If your December isn’t complete without a bit of chiptune cheer or a cosy JRPG melody drifting through the speakers, Scarlet Moon has you sorted once again. The label has just launched Scarlet Moon Christmas Volume X, the tenth entry in its long-running holiday series — and this year’s lineup is a particularly strong one. The album features everything from chilled-out Nintendo arrangements to classical choral pieces, plus a few unexpected guest contributions.

If you’ve got a soft spot for the 90s arcade beat-’em-up era — think shoulder-pads, nineties hairstyles, and co-op mayhem — then Karate Blazers just got put back on the menu. The 1991 arcade brawler from Video System has been re-released under the Arcade Archives banner, arriving on Switch and PS4 from today (27 November 2025. What is Karate Blazers…

If you’re a fan of Wolfenstein 3D, DOOM, Blood, or basically any shooter where your survival depends on good footwork and even better reflexes, here comes another contender for your backlog. Yes — another one. The retro-FPS revival refuses to slow down, and FatCatGames’ newly launched Brotherhood is the latest to step into the arena. This comes just a few weeks after another…

If you missed it the first time around — or you’ve spent the past decade trying to get an old disc version running without crashes — there’s good news: Cold Fear, the 2005 survival-horror shooter from Darkworks, is officially back. Atari has republished the game on GOG as part of the GOG Preservation Program, complete with a substantial technical overhaul to make it run properly on modern machines.

If you grew up around Acorn Archimedes machines, you’ll know the platform had a peculiar charm — crisp RISC OS desktops, reassuring clacks of the mouse buttons, and a library of games that never quite got the recognition they deserved. Some titles stood out, like Zarch; others quietly existed without ever crossing your radar. Exodus: The Colonization of Space…

Even naff 16-bit beige boxes need to be celebrated on their 40th anniversary, it seems! Of course, I'm teasing a little -- it may not have been a great all-rounder like the Amiga, but the Atari ST was superb for music. In fact, one of the most notable people I went to school with was one of two people who owned an ST.

If you’ve been eyeing up an Evercade EXP-R, VS-R, or a handful of new carts for the shelf, Black Friday has officially arrived — and Blaze is rolling out some of its biggest discounts of the year. Whether you’re expanding your physical collection or finally stepping into the Evercade ecosystem, this week might be the time to pounce. Up to 20% off Evercade hardware…

Bitmo Lab has announced a refreshed version of its GameBaby gaming case, redesigned for the iPhone 17 series and clearly aimed at anyone who secretly wants their phone to double as a little slice of retro handheld heaven. And honestly, this might just be the kind of Christmas present that causes “Wait… is this actually for you rather than your wife?” questions.

The 8-Bit Big Band has landed not one but two Grammy nominations for its latest album, Orchestrator Emulator — and frankly, it’s about time. The album is up for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album, while “Super Mario Praise Break” is nominated for Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Cappella, credited to Charlie Rosen, Bryan Carter, and Matthew Whitaker. What makes the album stand out…

The Nintendo 64 has always deserved better than muddy composite video and that goddamn controller that looks far better than it feels. So when Analogue announced the 3D — a premium, FPGA-powered reboot of the console — many of us expected it to finally deliver the definitive modern N64 experience. Then came the delays, and the second thoughts... I'm not against the…

Every now and then, a licence comes along that just makes sense for a retro-style game — and apparently, one of those perfect fits is the blood-soaked chaos of the Terrifier films. Terrifier: The ARTcade Game is out now on Steam, Nintendo Switch, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S, putting players in the oversized shoes of Art the Clown as he tears through film sets in a gleefully violent 2D beat ‘em up.

Every time Nightdive Studios announces another LucasArts revival, I get the same rush of “finally — someone is looking after this stuff.” They’ve already given us an incredible Dark Forces remaster, and now they’re saddling up again with Outlaws + Handful of Missions: Remaster — out today on PC and modern consoles (Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S).

