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Claude Guillemot, co-founder of Ubisoft, has died at the age of 69 in the crash of a light aircraft in La Baule on Friday, June 19. The news resonates deeply with us: an entire chapter of French video game history has come to an end.

Five brothers, one ambition, an empire

In 1986, Claude Guillemot and his four brothers — Christian, Gérard, Michel, and Yves — founded Ubi Soft in Brittany, France. Less visible than his brother Yves, who became the public face of the company as CEO, Claude was one of those who built success behind the scenes. He also led Guillemot Corporation, the parent company behind brands many of us have used without necessarily knowing it: Thrustmaster and Hercules, both long-standing references in gaming accessories and audio equipment.

From this family venture emerged one of the greatest success stories in the French video game industry — a company that brought to life franchises that became global icons: Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry, Rayman, Prince of Persia, and the Tom Clancy’s series. These are names that helped put France on the international gaming map in an industry where few expected it to shine.

Whether these franchises are retro classics or modern blockbusters, most of us have played at least one Ubisoft title at some point. From Rayman and Prince of Persia on your old console or your Recalbox to Assassin’s Creed and Rainbow Six on modern consoles, Ubisoft has consistently left its mark across generations, and each of the French developer’s franchises has helped shape the industry in its own way.

A legacy that goes far beyond financial results

It would be dishonest to pretend that Ubisoft is going through an easy period. The company has faced significant restructuring in recent months, with project cancellations and departures that have had a noticeable impact on the community. Yet these challenges, real as they may be, should not overshadow the bigger picture: what the Guillemot family has built since 1986 remains a landmark achievement in the video game industry and a source of French pride.

Claude Guillemot belonged to a generation of entrepreneurs who helped bring French video games onto the world stage at a time when few would have bet on such an ambition. For us in the Recalbox community, who grew up with these games and the hardware associated with them, this is also a small part of our own story being remembered today.

Our thoughts are with his family and loved ones.

Sources: Clubic, France Info, TheGamer

On Sunday, June 21st, it's Music Day! And if you're not the type to spend the evening hopping between outdoor concerts, but still want to celebrate by combining music and video games, we've got just the thing for you: our very own Music Day celebration, from the comfort of your screen.

For the occasion, Fab2ris will be hosting a special live stream on the Recalbox Twitch channel. The spirit of the evening is simple: music, video games, and the great atmosphere that comes with them.

Whether you're a music lover, a video game enthusiast, or both, this live stream is for you. The idea is straightforward: enjoy Music Day without leaving your couch, surrounded by a community that shares the same passions.

Join us this Sunday, June 21st, from 9:00 PM (CEST) live on the Recalbox Twitch channel at this address.

We're looking forward to seeing many of you for an evening dedicated to music and video games.

Enjoying the work of the Recalbox team? Support the project by becoming a Patron!

Here we are, friends — the final challenge of the first season of the One Credit Challenge, Recalbox's arcade competition. Over this first year, no fewer than 20 games have put us head-to-head over the course of 10 months. And when I say "us," I mean 43 players who took part, regardless of skill level or preferred setup (gamepad, arcade cabinet, handheld, LCD, CRT, and more).

Of course, it's still possible to join the challenge for this final arcade showdown. While the goal is to play, this One Credit Challenge has above all been an opportunity to discover new titles, meet fellow players, and compete together regardless of skill level in a friendly and welcoming atmosphere. Let's also remember that every winner of an individual game received a game key (GOG, Steam, etc.), while the overall tournament winner will walk away with either a free RGB Dual 2 or a one-year subscription to Recalbox Patreon.

Before we begin, we'd like to highlight (even if he doesn't like the spotlight) Angelfred, who organized this tournament from start to finish: selecting the games, maintaining both the individual and overall scoreboards, ensuring the rules were respected, and handling everything required to keep a challenge like this running for 10 months. Thank you! And of course, a huge thank you to all the players! Whether you dropped in for a few challenges or stayed loyal throughout the season, firmly planted at your arcade cabinet and eager to put the first score on the board, none of this would have been possible without you.

But enough with the compliments — we're not here for hugs and hand-holding. Let's get to the game!

A Drill, Oxygen, and Nerves of Steel

After the chaos of Charlie Ninja, One Credit Challenge #20 takes a completely different direction. Put away your fists and grab a drill. Mr. Driller 2 was released in arcades in 2000 on Namco System 10 hardware before being ported to Game Boy Advance and PC. Beneath its colorful visuals and cheerful atmosphere lies one of the most demanding arcade puzzle games of its era.

