Now that we've all seen the trailer for The Dark Ages, the brand-new Doom game that will be taking us back to medieval times, there was at least one thing that stood out for me: the Shield Saw. The teaser showed all the usual chaos and demon-slaying we know and love about the series, but the saw-looking shield in the Slayer's po??ssession is next-level.

Well, if you're intrigued about getting to try it out on the denizens of hell, your chance has already arrived. As spotted by PC Gamer, a modder has already added the "Shield Saw" seen in the Dark Ages trailer into the original Doom.

The mod comes from user Craneo, in which they say they just "kinda ended up trying to make actual decorate [sic] for it." Soon after, they made the .WAD file available, which you can download from Google Drive here.

A slice of violence

You can check out the brief footage above before you decide to download the mod. Essentially, it seems to replace the classic chainsaw from the OG in favor of the newfangled ??Shield Saw.

We get to see the Doom Slayer?? hacking away at Zombies and Imps as per, but the real USP comes when they throw it at oncoming enemies. Upon contact, it basically turns monsters into a fine paste, so it's a pretty beefy weapon.

It's also just one of countless examples of how quickly the modding community can move. Remember, the teaser for the new Doom only went live a couple of days ago, and Craneo's?????????????????????????? mod was released less than 24 hours later. Efficient, ??I'd say.

The post Classic Doom gets the ‘Shield Saw’ from Dark Ages, thanks to this mod appeared first on Destructoid.

For the past 30 years, Doom has stood as one of the most influential first-person shooters of all time. Its 1994 follow-up �conveniently called Doom 2 �had just as much of an impact. Part of the reason these classic id Software games are still around is thanks to the speedrunning communit??y.

Now, more than two and half decades later, one user has managed to beat a long-standing record using a healthy blend of pixel-perfect techniques and sheer tenacity. Back in 1995, a runner called Demonlord managed to get through the first map of Doom 2 in an impressive t??ime of 6.83 seconds. This has now been bested after decades of attempts.

The new record holder goes by the username 4shockblast (real name: Aleksey Kamenev) who, at the start of this month, managed to get to the exit of "MAP01: Entryway" in an eye-wa?tering 4.97 seco?nds, a feat many (including Demonlord) thought was impossible.

How the frick??

In order to understand the skill and determination involved in this attempt, and why?? it's such a significant run, YouTuber Ka??rl Jobst goes through the history of some of the major attempts. While other players, such as Thomas Pilger in 1998, have proved it's possible to get through Entryway in under six seconds, any quicker than that felt almost out of reach.

Although it's a ?short level, the luck and timing needed to get the new record borders on witchcraft. Jobst explains that the main hurdle is the horde of enemies blocking your path down each corridor. This has resulted in speedrunners firing a stray shot early on in order to get zombies and imps to react and move towards the sound. In theory, this then creates a window of opportunity to s?lip past them quickly.

This also led to players attempting to get under five seconds, but with monsters not on the map. This at least allowed for pathing techniques, finding the most optimal routes to see if getting a time of four seconds was even possible. Even with additional strategies being implemented, such as a specific type of straferunning called "SR50" and using walls and enemies ("things") to boost speeds slightly, having monsters turned off meant r??uns were only "theoretical."

The long and the short of it is: there's a reason it took 26 years to beat Demonlord's record. While others �such as SSlasher in 2002�did manage to get below six seconds, it wasn't until 4shockblast's latest attempt that getting under five seconds was actually achievable. While the final time is 4.97, Doom 2's end screen rounds it down to just four seconds. It's a mighty impressive achievement, a??nd I fear the player who can do even better than that.

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Nightdive Studios has been hard at work bringing us remasters and remakes of classic FPS games from a bygone era. We've already had revamped versions of the first two Quake games, and now the developer is bringing back Star Wars: Dark Forces.

In a recent trailer on the studio's YouTube channel, Nightdive will be collaborating with Lucasfilm Games (formerly LucasArts) to create a remaster of the mid-90's Star Wars title.

