Retro Gaming Australia

F-Zero AX was the arcade equivalent of F-Zero GX, released by Nintendo and Sega for the not-widely-used Triforce arcade system, which was based on GameCube hardware. Players of F-Zero GX could take their GameCube memory cards to an arcade with an F-Zero AX arcade machine and download a save file that would unlock the AX Cup, letting them race on the F-Zero AX tracks on the home version of the game. Those not fortunate enough to have access to an AX arcade machine had to beat story mode on hard to unlock the AX Cup, which is a legendary feat few can accomplish.

It turns out that the entirety of F-Zero AX was actually sitting unaccessible on the F-Zero GX disc. Some industruous hackers armed with copies of the GameCube Action Replay have dug into the depths of the disc and found the arcade game nestled within.

If you have an Action Replay or Gameshark, you can find the code necessary to make GX boot into AX here.

Nintendo eShop (Australia, Europe)

WiiWare
Retro City Rampage – 1000 points (UK/Europe only)

3DS Virtual Console
Pac-Man (NES) – $AU6.50

Nintendo eShop (North America)

WiiWare
Retro City Rampage – 1000 points

PlayStation Store (Australia, Europe)

New Releases
Dora the Explorer: Dora Saves the Mermaids (PS2 Classics) – $AU14.45
Finding Nemo (PS2 Classics) – $AU14.45
G1 Jockey 4 (PS2 Classics) – $AU14.45
The Incredibles (PS2 Classics) – $AU14.45
Warriors Orochi (PS2 Classics) – $AU14.45

Discounts
God of War HD – Free for PSPlus subscribers

PlayStation Store (North America)

New Releases
Persona 2: Eternal Punishment (PSOne Classics) – $US9.99
Dora’s Big Birthday Adventure (PS2 Classics) – $US9.99

Discounts
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (PS2 Classics) – $US5.99 (50% off)

Good Old Games

New Releases
Total Overdose: A Gunslinger’s Tale in Mexico – $US5.99
Ultimate Body Blows – $US5.99

It’s been a while since the NeoGeo X Gold was released, and Tommo has been pretty quiet about their plans for physical releases for the system. Today they finally announced the first physical release since the bundled Ninja Master’s cart – and it’s a 15 in 1 multi-cart.

Entitled NeoGeo X Classics Volume 1, the cart includes the following: Art of Fighting 3, Blazing Star, Breakers Revenge, Fate Fury: Mark of the Wolves, Kizuna Encounter, The King of Fighters ’96, The Last Blade 2, Metal Slug 2, Samurai Showdown 3, Savage Reign, Sengoku, Shock Troopers, Super Sidekicks 3 – The Next Glory, Top Hunter, and World Heroes Jet.

In other words, there’s actually a bit of wheat to go along with the chaff this time around.

There are five of these volumes currently planned. Volume 1 will be released in April, but no price has been announced.

Xbox Live Arcade
Capcom Arcade Cabinet – 400MSP (includes complimentary copy of Black Tiger)

Nintendo eShop (Australia, Europe)

WiiU Virtual Console
F-Zero (SNES) – $AU0.30 until March 20

Nintendo eShop (North America)

WiiU Virtual Console
F-Zero (SNES) – $US0.30 until March 20

3DS Virtual Console
Yoshi (NES) – $US4.99

PlayStation Store (Australia, Europe)

New Releases
Capcom Arcade Cabinet – Free (Black Tiger provided free of charge)
Capcom Arcade Cabinet 1987 Pack (1943 & Avengers) – $AU7.35
Peter Pan Double Pack (PS2 Classics) – $AU15.95

PlayStation Store (North America)

New Releases
Capcom Arcade Cabinet – Free (Black Tiger provided free of charge)
Capcom Arcade Cabinet 1987 Pack (1943 & Avengers) – $US4.99

Discounts
Mega Man: Maverick Hunter X (free for PSPlus Users)

Good Old Games

New Releases
Sensible World of Soccer 96/97 – $US5.99
Hocus Pocus – $US5.99
Leisure Suit Larry: Love for Sail – $US5.99

Discounts
60% off Apogee/3D Realms games

Steam
66% off Fallout, Fallout 2 and Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel – $US3.39 each, or $US6.79 for the three
50% off Retro City Rampage

In their most recent Nintendo Direct event in Japan, Nintendo announced that both The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons and The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages are set for release on the 3DS Virtual Console in Japan.

The two Zelda Game Boy Color titles were original released on February 27, 2001 in Japan, and made their way to the west later that year. The 3DS Virtual console versions also release February 27 and are priced at 600 yen a pop. Up until March 20, players can purchase both games for the discounted price of 1,000 yen.