Digging, Yes. But Not Just Any Way

The concept is simple to explain but incredibly difficult to master. Susumu Hori — better known as Mr. Driller — descends deep into the Earth, destroying colored blocks along the way. Blocks of the same color stick together; when a group of four or more forms, it disappears, triggering chain reactions that can either save you... or crush you.

That's where the danger lies: every block you destroy can cause others to fall. One bad calculation and you'll find yourself six feet under before you even understand what happened.

Your other enemy is oxygen. A constantly draining meter forces you to collect air capsules to stay alive. Dig too quickly without keeping an eye on your oxygen, and you'll suffocate. Hesitate for too long, and the result is exactly the same.

Your Mission, Should You Choose to Accept It

The goal of this challenge is to reach 1,000 feet in the America stage. That's a long way down.

The pressure increases exponentially as you descend: blocks fall faster, chain reactions become harder to predict, and the slightest mistake can trigger a fatal collapse. The game demands quick reflexes, anticipation, and careful oxygen management — three things that are extremely difficult to maintain simultaneously over the course of a single credit.

🏆 Challenge Rules

Your objective is to achieve the highest score possible on a single credit.

The challenge runs from June 16 to June 30 at 11:59 PM. You may attempt it as many times as you like.

📢 How to Participate

• Launch the game (ROM: mrdrill2)
• Play and try to beat the highest score
• Take a screenshot or photo of your final score
• Share your score on the Discord channel #challenges, including your nickname and score

⚖️ Rules to Follow

To ensure fair competition:

Your score must be achieved on a single credit, with no save states, rewind, cheats, or autofire (unless specifically supported by the game).

Gentleman's agreement: the use of glitches that artificially inflate scores is also prohibited.

🎁 Rewards and Fair Play

The goal of this challenge is above all to discover games, share tips, and have fun together — all within a healthy competitive spirit.

The winner will receive a game key (GOG, Steam, etc.) chosen from a list of approximately 100 titles.

If you have already won a challenge within the last three months, the prize will be awarded to the next eligible player.

Your ranking will be added to the One Credit Challenge leaderboard.

The champion of the first season will receive either a free RGB Dual 2 or a one-year Recalbox Patreon subscription.

Good luck to everyone, and may the highest score win!

HFS Summer 2026 was the stage for the official launch of the Recalbox JVS — along with the announcement of its Kickstarter campaign, broadcast live on the Recalbox Twitch channel. If you missed the stream, the replay is now available.

Recalbox JVS in a Nutshell

The Recalbox JVS is a Raspberry Pi 5 HAT designed to bring JVS arcade cabinets back to life — the dominant arcade standard since the late 1990s. Vewlix, NoirCab, Naomi Universal Cabinet (NUC), Lindbergh guncabs, race cabs: connect five cables, make a few clicks on the CRT screen, and the entire Recalbox library becomes available directly from your cabinet. Plug in, power on, play.

Thank YouThe Kickstarter campaign has already surpassed €40,000, doubling its initial €20,000 goal. The target has been exceeded by 200%, and there's still time left. This achievement is yours — every pledge matters and directly contributes to making Recalbox JVS a reality under the best possible conditions.

If you haven't taken the plunge yet (and you've managed to convince your significant other that "yes, an arcade cabinet really does fit in the living room"), there's still time to join the adventure and become one of the people who helped make this project possible.

→ Support Recalbox JVS on Kickstarter

Enjoying the work of the Recalbox team? Support the project by becoming a Patron!

A beat 'em up in the grand tradition of Final Fight and Streets of Rage, developed simultaneously for Amiga, Neo Geo and PC — and whose Kickstarter campaign smashed its funding goal in just a few days. Metro Siege doesn't pull any punches.

Gangs, riots and flying fists

Metro Siege is being developed by BitBeamCannon, the studio already known for DaemonClaw. The game follows in the footsteps of the side-scrolling beat 'em ups of the '80s and '90s: gangs wreaking havoc across a city, and heroes settling the matter with their bare hands. Players take control of Kim, a former police officer suspended for investigating her father's death, and Alex, her friend and owner of an MMA gym — two complementary characters who take to the streets in search of the source behind the riots. A third playable character will join the roster once unlocked.

The combat system goes beyond simple button mashing, featuring blocking, parries and ground attacks. We wouldn't necessarily call it subtle when it comes to handing out beatdowns, but there's certainly plenty of fun to be had.

