Fairy Well (C64)

Fairy Well is a little gem of a game packed into a tiny 16KB cartridge. It is a modern example of the tight and efficient programming that was a hallmark of the 8-Bit era, where impressive game worlds were packed into tiny amounts of memory. The theme also brings back nostalgic memories of playing Stormlord on the Spectrum, with it's search-and-rescue game-play focused on freeing fairy princesses held captive by a sinister Dark Wizard in a magical underground realm.

Syder Arcade (PC/Mac)

There's a timeless quality to hardcore arcade shoot 'em ups, and I seriously doubt there'll ever be a time where taking control of a starfighter and blowing the shit out of countless enemies who spray waves of laserfire will stop being fun. Syder Arcade certainly isn't breaking this tradition of entertaining, challenging, and explosion-tastic scrolling shooters, and this brilliantly executed game has found the sweet spot of bullet-hell game design; the special place where old-school levels of difficulty dovetail with replay factor.

From the off Syder Arcade makes no bones about this good old fashioned difficulty - the default "young gun" difficulty setting's flavour text states that it's not the player's fault they grew up on modern consoles, and the gameplay that follows shows this is not a game to hold the player's hand.

You Have To Win The Game (PC)

You Have to Win the Game is an indie platformer crafted by one J. Kyle Pittman, an employee of Gearbox Software who has not only worked on many mainstream titles (e.g. Borderlands, Duke Nukem Forever) but also "maintains a semi-regular hobby development cycle." The latest fruit to be borne of said cycle is a gorgeous romp through a heavily cyan-ed and purple-d retro world.

The goal of the game is not entirely clear; just that you have to win it, of course. Controls are extremely simple - guiding your little baseball-capped hero is as easy as direction and jump keys on your keyboard, though a gamepad is recommended. He's a nimble kid; jumps and movement are extremely precise, something that shows its importance later on in the game, and leaves only you to blame for those last 37 deaths.

Offspring Fling (PC/Mac)

Oh Kyle Pulver. If I ever meet you in person, I'm going to hug you. It's going to be joyful, warm, and exceedingly awkward once you realize I won't let go. Your latest game, Offspring Fling, easily draws out my inner child despite my sturdy lock on its cage for my laborious adulthood. Am I surprised by your feat? Hardly. I've had my eye on you since 'Everyone Loves Active 2' and you never disappoint. Those smooth seductive graphics ohthethingsIwoulddo... oh right, the review. Enough of me being super creepy. Isn't it understandable though? I could spend a whole paragraph highlighting all of his games, but let's just save some time; how about you just go play them all. Like, right now. Don't worry, I'll be here when you get back...

Fairy Well Cartridge Available! (C64)

At long last, RGCD are proud to present Wide Pixel Games' universally acclaimed Fairy Well on cartridge! The winning entry of 2011's C64 16KB cartridge game development competition, Fairy Well is a unique and ambitious flick-screen collect-em-up arcade adventure of epic proportions squeezed into a tiny 16KB of ROM space.

With it's multiple game modes (via a character selection at the beginning of your quest), huge randomly generated level maps, varied enemies and items, boss-battles and timeless adventure gameplay, Fairy Well is a modern C64 classic. Guide your fairy through the labyrinthine underworld on your quest to rescue the captured princess and restore peace to the forest!

Fairy Well is both NTSC and PAL compatible, and it's joystick-only control means that it's even playable on the Commodore 64 GS console. The box artwork was created by our resident artist Flemming Dupont, and the game comes in a purple cartridge shell complete with a printed manual and exclusive sticker.

Grab your copy today from our online shop (£20 Europe/£21 Rest of World, shipping included).

