Retro Gaming Australia

The cancelled Sega Saturn port of Atomic Runner Chelnov – Nuclear Man, the Fighter, a 1988 Japanese side-scrolling action arcade game, has been found in prototype form and shared online.

The port was in development in 1997 and shown at the Tokyo Game Show, but was cancelled for unknown reasons. The title has now seen the light of day thanks to the SEGA Saturn´s Lost Games Recovery Program, whose team is dedicated to searching for lost and unreleased Sega Saturn games and sharing them.

Atomic Runner Chelnov, and artwork packs featuring mock-up boxarts, can be downloaded from the game’s release page for play on a modded Sega Saturn or an emulator.

The Sword of Hope 2 has been rated by the Australian Classification Board, with Nintendo listed as the publisher.

The Sword of Hope II is a RPG developed my Kemco and released in 1996 (North America) for the Game Boy, and it looks set for release as The Sword of Hope 2 on the Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console.

This will be the first time the title sees a release in PAL territories.

Pokémon: Liquid Crystal, a Pokémon Crystal remake for the Gameboy Advance, is nearing completion and the current build (beta 3.1) is available for download.

The original Pokémon Crystal for the Gameboy Color offered players 251 catchable Pokémon, two regions to explore and 16 badges to earn. A ROM Hack of Pokémon Fire Red, Pokémon: Liquid Crystal is a remake and more – boasting 386 Pokémon to catch, three regions and now 20 badges to obtain. The remake presents the same story as the original, but with some additional twists. Pokémon: Liquid Crystal also features remixed and recomposed music, updated sprites and graphics that look much like the DS Pokémon iterations but without the polygons.

For those keen to play, you can visit the game’s development thread to obtain Pokémon: Liquid Crystal Beta 3.1 – you will need either an emulator or flash card for the Gameboy Advance or Nintendo DS to play it.

Expect to see the completed game by the end of the year.

Source: NeoGamr

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 HD, the unofficial fan remake, has been officially discontinued.

On the game’s Facebook page, Team S2HD’s project leader cited problems with the lead programmer and recent resignations as reasons for the sad news. The keylogger allegedly found in the recently released alpha version of the game didn’t help either.

Many Sonic fans were eagerly awaiting Sonic the Hedgehog 2 HD’s release, so the news of its cancellation has been met with much disappointment.

D. Scott Williamson, self-proclaimed Atari fanatic and former Atari employee, has started a Kickstarter campaign to fund production and distribution of a cartridge version of Star Castle for the Atari 2600.

Star Castle, a 1980 Cinematronics arcade game, was planned for release on the Atari 2600 but was never released. Williamson completed his own port of Star Castle for the Atari 2600 in 2010, which received a very positive response when shown at a fan event during the following year.

The Kickstarter campaign is already 64% funded, with 27 days remaining for backers to pledge their support. Williamson seeks $10,000 to have boards made and programmed, cartridge shells cast, manuals and labels printed, reproduction Atari games boxes created, CDs produced and such. The Star Castle 2600 cartridge version will be handmade, serial numbered and be compatible with NTSC Atari 2600 systems. A CD version will also be available, containing everything required to play the game on your PC.

More information about the project and Kickstarter campaign can be found here.

Update: D. Scott Williamson has told Eurogamer that a PAL version in the works.

In its latest issue, Famitsu has revealed that a Nintendo 3DS remake of Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers is currently underway.

Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers, a sci-fi turn-based RPG originally released only in Japan for the Sega Saturn (1997) and PlayStation (1999), is a sequel to Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner and a spin-off installment of the Megami Tensei series. The 3DS remake, developed by Atlus, will feature improved loading times, additional battle animations and full voice acting.

Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers will be released in Japan on August 30. There is no word of an English release, but here’s hoping.

Source: Siliconera

Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards, a classic adventure game released in 1987 and the first installment of the well-loved Leisure Suit Larry series, is receiving a HD remake thanks to Replay Games, Al Lowe (series creator) and more than 11,000 backers.

The Leisure Suit Larry HD Kickstarter campaign has reached its $500,000 target, with 6 days to spare. Replay Games have now set a new goal – $1,000,000, to fund additional content and new features such as cinematic cut scenes, maps, foreign languages, new puzzles, new locations and some new ladies.

The Leisure Suit Larry HD remake is being made from scratch and will feature updated and high-res graphics, a modern point-and-click/touch screen interface, fully voiced characters, support for mobile devices and more humour.

Expect to see Leisure Suit Larry HD in October on PC, tablets and perhaps other platforms if funding permits.

MaJoRa, The Legend of Zelda fan and member of the Zelda Fan Game Central community, has spent the last two years meticulously recreating Ocarina of Time’s Hyrule using A Link to the Past style sprites.

The maps, created pixel by pixel, depict the entire Ocarina of Time overworld and other non-dungeon locations in 2D SNES style graphics. The Lost Woods (pictured), Hyrule Castle, Kakariko Village, Lake Hylia and even the Fishing Pond and all represented – and much more. It is an impressive feat.

You can view the complete overworld map here.

With Street Fighter celebrating its 25th anniversary later this year, Capcom is requesting fan submissions of art and music for future use in the commemorations.

Capcom have said that they are “planning some pretty cool stuff” for the upcoming anniversary and they want Street Fighter fans to get involved. Through either celebratory fan art focusing on reflection and nostalgia or a music piece (remix or new creation), fans have the chance for their contribution to be “immortalised” as part of the Street Fighter tribute.

Capcom has promised to reveal their plans for the anniversary celebrations (which includes a tournament) closer to time.

The recently found “missing” original Apple II source code for Prince of Persia (1989) has been released on GitHub and is freely available for download.

Jordan Mechner, the game’s creator, reacquired the lost source code when his father shipped him a carton of old games which he had found in a closet whilst spring cleaning.

Mechner, along with the assistance and expertise of digital archivist Jason Scott and Apple II collector Tony Diaz, extracted the source code from 22-year-old 3.5″ floppy disk archive successfully and you can read about the preservation effort here.