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Since its first trailer, OctaRace caught our eye — partly thanks to its bold artistic direction, and partly because of the nostalgia it evokes. The game clearly pays homage to Micro Machines V3, a legendary title from the original PlayStation.

So when we found out it was being developed by Pixel Almost Perfect, a French studio made up of just two developers, our curiosity only grew. We reached out to Ghislain Avrillon and Adrien Vernotte, founders of the studio, to talk about the game and our shared passion.

In this interview, Ghislain kindly took the time to answer our questions during a 40-minute chat. A passionate discussion you can read below — covering many aspects of the project and highlighting the Kickstarter campaign.

While the game is already set for a digital release, the campaign allows you to support the small team and help fund a physical edition, as well as post-launch content — not to mention Kickstarter-exclusive rewards.

Let me start with my favorite childhood game — the one that inspired OctaRace — Micro Machines V3. What can you tell me about it?

It’s a generational game. I used to play it with my friends as a teen. We had those multi-taps to play with eight players — and when we didn’t have them, we’d just share the four controllers. It was amazing. It was insane. People were yelling, people were crying… but we were having a blast.

There were three or four of us who played regularly, and then others who joined in gradually — so there was always a mix of skill levels. Just wonderful memories.

It was also incredibly unfair sometimes — like when you’d cut a corner and survive, or blow up for no reason!

You knew exactly which parts were glitchy. You’d clench your cheeks and hope for the best — and sometimes you’d make it. The others would yell because you were supposed to explode… and didn’t. That was part of the charm — it was awesome.

So how did the idea for OctaRace come about?

It came from those memories, plain and simple. Before OctaRace, we made a game called OctaFight, a fighting game. When it came time to start our second project, Micro Machines immediately came to mind. My approach is to dig into those childhood experiences — things that made me laugh, that moved me as a kid — and try to remake them in my own way. A sort of modern version, but not too modern.

So with OctaRace, Adrien [Adrien Vernotte] and I wanted to make a racing game. Micro Machines had a big impact on me. Adrien and I were also big fans of Crash Team Racing. We wanted drifting, multiplayer action…

Our identity at Pixel Almost Perfect is very much about multiplayer — up to eight players — which clearly comes from Micro Machines. OctaRace is couch sessions with friends, racing fun, colorful and simple. Visually it’s low poly, low resolution — more PlayStation 1 style — and I find that kind of constraint helps me be creative. It forces bold choices in the design, shapes, and colors…

Given how beloved Micro Machines is, why do you think we don’t see more games that capture that same level of fun?

That’s a tough one. It has a lot to do with trends. These days, games tend to focus on solo experiences or online multiplayer. Playing together on the couch, with real people sitting next to you — that’s just not a thing anymore.

Also, the charm of those pixelated, simple graphics is that they leave room for imagination. When you add too much detail, you kind of kill the magic.

How many of you are working on OctaRace?

There’s just two of us. Adrien [Vernotte] is my partner — he’s a programmer, handling the technical infrastructure, online features, and ports. I handle visuals, animation, design, UI… We do get help from outside folks on specific elements.

When did you realize “Okay, this formula works”? Was there a lightbulb moment?

When we pitched the project to a potential publisher, we made a prototype. We launched the game during the pitch and just started playing. After a while, we kind of forgot we were supposed to be presenting. We were just trash-talking each other and having fun.

Later, the publisher said, “What convinced us was how much fun you were having with your own game.” Even in the early days — with bugs and rough visuals — the core gameplay was already fun. That’s when we knew we had something.

Can you talk about the vehicles? I saw there's customization.

We have around a dozen vehicles. They take on the color of your chosen character. You can also add purely aesthetic customizations — no gameplay impact. There are already six different handling types across the vehicles, so we didn’t want to overcomplicate things. We want it to stay accessible.

For example, if you equip a police siren, your horn sounds like a police car. If you stick a solar panel on top, your engine sound changes and there’s no smoke behind your car anymore.

There are 12 vehicles and 6 driving types — so two vehicles per type. For instance, there’s a fishing boat and a sailboat — they belong to the “floating” type, and handle the same, but look totally different.

Power-ups were a big part of Micro Machines — are there any in OctaRace?

We found an alternative — there are some, but they’re optional. Think of it like Super Smash Bros. We call them “Octa Rules” — game modifiers that can be enabled. There’s a roulette at the start of a match. Some are passive — like low gravity, where everyone floats after a jump. Others are active — bombs, shields, that sort of thing. It’s a pool of random modifiers that spice up each round.

The characters also seem to matter a lot. I always picked Dwayne in Micro Machines. I loved that guy.

There are eight characters. Each has a unique backstory written with the help of Pipomantis — a writer for Canard PC, Gamekult, and others. He also helped us with game design.

The characters were created by Simon “Hutt” Trousselier, art director at Splashteam (the folks behind Tinykin). He’s an amazing artist.

