Gommy Medieval Defender (MSX)

"Let's rock!" The sampled voice at the beginning of early nineties Amiga coverdisk game Ork Attack plays in my head every time I fire up Gommy Medieval Defender. I used to play Ork Attack to an eye-bleeding extent and to see a game very similar to it appear on the MSX is exciting indeed!

There's something primevally satisfying about belting enemies on the head with a rock as they try to scale the walls of your castle. Like a hard-coded impulse in the mind to really get jollies from defending a huge pile of masonry. Maybe that's why we're such territorial dicks at times. Retroworks' Gommy Medieval Defender, which recently came fourth in this year's MSXDev coding contest, has a direct line to this ancient butthead sector of the human brain and is a clobbering good laugh.

The Agent: Glory to Moscow (PC/Mac)

Developed in nine hours for Creative Assembly's "The 80s" game jam, Bristol-based Force of Habit and Clockwork Cuckoo's The Agent: Glory to Moscow is modelled after a fictitious lost Russian arcade game of the 1980's, with influences including cold war propaganda, Soviet aerobics videos and esoteric Russian technology.

Gunslugs (Android/iOS/OUYA)

Gunslugs is a run 'n' gun title that is decidedly retro in its approach and the concept will be instantly familiar to anyone who has played, well, pretty much any action arcade game from the 1980s and early 1990s. Advance your gun-toting hero onwards to the right, blasting anything and everything that stands in your way. Rinse and repeat.

Our friends at Wide Pixel Games recently paid similar homage to the 80s arcade era with their Ouya release, Heavy Recoil. However, where Heavy Recoil focused on delivering a genuinely authentic vintage arcade experience, Orange Pixel have instead opted to infuse Gunslugs with a modern twist; random level generation. After all, this is 'retro' gaming as viewed in 2013, not 1986.

Headblaster (PC)

We live in a golden age of electronic entertainment, everywhere we turn there are hundreds of fully interactive, deep, challenging experiences full of three dimensional characters with heavy hearted back-stories pursuing their goals within vast, realistic and realized worlds.

In contrast, Headblaster by Loud Noises raises a middle finger salute and screams out "fuck it - let's take some drugs!" before exploding onto your screen in a short-lived yet riotous cacophony of fun.

rymdkapsel (Sony Vita/iOS/Android)

Martin 'grapefrukt' Jonasson has been making flash games for a decade, and his latest creation, rymdkapsel, is a little gem. The minimalist space-station construction real-time-strategy tower-defence game has been out on Sony's Vita for some time (the console on which I've been playing it) and was just released for Android and iOS, for which it's likely an even better fit due to its touch-heavy interface.

So what's it all about? No plot or back-story to mess around with here. The player is stationed on a floating island of sorts, with a few minions available to do their bidding. Using touch controls, one must place 'rooms' to expand their stronghold. The trick is that these rooms are much like Tetrominos in that they are randomly selected, you get what you get, and they must be rotated and manipulated to achieve the finest configuration.

Savant: Ascent (PC)

Holy shit. It isn't often a game makes me say that. Out loud. However, Savant: Ascent by D-Pad Studio, did exactly that.

Inspired by the album covers and artwork created for - and music created by - EDM/dubstep/glitch hop artist extraordinaire Savant, this game is truly unique. It storms onto your screen with the presence of the horned child of a lusty Skrillex after a sweaty three-way romp in a motel with Castlevania: SoTN and a bullet-hell shooter.

G-Force (PC)

Back in the early days of RGCD, before Death Ray Manta, before SYNSO, and even before War Twat, we previewed a work-in-progress game by a chap called Oddbob (aka Rob Fearon). That game was G-Force, essentially a remake of a ZX Spectrum game of the same name by Boris Baginski, a niche and "untypical" shmup that was described by Crash magazine in 1984 as a "hard game to describe as it fits in with no known categories and resembles no other game we have seen".

