Retro

Video gaming's first yellow circular celebrity has turned 30 this year, and instead of getting trashed with friends Inky, Blinky, Pinky and Clyde, he's taking a trip down memory lane, through the highlights (and low-lights) of his prestigious career.

After the success of the Bioshock franchise, many have tried to look back at other games involving creator and lead writer Ken Levine. Most roads lead back to System Shock 2, a game that was obviously a deep influence for the team’s later work on Bioshock. For the first time, System Shock 2 has been made available on Steam, a chance for gamers to look back at an important part of gaming history. Despite a few crow's feet, it has managed to age very well.

Pester is a top-scrolling shoot 'em up where you fly your ship against tons of enemy fighters, dodging an occasionally absurd amount of enemy fire, grabbing power-ups and wiping out as much alien scum as you can before you lose all your lives. It's as simple a concept as it ever was, with the arrow buttons controlling your movement.

Sonic After the Sequel is a fan made retro-inspired Sonic game set between Sonic 2 and 3 that was released as a free download this week. It's not a hack or a rebuild of something SEGA decided to ditch, but a full game designed and made from scratch, with new levels, new opponents, new obstacles and new music. If you didn't know much about Sonic history, you'd be forgiven for thinking this game is some long lost Genesis title. Perhaps the biggest compliment I can give it is that it feels like that regardless of when it was released or which platform it ...

Back in the days when 64 kilobytes of RAM was impressive, there was the Commodore 64. Released in August 1982 (with a price tag of $595), the Commodore 64 brought 16 colors, three-channel sound, and it's iconic blue start up screen to American households, and quickly dominated the home gaming market with titles like Last Ninja 2, Maniac Mansion, and Sid Meir's Pirates! (plus it had awesome peripherals like the prehistoric mouse and the 'Datasette').

After downloading my copy of Amiga Forever, I came across a friend who was so excited for this emulator that he'd changed his status to "Amiga Forever" on Skype. What I'd taken as a simple emulator (with a little hype behind it) was actually something that others had supported for years (since 1997), people who had awaited the official release over modern AAA titles. What was it about this pack that got these people so excited? What can Amiga Forever do that other such emulators fail to?

I have a magazine from when the PS1 classic Metal Gear Solid was originally released, upon which is the quote "[Metal Gear Solid] gave me flashbacks." Sometimes I look at this magazine to remind me just how far things have come, and how well we thought we had it back in the day. Either way, Metal Gear Solid was a big enough deal that it kept getting front cover treatment for months after release, and even today it manages to stand up with the best of them. By bearing in mind a few more permanent cobwebs, Metal Gear Solid still manages to be a top title.