Characters are super important to me. Like you said, with Micro Machines, you remember Dwayne and his colors. There was Jade, Spider — they were all stereotypes. We wanted that too — silly archetypes of all kinds: men, women, short, big… so players can identify with one and stick with it. That favorite character becomes your go-to.

Do you have a favorite character yourself?

Ah! I really like O’Sullivan — the big Irish guy who carries a sheep under his arm. And actually, the real boss of the duo is the sheep!

So the characters have a story, did you create a "script" like in Micro Maniacs?

The characters do have a story, there is a little scenario — it's something we cared about, to provide some context. There is a progression system: by playing, you gain experience, no matter the game mode. You level up as a driver, and at every significant driver level, you earn rewards like a new vehicle, customization options, a music track unlocked in the jukebox...
And the more people play, the faster you gain experience!

The tracks are set in biomes, how many are there?

Today, there are eight biomes. I got inspired by, and want to pay tribute to, the developers of Lonely Mountains — the mountain biking game, which is amazing — I really drew from their design.

Each biome has three connected tracks: a short, a medium, and a long one. So, three tracks per biome, eight biomes, which makes 24 tracks currently. But there will probably be more in the future if all goes well; I already have quite a bit of content in the works.

We talked about the very trendy solo experience nowadays, and at the same time the desire to have a fun multiplayer game, how did you manage to find the balance?

It took a lot of work, a lot of research. We approached the game design by trying to think of every type of player, so that when they launch the game, there's something to engage them for the short or long term.

We have three main modes in OctaRace. The main one, OctaRace itself, is really a multiplayer mode — you can play solo against bots but it’s a very chaotic multiplayer, very fast matches, really the mode we know from Micro Machines.

Then there is a pure solo mode, Time Attack, somewhat inspired by TrackMania, where you hit checkpoints and laps, record your times on the leaderboard, and compare yourself with friends and world records — that’s for the time attack enthusiasts.

We also wanted a more chill mode, so we created Free Roam, a free exploration mode where you can freely roam each biome. Collect coins, discover secrets... These are three very different modes for three very different gameplay experiences. You’ll have one kind of experience when playing with friends, another when playing solo training in Time Attack, and you can introduce a younger player to the game with Free Roam without any time or stress constraints.

We’re thinking about other game modes we could add later; the game is made to be expandable — in vehicles, biomes, and game modes.

Can you tell us more about the game’s music?

The music and sound design are done by Alexis Laugier, he works in Montpellier, is super nice, and has worked on many Montpellier-based productions including Tinykin, Road 96, Have a Nice Death, and many other French and Montpellier productions. He’s a top-notch sound designer and musician and has been with us since OctaFight. In terms of music content, there’s a dedicated track per biome and a track for the main menu.

In Micro Machines, many people struggle with the idea of moving up and down the screen with the camera above the track — did you implement a driving school?

We put in a small tutorial so first-time players can test the controls. It’s very simple: learning to turn, accelerate, and drift — drifting builds boost to go faster.

Is there an Easy to play, Hard to master aspect?

That’s something you hear in most video game productions, but yes, we try to do that too. Something simple in mechanics so you can quickly play with friends, but when you want to dig deeper, you discover different gameplay layers, synergies, and interactions. Different vehicle types, different surfaces depending on the biomes.

Each character is associated with a biome. For example, Wilson is a grimy castaway — he belongs to the Pirate Islands biome, which is sandy, so driving on sand is different from driving on dirt, grass, asphalt, or snow — each biome brings a different gameplay.

There is also a weather system, but it’s purely aesthetic and doesn’t affect driving. However, each time you start a race, the time of day and weather are different, and the camera angle rotates, so the camera’s starting angle changes every game start — except in Time Attack. So in OctaRace, you can’t memorize the directions by heart. The track is the same, but only the camera orientation changes.

Vehicle handling also interacts with the surface type. For example, if you play a heavy vehicle that’s not very maneuverable, on asphalt it’s manageable, but on ice it becomes even harder to handle.

So you can take a boat on asphalt?

Of course! We don’t limit anything — we don’t care at all. It will be totally silly and that’s part of the fun, no questions asked. There’s a little logic though: if there’s a puddle, all other vehicles fall in, but the boat can pass. Flying vehicles can glide after a jump... You have passive advantages or disadvantages depending on the vehicle you choose.

Any Easter eggs planned?

Yes, definitely.

There is a Kickstarter campaign — can you tell us why it’s necessary for you?

It will help us produce a physical version, strengthen the online features, and especially, for the long term, keep supporting the game with new content.

When you see OctaRace, you immediately think of Micro Machines, and you even claim it as a spiritual successor — doesn’t the game’s legacy put extra pressure on you?

Obviously, but also a great pride at the same time. It’s exactly what we grew up with and what we want to pay tribute to. So yes, pressure, but positive pressure. They were genius guys; now they do realistic games (Codemasters), whereas we’re about the opposite of realism. Everything is about cheating — you always try to exaggerate and cheat to make the game fun, instinctive, and enjoyable.

