George Stobbart went to Paris for a holiday. A clown, a bomb, and a dead man had other plans. George is an American tourist whose afternoon outside a Paris café ends in an explosion. He survives, but a man inside does not. Most people would give the police a statement and book an earlier flight home. George starts investigating. He has no special training for this sort of thing, just a quick… Read more
Interview by David, Retro-Replay. An adventure game can begin with a painted cityscape, a conversation, or a mystery the player cannot leave alone. Steve Ince has helped shape all three. Across his career, he moved from creating artwork to organising production and then writing and designing the stories players would uncover for themselves. Ince spent eleven years at Revolution Software, moving from artist to producer to writer and designer. His work on… Read more
Released in North America on 09 October 1988, Super Mario Bros. 2 took everything we thought we knew about Mario and threw it out the window. No more stomping enemies. Now we were pulling vegetables out of the ground, throwing bad guys around, and choosing between Mario, Luigi, Toad and Princess Peach, each with their own abilities. And I loved it. Super Mario Bros. 2 will always have a… Read more
The harvester is miles from home. Your money is almost gone. Somewhere beyond the black edge of the map, an army is getting ready to ruin your evening. Then a voice announces “Unit ready,” the music kicks in, and you decide you can probably afford one more tank. Command & Conquer understood that particular kind of optimism. It let you build a little military empire, made you feel clever for keeping it… Read more
Interview by David, Retro-Replay. Before there was Tiberium, before Kane stepped in front of a camera, and before players began building bases on Arrakis, there were two friends in Las Vegas finding out what they could make together. Louis Castle was working at a computer store when he met Brett Sperry. An invitation to use a printer led to a conversation about computer art, then to a creative partnership. In 1985, that… Read more
Sometimes the best yard sale finds are the ones you didn’t know you were looking for. I recently picked up this complete 1963 copy of The Money Game of Junior Executive by Whitman. It’s basically a kid-friendly business simulator: choose a company selling candy, ice cream, toys, or soda pop, then spend the year buying, selling, filling orders, dealing with nd trying to finish with the most money. It’s over 60 years… Read more
Sometimes a game stays with you as a tune. The television is gone, the controller has changed, and you can barely remember the last race you won. Then a few notes bring the whole afternoon back. For players who grew up with Lotus Turbo Challenge 2 or Top Gear, Barry Leitch is part of that memory. His music gave small cars and distant horizons a sense of occasion. You could be having… Read more
The worst sound in Top Gear was not a crash. A crash could be recovered from. The real disaster was watching your car slow down while the other half of the screen kept moving. You had squeezed one more lap out of the fuel tank, missed the pit lane, and handed your friend a story they were going to tell for the rest of the afternoon. The music, rather unfairly, still sounded… Read more
Interview by David, Retro-Replay. An adventure game can begin with a painted cityscape, a conversation, or a mystery the player cannot leave alone. Steve Ince has helped shape all three. Across his career, he moved from creating artwork to organising production and then writing and designing the stories players would uncover for themselves. Ince spent eleven years at Revolution Software, moving from artist to producer to writer and designer. His work on… Read more
Interview by David, Retro-Replay. Before there was Tiberium, before Kane stepped in front of a camera, and before players began building bases on Arrakis, there were two friends in Las Vegas finding out what they could make together. Louis Castle was working at a computer store when he met Brett Sperry. An invitation to use a printer led to a conversation about computer art, then to a creative partnership. In 1985, that… Read more
Sometimes a game stays with you as a tune. The television is gone, the controller has changed, and you can barely remember the last race you won. Then a few notes bring the whole afternoon back. For players who grew up with Lotus Turbo Challenge 2 or Top Gear, Barry Leitch is part of that memory. His music gave small cars and distant horizons a sense of occasion. You could be having… 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
September 28–October 5, 2026. This week brought a substantial shadPS4 release, a fresh DOSBox-X build, and a coordinated set of Gear emulator updates. There are 162 notices, many of them successive development snapshots of the same project. The dated log below groups every notice; the analysis here covers changes confirmed by project releases or source repositories. The releases that matter shadPS4 0.19.0 moves PS4 compatibility forward shadPS4 0.19.0 is a tagged release,… Read more
