Stunt Car Racer - A great game from the late 1980s gets an Apple II port!

Of all the games to appear to in the late 1980's, this in my opinion was one of the best stunt style racers, it had some of the craziest tracks and the ultimate track the "Ski Jump". What made it so good was not just the feeling of speed, but the thrill of accelerating into the sky and coming back down with an almighty crack! And now thanks to a heads up by kaviolalainen through Twitter, he has released Geoff Crammond's finest game of Stunt Car Racer for the Apple II. The second port by kaviolalainen after previously releasing the game for the Commodore Plus/4.

Stinger - The eighth home-brew game by Fabrizio Caruso for all 8bit systems?

If you have an Amstrad CPC, C16, C64 or any of the other systems listed via the main page then this news is going to surprise you, as trawling through the Plus/4 world Facebook page, we've found out that Fabrizio Caruso has released his multi-system arcade blaster of 'Stinger'. As in the words of the developer, Stinger is a shooter with power-ups, 6 different levels, 5 different enemies, and several items to pick up. To coincide with this news, as ever we have some footage of the game being played below.

Apple IIgs Karate - A port by Brutal Deluxe Software of the 1986 Atari ST game "ST Karate"

If Karate chops and high powered kicks is your idea of fun, then 'Apple IIgs Karate' published by Brutal Deluxe Software for the Apple IIgs might just be the game for you. You see this isn't just a Karate game, but from reading the comments under the video itself, this is a port of the 1986 Atari ST game "ST Karate" by Paradox/Eidersoft. In light of this news, not only can you play the game right now, but there's also a new gameplay video viewable below.

Akalabeth World of Doom - A classic Lord British RPG is being ported over to the ZX Spectrum

Before I begin i'd just like to say, that sometimes if it wasn't for our members, we'd miss out on some rather interesting game releases, and so, thanks to Roman Sandaevsky, he's just given us the heads up for ' Akalabeth World of Doom ', a game which is being ported over to the ZX Spectrum. Now to raise your eyebrows even more so this isn't just any game, but according to a number of sources, Akalabeth: World of Doom was originally a game for the Apple II released in 1979, and designed by none other than Richard Garriott aka Lord British.

Lemmings - Deater has released a proof of concept of Lemmings for the Apple II!

Lemmings was a game published by Psygnosis way back in the early 90's for the Amiga, Atari ST and PC and regarded by many as one of the greatest games ever, especially as it featured many blue, green haired Lemmings that could be blown up, ripped apart and dropped from the highest of points before they even hope to reach that exit. So why is that great game getting another mention on IRN? Well as of today if you have an Apple II, you can try out the latest proof of concept of the game which is being developed by Deater!

Lawless Legends - Eagerly awaited Apple II RPG crawler will be released this summer

We've just been given some great news through Facebook, as the eagerly awaited Apple II game of ' Lawless Legends ' will be released this Summer! This is a game that has been in development for sometime and takes the medieval dungeon crawler and mashes it up with the wild wild west. For those of you want to try the game out, there's a 3 disk demo available which requires a real Apple II, IIc, IIe, or IIgs: MUST HAVE 128K

Nox Archaist - An RPG with inspirations to classic games such as the 80's Ultima now on GOG

Another retro heads up for you all, as thanks to the developers letting us know through Twitter we have been told 6502Workshop has released the eagerly awaited Apple II game of ' Nox Archaist ' for both Windows and MacOS as a digital download through GOG. For those of you who love the 1980's classics, will be pleased to learn that this an evolution of the classic fantasy games like Ultima, Bards Tale, and Wizardry.

Nox Archaist - Multi-System RPG with inspirations to classic games such as the 80's Ultima

We've put aside the standard variation of retro games now, as thanks to Lawless Legends letting us know through Facebook, we have been told 6502Workshop has released the eagerly awaited game of ' Nox Archaist ' for the Apple II platform, playable on Apple II hardware, Windows, and MacOS via Digital Download or Collectors Box Set. For those of you who love the 1980's classics, will be pleased to learn that this an evolution of the classic fantasy games like Ultima, Bards Tale, and Wizardry.

Classic 1980's game Manic Miner by Matthew Smith arrives on the Apple II

In 1983 Matthew Smith and published by Bug-Byte released the well known classic of Manic Miner for the ZX Spectrum. Although it was later released again by Software Projects for the C64, it was the first game in the willy series and being voted number 25 in the Your Sinclair official top 100 Spectrum games of all time. So why are we mentioning this classic game yet again and not long after Manic Miner 64DX was released for the C64?

Pirates! - DarkwyndPT's BIGGEST retro gaming review yet!

Ahoy there mateys! Welcome back to Retro Freak Reviews. And before ye all send me down to Davy Jones’ locker for not posting a review during the entire summer, let me redeem my sinner soul by offering ye this fine review in this finest of International Talk Like a Pirate Day. I’m talking about Pirates! (the game, not in general…)

King's Quest - The first graphic adventure ever made for the IBM PC and Sierra’s first big hit reviewed!

We can’t make a Sierra games retrospective without beginning with the first graphic adventure ever made for the IBM PC and Sierra’s first big hit: King’s Quest: Quest for the Crown.