Here’s a fun anecdote about Micro Machines V3 and OctaRace: the design of the base vehicle in OctaRace is directly inspired by the Micro Machines car, the one from the menus and loading screens. That design is perfect — perfectly simple.

Many thanks to Ghislain for kindly giving us some of his time for this interview. You’ve probably already played or seen projects he worked on. An animator and animated film director by training, he joined Ubisoft in 2012, where he learned video game development on the job. His credits include Rayman Legends, Valiant Hearts: The Great War, and the much-anticipated Beyond Good and Evil 2…

OctaRace is scheduled for 2025 😉 A demo is already available on Steam.

The game will be released on PC, PlayStation 4 and 5, Switch, and Xbox.
The Kickstarter campaign is accessible via > this link <.
A wide range of contributions and rewards is available (starting at €10 with the digital game).
For my part, I’m going for the Mary-Jane Pack!

Kung Fury 2 revealed itself through a ten-minute trailer. It’s not a game, but rather a film that fully embraces its kitschy side and its plot, which serves as a mere pretext for stringing together action sequences with retro aesthetics, special effects, and absurd dialogue.

We are talking about this film today because of its numerous references to the 1980s, whether cinematic, from video games, or more generally from pop culture.

For those who don’t know the first installment, Kung Fury is a Swedish short film directed by David Sandberg and released in 2015. Funded through a Kickstarter campaign, it left a lasting impression with its completely offbeat and fully embraced tone. The synopsis speaks for itself:

A Miami cop who becomes a kung-fu expert after being struck by lightning and bitten by a cobra. When Adolf Hitler, alias "Kung Führer," returns to the present to cause chaos, Kung Fury must travel through time to confront him with the help of equally outrageous characters: a superpowered hacker, vikings, a police dinosaur, Thor, etc.

It’s worth mentioning that a game, Kung Fury: Street Rage, was released in 2015 to coincide with the film’s release. The first film (which is a short) is available for free on YouTube at this link.

Screenshot: Kung Fury Street Rage

If you want more absurdity, more dinosaurs, and more special effects that would put some Hollywood productions to shame, then you’ll be thrilled to check out the trailer for the second installment at the bottom of this article.

Notably, you’ll find a pretty crazy cast for a film of this genre, including Michael Fassbender, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and David Hasselhoff, who have clearly decided to have fun by participating in this project, which seems to be off to a good start based on its synopsis:

Miami, 1985 is protected by the watchful eye of Kung Fury and his Thundercops, the ultimate police force gathered from across time to defeat the infamous Kung Führer, Adolf Hitler. But after the tragic death of a Thundercop member, the group disbands. A mysterious threat then emerges from the shadows to assist the Führer in his quest for the ultimate weapon. Kung Fury must travel through time and space to save his friends, defend the prestigious Miami Kung Fu Academy, and defeat evil once and for all.

For now, no release date has been announced.

Only forty-eight hours left to contribute to the crowdfunding campaign for the Complete Donkey Kong Country 3 Guide, a book published by our friends at Écureuil Noir, known for the quality of their work.

If you're a fan of the Donkey Kong Country trilogy released on the Super Nintendo, you may already own one of the guides published by this editor. The guide dedicated to the very first Donkey Kong Country was actually Écureuil Noir's first ever publication. As such, it is being reprinted and can be ordered through the current crowdfunding campaign.

The Donkey Kong Country 2 guide is still available on their shop: ecureuilnoir.fr

To close out this trilogy, it’s now the third installment's turn to receive a brand-new, never-before-seen guide. Donkey Kong Country 3 pushed the Super Nintendo to its limits: its graphics were ahead of their time, and the game was much larger and filled with secrets.

This is a great opportunity to grab a guide that promises to reveal every hidden passage, secret banana, and help you reach 103% completion with Dixie and Kiddy.

At the time of writing, the campaign is 91% funded. By contributing, you’ll be able to get the book for €15 (compared to €16.90 in stores). You can also opt for a bundle that includes the Donkey Kong Country 1 and 3 guides for €27.

A quick reminder: if you support Recalbox via Patreon, you’ll get an exclusive discount on the Écureuil Noir store. A great opportunity to expand your collection of books exploring the worlds of Mario, Pokémon, Zelda, Monkey Island...

To join the campaign, head over to Ulule.

What if those long airport waits turned into long retrogaming sessions? That’s now possible at Seattle Airport thanks to Sky Gamerz.

The concept is very simple: in exchange for your identity card, you get a retro game cartridge to play on one of the many available stations. For now, Atari consoles are available to the public.

The co-founders of the place, H. Lamar Willis and Jonathan Ford, explain:
"Retro is always a safe bet, because we find that even kids love retro video games. Donkey Kong, Ms. Pac-Man and Frogger are games they don't know, but that excite them. And the best part is that at SEA [Seattle Airport, ed.], you don’t pay to play. That lowers the stakes and gives people a chance to try something new."

