Retro Replay Retro Replay gaming reviews, news, emulation, geek stuff and more!

There was a time when taking a serious retro game collection with you meant carrying a dedicated handheld, several cartridges, a mess of cables, and probably a case big enough to qualify as luggage. Android has changed that completely. A decent modern phone can now handle everything from the Game Boy, NES, and Sega Genesis to the PlayStation, Dreamcast, PSP, GameCube, and — with the right hardware and a little patience —… Read more

Road Rash: The Complete History of EA's 90s Combat-Racing Icon Road Rash was never just a racing game with punching. It was the product of a very particular moment inside Electronic Arts, when the company was learning how to become a console developer, Sega was still fighting to establish the Genesis, CD-ROM looked like the future, alternative rock was spilling into games, and a small group of developers discovered that motorcycle racing… Read more

The $700 Dream: The Complete History of the Panasonic 3DO Before PlayStation rewrote the rules of console gaming, Trip Hawkins and some of the biggest companies in electronics and entertainment tried something even more radical. The 3DO was not supposed to be just another game console. It was supposed to change who controlled the console business in the first place. Panasonic REAL 3DO FZ-1. The machine most players associate with the 3DO… Read more

Edia is bringing the CD-ROM² versions of Dragon Slayer: The Legend of Heroes I and II to modern systems worldwide in 2027. The Trails series did not spring into existence as a fully formed encyclopedia of nations, political factions and recurring heroes. Its roots stretch backward through The Legend of Heroes, and those roots stretch into Nihon Falcom’s even older Dragon Slayer family. In 2027, players outside Japan will receive an unusually… Read more

A bad idea in a very good suit The most important thing about Larry Laffer is that he thinks he is doing rather well. The clothes are right. The lines are ready. Somewhere beyond the next bar stool, surely, romance is waiting. The player can see the disaster coming. Larry cannot. That small gap between confidence and reality carried a computer-game character through text parsers, sound cards, CD-ROMs, corporate upheaval, crowdfunding, and… Read more

The best result from a living-room fighting game night is simple: someone who lost wants another turn. That takes more than a familiar character-select screen. It takes a group that makes room for rusty thumbs, new players and the friend who still remembers every trick. Street Fighter II is a fitting centerpiece. In its 2017 anniversary retrospective, Capcom traces the series' breakthrough to the 1991 arcade game and emphasizes the appeal of… Read more

You are moving comfortably through a level, a jump goes wrong, and suddenly the Kong following behind becomes the one you need to keep alive. Donkey Kong Country makes that small change surprisingly effective. A mistake has a face, and so does the chance to recover. Rare's 1994 SNES platformer is easy to remember for its distinctive graphics. Nintendo's official retrospective description emphasizes the pre-rendered visuals, animation and music that helped establish… Read more

You know the room. You have walked through it three times, checked the map twice, and become convinced that the next doorway is hiding out of spite. Then you remember a narrow passage you could not use earlier. Suddenly, being lost in Super Metroid turns into having a plan. That change of feeling is one of the best things about Nintendo's SNES adventure. The game gives you places to remember, reasons to… Read more

When it comes to video game bands, The OneUps have been doing this longer than most. Their official site says they have been performing since their first show in 2002, and over the years they have played events like PAX, MAGFest, and GDC while building one of the most recognizable sounds in live VGM. Their catalog on Bandcamp stretches from Volume 1 all the way to later releases like Volume 4, Arkadia… Read more

Super Mario Kart Horizons is one of the most ambitious ROM hacks in recent years, reimagining the classic SNES racer with twenty brand new tracks, four custom battle maps, an original soundtrack, and presentation elements like a custom manual and box art. The project, available at RomHacking.net and RomHackPlaza, represents the culmination of over a decade of tinkering, iteration, and dedication from its creator, Gridattack. Horizons has also been the subject of… Read more

The Arkadian was born in 2015 as the brainchild of Jon O’Neal, a musician with a passion for both heavy rock and the timeless soundtracks of video games. Influenced by artists like Stemage, Viking Guitar, Mega Beardo, and Master Sword, he began crafting arrangements that fused 70s and 80s-inspired metal with the melodies gamers grew up with. What started as solo experiments in a basement studio quickly grew into something bigger... a… Read more

When people talk about the greatest ROM hacks ever made, Super Mario Bros. 3Mix almost always comes up. Created by Southbird, this hack was more than just a simple remix of Nintendo’s NES classic... it became a sprawling tribute to Mario’s entire history. 3Mix included new mechanics like gravity flips, Yoshi integration, secret star coins, alternate exits, and even bosses and themes inspired by later entries such as Super Mario World and… Read more

