ZeroRanger - Chaotic Shoot 'em up gets a demo, release on Steam 24th August

If slashing creatures and protecting your lovable pet is not the game for you, then how about system-erasure's 'ZeroRanger', which from the look of it is a rather chaotic and intense vertical scrolling 2D shoot'em up that is available to play test with a demo, and Steam launch 24th August. According to the creators the story is that the decisive day draws closer as the forces of unknown alien menace GREEN ORANGE keep approaching. In order to counter this invasion, a special training demo has been developed to prepare our second greatest fighters for the attack. 

The Tragic Tale of Bark Scruffalo - Retro inspired action game in a Game Boy style

As a fan of the Gameboy and all those games that are inspired by that great hand held, I was pleased to see that Polynaut had released his retro inspired action game of ' The Tragic Tale of Bark Scruffalo', that looks very much like a Gameboy game but is available for the PC. In this game you play as a faithful Dog owner who must protect a lovable pet Bark Scruffalo at all costs from creepy creatures spawning out of the unknown.

Ghosts 'n Goblins overhaul for the GX4000 gets a great final version!

Way back in 1985 Capcom released the start of one of the greatest side scrolling platform game series we have ever known. It featured a knight, creepy enemies, lots of graves and was extremely difficult to the point of frustration. The game I am talking about is of course ' Ghost 'N Goblins ', the first game in the Ghosts 'n Goblins franchise which appeared on many different systems such as the Amstrad, C64 and ZX Spectrum. And it is that game from the Amstrad CPC version which has now received a final overhaul for the GX4000!

Galactic Tomb blasts its way onto the Amstrad CPC!

Shocking news for a Sunday and especially with the weather being this bad, as we've just learnt through the CPCWiki forums, that ESP Soft has now released the stunning Amstrad blaster of ' Galactic Tomb ', which coincides with this years RetroMadrid! Now if you want a game that will blow you away in terms of Amstrad graphics and music then read on as this one is very good indeed!

Super Mario Bros demo'd on the Amiga using Redpill

Possibly the last post for today and one I think may interest you, is the very early development of Super Mario Brothers for the Commodore Amiga. Announced through our email thanks to a heads up by Zbigniew 'Saberman' Zieliński, this work in progress demo was one of the more recent projects teased using the THE AMIGA GAME CREATOR 'RedPill', which as of this April had moved into an Alpha state.

Sizzler - Upcoming C64 game by Argus creators looks awesome!

Most of you are already aware by now Chris Wilkins of Fusion Retro Books is running a successful Kickstarter campaign regarding his latest retro goodness of the ZZap! 64 Annual 2019. However in that campaign was a game called 'Sizzler' which is currently being developed for the C64 by the same people behind Argus, such as Stuart Collier, Trevor Storey and Saul Cross. So why are we talking about it? Well the team behind the game have published the latest gameplay trailer on Youtube!

Scourge of the Underkind - A damn fine upcoming Amiga game gets new Gameplay footage

For the last few years or so Wayne Ashworth and Magnus had been developing a new game called ' Scourge of the Underkind ' for the Amiga showing a rather impressive looking title as a top down arcade action game that looked to be very similar to the classic game Chaos Engine. Well fast forward to April and not only did they announce the Scourge of the Underkind Collectors Edition in support of the new Compatible A500(+) case Kickstarter, but they've recently released even more gameplay footage.

ZZap! 64 Annual 2019 smashes Kickstarter goal and keeps climbing!

Well I didn't expect this to happen so quickly especially as it was launched at the correct time of 8am UK time this morning. But as of this afternoon Fusion Retro Books the 'ZZap! 64 Annual 2019' has smashed through its Kickstarter goal of £20,000 and still ever climbing! Yes indeed glorious news for Chris Wilkins (review editor), Roger Kean (managing editor ), Oliver Frey (art editor) and Stuart Williams (adventure editor) and many other contributing members, because as of September 2018 you'll have this awesome Annual in your hands and see all the hardwork they've put into it!