A great way to pass the time while having fun—and to introduce timeless games to younger generations. It’s a reminder of what makes retrogaming so powerful: immediate accessibility and easy handling, even if you're not a hardcore gamer.

Sky Gamerz also includes a food area to offer a complete service to travelers.
"There aren’t many entertainment spaces in airports," says Mr. Willis. "To succeed, we also wanted a food component. The combination of quality food service and gaming has never been done in an airport. This is the first time it’s being done."

The choice of Seattle is no coincidence: the city has a strong connection to video games. Many development studios are based there, and the city hosts PAX West, the largest video game conference in the world.

The Sky Gamerz adventure seems to be meeting expectations: a second retrogaming lounge is planned for Atlanta Airport. Could the idea cross the Atlantic and bring retrogaming lounges to European airports, showcasing our shared passion? A great way to miss your flight.

Source : Axios

Remember: Star Fox Adventures, released in 2002 for GameCube, took a radical change of direction in the franchise's gameplay, offering mainly third-person ground exploration in an adventure style, relegating the space shoot'em up to the background.

The game was originally developed for Nintendo 64 as a brand new licence called Dinosaur Planet. Although the universe was already reminiscent of Star Fox, there was originally no question of playing as Fox McCloud. Instead, a new character was imagined who bears a strong resemblance to Krystal, the heroine who will be featured in Star Fox Adventures.

Dinosaur Planet is not a discovery in itself: this aborted project is well known to the retrogaming community, and a beta version even resurfaced five years ago. It's this beta version that's attracting attention today, because it's been ported to PC using the N64 Recompiled tool. This tool allows Nintendo 64 games to be run on PC, as has already been the case for Majora's Mask or Star Fox 64 (Lylat Wars), as we told you here.

Developer Francessco121 and a community of modders are now hard at work porting Dinosaur Planet to the PC, attempting to ‘complete’ its development while making a number of improvements, including 16:9 compatibility, better resolution and a higher refresh rate for a smoother experience.

Now that the project is attracting interest and is open to developers wishing to contribute, the hope of playing a ‘complete game’ originally developed as a prototype by Rare for the Nintendo 64 is no longer a fantasy. To be continued.

In the meantime, if you miss Fox McCloud, you should know that Star Fox can be played on Recalbox: the first two titles on Super Nintendo, the third on Nintendo 64, and - who knows - maybe Star Fox Adventures will soon be playable on Raspberry Pi 5...

Sources: RetroDodo / Time Extension

He was a mascot in the shadow of Crash Bandicoot: Gex the Gecko, the classiest secret agent of the 32-bit era, is back on modern consoles.

There's no sequel or new episode here: the famous gecko gets a little facelift in a compilation that brings together the three Gex Trilogy games: Gex (1995), Gex: Enter the Gecko (1998) and Gex 3: Deep Cover Gecko (1999). Owners of the original PlayStation or Nintendo 64 should feel a little nostalgic on discovering this re-release. The games were also released on 3DO (its original platform), Sega Saturn and Game Boy Color, sometimes in adapted versions.

This compilation will benefit from some welcome comfort additions: native 16:9 format support, smoother analogue controls, rewind function and the ability to save at any time.

The trilogy will be published by Limited Run Games and offered in three editions:

• Standard - $39.99: physical version with booklet (and the booklet is important!).
• Classic - $79.99: delivered in a PS1-style box, with steelbook, double-sided poster and CD containing a selection of music from the games.
• Tail Time - $199.99: includes all the contents of the classic version, plus a 30cm inflatable Gex, a 17cm Gex statuette, a pin, artwork by Yoshitaka Amano, and a CD featuring the complete soundtracks.

Pre-orders close on 6 July and deliveries are estimated to take place between 24 and 31 October. The trilogy is planned for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC.

Gex is a humorous platformer series originally developed by Crystal Dynamics, with a sarcastic lizard as its hero. A TV fanatic, he travels through worlds inspired by TV genres (horror, science fiction, cartoons, etc.), throwing in jokes and pop culture references at every turn.

All three titles are playable on Recalbox and should put a smile on your face.

The Strong Museum has just inducted four games into the Video Game Hall of Fame. We told you about it a few weeks ago: every year, the Strong National Museum of Play organises a public and professional vote to elect the titles that will have the honour of being inducted into the Video Game Hall of Fame.

This year's nominees included Frogger, Quake, Harvest Moon, Age of Empires, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Golden Tee, NBA 2K, Mattel Football, Defender and Angry Birds. Four games were finally selected, joining classics such as Pong, Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda.

As you can see from the photo, it's Defender, GoldenEye 007, Quake and Tamagotchi that have been awarded the laurels and have joined the video game Hall of Fame:

• Defender: released in 1981, Defender proved that gamers were ready to accept more complex games in the arcade. It combined intense gameplay and a demanding control system with a side-scrolling space-shooter.