Three versions, one shared ambition

This is where the project becomes particularly interesting. Metro Siege is being developed in parallel for Amiga, Neo Geo and PC (Steam & Itch.io), with deliberate gameplay differences between versions. Alternate character outfits, certain bosses and some mechanics vary depending on the platform. The goal is for each version to offer a slightly different experience rather than being a straight port.

The Amiga version is expected to launch first, with the others following shortly after. The Kickstarter campaign includes physical editions for Amiga (floppy disk and CD) and Neo Geo MVS/AES, along with collector cards, badges and posters as bonus rewards.

A Kickstarter campaign off to a flying start

Launched with a €16,000 funding goal, the campaign has already raised more than €49,000 with 23 days still remaining. The message is clear: the appetite for high-quality beat 'em ups on vintage hardware is very real. And it's great to see the community supporting projects of this scale, especially when physical releases are involved.

An Amiga demo has been available since 2024, and feedback from players who tried it on the A500 Mini was already very encouraging. Now it's just a matter of waiting, warming up to avoid pulling a muscle, and getting ready to hand out some serious beatdowns.

Sources: Time Extension, Metro Siege Kickstarter

Nintendo saved its biggest announcement for the end of the June 2026 Nintendo Direct: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is returning as a Nintendo Switch 2 exclusive remake, scheduled for release later this year.

Hyrule Reborn on Switch 2

The June 2026 Nintendo Direct served as the stage for the reveal — and not just anywhere in the lineup: the Ocarina of Time remake closed the show. The trailer (embedded below) is entirely cinematic — no gameplay footage, just a narration centered on the forest child who had no fairy — but it confirms a 2026 release, exclusively on Nintendo Switch 2. More details are expected in the coming months, likely through a dedicated Nintendo Direct presentation.

Visually, even the brief glimpse shown was striking: light reflects realistically off Link's hair, a clear sign that Nintendo has gone far beyond a simple remaster. The official term used by Nintendo leaves no room for doubt: "reborn" — Ocarina of Time is being reborn.

A Rumor Becomes Reality

The existence of the project had previously been reported by leaker Nate the Hate, whose credibility had already been reinforced a few weeks earlier following the confirmed announcement of a new classic-style Star Fox title. The remake is part of Zelda's 40th anniversary celebrations and is expected to help drive Nintendo Switch 2 sales while fans wait for the franchise's next major installment. Nintendo's latest console still has a rather thin game library, with many cross-generation titles... And they need something to justify the price increase expected in September...

November in Sight

No specific release date has been announced yet, but the clues are lining up. Rumors point to a holiday season launch — November or December — which would mirror the original game's November 1998 release on Nintendo 64. The original version holds a Metacritic score of 99, a legacy that explains both the enormous anticipation and Nintendo's cautious approach to revealing information.

The community's reaction was immediate and unmistakable: raw emotion, reports of tears across social media, and comments that instantly transported players back to 1998. Some remakes arrive too late. This one seems to be arriving at exactly the right moment.

Sources: GameSpot, Shacknews, TweakTown, GamingBible

Do you enjoy the work of the Recalbox team? Support the project by becoming a Patron!

We don't know about you, but for the past few weeks we've had this stuck in our heads on repeat: "HEY, HEY, HEY! It's time to make some crazy money! Are you ready?! HERE. WE. GO! YEAH YEAH YEAH…" Between the HFS Summer 2026 in Évreux and the announcement of the Recalbox JVS Kickstarter, we're seeing Racecabs everywhere. And Crazy Taxi: World Tour certainly isn't going to help with that.

Axel Takes the Wheel Again

Unveiled on June 7, 2026 during the Xbox Games Showcase, Crazy Taxi: World Tour is being developed by SEGA under the direction of Kenji Kanno, the original creator of the franchise. The game keeps the series' core formula intact — picking up passengers, racing against the clock, and pulling off completely reckless maneuvers — while expanding the experience to a global scale.

Axel travels across five cities around the world, chasing masked criminals who have stolen his taxi, in what promises to be the series' first fully story-driven campaign. An Arcade mode faithful to the original games rounds out the package, alongside a multiplayer mode about which few details have been revealed so far. The game is scheduled for release in 2027 on PS5, Xbox Series, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC via Steam.

The AI Controversy

The announcement did not escape the now unavoidable controversy surrounding artificial intelligence. SEGA acknowledged using generative AI for some of the game's background scenery, while emphasizing that all generated assets were reviewed by the development team and that no AI was used for the performers. The reaction from part of the community was immediate and fierce.

