Fairy Well (Preview) (C64)

After years of absence, Wide Pixel Games (the development group behind the modern C64 classic Knight 'n' Grail) are back with another potentially award winning game in the form of 'Fairy Well'. A huge flick-screen collect-em-up arcade adventure, the surprising news is that it's planned for a cartridge release with RGCD as their entry in the 16KB C64 Cart Development Competition; amazingly, Mikael Tillander has managed to squeeze an epic, multi-level adventure into a tiny 16KB!

Retro News Update

I've been away for a week and am currently trying to catch up with work, so yet again I'm afraid I've only got time to post another compilation of byte-sized news snippets and links. Hopefully some full reviews will follow shortly ;)

Perihelion Released For Free (Amiga)

How's this for some retro news? Psygnosis' cyberpunk 1993 role-playing Amiga classic has been released for free by the designer and artist, and can be found here (along with a load of other game-related info). Perihelion is a graphically stunning and very in-depth RPG with some great ideas that have stood the test of time well, and it's a real shame that it didn't become a franchise in it's own right. Definitely well-worth checking out; especially as Edvard has included the UAE emulator set up for people unfamiliar with the Amiga.

Note that it's not legally freeware (although Psygnosis haven't stopped the release), and should really be considered as an abandonware game.

Infernal Edge (PC)

Despite being a prolific Game Maker developer with a large indie following, Infernal Edge is the first release from Lazy Brain Games that I've personally considered worthy of reviewing here at RGCD. It may be little more than a prototype and feature LBG's trademark retina-burning, high-contrast (and quite frankly mediocre) pixel art, but the game still won me over with it's interesting design and classic arcade-style robot-blasting gameplay regardless.

C64 16KB Cartridge Game Development Competition - Status Update #3

Three new cartridge competition entries and some impressive development updates landed in my inbox this week :)

Competition Entry #15: Yars' Revenge
Developer: TRSI
Status: In progress

Ulrich Schulz (aka Peiselulli of TRSI) has emailed over a near-complete and already excellent port of the Atari 2600 classic Yars' Revenge. Full screen (all borders used) and with it's simple and timeless gameplay perfectly suited to the limitations of the 16KB cartridge format, the competition has moved up a notch with this entry. Good work guys!

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.

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. ;)

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.

First Wave Of Edge Grinder Carts Posted!

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

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. :)

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.

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!