A Scorpion Behind the Rock – Then and Now
A simple phrase from a decades-old Apple II game still shapes how I approach modern work. What started as a deadly surprise in The Wizard & the Princess became a lasting lesson: always look for hidden risks before moving forward.
Retro Review – Choplifter for the Sega Master System
Set the wayback machine to the early '80s. While we had recently gotten our first home computer, the Commodore VIC-20, my cousins had been enjoying the Apple II system that my uncle used for writing sermons and the like. One of the first home computer games that I...
SpaceWar! The First Computer Game – by Eugene Jarvis
My favorite old school game has got to be 1962’s Spacewar! Spacewar! may well be the first true video game ever made. Developed by Steve Russel and collaborators at MIT. This 2-player space combat video game was played on a circular monochrome vector graphics display...
Calebe Adventure – A new 2D platformer released for the MSX by Paulo Pereira Gonçalves & Calebe Rodrigues Gonçalves
Recovering the Past: "Caleb Adventure" Brings Retro Heroism to the MSX! Retro gaming fans have a new mission: infiltrate the castle of Baron Buuu-hahaha and reclaim a stolen legacy. In the newly released title Caleb Adventure, players step into the shoes of a hero on...
Year 1952 and 1958 – by Tristan Ibarra
The Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator (EDSAC) located at the University of Cambridge’s Mathematical Laboratory would be the first computer hardware to host a “game” developed by Alexander Shafto “Sandy” Douglas, a British Professor of Computer Science. The...
ISSUE 50 OUT NOW !!!
Some games change everything. Over the last several decades, video games have evolved rapidly, thanks to developers who kept finding new ways to surprise us with the tools they had. Their ideas gave us the franchises we still celebrate and the genre landmarks that...
Hyper Sentinel Fusion – Final Chance to Join the Kickstarter!
Hyper Sentinel Fusion Already Made Kickstarter - Goal Do you want to join in? https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/robhwson/hyper-sentinel-fusion-2?ref=8eqafc From the founders of Hewson (Uridium, Paradroid, Cybernoid, Tower Toppler) and 21st Century Entertainment...
The Best GBA Games Ever Made
The legacy of Nintendo's Game Boy is one that speaks for itself, fondly remembered by many gamers as the pinnacle of handheld gaming before the turn of the 2000s. However, in March of 2001, Nintendo upped the ante with a direct successor, the Game Boy Advance, and the...
Sweet Fightin’ +2 – Street Fighter 2 looks incredible on the ZX Spectrum!
We've featured Street Fighter many times now on IndieRetroNews, either as a 'What if' for the Commodore Amiga, or with the 2022 hit release called Street Fighter 2 Champion Edition for the Commodore 64. Well here's one that will blow your minds! As I've been told...
The Nintendo Famicom Controller
Before the NES (Nintendo Entertainment System) hit the states, Nintendo had a console in Japan that would start a revolution of gaming. It was called the Famicom, or the full name, Family Computer. In 1983, the console hit the homes of gamers in Japan and test the...
Retro Review: Fort Apocalypse for the C64
Early in my video gaming life, one of the first computer games I ever played was Dan Gorlin's classic Choplifter on my cousin's Apple II. The simple presentation, on that glowing monochrome green CRT, was instantly addictive. When we got our Commodore 64 some time...
The Secret of Monkey Island project for the Commodore 64 looks incredible!
I'm sure many of you especially Amiga owners, will remember the brilliant 1990 Adventure game ' The Secret of Monkey Island, by Lucasfilm Games. But did you know a developer by the name of Joachim Ljunggren in collaboration with Andreas Larsson is working on bringing...
Atari 2600 Encyclopedia: Do you know Basketball?
Release Date: 1978 Publisher: Atari Controller: Joystick Players: 1 - 2 Genre: Sports Alternate Title: N/A Model #: CX2624 Rarity: 2 Programmer: Alan Miller This one-on-one basketball duel is a flawed but entertaining take on the sport. This is about as rudimentary of...
We’ve Been Here Before (And I Didn’t Even Realize It)
This popped into my head literally like a lightbulb turning on. I just figured it out. I was sitting there using ChatGPT, working through something... typed a prompt, got a response, tweaked it, tried again, refined it, pushed it a little further... ...and it hit me....