I’ll be honest: back in the 90s, Phantom Gear probably wouldn’t have been my thing. I was distracted by bigger, flashier games — the kind that took over magazine covers. So, Phantom Gear wouldn't have interested me. Of course, times change. Mega Cat Studios' successful Kickstarter for Phantom Gear may have been largely forgotten about in the increasingly busy retro gaming scene, but a recent mailout from the publisher (whose games often appear on…

Meridiem has confirmed that Dinopunk: The Cacops Adventure launches on 24 November on Steam. As previously reported, this is a classic-style platformer with some very obvious inspiration. Developed by The Dude Games, Dinopunk puts you in the scaly skin of Cacops, an amphibian dino dad on a mission to rescue his stolen egg. Along the way, you’ll be blasting ninjas, dodging weird critters, and squaring up against…

It's a modern take on Desert Strike, but with modern graphics and sound. MicroProse and Not Knowing Corporation have unleashed Cleared Hot, a physics-driven helicopter shooter with tactical flair, now available on Steam Early Access. Fans of classic 90s titles like Desert Strike will find plenty to love in the game’s combination of strategic objectives, vehicular mayhem, and modern physics-fueled destruction.

In this week's show, Christian Cawley explores the Spectrum Collector's Edition, celebrates the pre-orders opening on the A1200, and gets a bit too excited about the Steam Machine. Plus, a ton of retro gaming releases too! Useful links ⁠Ayaneo announces Pocket Vert handheld with vertical screen layout⁠ ⁠A new 8-bit platform for modern retro developers: Gametank revealed⁠ ⁠You can now pre-order THE A1200!⁠

Retro sports fans, get ready — two of the NES and SNES era’s biggest sports franchises are officially back. Publisher Rock It Games has relaunched Bases Loaded and Goal! — complete with their 16-bit sequels — on Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 5. This follows previous releases on PC via GOG and Steam. Each bundle costs $7.99 (regional pricing has not yet been released), and each includes both the NES original and the SNES follow-up.

If you’ve been watching the retro hardware scene, you know how long the journey has been for the Analogue 3D. Originally announced in 2023 as a high-end FPGA re-imagining of the Nintendo 64, it faced delay after delay. However, the Analogue 3D has now begun shipping to pre-order buyers (although there will be a delay for new orders to be open).

The sequel to Namco’s classic 1979 arcade oddity Bomb Bee has been released as this week's Arcade Archives release, and yes, it looks every bit like the peculiar blend of Breakout meets pinball that fans remember. Gee Bee’s quirky arcade legacy Before Pac-Man and Galaxian, Namco kicked off its solo arcade development career with Gee Bee, a strange, bright-yellow, semi-pinball puzzle game designed by Toru Iwatani — the man who would soon give the world Pac-

Bitmap Books has revealed Trigger Happy: A Visual Celebration of Video Game Controllers, a new hardback dedicated entirely to the weird, wonderful, and occasionally baffling pads, sticks, and input devices that shaped gaming. It’s a chunky 396-page release showcasing around 200 controllers through more than 500 photographs, drawing on collector Christian Wenk’s huge private archive. If you’ve handled everything from a…

ArenaNet is giving the original Guild Wars a major quality-of-life overhaul next month with Guild Wars Reforged, a modernised version of the classic MMORPG that bundles every campaign for a newly reduced price of $19.99. As someone who played a lot of Guild Wars back in the day — mostly alongside my wife, who turned out to be much better at it than me — this is very interesting news!

Somehow this one slipped past me, but I’ve just discovered The Codemasters Archive, and I’ve been glued to it ever since. If you spent your childhood hopping between Dizzy, BMX Simulator, and a dozen flavours of Micro Machines, prepare to lose your evening. Even better: the whole thing has official EA approval (they bought the company in 2021), which is not something we often get in retro preservation.

Sidecartridge has revealed its latest piece of modern-retro magic: a tiny board that drops directly into an Amiga’s ROM socket and lets you switch between multiple Kickstart images stored on the device. It’s a compact upgrade powered by the new RP2350 revision of the team’s ROM emulator platform, and it’s already getting Amiga 500 and 2000 enthusiasts buzzing. A modern drop-in upgrade for classic machines…

Kith has dropped a made-to-order Arcade1Up cabinet themed around Marvel vs. Capcom 2, and as someone who cares deeply about retro hardware, I have to say: there’s something simultaneously cool and cynical about this drop. The actual listing for a made-to-order Kith for Arcade1Up Marvel vs. Capcom 2 was open for a limited time on Kith.com. Priced at $895…

Pepperbox Studios has launched its stylish new deckbuilding roguelike Dice of Kalma today on Steam, iOS, and Android—and it comes with striking retro graphics and audio that feels straight out of the golden era of pixel-heavy dungeon crawlers. All of which works to create quite the spooky gaming atmosphere... Descending into a retro underworld Dice of Kalma…