//youtu.be/4b9TTurkH4c

The trailer (which demonstrates alpha footage) shows off some of the work so far. You'll definitely want to check out the renewed cut scenes. Much like previous projects done by Nightdive, it'll still look and feel like Dark Forces, but will be?????????????????????????? given a modern lift with 4K visuals, plus "advanced 3D rendering, modern gamepad support, trophies and achievements, and more."

The (dark) force is strong in this one

The original game was released all the way back in 1995, and was the first in the Jedi Knight series. It was developed on the aptly named Jedi engine, which is a toolkit that shares similarities with Build, the engine that powered the likes of Duke Nukem 3D and Shadow Warrior. Nightdive's remaster of the ancient Star Wars game will utilize the KEX engine instead, which the studio has used in a number of projects, including for the Quake remaster.

We recently got treated to a modern version of Quake 2, which improved ?the graphics (particularly in the lighting department) while also adding quality-of-life changes and t?he DLC.

At the moment, we don't know when Star Wars: Dark Forces will be coming out, but it's set to release on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo? Switch, and PC.

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Cblogs of 2/18 to 02/24/2023

-SlimeyBearXXL979990 picks a number of cool-looking indie games scheduled to be released in? 2023 or slightly beyond.

-TheCooperators think that Hogwarts Legacy is a bit too safe and boring in its game design.

-Lord Spencer reports on games A40-A31 on the addendum list to his Top 100 PS1 REVIEWS?? blogging series.

-Lord Spencer reviews C-12: Final Resistance as part of his PS1 REVIEWS blogging series.

-PhilsPhindings discusses the similarities between the soundtrack of Goonies II and Ragtime music.

-PhilsPhindings discusses the similarities between the soundtrack of Golden Axe 2 and Jazz music.

-PhilsPhindings discusses the similarities between the soundtrack of A Link to the Past and Ragtime music.

-Sleeeves shares a short story with us.

-ChronoLynxx opens this w??????????????????????????eek's TGIF community thread for random discussions.

Thanks for all of your fine blogs, opinions, and write-ups, folks. We appreciate each and every one of them. Thanks to Lord Spencer for taking the time out of ??their week to recap them for the front page. As always, if you wanna join in on the H?OT TAKE party, then head on over to the Cblogs section right now.

We are aware that the cblog editor has been incredibly testy of late. We apologize. We are hoping we can encourage someone more t?ech-savvy than ourselves to take a look at it this year.

The post What’s your favorite Sega Mega Drive soundtrack? appeared first on Destructoid.

A reimagined classic sets out next month

Ken and Roberta Williams' 3D interpretation of the classic Colossal Cave is set to launch next month. Colossal Cave will go live on January 19, 2023.

Announced tonight at The Game Awards 2022, the new version of this adventure is coming to Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC and Mac, and the Meta Quest 2. Previous generation consoles, the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, are expected to get Colossal Cave sometime in Q1 2023.

This 3D version of Colossal Cave is based on the original Colossal Cave Adventure, a classic text adventure game. Sierra On-Line co-founders Ken and Roberta Williams have taken that classic and made it 3D, moving from words and descriptions into full-on environments. There's still a narrator though, to capture some of th?at original feel.

The? goal is to traverse the cave, collect items, and return home safe and sound. Simple, it may seem, until you realize how much danger awaits in the cave.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBxihf4lIC0

Find the treasure and escape the cave

Getting a new version of a classic is something that happens quite often in games. But for both this particular game, and the developers behind it, Colossal Cave feels like a cool way to  honor the long legacy games have built up over the ?years.

I'm fascinated to dig into the cave for myself. This was a segment of PC gaming I never got around to, and it's been re-imagined by developers who have a lot of respect for the era. And Colossal Cave being playable in virtual reality on the Meta Quest 2 is pretty neat, too. Th?is is a neat?? convergence point of gaming history to kick off 2023.

The post Colossal Cave embarks for a n?ew journey on January 19 appeared first on Destructoid.

A surprising new retro project

Well-regarded composer and engineer Yuzo Koshiro is working on?? a new game for an old system. He's putting to??gether a game for the Sega Mega Drive / Genesis.

Koshiro shared some pictures of the project, running on an old TV to boot, over on his Twitter??. It may look old, but it's a new game "harkening b??ack" to famous franchises from the '80s, according to Koshiro.

