Retro Gaming Australia

Nintendo eShop (Australia, Europe)

Wii Virtual Console
Metal Slug X (Neo Geo) – 900 points

3DS Virtual Console
Zelda II: The Adventure of Link – $AU6.99

Nintendo eShop (North America)

3DS Virtual Console
Mystical Ninja starring Goemon (Game Boy) – $US2.99

PlayStation Store (Australia, Europe)

New Releases
Jet Set Radio HD – $AU12.95 (PSPlus early access only)

PlayStation Store (North America)

New Releases
Double Dragon Neon – $US9.99
Jet Set Radio HD – $US8.99 (PSPlus early access only, released to non-PSPlus users next week for $US9.99)

Discounts
La Pucelle Tactics (PS2 Classics) – $US9.99

Good Old Games

New Releases
KKND Xtreme – $US5.99
Gangsters: Organised Crime – $US5.99
Urban Chaos – $US5.99

Discounts
Diamonds of D&D Promo – Up to 65% off the following or $30 for the lot:
Baldur’s Gate: The Original Saga
Baldur’s Gate 2 Complete
Neverwinter Nights Diamond Edition
Icewind Dale Complete
Icewind Dale 2 Complete
The Temple of Elemental Evil
Dungeons & Dragons: Dragonshard
Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone
Planescape: Torment

I’ll be appearing as part of a panel on video game collecting called the Game Collectors Roadshow as part of the Game Masters exhibition at ACMI on the 9th of September.

The panel will be hosted by Adrian Franklin of the ABC show The Collectors and will feature myself and two other collectors showcasing some of our prize possessions and discussing the hobby of collecting old video games.

The second part of the show is an Antiques Roadshow-inspired bit where you can bring along your gaming items and have them appraised by us and get a bit of an explanation about their place in video gaming history. Bringing an item along will get you an entry in the draw to win a PlayStation Vita.

Finally, there will be a chiptune performance from Melbourne based artists Dot.AY and Derris-Khalan.

The event starts at 11, and entry is free.

Nintendo eShop (Australia, Europe)

Wii Virtual Console
Real Bout: Fatal Fury Special (Neo Geo) – 900 points

Nintendo eShop (North America)

Wii Virtual Console
Prince of Persia (SNES) – 800 points

PlayStation Store (Australia, Europe)

New Releases
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty HD – $AU23.95 (also on Vita for the same price)
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater HD – $AU23.95 (also on Vita for the same price)
Twisted Metal: Black (PS2 Classics) – $AU12.95

PlayStation Store (North America)

New Releases
Suzuki TT Superbikes Real Road Racing Championship (PS2 Classics) – $US9.99

Discounts
Daytona USA – 40% off for PS Plus users, now $US2.99

Good Old Games

New Releases
Worms 2 – $US5.99
Startopia – $US5.99
Legacy of Kain: Blood Omen 2 – $US5.99

It was a heartbreaking moment for RPG fans last generation when the plug was pulled on official translation plans for the SEGA AGES releases of Phantasy Star: Generation 1 and Phantasy Star: Generation 2 on the PlayStation 2. The remakes were considered to be the only good thing to come out of the SEGA AGES project under the 3D AGES venture.

Thanks to the hard work of a young lady by the name of Kyence, you can now enjoy Phantasy Star: Generation 1 on the PlayStation 2 in English (on a modded system or emulator, at least).

Two versions of the patch are available – one using the Japanese character names, and one using the English character names. You can get the patches here.

Kyence plans to tackle Phantasy Star: Generation 2 next.

Want to know everything there is to know about the Punch Out!! series? Melburnian Daniel Lanciana has launched a Kickstarter campaign to create a 240 page encyclopedia on Mike Tyson’s Punch Out!!.

The book is complete – the campaign is intended to help the team raise money to get copyright clearance from Nintendo and cover the cost of printing the books – vanity publishing doesn’t come cheap!

Chipping in $US10 will get you a high quality eBook version of the guide. If you want a physical copy of the book, you’ll need to up your pledge to $US125. I’m a sucker for these high quality coffee style books, so I hope this campaign succeeds.

If you thought Command & Conquer: The First Decade was a good deal, wait til you get a load of Command & Conquer: The Ultimate Collection, due to hit stores and EA’s Origin service in October.

For $US49.99 or £24.99 (no AU price yet), you get the following Command & Conquer games:
Command & Conquer
Command & Conquer: The Covert Operations
Command & Conquer: Red Alert
Command & Conquer: Red Alert – Counterstrike
Command & Conquer: Red Alert – The Aftermath
Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun
Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun – Firestorm
Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2
Command & Conquer: Red Alert – Yuri’s Revenge
Command & Conquer: Renegade
Command & Conquer: Generals
Command & Conquer: Generals – Zero Hour
Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars
Command & Conquer 3: Kane’s Wrath
Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3
Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 – Uprising
Command & Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight

That’s a lot of Command & Conquer – no Sole Survivor, though!

