Manic Miner and Jet Set Willy creator Matthew Smith is joining forces with Elite Systems for a brand new game.

Little is known about the project at the moment, but knowing Smith’s previous work we expect it will have strong ties to retro gaming and plenty of surrealist British humour (we hope so anyway).

We hope to have more details and insight for you in RG, but until then check out the game’s website for updates and further info. There you can also watch a video interview with the man himself.

So what form do you suppose this new game will take? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.

A Mega CD copy of Fatal Fury Special, one of the rarest games for the machine, has sold for £645 on eBay.

Fatal Fury Special is considered to be one of the hardest PAL games to find, with only a handful of copies known to be in the hands of collectors.

Fatal Fury Special was released for the Mega CD in 1995, the year before the machine was discontinued by Sega.

A twilight release for the unsuccessful console, we suspect that JVC took the decision to publish it to try to capitalise on the beat-’em-up craze that was sweeping gaming during the mid-Nineties, but did so cautiously by releasing it in limited numbers.

Interestingly, issue 46 of Sega Pro (June 1995) came packaged with a playable demo of Fatal Fury Special. And for collectors this is as close many ever get to playing it.

The seller appears to be an independent record shop in Norwich, and we would hazard a guess – judging from their unassuming description of the game – they were unaware that the game was so sought after.

The version appears to be in very good condition, which may explain why it sold for the price it has.

A spiritual Ecco The Dolphin sequel could be heading to game shores if a new Kickstarter campaign meets its target.

Ecco The Dolphin was one of the more unique games on the Mega Drive.  A serene action-adventure game that saw the titular porpoise on a mission to find the whereabouts of his pod after it gets mysteriously sucked from the ocean, it was a massive hit for Sega and spawned several sequels.

Since 2000 though, following the release of Dreamcast sequel Defender Of The Future, the series appears to have sank to the bottom of the ocean and been forgotten about.

Well, game designer and producer Ed Annunziata has brought together members of the original Ecco The Dolphin team to try to salvage the essence of the series with a brand new game project, funded through Kickstarter, that will have clear ties to the franchise.

Named The Big Blue, Annunziata describes it as a ‘next generation, underwater, adventure game’.

While previous Ecco games were a mixture of shooter, puzzler and adventure game, the project (which is looking for USD $665,000 of fudning) will mark a slightly different direction by allowing players to control a whole aquatic ecosystem and breed and manage their own sea life.

The setting also sounds pretty intriguing too: an ocean one million years in the future.

As well as members of the original creative team, Annunziata will also be teaming up with acclaimed videogame musician Spencer Nielsen for the project – assuring fans that music will again play a big part in his team’s vision for the game.

More information about The Big Blue can be found on the Kickstarter page. The deadline for pledges is Monday Apr 29, 10:11am EDT.

NeoGeo X to recieve 15 new games with NeoGeo Classics: Volume 1

Those in possession of a NeoGeo X will be pleased to learn that 15 more classic NeoGeo titles have been announced for the handheld, which will be released as part of a compilation pack called NeoGeo Classics: Volume 1.

Released in April, the collection comprises a nice mix of games across a variety of game genres.

Fight fans have it the best though with Garou: Mark Of The Wolves and The Last Blade 2 featuring, though we’re also pleased to see the superb blaster Shock Troopers is also included.

In addition to the games, the pack will also come bundled with a ‘rocket’ data transfer/travel charger cable, and a system update.

Anyway, here’s a complete list of the games:

• Art Of Fighting 3
• Blazing Star
• Breakers Revenge
• Fatal Fury: Mark Of The Wolves
• Kizuna Encounter
• The King Of Fighters ’96
• The Last Blade 2
• Metal Slug 2
• Samurai Shodown 3
• Savage Reign
• Sengoku
• Shock Troopers
• Super Sidekicks 3 – The Next Glory
• Top Hunter
• World Heroes Jet

The latest Nintendo Direct presentation outlines Nintendo’s game plan for the Wii U

It’s not been the most promising of starts for the Wii U so far. Compared to previous Nintendo hardware launches, the console received a small and less than stellar line-up of Nintendo-grown launch titles bolstered by the excellent Zombie U and ports of triple-A games also available on other systems. Where’s the F-Zero, the Super Mario 64, the Pilotwings 64?

Well Nintendo has just wrapped up its latest Nintendo Direct presentation, outlining its plans for the console going forward and giving us a teasing glimpse at some of the new Wii U titles we can look forward to.

Rather then breakdown the entire presentation, instead here is a rundown of the retro related announcements from the event. Most are predictable (new Zelda, Super Mario and Mario Kart titles) but some may surprise.   

• Two Zelda games announced for Wii U by series’ producer Eeji Aonuma.
• New 3D Super Mario game is currently in the works from Super Mario Galaxy creators EAD Tokyo Software Development team. It will be playable at this year’s E3.
• New Mario Kart for Wii U, again said to be revealed in playable form at this year’s E3.
• The team behind Kirby’s Epic Yarn are giving Yoshi a similar treatment with the sort-of sequel Yarn Yoshi.
• New Smash Bros. for Wii U. It sounds like it’s fairly early into development, as Nintendo says more development time is needed before it will be in a state to reveal.
• Nintendo and Atlus are teaming up on a new RPG title that will have ties to the Fire Emblem and Shin-Megami Tensei franchises.
• Virtual Console is heading to Wii U springtime, via a system update. Purchased NES and Super NES games can transferred to the Wii U free of charge, though Nintendo is allowing customers the option to purchase ‘enhanced’ versions (how they’ll be enhanced has yet to be explained) of games they already own at the discounted price of £0.99 (NES titles) and £1.49 (Super NES titles).  
• This year marks the 30^th anniversary of the release of the Famicom in Japan, and to celebrate Nintendo is making one NES or Super NES game available for £0.30 every month from now through to July. Now while this may sound very generous, by our reckoning that’s only 6 games – the first of which is Balloon Fight. One a week would have been better.    

