There’s a beat-’em-up revival going on at the moment and it’s all thanks to Capcom. Not content with delivering last year’s Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix for the 360 (or this year if you own a PS3) and creating the sheer awesomeness that is Street Fighter IV, they’re at it again!

It’s been one of gaming’s lousiest kept secrets – rumours have been circulating for months now – but Capcom has finally revealed that Marvel Vs Capcom 2 is heading to Xbox Live Arcade and Sony’s PlayStation Network. Boasting enhanced 1080p backgrounds and the ability to play online, we’re already predicting all sorts of awesomeness for the popular fighter and have already started pestering Capcom’s PR, Leo Tan with flattering emails in the hope of getting free codes.

One thing that’s particularly interesting is that all the characters – that’s 56 in total – will be unlocked from the very beginning, meaning the Dreamcast’s excellent unlock mode will be nowhere to be seen. Still, I only play with Strider, Ryu and Zangief anyway so it’s no skin off my nose.

There’s no news on prices yet, but we wouldn’t be surprised if it sells for a similar price to HD Remix (around £12). Needless to say we’ll bring you more news as soon as we get it.

Hulk smash! The green one takes on Spidey and Venom.

Spidey pulls off a devastating super. Go Spidey!

These are obviously PS2 shots, but you get the idea.

If you tried ordering our lovely binder recently, only to be told that it wasn’t in stock, then you’ll be pleased to know that it’s once again available. Yay!

Currently available in a truly astounding offer where you save an entire fiver if you buy three binders at the same time, it’s an amazing piece of kit that’s been perfectly designed to hold 13 issues of your favourite retro magazines, as adds that certain I Don’t Know What to any bookshelf.

We’ve also been informed that postage costs will be going up very soon, so be sure to order as soon as possible.

You can buy the Retro Gamer binder from www.imagineshop.com for just £9.99. Alternatively you can buy three issues for £24.97.

The sexiest binder in the world is now available for just £9.99.

Yowsers as Inspector Gadget would say.

Being the cool hip dudes that we are (no really). We’ve recently set up our on twitter account, meaning you’ll be able to find out just what a retro editor gets up to while he’s supposed to be working on the magazine. We’ll even give you subtle hints (or more glaring ones, as subtly isn’t one of my strong points) as to what will be appearing in the magazine. So why not follow us by signing up to Twitter and looking for RetroGamer_Daz.

We’re going to be bigger than Stephen Fry.

Look. I’ve been tweeting my ass off.

For the current issue’s Mega Drive celebratory feature we sent a whole bunch of questions to a whole bunch of videogame journos to gather a whole bunch of their thoughts on Sega’s wonder machine, and sadly not all of them got back to us in time to make it into the article.

At the time we fired off an email to Tom Guise (of MegaTech fame) he told us that he was in Macau playing poker to the early hours, so you’d think answering our questions would probably be the last thing on his mind. Not so. Amazingly Tom did get back to us and provided us with some really great answers about his memories of the Mega Drive, and we were royally miffed we didn’t have time to include them in the actual feature. Anyway, because I didn’t want them going to waste I asked Tom if he would be happy for us to post his answers onto our blog, and he kindly agreed.

Cheers Tom.
Can you recall the first time you ever saw a Mega Drive running, and what was your impression of the machine?

The first time I saw a Mega Drive running was only when I’d bought it. December 1990, 18 years old. Until that point, all I’d had was a long-defunct BBC Micro, but all my friends had Amigas (and previously, C64s), and I just wanted to play some cool games for Christmas. I’d earned some money from my cretinous job at the time, and just kept looking at the dazzling pictures of Altered Beast on the back of the box. Arcade-quality, the box said. It was, of course, a magnificent fabrication, and I was all set to return the machine in disgust, except, fortunately, I’d also bought Golden Axe. Kicking those little squeaking imps about to release little blue bottles, and thumping the dwarf (controlled, of course, by your friend) on the head with the butt of your sword – so as to simulate a forced blow job – sold me. I’d also bought Super Hang On, which truly was awesome. There weren’t many UK games out at the time. And, after misguidedly buying (and returning) the dire Last Battle and (the just plain mediocre) Super Thunderblade, I picked up the slightly pricier Ghouls ‘N’ Ghosts, mainly because it promised a two-player feature (in fact, alternating two-player action, you lying sh*&s). All was forgiven though, because it really was, and still is, one of the best games I’ve ever played. And then, when I saw the arcade original in my local sports centre cafeteria, I realised… Sega hadn’t lied to me – the Mega Drive really could have arcade perfect games (with slightly smaller graphics). Better, in fact – you couldn’t jump diagonally in the arcade game!

