The chip they've used is actually designed for retail POS systems, rather than mobile gaming devices. That it can do gaming is a bit of a bonus!

But that's how these companies work: they see what's available in quantity at a certain price and design around that. I think it's a clever use of available off-the-shelf components, but there will always be some compromises.

What on Earth have they done to Betilla?

I'll end up getting this when it's on sale. What a wasted opportunity. Coulda and shoulda been a brand new game.

I'm definitely getting the Jaz Rignall book this time around, having missed out the first time around. If I'm feeling a bit flush I'll probably go for "Go straight" too.

@Sketcz While I don't agree with your trenchant position on AI, I recently re-read Mike Cooley's book "Architect or bee?", where I think his ideas of socially useful technology are still as relevant today as when he wrote it in the late 70s/early 80s.

This particular demake effort reminded me of a William Morris quote:

Nothing should be made by man's labour which is not worth making, or which must be made by labour degrading to the makers.

@Van_Helsing Myth, legend and story-telling are an important part of pretty much all cultures... and even stories about real people are often somewhat "embellished".

However I can't help but think how much cooler this would be if it was a sculpture of the low-poly models of the original games.

@GravyThief I'm no expert, but I believe FreeMcBoot exploits Sony's update mechanism that runs code from the memory cards at boot to install the custom menu. Then programs like OPL are free to bypass the disc drive and its security mechanisms entirely.

@Sketcz I don't know all the technical details, but from my understanding the Messiah listened on the bus for the "is this disc valid?" security request and basically overrode the response with "yes, it is!"

I wish I knew more about electrical engineering to understand how this kind of work is done.

Good news!

Although we already have plenty of methods to play our legitimate backups, I wonder if this will open the door to an ODE mod?

Music of the “Nth” Dimension translucent green audio cassette with A and B sides

It just occurred to me that I haven't owned any equipment that could play that cassette in well over twenty years.

Hmmm.

So some external force stopped Uniracer/Unirally's production... or are we begging the question here? Maybe the game just didn't do well due to timing and content?

@-wc- I once fell off a wall and bashed my head quite badly. Much fuss was made by both His Majesty's men and horses.

Does that count?

@Bot_Bot_69 I'm not sure what you mean by "the character of something". It seems like an empty phrase to me, akin to "the journey".

@Bot_Bot_69 I don't think there is anything. All of human flourishing has been based on evolution rather than novelty, understanding physical processes rather than inventing them, combing what went before to create new things.

@Bot_Bot_69 Can you name something that was truly an original idea?

@CookieByte Yeah, it was that 90s "attitude" that really turned me off the character.

I find it deeply ironic that, given the deeply ethical (and topical) messages he has planted in so many of his games, Garriott appears to have abandoned his moral compass simply because a "magic box" offers a shortcut to his vision by leveraging data created by humans which has been taken without permission or remuneration.

Well perhaps Richard is smart enough to realise that these tools are worth investigating and could be used in ways that are sympathetic to the human creative process.

Very cool. I don't think I'll be making up the boxes, but I could print off and frame a couple. Would make for an interesting decoration in the downstairs loo.

More like they just wanted to earn interest on your money for another year.

It's not the only delay, either. Time Extension reported The Spectrum was delayed back in July: https://www.timeextension.com/news/2026/07/dont-worry-the-neo-geo-aesplus-hasnt-been-delayed

If I had pre-ordered this, I'd get my money back ASAP. This has nothing to do with component shortages. They said they had a product, they said they could deliver in 2026. They launched the pre-order campaign based on those promises.

They lied. They knew they weren't going to deliver from the outset.

This pre-order ***** really needs to stop. If you have a product, bring it to market and let the market decide if it floats or sinks.

I remember playing a demo of Crash 1 - I guess it was on an Official Playstation Magazine cover disc - and thought it was a bit meh.

Sometime later - I had a Playstation 2 by then! - I picked up the platinum release super cheap and was far more impressed with the game.

I think what put me off with the demo is that Nintendo had already aced the next gen platformer with Mario 64, and Crash's 2.5 antics didn't compete. This was also a time where a number of character platformers were vying to be Sony's mascot, so it was a pretty cluttered market.