• GoldenEye 007: Released in 1997, GoldenEye 007 is best known for its hugely popular four-player multiplayer mode, which influenced many subsequent multiplayer games. It was the third best-selling game on the Nintendo 64.

• Quake: launched in 1996, this FPS's 3D engine became an industry standard. Its multiplayer mode contributed to the emergence of e-sports. The Quake code has influenced many titles and is still used in some modern games.

• Tamagotchi: launched in 1996, the Tamagotchi bridged the gap between toys and video games. This digitally-bred pet popularised the animal simulation genre, paving the way for titles such as Neopets and Nintendogs.

If you'd like to see the 49 games inducted since the start of this ‘competition’, go to this link.

French media outlet PlayStation Inside (now PSI) had the honour of interviewing Shuhei Yoshida, former president of PlayStation. It was an opportunity for the Japanese to share his views on today's video game industry, as well as an anecdote that will be of particular interest to retrogaming enthusiasts.

Remember: the release of Gran Turismo was a veritable revolution in the era of the first PlayStation. It was a revolution in terms of both graphics and simulation-based gameplay - an unusual choice at a time when racing games were largely arcade-based.

If you're one of those people who went straight into the first corner without thinking about braking, rest assured: you weren't alone. Even the president of PlayStation was surprised by the rigid gameplay, even more so than in the final version of the game.

You'll remember that on the cover it said that the game was a ‘real driving simulator’. And you know, I'm not a game designer, I'm a producer first and foremost. During development, Kazunori Yamauchi [President of Polyphony Digital, editor's note] showed me a prototype of Gran Turismo, and I was one of the first to play it. And to tell you the truth, he was really very serious when he talked about simulation declared Shuhei Yoshida.

It was extremely advanced, perhaps too much so. But at first, Kazunori Yamauchi didn't take my feedback at face value. So he brought together around thirty players to test the game. And, as I'd expected, they all crashed at the first turn, because the gameplay was so difficult.

I was at the back of the room with Kazunori Yamauchi. At that point, he turned to me and said I'd been right. It was from that point on that he softened the edges and reduced the pure simulation aspect a little to bring out the Gran Turismo you know today on PS1. In a way, I'd like to think that I saved Gran Turismo's destiny, at my level, and that I contributed a little to its success concludes the former PlayStation president.

A destiny saved, then, for a franchise that has sold over 90 million copies worldwide, and which remains a racing game behemoth to this day, to the point of being adapted into a film in 2023.

We highly recommend that you read the full interview with Shuhei Yoshida on the PSI website, which is both fascinating and informative.

The Recalbox RGB DUAL 2 campaign ended a few days ago.
During the campaign, you showed us incredible support and enthusiasm for this new project. Your feedback reinforced our vision of retrogaming and the Recalbox adventure.

We've experienced this feedback first-hand:

• Thanks to your commitment on Kickstarter, the RGB DUAL 2 has become the first Recalbox project to exceed €100,000 raised, with more than €123,000 raised thanks to almost 1100 contributors.
• Thanks to feedback from our testers and your receipt of their test videos.
• And also through your messages on the campaign, on our Discord, and on our social networks.

**For all this, a huge thank you!

What's the status of development?

For our part, development and the final testing phases are underway.
In the next few days, we'll be receiving prototype N°6, on which we've moved the jack to improve user comfort.

All our tests, in different configurations, confirm that the equipment is 100% plug and play.
No problems were encountered on this final stretch, which also enabled us to test V10 and the new themes designed specifically for RGB DUAL 2 directly.

On the RecalTower side, the final adjustments are also being made:

• Moving the jack
• Improved mounting system
• Optimisation of case ventilation

And now?

The components for the first 1,000 boards** are already in our possession, and another 1,000** are on their way.
This allows us to limit the risk of production delays for the Recalbox RGB DUAL 2 PCB.
We really look forward to your feedback!

👉 Don't forget to join us on Discord to chat with the team, ask your questions and follow the progress of the project.

Once again, thank you for your support and thank you for being part of this adventure.

We hope you enjoy playing with the RGB DUAL 2 as much as we enjoyed designing it.

For those of you who are late to the party, you can still pre-order a "Kickstarter Bundle “ model by clicking on ”I support this project" on the Kickstarter page.

Some consoles are harder to emulate than others. The Nintendo 64 is one of them, as is the Sega Saturn, well known for its complex architecture.

Many of you on our Discord have told us about performance problems on these two machines, whether on a Raspberry Pi, Mini PC or other device. Rest assured, these problems are not caused by your hardware or Recalbox.

And with good reason: emulation of the Nintendo 64 and Saturn has always been tricky. Due to a history of emulators cobbled together over the years, the results vary greatly from one game to the next. Some run very well, others much less so, as we explained in this article.

