Mega R-Type DEMO - R-Type for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis with an updated demo!

In 1987 Irem produced one of the greatest shoot em ups of our time, a shoot em up that even today is regarded as one of the best. That shoot em up was none other than R-Type. A game which featured many waves of enemies, a beam weapon, power ups, great level detail (that almost feels alive), big menacing bosses and a fantastic soundtrack that you will listen to again and again. So why is this awesome game getting another mention? Well we've just found out that the in development Sega Mega Drive/Genesis of 'Mega R-Type,' has got a BIG demo update with a new stage and more!

Mega R-Type DEMO - R-Type for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis? HELL YEH!

In 1987 Irem produced one of the greatest shoot em ups of our time, a shoot em up that even today is regarded as one of the best. That shoot em up was none other than R-Type! It featured many waves of enemies some of them extremely deadly, a beam weapon, power ups, great level detail (that almost feels alive), big menacing bosses and a fantastic soundtrack that you will listen to again and again. As such I myself have spent many hours playing this game, more so on the Amiga than the Amstrad. But never would I believe, that this year, thanks to a heads up by a good friend of ours, that R-Type would appear on the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis... Well here we are!

R-Type 128k - It's now time for the Enterprise to have this incredible Shoot em up port conversion!

You may remember our big article on the Amstrad remake of 'R-Type 128k' which came with high praise and regarded as one of the most downloaded Amstrad homebrew's ever. But there's another remake that is set to take the Enterprise scene by storm and it's 'R-Type 128k', which has since been released by Easter Egg and converted by Geco @ 2019. This conversion of an already ported game, is an incredible overhaul of a classic as it sports much higher detail, smoother frame rates, and top quality sound.

The Last Strike - An Atari Jaguar shoot em up homebrew is coming soon!

Not to be left out but the Atari Jaguar is also getting a new homebrew soon, as we've learnt that Reboot with the help of AtariAge is bringing a new shoot em up called ' The Last Strike ' to the Atari Jaguar as a commercial game that will be available on the AtariAge store. For those of you who like a bit of R-Type but mixed with a touch of Defender, should really check out the latest trailer which is available to watch below.

Super Hydorah - Locomalito's EPIC Shoot em up needs your Steam Greenlight votes

Possibly the last Steam Greenlight news update for today and one I think all of you might be interested in, is Locomalito's (Abylight Studios) epic looking Shoot em up ' Super Hydorah ' is now aiming for a Steam Greenlight success. From the same creator behind Maldita Castilla, Hydorah, l'Abbaye des Morts and the NES inspired platformer ' The Curse of Issyos ' comes a retro inspired game with all the features and in your face wave blasting action, that any R-Type or Gradius gamer will want to experience.

Galactic Wars - Frenetic, pretty SHMUP on the Pico-8

We love the Pico-8 here at IRN. For a virtual platform with such limited capabilities, the community is producing some outstanding games and demos, even ones made in a month... Today we have Galactic Wars, an entry in the 2017 1GAM (One Game A month)  for January - With its title screen we see a blatant homage to Galaga before we even start. Self proclaimed as inspired by classics like Gradius, Galaga or R-Type, It's humble origin doesn't mean it's short on class.

Factor 5 The Complete Amiga Works - Unofficial Amiga CD32 release from Amiga Jay features Turrican!

A bit of a late one for Indie Retro News but it just had to be spread far and wide, as Amiga Jay has released the 'Factor 5 The Complete Amiga Works - an unofficial Amiga CD32 release'. This could well be the highlight of Amiga Jay's compilation packs, as it features many of Factor 5's incredible games that most of us still play and talk about to this day. Games such as R-Type, Turrican, Turrican II and Turrican 3. But other games are also included like B.C Kid, Denaris, Katakis and Tony & Friends in Kellogg's Land. That's 8 incredible games you'll be playing again and again on your Amiga CD32!

It's Friday and it's retro gaming remix time!

Good morning you awesome people, have I got a musical retro gaming treat for you! As I was fixing my computer yesterday with a rather poor excuse for a pad by my side, I decided to go through some of the coolest gaming remixes available on Youtube and pick a number of them to be posted up on Indie Retro News. Many of these tracks will sound fantastic on not just an expensive hi-fi system but can be blasted to your hearts content via an mp3 player in the car. So get ready gamers the music is about to start!

The Internet Archive adds over 10,365 Amiga titles to its ever growing list!

Way back in 2014 we mentioned some of the best websites to play classic retro systems online. Systems such as the CPC, NES, MSX and loads more were completely playable directly through your browser. One such site called "The Archive" had a massive game list from the 1970's through to the 1990's, all emulated in JSMAME containing hundreds of games ranging through many different genres and styles. Well they've just added another system to the library as they've now added 10,365 Amiga titles, all runnable in some form in your browser! Do note however because of copyright issues? Only 1,351 games are actually available and some are just demos!

Links : 1) Source 2) Game Source 3) Public Domain Games

UPDATE : 

After a beta-testing period, the emulated Amiga programs at the Archive have been taken down for further development. 

XYDONIA - High quality shoot 'em up is a Kickstarter success

Glorious news today for the developers Breaking Bytes as not only is their fantastic looking retro inspired shoot em up ' XYDONIA ' a Steam Greenlight success, but they've also reached their Kickstarter goal of €20,000 with 5 days still to go. This is one game I'm very excited to get my hands on, as it gives us a taste of the blasting days of the 80's and 90's such as R-Type, Gradius or Project-X but adding in the developers own ideas to make this something rather special.