The debate is a legitimate one — and creatives who see their work being bypassed have every reason to make their voices heard. But let's be realistic: it would be naive to believe that generative AI won't be used, to varying degrees, in nearly every future production, whether AAA or indie. This certainly won't be the last case. The real questions — concerning regulation, transparency, employment, and creativity — remain unanswered.

In the meantime, we're putting on The Offspring's "All I Want" and hitting the gas.

Sources: SEGA, Sega-Mag, rom-game.fr

Enjoying the Recalbox team's work? Support the project by becoming a Patron!

The Nintendo 64 is definitely having a moment right now. Just a few months after the Analogue 3D saga — which we covered here — it's now ModRetro stepping into the spotlight with its M64, announced for July 28, 2026, at a price of $199.

ModRetro is no stranger to the retrogaming scene. The company first made a name for itself with the Chromatic, a handheld console dedicated to Game Boy and Game Boy Color games released in 2024. With the M64, it is taking things to the next level and directly targeting the Nintendo 64 market. Like the Analogue 3D, the M64 is built around an FPGA solution — in this case, an AMD Artix 7 chip — that recreates the original Nintendo 64 hardware without relying on software emulation.

Video output is handled via 4K HDMI, and everything is housed in a passively cooled magnesium alloy chassis (no fan required). On the front, you'll find four controller ports, a microSD card slot, a USB-C port, and a choice of four translucent colors — red, gray, purple, and green — allowing users to admire the internal components.

Dedicated Physical Games Available at Launch

ModRetro isn't just selling hardware. Four games will launch simultaneously on N64 cartridges, including Xeno Crisis, Buck Bumble (making a return thanks to Argonaut Games), and Extreme-G: Turbo Fusion. A proprietary controller, the Trident, will also be available on day one.

Of course, and this is the whole point of an FPGA console, the M64 will be able to play original Nintendo 64 cartridges. However, be aware that after digging through the available information, we found nearly fifty games that may experience bugs of varying severity. You can find the full compatibility list here.

What Sets It Apart from the Analogue 3D

The early bird launch price is $199 ($229 at standard retail), making it $50 cheaper than the Analogue 3D. But the real difference lies in communication and execution. While Analogue faced multiple delays over a two-year period before finally shipping its console in late 2025, ModRetro is announcing a firm release date along with a detailed list of what will be available at launch and what features will arrive later through updates.

In the FPGA retrogaming world, that level of transparency is far from common. That said, this is not a criticism of the Analogue 3D, which has impressed many reviewers with its quality. Unfortunately, its repeated delays raised concerns within the community on several occasions, leading some to question whether the project would ultimately come to fruition.

Now, the real test will be in players' hands. It remains to be seen which system will stand out in this sibling rivalry between FPGA-powered Nintendo 64 consoles. Ultimately, what matters most is that everyone can find the solution that suits them best and enjoy their beloved N64 cartridges once again.

Sources: rom-game.fr, retrododo.com, cnx-software.com

The Raspberry Pi 6 won't arrive before 2028. On May 21, 2026, Eben Upton, co-founder and CEO of the Raspberry Pi Foundation, answered questions from internet users during a Reddit AMA alongside his two CTOs, James Adams and Gordon Hollingworth. The topic everyone wanted to know about: when is the next Pi coming, and what can we expect from it?

The answer was crystal clear: not before early 2028. The usual cycle between two Pi generations is around three to four years — the Pi 5 was released in 2023, which would have logically placed the Pi 6 sometime between 2026 and 2027. However, the Foundation has decided to take its time, mainly due to soaring LPDDR memory costs on global markets. It's a very real economic constraint rather than a lack of technical ambition.

Evolution, Not Revolution

Good news for those worried about a major shift in direction: Eben Upton was very clear about the roadmap. The Pi 6 is expected to offer "very similar features and form factor" to the Pi 5, with more CPU power, greater memory bandwidth, and improved I/O performance — but without any radical architectural changes. No integrated M.2 slot, no built-in AI NPU. The Foundation remains committed to its philosophy of delivering fast, affordable CPUs rather than specialized single-purpose chips.

This stands in deliberate contrast to the leap from the Pi 4 to the Pi 5, which introduced far more substantial changes — including the complete removal of the 3.5mm audio jack, present on previous generations and absent from the Pi 5. The Pi 6 is not expected to bring that kind of surprise.