As far as Recalbox is concerned, the Saturn can be emulated via four different emulators: Mednafen, Yabause**, YabaSanshiro** and Kronos**. All of which means you can run iconic titles such as Nights into Dreams, Sega Rally Championship, Daytona USA, or the Panzer Dragoon and Virtua Fighter series in the best possible conditions.

Gamekult today introduces us to a newcomer to the world of Saturn emulation: Ymir, which aims to simplify console emulation while improving performance.

For the time being, only the BIN+CUE, IMG+CCD, MDF+MDS and ISO game formats are supported. The CHD format is not yet supported at the time of writing, but the developer has confirmed on Reddit that it will be included sooner or later. Progressive rendering** is also under development.

Initial feedback from users on this same thread has been particularly encouraging, suggesting a bright future for this new project. For the moment, we haven't yet tested Ymir on Recalbox, but we'll be sure to keep you informed if it's implemented.

While Capcom has not been active in the crossover field since Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite, fans are taking over. This is the case with Sega vs. Capcom: The Next Level, a fast-paced unofficial project that has sparked a lot of excitement among 2D battle fans.

The latest update, beta 2.75, has just been released. Adds two new playable characters: Axel, the cult brawler from Streets of Rage, and Batsu, from Rival Schools. Joining Sonic, Ryu, Akira (Virtua Fighter) and X (Mega Man X), for a total of six fighters. While knowing that a hidden boss is available if you finish the arcade mode without losing.

In the way of classics like X-Men vs. Street Fighter or Capcom vs. SNK 2, this fangame features 2 vs 2 matches with a tag system available at any time. The gameplay is based on a four button configuration*, and the current beta includes several modes: Arcade*, Versus*, Training, Arcade coop and even a 4-player Cross Fever*.

The work done by Madxruler, the developer behind this project, forces respect. The artistic direction, the rhythm of the fights and the animations allow to see a real potential, provided that the project can go through without legal intervention by SEGA or Capcom.

The game is clearly reminiscent of the golden age of Marvel vs Capcom 2 and 3 and this fan game, although limited by the choice of characters, is simply impressive from a qualitative perspective.

Beta is available for free at this address.

If you follow the retrogaming news and are a fan of SEGA Mega Drive, you probably know Earthion, a shmup that caused a sensation since its announcement.

The game impresses with its superb graphics, a gameplay that seems very dynamic, beautiful special effects and depth, as well as a soundtrack praised by fans, composed by Yuzo Koshiro.

The only shadow to the table was so far related to the release media: the Mega Drive and Steam. Not everyone owns SEGA’s 16-bit or plays on PC, and this exclusivity seemed quite limiting—including for the publisher, in terms of commercialization.

But good news: the developer has made official via their site the release of Earthion on Switch*, PS4, PS5 and *Xbox Series X/S. For the moment, no specific date has been communicated, except a vague “2025”.

Be aware that the physical game will be distributed by Limited Run Games.

By visiting the official website, you will be able to discover new screenshots as well as an updated summary of the game:

"With the earth’s resources depleted and its environment in ruins, most of humanity fled to Mars. But when hostile invaders launch an attack on Earth, humanity has no choice but to fight. As environmental researcher, Azusa Takanashi, you will fly the YK-IIA advanced space fighter and lead the largest counterattack in human history. Losing is not an option!”

Our friends at Time Extension have come up with a great find. A few days ago, the YouTube channel Higenekodo posted a video of Vertexer, a futuristic racing game cancelled by Taito in 1993.

It's always a special moment to come across videos of cancelled games, especially at such an advanced stage of completion as the one below. It's hard to imagine what the reception would have been like if this game had been released on an arcade terminal. Would it have been a minor revolution? A flop? We'll never know.

But let's not forget the quality suggested by this video, which is reminiscent of F-Zero. Vertexer offers an excellent 3D rendering thanks to its meticulous sprite management: the depth effect, the colours and the fluidity leave you dreaming.

The staging is also very well done, with neat menus (the ship is used as an ATH to select your race), as well as interactions with the other drivers in the middle of the race via a pop-up window, allowing your opponents to have their say, a bit like in Star Fox.

Around twenty Vertexer cards have been put into circulation, and a few collectors are said to be the proud owners. I strongly recommend that you take three minutes to watch the video.

If you thought, just a few years ago, that SEGA had been buried with its Dreamcast, you were wrong (even if we didn't come far). The Japanese company enjoys a great deal of love among gamers, and the last few years have only confirmed this trend.

With the successful and well-received Sonic film trilogy, and the success of SEGA-branded games (such as the recent Sonic x Shadow Generations), the Japanese giant intends to build on the popularity of its franchises in all their forms.

Remakes in progress (Shinobi, Jet Set Radio, Crazy Taxi, Golden Axe, Streets of Rage, Virtua Fighter...), diversification of media with Sonic films, an OutRun film in the pipeline (signed Michael Bay / Transformers)... SEGA is determined to make a name for itself and reinvent itself by relying on genuine pop culture treasures.

