This week's retro news, hand curated down to the stories worth your time
In this issueAmigaMiSTerAtari STC64Mega DriveAtari 7800Atari 8-bitApple IIAtari LynxBBC Micro
Biggest story of the week
This week's big one
Is retro gaming being overrun with AI?
AI-powered decomps, recomps and ports of classic games such as Zelda and Halo have split the retro gaming community.
read Reddit RetroThis debate is not going away any time soon. My position was published already on RGC.
New games
New games for old machines
Gamma Force for the Atari 7800
Work-in-progress shooter by Jason Rowe (Astro Guy) with a Vulcan weapon and a shield that charges up by absorbing pink bullets, while blue bullets pass through and must be dodged.
1:06:22 ZeroPage Homebrew
Hungry Hungry Centipede for the Atari Lynx and 7800
A free Snake-style game from Kotecho Games with a centipede theme, ice cream and fruit to eat, hearts for bonus points and timed bonus levels. It runs on the Lynx and the 7800 and can also be played in a web browser.
0:01 ArcadeUSA
Wavy Navy for the Vectrex
A Vectrex homebrew loosely based on the Atari 8-bit and C64 game Wavy Navy, with options for mines, skimmers and lives or energy modes, power-ups, whales to net and Galaga-style challenge stages.
0:12 ArcadeUSA
Unlock with PatreonRebuilt
Old machines get a new life
Asylum (prototype) core for MiSTer
Asylum, a game that never released originally, is now available for free on Patreon as a MiSTer core.
read Reddit Retro 24:08 also: Pixel Cherry Ninja 18:43 also: Pixel Cherry Ninja
PlayStation core working on the Analogue Pocket
A working PlayStation core now runs on the Analogue Pocket, though not through the conventional route.
read Retro Dodo 24:13 also: Pixel Cherry Ninja 24:43 also: Pixel Cherry Ninja
BBC Micro core for MiSTer refreshed
The BBC Micro core is rebuilt from the main BBC core with code from Sharpie7 and Hoglet67, adding framework timing fixes, tape and UEF support, 1770 DFS disc formatting and disc activity LED options.
22:15 Pixel Cherry NinjaLost and found
Unearthed treasures and new homes for old games
Sabre Wulf – Ultimate Play the Game classic gets a C64 remaster
A remaster of the Ultimate Play the Game classic Sabre Wulf for the Commodore 64.
read Indie Retro News 19:37 also: Pixel Cherry Ninja
Wizball: Enhanced Edition out now for ZX Spectrum
The Enhanced Edition of Ocean's 1987 ZX Spectrum classic Wizball, with improved visuals, gameplay and music, is out now.
read Time Extension read also: Reddit Retro
Splatterhouse for Amiga
Splatterhouse, the gory slasher, arrives on the Amiga.
read Indie Retro News read also: Reddit Retro 27:48 also: The Laird's Lair
Panzer Dragoon Saga recompiled for PC
Miyaxdev, developer of the Sega Saturn emulator Yaba Sanshiro, has released AZEL -PANZER DRAGOON RPG- Recompiled for PC, which runs the game in HD and widescreen, removes the slowdown, eliminates 'wobbly polygons' and adds shaders.
read Time Extension 0:01 also: Video Game Esoterica
Alien 3 CD32 Edition for the Amiga
Alien 3 CD32 Edition is an Amiga CD32 version of Alien 3 from Gravedigger.
read Indie Retro News read also: Reddit Retro
Alien Syndrome port for Mega Drive
An unauthorised, still work-in-progress Mega Drive port of the Sega System 16 arcade game.
18:21 Pixel Cherry Ninja 34:00 also: The Laird's Lair
Circus Charlie and Solomon's Key for the Atari 8-bit
Circus Charlie is being ported to the Atari 8-bit (not yet complete) and Solomon's Key, Tecmo's puzzle platformer, has arrived on the machine it missed out on.
21:34 The Laird's Lair
Desert Strike for the Atari STE
A port of Desert Strike for the Atari STE by a sizeable team. It needs STE hardware and the host says it is not far off the Amiga version, which makes it the first Desert Strike for the ST line.
9:02 The Laird's Lair
Alone in the Dark for the Amiga
The Mac version of Alone in the Dark, also a 68000 machine, is being ported to the Amiga.
27:25 The Laird's Lair
Contra Horizon: the Famicom Contra on Mega Drive
The 1988 Famicom Contra ported to the Mega Drive / Genesis with less flicker, and NTSC 60 Hz and PAL versions.
8:17 Pixel Cherry Ninja 30:57 also: The Laird's Lair
Double Dragon Zeebo port for Mega Drive
The Zeebo version of Double Dragon, a Brazil-only console, has been ported to the Mega Drive with all the moves.