His team plans to release this game for the Mega Drive (or Genesis in North America). They're considering a few different ideas for launching it, including selling actual physical carts.

Koshiro posted a series of tweets digging into the design?? and development of this project. He says the team wants to respect games of the days they love, and will make a game with a "new sy??stem, fascinating graphics, characters, and a soundtrack."

//twitter.com/yuzokoshiro/stat??us/1597788200491442176

Alongside the soundtrack, Koshiro is also back as a designer. He wants to make the difficulty "manageable," and make it so everyone playing ?the game can clear all the stages in easy mode.

As for the music, Koshiro will be going for some of the classic tools. It's the first time about three decades he's worked o??n Mega D?rive, so that's a pretty exciting prospect.

A classic throwback

Koshiro has garnered well-deserved acclaim for his composition and sound work in games, with Streets of Rage being one of the obvious highli??ghts. Knowing Koshiro's back not just for some new tunes, but a new game?? on the Mega Drive, is some exciting news for retro fans.

//youtu.be/yln1vew2mFs

The composer's been busy, too. Alongside this new project, Yuzo Koshiro is also set to contribute some tracks to Mina the Hollower, the next game from Shovel Knight studio Yacht Club Games.

The post Yuzo Koshiro is working on a new Mega Drive game appeared first on Destructoid.

An adventure classic is being remade from the ground up

Cyan is remaking another one of its classics, this time in Riven. The studio has announced it is developing a Riven remake from the ground up.

Riven, or Riven: The Sequel to Myst, will be getting a full, modern remake. Cyan's already produced a remake for Myst, and it seems like this will be a similar?? un??dertaking.

In an FAQ online, Cyan addresses the basics. Yes, this is a remake from the ground up, not a remaster. The new Riven remake will also be fully traversable in 3D.

No details on platforms or dates have been announced yet. But this will be a new game, so expect to buy a new product, rather than get it for free if you already have the classic Riven.

As to why Cyan is doing this now, and aft?er 25 years? Here's their explanation:

"Riven is one of the most highly regarded games in Cyan’s history. We didn’t want to approach it lightly or frivolously. Cyan is a small indie studio. We wanted to make sure we could tak??e on such a difficu??lt, costly and complicated endeavor �and do it well."

//twitter.co?m/cyanworlds/status/158706560?1339424770

Remaking the sequel to Myst

There was also a fan project in the works, the Starry Expanse Project, to remake Riven. Alongside news of the remake, Cyan confirms that project has been ceased development. The Starry Expanse team continues to exist, independent from Cyan, though the two teams collaborated early on to kickstart the official remake development, according to Cyan's letter. O??ne member of the Starry Expanse te??am has also been hired by Cyan.

"So for the first time publicly, we are happy to report that our effort to remake Riven officially here at Cyan is alive and well, and it was helped by the Starry Expanse team’s years of effort, enabling us to begin the huge task of rebuilding Riven from scratch," said Cyan. "With a very focused development team here at Cyan, Riven is well on its way to being reborn!"

The post Riven, the sequel to Myst, is getting a remake appeared first on Destructoid.

Roberta Williams' reimagining will also head to the Switch

Colossal Cave - Reimagined by Roberta Williams is adding? another platform to its lineup. The 3D remake of the adventure classic is now also finding a home on Nintendo Switch.

The remake of the original Colossal Cave Adventure is also aiming to launch on PC and the Meta Quest 2. No launch date has been set yet, though it has a window of Fall 2022.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=cn38Ailw7cA

We got news of the Colossal Cave reimagining earlier this year, with Sierra On-Line founders Ken and Rober??ta Will?iams revisiting the adventure classic.

Colossal Cave Adventure was originally a text-based adventure released in the '70s by Will Crowther and Don Woods. It was the inspiration for many games to follow. Zork, Rogue, and Adventure all owe a fair deal to this original game about searching a cave for treasure. And now the Williams are bringing it to 3D, on modern?? platforms??, and to a new generation.