When it comes to fusing heavy metal with the 8-bit sounds of classic gaming, few names resonate louder than VomitroN. The project is the brainchild a Massachusetts-based musician, producer, and lifelong gamer whose work has turned the nostalgic bleeps of the Nintendo Entertainment System into sprawling metal epics. What started as an experiment in the late nineties while playing Contra in a college dorm became a full-blown passion project, and by the… Read more

The Super Mario World hacking scene is filled with passion projects, but few creators have managed to balance accessibility, creativity, and ambition quite like xMANGRAVYx, the driving force behind LetsTalkGames. I first came across his work through Castlemania II, a gothic and atmospheric sequel that brought Castlevania inspired storytelling into the Mario universe. That game opened my eyes to how far a ROM hack could push the SMW engine. The final boss… Read more

Xenia Manager v5.0.0 has been released to enhance the Xenia Emulator experience for Xbox 360 games. Key features include a new Game Files Explorer for easier navigation of game data, improved achievement handling, and an artwork pipeline for better visuals. The Big Screen Mode offers a console-style interface accessible via a gamepad. The update also introduces streamlined library management, enhanced file format support, and various bug fixes. Documentation is now available on… Read more

FB Neo Git (2026/09/23) is a newly compiled emulator for arcade games and select consoles, based on FinalBurn and older MAME versions. The latest changelog includes preliminary support for the game "After the War" and an update for the Speccy from gab75. You can download it from the provided source link. FB Neo Git (2026/09/23) has been compiled. FinalBurn Neo is an emulator for arcade games and some consoles, drawing from the… Read more

VisualBoyAdvance-M Git (2026/09/22) is a Super Game Boy Color/Advance emulator available for Windows, Linux, and Mac. This release includes updates such as dropping _Float16 support on riscv64, ceasing the build of the DLSS NR Vulkan layer, and linking static MoltenVK dependencies. New additions include shaderc, glslang, and Vulkan to the dependency lists, and Metal DLSS NR support for macOS. Linux DLSS NR has also been fixed. Users can find information on the… Read more

Ymir Git (2026/09/22) is a work-in-progress Sega Saturn emulator featuring support for various game file formats (BIN+CUE, IMG+CCD, MDF+MDS, ISO), automatic BIOS detection, automatic region switching, and support for up to two players. It offers customizable keybindings, backup RAM management, save state functionality, and capabilities for rewinding, turbo speed, and frame stepping. The latest changelog includes fixes for color gradation, VDP hardware issues, graphic documentation, and enhancements for screenshot downloading and GPU… Read more

FB Neo Git (2026/09/22) is a newly compiled emulator for arcade games and select consoles, built on previous versions of FinalBurn and MAME. The latest changelog includes various updates, fixes for issues #2752 and #2754, improvements to darkseal, and modifications in d_megadrive.cpp, d_nes.cpp, and d_ngp.cpp. Users can download this update from the provided source link. FB Neo Git (2026/09/22) has been compiled. FinalBurn Neo serves as an emulator for arcade games and… Read more

DOSBox-X Git (2026/09/22) is an updated version of DOSBox, designed to emulate Intel x86 PCs for running legacy MS-DOS games on modern operating systems like Windows and Linux. The latest changelog includes fixes such as preventing crashes during specific operations, resetting MSCDEX and drive allocations on BIOS boot for better IMGMOUNT command functionality, and addressing mouse input issues caused by recent PS/2 changes. Additionally, it implements a flag to mitigate problems when… Read more

What if Super Mario Kart got the sequel we always dreamed of on the SNES? Horizons delivers 20 new tracks, new music, and pure nostalgia. From grassy plains to abandoned mines, Super Mario Kart – Horizons takes the SNES classic to new places. It feels like Mario Kart 2.0… and you can play it today! Super Mario Kart – Horizons: The Romhack That Feels Like a True Sequel. Watch the video or… Read more

The Super Mario World hacking community has produced everything from sprawling cinematic adventures to bite sized experimental projects. Smoked Fish and Cabbage, created by LetsTalkGames and the coder known as xMANGRAVYx, stands out as a compact yet polished introduction to the Kaizo style. Released in July 2023, the hack is short by design with seven carefully crafted levels, but within that small footprint it manages to deliver challenge, variety, and accessibility in… Read more

The Super Mario World hacking scene has always thrived on experimentation, but few projects push the envelope as boldly as Castlemania II, created by LetsTalkGames and coder xMANGRAVYx. Released in July 2025, this sequel builds upon last year’s Castlemania with even more ambition, blending Super Mario World’s platforming with Castlevania’s gothic spirit. The result is a hack that feels familiar in its controls but completely fresh in its tone and structure. From… Read more

When it comes to ambitious ROM hacks, few projects can match the scale and polish of Super Mario Bros. 3Mix, created by the talented developer Southbird. Released more than a decade ago (2014), 3Mix is not simply a reworking of Super Mario Bros. 3 but a complete overhaul that pays tribute to Mario’s past, present, and even future. The hack introduces new mechanics, new worlds, and a staggering amount of secrets while… Read more