Voxeliens (PC)

Voxels aren't a concept new to gaming, and neither is the vertical shooting gameplay style of the 1978 classic Space Invaders - but the newly-released Voxeliens by Volumes of Fun manages to merge the two together into something fresh, yet familiar. For those not in the know, voxels, or volumetric pixels, as a concept can be quite deep and complicated. However, their use in games tends to be for rendering objects, landscapes & terrain, or for visual appeal - making it much easier to grasp. A voxel itself can be thought of as a three dimensional pixel, representing a data point (block) in an open space. If this conjures up thoughts of Lego blocks, that's because it's a similar concept, except for that entire games are now being made of them, literal voxel sandboxes, universes, and battlefields.

Happy Birthday RGCD!

Exactly one year ago, the former discmag RGCD was relaunched as a retro gaming news site and publisher - and to mark the occasion our friends Trevor 'Smila' Storey and Jason 'Kenz' MacKenzie (of Psytronik Software) have kindly allowed us to offer their FULL version of the official PC remake of the classic C64 shoot 'em up Armalyte for FREE download (for the next 24 hours only).

In addition to this, Trevor has also sent in three signed copies of the boxed version of Armalyte as prizes for our 2012 C64 16KB Cartridge Competition, making the jackpot even more attractive to potential entrants!

Right, I'm off to grab a celebratory beer. Thanks to everyone whose contributed, commented, linked and shared our news and reviews over the past year - you guys are awesome!

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Note to people using AVG who reported a virus within the archive - AVG have confirmed that this was a false positive and have now updated their virus definitions file. Update your copy and the warnings will go away! :)

Mari0 (PC/Mac)

Just a few weeks ago I was happily running amok through the multiple worlds of Mushroom Kingdom Fusion, an absolutely bonkers Mario fangame. Now another Mario fangame has made its way onto my screen; so with no further ado, I humbly introduce Mari0, which is the answer to the question "what would happen if Super Mario Bros. and Portal defied the laws of nature by somehow mating and producing a baby?"

It's a game of two halves, this one. First up there's the faithful remake of Super Mario Bros. but with one diversion from the original: our moustachioed hero is packing a Portal Gun. And it's just as fun, dear reader, as it sounds.

Wizorb (PC/Mac/Linux/XBLA)

I've always had a deep love/hate relationship with brick breakers. I can literally smell the fresh scent of pre-made chain restaurant pizza wafting over to the small corner in which my nemesis lay waiting. This particular purveyor of pizza pie held within its confines an original Arkanoid machine, and circa 1987 or so, I often found myself begging my poor parents for quarters to give those colorful bricks a good thrashing just... one... more... time.

See, brick breakers tap into one's compulsive mind - those with a need for order, complete elimination of barriers, or an eye for precision can be irresistibly drawn to the unforgivable nature of these old-school paddle controlled games. Not much has changed in the genre, however - from Atari's original Breakout to modern day casual games such as Brick Breaker Revolution 3D, we're continually met with the same old "move the paddle, hit the ball, don't die, occasionally grab a laser and shoot" pattern.

I had hoped, then, that Wizorb would put a fresh face on this tired genre. Wizorb is brought to us by Tribute Games and Johnathan "Pixeltao" Lavigne, who also worked on the River City Ransom throwback Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game and the indie classic platformer Ninja Senki.

Fez (XBLA)

After five years of development Fez was always going to have to be pretty special to impress. Fortunately, it is, and does.

Gomez is a 2D fellow living happily in his 2D world, until he is given the game's titular Fez and inherits the ability to rotate the world 90 degrees. That is as much plot as you need. Thus each room or tower becomes four interlocking areas to be traversed in 2D. Once rotated, any surfaces that appear to be connected (from the current viewpoint) behave as if they are connected. Whilst this is a device we've seen before (albeit in a more M.C. Escher like way) in Echochrome, it feels fresh and unforced here. After very little time playing you have adjusted to this 3D way of thinking and are happily guiding Gomez around platforms that would otherwise be insurmountable by deftly rotating the world - conveniently mapped to the shoulder buttons. The aim of the game is to collect the 32 golden cubes spread throughout the levels, most of which have been split into 8 smaller shards. And thus, in a very Super Mario-esque way, you are left to collect shiny things in a beautiful landscape.