What This Means for Recalbox Users

In practical terms: you're set for quite a while. The Raspberry Pi 5 still has a long and bright future ahead of it, and it's precisely the platform we've focused our efforts on over the past several months. We obviously continue to support the Pi 0-2, Pi 3, and Pi 4 (the Pi 2 and first-generation Pi Zero are currently limited to Recalbox versions 8 and 9), but the Pi 5 remains our recommended platform for the best Recalbox experience — and it's the only platform compatible with our hardware lineup: the RGB Dual 2, the RGB JAMMA 2, and the brand-new Recalbox JVS.

Regarding RAM, one clarification is worth making: there's no need to opt for the 8GB model. We've optimized Recalbox so that the 2GB Raspberry Pi 5 can run the entire Pi 5-compatible catalog without any limitations or slowdowns. In fact, that's the configuration we recommend for the Recalbox JVS. The 8GB version remains useful for other purposes, but not for Recalbox. As for the 4GB model, which is more affordable than the 8GB version, it is also an excellent choice for Recalbox.

The Foundation has confirmed that the Pi 5 will remain its flagship model for at least another two years. For us, that's excellent news: a stable, well-understood platform that we can continue to build upon and optimize without being overtaken by a new generation before we've finished.

Sources: OMG! Ubuntu, Geeky Gadgets, TechGenyz, Reddit AMA r/engineering

Enjoying the work of the Recalbox team? Support the project by becoming a Patron!

That's a wrap. After three intense days in Évreux, the Recalbox team returned home with suitcases full of memories, a few sore muscles, and the conviction that you are the best community we could ask for. Here's a quick recap of our time at the HFS Summer 2026, along with a great photo gallery at the end of this article.

The timing was no coincidence: we chose HFS to officially launch the Recalbox JVS Kickstarter, and what better place than a festival dedicated to arcade gaming to showcase a solution designed specifically for JVS cabinets? Four arcade machines running Recalbox JVS were available on our booth for the occasion — two linked cabinets, one driving setup featuring Crazy Taxi, and a Guncab running Confidential Mission — kindly provided by our friends at Tenzen Arcade. Seeing visitors discover the project directly on real arcade hardware is simply an experience that nothing can replace.

A Busy Booth — and a Hot One

Beyond the JVS cabinets, several CRT displays and Recaltowers allowed visitors to enjoy a variety of iconic retro gaming titles, all running on Recalbox 10.1. Needless to say, the booth was constantly busy. What we hadn't quite anticipated, however, was that HFS 2026 would take place under crushing heat. The result: four emergency fans purchased on-site to keep both the team and the hardware alive. Retro gaming is serious business.

Thank You

A huge thank you to everyone who made the trip to Évreux despite temperatures that didn't exactly encourage spending the day standing in front of arcade cabinets. Your enthusiasm and feedback about the project mean a great deal to us. Some of you also took the opportunity to head home with Recalbox hardware and a few goodies — and believe us, meeting you, chatting with you, and hearing your feedback in person is exactly what fuels our excitement for what's next.

A big thank you as well to everyone who followed the three days of live streams on our Twitch channel. The live sessions from the festival had a special energy, and your messages throughout the streams made the experience even more enjoyable.

We'll be back very soon with more news — and if you haven't checked out the Recalbox JVS Kickstarter yet, there's still one month left to support it:

👉 Support Recalbox JVS on Kickstarter

Enjoying the work of the Recalbox team? Support the project by becoming a Patron!

And now, it's photo time!

After the hail of bullets and suited gangsters of Dead Connection, we're staying in the world of 90s Japanese arcade gaming with a completely different atmosphere. Enter Charlie Ninja, a wild run-and-gun title developed by Mitchell Corporation and released in 1995.

Mitchell, the Studio of Oddities

Mitchell Corporation is the Japanese studio behind Super Pang, Puzz Loop, and the cult classic Cannon Dancer — a company known for its original concepts and delightfully eccentric catalog. Charlie Ninja fits perfectly into that tradition: a side-scrolling two-player run-and-gun released exclusively in arcades, with no home console port ever made. The game never left Japanese arcades and remains one of the most obscure titles in Mitchell's library today.

Ninjas in the Wild West (and Beyond)

Players take control of one of two available ninjas, hired to eliminate targets for profit across five stages with radically different themes. The visual style embraces a playful parody of American comic books and cartoons, complete with on-screen sound effects straight out of a comic strip. Enemies drop weapon power-ups, the player can temporarily turn invisible, and a range of special moves expands the arsenal. Each stage ends with a boss battle as bizarre as it is memorable.

