And thats a wrap
Ladies and Gentlemen…may I present the results of the Competition 2006 at long last.
Its been a hard road for everyone to get here, entrants and organisers alike - but we’re done now. You can read the reviews here and all the games are still available for you to download here.
Its probably wise to check the patches and updates thread on the forum first for downloads, as a lot of the games have been updated in the 3 month period since the competition ended.
You can find them by following the yellow brick link.
Congratulations to the winners especially, thanks to our sponsors and thanks to everyone who entered or assisted down the line. Cheers! I’m off to bed.
Backlog Grab Bag!
Clearing through the backlog of news again, so heres some more gaming goodness for you all.
First up, some Java remakes. Kevin Glass has a whole bunch on his website, and theyre no bigger than 4kb in size! Games available include remakes of Amidar, Nebulus, Nibbler and Sabotage, plus a few others. Kevin also has Typhoon, a remake of the classic Tempest on www.cokeandcode.com site.
Also available in Java flavour is a Lumines remake called Flare by Moritz Post. And if that isn’t enough for you java fans try JTransversion by Marzio De Biasi.
Enjoy blowing stuff up, but dont want to get on the MI6 terrorist watch list? Try a Bomberman remake or two then! Here was have Xblast for Linux by Olivier Vogel, Xblast TNT (multiplayer only) for Linux & Windows, and finally Bomberbots 3D by Mindless Thinking Games, although this one weighs in at around 30MB, so 56k’ers beware.
Next up is some jumping, block colour changing fun courtesy of Q*Bert 3D by Jogos Studios.
Feel like an adventure? The why not try Peasant’s Quest, a remake on Kings Quest 1 in Flash by Mike Chapman, Matt Chapman & Jonathan Howe.
And finally for today we have a Gauntlet-alike, in the form of Magic Maze by Kent Dahl.
I think thats enough from me for today, enjoy!
Quick News Belch
So, we’ll be shifting over to a new format soon, to make reading, searching and news posting easier for all concerned. The original plan was to launch the new site format in about 2 weeks time, but as usual we all managed to underestimate the scale of the work which would be required…so current estimation is “as long as its before Christmas I’m happy”.
Caff’s currently going through our enormous list backlog and dragging it up to date ready for the shift over, which wouldn’t be as managable without the help of some kind forumites. Thanking you to all those who mucked in there. Jimsters on design work and I’ve got the ever exciting task of banging the site into shape proper with the able assistance of STomps.
Can’t say too much about it, but a couple of our moderators have had a sneaky peak and word is, its not too bad all told.
Anyway, I’ll not bore you any more with our exciting life round these here parts. You’ll be wanting some news. Yes, news, thats it. So…news!
To the quick game mobile, via the medium of dance!
Lets start with some of the eternal standards of remakes…
Classic Snake is a flash version of umm, Snake! Controllable with a mouse and skins a plenty.
Ishi has released a version of everyones favourite rock busting game, Asteroids in a fine vector style.
Bonzomonks, aside from having the best name I’ve typed out today, following on the back of his nice Super Mario meets Hunchback release has just flashed his wares at us with a version of Breakout. 1 or 2 players fight to the death in a war of blocks.
Something a bit deeper now in the form of a Might And Magic II remake which was sent to me a while back. Yes, its Nightwolfs errr… Might And Magic II remake. Thats what it is. What else were you expecting?
A little bit of a Pang? Oh, go on then - if you must. Starkirby has a lovely version here, playable in your old browser of doom.
And whilst we’re on a playable in a browser tip… is there any reason we don’t have New Adventures In Sci Fi listed? A rather nice 3 year old Jet Set Willy adventure? Nobody know, ok - lets move along swiftly…
Manic Miner in Flash? Say it aint so! Well, it is. And it looks like you’ll have the master of the Manic Miner to take on in the high score stakes (that’ll be Dr Andrew Broad then) so good luck to you all.
Sorry this is a bit brief description wise, but I’m nodding off at the keyboard and wanted to get this news out before I forgot! Ta ta for now and happy playing.
Remakes that Time Forgot!
