONE - NES Homebrew!

Don't Panic. There is no sign of Cheetahmen here!


Fantastic news for fans of the wonderful 8-bit Nintendo console. NES dedicated website 'Infinite NES Lives' have released a brand new NES cartridge featuring a large selection of homebrew NES games. Riffing on the name of the infamous Action 52 game,  Action 53 Function 16 Volume ONE "Streemerz Bundle" (to give it its full mouthful of a title) brings together many popular NES homebrew games that have surfaced over the last few years and slaps them together as a complete package for the first time. 

REVIEW - Ridiculous Reality (Atari 8-bit)

Winner of this year's Atari Bit Byte User Club's Software Contest by a considerable margin, Ridiculous Reality is a 2D platformer homebrew title developed for the 8-bit Atari XL / XE. The work of Developers Martin Šimeček, Adam Wachowski, Michał Radecki and Adam Powroznik, the game is based on the concept seen in the 2010 Flash game, Continuity. But where that game had extremely sparse graphics that were little more than basic black & white backgrounds and a stick man protagonist, Ridculous Reality is chock full of 8-bit charm and character. It is easy to see why it took home the gold as it is something really quite special.