Pacnsac Games, the prolific ROM hacker known as pacnsacdave, has built a name for transforming beloved NES titles into something wholly new while staying true to the spirit of retro gaming. In March 2020 he released The Crow, a complete hack of Sunsoft’s Batman: The Video Game. Rather than a simple cosmetic swap, this project reimagines the 1994 cult film starring Brandon Lee as if it had received its own 8 bit… Read more

When you talk about hidden treasures on the Nintendo Entertainment System, few games are as respected and mysterious as Mr. Gimmick. Released in 1992 by Sunsoft, this platformer was known for its stunning physics, demanding level design, and a soundtrack that pushed the NES sound chip to its limits. While it never reached wide audiences outside Japan and Scandinavia, it has become a cult favorite among retro enthusiasts. Fans have been asking… Read more

Nintendo has announced the boldest, most innovative move in gaming history: charging you up to two hundred dollars for the privilege of replaying a pair of Wii games you already own. Super Mario Galaxy and Super Mario Galaxy 2 are officially coming to the Switch 2, and the bundle clocks in at a cool $150, edging toward $200 once you factor in collector’s editions, amiibo, and whatever random plastic accessory they force… Read more

An Innocent Gesture with a Dark Twist For more than two decades, fans of Super Mario World believed Mario was simply pointing forward when Yoshi stuck out his tongue. It looked playful and harmless. Mario gave the signal, Yoshi obeyed, and the duo worked together as partners. That illusion shattered in 2017, when Nintendo veteran Shigefumi Hino, the designer who created Yoshi, revealed that the original concept was very different. According to… Read more

Every Controller I Have Smashed In Rage, Ranked By The Quality Of The Meltdown There are difficult games, and then there are the ones that melt your brain until the only solution is to weaponize the nearest controller. We tell ourselves it’s just a game, but anyone who has stared down Alma in Ninja Gaiden Black, crawled across spikes in Celeste, or been betrayed by the blue shell in Mario Kart Wii… Read more

A Consistent Cutoff Leonardo DiCaprio has built a reputation for consistency in his personal life, and it appears that this rule now extends to his gaming habits. According to sources close to the Hollywood actor, he has officially stopped playing Final Fantasy IX after the game reached its 25th anniversary. Released in 2000 for the original PlayStation, Final Fantasy IX is widely regarded as one of the greatest entries in Square Enix’s… Read more

A Garage Sale Becomes a Legal Battlefield What began as a quiet Saturday morning in Saratoga, New York quickly escalated into what some neighbors now refer to as “the day Nintendo declared war on suburbia.” Local resident Robby Thompson held a simple garage sale in his driveway, offering old household items, clothing, and a box of retro video games. One of those games happened to be a sealed copy of Super Mario… Read more

A Feature Masquerading as a Flaw Since its release in 2017, the Nintendo Switch has been celebrated as one of the most successful consoles of all time. It blended handheld convenience with home-console performance, revitalized franchises like Zelda and Mario, and sold over 140 million units. But along with this success came something else: the infamous Joy-Con drift. What began as a flood of user complaints, characters walking off cliffs without input,… Read more

There is a particular kind of confidence to putting a banana peel on a corner and assuming your friend will drive straight into it. There is an even more particular kind of embarrassment when you come around again and hit it yourself. Super Mario Kart understands both. That is a good reason to return to Nintendo's original kart racer. The spectacle is small enough to follow, the rivalry is personal, and a… Read more

Flight simulator. CD-ROM spectacle. First-person shooter. Fighting game. Desktop adventure. In the 1990s, nobody seemed entirely sure what a Star Wars game was supposed to be. That was half the fun. There was a wonderful period when asking “What kind of game is Star Wars?” did not produce a sensible answer. It produced another question. Which year? In 1993, Star Wars became a demanding space-combat simulator that expected players to manage shields,… Read more

Is It Illegal to Play Emulated Nintendo Games? If you've ever wanted to relive classic games like Super Mario Bros., Super Metroid, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, or Zelda: Ocarina of Time using an emulator, you're definitely not alone. Emulation has become one of the most popular ways to revisit older games, especially as original hardware becomes more expensive, harder to maintain, and increasingly inconvenient to connect to… Read more

Retro Replay: Pixel Panic has officially made the jump from the Nintendo Entertainment System to the Sega Genesis, and this new 16-bit version is a much bigger, louder, faster, and more complete version of the original homebrew idea. What started as a small NES homebrew experiment has now grown into a full Sega Genesis homebrew release with 50 unique levels, new sprites, updated gameplay ideas, new sound effects, music, breakable walls, bombs,… Read more