R-Type on the NES... Sort of!

Irem's classic space shooter R-Type made it to many systems in the day, over 10 home systems saw a release but one missed out on the joys of blasting the Bydo. The NES never got an official port, so in 1994 a bootleg sprang out of the Chinese brand MagicSeries.Corp with Magic Dragon. Essentially an R-Type clone for the console that saved video gaming. Maybe they shouldn't have bothered...

Game Master : R-TYPE - The hit retro shoot em up as an anime, damn is it good!

In 1987 Irem produced one of the greatest shoot em ups of our time, a shoot em up that even today is regarded as one of the best. That shoot em up was none other than R-Type! It featured many waves of enemies some of them extremely deadly, a beam weapon, power ups, great level detail (that almost feels alive), big menacing bosses and a fantastic soundtrack that you will listen to again and again. As such I myself have spent many hours playing this game, more so on the Amiga than the Amstrad. But never would I believe, that this year, thanks to a heads up by Retrotaku, and a production by Otaking77077 (Paul Johnson), there is a short but incredible anime version, which you can watch today!

WinAPE 2.0 Beta 2 - Amstrad emulator for windows gets an update

Just recently after a long four year break, Richard Wilson released the Amstrad CPC emulator of ' WinAPE 2.0 Beta 1 ' for Windows based systems. Although you can also use the excellent 'JavaCPC' with a lovely OS frontend, you can also try this straight up launcher with no fancy backdrops emulator which has had a recent big fix update ' WinAPE 2.0 Beta 2 '. As a test of the emulator I'd highly recommend playing the R-Type 128K Remake, which is a fantastic overhaul of the rather poor Amstrad CPC original.

Z-Exemplar - Retro inspired ZX Spectrum R-Type demo update!

Throughout this year we've been featuring Suminell Studios upcoming ZX Spectrum style Shoot em up of ' Z-Exemplar ', which as of yet hasn't gained enough support for a Steam Greenlight success.  In development for Android, iOS, PC and Mac, it has the look of an R-Type, Gradius and Nemesis clone while combining bright, clashing 8-bit pixel ZX Spectrum detail but with frantic action and a classic loading squealer! To further push for a success, the developers have now released an updated Pre-Alpha Demo of which you can download below the trailer.

Z-Exemplar - Retro inspired ZX Spectrum R-Type aims for Steam Greenlight success

During the early part of this year we gave you the heads up over an awesome looking ZX Spectrum style shoot 'em up called 'Z-Exemplar' which is being developed by Suminell Studios for Android and iOS. Well that same title that has the look of an R-Type, Gradius and Nemesis clone has now appeared on Steam Greenlight and the developer hopes for a big thumbs up for a PC and MAC release.

Chris Huelsbeck - The Piano Collection now available for free on Spotify

After two successful Kickstarter campaigns ' Turrican Soundtrack Anthology ' and ' Chris Huelsbeck - The Piano Collection ', the legendary Amiga/C64 Maestro Chris Huelsbeck has now released his amazing Piano Collection for free on Spotify. A musical experience like never before while closely retaining the melody of his greatest game music has been performed by Patrick Nevian, pianist and long-time fan of Chris's gaming work.  From R-Type and Apidya Credits, to The Great Giana Sisters and Turrican 3 this is an album you'll be listening to again and again.

Link : 1) Spotify  2) Lossless Flac HQ + PDF

XYDONIA - High quality shoot 'em up gets an alpha demo!

Move over R-Type, step aside Project-X, as a new shoot 'em up is pushing it's way into the action blasting genre at full force! It's 'XYDONIA' developed by Breaking Bytes; a game inspired by the horizontal scrolling Japanese arcade classics of the 90's, with lots of different enemies, moving backgrounds, powerful weaponry and a cool soundtrack all contained within a game of great retro styled pixels.

R-Type Deluxe blasting its way towards the Atari STe

You may remember our big article on the Amstrad remake of 'R-Type 128k' which came with high praise and regarded as one of the most downloaded Amstrad homebrew's ever. But there's another remake that is set to take the Atari ST scene by storm and it's 'R-Type Deluxe', which is coming to the Atari STe at some point this year developed by Stephen Jones. For those of you who don't know of R-Type, it is one of the most incredible shoot em ups of our time, originally produced by Irem in 1987 that has been ported to a multitude of systems as you defend humanity against a mysterious alien life form known as the Bydo.

Z-Exemplar - Retro inspired ZX Spectrum R-Type blasts it's way towards Android and iOS

Do we have a treat for you today, as Suminell Studios has announced the development of a ZX Spectrum styled shoot em up in a similar style to R-Type, Gradius and Nemesis for both Android and iOS based devices! Hopefully available at some point this year, 'Z-Exemplar' as the developer calls it, will take the greatness of our shoot em up past with bright, bold 8-bit pixels and blast it's way through an epic mission to conquer a galaxy of almost 1000 planets!

Stormfinch - ZX Spectrum shoot em up with a fantastic full release!

It's Monday and you know what that means, more awesome games for the week ahead. So to begin with we have an update to Stonechat Productions shoot em up 'Stormfinch' of which we mentioned a while ago to the ZX gaming community. Developed using the 'Nirvana Engine', Stormfinch has now been pushed out of an early build into a full release and boy is it good!