"Colossal Cave - Reimagined by Roberta Williams will soon be accessible to gamers worldwide on an additional platform," said Ken Williams in a press release. "We hope to bring back the spirit of traditional adventure games for devoted fans who grew up with the original game and the new generation of explorers alike. We believe bringing Colossal Cave Reimagined by Roberta Williams to the Nintendo Switch will help us do that."

Dive further into the cave

The remake will head back into a cave, with players exploring a massive undergrou??nd labyrinth with their lantern? and dwindling oil supply. Many different sights and puzzles await down below, and this version will have several different easter eggs and hidden treasures to discover.

Switch getting a version of this seems fantastic. The portability is one upside, for sure. But having Colossal Cave head to a pretty popul??ar console alongside PC and VR mea??ns even more players could play it. It's nice to see a piece of gaming history re-released like this.

Colossal Cave is expected to launch in fall 2022.

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Some of the late-hits are toned down, though

Arcade1Up has another retro-revival arcade cabinet on the way, and this one's for the sports fans. The new NFL Blitz Legends cabinet combines three remasters of the popular over-the-top NFL Blitz series.

The three games in the cabinet are 1997's NFL Blitz, 1998's NFL Blitz '99, and NFL Blitz 2000: Gold Edition from ??1999. All three are remastered in the cabinet, which? will go for $599.

The cabinet features Arcade1Up's usual details, like full side art and a matching riser. Four spots are open for play too, so you can get the whole crew on the sticks for some Blitz. And while it's good for local co-op, the Blitz cab also supports online multi??player via Wi-Fi, as well as leaderboards.

For the cabinet, Arcade1UP partnered with the National Football League and Football Greats Alliance to feature all of the football greats. Th??is includes Dan Marino, Jerry Rice, Deion Sanders, Brett Favre, Jerome Bettis, Terrell Davis, and Cris Carter.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6TXv6b2GcE

Diving into the endzone

Some of the more rowdy violence has been a bit toned back, however. According to a press release, a specific set of tackles and after-the-whistle hits were removed or edited in the remastered versions of these three NFL Blitz games. These changes support the NFL's current Player Health and Safety Initiatives. So sorry, a little bit of the after-the-whistle shenanigans will be tuned down, as they've been in other releases.

This isn't the only big arcade cabinet announcement out of Arcade1Up in the last few weeks. The at-home cabinet designer also announced a Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 cabinet at Evo 2022, bringing the class??ic crossover and several other cross-franchise fighters together for ?a fighting game collection.

Pre-orders for the NFL Blitz cabinet are live here at the Arcade1Up site. Shipping is ?expected to start sometime in early October.

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The Mini 2 has more power, and includes some Sega CD titles

Sega's next mini retro console is also making its way to North America. The Sega Genesis Mini 2 will launch in Nort??h America on October 27, Sega confirms.

The Genesis Mini 2 is the follow-up to Sega's Genesis Mini, from 2019. Following in the? footsteps of other mini classic consoles, like the NES and SNES Classic or PlayStation Classic, it packed a bunch of Genesis games into a single little co??nsole box.

The Genesis Mini 2 will have more power, according to Sega, and a library of 50 classic games previously unreleased on the Genesis Min?i. This will also include some Sega CD titl??es, too.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPGTxSHKDFI

The console will come with the six-button Control Pad as we??ll. Controllers that released alongside the Sega Genesis Mini will still be ?compatible, too.

Sega's site has a current list of games for the console, which yo?u can find below.

Sega Genesis Mini 2 games (as of July 13, 2022):

• Sonic CD
• Shining Force CD
• Silpheed
• Mansion of Hidden Souls
• Night Striker
• Ninja Warriors
• After Burner II
• OutRun
• OutRunners
• Virtua Racing
• Super Hang-On
• Sonic 3D Blast
• Shining in the Darkness
• VectorMan 2
• The Ooze
• Bonanza Bros.
• Alien Soldier
• Rainbow Islands -Extra-
• Splatterhouse 2
• Rolling Thunder 2
• Lightening Force
• Fantasy Zone
• Star Mobile

Full-motion classics

There are a few more games to make their way in to get that count over 50. But with Genesis and Sega CD games on the docket, just about anything's possible. Here's hoping we somehow get some Lunar games or wild FMV tit????les on this classic console too.

