Super Mario Maker UPDATE! Plus, what we still want to see in the game!

Free update is now live!

Hot on the heels of my Super Mario Maker review (here), I wanted to follow up by taking a more in-depth look at the exact features missing from this fantastic game. From missing animations and power-ups to the inability to create sloped terrain, there are certainly some issues that stop Super Mario Maker from being the true Super Mario Bros creation tool it could be. Some are minor, but others are so glaring that they render the opportunity to recreate most of your favourite Super Mario Bros 3, Super Mario World and New Super Mario Bros levels impossible. But just as I was about to post this article, news spread online of a free update from Nintendo that adds new content and fixes. I will cover these first before continuing! Now today, the patch is up for download (or yesterday if you live in the USA). I will take a quick look at what has been added before looking at the features we would like to see in future updates!

New Toejam & Earl game in development! Kickstarter project needs your help!

Bring back the funk!

Whatup Yo? Erm...? Well, I was going to start with an amusing string of 'urban slang' as part of an introduction to this piece, but I suddenly realised how uncool I am and that I would end up sounding like Jessie from Breaking Bad ("Gatorade me, bitch!"). Anyway, gamers from the 16-bit era will know all about Toejam & Earl! Released on the Sega Mega Drive way back in 1991, this funky, exploration game was a breath of fresh air in a world populated by platformers and fighting games. A roguelike at heart, TJ&E tasked you with wandering around the cartoon landscape attempting to find pieces of your broken space ship whilst avoiding a selection of some of the most bizarre enemies ever seen in a videogame - rogue dentists, possessed mailboxes, giant hamster wheels and stampeding nerds to name but a few. Adding to the madness were unopened presents which, when opened, could grant you useful items such as speed-giving super hi-tops, extra health, icarus wings, or money. They could, unfortunately also contain deadly items such as enemies, rain clouds that would follow you, zapping you with lightning, or even instant death. The random nature of these presents, along with the randomised levels and ship piece placement resulted in a game with plenty of replay value. The two player split screen - which allowed both players to wander off and do their own thing - sealed the deal and Toejam & Earl went on to become a cult hit. 

Indie News - La-Mulana sequel in the works via Kickstarter!

La-Mulana 2 - sequel in development

The cryptic mind-fuck, masquerading as a 2D Metroidvania platformer, La-Mulana, is getting a sequel. This brand new adventure is being developed by Japanese developers, NIGORO - who brought us the original PC version back in 2005, and Playism, who brought us the remakes for Wii & PC. Using the popular Kickstarter site to fund the title seems like a wise move, as it's already raised $140,000 of its £200,000 target, with another 2 weeks to go.

Indie News - Vindicator : Uprising - Demo released

Welcome to Hell

Welcome you ungodly heathens, please take a seat and wait for your ticket number to be called, upon which point you will be heading straight to Hell. Fire up the BBQ, I'll see you down there. Who doesn't enjoy a bit of casual blasphemy. Apart from, y'know, God, or whichever deity you waste your precious time adoring. Well the guys over at Gamephase have certainly reserved their seats in eternal damnation for this effort - their new game, Vindicator : Uprising. 

Steam Christmas Sale - Loads of Gaming Bargains!

Steam Christmas Sale 2013

The Steam Christmas Sale is now on and, as usual, there are some insanely good bargains on offer. There are far too many to list here, but over the last couple of days I have nabbed big titles such as Deus Ex Human Evolution : Directors Cut for £3.24, Dead Island Riptide for £4.99 and Dishonored : Game of the Year for £10.99, as well as a plethora of indie delights.

Tiny Thief, my latest reviewed game (see, here), is also there for £3.60, making it worthy of your time (at £11.99, they were taking the piss). Every day there are new flash bargains, so be sure to check back daily and grab yourself a shed load of gaming goodies for mere pennies!

Cassiopei - Experience almost instant loading C64 games on original Hardware!

The long wait (for games to load) is over

Fantastic news for fans of Commodore's wonderful 8-bit home computer, the C64, as a new device called the Cassiopei will soon let you load all your favourite cassette games in the blink (or at least a few blinks) of an eye.

The Cassiopei is a brand new device that is soon to be released at the HCC Commodore gebruikergroep in Maarssen next month, and will hopefully go on sale to the general public soon after that. Plugging in to the C64's cassette port, the Cassiopei allows the user to load games up to 50 times faster than the original cassette (if it would load at all.. sigh). It contains 8Mb of internal flash memory on which to store your favourite games and programs in .prg or .tap format, with the ability to load whatever you want onto it via a USB connection. The only downside is an inability to use .d64 (disk) images, as the Cassiopei is connected via the cassette port, but as most games came on tape as well as disk, this shouldn't be too much of a problem.

XBOX Live End of Summer Sale - Grab some great bargains on XBLA!

Today marks the start of the End of Summer Sale on Xbox Live and there are some really good deals on offer that I wanted to bring to your attention. With a varied selection of decent games and up to 75% reductions, there is definitely something here for everyone. With no deadline set for the end of the sale, I recommend heading over as soon as you can and seeing what catches your eye.

New issue of Retro Gamer OUT NOW for subscribers!

Retro Gamer Issue 119

Just a quick post to let all you retro gaming fans know that the new issue of Retro Gamer magazine is out for subscribers, with it hitting the shops in a few days. My copy came this morning and I immediately liked the Q-bert cover.

