Retro Weekly Roundup – 9th October
Another week has passed, and that means Rings & Coins is here to wrap up all the latest happenings concerning all things retro gaming. I won’t lie it’s not a long list this week, but as with any news, that doesn’t mean what we have is any less important, especially to those interested. So, without wasting anymore time, let’s get on with the roundup.
Players around the world are currently enjoying Hideo Kojima’s final Metal Gear title, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. However, ever since the release of Metal Gear Solid on the PSone in 1999, players have longed for a modern remake of the MSX classic, Metal Gear. A game that introduced us all to Solid Snake and Big Boss. Since Hideo Kojima has now completed his work on the series, this is looking less and less likely, and one diehard fan has decided to take things into their own hands.
Game modder Boker, who’s real name is Jose Bravo de Mansilla, is currently recreating the original Metal Gear utilising the gameplay style popularised in Metal Gear Solid, calling the project Outer Heaven. This is all being done with the latest Unreal Engine 4 technology, and whilst it is unknown if Konami may try to take the game down, Boker is not aiming to make any profit from the project. In fact given that the recent Resident Evil 2 fan remake spurred Capcom on to recreate the game themselves we may have a happy conclusion from this one way or another. Either way, what this labour of love does show, is that there is more than enough demand to return to Snake and Big Boss’ original tale, especially following The Phantom Pain’s release.
Moving on from this, and once again proving the demand for retro gaming on modern platforms, SEGA and M2, the team who develop the 3D SEGA Classics range alongside SEGA, have been reflecting on the project. Having just finished the most recent wave of 3D classics with the legendary Sonic the Hedgehog 2, M2 have reiterated their commitment and love for the project. A project that M2 President Naoki Horii is clearly proud of, as seen through the following quote:
I’m deeply moved by the fact that my 3DS has become, you could say, a SEGA Console in its own way.
Additionally, in the same interview, SEGA Games Producer Yosuke Okunari made some refreshing comments regarding the memories that many will have of SEGA’s back catalogue, and how SEGA haven’t taken the job of bringing these to both new and old audiences alike lightly:
I’m sure many from my generation will consider the 1980’s as the era of video games, with numerous SEGA games released for arcades and Mega Drives. This project was the perfect chance for us to convert the games from that era, one by one putting our full effort behind it, so I’m very thankful for the experience and it will honestly be a happy memory I take forward with me for a long time.
Whilst all sounding very final, thankfully this is not the end of the 3D SEGA Classics range, and since this interview more have been announced, including 3D Power Drift. Here’s looking forward to more 3D classics on the Nintendo 3DS to complement Nintendo’s range of Virtual Console releases.
Finally, whilst M2 and SEGA have been faithfully bringing back some of the biggest hits from the Mega Drive / Genesis catalogue, one game that never found its way to the classic 16-bit platform back in the 90s has finally arrived. Well, sort of. That game is Putty Squad, a game that whilst originally developed for the Amiga 1200 back in the early 90s, it was in fact only ever released in Europe, and for the Super Nintendo rather than the Amiga as planned.
In fact the game never actually found its way to an official release for its intended platform until 2013, the same year in which a remake was made for modern consoles. What’s more, publisher Ocean had also planned and developed a Mega Drive / Genesis version of the game that was also never released. Whilst this version is sadly not getting an official release, the ROM has recently been released online, concretely proving the existence of this long discussed port, and allowing people to try it for themselves.
So unfortunately that’s it for this week’s retro weekly roundup. However, we’ll be back next week with all the news from the world of retro, regardless of how much or how little there is. Also, if you’ve got any news you’d like to submit for the roundup hit me up at @DudeXChill or Rings & Coins at @RingsAndCoins. Finally, make sure to check back in tomorrow when I look at Sonic’s debut appearance, and no it’s not Sonic the Hedgehog….