Well, that just goes to show how useless Crash's review staff were, because in a nutshell G-Force is Atari's coin-op classic Tempest realised in 2D. And to that note, if the original ZX Spectrum G-Force is no more than Tempest in 2D, then Rob's remake is arguably the eye-popping Atari Jaguar exclusive Tempest 2000 in 2D, complete with an extra serving of psychedelic Jeff Minter-sauce.

Cropky (Amiga)

Yikes! There aren't many games that will get me screaming at my monitor in pure frustration at my lack of skill. Ladies and gentlemen, this game is one of them. Cropky by C&A Fan is an Amiga port of an 8-bit Atari game released in 2011, which itself was an adaptation of an old pen and paper game that is commonly known as 'Dots', but with a little twist.

Starting with an empty grid of dots of varying shapes, two players (either human or AI) take turns to add a single line between two unjoined adjacent dots. These lines can be in any direction, including diagonally, but must not be longer than one square in length, and must not cross other lines already on the playfield. This continues until no more moves can be made. Whoever cannot make a line during their turn loses the game. Simple, right?

Malaika (MSX)

Created as an entry for the MSXdev 2013 competition, Revelo Videogames' Malaika was particularly well received by the judging panel and was awarded second place in the final results. Karoshi's Shouganai may have beaten it to the top of the winners podium, but as far as I'm concerned, Malaika was the real winner. Why? Well, its simply because I LOVE Bubble Bobble, and Malaika is an MSX exclusive love-letter to Taito's masterpiece, sharing many of its mechanics with the classic and the feel isn't too far removed either as a result.

Gaurodan (PC/Linux/Ouya)

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

A mere five months in development, Locomalito's homage to Choplifter, Defender and the classic monster movies of yester-year has been unleashed into the wild! Destroy the puny armies of mankind, battle collossal creatures and lay waste to the sleepy towns of the sun-drenched Canary Islands, all in glorious vintage coin-op-o-vision whilst Gryzor87's thematic chip tunes blast out in the background! Oh yes, there is a whole lot of authentic 1980's fun to be had in Gaurodan.

However, the big reveal - and indeed the reason why this particular release is so special - is that Gaurodan is the first Locomalito game to be released on a console as well as PC. Enter centre stage... the Ouya.

Elansar Cartridge Available! (Jaguar)

"Welcome to the Island of Elansar. Will you uncover its mysteries?"

After two years in development, Orion's Myst-inspired adventure has migrated from its PC/Mac/Linux and Atari Falcon roots and has finally arrived on the Atari Jaguar in 4MB cartridge format (limited to 75 copies)! Explore the beautifully rendered tropical island, taking in the sights and sounds, solving logic puzzles and making good your eventual escape in this classic-style first-person perspective point-and-click adventure.

Heavy Recoil - Convoy Chaser (Ouya) (2013)

System Requirements

* Ouya console & controller (wired USB Xbox 360 pad also supported).
* HDMI compatible TV/Monitor preferably connected to a loud sound-system.

Despite being an Android .apk, this particular version of Heavy Recoil - Convoy Chaser only works on the Ouya console.


Download

You can either download the game direct on the Ouya via it's Discover store, or as a standalone .apk from it's page at Total Ouya. Initially, the game is in demo form (playable up to the first boss) but can be unlocked for $0.99.

BONUS! The OST is available to buy from Hasse Axəlsson's Bandcamp page HERE.

Introduction

Wide Pixel Games' Heavy Recoil - Convoy Chaser takes the run 'n' gun genre back to the coin-op golden age of the 1980's, when you hadn't really beaten a game unless you'd done it on a single credit.

Lead your auto-cannon wielding robot deep behind enemy lines and smash tanks, gunships and fearsome bosses with your awesome arsenal of deadly weaponry! Rescue prisoners of war and blast everything in your path like a REAL hero!

* No Nonsense! No Continues!
* Horizontal Firing Only!
* Abilities and Upgrades!
* Secondary Weapons!
* Good/Bad Endings!

Lights On (C64)

I'm obsessed about turning off the light when I leave the room. The laundry room, bathroom, and especially the closet; the light always has to be turned off. Now with this new Commodore 64 game from Avatar, I can role play and be the one who always leaves the light on.