Week of September 21–28, 2026. This is Retro Replay’s first weekly emulator briefing: one place to follow meaningful releases, nightly builds, arcade work, classic PC changes, and library tools. We reviewed this week’s release notices, then checked the highlighted changes against project release notes and source repositories. A dated build in the log below is a development snapshot, not necessarily a stable release. The week at a glance The four feeds carried… Read more
Eden 0.2.1 is now available as a stability-focused hotfix for the open-source Nintendo Switch emulator. Rather than introducing a huge new collection of features, this release focuses on problems discovered after Eden 0.2.0, including large-library crashes, issues affecting 12th-generation Intel CPUs, Windows updater problems, a Mario Kart 8 Deluxe controller-related freeze, and several smaller stability bugs. If you are looking for general information about Eden rather than this specific release, visit our… Read more
ES-DE 3.4.1 is a substantial update to the popular multi-platform emulation frontend, expanding Android system support, adding experimental Linux AArch64 support, improving multi-user compatibility and adding a long list of new emulator configurations across Android, Linux, macOS and Windows. Android users searching for the ES-DE 3.4.1 APK or EmulationStation APK 3.4.1 should note that ES-DE's Android release is distributed through the project's official Android channels rather than Google Play. If you are… Read more
The x360ce v4.18.7.0 update for the Xbox 360 Controller Emulator has been released. This software translates XInput calls to DirectInput, allowing diverse controllers to function as Xbox 360 ones on Windows PCs. Notable fixes include preventing crashes during device refresh and handling unplugged controllers more efficiently. The interface was improved for device detection and redrawing frequency. Several features have been updated, including a new debug panel and removal of unused tabs. The… Read more
NgpCraft Emulator v3.3 has been released, featuring a Neo Geo Pocket/Color emulator with a fast C++ core. It ensures accurate timing against real hardware, allowing games to run at true 30 fps. Key features include a library with thumbnails, sorting, and tracking play stats; a console boot mimicking actual hardware; various video scaling options; and enhanced color support for monochrome cartridges. Users can save states, utilize speed control, and enjoy customizable controls.… Read more
During the 16-bit era, Disney games gave Sega owners several memorable platformers. World of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck belongs beside Castle of Illusion, QuackShot, and Aladdin as an example of a licensed game with care behind it. Developed and published by Sega, it builds an adventure around a magic show gone wrong: Mickey and Donald discover a mysterious box, climb inside, and find themselves trapped in a fantastical world.… Read more
The Sega CD is often remembered for full-motion video, but Shining Force CD shows how much stronger its traditional games could be. This tactical RPG rebuilds two Game Gear adventures and adds content made for the CD release. Sega’s official game overview identifies it as a remake of two handheld installments. The result is a generous, battle-focused Shining Force package. Its defining change is the removal of most traditional exploration—a choice that… 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
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
Legendary Wings NES to PC Beta 1 is available now. This first public Windows release brings refreshed artwork to the opening level while keeping the original game presentation a keypress away. The project comes from dmb062082, modded by retro-replay.com. Visit the Legendary Wings NES to PC GitHub repository for the project, instructions and feedback. You can also download the Windows Beta 1 release here. You will need to supply your own compatible,… Read more
September 28–October 5, 2026. This week brought a substantial shadPS4 release, a fresh DOSBox-X build, and a coordinated set of Gear emulator updates. There are 162 notices, many of them successive development snapshots of the same project. The dated log below groups every notice; the analysis here covers changes confirmed by project releases or source repositories. The releases that matter shadPS4 0.19.0 moves PS4 compatibility forward shadPS4 0.19.0 is a tagged release,… Read more
I was visiting RetroGameCon in Syracuse on October 2 when I stopped by the Arcade Legends panel with Paul Niemeyer and Tim Kitzrow. An artist associated with Mortal Kombat’s original arcade artwork and the voice of NBA Jam, sitting down to talk about the old days? That sounded like a good place to spend part of the afternoon. I wanted to share this cool story with you guys, so the full panel… Read more
Before walkthroughs were a click away, Nintendo had people you could call. Meet the game counselors, explore their secret maps, and follow the hotline from its NES beginnings to its last recorded tips—with a small memory of my dad, Dark Link and a call around 1989–1990. Read more
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