Retro Gaming Australia

Before he was the head honcho at Nintendo Co. Ltd, Satoru Iwata was the chief at HAL Laboratory, where he had climbed the ranks from programmer to manager. In the most recent Iwata Asks column (with Ubisoft regarding Wii U launch title ZombiU), the company president reveals the origin of his former company’s name.

And it’s not what you think. HAL Laboratory is not named after the infamous HAL 9000 computer from 2001: A Space Oddity, but rather an attempt to one up IBM. Iwata elaborates, saying “Ubisoft was named after Ubiquity because you wanted to be everywhere in the world and HAL was named as such because each letter put us one step ahead of IBM! (Laughs)”

Word has come through the grapevine that a number of Activision’s Atari VCS classics such as River Raid and Pitfall! can be found in Call of Duty: Black Ops II, and are fully playable.

The video above will show you all you need to know to get a taste of VCS goodness.

Via Retrospekt

In celebration of the upcoming release of Pikmin 3, San-ei will be re-releasing their range of Pikmin 2 plushies again.

Unfortunately the Olimar and Louie plushies are not part of the reissue.

NCSX appears to be the only English site listing them at the moment, with a February release target. The Pikmin will set you back $US16.90 and the Bulborb will cost $US49.90.

Nintendo eShop (Australia, Europe)

Wii Virtual Console
The King of Fighters ’96 (Neo Geo) – 900 points

Nintendo eShop (North America)

Wii Virtual Console
Ninja Master’s Haou Ninpou Chou (Neo Geo) – 900 points

3DS Virtual Console
Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (NES) – $US4.99

PlayStation Store (Australia, Europe)

New Releases
Doom Classic Collection (The Ultimate Doom, Doom II: Hell on Earth, Master Levels for Doom II and Final Doom) – $AU23.95
Jet Set Radio (PSVita) – $AU12.95

PlayStation Store (North America)

New Releases
Doom Classic Collection (The Ultimate Doom, Doom II: Hell on Earth, Master Levels for Doom II and Final Doom) – $US14.99
Jet Set Radio (PS Vita) – $US9.99

Discounts
Classic Sonic Bundle (Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog 2) – $US4.99 (free on PSPlus)

Good Old Games

Discounts
Anuman Sale

There’s no retro news today, so enjoy this video of the opening sequence for Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog.

One day we’ll get around to writing those in-depth features on video game cartoons.

We’ve seen some high profile withdrawls of games from the Wii’s Virtual Console about, but this one is perhaps the most surprising. Reports are coming in from the US that Nintendo has pulled Donkey Kong Country, Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Quest and Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie’s Double Trouble from the Virtual Console service. Nintendo has not provided a reason for the change. Word is that the games will be pulled from PAL region stores on the 25th of November – so if you want them, download them now.

Some folks are speculating that Nintendo might be upgrading the games to support the WiiU Game Pad, or be planning some kind of Donkey Kong collection disc, but these stories seem unlikely at this point – Donkey Kong‘s 30th anniversary was last year. There are no rights issues with Rare, as Nintendo always owned the rights to the games and characters Rare created for the franchise.

Nintendo eShop (Australia, Europe)

3DS Virtual Console
Ninja Gaiden (NES)

Good Old Games

New Releases
Shadow Warrior Complete – $US5.99
Terminal Velocity – $US5.99

That’s it. Really.

Xbox Live Arcade
Toe Jam & Earl Collection – 800 Microsoft Points

Nintendo eShop (Australia, Europe)

Wii Virtual Console
Shock Troopers (Neo Geo) – 900 points

Nintendo eShop (North America)

Wii Virtual Console
Sengoku 2 (Neo Geo) – 900 points

PlayStation Store (Australia, Europe)

New Releases
Devil May Cry HD Collection – $AU39.95
Toe Jam & Earl – $AU8.25
Toe Jam & Earl: Panic on Funkatron – $AU8.25

PlayStation Store (North America)

New Releases
Toe Jam & Earl – $US4.99
Toe Jam & Earl: Panic on Funkatron – $US4.99
Rygar: The Legendary Adventure (PS2 Classics) – $US9.99

Good Old Games

New Releases
Street Fighter Alpha 2 – $US5.99

Discounts
50% off Interplay’s catalogue – last chance before some of them see a price rise.

Square Enix has confirmed that a Nintendo 3DS remake of Dragon Quest VII is underway and scheduled for release this coming February in Japan.

Jump magazine’s latest issue (a scan has been provided below) revealed the 3D remake of the Playstation RPG, which is to include StreetPass features.

Dragon Quest VII was never released for PAL regions, so here’s hoping the 3DS remake makes it outside of Japan. We received the Nintendo DS re-releases of Dragon Quest: The Chapters of the Chosen (DQIV), Dragon Quest: The Hand of the Heavenly Bride (DQV) and Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Reverie – so there is hope!

Sources: Tiny Cartridge, Siliconera

Some of the original creators of Shadowgate, a point-and-click adventure game from the late eighties, have formed a new development studio named Zojoi and are keen to develop a ‘re-imagined’ version of the first-person fantasy adventure classic.

The new Shadowgate boasts many new features and additions which add to the mythology and story of the original game. The re-imagining includes 60+ rooms, lots of new and improved puzzles, both a full digitally-orchestrated soundtrack and a retro soundtrack featuring the original NES music (hooray!), environmental and object-specific animations and will be available for Windows, Mac, iOS and Android devices.

The Kickstarter has 30 days remaining and over $20,000 has already been pledged by backers towards the $120,000 goal. You can back the project here, with a $10 ‘Early Bird’ pledge rewarding you with a digital copy of the finished game.

If all goes well, expect to see the new Shadowgate in November 2013.