Set your alarm clocks and have your wallet by your bed - The Zzap! 64 Annual Kickstarter is launching Friday at 8am GMT [UPDATE]

If you were hoping for a Friday lie in, cancel that, and if you go to work early then tell your boss you might be a bit late tomorrow, as you'll need to be up at 8 am for the launch of the Zzap!64 Annual 2019 Kickstarter project from Fusion Retro Books.  You'll also need to be fully alert to pick carefully from the various perks which will be on offer.  Exact details of the perks remain a tight lipped secret, although we do know it will feature a brand new C64 game called Sizzler from Achim Volkers and Trevor Storey.  Here's Roger Kean (founder of Crash Magazine and Editor at Zzap) on the inspiration behind the annual:

Romhacking Spotlight - Lode Runner Mini, Super Mario Ultimate and SoR2

Welcome to another post of the Romhacking Spotlight! If you missed the first post this segment is all about recommending some of the many great romhacks that you might have missed. For me romhacking is a way to play those old games in a new way, or to get a sequel to a game that never were. For example we all loved Super Mario Bros 3 but Nintendo had to move on to the next generation consoles and sadly never made any more Mario Bros games for the Nes. But thanks to romhacking we can see many new versions of a game and a good example of this is the hack "Super Mario Ultimate" that you can read more about in this post :)

R.I.P. Rick Dickinson, a true icon of British design

RIP Rick Dickinson 1955-2018

Today I learned the awful and sad news that visionary and legendary designer passed away on the 24th April. For those not aware of his work, Rick was behind the design of multiple Sinclair machines including the ZX80, ZX81, ZX Spectrum and Sinclair QL. He also designed the Cambridge Z88 after leaving Sinclair Research and setting up his own company Dickinson Associates back in 1986 and has continued in the industry ever since.

Buddhagillie - 2nd MSXdev’18 entry is ready for your enjoyment!

After our previous announcement of Burn Us for the MSXdev'18 competition, the second entry has now been finished and ready for both MSX owners and BlueMSX users to download and play. Unlike that previous game however, ' Buddhagillie ' by  GW's workshop (Creator of that great game Draconic Throne), is a sword slashing action game were you take the role of a Buddha while travelling through 6 realms: Hell, Hunger, Animals, Asuras, Humans, Gods and Nirvana

Terrapins - Allan Turvey’s ZX Spectrum version of the Konami classic gets a review!

Allan Turvey’s ZX Spectrum version of the Konami classic “Turtles” (not the teenage mutant variety, as this latest “Your Sinclair” style review makes abundantly clear) sits alongside his latest release “Roust” (a top notch version of Joust) in his growing collection of Speccy arcade conversions. He states on his website that his main focus is currently on the ZX Spectrum, so hopefully we will be seeing more addictive arcade action from him soon! For now, why not pick up Terrapins for $1.99, and get a copy of “InvAGDers” thrown in for free?

39 Days to Mars - 19th century 2 player couch co-op adventure gets a release

Our good friend and fellow Indie guy Konstantinos Dimopoulos, has contacted us recently regarding a new game on Steam called '39 Days to Mars' developed by Anecdotal, a one-person indie development studio of Philip Buchanan. Available on Steam, Humble Store and itch.io, 39 Days to Mars is a rather unique and charming co-op steam punk puzzle adventure game, which allows up to 2 player in co-op, set upon the HMS Fearful; a masterpiece of unreliable engineering on its maiden voyage to Mars in an alternate reality in the 19th century.

Wolfling Preview - Nesdev game previewed on the C64

Last year 2017 Lazycow was developing a platforming game for the NES as an entry for the 2017 Nesdev competition. It gained favourable feedback during that time with one such member noting the game had nice level design, felt non linear and incredibly moody with rather nice animation. Well the news of this week is, this NES game is currently being ported over to the C64 by the same developer with a preview tease also made available through CSDb by Excess.

Micro Mages - A new NES game is coming to a Kickstarter near you ;)

Once again we've found more top quality updates through our twitter feed as thanks to Gamesweekberlin we've learnt of a brand new game coming to the NES called 'Micro Mages' by Morphcat Games. This game is going to be a jump and run platformer that will allow up to four players at the same time when it's hopefully released in the near future.