On 1 May, the Japanese giant took a new step in its strategy by opening its first official shop in Shanghai, China. It's a shop where you can leave with your arms full of souvenirs, but also test out new products and enjoy immersive experiences. Much more than just a shop, this shop is intended to be a place where fans can meet and exchange ideas.

SEGA President Shuji Utsumi said: *I want to bring SEGA's charm to many people in Shanghai, where gaming culture is deeply rooted.

It remains to be seen whether the experience will be repeated in other cities around the world. Source : SEGA

Some game names have become arcade benchmarks, and OutRun is clearly one of them. With its ‘chill’ atmosphere, the game takes players through a variety of settings at the wheel of their Ferrari Testarossa, in charming company.

Released in 1986 and developed by SEGA, OutRun redefined arcade racing games, moving away from classic formulas. Here, there are no competitors to overtake, just a choice of tracks (musical and road) and you drive with your hair blowing in the wind. This innovative concept has marked several generations, aided by numerous ports over the years.

A console on which the game was not released? The GameBoy Color, due to an obvious lack of power (the game was nevertheless released on GameBoy Advance). This ‘oversight’ could soon be rectified thanks to homebrew developer Shane McCafferty, who is currently working on a port of the game for Nintendo's console.

The results, which can be seen on McCafferty's X page, are very promising. The game is remarkably fluid. Admittedly, some elements appear a little late and the term ‘pixel art’ takes on its full meaning, but the capabilities of the GameBoy Color are exploited to impressive effect.

If the name Shane McCafferty sounds familiar and you follow the Recalbox blog, that's normal. He's the developer behind Hero GP, a motorbike game also developed for the GameBoy Color, which we wrote about here. So there's no doubt about his talent.

Hamster Corp continues to revive the glories of the past with two new additions to its Arcade Archives collection: NebulasRay and Ridge Racer. Two cult Namco titles, never re-released on consoles in the case of the former, and only once on PlayStation 1 in the case of the latter, Ridge Racer was in fact a launch game for SONY's console.

NebulasRay: first console release

Released in 1994 on arcade terminals, NebulasRay will arrive on consoles for the very first time on 15 May, on Switch and PlayStation 4. This vertical shoot'em up, developed on the Namco NB-1 system, uses pre-calculated 3D sprites in the style of Donkey Kong Country, for a spectacular rendering at the time.

Masahiro Kimoto (Tekken 3) and Yuji Yamamura (Soul Calibur) are behind the project, while the soundtrack was composed by Takayuki Ishikawa and Masahiro Fukuzawa. The player pilots an experimental ship tasked with repelling the onslaught of a mechanical army dubbed ‘The Master Force’, across six challenging levels.

To give you an idea, if you liked the Raiden franchise, you'll have to like NebulasRay.

Ridge Racer: back to basics

Scheduled for release on 5 June, Ridge Racer returns in its 1993 arcade version, as we knew it on Namco System 22 kiosks. At one stage, this re-release was announced as exclusive to the forthcoming Switch 2, but it will now also be released on PS4 and PS5.

This port will feature the usual Arcade Archives functions: quick save, rewind, online leaderboard and time trial mode. A good opportunity to rediscover the racing game that marked the start of the 3D era at Namco.

Source : Time Extension

8BitDo has just unveiled its new Retro mouse: the R8 Mouse – N Edition If its shape seems familiar to you, it is normal: it takes the lines of the version in the colors of the Xbox, the Retro R8, that we present here.

The colors are different. This time they’re inspired by the NES, with off-white and red buttons. The mouse will be accompanied by its charging station, perfectly adapted to its shapes.

8BitDo is not a new player when it comes to adapting its devices to the Nintendo universe. A mechanical keyboard, already offered for several months, also takes the colors of the NES and the characteristic keys of our old mechanical keyboards. It must be said that the design and the level of finish are particularly successful.

The brand promises more than 100 million clicks, accuracy and latency in line with current standards. On the battery side, it announces up to 100 hours in Bluetooth. As with most of its mice, 8BitDo also offers many settings to adapt the use to your preferences.

Pre-orders are already open on US and UK Amazon stores for delivery on June 27, 2025. The official 8BitDo website also offers pre-order for the rest of the world, at a price of $49.99.

That’s a good idea: after carrying DOOM on a multitude of media – which is probably the most productive running gag in the retro gaming community – a programmer had the excellent idea to carry the game fromid Software onto... console!

But be careful, not just any console: the Atari ST. This 16-bit machine from the American giant has very limited technical characteristics, which did not facilitate the task of Jonas Eschenburg, the programmer behind this port.

The first version of the game only showed greyed tones, and Jonas had to publish an accelerated video as the game was running slowly during his first trials.

Through perseverance, he ended up sharing a second video that made the small world of retro gaming vibrate: DOOM turning in color (limited to 16 shades), with the following message:
«Goodbye grayscale: DOOM on the Atari ST, now in 16 colors with lots of dithering. Palette effects (screen turns red when damaged) are also supported.”

