Super Connard (GameBoy)

Super Connard sounds like an innocent name for a game doesn't it? That is until you translate it from French and discover that actually means 'Super Asshole'. A collection of three mini-games that sees you playing none other than Joseph "I stuff monkeys into Pringle tubes in the name of science" Herring, Kim Jong-un and Adolf Hitler, it could be the most controversial game to ever hit a Nintendo console. With homebrew Gameboy releases being somewhat of a rarity - ones featuring real-life dictators considerably more-so - the question remains; what is Super Connard actually like to play?

Fortunately, here at RGCD we were lucky enough to receive a near-final version of the game earlier this month prior to its physical cartridge release.

Full Circle: Rocketeer Available! (Atari Jaguar CD)

"Flying through space is no picnic. Commanding an intergalactic space vessel isn't all plaid blankets and wicker baskets. All manner of peculiar happenings might ruin one's day. Take planets for instance. They're big. Really big. Often rather solid, too. For these reasons alone, it's usually advisable not to involve yourself in any sort of altercation with one, particularly when travelling through hyperspace.

This was now something Space Corps Commander Gwyn Williams knew only too well, as, from his vantage point high in the upper atmosphere, he observed the fragments of his vessel scattered over the surface of this particular example of Big Solid Planet. Sliced into three sections with the ship's cargo falling from orbit all around him, he wondered how this day might possibly get any worse... Ah! Of course! An onslaught of deadly rocks - simply perfect!"

Following the Jaguar CD releases Kobayashi Maru: Final and Jagware Collection 1.0, Reboot and RGCD are back with another serving of unashamedly old-school arcade goodness in the form of Full Circle: Rocketeer. Rebuild and reload your crashed space craft whilst fending off endless waves of hostile aliens and meteors in 16 unique levels spread over 4 worlds! Full Circle: Rocketeer features 50/60 FPS fluid gameplay (PAL/NTSC) powered by Reboot's Raptor game engine, 8 channel digital sound (music and effects), collectable bonus items, online high scores (via webcodes), MemoryTrack saving and ProPad controller support.

The physical release comes cellophane wrapped in a clear DVD box with full colour, double-sided printed inlay on a full face printed, glass-mastered CD, direct from the factory (100% professionally produced in the UK). Instructions for each game are included on the inside of the inlay. It requires no additional hardware to run other than the Jaguar CD console itself. As an added bonus, a vinyl Reboot sticker will be included with every order.

Priced at £21 (plus £4 UK/Europe shipping, £5 rest of world) Full Circle: Rocketeer is available to buy from our shop page today!

Super Puzzle Platformer Deluxe (PC)

[This review was originally written by J. Monkman for indiegames.com, and has been reposted here with the editors permission].

Almost two years from when Andrew Morrish uploaded his original prototype build, Super Puzzle Platformer Deluxe (SPPD) has finally arrived and is available to buy on Steam - and it has most certainly been worth the wait. As promised in the Plus version released by Adult Swim Games earlier this year, SPPD takes the acclaimed 'Mr. Driller in reverse' game formula to the next level with six themed worlds in which to battle those evil pastel-coloured blocks, seven additional unlockable characters, challenges, achievements and - most essentially - a local two-player vs mode.

Chasm (Preview) (PC/Mac/Linux)

 

Chasm, like many Kickstarter darlings, has been getting a lot of press lately - and deservedly so. I mean, it's a "2D Fantasy ARPG Platformer featuring procedurally generated Metroid-like dungeons and authentic pixel art." Shut up and take my money! In all seriousness, though, a solid concept does not always yield a solid game, but it (fortunately) seems that the team at Discord Games have something special brewing.

I sometimes get annoyed with the plethora of Kickstarter buskers with a dream but no dollar, clamoring amongst the crowd to get a few bucks from me when they don't have anything to show, or aren't even developers/artists/coders/etc! The team behind Chasm, however, have gone over and above in giving gamers good reason to toss them some clams - a full-featured, surprisingly robust alpha demo is publicly available to try out.

It is thus hardly surprising that the game, as of now, is already funded. But how does it play?

Hammerwatch (Preview) (PC/Mac/Linux)

Anyone familiar with games like Gauntlet or even Rogue will be instantly familiar with Hammerwatch, a game by Jochum Skoglund and Niklas Myrberg currently available in beta form. Containing only the first act and a rough version of a planned Survival mode), play takes place entirely in a dungeon, with a selection of character classes, up to four (in the final version) players, waves of enemies and loot, keys and potions to collect.

Huenison Update (PC/Amiga)

Remember the rather positive Huenison preview we published a couple of months back? Well, it seems that our friend Simone Bevilacqua of Retream was rather enamoured by the write-up, and after our successful relationship in handling the cartridge of his C64 eat 'em up Quod Init Exit he offered RGCD the opportunity to publish the game in both digital and physical formats! Needless to say, we are super proud to be involved in the release of such a unique game.