Zzap! 64 Annual 2019 Kickstarter will launch this Friday 27th April

It wasn't too long ago we were banging on about The Crash Annual 2018; a glorious book of goodness from Chris Wilkins as a revival of the classic ZX Spectrum Crash magazine, wrapped up in the guise of a Christmas annual. Well it looks as if the C64 is about to get in on the action, as Chris Wilkins has launched the official video for the upcoming Kickstarter for the ZZap! 64 Annual 2019 which is launching 8am on the 27th April 2018!

Sydney Hunter and the Caverns of Death - In development NES version of a great game previewed

As many of you were aware Collector Vision Games had released a great game called Sydney Hunter and the Caverns of Death for the SNES in which you play as Sydney trapped inside an ancient volcanic cavern and the aim to survive and win your freedom. Well if you don't have a SNES and instead have an NES you'll be pleased to know Electric Games who is developing the game mechanics has shown the latest Development Update for the NES version.

Buzzsaw - Cronosoft releases a great cassette to commemorate the ZX Spectrum 36th Birthday!

This week just gets better and better as after already mentioning Komplex City, an unreleased ZX Spectrum game, and ROVR a new ZX Spectrum game from ancient Egypt, we are pleased to announce as thanks to a heads up by our friends on Twitter. Cronosoft has released Buzzsaw; a brilliant game from 2011 that is now available on cassette to commemorate the ZX Spectrum 36th Birthday!

ROVR - A new ZX Spectrum game from ancient Egypt

Moving away from emails and looking towards Twitter, we were recently tagged by RetroVideoGamer in regards a new game called ROVR - Remote Operated Vehicle Recovery, which has since been released via thespectrumshow. Featuring the music(128k) of Alone Coder implemented by David Saphier, this game was created by Paul Jenkinson with a story of vast treasure hunting as part of an exclusive team sent into the deserts of ancient Egypt.

RetroGameDev Platform Game Preview - Another Tutorial game from RetroGameDev

Another tutorial game to grace our screens by Retro Game Dev and trainered by Laxity is a rather cute little tutorial platformer called RetroGameDev Platform Game Preview. Now just like the first game we mentioned, this one is of course a platformer as a show case for game development in Derek Morris's book Retro Game Dev, which helps you learn how to create games for the C64.

RetroGameDev Space Shooter Preview - Lets get blasting in this C64 game!

Once again we look towards Saberman for some of our updates as we've also been told of a C64 game preview that has since been trainered by Laxity. Titled as ' RetroGameDev Space Shooter Preview ', this tutorial game was apparently released via a book and gave readers the opportunity to extended it and make it better than the provided tutorial. Contained within is the tutorial version and a reader extended version.

Komplex City - An unreleased ZX Spectrum game makes an appearance!

It's the start of the week and already the news is coming thick and fast as we've recently been contacted by our good friend Saberman of a ZX Spectrum game that has been lost and found called 'Komplex City', which according to planetasinclair would be the sequel to Komplex; a medium-sized Legend shoot'em'up, which became known primarily for the excellent adventure Valhalla!

Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos NES Enhancement

Bit of a short news update, as it's very late but seeing as it is too good to miss, Romhacking recently announced the release of the Ninja Gaiden II: HD Graphics Pack, which is an enhancement for the NES version of Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos. This game was released way back in the early 90's as the second installment in the Ninja Gaiden trilogy. This release graphically enhances the game by porting the graphics from Ninja Gaiden Trilogy for use with the NES version of the game and its 8-bit audio.

Pacman Preview - A possible work in progress C64 Arcade Conversion?

Throughout the years there have been many Pac-Man games mentioned on Indie Retro News, from the Pac-Man Xtreme romhack, to Jr. Pac-Man on the Intellivision and even a Pac-Man game on the Pico-8, which all vary in style to the 1980's hit classic that can still be found today sitting as a port beside an Atari 2600 ( or if you're lucky an original Arcade machine ). Well C64 owners are about to get in on the action *hopefully* as Laxity have teased a Pacman Preview, which is being worked on by Andy Walker.