What is your all time favourite Mega Drive game and why?

Possibly the original Sonic the Hedgehog, just because it really was the first Mega Drive game that actually looked like something you couldn’t do on any other machine at the time. It was fast (really fast), stylish, cool, and it was amazing fun. I remember looking at it playing in the window of Rumbelows, next to Super Mario World, and it looked way better (in hindsight, SMW was obviously technically better). But that was what truly defined Sega and Nintendo fans at the time – superficial looks, instant gratification and cool versus technical edge, depth and challenge. I was an instant gratification junkie, still am. Funnily enough, I was just in Asia playing poker, sitting next a guy who is now a director of an online betting site, and I told him I used to write for games mags. “I know,” he said. “I used to read your stuff.” Which was spooky. Then he said, “I was on Gamesmaster once, for completing Act One of Sonic the Hedgehog in the fastest time.” “26 seconds,” I said instantly, and we both laughed knowigly. If you can’t do that, you never played your Mega Drive properly.

What is your favourite Sega series and why?

That would be the Virtua Fighter series, but you’re talking Mega Drive, right? As a series, the Sonic games, I guess, because they were all monumentally cool (I’m not including Spinball, and that s*!tty isometric one), and each one appeared at a defining moment in my Mega Drive history. Sonic 1 spurred me to get my job, Sonic 2 was around just when the world went Mega Drive mad (and we partied with Right Said Fred and Cathy Dennis at Hamleys), and Sonic 3 appeared during the peak of the machine’s technical power. I didn’t like his cross-eyed, waddling look though. I’m convinced the Americans were behind that freakshow.

We haven’t posted one of these up in a while, but after flicking through pages of the latest gamesTM, which landed into the office earlier this afternoon, I made a remarkable discovery. George from Rampage looks the spitting image of Donkey Kong…well, when viewed in 2600 vision anyway.

You might even say they’re trying to ape one another

…sorry, couldn’t resist.

Not content with putting himself through the emotional wringer on The King of Kong, teacher Steve Wiebe is once again attempting to snatch the high score from current holder Billy Mitchell.

The new attempt will be held at this year’s E3 and will be filmed for US television by G4, who also premiered the excellent documentary last year. Our advice is to keep an eye on the scoreboards at www.twingalaxies.com, because if the score does get beaten that’s where you’re going to find it first.

Inspired by Wiebe’s story (even though it was later revealed that the events depicted on-screen weren’t entirely accurate) Stuart has since dedicated an hour of his life each day to chasing Wiebe’s score. Sadly he’s still rubbish at it as the following screenshots prove.

Mario hits the floor yet again.

No record for you this week Stu.

Vic Tokai’s Trouble Shooter is basically a Forgotten Worlds clone but starring two ladies that sound like strippers. Sadly though, despite the stripper connection, Trouble Shooter is not a patch on the Capcom classic it takes inspiration from. TS’s missions are too short, the game is easier to finish than a Wagon Wheel and it even has a first boss that doesn’t actually do anything, just blows kisses for a bit before standing with his arm in the air waiting for you to end his sorry existence.

Weirdly, to attract Mega Drive shooter fans in the US, Vic decided it would be a good idea to adorn the box with this image of two eerie looking girls in leotards; girls who would probably look more at home airbrushed onto the side of a Waltzer carriage, or a long-distance lorry driver’s cab. What’s puzzling about this image (apart from the leotards), is that the girls seem completely nonplussed about the fact that behind them a fleet of green spaceships are blowing chunks out of their city.

This is TS’s first boss. Shoot him, make up lies about his sister, throw in some ‘your mamma’ jokes, it doesn’t matter. This guy will just stand there.

Occasionally he’ll pull an angry looking face that looks like he’s going to launch some rockets out of his ears - no such thing happens sadly. Eventually his head comes away and hovers around the screen to add some drama. We should have probably included a picture of this, but sadly we died of boredom before we actually reached that bit.