Retro Gaming Australia

I don’t think things are going to turn around any time soon.

Nintendo eShop (Europe)

Nothing

Nintendo eShop (North America)

Wii Virtual Console
Super Street Fighter II (Genesis) – 800 points

PlayStation Store – SCEE

New Releases
Buzz Lightyear of Star Command (PSOne Classics) – $AU8.45
Eternal Quest (PS2 Classics) – $AU6.25
The Sniper 2 (PS2 Classics) – $AU6.25

Discounts
God of War HD – $AU21.45
God of War II HD – $AU21.45

PlayStation Store – SCEA

New Releases
Red Faction (PS2 Classics) – $US9.99
Future Cop L.A.P.D. (PSOne Classics) – $US5.99
Darkstalkers 3 (PSOne Classics) – $US5.99
Ikari III: The Rescue (PSPminis) – $US2.99

Good Old Games

New Releases
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver – $US5.99

Discounts
EA Guns and Spells Promo – 50% off the following (all $US2.99)
Syndicate
Crusader: No Remorse
Crusader: No Regret
Nox
Lands of Lore: The Throne of Chaos & Lands of Lore 2: Guardians of Destiny
Magic Carpet

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.

Britain’s best selling computer, the ZX Spectrum, celebrates its 30th birthday today.

The ZX Spectrum was the brainchild of inventor Sir Clive Sinclair’s Sinclair Research Ltd. The affordably priced computer took Britain by storm, and led to the creation of a number of great game developers, including Ultimate Play The Game, who would later go on to be renamed Rare Ltd. Australia’s Beam Software is also fondly remembered for its Spectrum hits like The Hobbit, The Way of the Exploding Fist and Samurai Warrior: The Battles of Usagi Yojimbo.

To be perfectly frank, Australia was firmly Commodore 64 country so we’re not too up on our Spectrum stuff, but we highly recommend The World of Spectrum for all your Spectrum needs.

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.

The Gold Nintendo World Championships 1990 cartridge is considered by many to be the holy grail of video game collecting – like our equivalent to Action Comics #1 (the first Superman comic, now worth a cool million). Just 26 of them exist, which were given away as prizes in a Nintendo Power contest. The last verified sale was to the tone of $US18,000.

Today one of these rare beauties appeared on eBay with a starting price of $US27,000. The difference? It was graded by the Video Game Authority, a group of self-proclaimed experts who will appraise the quality of your games and assign them a score out of 100 for a nominal fee. The grading, regardless of your stance, is not the issue here. It’s something else entirely.

This cartridge was disassembled for display.

Is it not the purpose of having these sorts of things graded to keep them in pristine condition? The seller elected to have the cartridge displayed in this fashion, which is, honestly, complete lunacy.

If you didn’t already know, April 27 marks 20 years since Kirby made his debut on the Game Boy in Japan with the release of Hoshi no Kirby, better known to us as Kirby’s Dream Land.

Yesterday at the Nintendo Direct briefing, the company detailed their plans for the event which will involve the release of 3D Classics: Kirby’s Adventure for the 3DS and an as-yet undetailed anniversary collection disc for the Wii, not unlike the 25th Anniversary release of Super Mario All Stars.

No dates have been set, but suffice to say that if you enjoy Kirby games (which you should) then this will be a good year.

5th Avenue Frogger is a new Frogger hack that aims to have players dodging real time traffic from New York’s 5th Avenue.

The project is the brainchild of Tyler DeAngelo, who started the project in celebration of “Frogger‘s 30th(ish) anniversary”

You can follow the project’s development here.