The Smurfs – Dreams review by Todd Friedman

by Todd Friedman | Feb 12, 2025 | 1980s, 1990s, 2020s, Console/Handheld, Reviews

The Smurfs: Dreams is a charming and light-hearted platformer that offers a fun experience for both fans of the Smurfs and newcomers. Although the reviewer wasn’t familiar with Smurf media beforehand, the game’s premise was easy to follow, relying on classic...

Computer Quarterback: The Best Football Simulator

by Old School Gamer | Feb 9, 2025 | 1980s, Atari, Gaming, Indie Built-Retro Inspired

As a football fan, you may fantasize about being able to play the game as skilled as your favorite player of all time. It is, however, nearly impossible to achieve unless you have a certain level of athleticism. A simulator game may answer if you want to do something...

Neon Inferno By Zenovia Interactive

by Old School Gamer | Feb 7, 2025 | 1980s, 1990s, 2020s, Atari, Early IBM DOS, Indie Built-Retro Inspired, Press Release, Stern

Contra meets Wild Guns in Neon Inferno, a pixel-perfect cyberpunk shooter turning up the heat on all platforms later this year. Philadelphia, PA – Feb. 07, 2025 – Grab your blasters and your favorite knives as Retroware and Zenovia Interactive join forces to publish...

The VGHF Library opens in early access

by Old School Gamer | Jan 30, 2025 | 1980s, 1990s, 2020s, Atari, Early IBM DOS, Press Release, Stern

For eight years, we’ve been building a world-class collection of game history materials. Now we’re turning that into a research tool that anyone can use to study video game history. The Video Game History Foundation Library is the long-term home to our...

Grinding: Mindless Filler, or A Different Kind of Fun?

by William Schwartz | Jan 27, 2025 | 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, Console/Handheld, Early IBM DOS, Gaming, Indie Built-Retro Inspired

  With the appearance of the role-playing game on video consoles, a genre less about actual role-playing and more about navigating enemy dungeons via numbers rather than reflexes, we also saw the appearance of grinding. How grinding works is simple enough. If...

Intellivision Thunder Castle | Swords & Sorcery in an Ever-Changing Maze!

by GenX Grownup | Jan 25, 2025 | 1970s, 1980s, Atari, Early IBM DOS, GenX Grownup, Heritage Auctions, Indie Built-Retro Inspired, Stern

Thunder Castle is a 1986 maze video game for the Intellivision. The player controls a knight navigating three mazes, defeating enemies to progress. To defeat the enemies, the knight must interact with objects throughout the maze before interacting with them. The game...