Author: Danny Neleman

After the release of Street Racer Collection, QUByte Interactive turns its attention to another niche license in collaboration with Piko Interactive: Soccer Kid. Many Amiga players from the nineties may have a soft spot for this platformer that dared to do something different. Even then, seeing Soccer Kid receive the compilation treatment feels like an extremely deep cut in video game history. A European platformer with personality Soccer Kid certainly earned its place in the European platforming canon. It embraces many of the genre’s trademarks: fast-paced action, huge amounts of collectibles and more than a few leaps of faith. Developer…

Fans of classic shoot-’em-ups can mark August 25, 2026 on their calendars. Publisher ININ Games has announced that Apidya’ Special will launch on PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox and Nintendo Switch, with pre-orders now available across all platforms. Alongside the announcement, ININ Games released a new trailer offering a closer look at the game in action and revealing the physical editions that will accompany the digital release. Amiga cult classic Originally released on the Amiga in 1992, Apidya built a dedicated following thanks to its unusual insect-themed setting, challenging gameplay and soundtrack by Chris Hülsbeck. While most shoot-’em-ups of the era…

While Sega seems busier than ever, with major releases and projects such as Yakuza, Persona, Stranger than Heaven and the recently announced Alien: Isolation 2, the company has finally started to show tangible results from its Legacy Revival initiative. During The Game Awards 2023, Sega revealed that new entries in Shinobi, Golden Axe, Jet Set Radio, Streets of Rage and Crazy Taxi were all in development. At the time, the reveal trailer gave the impression that at least some of these projects might arrive as early as 2024. In reality, development appears to have taken longer than many expected. The…

Many times I postponed creating this review, to the point that it is now way overdue. Mainly because it never really managed to pull me in, while Haunted Lands, developed by Alevgor, appeals to me as a concept in more ways than one. I keep coming back to it because I always feel the tipping point, the moment where it finally clicks, is just within reach. Dangerous Dave homage First of all, Haunted Lands is a straight up homage to Carmack and Romero’s Dangerous Dave in the Haunted Mansion. There are the EGA-style graphics, which fondly take me back to…

Amidst series like Ghouls ‘n Ghosts, Gradius or Truxton, R-Type surely held its own during the fourth generation of console gaming as a pure-bred arcade experience that didn’t back off for sake of the more casual home audience. Both Super R-Type and R-Type III: The Third Lightning were hard, relentless even, with limited continues to spend. Like Capcom, Irem never compromised on the coin-guzzling tactics of the arcade games these titles were derived from, even though the subject of todays review, R-Type III, was never released in arcades, it still carries the arcade pedigree fully. I really loved the highly…

Where many retro game enthusiasts hailed the newly announced Neo Geo AES+ as a liberation of the platform, some collectors deeply invested in the original AES ecosystem seem genuinely threatened by the idea of PLAION relaunching the platform as if it were a current-generation product. With only a handful of exceptions, original AES games circulate within the collector market for prices ranging from roughly €400 to well over €12,000. As a result, the niche has effectively become accessible only to a small group of collectors willing to make substantial investments and, in some cases, rely on the long-term value of…

As a 1989 PC Engine original based on the popular manga and anime series, City Hunter feels like one of the earliest console action-platformers to seriously experiment with narrative progression as part of the gameplay itself. At the time, storytelling mechanics of this kind were still mostly reserved for RPGs and adventure games. Games like Ninja Gaiden pushed cinematic storytelling through cutscenes, but City Hunter goes a step further by tying progression directly to clue gathering, NPC interaction and exploration. The 37-year-old City Hunter you are Ryo Saeba, better known as City Hunter, a detective tasked with solving three cases.…

While the global SNK-fanbase is still recovering from the news of the Neo GEO AES+ announcement, SNK Corporation has quitely also released World Heroes Perfect on Steam. They are bringing the 1995 NEOGEO fighter back with a set of modern upgrades. The re-release is part of the NEOGEO Premium Selection line, which focuses on updating classic arcade titles for current platforms. The game sticks to its original structure: a 2D fighting game featuring 19 characters, many loosely based on historical figures. Fighters compete across a series of matches to claim the title of the world’s strongest, with the original mechanics…

It has been in the works for -what feels like- ages. The title Fallen Tear: The Ascension first popped up back in 2020. Not that the game was halted or stuck in development hell, as far as I know. It appears that throughout this period, Filipino developer Winter Crew Studio kept pivoting toward new features and ideas. Six years later, their Metroidvania has finally entered early access. Traditional Metroidvania In PR communication, Winter Crew Studio explicitly defines the game as a Metroidvania and after playing a couple of hours, it does feel like a fairly old-school, or rather traditional, take…

In the early years of 3D action-adventure games, Crystal Dynamics’ Tomb Raider and Legacy of Kain series positioned itself as a titles that pushed narrative quite a lot in a 3D action games of the time. Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver became the breakout hit, arriving at a time when the genre was still moving away from rigid tank controls toward something closer to what we now consider standard. Its movement and world design helped nudge that transition forward. While Soul Reaver brought the series into wider recognition, it began with Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain. That first entry already…