Retro Blog 🕰️

The Architects and the First War Few stories are as beloved, as strange, and as fiercely protected as that of Star Control. It’s a tale that begins with two brilliant, complementary minds, explodes into one of the most revered sci-fi epics of all time, and culminates three decades later in a landmark legal battle settled, bizarrely, by a shared love of bees. This is the story of Star Control and …

At Retro Replay, our passion is digging into the pixels, cartridges, and code of classic gaming. We explore the histories of virtual worlds. But every so often, a true story from that same era emerges from the real world that is so profound it demands our attention. The story of Damien Echols is one such case. It’s a significant departure from our usual retro-tech fare, but his history is a …

How Two Dudes, a Dream, and a Roguelike Built a Funkadelic Classic In 1991, the video game console war was defined by one thing: attitude. The Sega Genesis, with its “Blast Processing” and edgy mascot, Sonic the Hedgehog, was in a head-to-head brawl with Nintendo. The landscape was dominated by lightning-fast platformers, brutal brawlers, and arcade-perfect shoot ’em ups. And then… there was ToeJam & Earl. It was a game …

Rip and Tear: The Definitive History of the Original DOOM On December 10, 1993, a file named DOOM1_0.ZIP was uploaded to an FTP server at the University of Wisconsin. There was no multi-million dollar marketing campaign, no flashy Super Bowl commercial, and no coordinated launch event. There was only a 2.39 MB compressed file, unleashed onto the nascent internet and the sprawling network of Bulletin Board Systems (BBS). What happened …

If you thought emulation drama ended with Yuzu’s takedown, think again. A brand-new project called Oboromi is shaking up the emulator scene with one bold claim: it’s a proof-of-concept Nintendo Switch 2 emulator built entirely in Rust. Yes, Switch 2 — not the current one. Developed by 0xNikilite, this open-source powerhouse focuses on clarity, correctness, and traceability over raw performance, meaning it’s not here to run games just yet… but …

Nintendo’s Most Recent Alleged Hack Explained: What Happened, What Is Known, And What To Watch Next Flashpoint overview. A hacking crew calling itself Crimson Collective has claimed it breached Nintendo and walked away with a trove of internal material. Reports say the cache could include production assets, developer files, backups, and other folders, with early chatter centering on a headline number of about 570 gigabytes of data. Nintendo has not …

If you grew up tearing through Rainbow Road and tossing banana peels in Mario Kart 64, you probably never imagined that your favorite racing game once flirted with cigarette advertising. But that’s exactly what happened in the early versions of the game. Hidden in plain sight among the trackside billboards was a cheeky parody of Marlboro cigarettes, rebranded as “Marioro.” The red-and-white logo looked unmistakably similar to the real-life tobacco …

The hum of CRT monitors, the click of cartridge locks, the glow of pixelated skies — these are more than memories to those of us who grew up with them. They’re emotional anchors, reminders of simpler days when the biggest challenge was beating the next boss, not managing inboxes or bills. That connection between nostalgia and happiness was at the heart of a thoughtful panel today at RetroGameCon in Syracuse, …

Flashback to the golden age of 16-bit gaming, where pixel art, catchy soundtracks, and side-scrolling adventures defined childhoods everywhere. Nintendo has just dropped three more SNES classics onto the Nintendo Switch Online service, giving fans another reason to dive back into the nostalgia of the Super Nintendo era. Watch Nintendo’s official announcement trailer here on YouTube. This new update for October brings a mix of action, puzzles, and competitive fighting …

When Nintendo’s Punch-Out!! arcade game first emerged in 1984, it introduced a roster of wild, tongue-in-cheek characters. Among them was a hulking Russian fighter whose rough appearance and drinking gag made him especially memorable. In the arcade version of Super Punch-Out!!, he was known as Vodka Drunkenski, and yes — he drank a bottle of vodka between rounds. But when Punch-Out!! was brought to the NES, Nintendo of America made …

Origins and Opening Night The history of Galloping Ghost Arcade begins the way so many great gaming stories begin, with one person’s obsession carried further than anyone else thought possible. In the mid nineteen nineties, Doc Mack was not yet the steward of the largest arcade in the United States, he was just a young Chicago native trying to make a new fighting game. That project, Dark Presence, a digitized …