As I mentioned in my Sierra historical retrospective, IBM needed a game to promote their new computer, the PCjr, and approached Sierra to finance it. Sierra took full advantage of the proposal to develop a game engine called Adventure Game Interpreter (AGI) and with it, Roberta Williams developed a game based on an On-line Systems (Sierra’s former name) title: Wizard and the Princess (AKA Adventure in Serenia). Like that one, she wanted to make a game based on fairy tales and fantasy: of a gallant knight in a quest to save a kingdom.

Space Quest II review - A classic Sci-fi adventure reviewed by DarkwyndPT

So, the new MCU movie, Captain Marvel, is on cinemas right now and as far as I remember, Carol Danvers isn’t in any video game whatsoever, so I decided to just review a classic sci-fi game set in space. And why not Space Quest II? Space Quest II: Chapter II – Vohaul’s Revenge is a graphic adventure made by Sierra and originally released in 1987 for the Apple II, Atari ST and DOS. It was re-released the following year for Amiga, Apple IIgs and Macintosh.

Alternate Reality Intro Music Recreation Last Half - A euphoric melody remake of a 1980's RPG

Through all the years of playing games, what stands out the most isn't always the gameplay, but that soundtrack that plays in the background to set the tone of the game being played. The creepyness of Silent Hill, the upbeat tempo of Arkanoid on the C64, or even the melody of Zelda still playing in our minds to this day. So why am I mentioning this now? Well Jace Hall has found his musical love, as he has done a recreation of the melody of Alternate Reality - The City, an RPG type game released by the American company Datasoft in 1985-88 for a multitude of computers.

Prince of Persia is being ported from the Apple 2 to BBC Master!

Owners and original players of the 1986 BBC Master will be pleased with this news to start the week, as we've been told by Andy that the hit classic Prince of Persia is being ported over to the BBC Master from the Apple II by Kieranhj. This game was first released by Brøderbund in the late 80's and appeared on a multitude of systems such as the Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, MS-DOS, Master System, Mega Drive and yes even the Apple II.

Cross Chase - Cross platform 8 bit chase-em-up gets a Beta release

Cross Chase (aka Ascii Chase) is the personal project of Fabrizio Caruso. His goal was to create a simple yet playable game that would run on a multitude of 8 bit computers (any which run 6502 and Z80 cpus). It's achieved by writing compatible cpu instructions in Ansii C, and cross-compiling using CC65 and Z88DK.  I've tried the C64 Beta version which he released on CSDB as Cross Chase
(Beta Version 2017) and it's incredibly fun!

GENIUS +7D Into the Toy Warehouses - Apple II game comes over to the C64

Not long ago Daniele Liverani released the beta version of a new game called ' GENIUS - Into the Toy Warehouses ' for the Apple II. Apparently this first part in the trilogy was inspired by the Genius Rock Opera, which he created way back in the early 2000's. Yet fast forward to the end of 2016 and Hokuto Force has released the trainered C64 version, which not only makes it much easier to play but there's over 80 levels of enjoyment to last you through into 2017.

Akalabeth World of Doom - Lord British gives this C64 RPG port his blessing!

Before I begin i'd just like to say, that sometimes if it wasn't for our members, we'd miss out on some rather interesting game releases, and so, thanks to Marco, he's just given us the heads up for ' Akalabeth World of Doom ', which has been ported over to the C64 by Andrea Schincaglia and team. Now to raise your eyebrows even more so this isn't just any game, but according to a number of sources, Akalabeth: World of Doom was originally a game for the Apple II released in 1980, and designed by none other than Richard Garriott aka Lord British. Furthermore not only has he given this port his blessing, but the game was the predecessor to the Ultima series of games that started Garriott's career!

Raid Over Moscow - 8-bit system classic ported to the Amiga!

In 1985-1986, Access Software and published by US GOLD released the rather difficult but enjoyable action game 'Raid Over Moscow' for the Atari 8-bit, Amstrad CPC, BBC Micro, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum and Apple II during the real life cold war era of the 1980's. But now, thanks to Erik Hogan (AKA Earok from the English Amiga Board) he has set about porting this very popular Commodore 64 title over to the Amiga! What's amazing is that he's managed to put all this together for a game development weekend, yes ONE WEEKEND ladies & gentlemen! I don't know about you but I can't finish anything in one weekend.

Lawless Legends - HOT NEWS, Apple II RPG crawler finally gets a release

What a way to finish off the day as we've just been pinged through Facebook, of the release of ' Lawless Legends ' for the Apple II. This is a game that has been in development for sometime and takes the medieval dungeon crawler and mashes it up with the wild wild west! Traverse the map above and look for new locations, walk through places in a first person viewpoint just like the games of old, visit bars and get drunk with the locals, battle menacing beasts across a hot desert and involve yourself in a fantastic story in Lawless Legends!

Lawless Legends - Retro styled RPG crawler gets new footage!

What do you get if you add in a touch of the original classic Ultima, a slice of the old Might and Magic, and add in a gun slinging blend of the Wild West? Most likely ' Lawless Legends ', which is a fantasy role playing game set in the wild west for the Apple II, C64, & other modern platforms!  The game has been in development for some time now but already the gameplay, the detail and everything else about the game, certainly does give us an early indication of a worthy retro inspired title that may come out in 2016. To coincide with this news, the developers have for the last couple of months released more media through their website and Facebook.