The retro console is up for pre-order on Amazon right now, with a $103.80 price tag and a $21.99 shipping fee. It seems like the new Mini is an Amazon exclusive, so that looks to be the cost of the console.

The Sega ??Genesi?s Mini 2 arrives in North America on October 27, 2022.

The post Sega Genesis Mini 2 is coming to North America??? in October appeared first on Destructoid.

The closure of Bethesda's launcher apparently means free stuff

A few older pieces in Bethesda's back catalog are available on Steam for the low, low price of free. Several Elder Scrolls games, and a Wolfenstein entry too, are free on Steam right now.

The newfound freebie seems to be due to Bethesda's launcher going away later this year. As the company's ??own platform for launching plans to go down, its games are making their way onto Steam.

In the case of three, this means some free games. Those free Elder Scrolls and other games on Steam are:

• The Elder Scrolls: Arena
• The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall
• Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory

And if those whet your appetite, two more Elder Scrolls games are on Steam for cheap:

• An Elder Scrolls Legend: Battlespire
• The Elder Scrolls Adventures: Redguard

Both of those are only $5.99, ready to sate any need for some retro Elder Scrolls.

De-launcher

All the games are likely coming over as part of the de-launch of the Bethesda launcher. The company recently released some extra info on how to migrate everything over, as the switch fl??ips today, Ap?ril 27.

The migration tool goes live today and will allow users of the Bethesda launcher to transfer their games, progress, and wallet balance over to Steam. You'll have to re-download any games like Fallout 76 too, so keep that in mind.

Then, on May 11, the Bethesda launcher goes down. At that point, anyone who wants to play one of those games will need to do so? over on Steam or another pla?tform.

There are some incentives for making the jump though, as everyone who migrates between April 27 and May 11 will get some rank-ups on Fallout 76's seasonal scoreboard. And honestly, having all the games in one launcher is pretty nice. Fewer launchers and steps between games makes it a little easier to boot into a one-off game of Enemy Territory.

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All signs point to polygons

The internet is all aflutter this morning after users on ResetEra spotted Bandai Namco recruiting staff to develop what appears to be an HD remaster of an unnamed Nintendo classic.

The buzz came about following an update to the recruitment page of Bandai Namco's Japanese website, which is currently offering up a vacancy for a "3D action game designer." According to the job listing, the selected candidate will be responsible for planning and de??veloping a project that has been "commissioned by Nintendo." Additional roles advertised include a "3D background artist" and, most tellingly of all, a role that involves the importing and HD remastering ??of pre-existing 3D visuals.

So it seems, quite clearly, that Nintendo has commissioned Bandai Namco to develop a title built of one of the company's many 3D polygonal hits, for example, the multitude of titles that arrived on the N64 platform in the late-'90s. One might wonder why Nintendo would farm out the role to another developer, but the two studios have enjoyed a healthy relationship for many years, most recently coming together for work on titles such as Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Pokken Tournament, New Pokemon Snap, and ARMS.

For now, this is all a healthy dose of hearsay, but it seems a snug fit that we can expect a remaster announcement from The Big N in the near future. What title would you like to see overhauled for modern platforms? It will probably be a first-party affair, so we can sadly rule out Fighter's Destiny.

The post Nintendo commissioned Bandai Namc??o for an apparent HD remaster appeared first on Destructoid.

Where we're going, we'll definitely need some chainsaw legs

Classically-styled shooters are about to dip into the neon future. Trigger Happy Interactive announced today that its high-speed shooter Turbo Overkill is sliding into Steam Early Access on April 22.

Inspired by Doom, Duke Nukem, and Quake, Turbo Overkill is part of what I'd call the retro-revival genre of first-person sh?ooter. It's clearly imitating the classic circle-strafing arenas and high framerate firepower of older games, but with many modern adjustments. Yes, there are pixel-y chunks blasting everywhere, but also more modern tools like a grappling hook and chainsaw legs.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=ht0fbsgtw_4

Upgrade weapons over time, kill bosses for their augments, run on walls and fire mini-rockets from mid-air. Add on a cyberpunk neon sheen, and you've got Turbo Overkill.

