Retro Recap All The Classic Gaming News From The Past Week (January 11th 2026)

Welcome to Retro Recap, a new regular feature we'll be running each and every weekend which rounds up all of the best retro gaming news and content of the past week in one place.

Sega Co-Founder David Rosen Passes

This week brought us the rather sad news that Sega co-founder David Rosen passed away on Christmas Day, aged 95.

Rosen was instrumental in transforming Sega into the video game giant we know and love today, and under his guidance, the company would dominate the arcade sector in the 1980s with a string of hits.

He was also a key figure in shifting Sega's focus to home consoles, and would help establish Sega of America following a buy-out orchestrated by himself, Hayao Nakayama and Isao Okawa in 1983.

The National Videogame Museum Is Creating The UK's First Game Design Archive

Located in Sheffield in the UK, The National Videogame Museum has been running for some time now, and has just announced plans for its first Game Design Archive.

Nick Poole, from the gaming industry body Ukie, had this to say about the venture:

"This is a cultural medium that's defining culture for billions of players around the world daily. A lot of that culture is intangible. It's the games people play online, it's what they're doing behind the screens. It's so important to be able to capture those moments and tell that story.

It is literally everywhere and it's changing lives, but unlike some previous media it's not always going to be kept physically."

CES Brings Two My Arcade Retro Products Back From The Dead

Those of you with keen memories will recall that last year's Consumer Electronics Show saw the announcement of a series of cool retro products from My Arcade, including a host of Sega mini-arcades and a Switch-sized handheld packed with Bandai Namco and Capcom classics.

These were understood to be launching last year, but they didn't – leading some to assume they might be cancelled. However, reports from the show floor at CES 2026 have revealed these items are still on the way, thankfully.

We're pretty excited about that OutRun mini-arcade, as it will be the first time OutRunners has been made available on home hardware in its original arcade form.

Ridge Racer Comes To Dreams

That's right – some clever devil has recreated the original Ridge Racer in Dreams on PS4 and PS5.

It looks stunning, we have to say – and is made all the more remarkable for the fact that it's been developed within Dreams itself.

While the drifting mechanics look like they still need some work, this is certainly a project that's worth keeping an eye on.

Xbox Exclusive Jet Set Radio Future Gets A Decompliation Project

Sega's Jet Set Radio Future is one of the best games on the original Xbox, but it has been locked in the past and never ported and re-released on any other system (beyond the Xbox 360, which offered backwards compatibility support).

Thankfully, a new attempt to decompile the game to its original source code – thereby opening up the opportunity for native ports on other platforms – has begun.

Hardware Of The Week: TrimUI Smart Pro S

In terms of hardware, the highlight of our week was getting to grips with the TrimUI Smart Pro S, a new emulation handheld which retails for $100 and is capable of running pretty much everything up to the Dreamcast perfectly, as well as the PSP.

For a little extra cash, you could perhaps stretch to a more powerful device and thereby unlock PS2 and GameCube-era performance, but if you're keen to remain in the '80s and '90s, then this is just the ticket.

Feature Of The Week: Fantasy Top Trumps Changed My Life

Long before Magic: The Gathering turned up and started printing money, there was Fantasy Top Trumps – a far less demanding affair with gorgeous artwork from British artist Geoff Taylor.

Join Damien as he digs into the past to explore how these seemingly simple cards fired his imagination (and gave him a few sleepless nights as a child).

Retro Across The Hookshot Network

As you may be aware, Time Extension is part of the Hookshot Media network of sites, which includes Nintendo Life, Push Square, Pure Xbox and Digital Foundry.

Below are some of the best retro-themed stories from those sites posted this week.