Hardware Review - PC Engine Mini

Konami – which is now the custodian of the PC Engine brand following its purchase of Hudson Soft in 2011 – is perhaps a little late to the party with its take on the ‘micro-console’ concept that kicked off with the Nintendo Classic Edition a few years back. Since then, we’ve seen SNK, Sony and Sega all jump on board the retro money train, often with wildly varying degrees of success.

However, while the Neo Geo Mini and Mega Drive Mini both offered up a selection of games that will be familiar even to the most casual of retro gaming fans thanks to the fact they’ve been released (and re-released) on a wide range of digital storefronts over the past decade, the PC Engine Mini (alongside its western counterpart, the TurboGrafx-16 Mini) offers up a library of games that's a little more off the beaten track. That's not to say it lacks quality – quite the opposite, in fact – and with emulation expert M2 doing the heavy-lifting (just as it did with Sega’s micro-console) authenticity is assured.

However, while the PC Engine Mini is questionably home to some fine games, there’s no denying that it lacks the fame and recognition that have arguably made Nintendo’s NES and SNES Classic Editions so popular. With Nintendo, you know you’re getting Mario, Zelda, Metroid and much more besides, but if you stopped the average person in the street and asked them to pick their favourite PC Engine / TurboGrafx-16 releases, most wouldn’t even know what console you were talking about. Can Konami’s console overcome this thorny issue and establish itself as one of the best micro-consoles money can buy? While the western release of the console has been delayed by the recent coronavirus outbreak, we've been able to get our hands on a Japanese unit, so let’s find out.

Head over to NintendoLife's article.01 April 2020

Modder Shrinks The N64 Down To The Size Of A Game Boy Advance SP

Portable N64 mods – where the console's internals are placed in a handheld shell complete with an LCD screen and battery so you can play Super Mario 64 on the road – have been around for years, but this latest effort has to rank as one of the most impressive yet.

GmanModz has taken the guts of the N64 and placed them in a 3D-printed case not that much larger than a Game Boy Advance SP, creating what must surely qualify as the most pocket-friendly N64 mod yet.

The mod is possible thanks to recent discoveries in the modding community surrounding the N64's interface controller board, the location of which has traditionally forced mods to be larger than they should be. With the board safely relocated and rewired, GmanModz has been able to decrease the footprint of the system and fit it into a much smaller clamshell case – yet you can still use your original cartridges. And because this uses the original hardware and not emulation, it has 100% compatibility with the entire N64 library.

Watch the video here.31 March 2020

New AGD Spectrum game: Vampire Vengeance

POE Games announce the launch of their new game, Vampire Vengeance. Coded by Ariel Endaraues, with an awesome intro screen from Juan Antonio Fernandez (F3M0, this game is a fun platformer written using Jonathan Cauldwell's AGD and Allan Turvey's AGDx. It has a great atmospheric musical score from Beyker.

Guide Count Orlack (yes, you play as a blood-sucking vampire!) through his castle, defeating the knights that have besieged it.

Click here for the video or download the game from their itch.io page.30 March 2020

Bitnamic Software announces `Laserbirds` – a new game for the ZX Spectrum

Bitnamic Software, a Portuguese-Brazilian joint-venture has announced its new exclusive ZX Spectrum release. Laserbirds is a shoot’em up game and your mission is to destroy aliens known as Ornitoids, a powerful enemy that has excellent hearing and memory as well as great hierarchical organization capability.

The enemy’s AI is a strong selling point of the game. The waves of Laserbirds, as the Ornitoids are called, present a big variety of patterns making it very hard for the player to get used to it. The enemies also have different forms and shapes, including the boss-type, which are bigger and even more violent than the regular Laserbirds.

13 March 2020