Bill Laimbeer’s Combat Basketball
The 1980s were a Golden Age for cartoonish super villains. Consider the brutish evil of Dolph Lundgren as Ivan Drago in Rocky IV, the greed of Michael Douglas as Gordon Gekko in Wall Street. Yet both pale in comparison to Bill Laimbeer as portrayed by himself on the...
Neon Horizon – A new racer for the MSX2 as the 40th entry in the MSXDEV25 competition
In a record-breaking year for the retro community, developers Norakomi and Wolf have entered a fantastic looking game in the MSX dev competition. Titled as 'Neon Horizon'. This high-octane 3D scrolling racer has just been registered as the landmark 40th entry in the...
Video Game Trading Card Spotlight – Ryan Hart
Our next Trading Card Spotlight features Ryan Hart, who is displayed on card number 214, from the Superstars of 2012. Ryan is from London and has been playing games since he was 10 years. His genre of choice is fighting games. He succeeded tremendously in series...
Video Game Trading Card Spotlight – Walter Day
Our next Trading Card Spotlight features Walter Day who is displayed on card number 95, from the Superstars of 2011 Collection. Walter is also featured on cards 108, 523, 539, 591, 775, 1000, 1021, 1859, 2133, 2149, 2261, 2292, 2321, 2390 and 2462 (And many...
Vlak (Train) – Another conversion makes an appearance and again it’s for the Atari ST!
Babaliba wasn't the only classic game to be converted over to the Atari ST, as I've recently been told that the 1993 DOS game called Train, which is also very similar to another classic game called SNAKE. Has been converted over to the Atari ST by Slovak programmer...
LAST CHANCE: Pre-Order The Steven Universe Season 1 Score!
DON'T MISS OUT: Steven Universe: Season 1 (Score from the Original Soundtrack) 4x10” Vinyl Set! PRE-ORDERS CLOSE MONDAY, MARCH 16TH! We at iam8bit, along with Warner Bros. and WaterTower Music, are proud to present Steven Universe: Season 1 (Score from the Original...
Q*Bert – An Arcade classic is coming to the Amstrad CPC Plus, with a beta now available!
In 1982 Gottlieb released a very famous game that had an orange character with a long snout as a nose, it just had to be the isometric arcade game with puzzle elements of ' Q*Bert '. It was so popular in fact it appeared on many systems such as the Atari 2600 and the...
Only $15 to go on this $20,000 Kickstarter for a book!
We at Old School Gamer have worked with this publisher/author on several of his books and enjoy reading them each time they come out. Check out more information on it at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/microzeit/redo-from-start-volume-ii REDO FROM START – Volume...
Captain Cloudberry Amiga Edition – A MegaStyle C64 production arrives on the Commodore Amiga
Way back in 2020 MegaStyle released the Commodore 64 game called 'Captain Cloudberry'. A game whereby you play as Captain Cloudberry, on mission to destroy radioactive weather balloons that have given an evil witch complete control of the atmosphere, keeping the...
Super Mario: The All Star Video Game Changer HAPPY MAR10 DAY!
Forty years ago, Super Mario jumped out of his debut role-he was the nameless carpenter "Jumpman" in the classic game Donkey Kong-and into a realm of his own with the 1985 release of Super Mario Bros. Video games have never been the same. In this spectacular new...
Video Game of the Day – Mario Tennis (GBC)
Video Game of the Day is a daily show available on Amazon Alexa devices and here on this website. Each day, we briefly discuss the history of a single game, randomly chosen. If you would like to listen on your daily flash briefing, you can enable Video Game of the Day...
10 Pac-Man Clones for the C64 for Pac-Man’s 45th
In the world of video game clones, most people will point to Doom as the most cloned game of all time. But, likely that title is held, or at least challenged, by the one and only yellow dot gobbler, Pac-Man. The first time I played Pac-Man outside the arcade was on a...
Five PlayStation 2 Games More People Need to Love
Think you’ve played everything on the PlayStation 2? Check out this fun list of games that you need to love! Blood Omen 2: While a far cry from the original and extremely linear, it’s a great game to play over a long weekend. Getting more of Kain is a fun experience,...