Nintendo eShop (Australia, Europe)

3DS Virtual Console
Kirby’s Star Stacker (Game Boy) – $AU4.95

Nintendo eShop (North America)

3DS Virtual Console
Toki Tori (Game Boy Color) – $US3.99

PlayStation Store (Australia, Europe)

New Releases
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater HD – $AU23.95

PlayStation Store (North America)

New Releases
Ratchet & Clank HD – $US14.99
Ratchet & Clank 2: Going Commando HD – $US14.99
Ratchet & Clank 3: Up Your Arsenal HD – $US14.99
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater HD – $US14.99
Psychonauts (PS2 Classics) – $US9.99

Discounts
Space Channel 5 Part 2 – $US2.99 (PSPlus only)
Neo Geo Station – 50% off the following (or all together for $US39.99)
Alpha Mission II
Art of Fighting
Baseball Stars Professional
Baseball Stars 2
Fatal Fury
League Bowling
Magician Lord
Metal Slug
Metal Slug 2
Samurai Shodown
Shock Troopers
Super Sidekicks
The King of Fighters ’94
The King of Fighters ’95
The King of Fighters ’96
World Heroes

Good Old Games

Discounts
Strategy Weekend – 50% off the following:
Age of Wonders
Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic
Age of Wonders 2: The Wizard’s Throne
Capitalism 2
Master of Magic
Pharaoh + Cleopatra
Total Annihilation: Commander Pack
Total Annihilation Kingdoms + Expansion
Warlords Battlecry 3
Zeus + Poseidon

Square-Enix revealed today that they would be releasing a compilation of Final Fantasy games in celebration of the series’ 25th anniversary this December.

Dubbed the Final Fantasy Ultimate Box, the set, which costs a princely 35,000 yen (about $AU440), contains every mainline Final Fantasy release to date. This is a PlayStation centric set, so you won’t be seeing Super Famicom cartridge releases.

The game breakdown is
– Final Fantasy (PlayStation)
– Final Fantasy II (PlayStation)
– Final Fantasy III (PSP)
– Final Fantasy IV (PlayStation)
– Final Fantasy V (PlayStation)
– Final Fantasy VI (PlayStation)
– Final Fantasy VII: International (PlayStation)
– Final Fantasy VIII (PlayStation)
– Final Fantasy IX (PlayStation)
– Final Fantasy X (PlayStation 2)
– Final Fantasy XI (PlayStation 2)
– Final Fantasy XII (PlayStation 2)
– Final Fantasy XIII (PlayStation 3)

We’re told that the set also includes the art book FF25 Crystal Art Works, the FF25 soundtrack, art cards and more. Each of the 13 games will have new disc art drawn by Yoshitaka Amano. The set is due to release on December 18, 2012.

As a bit of a promo for their upcoming release Borderlands 2, Gearbox Software has released what they claim is a 16-bit inspired version of the game, dubbed The Border Lands, which available on their website.

It’s a bit like Smash TV, albeit without the 8-way shooting and frantic action – but it does have some of the neat loot trimmings of the real Borderlands experience.

Borderlands 2 is out mid September on the PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

Xbox Live Arcade
Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure HD – 1600 points

Nintendo eShop (Australia, Europe)

Wii Virtual Console
Super Baseball 2020 (Neo Geo) – 900 points

3DS Virtual Console
Donkey Kong Jr. (NES) – $AU7.50
NES Open Tournament Golf (NES) – $AU6.00

Nintendo eShop (North America)

Wii Virtual Console
Metal Slug X (Neo Geo) – 900 points

PlayStation Store (Australia, Europe)

New Releases
Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure HD – $AU29.95
Urban Chaos (PSOne Classics) – $AU8.45

Discounts
Sonic Adventure – now $AU6.25
Sonic Adventure DX DLC – now $AU4.25

PlayStation Store (North America)

New Releases
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty HD – $US14.99 on PS3, $US19.99 on PSVita
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater HD – $US14.99 on PS3, $US19.99 on PSVita
Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure HD – $US19.99
Gungrave Overdose (PS2 Classics) – $US9.99

Discounts
Sonic Adventure – now $US4.99

Good Old Games

New Releases
Ultima IX: Ascension – $US4.19
Lands of Lore III – $US5.99

Discounts
Ultimate Ultima Collection! 50% off the Ultima series – or buy the lot now just $US18