The One Credit Challenge

Five stages, a gallery of grotesque bosses, and a difficulty curve that ramps up quickly. Charlie Ninja can be cleared fairly easily when played straight through — at least until enemies start flooding the screen. Finishing it on a single credit requires composure and smart power-up management. Sharpen your ninja stars!

🏆 Challenge Rules

Your goal is to achieve the highest score on a single credit.

The challenge runs from June 1st to June 15th at 11:59 PM. You may attempt it as many times as you like.

📢 How to Participate

• Launch the game (ROM: charlien)
• Play and try to beat the highest score
• Take a screenshot or photo of your final score
• Share your score on the #challenges Discord channel, including your username and score.

⚖️ Rules to Follow

To ensure a fair competition:

Your score must be achieved on a single credit, without save states, rewind, cheats, or auto-fire (unless the game itself provides it).

Gentlemen’s agreement: the use of glitches that artificially inflate scores is also prohibited.

🎁 Rewards and Fair Play

The challenge is first and foremost about discovering games, sharing tips and tricks, and, of course, having fun — all while enjoying a healthy competitive spirit!

The winner will receive a game key (GOG, Steam, etc.) of their choice from a list of approximately 100 titles.

If you have won a challenge within the last three months, the prize will be awarded to the next eligible participant.

Your ranking will be added to the One Credit Challenge leaderboard.

The Season 1 Champion will receive either a free RGB Dual 2 or a one-year Recalbox Patreon subscription.

Good luck to everyone, and may the highest score win!

After the RGB JAMMA 1 and the RGB JAMMA 2, now used in many arcade cabinets across France and around the world, Recalbox is taking the next step. Today, we are launching the Kickstarter for the Recalbox JVS — a Raspberry Pi 5 HAT, plug-and-play and designed for JVS arcade cabinets, representing the culmination of several years of work at the heart of the arcade scene.

JVS: the arcade standard of the last 25 years

Introduced in the late 1990s, JVS accompanied the transition toward a new generation of arcade cabinets. While JAMMA relied on a 56-pin analog connector, JVS modernized everything: inputs are managed by an IOBoard and transmitted digitally via RS-485, the system is expandable, and it natively supports steering wheels, light guns, and multiplayer configurations. Naomi Universal Cabinet, New Net City, Net City, Vewlix, NoirCab, Lindbergh, Windy 2 — the vast majority of “modern” arcade cabinets use this standard. Many of these machines are now left orphaned from their original hardware. That is precisely the problem the Recalbox JVS solves.

What the Recalbox JVS does

Connect the Recalbox JVS in place of your cabinet’s original system — five cables, just a few seconds — and enjoy the full Recalbox experience: 2D and 3D arcade games, Naomi, Atomiswave, Dreamcast, consoles, and microcomputers. The cabinet is automatically detected, setup is completed in just a few steps directly on the CRT screen, and that’s it. No additional configuration required.

Technically, the Recalbox JVS features a 24-bit RGB DAC with dedicated buffers, automatic 15/24/31 kHz video compatibility, HDMI output for LCD cabinets, an I²S audio DAC up to 384 kHz / 32-bit, and less than 1 ms of input lag. The standalone firmware, accessible directly from your cabinet’s screen, also allows you to monitor +5V and +12V voltages in real time, test controls, image and sound, and view the playtime counter.

240pGrid and Link Mode

Two features deserve special mention. 240pGrid is aimed at exclusively 31 kHz cabinets: it reproduces the look of a 15 kHz CRT on a 31 kHz display, including scanlines and authentic pixel geometry. For anyone with a Vewlix or Noir Cabinet wanting to play Metal Slug or Street Fighter II the way they deserve, this is a concrete solution to a very real problem.

The authentic rendering is far more convincing on CRTs

Link Mode, meanwhile, allows two JVS cabinets to be controlled with a single Recalbox JVS. Each cabinet keeps its own video output, audio output, and IOBoard. 1vs1 fighting games, 2vs2 multiplayer with up to four simultaneous players — those who have seen us, or will see us, at HFS Summer with the two cabinets linked together know exactly what we’re talking about.

The Kickstarter is live

Today is the big day. After months of development, testing, and a few sleepless nights, the Recalbox JVS Kickstarter is officially live. All the details, stretch goals, and options are available on the page — go check it out, and if the project speaks to you, if you want to give your JVS cabinet a second life, now is the time to join us.

