After dabbling with dozens on games on my new Evercade VS, I decided to settle down with NES Dizzy The Adventurer on The Oliver Twins Collection. Never played a Dizzy outside of the Spectrum and this seemed alright at first glance, and after completing it I can confirm really was! It’s logical, not ...

My delayed Evercade VS console arrived just in time for Christmas, when I also received no less than eight of its retro-rich compilation cartridges - the two Atari Lynx Collections, The Oliver Twins and Bitmap Brothers Collections, two Piko Interactive ones, the Technos and finally the Interplay Col...

9 January: Resident Evil 4 (GameCube) 12 January: Power Drift (ZX Spectrum) 15 January: Resident Evil 3 Remake (PS4) 16 January: Castlevania - Rondo of Blood (PC-Engine Mini) 17 January: Wonderful Dizzy (ZX Spectrum) 23 January: V-Rally 3 (Game Boy Advance) 30 January: Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage! (PS4) ...

Shovel Knight Pocket Dungeon is out tomorrow, but I’m struggling with £18 for a match-three puzzler.

Didn’t realise that was available. Unfortunately everything seems to be out of stock, but I’ll keep an eye on it. My original Game Boy died a couple of years ago and the screen on my GBA SP has had it, but I’ve got a huge cartridge collection and this looks like a very premium way to play them! Than...

I’ve never played a Halo game before because I’ve never owned an Xbox before, but ironically on the same day that my day-one PlayStation Plus membership expired, along came Halo Infinite to lead me into this brave new world. I’m not massive into shooters, but this seems like a good one and it’s been...

Lost arcade game Clockwork Aquario finally emerged after 27 years this week, and while it’s not the best platformer you’ll ever play, it’s a decent one and is a proper looker on Switch with a great soundtrack. It’s a bit Wonder Boy (same dev), a bit Mega Man and a bit Sonic, and like all of those it...

1 November: Splatterhouse 2 (Mega Drive) 5 November: Splatterhouse (PC-Engine) 7 November: Super Mario World (Game Boy) 14 November: Hypnospace Outlaw (Xbox Series X) 20 November: Haunted Castle (Arcade on Switch) 24 November: Noddy - A Day in Toyland (Game Boy Advance) 26 November: Exo One (Xbox Se...

Not sure what I was I thinking when I decided to make an assault on Haunted Castle, the brutal Castlevania arcade game, but actually, once you’re past stage one - apart from a couple of insane difficulty spikes - it’s beatable, and ends with about the easiest Dracula you’ll find across the whole ser...

I finally finished Hypnospace Outlaw care of Game Pass (after being led there by its Cane and Rinse podcast), and if you like the sound of a slow-burn sleuth puzzler set in a deep and thoughtful simulation of the early internet, I can’t recommend it enough! Apart from that, lots more Forza Horizon 5...

Nice one. I’ve got an old Entombed album, Left Hand Path, but never listened to much else. Just found a cool Essentials playlist on Apple Music though, so I’ll check that out. Don’t know Edge of Sanity at all but like what I just found, so will have a dabble there too. Thanks a lot! Left Hand Path ...

Tons of stuff on sale on Switch at the moment, but from my wish list I just picked up Contra: Rogue Corps for £1.99, which is 95% off. I know it got a bum rap when it came out last year, but I thought the demo was alright and it’s definitely worth that. The Sega Ages stuff is 50% off as well - also ...

I would recommend both Entombed and Edge of Sanity. Nice one. I’ve got an old Entombed album, Left Hand Path, but never listened to much else. Just found a cool Essentials playlist on Apple Music though, so I’ll check that out. Don’t know Edge of Sanity at all but like what I just found, so will ha...

I thought maybe this game deserved its own thread. As I mentioned in another thread, I'm really enjoying this. I wish it had a bit more structure and sense of direction, but the game is really addictive with that 'one more race/event' feeling after everything you do. It's fun just driving around to...

Being a frames per second philistine meant there was never any hesitation about sticking Forza Horizon 5 into Quality mode from the outset and enjoying what is possibly the best-looking game ever created! I reckon it might be one of the best driving games ever created too, striking a perfect balance...

6 October: Castlevania: Circle of the Moon - Castlevania Advance Collection (Switch) 10 October: Gleylancer (Switch) 15 October: Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance - Castlevania Advance Collection (Switch) 17 October: Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow - Castlevania Advance Collection (Switch) 17 October: ...

Big week of horizontal shooters for me! First I discovered Deathsmiles, a very gothic, occult-infused 2007 Cave bullet-hell arcade shooter that’s simply gorgeous, and its Castlevania-esque soundtrack does it no harm either! Forced me to finally get MAME going on my MacBook, then immediately started ...

6 October: Castlevania: Circle of the Moon - Castlevania Advance Collection (Switch) 10 October: Gleylancer (Switch) 15 October: Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance - Castlevania Advance Collection (Switch) 17 October: Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow - Castlevania Advance Collection (Switch) 17 October: ...

All about my favourite witchy cute ‘em up Cotton on Switch this week, with two more 30th anniversary releases coming to the West for the first time - SNES Cotton 100% and Mega Drive Panorama Cotton from the Mega Drive. Cotton 100% is a straight-up 2D shooter, remixing the original arcade game with n...

I played through Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow over a couple of evenings, and while I enjoyed every second (apart from a couple of unexpectedly nasty bosses), I was left wanting a bit more, both in terms of length (at around five hours) and what it was bringing to the party - bit by numbers. Still loo...