Lights On is a puzzle game in which the objective is to light all the tiles on each of the 24 single-screen levels. Using a joystick, you control a character that moves around the grid of tiles lighting each tile it touches, and landing on a tile that's already lit turns it off again. Some levels take advantage of this mechanic, requiring you to move back and forth over tiles several times to turn them all on. Also scattered around the grid are arrow tiles that push your character in the indicated direction and teleporters can be used to instantly move to another corresponding tile. But we warned, this isn't a leisurely stroll of reckless lighting; a timer counts down at the start of each level. If you run out run of time you lose one of your five lives. Fortunately, some levels include a tile that add seconds to the timer - and you will need it, as there isn't much room for error.

Heavy Recoil - Convoy Chaser Available! (Ouya)

Due to some weird circumstances too tedious to explain here, RGCD ended up coming into possession of not one, but TWO Ouya consoles earlier this month. Coincidentally, our good friends at Wide Pixel Games were toying with the idea of porting across some of their XBLIG titles, and were more than happy for us to send our spare over to Sweden as a form of sponsorship. And today, like about 30 minutes ago, our first collaborative game went live on the Ouya store!

For those of you unfamiliar with the XBLIG original, Heavy Recoil - Convoy Chaser takes the run 'n' gun genre back to the coin-op golden age of the 1980's, when you hadn't really beaten a game unless you'd done it on a single credit. Lead your auto-cannon wielding robot deep behind enemy lines and smash tanks, gunships and fearsome bosses with your awesome arsenal of deadly weaponry! Rescue prisoners of war and blast everything in your path like a REAL hero!

Featuring multiple endings, brutal no-continues/no-nonsense gameplay, horizontal firing only (like a robotic Green Beret), abilities, upgrades and secondary weapons, Heavy Recoil isn't just NES hard, it's COIN-OP hard! Luckily though for you it won't eat your quarters, instead costing only $0.99 for the full game (the F2P part is simply the game up to the first boss battle).

Grab your copy now on Ouya (at the end of the 'Sandbox' section), or as an .apk file from the games' page at Total Ouya.

Huenison Reviews Incoming!

In case you missed the news earlier this month, Retream and RGCD teamed up to bring the genre-blending retro puzzle-shmup Huenison to PC's (and AmigaOS 4 machines) across the globe. Well, at long last the reviews have finally started to come in, and so far the feedback has been extremely positive. Cast your eyes over some of our choice quotes, and if you've £2.99 to spare, hit our online store to buy your DRM-free copy today!

"Take Arkanoid, Decathlon, Dyna Blaster, Impossible Mission, Oil's Well, Pac-Man, Pang, Qix, Slam Tilt, Space Invaders, Tetris and Vital Light, mix them up with some glowy retro visuals, throw in some decidedly C64 tunes, add a splash of classic arcade mentality and lo and behold Huenison will be born." indiegames.com

"Huenison perfectly captures the essence of addictiveness and gradual mastery that retro games are so famous for, but it does so without pounding you over the head with it or making you feel like a failure." jayisgames.com

"Being what it is, Huenison isn't about progressing through a story or any of that nonsense; it's all about racking up high scores and surviving the onslaught of bricks." indiestatik.com

"It's chaotic, challenging and so much fun! Welcome to HUENISON!" wraithkal.info

"A riot of dot matrix retro graphics, synthetic sounds from the Commodore 64 and mechanics taken from an era still magical for many retrogamers." inidevault.it (Italian)

"In short, when it comes to new ideas in the world of indie games inspired by the old glories of the past, it is not always easy to match the giants of the genre but there is a lot of innovation in Huenison." idealsoftblog.it (Italian)

"Huenison we liked." Retromaniac Magazine (Spanish)

"The musical theme of Huenison is very good, elevates the intensity of the game, and it sounds like it has come out of the SID chip of Commodore 64." amiga.gr (Greek)

"You need eyes of a chameleon to track everything that happens on the screen at the same time. And with the price of chameleons eyes implants nowadays, Huenison is hard game to beat..." ordordiretro.fr (French)