👉 Support the Recalbox JVS on Kickstarter

Why support the project

Developing hardware requires investment — both in time and money. This Kickstarter allows us to fund research and development, production, and to do it together with you — just like we did for the RGB JAMMA. Every JVS cabinet brought back to life is another piece of arcade history preserved, and it’s your cabinets being reborn with all the simplicity and ecosystem that define Recalbox. That’s exactly what has driven us since day one.

In addition to the full presentation video available on the Kickstarter page, which goes into every detail of the project, we also produced during the R&D and prototyping phase a series of 5 videos reserved for our Patrons, diving behind the scenes of the Recalbox JVS development. To celebrate the launch of the Kickstarter campaign, we are opening them today to everyone — you’ll find them below:

Episode 1 / Episode 2 / Episode 3 / Episode 4 / Episode 5

👉 Support the Recalbox JVS on Kickstarter

Thank you to everyone who has supported us since the beginning of this adventure.

Enjoying the work of the Recalbox team? Support the project by becoming a Patron!

We’ll be at HFS Summer 2026 from May 29 to 31 — and for those who can’t make the trip to Évreux, we’ve got good news: you’ll be able to follow everything live on our Twitch channel.

Fab2Ris will be hosting the stream throughout the three-day event, with a large daytime slot from 10 AM to 2 PM and an evening session from 8 PM to 9 PM. There’s no minute-by-minute schedule planned — this is an arcade festival, not a TV set — but that’s exactly what makes this kind of stream feel alive: unexpected encounters, spontaneous matches, and conversations going in every direction around an arcade cabinet.

An atmosphere like no other

The atmosphere will be pure HFS — something you simply can’t find anywhere else. Those who know, know: freeplay arcade cabinets, competitions, passionate crowds… Fab2Ris will have free rein to capture everything worth seeing — and at a festival like this, there will be plenty of it.

And on Friday evening…

Those who follow us on social media probably already know what we’re talking about. For everyone else, let’s just say Friday could be a particularly interesting day to stay tuned. We won’t say more than that ;)

How to follow us

Head over to our Twitch channel right here starting May 29. Subscribe and enable notifications so you don’t miss a thing — and if you’re attending HFS in person, come say hi, that’s even better!

See you very soon!

Enjoying the Recalbox team's work? Support the project by becoming a Patron!

It’s a bit like our motor show without the cars, our agricultural fair without the cows (which, by the way, weren’t there this year either!): we’ll be attending HFS Summer 2026, and instead of cattle and barnyard animals… expect some beautiful arcade cabinets! From May 29 to 31, we’re heading to Évreux and the 3,000 m² Exhibition Hall for what is France’s biggest festival dedicated to arcade gaming and pre-2000 video games. And just like in previous editions, we’re not coming empty-handed.

If you missed us or are discovering the event for the first time, we already explained everything about HFS in a previous article: 150 freeplay arcade cabinets, high-level tournaments, pinball machines, racing games, shooting games, and an atmosphere filled with nostalgia and competitive spirit. All of it in a family-friendly environment where both kids and adults can have a great time. In short: our natural habitat.

Recalbox 10.1 Preview

We’ll also take advantage of HFS to let you discover Recalbox 10.1, currently in testing for our Alpha Patrons. It’s the perfect opportunity to try it out in real-world conditions, ask the team your questions, and tell us directly what you think. No forms, no tickets — just a real conversation with the team around an arcade cabinet, a RecalTower, or a CRT…

Four Recalbox JVS Arcade Cabinets to Try

The highlight of the booth is probably this: four arcade cabinets running Recalbox JVS, provided by our friends at Tenzen Arcade. Two linked cabinets — allowing two players to compete side by side on the same game — a Crazy Taxi cabinet complete with steering wheel, and a gun cab featuring Confidential Mission for fans of shooting games. It’s the perfect chance to test upcoming Recalbox JVS hardware on real arcade equipment.

Haven’t heard about Recalbox JVS yet? Stay tuned during the event weekend — we’ve got a nice surprise for you ;)

Come Meet Us

That’s also what HFS is about: putting faces to usernames, discussing the project, sharing your feedback, ideas, and questions about your setups. The team will be there all three days. Come say hello — we’ll be happy to meet you. And if you’d like to leave with a RecalTower, an RGB Dual 2, or any other Recalbox accessory, we’ll be bringing stock with us!

Tickets are available on billetweb.fr — 1-day passes are €19, and 3-day passes are €49. And if you’d like to arrange carpooling or challenge someone from the community on an arcade cabinet, we’ve created a dedicated Discord channel for organizing

See you soon in Évreux!

