Retro Gaming Australia

The “classic” FMV light gun game Mad Dog McCree will soon be re-released for the 3DS eShop courtesy of Dutch company Engine Software. Engine has licensed the property from current IP owner Digital Leisure.

Unfortunately, it’s going to be a direct port of the original with no added 3D effect of any kind.

Still, if you feel like shooting at people awkwardly pretending to be cowboys, then you might be satisfied.

Revival Studios is a company that produces homebrew efforts for second generation consoles like the Vectrex and Magnavox Odyssey2. Today they’ve announced that copies of one of their recent projects, Colorclash are now on sale through their website.

Colorclash is a hybrid of a match three puzzle game and a space shooter, which the company originally published a while ago for the Vectrex.

For €39 (plus €5 shipping) you get a cartridge, index card and manual. For an additional €5 (plus €5 shipping), you can get a plastic clamshell case.

Supplies are limited to just 100 copies, so if you’re looking for something new to play on your Odyssey2 (or VideoPac), you might want to order today.

So Sony has started releasing more PlayStation Classics and Nintendo decided to start updating the Virtual Console line up again, so really, we can justify bringing this release date update back. Go us! We’ll also inform you of discounts on classic games where possible.

Nintendo Store – Australia and Europe

3DS Virtual Console
Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters (GB) – $AU4.50

Wii Virtual Console
Mega Man X (SNES) – 800 points
Samurai Shodown IV: Amakusa’s Revenge (Neo Geo) – 900 points

Nintendo Store – North America

3DS Virtual Console
Punch Out!! Featuring Mr. Dream (NES) – $US4.99

Wii Virtual Console
King of Fighters ’97 (Neo Geo) – 900 points

PlayStation Store – SCEE Regions

PlayStation Plus Freebies
Sly Raccoon HD

PS2 Classics
Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter – $AU15.95
Shinobi – $AU15.95

PlayStation Store – SCEA Regions

PlayStation Plus Freebies
Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus HD
Super Street Fighter II HD Remix
Um Jammer Lammy (PSOne Classics)

PlayStation Plus Discounts
Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike Online Edition – on sale for $US7.49
Chrono Trigger (PSOne Classics) – on sale for $US4.89

Other discounts and permanent reductions
Resident Evil: Code Veronica X HD – on sale for $US9.99
Resident Evil 4 HD – on sale for $US13.99
Space Ace – on sale for $US4.99
Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike Online Edition – on sale for $US10.49
Chrono Trigger (PSOne Classics) – on sale for $US6.99
Activision Hits Remixed – reduced to $US9.99

Good Old Games

New
The 11th Hour
Robin Hood: The Legend of Sherwood

Discounted
Phantasmagoria ($US4.99)
Phantasmagoria 2: A Puzzle of Flesh ($US2.99)
Dark Reign + Rise of the Shadowhand Expansion ($US4.99)
Dark Reign 2 ($US2.99)
Call to Power 2 ($US2.99)
Betrayal at Krondor ($US2.99)
Return to Krondor ($US2.99)
Police Quest: SWAT 1+2 ($US4.99)
SWAT 3: Tactical Game of the year Edition ($US4.99)
Interstate ’76 ($US2.99)

A joint effort between aishsha, DvD and Pennywise has yielded a translation patch for the obscure Famicom RPG SD Keiji Blader. It’s kind of a futuristic take on the classic J-RPG action offered by contemporaries like the original Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest, with a bit of a Super Sentai streak.

According to the translation notes, SD Keiji Blader was meant to be a quick project for the team, but ended up taking them three years. We should all thank them for their dedication in knocking over another Japan only release.

You can get the ROM patch here.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. R-Type. Bloody Wolf.

Only one of these games is considered a classic, but they all have something in common – they’re no longer available on the Wii Virtual Console, or are scheduled to be delisted.

Nintendo has been doing very little in the way of updates for the Virtual Console service on the Wii in the last 18 months (though five games will be working their way towards the EU Virtual Console service this month), and now the service is arguably going backwards. The three games mentioned in the opening line are but a sample of the list of titles that will be a part of Virtual Console history.

Wasn’t digital distribution meant to put an end to discontinuation of stock?

The NES software library wasn’t exactly brimming with strategy games – outside of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, they were really more the domain of home computers. NES homebrew developer Rizz is seeking to plug that gap with his newest effort Armed for Battle.

No release date has been set, but Rizz has confirmed that he will be demonstrating his work at the US Midwest Gaming Classic at the end of the month.

I was recently contacted by a representative from the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) who has asked me to put out a call for video game collectors in Victoria.

In June, ACMI will be running an event called Game Masters: Discover the Worlds Greatest Video Games and their Creators 2012. As part of that event, they are exploring the possibility of having a “Game Collector’s Roadshow”.

Said event would encompass “a multi-location Collectors Event within Metropolitan Melbourne and Regional Victoria. A one-day specialised event for Retro-game collectors who have a passion for playing and collecting retro video games, hardware and associated paraphernalia. Includes Panel Forums, Valuing opportunities, Live 8bit Music Extravaganza and an interactive meet and greet.”

Currently, it’s not locked in – ACMI wants to gauge interest in the community to see if this kind of event is worth pursuing. Considering how badly Adelaide puts us to shame when it comes to retro gaming community activities, this would be a good opportunity for us all to get together.

Remember – this isn’t just a Melbourne thing either – the folks at ACMI want to find collectors in Geelong, Ballarat, Cragieburn and other regional areas.

You can let us know either in the comments sections or in the forums.

There was an amusing video doing the rounds a while ago that essentially showed Mario being a bit of a jerk with the titular gun from Portal.

Indie studio Stabyourself (charming) has decided to make an actual game out of this concept, called Mari0. The game supports co-operative play for four players, has a map editor, DLC, hats and runs on Windows, Macs and Linux-based systems.

Apparently it can be a bit tricky to get running, but it looks like a heck of a lot of fun.

Wing Commander Saga is a fan-made remake of Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger using the freeware FreeSpace 2 engine. The project has been in development for a long time (apparently almost 10 years), but as this trailer illustrates, it’s looking like it will be worth the wait.

Not that you’ll be waiting much longer – the trailer puts the release date at March 22, 2012 – just under 3 weeks away!

Mega Man Legends is a bit of a sore spot with fans of the series following the recent cancellation of the 3DS sequel. In fact, you could say that fans of the Mega Man series are not particularly happy with Capcom in general, particularly after the awful port of Mega Man X to iOS.

Indie developer Tarbo-san has published this concept video of a demake (i.e. remake on more primitive hardware) of Mega Man Legends (or Rockman DASH), now reimagined as a NES game. Apparently a full game is planned, but we’ll just have to wait and see.