I've since beaten the N. Sane Trilogy on Steam and thoroughly enjoyed my time with it.

Has anybody else had a similar demo experience?

@Arcadia_Official Curse was quite enjoyable, I'll give it that, but it lacked a certain something the first two games had in abundance. Escape, though, was a real disappointment. I don't think it was the controls or the 3D, Grim Fandango had the same and I liked that, but some of the puzzles were poor, frustrating, or both. It may have been my expectations were set too high - I was really looking forward to something special - and maybe Monkey Island was just a bit worn out when it released.

I replayed them all in the run up to Return's release. 1 & 2 remain classics of the genre - albeit with HD updates - which I couldn't say for 3 and 4.

I think most people would rather have Escape shoved down the memory hole and never spoken of again. It was quite telling that Return ignored both Curse and Escape, choosing to pick up the story directly after LeChuck's Revenge.

But if we're talking HD remasters that absolutely should happen, then Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis would be close to the top of my list.

I wonder who the three people "who chose to spend their time with RENT A HERO Z" were.

True story: I once phoned the hotline - I think I was stuck somewhere in Link's Awakening - and quickly got through to somebody. I recognised the voice. Turns out it was somebody I knew from school and the Nintendo Eastleigh (Boyatt Wood, if we're being pedantic) warehouse in question was no more than a 15 minute walk from my house.

I've reviewed these games, so you don't have to!

Flappy Bill: It's Flappy Bird with different graphics. Make of that what you will. 3/5

Build the Wall: Tetris, but you can't clear any lines so utterly pointless. The "zombies" don't appear to have much to do with the gameplay, either. Could be evolved into an interesting concept where clearing lines does something on another field of play. 2/5

Rio Run: Snake with unresponsive controls. 1/5

Supply Line: Knock unhealthy foods off the conveyor belt before they reach lunch. The game speeds up the better you do. 2/5

Trump Saving Tycoon: A poorly implemented catch falling things with net game. 1/5

@PopetheRev28 I think SVC would fall foul of copyright law everywhere.

Blimey that's running slooooooooow.

@DestructoDisk You make a good point. It's what I would call a value-added "curated experience".

They do pop up from time to time. Most recently with the Atari 50 and Jeff Minter collections, but also earlier examples like the Sega Mega Drive Collection and the Taito Legends outings.

I remember going through my "Cave Shooter" phase on the 360, even to the extent of importing some titles from Play Asia. Even back then Cave knew they had to cram in extra features to make it appeal to a broader audience than just the very few hardcore enthusiasts.

I had a lot of fun with those, although I never really "got" bullet hell, what with it's esoteric scoring, multiplier and bonus mechanics. And having to focus on the 2 pixel square that was your hitbox, meaning you missed much of the screen-filling excitement.

Cave lost a lot of good-will from me over the Android releases of DoDonPachi and EspGaluda 2 fiasco. Years after the iPhone releases we finally got them for Android... which had been farmed off to some other company. Instead of downloading the games directly from the Play store as you might expect, you actually paid to buy a downloader. This was never advertised on the store pages. Within a few years the downloader stopped working (although you could still buy it on the Play store!), then some time after that the downloader vanished.

@Bot_Bot_69 Captain passive aggressive runs away again! If you're up at 3am arguing on the internet, try getting a life.

@Bot_Bot_69

Now address the points I made... if you can.

@Bot_Bot_69 Funny, that. You never seem to be up for a conversation or a debate.

So here you go: Sorrell made his deal with the devil back in the 90s. He chose to accept money over his rights to the James Pond property, if he had any claim to it to begin with. To come back 30 years later and complain about his lack of involvement and the "soulless" activities of business people:

1) Didn't stop him from selling out in the first place.
2) Having sold out gives him no right to complain about the activities of those he sold out to.

You'll notice he doesn't actually criticise AI - calls it "complicated" - so that's not his issue.

Hence: sour grapes. Sorrell is regretting the choices he made in the 90s, thinking he'd be inline for a lot more money now.

@Bot_Bot_69 I see. How may I help direct you?

@Bot_Bot_69 I bet he didn't complain at whatever remuneration he received at the time.