The dithering – or tramage in French – is a technique that allows you to simulate colors or brightness levels by distributing pixels in a specific way. It can give the illusion of thinner gradients, but also sometimes make the image a little blurry if it is misused.

It should be remembered that if the Atari ST was a high-performance machine in its time, running a pseudo-3D environment like that of DOOM at a smooth cadence is almost black magic – especially with such a small color palette.

For now, the programmer has specified that the game runs on a emulator:

"It runs much faster than an original 8 MHz machine. I am not yet at the point of implementing optimizations, but I have a lot of fun integrating the material (graphic, input) from the ST.”

"It runs in an emulator, with 14 MB and accelerated speed. I will start optimizing it once the basics are in place."

Jonas Eschenburg still has some work to do on this port. But let’s not forget that this is already a remarkable feat: turning the fundamental elements of such a demanding game on the architecture of the Atari ST – even in emulation – shows a considerable level of skill... and passion.

Here we are: the final week of the Kickstarter campaign for the latest Recalbox hardware, the RGB DUAL 2. First of all, we'd like to thank you for this unprecedented launch: thanks to you, more than €100,000 has been committed to the project, and more than 950 contributors are part of the adventure.

To all of you: Thank you!

A thousand and one boards

There are 5 days left to take part in this campaign! Of course, the RGB DUAL 2 will be available in our shop after the crowdfunding, but if you want to take advantage of the exclusive rewards reserved for the Kickstarter, you know what you have to do... and that's via this link.

It's been a month since we launched this campaign, which has enabled us to order and receive components for the first 1000 RGB DUAL 2s, meaning that the risk of shortage is 0% for these first orders (and therefore for everyone else at the time of writing).

And if you arrive after the first 1000? No worries: we've also ordered the components for the second thousand boards. Suffice it to say that everything's running smoothly as far as stocks are concerned, and we're starting to warm up to the task of packing everything up!

Last-minute optimisation

We're in the final stages of testing, which has enabled us to detect a problem with some jack cables.
As you know, it will be possible to connect your Recalbox to SCART and to jack, in order to output sound elsewhere than on your CRT TV (amplifier, active speakers, etc.).
Our beta testers noticed that some jack cable sockets were too long and could touch the SCART cable.

We did not encounter this problem with the jack cable offered as an add-on on the Kickstarter. But to ensure compatibility with all jack cables on the market, we decided to move the jack socket to the left of the RGB DUAL 2 (so it will be on the same side as the Raspberry Pi 5's USB ports).

First tests and opinions

To get full feedback, we also sent a few prototypes to some of our friends in the retrogaming scene, including Bigkam, Gros Nenesse, Bob from RetroRGB, GyuGyu and Doctor X-Dav.
On each of their YouTube channels you'll be able to find previews made with the prototypes, as well as their analyses and comparisons, according to their affinities and playing conditions.

A live event to round off the campaign

On Saturday 3 May, we'll be hosting a Kickstarter closing live stream on our Twitch channel.
We'll be going over the campaign and the project's features, and a prize draw will be held among all the viewers, giving you the chance to win a prototype of the RGB DUAL 2, which will be sent out the following Monday... Something to keep you waiting until the official Kickstarter shipments!

Square, Capcom, Taito and Sega are now making significant efforts to preserve their videogame heritage. These initiatives were highlighted during a presentation at SIGGRAPH Asia last December.

Although this conference is several months old, it recently attracted attention thanks to a BlueSky post by KevEdwardsRetro, a former developer at Software Creations and TT Fusion. He came across an article in Japanese on Gamemakers.jp, which was quickly shared on social networks and picked up by media such as GamesIndustry.Biz.

Concrete preservation initiatives

Speakers at the conference revealed the efforts made by their respective companies to archive their heritage.

At Square Enix, Youichiro Miyake presented the SAVE project launched in 2020, which aims to preserve a large part of the company's archives. Some of this data has already been presented at events such as SIGGRAPH Asia 2021, with the aim of raising public awareness and encouraging other companies to follow suit.

Capcom, with its Capcom Illustrations Archive System, focuses mainly on the visual elements of games, such as illustrations and logos. The initiative could be extended to other materials such as ROMs and music. This archive has been used in projects such as Capcom Arcade Stadium and the Capcom Town website.

Taito has a decentralised approach, with different teams working on the digitisation of various items, such as game designs, arcade cards, and printed materials. These archives have been used for events such as the 70th anniversary arcade exhibition and products such as the Darius Cozmic Collection.

For its part, Sega, which launched its own initiative in 2023, is focusing on several areas: the preservation of arcade hardware, software, development documents and illustrations. Some of these resources are already appearing in games such as Like a Dragon.

A long-standing challenge

Historically, the video games industry has been slow to preserve its archives. However, these recent initiatives show that major companies are finally taking steps to conserve their past and ensure that their history is preserved.

Source: Time Extension