Soulless (Preview) (C64)

Psytronik Software have already done an amazing job of giving a detailed preview of our joint upcoming release from Endurion, Smila and Encore, but as a latecomer to the Soulless publishing party I felt that I could also offer my first impressions and experiences of playing the game from a fresh perspective. So, here it is, my long overdue Soulless preview write-up, less than a month away from the proposed release date!

R-Type (128K Remake) (CPC)

It's been 25 years since the release of the genre-defining shoot em up R-Type, and a quarter century on the Evil Bydo Empire is nowhere near defeated! R-Type was ported over to the Amstrad CPC back in 1988, but that version (based on the Spectrum code) was more than a little lacklustre. Now, we've already seen one CPC port made over and rebuilt into something better this year (the brilliant Bubble Bobble For CPC) and this rebuild of R-Type certainly outshines the original CPC port of the game.

A flashy intro kicks off R-Type 2012 (not its real title but since I'll be doing a bit of comparisons between the two games it's fit for purpose) and it's difficult to not make the decision that this is indeed an entirely superior remake just from this alone! A solid chiptune soundtrack underlines a palette of cool blues and blacks as the technical specifications of our R-9 fighter appear, and it's all looking very polished indeed. I imagine it's easy to storyboard a passable, bare bones intro for any game (correct me if I'm wrong!) with just a few explosions, a bit of action and, let's say, the title flying in from over the horizon then exploding, or something. In contrast, absolutely tons of work appears to have been put into this remake's intro, a slow buildup of tension leading to the big reveal of the title screen.

Knight 'n' Grail (C64)

Any readers of my past reviews may have me down as a dyed-in-the-wool Spec-chum. That I cannot deny – not would I ever wish to. But I have a confession to make: I may, in my youth, have... dabbled with other machines. Primarily, I am talking about our friend the C64, of the colourful graphics and (comparatively) 'rocking' SID chip.

I have been impressed by the quality of new Spectrum games I have encountered recently, but the C64's Knight 'n' Grail from Wide Pixel Games occupies a higher plane. In terms of graphics, audio, game design, storyline, gameplay, general polish – and any other factor you might care to mention – it is exceptionally good.

Oracle III (C64)

Originally completed in 1995, Oracle III was developed in the twilight years of the C64's commercial existence, and as such it suffered the same fate of many games of that period in that it failed to find a publisher. However, miraculously the game that everyone thought was lost recently reappeared on CSDB in 2006, and a few more years down the line Art Project Studios finally managed to get their game out on (digital) shop shelves via retro publisher Psytronik!

This one completely slipped under my radar when it was released at the end of 2011, and despite not being a huge puzzle game fan I thought I'd take a gamble on the £1.99 download to show my support. And as it happens, this turned out to be a gamble worth taking - Oracle III is a fantastic and original game with high quality production values and a huge amount of levels to beat.

Frogs (Atari XE/XL)

Vulnerable to just about everything and facing the possibility of a watery death at every single move in the pond, frogs have a hard life - or at least that's what Agenda would have you believe in their recent Atari XE/XL release. In fact, I've found Frogs to be such an incredibly difficult game that it has taken me several hours to beat the first screen - a feat I was determined to achieve before writing this review, and one that I've since been unable to repeat. Growing up in the 1970/80's, I'm well aware that 8-Bit games are historically famous for being challenging, but Frogs takes this to a whole new level. In fact, the description 'NES-hard' has now lost a good deal of it's threat for this jaded gamer, with this humble little title completely resetting the difficulty benchmark here at RGCD towers.

Released (and placing 3rd) at the SillyVenture demo party game-development competition last year (2011), this deceptively cute little game sits somewhere between the puzzle and arcade genres, combining reactionary avoid 'n' collect gameplay with a mind-boggling alternating turn-based movement - with a single player controlling two frogs on one joystick in the same manner that normal two-player games are played hotseat. Confused? Try actually playing the game to experience this feeling tenfold.