Rampaging for over 30 Years

Yet another video game to movie attempt, and a rather surprising one. Rampage actually turns into a pretty decent throwaway flick. But it all started with the games, and here is the story in pictures of said games, right from the original arcade to the final games. Maybe the movie with spawn a spin-off? Who knows....

Amiga Mania - Retromania is going to launch a big Amiga event 19th May!

Throughout the years we've always tried to feature as many events as possible that are dedicated to a multitude of systems from the Amstrad, C64 and ZX spectrum, to the Amiga or even the Atari ST. Now most of these events feature different systems with talent from around the world showing just what these systems can really do with some rather impressive demo's. However this event Amiga Mania, which is going to be held Gaia-Portugal in ISPGAYA, is only going to be dedicated to the Commodore Amiga itself.

W*H*B - A ZX Spectrum homebrew review by The Games Helmet

Cubes. Confusing, aren't they? Well, not really. But Bob Smith's 2009 ZX Spectrum game "W*H*B" will certainly have you thinking otherwise! The Games Helmet's latest "Your Sinclair" style retro review takes a look at what is surely one of the Speccy's best homebrew puzzlers - in fact, it even holds it's own against the best puzzlers from back in the 80's! You'd be crazy not to try it, but you might get even crazier once you're hooked...

The A to Z of Games Consoles & Home Computers

All the systems! Here is my attempt to make the ultimate 'almost' complete video list of Game Consoles and Home computers released over the years since the early seventies. I have tried to make this list as comprehensive as possible but a few rare systems and oddities maY be missing.

A Mario Bros Classic Series Review by Thermoptic!

I have always loved the Mario Bros game, ever since i first played the arcade port of it on my Commodore 64. Its one of those timeless games that you never can get tired of. Its super simple to learn and control for new players and the gameplay is also simple but at the same time it can be very challenging! Mario Bros is definitely a game that is best suited for two players, and one thing i really liked about this game is that you can choose how you want to play it; either you can play cooperatively with a friend and try to clear as many levels as possible or you battle up and try to stop the other player and get the highest score.

Chip Bit Day 2018 - Annual music festival banging away chiptunes 28th April!

Very short notice this one as we've only just come across it in our spam box, but we've recently been told that as from next Saturday 28th April, the annual music festival of 'Chip Bit Day 2018' will be held in Manchester as a dedication to a unique music community & genre know as ‘Chiptune’. If you don't know where Chip Bit Day comes from, they have told us it stems from the blog “Chip Bit Sid” - set up in 2015 - which features weekly reviews about chiptune music and artists. The blog had hit one year on the scene in 2016 and a celebratory event was in order: Chip Bit Day was born and the rest is history.

Crypt of Dracula - Action/crawler coming to the Sega Megadrive/Genesis

The Sega Megadrive/Genesis hasn't had many news updates lately so to change all that, here's a new game that's still in development ' Crypt of Dracula ' by MatteusBeus and team. According to the creator behind the game, this one is going to be an action/slash crawler developed using SGDK and what was originally a small project, has since blossomed into a much bigger and more impressive game.

Sydney Hunter and the Curse of the Mayan - Upcoming retrotastic release by Collectorvision Games gets a sneak peek

During the last couple of months we've been keeping you up to date with Collectorvision Games upcoming retro inspired platformer called Sydney Hunter and the Curse of the Mayan, which is going to be coming to PC, Xbox One and Switch this fall, with plans to port to the PS4 later this year. Well if you've been following this Montezuma's Revenge inspired title of epic proportions, you'll be pleased to know the company have released a sneak peak footage of the game running on the Nintendo Switch.

Nogalious - Multi system retro platformer gets a new PC version trailer

Some time back we gave you the heads up over a new game that is coming to the Amstrad, MSX, ZX Spectrum, C64 and even the PC. Known as Nogalious, this latest game is being developed by LuegoL3go Studios and is going to be a high quality action RPG that is sure to keep you going through the months ahead. Well that same game has appeared again but this time the developers have released a trailer for the upcoming PC version.