I played the demo for Turbo Overkill during the recent Steam Next Fest, and can confirm that I was instantly reminded of classics like Quake. As good as the gunplay is, I had just as much fun running around its arenas, sliding through enemies with my chainsaw legs. It reminded me a bit of sliding and kicking enemies in Bulletstorm, in a very good way.

Turbo Overkill slides onto Steam Early Access with the first of its three planned episodes. That will have eight stages, with the number expected to triple on the way towards launch. As for the full 1.0 version, that's expected sometime later in 2022. When it does launch in full, Turbo Overkill will a??lso be coming to the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation, and Xbox consoles.

You can wishlist Turbo Overkill ahead of its Early Access release on Steam here.

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Square Enix responds to fans who noted that train wasn't flipping right

The Final Fantasy VI Pixel Remaster arrives this month, adding a new coat of paint to a classic?. And like with any classic, f??ans will notice if something's amiss, big or small. In this case, it was a train.

Square Enix recently shared a clip of the Phantom Train fight taken from the Final Fantasy VI Pixel Remaster on Twitter. It has Sabin, Shadow, and Cyan running, with the train in hot pursuit. And of course, there???? is the option to suplex the train with Sabin's Meteor Strike.

//twitter.?com/FinalFantasy/status/1492861365802790915

Fans, however, noted that the train was not being flipped upside down as part of the suplex. Sure, Sabin was lifting the Phantom Train clear off the tracks; but where is the flip?

//twitter.com/Fin?alFan??tasy/status/1494350803624247300

Square Enix posted a follow-up, addressing the lack of flip. The video was taken from a pre-release version,?? and the company says the Meteor Strike will be adjusted in time for launch. Do not fret, Sabin's feat of train annihilation will have proper form.

Jokes aside, this is a clear example of the fine details you gotta deal with in remastering a classic. Final Fantasy VI is in the category of games that fans have had ages to pore over and pay attention to every detail. And for good reason: it's a classic. Suplexing a Phantom Train is a classic part of Final Fantasy VI.

So yes, it sounds like the train will get properly suplexed at launch on Feb. 23, 2022.

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Some helpful hints and colorful pages await

With both EarthBound and EarthBound Beginnings on the Nintendo Switch Online library, subscribers could be hopping into the classic RPGs this weekend. And if you're one of them, you might want to pick up the EarthBound player's guide before you do, strai??ght from Nintendo.

Nintendo has put the full EarthBound player's guide up on their site, freely available to peruse and download. Players have found it QR code linked in the app, and it's also available at this link here.

//twitter.com/videogamedeals/status/149??176515169080116??8

The player's guide is not just a manual for EarthBound, but a pretty comprehensive guide to the whole game. At 135 pages long, it tracks the whole adventure from Onett on through the final battle. There are also guides and charts for weapons, food, condiments, Psi, and more. It's basically a handy guide to everything EarthBound, available in PDF form.

Even if you're not currently playing the classic RPG, the guide is interesting enough as a tome of game knowledge. It's got a lot ??of style and charm to it, befitting the game it's walking players through. There are fun little asides like the Onett Times ?sections, and little notes on different parts of the guide. There's an appeal to it, a reminder of a time when large guides for deep RPGs were more common. I almost want to print this out, hole-punch it and stick it in a binder.

EarthBound has Nintendo Switch Online subscribers excited for a reason, after all. The off-beat RPG about four kids braving the world and trekking through a comical, psychic power-infused journey has stood out over the years. Now that it's on Switch, there's one more easy way to play it. Plus, anything that might boost up the demand for a Mother 3 port is a good thing.

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We've come a long way

After over a year of the physical copy of the Shadow of the Colossus remake sitting on my shelf, I finally started playing it. I could immediately see why it was a classic �it's simple but elegant, has some cool lore, and I can absolutely understand what made it so revolutionary at its time. But I'd also be ly?ing if I said it felt amazing to play right from the start.

Just for some context, I haven't really played many games that came out before 2010, so even playing the remake, the controls are much jankier than I'm used to. In the first hour, that was my biggest point of contention, and let's ju??st say ?the gamer rage took over me at some points.

