Friday 19 August 2011

Retro News Update


Unfortunately I haven't got time right now to make a load of individual and in-depth posts, so instead of letting this news become stale, here's a compilation of a few byte-sized snippets for you to digest, with more info to follow soon.

Thursday 18 August 2011

Edge Grinder in Micro Mart (Again!)


RGCD (and our recent Edge Grinder cartridge release) have been mentioned in Micro Mart's retro section for the second time in a fortnight! I'll have to get another batch of carts made up soon. Nice to see Shaun mention Blok Copy too :)

RGCD: C64 16KB Cartridge Game Development Competition - Status Update #2

There's been significant progress made on some of the projects since the last time I wrote about our cart development competition, so I thought it would be a good time to post an update.


First up, we have the submission of a near complete game - 'Rong - Ron's Pong' from the recently revived Software Of Sweden group. There's not a huge amount I can say about this one other than it's a solid 2-player Pong game with some nice graphics and sound, and there's a preview build available from CSDB.

Edge Grinder in Micro Mart (& Current Status)

This popped up in my inbox today from Tim Harris, the guy responsible for the hardware side of our C64 cartridge project (click image to open a larger version in another window/tab). RGCD in Micro Mart again?
   
   
Unfortunately this good press will not result in any sales as both Not Even Human and Edge Grinder are currently out of stock. However, I will be making a few more of each next month when we release Cosine's C64 version of Blok Copy (T.M.R's RGCD Cart Dev Compo entry) - so I'll keep you posted on that.
   
Remember - if you want to get regular updates from this site (as and when they are posted) you can always click on 'subscribe' or enter your details in the 'subscribe by email' box over on the right. Doing so will ensure that you won't miss out on the next run of cartridges. ;)

Wednesday 17 August 2011

Famicom AV & Custom Carts

 
People who've read this blog from the start will know that I've wanted a NES/Famicom for a while now (starting when I first played Blade Buster a few months back). After setting aside a bit of cash via the sale of two C64's, I finally bought a Famicom AV from a Japanese-based ebay seller last week.
 
Upon opening the swiftly-delivered package and somehow (magically?) avoiding the ludicrous import tax clearly marked on the box, I was shocked at how tiny the unit is; the only NES consoles I'd seen previously were those bulky front-loaders, and the Famicom AV is so cute in comparison! The mini dog-bone controller, the aesthetically pleasing cartridge design - it was love at first sight.

Azzurro 8-Bit Jam (MSX/ZX Spectrum)


The latest MSX/ZX release from Spanish coders Relevo Videogames has already received it's fair share of press coverage. Being (quite possibly) the only retro-platform videogame coded as a promotional tool for a drinking establishment - and originally only available to play (and buy) in the Azzurro Rock Pub in Bilbao, Spain - it's easy to see why Azzurro 8-Bit Jam atracted so much attention upon it's launch.

Several weeks later, the excitement surrounding the game has calmed and the MSX and ZX Spectrum ROM/TZX files have finally been made available for free download from the Relevo Videogames site. So, was it worth the wait? Does it live up to the hype?

Ghost Castle & Ghost Castle 2 Special Edition (ZX Spectrum)


There is something iconic about a Spectrum game with a black background and bright primary coloured sprites that makes it instantly almost impossible to dislike. And so with this in mind, and with the Specstalgia Goggles removed, I tried my best to take a hard attitude with these two games, right from the start; since they had already tried to disarm me with their pretty colours and far-too-happy-looking-to-be dead ghost protagonist.

This proved impossible, because playing these two games is like gunning the Delorean to 88 and careening back to the Spectrum Ages, claiming a darkened boxroom and burning your retinas on a ZX Spectrum 48K for the whole night. Ghost Castle, and its sequel Ghost Castle 2 Special Edition, are very much retro games, as opposed to new games made for a retro system. This isn't a bad thing, before you ask.

Saturday 6 August 2011

First Wave Of Edge Grinder Carts Posted!

   
All orders to date are now posted and on their way to you.  Apologies for the delay!

Friday 5 August 2011

Seicro X Cross (PC)

     
ptoing and I recently wrote a few words about 8Bits Fanatics II and their PC release Kolkhoz 2828, and after playing through the rest of their back catalogue I decided that this little NES tribute was worth plugging on RGCD as I haven't seen anything about it on the usual sites (indiegames.com/tigsource.com).
 
Released earlier this year, Seicro X Cross is a fake sequel to a quirky Japanese NES and arcade racer/shmup called Seicross, and despite it's short length (with only two stages) it's an absolute blast to play and works well as a short score attack game. It's essentially a NES-stylised sideways shooter with some fun chain-scoring mechanics based around the concept of some sort of futuristic bike-based warfare, with people to rescue, power-ups to collect and enemy bikers to ram off the road or eliminate with your lethal front axle-mounted death-cannons. Perfect entertainment for a retro gamer's Friday afternoon. :)

Wednesday 3 August 2011

Fundamentally Loathsome (Phantomasa 3) (ZX Spectrum)

    
The list of classic ZX Spectrum games with nudity, of any kind, is probably quite slim. Samantha Fox Strip Poker comes to mind. And Stormlord's fairies. One suspects that 80’s publishers did not think that the market (or graphic capabilities) were ready for that much flesh.
    
Fast forward to the naughty noughties and beyond, and The Mojon Twins have seemed eager to get nudity into Speccy games through any means possible... if there was an unused border or loading screen in one of their games, it's a fair guess that they'd consider putting a sexy lady picture on it. Some may baulk at such gratuity, but you have to admire their deliciously non-politically correct house style.

Monday 1 August 2011

Edge Grinder - Where's the .PRG?

Just a quick post to let you know that Cosine will not be releasing the .PRG or .D64 version of Edge Grinder officially until STE'86 completes a loading screen - so until then it will remain a cartridge exclusive release.
 
Anyway, here's a video of the final version of the game in action, running from the 16KB cartridge rom in VICE.  The cart itself is still available from our shop page, but please be warned that the orders have stacked up and there may be a delay until your unit is shipped!