October has been a busy month on the retro news scene. New games, a few celebrations and great retro events.
Our main story this month is the release of Xeno Crisis for the Mega Drive. It has has been well received and our full review has all the details. The game is a parody of Aliens and it has all the shoot ’em up action any retro fan needs. If you have not checked out this excellent title you really are missing out.
It has been a bumper month for Mega Drive fans as another indie game, Demons of Asteborg, has secured its Kickstarter target. The team are planning a 2020 release and describe the game as ‘a platform-based game with some metroidvania elements inspired by a lot of other Mega Drive / Genesis titles like Ghouls’n Ghosts.’
After the success of Xeno Crisis and Tanglewood it appears as though the Mega Drive indie scene is going from strength to strength. This new title looks to be on the right path to success and you can download the demo from the Kickstarter link above.
The Retro Games Fair was held at the Britannia Hotel in Nottingham on 5th October. This was the first time the city had hosted the event and it was a big success. It was packed with traders selling all sorts of awesome retro goodies. Games, consoles, magazines and merchandise were just some of the items on offer.
Hollie Dieudonné, AKA Holster TV, was selling at the event and told us “Nottingham was my first event attending as a seller, which was a new experience for me! It was just as awesome being behind my own stall as it is being a buyer. It was busy throughout the whole day and it looked like a great turnout!”
There were not just traders in Nottingham, another room was full of consoles and computers set up ready to play. The huge effort of the organisers should be commended as there was so much to play on. It was great seeing families explore the old games and refreshing how opened minded a lot of the kids were to playing Sega and Nintendo amongst all the others on show.
James Jarvis, who runs ItsMuchMore, brought along a giant selection of consoles and even hosted a few challenges. James told us “being part of the fair was amazing! By adding something different, giving people a chance to actually play games and see the enjoyment they had, made it all worthwhile”
Summing up how successful the event was, Stuart Charlesworth, of Tooty UK fame, said “fantastic first event, lots of new faces, looking forward to the next one.” The next event will be held in Leeds February 2020.
Another big retro release this month is the enhanced editions of Baldur’s Gate, Icewind Dale, Planescape Torment and Neverwinter Nights. The powerhouses of western RPGs have been treated to HD upgrades and now available on most modern platforms. The same D&D, pen and paper gameplay is present but now you can control your party of adventurers with the analogue stick.
Developer Beamdog has gone to great lengths to bring the library of mighty adventure titles to modern gamers. The Baldur’s Gate update is particularly impressive due to the extra content added specially for this release. The original 60 hour campaign is present in all its glory alongside a host of new expansion packs. These will certainly keep even the most hardy of dungeon explorers busy for a while.
Play Expo Blackpool, now in its seventh year, took place at Norbreck Castle Exhibition Centre on 12th October. The event was packed full of industry royalty as well as bucket loads of games to play. We recommend checking out the YouTube video from Onaretrotip to find out more.
The long awaited Mega Drive Mini finally hit shelves on 4th October. Sega were aiming to resolve many of the sound and input lag issues the AtGames devices have. Things have improved but there are still a few niggles that purists will notice. Eurogamer’s honest review summed up the critics opinions best.
“In summary, there’s so much to love about this product, from the brilliant recreation of the machine itself to the excellent emulation and a simply stellar line-up of games. Audio delay, input lag and scaling oddities hold this back from absolute perfection.”
The new mini supports HDMI and is packed with 42 classics including two unreleased games. The package is rounded off with two classic controllers.
Retro Gamer magazine celebrated 200 issues with a bumper edition. Included inside was a wonderful retro poster, created by Army of Troll’s Gary Lucken, and a Turrican remix CD soundtrack composed by industry legend Chris Huelsbeck. The special issue covers the history of gaming. From the early beginnings with Spacewar! in 1964 right up to what VR offers us today.
This is a stellar issue covering some of the most important moments in gaming history. Everything from the main features to the double spread pictures punch the nostalgia gland hard. There is so much crammed into this months issue it is well worth tracking down.
Great news in the Spectrum world as Super Mario Bros. is coming soon. Currently only a demo has been produced but keep your eyes peeled for further details. Hopefully developer, Sergei Smirnov, finishes this ambitious project and we see a release. You can try the demo yourself by downloading the file.
On 14 October Europe celebrated the 20th anniversary of the Dreamcast launch. Our friends over the Atlantic had celebrated the month before on the iconic 9.9.99 anniversary. The console was, however, released upon an unexpecting Japanese public in November 1998. The Dreamcast community partied hard with many showing pictures of their collections and sharing their memories of the console .
Continuing the Sega anniversary theme, Sonic & Knuckles celebrated its 25th on 18th October. The iconic title is a favourite here at the Retro Faith offices and we covered it extensively to celebrate. We kicked things off with our expert interview before featuring the entire game in our in depth retrospective. We also posted lots of collection photos and interesting facts on the day.
If you spot any retro news you think we should be sharing please get in touch. Retro Faith would like to thank everyone who provided quotes and photos to this retro news article.
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