Work has been continuing on Huenison, including a few extra game modes and brick types, but mainly Simone has been polishing and tweaking things for the final release. More importantly for the hardcore Amiga crowd, as with his previous release BOH, Huenison will be available for both PC and Amiga OS 4. More information will follow soon, but for a taste of what is to come, check out the teaser trailer below.

Zero Cross (PC/Mac)

[This review was originally written by J. Monkman for indiegames.com, and has been reposted here with the editors permission].

Christopher "udderdude" Emirzian, developer of the hardcore indie shmup XOP, has delivered yet another perfect slice of STG action in the form of Zero Cross, an arena-based arcade game that combines bullet-hell with intelligent gameplay mechanics, a variety of different mission goals and some impressive boss designs.

Instead of the usual 'rush about the screen in a circle avoiding abstract enemies and bullets' that you'd expect from a typical arena shooter, Zero Cross has you activating shields to protect friendly structures, creating blackholes, destroying enemy bases, fighting colossal battle ships and closing rifts in the fabric of space-time. Sounds awesome? Well, to keep things brief - yes, it is.

C64 16KB Cartridge Game Development Competition!

What? Another year has gone by already? Following the success of the 2011 and 2012 rounds, RGCD are proud to announce the start of the C64 16KB Cartridge Game Development Competition 2013!

We are currently in the process of securing prizes and sponsorship, and awards will be given to entries that place 1st, 2nd and 3rd respectively.

INFINOS (PC)

INFINOS is definitely a rare gem. Played R-Type or virtually any classic 16-bit era shooter? Then you've played INFINOS, but that wouldn't really be doing this indie title any justice. Given the very sparse nature of its website, courtesy of developer Picorinne Soft, it would be very easy to overlook this one - but don't.

The second INFINOS is fired up, it conjures up fond mental images of my 11 year old self sitting cross-legged in front of a small tube TV in a modest bedroom, banging on the controller to the tune of Super R-Type (perhaps the first true shooter I ever played. I was also fond of Darius Twin).

Guns 'N' Ghosts Cartridge Available! (C64)

High fives all round! It has been a long time coming (the tape, disk and download versions have been available since the 14th of April from our partners at Psytronik), but I'm super proud to announce that Georg "Endurion" Rottensteiner and Trevor "Smila" Storey's 72-level demon-smashing Commodore 64 arcade game Guns 'N' Ghosts is finally available to buy on cartridge from our shop!

Guns 'N' Ghosts is an intense action game with a variety of play modes that offers a particularly rich two-player cooperative adventure, so grab your shotgun, ready your psychic powers and help paranormal investigators Trev and Georg eradicate a monstrous mélange of spooks & spectres!

Featuring box art by Smila, the 64KB PCB is housed in a ghostly transparent cartridge shell illuminated by an internal LED, and the game comes complete with a printed manual and seven vinyl stickers.

The cartridge version is available in two packaging types, a standard card carton and a more expensive 'deluxe version' that comes in a plastic case (a Universal Game Case with a specially cut foam insert to hold the cartridge as shown below). The standard version is priced at £17, whereas the deluxe version costs £22. Shipping is £4 for UK/Europe and £5 for the rest of the world. A digital version of the game will also be sent out to all customers following receipt of payment.

Please note that Pystronik Software are also selling the game on premium/budget disk, tape and as a download for £9.99, £4.99, £3.99 and £1.99 respectively (plus shipping) via their Binary Zone Retro Store.

The even better news for cartridge fans is that whilst fixing the hardware incompatibility issue responsible for the delay, Georg managed to squeeze in one of his earlier games as an exclusive Easter egg - just check out the photos below! We will be announcing the 'secret' to loading the second game in the near future, but for those of you wanting to try and find it yourself the only hint you are going to get is that it requires one single input at a specific time. Happy hunting!

Guns 'N' Ghosts (C64) (2013)

System Requirements

* A Commodore 64/128/GS (PAL/NTSC).
* A joystick/joypad (two for two-player).
* A VDU preferably connected to a loud sound-system.


Downloads

The retail version of Guns 'N' Ghosts is currently not available for free download. You can buy the game on cartridge from RGCD here, or as a download, tape and disk from Psytronik Software here.


Introduction

The C64 game development super-team Georg "Endurion" Rottensteiner and Trevor "Smila" Storey have returned with their first new collaborative game since their record-breaking successful hit Soulless!

Another Psytronik and RGCD collaboration, Guns 'N' Ghosts delivers a long-awaited, original single or two-player arcade style experience to your C64 in all formats (cartridge, disk, tape and download). Grab your shotgun, ready your psychic powers and help paranormal investigators Trev and Georg battle through 72 screens infested with zombies, skeletons and bats and various other spooks & spectres!

Reports of supernatural sightings have been coming in from all over the country and Trev and Georg are on the case! Georg is very handy with a shotgun, useful for getting rid of any unwanted zombies, reanimated skeletons or freakish lab experiments gone wrong, and Trev is gifted with incredible mind powers. These give him a special link with the spirit-plane - and the ability to send demons back to whatever hell-hole they crawled out of.