This months edition features articles and features on the following:

• Atari Jaguar - 20 Years On
• Top 25 SNES games
• Super Castlevania IV 
• Counterstrike 
• The History of Cannon Fodder
• A Bluffers Guide to Puzzle Games
• The Making of Deactivators
• Zepplin Games
• The Spectrum 128K

Massive SEGA Sale - Now on Xbox Live Arcade

For all you SEGA and retro game fans out there. There is a huge sale on Xbox Live Arcade with discounts of up to 67% off.

If there are titles you haven't picked up already then I suggest you rush on over to the Xbox Marketplace and get your spend on!

Guardian Heroes is 160 points... yes, 160 points!! Madness.

There's also NiGHTS for only 400, The Cave for 600, and Renegade Ops for 320. Plus, loads of Sonic games going cheap. So grab a bargain (or several) while you can.

Awesome Amiga games on your PC - The Easy Way!

Emulation is a wonderful thing. Regardless of your stance on the legal side of it, you have to admit that it is a fantastic way to archive and remember the classic games of yesteryear. With prices for many original copies of old titles skyrocketing, many would never get to experience them without the many excellent emulators available out there. Now, it is even easier for PC users to experience the joys of Commodore's 16-bit machine.

The guys over at http://thecompany.pl/ have lovingly turned all your Amiga favorites (and many you may never have heard of) into easy to run .exe files for your PC. While I am not sure of the legality of this, I do know that they have done a sterling job, and it makes running Amiga games an absolute doddle. With no loading times, instant joypad support (my Xbox 360 controller works a treat), visual filters and compatibility with all versions of Windows, enjoying Amiga games has never been more straightforward.

Steam Sale - Indie Game Special ( March 21-29th )

For all fans of PC indie titles, it is worth heading over to the Steam store as they are currently running an Indie Spring Sale. There are absolutely tons of great games reduced to ludicrously cheap prices. The sale runs from March 21st to 29th, so make haste and pick up some bargains.

Duck Tales Remastered coming this Summer!

Life is like a hurricane.. (sing along now!)

Oh my goodness. I am extremely excited and blissfully happy to bring you some awesome news. The NES classic, Duck Tales, has been remastered for modern consoles and will be landing this summer!

The wonderful 8-bit platformer created by Capcom in 1989 brought the feathered Disney characters to our screens and secured a place in our hearts. Fondly remembered by everyone who played it back in the day, Duck Tales (and its sequel) are exceptionally well produced platformers with gorgeous cartoon visuals, an insanely catchy chiptune soundtrack, a varied selection of stages containing many hidden secrets, and tight gameplay that is still a pleasure to play.

Giana Sisters Twisted Dreams - Out today on XBLA / PSN / Wii-U

The excellent retro platformer Giana Sisters : Twisted Dreams has been released today on XBLA and PSN, with a Wii-U version forthcoming.

I reviewed the PC edition back in November 2012, where I praised the game for its wonderful aesthetics, brilliant music by original composer Chris Hulsbeck and Swedish metal band Machinae Supremacy, the switching between sisters mechanism and the enjoyable, and challenging gameplay.

The Spelunker Collection - European Release Confirmed!

Exciting news for any fans of the Spelunker series. Tozai themselves have confirmed that the epic Spelunker Collection will be getting a UK (and the rest of Europe) release on Playstation Network.

Having already been released in Japan to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of Spelunker, those of us in the West were left wondering if we would see the delightful cave explorer on our shores. A US release was confirmed for later in the year, but no word was given on a European release. Until now. So far no date has been confirmed, but the news that it will be coming is enough for now.

Excellent New Music Video Pays Homage to 8-bit Video Games

For those of you who enjoy electronic music AND video games - I'm betting that's a fair few of you! - here is a cool new video from the guys at Hospital Records. The track is from the always dependable High Contrast and, while certainly not in the same league as his classic tunes; Return of Forever, Racing Green, Twilight's Last Gleaming and The Road Goes On Forever, it is a pretty decent mix of drum & bass, electro and chiptune sounds. It is an energetic track with some lovely pads halfway through to give it some depth and emotion.

10,000 views - A preview of what's to come

Retro Spirit Games went over the 10,000 views mark this weekend. 

A huge thank you to all of you who continue to read and (hopefully) enjoy my games reviews and features. 

It is hard work running Retro Spirit by myself as I need to play test all the games thoroughly in order to review them fairly AND keep a steady flow of content for the site. But it is worth it to be able to share my thoughts on the most creative and enjoyable games available to us today.

So thank you all very much. I hope you continue to visit and read the articles I produce for this site, I have many more reviews in progress as well as some cool ideas for special features, including a special feature on the legendary DOOM, which is 20 years old this year.

Indie Royale Halloween Bundle Out Now

That's right kids, it's time for another fabulous bundle of gaming goodies from those wonderful people at Indie Royale. They are constantly wowing gamers with their incredible bundles of top indie titles for mere pennies. This time around it is a spooktacular offering just in time for Halloween! 

Fancy some ghostly goings on, or blood curdling horror, then look no further as this month's bundle brings you 5 gruesome, spine tingling offerings for the price of a cup of coffee.

WIPEOUT Soundtrack Remastered and Available Now!

WIPEOUT Soundtrack Remastered and Available Now

 

If, like me, you are a fan of the amazing futuristic racer series Wipeout, then I am sure you also loved the cool techno, rave soundtrack that accompanied it. Featuring cool trance synths, energetic beats and breaks, and pounding basslines. The soundtrack suited the exhilarating and high speed racing within the game.

Good news then, as the original producer of these tracks COLD STORAGE, also known as Tim Wright - legendary Amiga music creator - has gone back to the studio and painstakingly remastered the entire album.