Of course, as I pushed through another hour, I slowly acclimated to everything, and settled into a rhythm. That's something I can really appreciate about Shadow of the Colossus as an ol?der game �it makes me slow down in ways that modern games do not.

I was not prepared for how much of this game would be waiting �waiting for Agro to slowly canter where I wanted him to go, waiting for the Colossus to enter its attack animation so I could jump aboard, waiting for the Colossus to stop trying to shake me off so I could stab it; you get the idea. Whereas more recent releases seem to throw as much at me as they can to hold my interest, Shadow feel?s really empty and minimal, and I mean that in a good way.

So yes, I've learned to appreciate this game a lot in spite of myself, but that doesn't mean it's wit??hout its flaws. Even in a remastered version, it shows its age in quite a few instances. I feel like I'm fighting with the camera all the time �it seems to move on its own a lot of the time, or move in ways that are counterintuitive to what I'm trying to do. During a fight that takes place over an area with tons of water in it, the camera was low enough that it would clip under the surface whenever I aimed up at all, which was kind of important because I was fighting a flying Colossi. Not my favorite.

Were older games really harder?

Naturally, I got to talking with my roommate about my frustrations with the game, which led to a discussion about older games in general. As a gamer of a younger generation (my first console, ironically, was the PS2), I often hear people talk about how much harder games used to be back in the day. The more extreme gamers even imply that the gamers of today have gone soft, because they don't have really hard games to help them build character,? or something like that.

As someone who has more recently come to appreciate the experience of challenging myself with games, I understand this sentiment more than I used to, but I don't long for t??he days when you'd have to replay huge sections of a game because there was no autosave, or when you'd have to give up on a game entirely because of its difficulty. Older games were often difficult by design, but I've also found that many of them take longer to play because of design choices that I don't think were particularly intentional.

[caption id="attachment_306438" align="alignnone" width="1280"] _{[Image Source: Gameranx]}[/caption]Part of what makes modern games what they are is not the fact that they're easier, but that they have a whole swath of quality-of-life upgrades that didn't exist tw?enty years ago. Whether or not games are easier these days is a subject that's still up for debate, but I do know one thing for certain: games are just more convenient now.

Like I said, I enjoy how Shadow of the Colossus makes me slow down in ways other games don't, but I'm also not a kid with no internet playing this on summer vacation. Unfortunately, I am an adult ?with adult responsibilities, which means I have much less time to spend playing games than I would like.

The sheer difficulty of classic games that you just have to brute force your way through has its merits, but man, sometimes I think about how glad I am that we've come this far wi?th game design, because it's all much more ef??????????????????????????ficient than it used to be.

[caption id="attachment_306439" align="alignnone" width="2560"] _{[Image Source: Variety]}[/caption]PlayStation developers even acknowledged how certain aspects of the game remain true to the original, even if it meant keeping the gameplay slower than modern players are used to. The producer of Shadow of the Colossus' remake gave some insight into their process in a PlayStation Blog post from back in 2018:

"There are things we decided we weren't going to change. For instance, Wander still standing still to fire a bow. Everything about Shadow is very deliberate. The way Wander moves throughout the world is heavy. It's not light and fast and arcadey. He carries the burden of his actions in how he moves. Making the game the way you remember it is the most important mission we have, regardless of ??everything else."

What really strikes me is that last sentence. After beating the?? first three Colossus, I probably would have disagreed with him, and wanted even more modernizations on top of the few changes they did end up implementing. But now that I have settled into that rhythm, now that I kind of get it in a way that I didn't in the beginning, I guess I'm glad they kept it the way they did, warts and all.

The remake finds a good middle ground of making a gaming classic more accessible wh??ile still keeping true to what made the original a classic in the first place.

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Bond could be back in action on the Xbox

A leaked set of achievements seem to indicate that classic console FPS Goldeneye 007 could be coming to the Xbox ecosystem. As logged on TrueAchievements, a full set of rewards for a version of Goldeneye 007 has appeared online.