Guns 'N' Ghosts is an intense action game with a variety of play modes that offers a particularly rich two-player cooperative adventure, so get a friend round, plug in an extra joystick and kick some undead ass!

RetroGameCrunch (Part One) (PC/Mac)

RetroGameCrunch was a Kickstarter project born out of the Ludum Dare Game Jam held in August of last year. What's a RetroGameCrunch you say? What's a Kickstarter? What's a game jam and is it anything like a pearl jam?

Well to take them in reverse order, Pearl Jam are a popular beat combo who were particularly successful in the early to mid 1990s and were named after the jam made by one of the band member's grandmothers. A game jam is a relatively new concept where a group of developers get together and make a game in a strict amount of time. Think of it like a group of musicians jamming until they produce a song, but with video games instead of music. Except video game music, obviously.

Kickstarter, meanwhile, utilises another relatively new concept called crowd-sourcing and allows artists and developers of all sorts of gadgets and gizmos the opportunity to pitch for funding from the general public directly without needing to resort to a middle man - except for Kickstarter of course. The site has grown massively since it was launched and has now expanded from its original technology-based origins to reach out to all sorts of creative artists.

Video game development is one such medium suited to online crowd-sourcing and retro video gaming in particular has done well due to its target demographic of thirtysomething+, male gamers with a disposable income and (obviously) internet access.

Which brings us, at last, to RetroGameCrunch, the product of a game jam that was such fun to the people involved they decided to go to Kickstarter and extend their game jam over six long months, producing a game a month in return for up-front funding from the public. RGCD was one of the many backers and this post will look at the first three of the promised six games, with a future post covering the remaining games.

KRUNCH (PC/Mac/Linux)

It's difficult to not be immediately intrigued by the dark, foreboding atmosphere of KRUNCH, an indie game by LeGrudge and Rugged that puts a new spin on the familiar twitch platformer genre. In fact, this game of stressful close calls and peril-filled levels isn't a platformer; rather, I'd call it a 'floater'. Birthed from a Ludum Dare prototype, KRUNCH has an awful lot to offer gamers who really enjoy punishing themselves.

Mok Force (PC)

[This review was originally written by J. Monkman for indiegames.com, and has been reposted here with the editors permission].

Arguably inspired by the works of Kenta Cho, Deathmofumofu's Mok Force is an endless procedural doujin shmup that has one foot set firmly in the past and the other boldly stepping forth into a neon-coloured abstract future. The game design is strictly old-school with no power-ups, no gimmicks, no shields nor health bars and the only goal is to beat your previous high score. Combined with a deep DnB soundtrack (by Japanese producer Gu-Dara) that perfectly compliments the relentless action and high-speed low poly-count 3D visuals, the end result is an elegant, accessible and enjoyable shooter experience.

Jagware Collection 1.0 Available! (Atari Jaguar CD)

Jagware presents a new Atari Jaguar CD compilation of four puzzle games from four groups; Do The Same from Cerebral Vortex, Diamjag by Orion, Atomic Reloaded from The Removers, and Beebris by Reboot - all four of which support online scoreboards. But that's not all - also included is an exclusive early look at the alpha build of 'Project II', Reboot's ambitious forthcoming horizontal scrolling shmup.

CVSD's Do The Same is a beautifully presented tile-rotation game where your goal is to match a given pattern of blocks in as few moves as possible (and before the time runs out). A highly polished release featuring backgrounds based on hand-crafted clay models and 112 levels to beat, Do The Same was previously available on CD in very limited quantities - now those who missed it in physical form have the chance to grab it again!

Next up is Atomic Reloaded, a logic puzzle game inspired by Thalion's Atomic in which you are tasked with creating molecules from their component atoms by moving them around a maze. Described as 'Atomic as it should have been', Atomic Reloaded features 82 original levels guaranteed to challenge even veterans of the original!

Diamjag is an early release from the prolific Jaguar coder Orion, in which you must guide a ball-like character around 28 single-screen mazes collecting diamonds - the catch being that when your ball starts rolling you wont stop again until you hit a wall!

Reboot, the organisers of this project have contributed Beebris, their updated Jaguar conversion of one of Law's old Atari ST releases based on a 'popular tetronimo game'. With four game modes, each with forty levels of difficulty, Beebris remains one of Reboots more popular additions to the Jaguar homebrew catalogue.

Jagware Collection One is a superb compilation of games, but if you want further incentive to pick up a copy you may wish to consider that all profits made through sales of this Jagware release will be going toward funding future Jaguar hardware development by SCPCD, creator of the JagCF and the Jagtopus 4-cart programmer - the format on which future cartridge games will be distributed.

The physical release comes cellophane wrapped in a clear DVD box with full colour, double-sided printed inlay on a full face printed, glass-mastered CD, direct from the factory (100% professionally produced in the UK). Instructions for each game are included on the inside of the inlay. It requires no additional hardware to run other than the Jaguar CD console itself. As an added bonus, a vinyl Reboot sticker will be included with every order.

Priced at £24 (plus £4 UK/Europe shipping, £5 rest of world) Jagware Collection 1.0 is available to buy from our shop page today!