The biggest problem with visiting retro events is that they always come to an end far too quickly.

The same thing happened with this year’s Retro Reunited, a truly impressive effort pulled off by first time retro organiser Gordon Sinclair (or SirClive as he’s known on the Retro Gamer forum). Thanks to able help from the likes of Chris “Retro Fusion” Wilkins and Matt “Byte Back” Corne, Gordon was able to pull off a truly spectacular event that not only raised many hundreds of pounds for the homeless charity Shelter, but sold over 300 tickets and saw avid retro gamers travelling from all over the country.

Housed at the Cedar Court Hotel in Huddersfield (enabling many a visitor to stay overnight and indulge in both alcohol and classic gaming conversation) the even itself took place in two huge halls and was wisely split up.

Retro Reunited Part 1

The main hall featured practically every key console and computer you could think of (as well as quite a few other more obscure machines) while the second hall housed Acorn World and the many interviews that took place over the two days.

While Jon Hare was sadly unable to attend, Jamie Woodhouse, Jon Ritman, Archer Maclean and Charles Cecil were just a few of the celebrities who were on hand, and all of them gave fantastic discussions on both their pasts and the current state of the industry.

Archer even brought his new game Wheelspin down, which immediately impressed everyone thanks to its slick gameplay and fantastic visuals.

For many though the main reason for going was to play classic retro games and Retro Reunited certainly didn’t disappoint. Split into many zones, there were a huge variety of machines and games on offer ranging from the humble C64 and Spectrum, to more exotic fare like the Famicom Twin, PC Engine and PCFX. Arcade machines were on offer as well, including Tony Temple’s Missile Command (on which he got the world record) and John Stoodley’s Pac-Man cab. There was even a Battlezone standup, which I’ve not played since I was a nipper.

Retro Reunited Part 2

Seriously, what the hell happened to Bub and Bob? Swollen eyes, glazed look and bloated bodies; they look like they’ve just received hurried brain surgery from a baby. In fact, we reckon that if you were to stick a neon sword that launched fireworks into one brother, the other would just remain in that sedate state with that dumb expression splashed on his face for all eternity. Yep, something’s obviously not quite right here.

The new Sonic game is due next year and will be more in-keeping with the traditional Sonic gameplay of old, according to Sega. After a slew of so-so (Sonic Rivals) and lame (Sonic Unleashed) Sonic games, the Japanese developer has announced that the new title, currently codenamed Project Needlemouse (the original working title for the eponymous mascot before Sega christened him Sonic), will spin its way onto unconfirmed consoles in 2010.

Furthermore, and this is eked from the trailer, which gives very little away, ‘Speed returns in an all-new 2D adventure built from the ground up’ (we’ve italicised the important and promising words in that preceding sentence). Also, speaking to GameSpot, Sega associate brand manager Ken Balough confirmed that Project Needlemouse was a response to “old-school Sonic fans” who “have long asked to see Sonic return to a more 2D style of gameplay.”

So there you have it, straight from the brand manager’s mouth – Sonic is going back to his 2D roots and Sega has finally listened to what ardent and passionate Sonic fans have been requesting for years. Hopefully this’ll mean no more annoying preschool-looking characters like Charmy Bee or Big the Cat, no repetitive Crash Bandicoot bits, no guns or motorcycles, no Werewolves, Count Draculas, Swamp Things, or any other mythical creature taking possession of one half of Sonic’s body and gameplay, but instead a return to that exhilarating and classic Sonic gameplay that exudes elation and fun from every pixel.

So if we had to speculate as to what Sega has planned for Sonic, we’d hazard a guess that it’s going right back to the beginning with the franchise and is maybe looking to plant a younger and more spritely Sonic in the starring role (a bit similar to what Nintendo did with Super Mario World 2 perhaps?). We think the trailer kind of gives the impression that the game could take that direction – Sonic’s silhouette looks really quite tiny and the game’s telling project name seems to back this thinking. So what do you guys think?

“An Application may not itself install or launch other executable code by any means, including without limitation through the use of a plug-in architecture, calling other frameworks, other APIs or otherwise. No interpreted code may be downloaded and used in an Application except for code that is interpreted and run by Apple’s Published APIs and built-in interpreter(s).”

Still with us? Anyway; to cut a long story short, in a bid to protect Cocoa Touch - the software building platform for iPhone - Apple’s SDK prevents third-party developers from releasing applications that have their own executable run-time images (roms) and it was thought that this revelation could spell the end of emulators appearing on the platform. However; the good news is that Manomio - the company behind the app - has tweaked its emulator to abide with the SDK and its release has now been given the all clear by Apple.

The emulator can be bought for £2.99 and now comes packed with the games Dragon’s Den, Le Mans, Jupiter Lander, Artic Shipwreck and Jack Attack, more games are on the way.

Download service Good Old Games is offering a ‘buy one, get one free’ deal on all Interplay games to celebrate it’s first birthday

“Looking back at the first year, I think we can say it’s been a really successful time for us – we’ve added lots of great publishing partners and amazing games. But we couldn’t have achieved any of that success without our fans, who support us in so many ways. We decided to say thank you to our fans and run this promo,” said Adam Oldakowski, Managing Director of GOG.com.

That means you could snag any two of Interplay’s back catalogue, which includes such retro-tastic delights as Earthworm Jim, Fallout 1 + 2, Citizens: Giant Kabuto, Freespace, Kingpin, MDK and Shogo: Mobile Armor Divison to name but a few, for just $5.99. The site features over 140 classic games, including Heroes of Might and Magic I through III, Duke Nukem 3D and Beneath a Steel Sky, which is free to all GOG.com users.