The nabbed list of achievements has 55 tasks to complete for 1,000 gamerscore. These include obvious ones, like completing? maps like Dam and Facility on any difficulty. But there are others with more specific requirements, like some for unlocking Paintball Mode and the Golden Gun, or scoring 100 kills in multiplayer matches. My favorite is definitely the achievement for playing Slappers Only on Complex.

//twitter.com/Wario64/status/1477108966513467392

Back in 1997 when it first launched, Goldeneye 007 was the hallmark of dorm room splitscreen parties on the Nintendo 64. Its legacy has remained over the years too, even as more re-releases and updated versions have arrived. That includes a Wii version of Goldeneye 007 and Goldeneye 007: Reloaded.

Still, a lot of fans want the original back in its original form. The classic Goldeneye 007 was noticeably absent from the Rare Replay collection, though. And attempts have been made in the past by Rare and Microsoft, though they reportedly ran into complications.

The achievements leaking certainly seem like a surefire smoking Golden Gun for a modern Goldeneye port. And honestly, the time does seem right; my nostalgia for an older era of console shooters has been in overdrive with the launch of Halo Infinite. I was also prone to the occasional splitscreen Slappers Only match myself, and I'm interested to see what Goldeneye is like, decades of console FPS devel?opment later.

//twitter.com/007/status/1477237155013578758

We'll see in the coming weeks and months of the new year, I imagine, how this all pans out. But with the blue-checkmark James Bond Twitter account hinting at special things to come in celebration of Bond's 60th, Goldeneye 007 sure seems primed to re-emerge.

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Yo, I don't know what all those birds are about

Hamster is still feeling that old-school Namco love, with this week's release a forgotten example from the studio that would eventually bring us Ridge Racer, Tekken, and Soulcalibur. It's the Arcade Archives version of Sky Kid, on PS4 and Nintendo Switch.

Released to arcades in 1985, before later getting ported to the NES by Sunsoft, Sky Kid is a very basic and rudimentary shmup title, that sees unlicensed t?akes on World War I figures "The Red Baron" and "The Blue Max", shooting down enemy planes while bombing a variety of mission-based objectives. The player can also perform an aerobatic loop-de-loop in order to get out of a jam or impress a gaggle of girls (no, really). After bombing the requisite target and securing a safe landing, the player moves on to the next mission.

As you can see from the video below, (courtesy of YouTuber Jack Plays), Sky Kid is very formative shmup stuff. Slightly unnerving is the game's penchant for horizontally scrolling from right to left, as opposed to the left-to-right that would become the genre standard in the ensuing years. Namco would follow this release with the updated Sky Kid Deluxe?????????????????????????? in 1986, which utilized Namco's new System 86 hardware to offer improved visuals, more frantic action, and slicker sound.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ChHzsxA1sQ

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Sister Street Fighter

Now here's an oddity that's right up yer boy's alley. This week's Arcade Archives release �fresh from the retro publisher Hamster �is Taito's adorable, ass-kicking release Typhoon Gal,?? now available to download on PS4 and Nintendo Switch.

Hip-tossing its way into arcades in 1985, Typhoon Gal is the story of a spunk young judo master, Yuki, as she attempts to defend the honor of her Dojo from an army of male attackers, determined to put our hero in what they perceive to be her place. With fists, feet, and an array of acrobatic throws, Yuki dishes out a much-deserved kicking to her opponents inside her dojo, in the surrounding woodland, and even in the temple of her arch-rivals, bringing the violence to her detractors' front door. In typical, old-school arcade style, Typhoon Gal simply repeats itself ?over and over, allowing Yuki to mount quite the body count.

Check out our girl in action in the video below, courtesy of YouTuber Aldo Computers.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7a9ayEWXLM

While understandably simplistic, Typhoon Gal is a helluva fun release. An early entry to the brawler genre, sporting cute, colorful imagery and fun, entertaining combat, Typhoon Gal deserves a better legacy in the annals of video game history. Importantly, its dedicated?? gal protagonist, single-handedly laying waste to an endless supply of male enemies �sending them scurrying away in shame �was an incredibly novel narrative for 1985's gaming scene, and rightly places our pink-Gi hero among the most pioneering of gaming's woman protagonists. Kudos to?? you, Yuki, kudos.

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