Retro Gaming Australia

DotEmu will be releasing Double Dragon Trilogy onto the App Store and Google Play Store before the end of the year. It’s exactly what it says on the tin – an app encompassing mobile ports of the arcade versions of Double Dragon, Double Dragon II: The Revenge and Double Dragon III: The Rosetta Stone.

Of course, a couple of enhancements have been made in the process, such as selectable difficulty levels – including one that’s a little more mobile friendly, achievements and leaderboards, a remastered soundtrack (as well as the original) and support for most iOS and Android game pads.

Personally, I still think the NES version of Double Dragon II is the best in the series.

Before Warcraft and Diablo were their bread and butter, Blizzard released a number of popular original titles for consoles and PCs. One such game was Blackthorne, an action/adventure game where you played as a warrior looking for revenge on a race of aliens.

Completely out of the blue today, Blizzard has added Blackthorne to Battle.net for download absolutely free. It’s updated to run on modern versions of Windows, but other than that, it maintains its original form. It’s based on the DOS version with the nice pixel art, not the 32X one with the weird pre-rendered look.

It’ll be interesting to see if Blizzard’s other popular mid 90s games such as The Lost Vikings appear soon.

Source: Joystiq

We’ve seen the evidence on the Classification Board, but Sega has finally confirmed that their 3D Classics range will be heading to the eShop in Australia, Europe and North America before the end of 2013.

The releases are being staggered over a period of four weeks:

November 28: 3D Space Harrier, 3D Super Hang-On
December 5: 3D Sonic The Hedgehog, 3D Altered Beast
December 12: 3D Ecco the Dolphin, 3D Galaxy Force II
December 19: 3D Shinobi III, 3D Streets of Rage

These games will set you back $US5.99/€4.99/£4.49 a piece. Australian prices have not been confirmed but sources expect them to be around $AU8.

Source: Vooks

Boogerman was something of a cult hit on the Mega Drive and SNES back in the mid-90s, and former Interplay developers Mike Stragey and Chris Tremmel are hoping that the fans who were wooed by the hero’s farting and burping antics 20 years ago will jump on board for another round with their Kickstarter project for a Boogerman reboot.

The pair are seeking $US375,000 to bring the game to life. They’re planning a release on Steam (Greenlight page is already up), PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita and Wii U. Former Rare composer Grant Kirkhope is lined up to do the soundtrack.

THe proposed game is an expansion and reboot of the original game, retreading some of the familiar ground of the original game, as well as new levels, new abilities and a modern presentation.

So if you wanted more Boogerman in your life, here’s your chance.

Double Dragon for the NES is somewhat infamous for being one of the only home ports of the game without two player co-operative play. If you can overlook that, it’s a decent port, but given that co-op was one of the main selling points of Double Dragon, it’s a bit like a BLT without bacon.

Hot off the heels of the release of Kingdom Hearts 1.5 HD Remix, Square Enix has revealed that Kingdom Hearts 2.5 HD Remix is in development and planned for release on the PlayStation 3 in 2014.

Speaking at the Japanese D23 Expo, series producer Tetsuya Nomura announced that the project will contain HD remasters of Kingdom Hearts II: Final Mix, Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep, and remastered cutscenes from Kingdom Hearts: Recoded

You can view the announcement trailer below

A couple of years ago, a Kickstarter campaign was run to produce a documentary series focused on the subject of competitive Super Smash Bros. Melee play, entitled The Smash Brothers. Said campaign was successful, and production on the series began in earnest.

Today, the producers behind the series have released the nine part documentary onto YouTube for your viewing pleasure. The series covers the background of the game and the rise of the competitive scene, explains some of the advanced techniques competitors employ while fighting, and follows the exploits of a number of big names in competitive Super Smash Bros. Melee play.

You can watch the series below.

Tommo is not taking the public announcement from SNK of the cancellation of their Neo Geo licensing agreement lightly. In fact, they’re not going to stop selling the system, games and peripherals, insisting that the licensing agreement is still valid and in effect until 2016.

In a statement issued today, Tommo CEO Jonathan Wan stated “We’re continuing to sell NEOGEO X products, including the NEOGEO X GOLD System, Arcade Stick, MEGA PACK Volume 1 and Classics Volumes 1-5. The license agreement which allows Tommo to sell and market these products remains in effect.”

You can read the full statement here.

In a rather surprising and brutal move, SNK has publicly announced the termination of its licensing agreement with Tommo. Tommo has been responsible for the manufacture and distribution of the Neo Geo X console, which was officially licensed by SNK and included many classic Neo Geo games, either built in or in retail bundles.

The statement issued by SNK reads:

To whom it may concern:

Please be informed that the License and Distribution Agreement between TOMMO Inc. and our company is terminated as of October 2nd, 2013.
The Licensed Products set forth in the agreement are as follows;

Terminated Licensed Products:
– NEOGEO X GOLD Limited Edition
– NEOGEO X MEGA PACK VOLUME 1
– NEOGEO X Classics Vol. 1
– NEOGEO X Classics Vol. 2
– NEOGEO X Classics Vol. 3
– NEOGEO X Classics Vol. 4
– NEOGEO X Classics Vol. 5

Upon termination of the License and Distribution Agreement, SNK has demanded that TOMMO Inc. immediately cease any and all manufacturing, distribution, marketing & promotion and selling of the Licensed Products.

In addition, SNK has demanded TOMMO immediately cease all sales of the “SNK NEOGEO X Arcade Stick” product being sold separately from the NEOGEO X GOLD Plug and Play Console, and remove the “SNK NEOGEO X Arcade Stick” product from store shelves and online retailers. In order to protect our intellectual property rights such as “NEOGEO” and “SNK”, decisive measures will be taken against all unapproved NEOGEO X products not subject to the License Agreement.

Regarding customer support for any/all of the Licensed Products, please contact the retail store / online retailer from which the product(s) were purchased.
Thank you for your understanding and cooperation,

SNK PLAYMORE USA CORPORATION

That sounds like a cancellation with prejudice, no? Maybe someone from SNK actually tried using one.

Hot on the heels of the Monkey Island HD remakes, LucasArts Singapore started work on a similarly styled remake of the developer’s popular adventure game Day of the Tentacle.

Although never officially greenlit, the project was pretty far along – some say as much as 80% complete. However, LucasArts executives didn’t get behind the project, with one source saying to Kotaku that “he company’s higher-ups had no interest in continuing to make what they called “legacy” titles like this one.”

Another for the long list of LucasArts failures.

Source: Kotaku