Retro Gaming Australia

Nintendo Power was once the go-to guide for all the latest happenings on Nintendo systems for North American readers. However, a source from within Future Publishing US has revealed that it will cease publication of the magazine, which has been in production for 24 years.

Speaking with ArsTechnia, the source revealed that it was Nintendo who initiated the break up. Nintendo had handled the publishing of Nintendo Power internally until the end of 2007, until the publication was outsourced to Future. The source also suggested that Nintendo was “difficult to work with,” and was uninterested in renewing that contract, going digital or bringing the title back in-house.

No news on when that final issue will hit, though the editorial staff have suggested that something big is planned for the final issue.

Source: ArsTechnia

Lost Levels founder, Gamasutra news director and video game historian Frank Cifaldi has decided to part with one of his prized possessions – a one-of-a-kind prototype of the planned-but-ultimately-cancelled US release of Final Fantasy II for the NES.

Of course, you’d want to have a bit of free cash around before you consider it – the asking price is a cool $US50,000 (though offers are welcomed).

The NES release of Final Fantasy II was scrapped after Squaresoft decided to move onto the Super Nintendo and localise Final Fantasy IV (which hit the US as Final Fantasy II, starting some naming confusion for several years). This particular prototype comes from the Winter 1991 CES, where the game was shown off.

Dark Horse Comics and Nintendo will be teaming up to release an English language version of Hyrule Historia, an artbook released in Japan last year that celebrated 25 years of art from The Legend of Zelda series.

In addition to hundreds of concept images, the book contains the official series timeline, unreleased pages of The Legend of Zelda manga and much more.

The western release of the book will also be a hardcover version.

You can preorder the book now from Amazon for a mere $US21. An Australian release is planned, but a date has not been set.

Nintendo eShop (Australia, Europe)

3DS Virtual Console
Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon (Game Boy) – $AU4.99

Nintendo eShop (North America)

3DS Virtual Console
Mario’s Picross (Game Boy) – discounted to $US2.99 for a week

PlayStation Store (Australia, Europe)

New Releases
Adventures of Alundra (PSOne Classics) – $AU8.45
The Next Space (PSOne Classics) – $AU4.25

PlayStation Store (North America)

New Releases
Shinobi (PS2 Classics) – $US9.99

Good Old Games

New Releases
Prince of Persia: Two Thrones – $US9.99
Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness – $US9.99
Legacy of Kain: Defiance – $US5.99

Discounts
FPS Blast – 50% off the following
Unreal Gold
Unreal 2: The Awakening
Unreal Tournament 2004
Unreal Tournament: Game of the Year Edition
Blood (One Unit Whole Blood)
Blood 2: The Chosen + Expansion
Far Cry
Duke Nukem 3D: Atomic Edition
XIII
Postal: Classic and Uncut
Postal 2 Complete

At their press conference at GamesCom this morning, Sony announced that the long awaited PSOne compatibility for the PlayStation Vita will start rolling out from August 28.

Unfortunately, not all games will work out of the gate – it sounds like Sony will be rolling compatibility out slowly, with Tomb Raider and Final Fantasy VII mentioned as being among the first wave of titles.

Probably not the most delicate way of handling it, but I guess we should be happy that Sony is giving the ailing handheld some attention.

Hideo Kojima is known for being active on Twitter, and today he let loose some knowledge regarding his two cult classic titles, Snatcher and Policenauts.

Snatcher was originally known as Junker, after the protagonist’s organisation in the game, but Konami found that the name was too similar to a mahjong title, and changed it. Kojima had to think of a new name – he wanted to avoid using Snatcher after naming Metal Gear after the game’s enemy, and briefly considered the name New Order before settling for the game’s final title.

Policenauts was originally entitled Beyond, but Konami was unable to obtain a trademark for the name. Apparently the game was also intended to be for a “Cinematic Virtual Reality” genre (similar to Metal Gear Solid’s Stealth Espionage Action) – Konami found nothing trademarked along these lines when the project started in 1990, but the term had been trademarked by the time the game was to be released and the naming was dropped.

Source: Andriasang

Some time ago you may recall we discussed a SNK sanctioned Neo Geo branded handheld being produced by Blaze for release later this year. It seems that those plans have gone a bit further with the introduction of the Neo Geo X Gold, which includes not only the aforementioned handheld, but a docking station that allows you to hook the system up to a television. It also comes with a joystick modelled after the original Neo Geo controller.

Twenty games are built-into the system – 3 Count Bout, League Bowling, Art of Fighting 2, Magician Lord, Alpha Mission 2, Metal Slug, Baseball Stars 2, Mutation Nation, Cyber Lip, NAM 1975, Fatal Fury, Puzzled, Fatal Fury Special, Real Bout: Fatal Fury Special, The King of Fighters ’95, Samurai Showdown 2, King of the Monsters, Super Sidekicks, Last Resort and World Heroes Perfect

Of course, this doesn’t come cheap – $US199, to be exact.

Given Blaze’s track record with shonky system-on-a-chip clones, we’re not going to get our hopes up. We’ll find out for sure when the Neo Geo X Gold launches on December 6.

Homebrew efforts on older systems are getting more impressive by the day.

Classic Kong is a SNES adaptation of the original Donkey Kong, brought to you by Bubble Zap Games. It’s a fairly faithful recreation – with souped up graphics and sound, of course.

You can grab the ROM (and the source code, if you’re interested) here.

Youtube user 2010clarky has modified a Nintendo 64 controller to feature two analog sticks, and it looks pretty slick.

Some Nintendo 64 games allow the player to use two separate N64 controllers to utilise both analog sticks, so the clever modder has housed both analog sticks in one big ol’ merged controller titled the “El Quadinaros.” It still works as a single controller too! (continue reading…)

Those anxiously awaiting the release of Jet Set Radio HD will be happy to know that Sega have finally set both a date and price for the title.

Come 18 September, PlayStation Network users can get their grubby or not-so grubby mitts on the game – with Playstation Plus subscribers getting it a full week earlier (on 11 September). Unfortunately, those planning to pick it up for the Vita will have to wait until 16 October. Both the PSN and Vita versions of the game will set you back US$9.99/£6.49/€7.99.

Jet Set Radio HD via Xbox LIVE Arcade and Steam will be available 19 September for 800 Microsoft Points/US$9.99/£5.99/€6.49. There is currently no release information for the iOS and Android versions.

Source: SEGABits