Well that was fun! Ive spent the last couple of months lost in the Retro Remakes archive while trying to sort out the news backlog. It took a crack rescue team comprised of Bob, Caff and Scotty to locate me, and apparently when found I had resorted to eating my own shoes in order to survive. Anyhoo, now im back in the real world I’ll share some of the games I found down there. Next time, Im taking a ball of string, a thermos of coffee and some edible underwear. Its times like this you know how Monty felt when he was on the run….
So anyway - there you are, deep in space crammed into a tiny cockpit with only a set of pink fluffy dice and a few million space rocks for company. Yep, it can only be that old favourite - Asteroids. Here we have a couple of remakes for windows, the first being FilaxTeroid by Filax, and the next being Cuberoids by Gareth Williams over at Fatweb.org.
While you’re there on Gareth’s little slice of the interweb, you may as well have a look at Fatrock for some Boulderdash type fun, and Rollminator to get your balls rolling, Trailblazer stylee.
While were talking of Trailblazer remakes, heres another in the guise of Orbit Hopper by Harald Obermaier - available in both Windows and Linus flavours.
Ever wanted to see what playing Tetris would be like under the influence of recreational pharmaceuticals? Then get on over to the Mute Fantasies website download section and try Tetripz - which has a has options that let you do just this by generating some rather eye searing, brain squelching visuals - all without the need to spend money you dont have or deal with unsavoury characters in the pub toilet.
And last but by no means least for today is a remake of Wing Commander: Privateer, a rather nice looking remake which should satisfy all your spacefaring needs - it’s now on version 1.2 and available for Windows, Linux and Mac.
Meat & Potatoes
I pestered him and fluttered my eyelids at him all the way through development of his Geometry Wars style project, and it paid off. Wiebo Di Wit gave in to my demands and used his engine to create the most beautiful looking Thrust remake that anyone could possibly ask for.
It features the original levels, plus some more intense ones where you have to avoid lasers and rescue little guys as well as picking up that legendary sphere. If you manage to get through them all then you are in for some evil treatment - you will have to go through it all again with reverse gravity! EEK! It’s out now (you lucky, lucky people) so get it right this second or you will never forgive yourselves.
On a totally unrelated note, the latest issue of that remakes and indie-gaming podcast with all the swears you could want (and more) is out today. Containing really bad impersonations of children, and some retro bleepy music, it really has everything. Probably.
Have a listen to Arsecast 4 yourself, and see what all the fuss is about. You never know, the Arsecast Host could fix it for you.
The Square Window
Good evening children, if you’d all like to sit comfortably then we’ll begin.
Tonight we’re going to have a look through the square window at some of the up and coming remakes heading in your direction in the coming months.
Paul Shirley may have had half of a girls name, but he’s still responsible for one of the best CPC games in the known omniverse - if you’re shaking your head and asking “who?” at this point, then may I suggest a crash course in the joys of Spindizzy this very instant in order to correct the terrible gap in your knowledge. This of course will prepare you for the forthcoming splutfest of a remake from the excitingly named “Martin”.
Yes! Finally, someone has undertaken the huge task of remaking the game all Marble Madness alikes wish they were but could never be. Of course, this post is useless without pictures so traverse yourself to our forum this very instant.
If you’ve mistaken yourself for Sting and attempted to walk on the moon, you’ll know its not the easiest task ever. Which is why in our infinite creativity we invented Moon Buggy’s. Fantastic for jumping over pot holes I believe. Or, if you’re feet (and brain) are firmly placed on Terra Firma and you know thats all just a crazy dream please don’t let it stop you from taking a little trip over to Shinobi’s thread and have a peek at his Moon Patrol remake which is on its way.
Do do do de do di do do do do do.
Yes, its in your head now isn’t it? The theme from Kikstart. You love it really. This can only herald one thing…yes! A remake of Kikstart II coming at you from the one, the only, the indisputable leader of the gang… Blowhole.
Confused? Be confused no more…to the forum-mobile, Batfans where you can follow the progress of this oft updated work in progress and enjoy its off road thrills. But wait! We need a link! *shuffles down the back of the sofa* Here it is!
And finally for tonights WIP watch - G-Force. I’m currently hawking a 10 level demo of my own little remake currently in progress - for more information, follow the yellow brick link.
Ta ta for now chaps, I’m off to get cold for a while.