The Interplay promotion lasts until the early hours of September 9, but NowGamer is also giving you the chance to win 15 titles of your choice from GOG.com. Find out details on how to enter on the NowGamer forum.

Invincible Tiger: The Legend Of Han Tao has been made available on the Xbox Live Arcade courtesy of publisher Namco Bandai. The game’s notable for being one of the first developed in true stereoscopic 3D – you’ll need an expensive new 3D TV to get the most out of it, however. We played it at Develop, and although Andrew Oliver had us just about sold, we’re happy to wait until the price of said hardware comes down significantly.

Invincible Tiger can also be played in 2D, however, and its Bruce Lee-style chopsocky antics are well worth a look. Players can also try viewing with the old-style anaglyph (red and blue) 3D glasses. Follow the link to read our Andrew Oliver Q&A, or scroll down to read some of the features from the game’s press release.

• Team up with a partner and take on the Evil Overlord’s diabolical army through Story Mode Co-op.
• Battle through each level, dealing with increasing difficulty and a shared Zen-meter.
• Learn combat techniques in the single-player game and use them to beat your enemies into the dust.
• Experience Endurance Mode where you’ll face an endless stream of enemies under a time limit.
• Post your scores online for bragging rights.

Story via NowGamer.com

Ok, let’s see how many rubbish worm related puns we can squeeze into the next paragraph. Here goes;

Following the recent announcement that the first two (and best) Earthworm Jim games will soon be worming [1] their way to Virtual Console, Earthworm Jim fans prepare to soil [2] your leg-shirts once again with the news that the spacesuited annelid has been plucked even further from the ground [3] of franchise limbo by the beak [4] of Gameloft, who are said to be working on a brand new instalment in the highly successful platforming series.  

Currently titled Earthworm Jim 4, the game is said to be heading to mobile phones, WiiWare, PSN and Xbox Live. Gonzague de Vallois, senior vice president of Gameloft had this to say about the game;

“We are delighted to partner with Interplay to bring Earthworm Jim to multiple downloadable platforms. The game, with its humorous and edgy style, is a great fit for today’s gamer who craves a fully immersive experience that is fun and easily accessible. We look forward to delivering a fantastic game.”  

And Herve Caen, CEO of Interplay, believes that Gameloft’s creativity could deliver an Earthworm Jim game that holds appeal to a new audience.

“Earthworm Jim resonates with millions of people worldwide and we are excited to have one of the best developers in the industry create this game for a new audience,” said Caen. “Gameloft’s creativity coupled with its innate knack for innovative games makes us 100 per cent confident that the result will be nothing short of stellar.”

Earthworm Jim was the co-creation of animator Doug TeNapal (Rugrats) and Shiny Entertainment founder, David Perry. The first two Earthworm Jim games were developed by Shiny Entertainment and published by toy manufacturer/animation studio Playmates Toys (Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles) before the license was eventually bought by Interplay during the development of Earthworm Jim 3D.

TeNapal is said to be working with Interplay as creative consultant on the game. Now if only someone could persuade David Perry to get involved in some way, this has the potential to be the greatest videogame comeback since Donkey Kong Country.     

If you’re a fan of Atari’s Jaguar, or just love Atari in general then you can’t afford to miss Jagfest UK 2009. Now in its ninth year, this year’s event promises to be the biggest yet, and as well as moving to a new location, will also feature plenty of new computers and consoles.

Organised by Kieren Hawken, this year’s even will be held at Luton’s Chiltern Hotel making it far more accessible than past events. Along with all the exciting Jaguar coverage there will also be other machines to play, the ability to buy and trade games and systems, and a variety of tournaments to take part in. Best of all though are two exciting exclusives that will be debuting at the event.

In addition to a brand new 3D project for the Jaguar CD you’ll also be able to see the offcial premiere of Donkey Kong as well as use the world’s only working VR headset. If that wasn’t enough you’ll even be able to get your hands on Madbodies, the new homebrew game from the creators of the excellent Jaguar port of Gorf.

The event runs from Friday the 18th to the 20th of September. Purchase your tickets now from here

We’re huge fans of shoot-’em-ups at Retro Gamer, so join us as we look at some of the best shooters to ever appear on Sega’s Saturn or any other system for that matter.

First up is Psikyo’s homage to Capcom’s 1942 series.

Ok, a bit of a cheeky headline that one as it kind of implies that Mega Man’s dad could be following up the excellent 3D reimagining of Bionic Commando with further next-gen dust downs of its classic franchises - they’re not (well, as far as we’re aware anyway). But seeing that we’ve got your attention, we can tell you that Capcom is planning to release more of its Playstation back catalogue on PSN – which is almost kind of the same thing, well kinda…ish.

Anyway, the ESRB - who stamp those nice black and white letters over videogame boxes to denote whether or not a game is kid, pensioner, cat-friendly etc, etc - has recently rated three PSone games, namely Dino Crisis, the sublime Resident Evil 2, and Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, on its website.

Presumably this means that these games will be heading to the service sometime in the forseable future. However; UK Playstation 3 owners shouldn’t hold their breath for this to happen anytime soon - remember we’re still waiting for the original Resident Evil to raise its badly voice-acted head, and that’s been available in the US now since May.

Get it sorted chaps.

Dino Crisis; essentially just Resident Evil meets a good episode of Primeval