Retro Gaming Australia

The Australian Classification Board has assigned a rating of M to the Metal Gear Solid: Digital Novel Pack, a pack containing the Metal Gear Solid: Digital Graphic Novel released previously on the PSP, and its sequel Metal Gear Solid: Bande Dessinee.

The graphic novels, written by Kris Oprisko and illustrated by Australian artist Ashley Wood are based on the first and second Metal Gear Solid games respectively. They were released in paper form from 2004, before being converted to motion comics with voices provided by many of the original cast members.

There is some sentiment that this could be a sign of a separate retail release for the graphic novel pack, as previously seen in Japan, but it is more than likely that this rating just refers to the disc that is included in the Metal Gear Solid Legacy Collection, due to hit Australian retail stores in September,

Source: Australian Classification Board (via Siliconera)

Nintendo’s finally showed off the fourth iteration of Super Smash Bros., so we’ll take this opportunity to bring you an ad for the game that started it all. Super Smash Bros. arose out of an experiment at HAL to make an accessible fighting game – the Nintendo mascot characters were a last minute addition. Nintendo didn’t feel Super Smash Bros. would catch on and planned it to be a Japan-exclusive release. Fortunately they changed their mind.

Devil May Cry 2 is often treated like the bad egg of the series. It simplified the controls, eliminated a lot of the difficulty and made Dante toned down the wisecracks, making him into a more mature, less-narcissistic character as a result. Devil May Cry 2 is not a bad game, but it’s a real departure from the first game.

Ontario-based film company Fuel has obtained permission from the Alamogordo’s City Commission allowing them access to the city’s landfill for a period of six months. The reason? The company wishes to make a documentary on the excavation of of millions of unsold Atari 2600 cartridges which were said to have been buried there.

For those who don’t know, Atari was stuck with millions of unsold copies of games such as Pac-Man and E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial after the 1982 holiday season. The company had foolishly believed that people would buy Atari 2600s solely for these games, and produced more copies of the games than there were 2600 systems in households. These excess copies were said to have been buried in a New Mexico landfill in September 1983.

Susie Galea, the Almogordo city mayor seems to approve of the project, stating “I hope more people find out about Alamogordo through this opportunity that we have to unearth the Atari games in the landfill.”

US Gold picked up the rights to take EA’s smash hit Road Rash from the Mega Drive to the Master System and Game Gear, and handed the project over to Probe Software to get the port done. It’s actually a fairly playable port too – it’s much slower and the picture seems a bit squished, but the gameplay is relatively intact.

Fighting Force, as we’ve said time and again, was at one stage intended to be Streets of Rage 4. However Fighting Force turned out so rubbish that we thank Zombie Jesus that it wasn’t.

John Madden Football ’92 is Madden’s second outing on home consoles and boasts a laundry list of improvements including EASN presentation, weather effects including rain and snow, new playbooks, instant replays and player injuries. The last one is a particularly amusing one – John Madden Football ’92 came at a time when EA didn’t have any official licenses and didn’t take itself seriously – when a player gets injured, an ambulance speeds onto the field, ploughing down any players unfortunate enough to get in its way. It’s really quite amusing.