Tea-Leaf Ted - Manly version released for the ZX Spectrum 48k/128k

Not content with the Amiga news, bit bored of the C64 and want something fresh and Speccy to play, then about the latest game developed called 'Tea-Leaf Ted' , which was coded by Jaime Grilo using Arcade Game Designer (AGD) 4.7 by Jonathan Cauldwell and AGDMusicizer II by David Saphier. Interested? Good! Because this is an action platformer, where you play as Ted Lightfingers, a novice thief who loves coins. The problem is the Police are out to get you and other crooks and gold digger chicks love the money too. So grab the coins, find the key and get out of their pronto before any of those baddies do you harm.

New Compatible A500(+) case campaign live streams

As many of you are aware, A1200.net are currently running a crowd funding campaign for new compatible Amiga 500 and A500+ cases to replace the current case you have at home, which by now has most likely gone yellow. Now unlike the previous campaign for new A1200 cases which did end up as a huge success, so far this one still has a long stretch to go with just $60,052 raised of a $155,000 goal. But read on as you'll see why there is still a chance of this campaign hitting its goal.

Nemesis 3: The Eve of Destruction is patched up and looks great on the MSX2

It's a Monday and what a great start to the week as the sun is shining, it's warming up, and Toni Galvez@TonimanGalvez has recently tweeted us with a very special news announcement for the MSX2 with the release of the Nemesis 3 enhancement patch. Released originally in 1988-1989 this Shoot em up was developed and published by Konami exclusively for the MSX as the sequel to the epic game of Gradius and a spin off to Gradius II: Gofer no Yabou. This patch however excels the game to new heights with not just smooth scrolling but other note worthy enhancements too!

Bomb Jack Beer Edition - Another fabulous Arcade beta for all Amiga gamers!

Rejoice Amiga gamers as we've just been told through our twitter feed from the developer himself Graeme Cowie, that he has released the latest beta 5A of his in development Bomb Jack Amiga enhanced ' Bomb Jack Beer Edition '. Now if you followed the previous release, you would've experienced a much better game overall from its earlier showings, but now it looks as if this enhanced version isn't far off from a complete game!

CJ's Elephant Antics - Florinthedwarf is back with another great ZX Spectrum review!

Angry clouds, angry snowman, angry dog, angry guy from Rainbow Islands (I think) - you'd better cut it out with those antics of yours, CJ!

What you get if you cross a globetrotting elephant, angry clouds and peanuts? No, not an elephant who eats peanuts and gets chased by angry clouds around the world - you get CJ's Elephant Antics! Poor old CJ was on his way to England to be taken to a zoo but on the way, his plane experienced some issues and with the craft likely to crash CJ jumped, taking his trusty umbrella with him to aid his descent on to land. Unfortunately for CJ he ended up in France. Poor fellow. Now you must guide him back to his native Africa - all you'll need is some dodging skills, jumping skills and be a dab hand with a peanut.

C64 Weekly Roundup - Exiting new projects, more amazing sound tricks and more!

Welcome to roundup #8.  This week has seen more amazing project announcements, also FM-YAM a new sound device built into a C64 cartridge, and Hokuto Force have worked their magic on a few forgotten gems.  I will also shamelessly plug my own channel, as I am making a brand new C64 SEUCK game for The New Dimension's 2018 SEUCK compo, in collaboration with my viewers, live on TwitchTV.

Underworld Ascendant - Return to The Stygian Abyss with a brand new gameplay trailer!

Some time back we gave you the big heads up over Otherside Entertainment and 505 Games Kickstarter success of the overhauled RPG of ' Underworld Ascendant '; a dungeon crawler that seeks to give the player the ability to progress through exploration and experimentation, rather than scripted solutions; a rekindled legendary game in the fantasy RPG series. Well those of you who have been following the games development will be pleased to know the creators have released the first trailer for this hopefully note worthy sequel.