13:57 Pixel Cherry Ninja 32:25 also: The Laird's Lair
Phoenix final version for the Atari 7800
Sean Callahan's final release of his Phoenix port, with a scrolling background, fast bullets and a shield.
39:19 ZeroPage Homebrew
Blast Corps N64 gets a '100% gen-AI free' recomp for PC, macOS and Linux
Rare's demolition action game Blast Corps gets a static recompilation for Windows, macOS and Linux, adding widescreen, high framerates and mod support.
read Time Extension
Cabal for Neo Geo CD
Cabal, the 1988 arcade shooter, is on itch.io for Neo Geo CD
11:00 Pixel Cherry NinjaNew hardware
Boards, carts and kit you can build or buy
MiSTer Laggy, a lag tester for MiSTer
MiSTer Laggy is a cheap photodiode for any MiSTer FPGA kit with a SNAC/UserIO port, used with the matching core that Update_all puts under Utility.
read RetroRGB 12:22 also: RetroRGB
Morph 4K – v4 Firmware Beta
PixelFX have released a beta of their upcoming v4 firmware for the Morph 4K, with many additions and changes. To try it, connect the Morph 4K to WiFi, go to System\Firmware\Update Channel and set the channel to "preview".
read RetroRGB 11:47 also: Pixel Cherry Ninja
New sound expansion cartridge for the MSX
A new sound expansion cartridge for the MSX computer line.
read Hackaday retrocomputing
Super Station Pocket FPGA Game Boy handheld teased
Taki Udon has released a teaser for the Super Station Pocket, a new FPGA-powered handheld in the works at RetroRemake, said to run up to PS1 and N64 games.
read Time Extension read also: Retro Dodo
The A1200 could be followed by more Amiga
The A1200 follows the A500 Mini, an Amiga-based micro-console from UK specialist Retro Games Ltd, but the company hints that the Amiga products might not end there …
read Time Extension read also: Reddit RetroTools
Things that help you make things
Emulate the 486 in Your Browser
A browser-based emulator for an Intel 80486DX2-66 PC. [Jan] has gone so far as to throw in the motherboard and ISA/VLB adapter card emulation necessary to make this a real and functioning computer that runs inside a browser tab. Written in JavaScript, it will happily run SeaBIOS, VGA BIOS, FreeDOS 1.3, and classic games like Wolfenstein 3D, Duke Nukem, and DOOM. There’s even a control panel where you can configure the PC.
read Hackaday retrocomputing
Open SWOS: open-source C port of Sensible World of Soccer
An open-source C port of the Amiga game for Windows, macOS, Linux, Amiga and the web, with online multiplayer, at openswos.net.
10:55 Pixel Cherry Ninja
Excerpt from Pi Guide: Emulate Apple II on Raspberry Pi
This portion of the Raspberry Pi Guide to Retro Gaming helps you recreate the classic 8-bit Apple II on a Raspberry Pi.
read Raspberry PiChums of the Channel
Send some love to nice people
Camera and VGA cards for 90s Windows CE handhelds
Rich finally gets a PC card digital camera running on a MIPS Sharp handheld after two troublesome eBay buys, then tries HP's VGA card, which turns out to mirror the whole Windows CE desktop to a monitor, handy for capturing screens.
0:00 Rich's Random Retro Reviews
BackBit Chip Tester Pro V2 unboxed and put to work
BackBit Chip Tester Pro V2, a USB-powered tester with microSD firmware updates and menus for 74-series, Atari, Intel and 6502-family chips.
0:00 More Fun Retro 2
Cover Disk Face Off: best of the rest, October
GouldFish goes back through the 1991 to 1993 cover disks he missed first time round: Zero, One for 16-bits, Amiga Format, Amiga Power, Amiga Mania and Amiga Action, starting with Magic Pockets on the Zero disk.
0:00 GouldFish On Games
Why does a 23-year-old fix 40-year-old computers?
Sayaka's Digital Attic, a 23-year-old who repairs 40-year-old computers.
read youtube.com read via Reddit Retro
Firefleet (1983) for Atari 8-bit
ThisIsPete plays English Software's 1983 vertical shooter Firefleet by Manuel Caballero, compared by period reviewers to Caverns of Mars. It is notoriously hard, with a precise-flying wall-hugging route, a checkpoint partway down and a demo mode that previews deeper zones.
0:02 ThisIsPete
Qing Liu FC 2 review: Famicom clone with a sprite limit switch
Review of the second Famicom/NES clone from the Qing Liu maker, with a dip switch that raises the sprite limit to 15 per scanline and cuts flicker. A couple of games may not like it, and it only takes 60-pin cartridges.
10:03 Adrian's Digital Basement