Retro Recap: All The Classic Gaming News From The Past Week (July 5th 2026) 1
Image: Damien McFerran / Time Extension

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

Did You Spot This Insanely Deep Star Fox Reference In The New Switch 2 Game?

Nintendo has just revisited Star Fox 64 (again) on Switch 2 and delivered a game that reminds us why Fox McCloud and his crack team of mercenaries are so beloved in the world of video games – and it hides an Easter Egg that proves the team behind the game are diehard fans.

A 'Tetris' CG-Animated Series Is In The Works

The Tetris Company has announced it is working on a new CG-animated adventure series for kids (ages 6+), alongside executive producer Chuck Williams, best known for his work on video game adaptations like the original Sonic the Hedgehog movie (h/t: VGC).

Tetris: World Builders was announced at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival and will reportedly blend "imaginative storytelling with STEAM-inspired problem-solving". That's STEAM, as in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, just in case you're confused, not the Valve storefront or the more literal definition of the word.

Sega's Crazy Taxi Spins Its Wheels Thanks To Another GenAI Kerfuffle

A short while back, Sega's upcoming Crazy Taxi reboot earned some rather off-putting headlines over its disclosed use of GenAI – something the company later tried to walk back on, claiming that everything in the final product would be "original" and any AI-generated assets were merely placeholders.

It remains to be seen if Sega will stick to that (and some have argued that the 'placeholders' may have made it into the final game had people not rightly kicked up a fuss), but in the meantime, we have another GenAI-related drama erupting over a piece of Crazy Taxi merchandise.

Thanks To These Upgrades, My Beloved Game Boy May Have Reached Its Final Form

Damien spoke about this recent Game Boy upgrade this week; his beloved DMG-01 has been updated with a fancy new modern-day display and he couldn't be happier:

"With this screen mod, my Game Boy now feels like it has reached its ultimate form – especially when combined with two other essential upgrades. The first is an EverDrive GB X7 flash cart, which lets me carry my entire Game Boy collection on a single cartridge. This also supports save states, which is something I love about playing Game Boy games on the Analogue Pocket.

The second improvement is the CleanJuice battery pack, which removes the need to keep swapping out AA batteries. This drop-in replacement is charged over USB-C and comes with a specially designed replacement battery panel."

XBLA Version Of Castlevania: Symphony Of The Night Gets The Recompilation Treatment

If you're a fan of classic Metroidvania titles, then listen up – the Xbox Live Arcade version of Konami's legendary Castlevania: Symphony of the Night has been statically recompiled by Marco Andronaco / birabittoh (thanks, Video Game Esoterica).

Built on the ReXGlue SDK, this recompilation works on Windows and Linux and converts the Xbox 360 PowerPC xex file into native x86_64 code at build time, then wraps it with a small host runtime so the game "runs natively and can be modded like a PC port."

Less than a week after announcing it acquired "the trademark and select intellectual property rights of The 3DO Company," Empire Interactive has now announced plans to "withdraw from the 3DO project."

The announcement was made in an email to Time Extension, with a separate statement having since been posted on LinkedIn stating that it is abandoning plans to enter "console production" and giving up on "the idea of remastering retro games." Instead, Empire Interactive now states the company "will focus our efforts on developing our own next-generation games," which will be "published under the Empire Interactive label."

A Musical Treat Isn't The Only Secret Hiding Inside Banjo Kazooie's New Handheld Edition

It turns out a secret music player isn't the only extra included in the new handheld release of Banjo-Kazooie.

Fans have also discovered a new cheat menu, unlocked upon beating the game 100%, that lets you activate cheats without visiting the Treasure Trove Cove sandcastle.

This lets you grant yourself infinite blue eggs, infinite feathers, and infinite air supply; gives you the ability to reset secret items (presumably the Swop 'N Stop items); and also, interestingly, contains a new move for Kazooie called Breegull Boost.

M2's 'Ganbare Goemon' Collection Hides A Never-Before-Ported Konami Shoot 'Em Up

The M2-developed Ganbare Goemon collection, Ganbare Goemon! Daishuugou is out today in Japan, bringing 13 games from Konami's popular series to Nintendo Switch, PS5, and Steam.

But as if that wasn't enough to make us all jealous of Japanese players who are able to get their hands on the collection with ease, it appears there's also a rather fascinating bonus game included in the package, too, in the form of Konami's 1991 Famicom-exclusive shoot 'em up Crisis Force.

Co-Founder Of Codemasters Predicted The Death Of Physical Media 13 Years Ago

Sony's recent confirmation that it is abandoning physical media on PS5 and future consoles has sent shockwaves through the industry – but for some, the shift to a digital-only landscape is long overdue.

Back in 2013, Microsoft was forced to perform an embarrassing U-turn with its Xbox One console, following the announcement of DRM policies that would have prevented second-hand sales and marked a big step towards an all-digital distribution model.

I spoke to Codemasters co-founder David Darling for GamesIndustry.biz shortly after the kerfuffle 13 years ago, and he was of the opinion that Microsoft had made a mistake in bowing to consumer and media pressure.

I Was Already Excited About Truxton Extreme, But Playing It On A Next-Gen Cinema Screen Is Something Else

It's fair to say that Truxton Extreme has held my attention ever since it was first revealed.

The latest instalment in a series which started life in arcades all the way back in 1989, the game – which is helmed by Masahiro Yuge, former Toaplan staffer and the driving force (and composer) behind the entire series – stays true to the core of Truxton (also known as Tatsujin) and its 1992 sequel while ramping up the challenge and offering a 2026 lick of paint.

The game launches later this month, and with that in mind, I was invited to attend a preview event in nearby Nottingham – a hands-on session with a key difference: I'd be playing the game on a massive 'Epic' screen at VUE's Corner House cinema.