Preview: The World War Simulator Part II - A new game by Retrobytes Productions coming to the Spectrum/Amstrad CPC

Great news if you're an Amstrad or ZX Spectrum fan, as we've just learnt that Retrobytes Productions will be showing off their latest game 'World War Simulator Part II', at the Amstrad event in Barcelona. This game developed by Alex Layunta, Toni Ramírez and José Antonio Martín will be a high quality game that will give most of us a rather Eagle's Nest flavour.

Startup Freak - Become a successful software company in this early access tycoon game

Ah a Tycoon game, you know the type, starting from a poor person and or low end company and then turning it into riches and hopeful domination of your opponents. So along comes PulPul Games to satisfy that need, as they have released through Early Access ' Startup Freak '. Which is a Tycoon game based around software development, from humble beginnings to a multi-million dollar company.

Gun Rage - An old-school run 'n gun game releases Q3 2018!

We've recently been informed through our email of a new game that is coming this summer via Steam as an old-school, fast-paced, side-scrolling, run and gun with 16-bit era graphics. Titled as ' Gun Rage ' and developed by Denis Galewski, this game is heavily inspired by such classic series as Contra and Metal Slug, and pays homage to the greatest games of the genre... So basically lots of shooting, gore and wicked action is the order of the day!

Iridium - Unofficial fan based remake of Uridium gets new alpha footage

I'm sure many of you are aware by now of Hewson Consultants upcoming ' Hyper Sentinel ', which is a high grade modern version of the retro classic Uridium due next month. But you probably didn't know there is also another version out there giving us that Uridium vibe which is called ' Iridium '. This game that we have mentioned before, is an unofficial fan based PC remake, and is currently being developed by James Roberts shown off as a new alpha build.

Shuttlebug - A ZX Spectrum homebrew review by The Games Helmet

Shuttlebug, Dave Hughes' arcade maze blaster from 2012, get's the retro review treatment in this latest throwback to the 80's from the Games Helmet. It's not easy to come up with a simple arcade game that hasn't already been done a million times, but Shuttlebug somehow manages to feel fresh, delivering classic arcade gameplay in spades. You might, however, want to turn the volume down - the sound is... challenging to the ear, shall we say?

Cleopatra no Mahou - The last RPG that Square made before Final Fantasy is fully translated

We haven't featured many translation hacks for a while now because of being so busy with other articles but now is the time to tune in RPG retro gamers, as we've just learnt that the full English translation of Cleopatra no Mahou has been released and is not to be missed. Yes indeed, Cursed Treasure of Cleopatra ( English name ), published by Square in 1987 for the Family Computer Disk System is regarded as the RPG that made Square call their next RPG Final Fantasy now can be played and understood by all!

Eye of the Beholder - Homage - A Fatbot Games Fan Video!

It wasn't long ago that we gave a huge shout out to Fatbot Studio's dungeon crawler of Vaporum. Which turned the fantasy style gameplay on its head as a rather epic Steampunk crawler with strange mechanical beasts, contraptions and rooms of steam based machinery. Well it seems as if the developers haven't been sitting idle since its release, as just like us as fans of Eye of the Beholder, which helped shape a genre ( and their game ), they have shown us an Eye of the Beholder - Homage video, as a thanks to that great classic.

Project ZX2 Jetboot Joe - A sequel to a very enjoyable ZX Spectrum inspired Shoot em up gets a release

During last year Langford Productions who was behind the Cookie, Pssst, Highway Encounter, The Hunch and even Frank N Stein remakes, released the brilliant ZX Spectrum shoot em up 'Project ZX' for home computers. It was a very unique game as it allowed you the player to blast through lots of ZX Spectrum themed levels as if you were in part playing the original ZX spectrum games themselves. Well fast forward to today and you'll be pleased to know the sequel has been released as Project ZX2 Jetboot Joe.

SMS Power! Competition 2018 - The Sega Master System comp finished with cool stuff to play!

During the early part of this year one of our most favourite sites for the Sega Master System called SMS Power! Ran a competition with multiple categories for users around the world to come together to make hacks, music and new games, as a way to show off their talent but also to win one of the competitions areas. Thankfully lots of people got involved which means loading up your old retro SMS was well worth doing.