Fat Tarzan – This upcoming platformer for the C64 looks fantastic!
It's time for another Commodore 64 special, as looking through our Commodore 64/128 Facebook group earlier today we've come across an upcoming game by Rebel Bytes in partnership with Digital Monastery called 'Fat Tarzan'. A game that looks to feature great graphics,...
Video Game Trading Card Spotlight – Roger Sharpe
Our next Trading Card Spotlight features Roger Sharpe, who is displayed on card number 204, from the Superstars of 2012 Collection. Roger is also featured on trading cards 841 and 1709. Roger’s impact on the pinball industry dates all the way back to the 1970’s...
CRKD Announces PS3 Compatible Gibson Les Paul Guitar Controllers
The gaming hardware company CRKD announced earlier today the upcoming release of two new Gibson Les Paul Guitar Controllers. The Ebony Encore and Alpine White variants join the Cherry Sunburst and Blueberry Burst pro editions which were released last year. CRKD...
What Happened on the Ill-Fated Voyage of the Obra Dinn?
This Saturday, March 7, 2026, from 11am - 5pm, Gamespace is pleased to present Return of the Obra Dinn (2018) by renowned game designer Lucas Pope as part of the multi-site exhibition titled The Plot Thickens: Storytelling in Gaming. In this striking monochrome...
THE A1200 – FULL-SIZE. FULL KEYBOARD. FULL NOSTALGIA and a GREAT PRICE!
With the resurgence of retro gaming hardware enabling us to play old classics on big TV's with lots of built in games such as the NES Mini, SNES Mini, Playstation 1 Classic, NEO GEO Mini,PC Engine Mini and the C64 Mini/Maxi you'd be forgiven in thinking there wasn't...
Video Game Trading Card Spotlight – Wes Copeland
Our next Trading Card Spotlight features Wes Copeland, who is displayed on card number 769, from the Superstars of 2014. Wes is also features on card numbers 1838 and 2245. Wes is the current world record holder, on what some people call the holy grail of arcade...
Rise of Babylon – A city management game for the C64 by WindigoProductions
From the creator of awesome Commodore 64 games such Battle for Cronos, Deathflood Dungeon of Doom, devolution, and the tribe, comes a new C64 game that blends a bit of micromanagement and city-building, called 'Rise of Babylon' by WindigoProductions. A game in which...
Bringing Neo Geo to the PC Engine with the Arcade Card
If you were around for the 16-bit console wars, you probably remember the unspoken rule: Neo Geo fighting games were not supposed to be portable to “normal” home hardware without compromises. The Neo Geo MVS/AES was basically the arcade in a box, and it wore that...
A review of The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask from Boss Fight Books
One of the most popular books of the Boss Fight series, The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask is finally back in print. It's easy enough to see why. Despite its odd place in the canon, with the game being a rushed project designed to make use of the Zelda assets...
Five Great Villains in Retro Gaming History
What makes a villain so great? Is it their demeanor? Their strength? Their disregard for the world? Or is it something else entirely? In no particular order, Old School Gamer Senior Writer Patrick Hickey Jr. breaks down five amazing villains that all possess something...
Five Retro Games Your Kids Need to Play
I was having a conversation a few days ago with a fan that loves my work in Five Nights at Freddy’s- kid is 18. We started talking games and I find out he’s never played Castlevania or Streets of Rage. I was shocked. So- this piece, which I know is written in a far...
Ten Hockey Games That Influenced the Genre Forever
The NHL Series from EA is the only hockey game on current consoles, but once upon a time, there were a ton of options for gamers. Old School Gamer’s Patrick Hickey Jr. breaks down 10 hockey games that influenced the future or made a statement. NHL All-Star Hockey:...
30 Years of Pokémon
On February 27, 1996, two games for the Nintendo Game Boy were released in Japan: Pocket Monsters Red and Pocket Monsters Green. Now, 30 years later, Pocket Monsters/Pokemon has become a sprawling, global phenomenon, with countless multimedia adaptations, toy lines,...