Sounds like a case of sour grapes to me. We all have regrets in life, but those were the choices we made at the time.

@JackGYarwood wins this one!

I'm hoping for some Atari 50 DLC too, however.

There's a certain incongruity between having a bespoke, custom, handbuilt arcade stick and using AI to promote it. Surely it would be easier just to build the thing and take some photos of it?

Not forgetting Toonstruck!

You'll be missed, Tim. But your legacy will live on!

@slider1983 I never really got on with Zool, but if we were all the same it would make for a boring world. But we all have a story about why certain games mean so much to us, so I'm intrigued: what do you love about Zool and the series?

Even without these blasted cataracts, I don't think I could cope with a screen that small. Maybe under a microscope. But that would put a dent in the portability!

My go to portable these days is the Trim UI Smart Pro S. It's just about the right size, plays what I want it to play, and was cheap enough that I don't worry too much about it getting lost, stolen, or damaged. Honourable mentions go to my 3DS XL, Vita and RG Cube XX.

You can never have enough Alien Breed. I've never played the 3D games, but the first three are stone cold classics. I even liked the 2010 reboot trilogy, which I thought was awesome although "reviewers" at the time weren't so keen.

I also recommend Shadowgrounds and Shadowgrounds: Survivor. Both great games, heavily inspired by Alien Breed.

Which reminds me: if you have any friends who like these sorts of games and are actually capable of acting like a team, the UT: 2004 mod Alien Swarm and the later Steam game Alien Swarm: Reactive Drop are both great.

If you know of any other games like this, let me know!

I'll stick this on the Christmas wish list.

Looks like a good range of representative games from each decade. I take it a requirement for inclusion was having a developer story and none could be sourced for games like Ridge Racer and Sega's Virtua games?

Doesn't really matter, though. A book like this is never going to encompass every arcade game ever released, and there looks to be plenty of games included that I know nothing about in terms of development or ever having played.

I've been playing the Mega Drive version for most of the day... I've deleted the rom from my computer.

I can't have this game dictating the next 6 months of my life! I wish I'd known about it back then, when I had a lot more time on my hands.

It looks very impressive for the price... heck, it just looks impressive full stop. I'd love to try that 1080p 120Hz mode.

If I had the space to use more original hardware and a better monitor, I'd probably get one of these. As it is, I'll probably stick with the GBS-C. It's definitely on the list of things if I win the lottery, though.

@-wc- I've also upgraded my evaluation of how many Evercade games natively support the resolution of the Nexus: 2 - thanks to the Banjo twin pack! 😄

@A_WINNER_IS_Mii Oh, I'm not talking corporate controlled digital. That isn't preservation at all.

This will go down like a lead balloon, but I'll say it anyway: the future of preservation is digital.

I like having physical things. I like paper books, vinyl albums, films on VHS and DVD, and games on discs and cartridges and floppy disks and on tapes. That isn't preservation. It's me owning stuff.

Preservation is making sure we all have access to all this stuff, forever. That can only be done digitally. Digital gives us infinite replication at near zero cost.

I remember buying Second Samurai for the Mega Drive. It was one of those games that just seemed to appear briefly in the shops with no fanfare and no reviews I ever saw and then vanished. Since it was going pretty cheap, I slapped down some filthy lucre and took it home.

What a cool game! One minute you're fighting cavemen and riding dinosaurs, the next you've got a jetpack and shooting down spaceships.

I'll have to give it a replay at some point.

Well I wasn't expecting the comedy capers of Ax Battler and friends to emerge from this.

I don't think this is going to have particularly long legs. Once all of the in-jokes have been exhausted (which will probably take all of five minutes), I don't know where else they can take it. Oh well, we'll see.

What would be cool is a proper Conan animated series based on Robert E. Howard's stories.

Never heard the death row theory before. Sounds like an April 1st story that got out of hand!

I'm not totally convinced that the team at Sega went round renting as many VHS tapes as possible in the hopes of ripping off some sound effects. It could be true, but I think it more likely they had access to the same sound effect libraries used by the movie studios.

I'm excited to visit one of these, having never managed to get to a Cex in the good old days. However... isn't most of what they will sell be behind lock and key given how pricey a lot of it is? Was it like that back in the day?