We suspect The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons and The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages will too be available in North America and PAL regions in the near future.

One of the major complaints about the PAL version of the Virtual Console has been that we get PAL versions of games on it. Before the wondrous days of multiformat television, video games used to be converted from NTSC to PAL, often poorly. The end result was usually a game that ran approximately 16.7% slower, and had black bars on the top and bottom of the screen to fill up the extra lines of resolution that PAL has over NTSC.

Now that we’re on HDTV, the PAL and NTSC standards are history, but Nintendo insisted on releasing 50hz versions of games on the WiiU. It appears with the imminent release of F-Zero (due today for only 30 cents!), Nintendo has changed their tune, offering the full screen, full speed version of the classic futuristic racer.

Whether this is a once off remains to be seen.

What’s Resident Evil 1.5 you say? Well, the story goes that about 70-80% through development, the producers of Resident Evil 2, Shinji Mikami and Hideki Kamiya, decided the game was too action oriented and not up to the high standard of the original game. So they started again.

That original version of Resident Evil 2, dubbed Resident Evil 1.5 by fans, has been the most wanted prototype on the PlayStation. Many have teased that they have a copy of the prototype, but aside from a couple of screenshots and videos, nobody has released a playable version.

Until now. The Resident Evil 1.5 restoration project is a rag tag group that managed to get a copy of the prototype and has since spent considerable time restoring it to a point where it can be enjoyed by all. Today they released a playable demo version marking the first time the public will get a taste of this mythical beta.

Of course, the project still continues – apparently the in-development version is quite a bit further along than this demo. The demo release was prompted by someone attempting to sell the team’s work to date on eBay; originally the team had intended only to release their work once it was completed.

You can get the demo here.

Headlining this week is one of the most wanted digital re-releases to date, System Shock 2. If you’ve tried to run this game on anything past Windows 98, you know it requires a bit of fiddling to get going, which is why this week’s release on Good Old Games is a god send.

Xbox Live Arcade
Nothing

Nintendo eShop (Australia, Europe)

3DS Virtual Console
Castlevania (NES) – $AU6.50

Nintendo eShop (North America)

Wii Virtual Console
World Heroes 2: Jet (Neo Geo) – 900 points

3DS Virtual Console
Dig Dug (NES) – $US3.99

PlayStation Store (Australia, Europe)

New Releases
Cars (PS2 Classics) – $AU14.45
Cars: Mater-National (PS2 Classics) – $AU14.45
Medal of Honor: European Assault (PS2 Classics) – $AU21.95
Treasure Planet (PS2 Classics) – $AU14.45
Winnie The Pooh: Quest for Honeypots (PS2 Classics) – $AU14.45
World Championship Poker (PS2 Classics) – $AU7.35

Discounts
The Sly Trilogy – $AU12.95
Alien Breed Trilogy – $AU14.45

PlayStation Store (North America)

New Releases
Twisted Metal (PSOne Classics) – $US5.99
Twisted Metal: Black (PS2 Classics) – $US7.99
Rebel Raiders: Operation Nighthawk (PS2 Classics) – $US9.99
Twisted Metal Birthday Bundle (includes Twisted Metal (PSX), Twisted Metal 2 (PSX), Twisted Metal: Black (PS2) and Twisted Metal (2012) (PS3)) – $US39.99

Discounts
Alien Breed Trilogy (50% off, now $US11.49)
Beyond Good & Evil HD (50% off, now $US4.99)
Rayman 3 HD (50% off, now $US4.99)

Good Old Games

New Releases
System Shock 2 – $US9.99

Discounts
RPG Weekend

Sega is finally beginning to understand the value of nostalgia. This week the company announced that it will team up with PC retailer Enterbrain to release a series of Sega-themed laptops.

Under the hood, they’re just standard PCs – you can check the specs out here. Outside, the machines boast decals based on three of Sega’s most popular home consoles – the Mega Drive, Saturn and Dreamcast. There’s also a general Sega themed machine.

The machines will set you back between ¥99,750 and ¥194,250.

In the 1990s, try as they might, Amiga platformers just weren’t as good as the offerings available on the home consoles. That’s not to suggest that they are completely without merit – many remember the antics of the Lucozade guzzling Superfrog, one of Team 17’s most popular pre-Worms releases.

Those Superfrog fans will soon have the opportunity to get back in touch with their caped amphibious friend, as Team 17 is planning a HD remake of the game for its 20th anniversary later in the year. The remake is currently scheduled for release on the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita.

No other details at this time.