Retro Recap: All The Classic Gaming News From The Past Week (March 15th 2026) 1
Image: Zion Grassl / Nintendo Life

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.

35 Years After Street Fighter II Changed Everything, The ZX Spectrum Finally Gets A Half-Decent Port

ZXPresh's Sweet Fightin' +2 finally gives the Spectrum a respectable port of Street Fighter II, 35 years after the game originally launched in arcades.

Sony Confirms Exactly Who You'll Be Controlling In Castlevania: Belmont's Curse

Sony has apparently confirmed that the protagonist of Castlevania: Belmont's Curse is none other than Sonia Belmont, appearing in a slightly retconned role, as this upcoming game is set to take place in 1499 – 49 years after she made her debut in Castlevania Legends, which takes place in 1450.

Since our story went live, it's worth noting that Sony has removed the reference to Sonia – make of that what you will.

This Lost Xbox 360 Star Wars Game Is Now Playable Online

Back in 2013, Disney shut down LucasArts – an act which ended up killing two known projects, Star Wars 1313 and Star Wars: First Assault. First Assault was reportedly going to be a downloadable title with gameplay similar to the popular Star Wars Battlefront series.

After footage of the latter game leaked over a decade ago, various pre-released versions have been popping up online, showing how close the game was to being finished. Fast forward to the present, and First Assault's closed technical beta has not only been preserved by fans, but is also at the point where it's possible to play it online.

Ex-Xbox Icon Larry "Major Nelson" Hryb Joins Commodore International

Commodore International has revealed that "games industry icon" Larry Hryb has joined the company as a Community Development Advisor.

Hryb, also known as Major Nelson, spent much of his career at Xbox, where he helped foster the relationship between Xbox players and Microsoft.

Stenzek, the developer of the popular PS1 emulator Duckstation, has been on the receiving end of problems in the past and even threatened to end support for the Linux version not so long ago.

Now, it seems that the Android variant of the emulator is effectively 'dead', with no future updates planned.

Android Devices Get A Nintendo StreetPass Successor, But Of Course There's A Catch

If you love StreePass, then check out ThunderPass, which draws inspiration from Nintendo's defunct service, as well as introducing its own features.

It's all looking very slick indeed, and the focus on privacy and security is to be applauded – but the catch here is that ThunderPass has been 'vibe coded', which means AI has played a big role in its creation.

How An Innocent Conker Celebration Drew Rare Into A GenAI Debate

The official Rare social media account posted an image of Conker and Berri to promote a new remix of the main theme of Conker's Bad Fur Day, which turned 25 recently. This was accused of being generated with AI before Rare staff stepped in to clarify its origins.

Skyrim's Bruce Nesmith On TSR, Elder Scrolls & Daggerfall's "Miserable" Crunch

There are very few developers around who can claim to have as much insight into Bethesda's history as Bruce Nesmith. Arriving from the Dungeons & Dragons publisher TSR in the mid-90s, Nesmith has had two separate tenures at the RPG giant (1995-1998, 2004-2021), the latter of which lasted over 17 years.