This tutorial is for the glorious emulator frontend called Pegasus FE, and my goal is to help other android users, more importantly Nvidia Shield users, bask in all its glory. I had to repost this, because the OG post was lost. This is for those who requested it. I had to scrape data from the wayback machine, so it may have lost some formatting. I usually get my info for …

Nintendo tracked down an alleged Switch pirate by following a trail of posts and repair orders, and now it’s asking a court to award $4.5 million in damages. According to court filings, Nintendo of America accuses James “Archbox” Williams of running multiple piracy storefronts, moderating forums that promoted pirated games, and offering paid access to stolen libraries. Investigators tied the Archbox name to email addresses linked to Nintendo repair orders …

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 …

A casual Mortal Kombat XL player, Legi0n, just pulled off a story that feels straight out of the arcade era: she showed up to a local and won the whole thing while holding her five-day-old newborn. Two posts on X captured the moment and lit up the FGC timeline: 😭😭 Babality! Congratulations to @_Legi0n_ for winning Mortal Kombat XL! 🥈 @KingKaiFL (right)🥉 @Argenrost (left)#Juicymonthly #DHAtlanta #MK pic.twitter.com/22VrWQeT9H — Juicy Game …

When Capcom prepared to bring the blue bomber from Japan to the American market, the character went through one of the most famous name changes in gaming history. In Japan he was known as Rockman, a name tied to the playful music pun with his sister Roll, as in Rock and Roll. Yet when he arrived in the United States he was suddenly Mega Man. For decades the official explanation …

On September 20th, 2025, a brand-new version of BizHawk was released, marking another big milestone for one of the most popular multi-system emulators in the emulation and tool-assisted speedrun (TAS) community. Version 2.11 brings in an impressive lineup of new cores, bug fixes, system updates, and user experience improvements. If you are a retro gaming enthusiast, a speedrunner, or simply someone who wants a reliable all-in-one emulator for dozens of …

When players first explore Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest on the NES, they eventually come across Dracula’s grave. What might look like a simple detail is actually a hidden historical reference that ties one of gaming’s most iconic villains back to real history. The inscription on the grave reads “1431–76,” which are the exact birth and death years of Vlad Tepes, better known as Vlad the Impaler. Vlad Tepes ruled Wallachia …

The PlayStation 1 was more than just a console. For many of us who grew up in the late 90s, it was the beginning of a brand new chapter in gaming history. Sony’s first entry into the home console market brought cinematic storytelling, massive 3D environments, and unforgettable soundtracks that felt light years ahead of what we had known before. With Nintendo and Sega still dominating the industry, Sony arrived …

Final Fantasy VII’s Lost Detective Story: How Cloud Almost Became Detective Joe When most people think of Final Fantasy VII, they imagine Cloud Strife standing in front of Midgar’s skyline, sword on his back, as the camera pans up toward the giant Mako Reactor. It is one of the most iconic scenes in all of gaming. Yet few fans know that before Cloud ever existed, the game’s story looked radically …

Top 10 SNES Best Games The Super Nintendo Entertainment System was never just a machine, it was a part of growing up. For kids of the early 1990s it meant long afternoons in front of the television, controllers tangled on the carpet, and the kind of memories that still feel warm decades later. Released in North America in 1991, the SNES gave us bright colors, soaring soundtracks, and worlds that …

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 …

The Streets Call for Heroes The year was 1987, and the arcade was still the epicenter of gaming culture. Kids poured their quarters into brightly lit cabinets, chasing high scores and showing off their skills to crowds of strangers who quickly became friends or rivals. The genre that captured much of that energy was the beat ’em up, a style of game where combat unfolded in scrolling stages filled with …

A Forgotten Genesis Oddity There are some Genesis games you remember the instant you hear their names. Sonic spins into view, Streets of Rage echoes with its iconic soundtrack, and Golden Axe still makes you feel like you are clutching an arcade joystick in a smoky pizza parlor. Then there are the other cartridges, the ones that did not get their own TV commercials or full-page spreads in Electronic Gaming …

Introduction: Lunar’s Place in JRPG History In the early 1990s, role playing games were at a turning point. On one side of the Pacific, Japan had embraced the genre with giants like Final Fantasy IV on the Super Famicom and Dragon Quest V continuing its cultural dominance. In the West, RPGs were still considered a niche market, often dismissed as too slow or too text heavy compared to action driven …