For more information on the presentation, including details on Bayonetta 2, The Wonderful  101 and the stunning new RPG from Monolith Soft, visit our sister site Nowgamer.

A rare Jaguar VR Headset has appeared on eBay and can be yours for $14,500  

What could $14,500 buy you? Let’s see, you could buy 1450,000 one cent sweets, almost treat yourself to a couture Barbie costume, or go to cinema and watch the latest Hobbit movie (in un-3-D mind) over 1800 times. Or, you could just blow it all on a rare Jaguar VR headset.

The Jaguar VR headset was never released commercially. According to the item description by the eBay seller, only two ‘working’ prototype models are believed to exist and what makes this particular headset a bit more special than the others is that it has the Jaguar logo markings on it.

Included in the sale is a load of other VR related stuff, including a copy of Missile Command 3D (the only known compatible game for the system) and the VR gun peripheral. Oddly though, for the price, no console to actually use it on.

Mega CD collectors are in for a treat this month, as two rare unofficial PAL titles go on re-release

In the mid ‘90s Sony developed two games for the Mega CD, and though both projects were finished neither got released. The games in question are Star Strike and Bug Blasters, and both are FMV shoot-‘em-ups - an amusing style of game the Mega CD became renowned for.

Despite being discarded by Sony back in the day, the two games were given a lease of life in 2001 when Good Deal Games purchased the rights to them and produced and sold 5 copies of each. Naturally, the exclusivity and extremely limited print run of the two titles made them very desirable.

Well, those who missed out on owning the games first time round now have another chance. A collector has secured the license from Good Deal Games to produce and sell 100 (we believe) copies of each game, and they are currently available to buy via eBay.

We expect them to go fast, so if you want to bag yourself copies you best get in quick.

Star Strike

Bug Blasters

Story: RetroCollect.com

It’s certainly not getting any better, as these examples illustrate

Packaging for retro games is often the subject of mockery. However, given the staggering budgets that are afforded to triple-A games these days, you’d expect a few quid to be spent on creating some iconic and attention-grabbing box art. It’s therefore reasonable to also expect videogame packaging to have improved from past generations, right?

Well, below are some examples that suggest otherwise, plus evidence of a trend that seems to have emerged within videogame cover design, one which finds designers sticking an image of game X’s player-character against a bland foggy background (or in the case of Hitman: Absolution, the colour red), before hitting send and shutting down their computers for the day.

Bad title, bad box art. Who is Jimmie Johnson? From this image we’d hazard a guess a weatherman. We’ve not played Anything With An Engine, but it looks like Street Racer meets Scrapheap Challenge.

You’d be forgiven for thinking this fan art, but actually it’s the official artwork that was used for the Japanese release of Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon.

We apologies to your eyes in advance.

The goggles, they do nothing!

And finally, evidence of this amusing packaging pattern that’s appeared this console generation. There are plenty more examples, believe us. Feel free to link to more in the comments section below.

A Swedish homebrew coder has just released a version of Castlevania for the Atari 2600

Not really a conversion of the MSX 2 and Famicom Disk System original – which went on to enjoy most popularity on the NES, Castlevania 2600 is actually a ROM hack of another Konami game called Roc ‘N Rope, which was ported for the console around 1984.

Playing the legendary vampire hunter Simon Belmont, you must collect all the pick-ups that are scattered around the level and then safely reach the exit to progress to the next stage.

Out to stop you are re-spawning monsters, and these must be carefully avoided, or temporary subdued with your whip, as you make your way up the platforms using a grappling hook.

Given the gameplay and theme, the game actually has more in common with Konami’s obscure Famicom Disk System game Arumana No Kiseki than Castlevania, but hey, we’re not ones to ever look a fun gift demake in the mouth.     

If you’re a fan of the series then be sure to check it out. The author, who calls himself Rabbit 2600 on the Atari Age forums, has posted a download link to the ROM on the website, which can be found here.

The 1985 arcade smash Space Harrier will be released for the 3DS next week in Japan.

Just a rumour last month, the cat is now officially out the bag. Space Harrier 3D will be available to purchase from Nintendo’s Japanese 3DS eshop as of Boxing Day.

Space Harrier 3D will be a conversion of the original arcade game but with a few added features. These will encompass a selection of play, visual and control modes – including one said to simulate the sound and movement of the original arcade game. Quite how that will work, though, is beyond us.

Space Harrier still plays great today, and is a game that we can see working really well in 3D. And let’s not forget Sega did attempt it once before with Space Harrier 3-D on the Master System (see image above).

Currently there is no word on whether Space Harrier 3D will receive a UK release, but here’s hoping Nintendo and Sega permit us to return to the Fantasy Zone on our 3DSs next year.