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The Sega Saturn has always been the console that gives emulator developers nightmares (with the Nintendo 64 being no slouch either). Not for lack of love — quite the opposite — but because its architecture is a true engineering puzzle. Some good news has just dropped, though: Yaba Sanshiro has reached a significant milestone in the way it reproduces the console’s graphics rendering.

The issue is as old as Saturn emulation itself. The console’s VDP1 graphics chip rendered its sprites and polygons as quadrilaterals — four-sided shapes. Modern GPUs, meanwhile, only understand triangles. To convert one into the other, emulators have traditionally split those quads into increasingly smaller fragments, a technique known as tessellation. It worked… more or less. But once games were upscaled to high definition, the flaws became visible: warped textures, missing pixels along the edges, gaps between polygons. The kind of detail that goes completely unnoticed on a CRT, but quickly becomes annoying at higher resolutions.

A completely new approach

With version 1.20.5, developer devMiyax is changing the paradigm entirely. Instead of continuing to force Saturn rendering into the triangular mold of modern GPUs, Yaba Sanshiro now uses compute shaders — a type of GPU program that bypasses the traditional graphics pipeline to work directly at the pixel level. In practical terms, instead of starting from a texture and projecting it onto the screen, the emulator now works backward: for every displayed pixel, it traces back to the original VDP1 coordinates and calculates what the real Saturn would have shown at that exact spot. The result is visually cleaner, more accurate, and — surprisingly enough — still runs at 60 frames per second in tests performed on mobile devices.

What about Recalbox?

The Saturn is a console we follow very closely. Recalbox currently offers four dedicated cores to emulate it (Mednafen, Yabause, YabaSanshiro — the one discussed here — and Kronos), and we are actively testing Ymir — an emulator that is also making waves in the scene thanks to its ambitious approach to Saturn rendering. The progress of Yaba Sanshiro and the rise of Ymir are two encouraging signs for a console long considered almost impossible to emulate properly. The ecosystem is evolving, and we love to see it.

A work in progress

It would be an exaggeration to say Saturn emulation is now “solved” — the console remains one of the most complex systems to reproduce faithfully, with its eight processors and highly unconventional graphics logic. But the trajectory is clear: where people were still talking a few years ago about hacks and compromises, we’re now discussing carefully considered technical choices and measurable on-screen results. For fans of Panzer Dragoon Saga, Radiant Silvergun, Sega Rally, or NiGHTS, that’s very good news indeed.

Sources: Time Extension, yabasanshiro.com, GenerationAmiga, rom-game.fr, Sega Saturn Shiro

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Some projects instantly make you want to pull out your credit card. Memory Club is one of them. A bar dedicated to the 1990s, an arcade room, a restoration workshop for arcade cabinets — all housed inside a renovated former factory in Villeurbanne.

The original idea is simple and incredibly effective: what if we created a place where the 1990s never disappeared? Not just a vague inspiration, not a couple of vintage posters slapped on a wall for decoration — a full immersion. Old CRT televisions playing classic TV shows, magazines we all remember from our younger days, and pop culture references hidden in every corner.

The arcade room we all dreamed about

Time Crisis, Mortal Kombat, Dragon's Lair 2, Ridge Racer — around twenty arcade cabinets featuring timeless classics, seven pinball machines including several vintage ones, and free entry with credits starting at just €0.50. For Recalbox users used to running everything from the comfort of their living room, it’s a reminder that some things can’t truly be emulated: the smell of an arcade, the heavy sound of a pinball machine being mercilessly abused, and the shame of getting beaten at Street Fighter by a complete stranger in front of ten people.

Familiar faces

What makes this project especially close to our hearts is that it’s partly led by people we’ve already had the pleasure of meeting. Kevin and the Art'cade association — with whom we previously shared their appearance at Paris Games Week 2025 — are part of the adventure. For more than eight years, Art'cade has been restoring and preserving original arcade machines with a level of care that can only be admired. At Memory Club, they will run a 60m² workshop entirely dedicated to this passion: several machines are already being restored, including an Astro City and a Naomi. For purists, that’s almost as exciting as the bar itself.

Art'cade will be joined by Héni & Paul from La Cité des Halles and Vitamine 7, creators of hybrid venues in Lyon, along with Maxime from Lieux Solides, a specialist in transforming vacant spaces into lively community hubs. A strong team, complementary skills, and a shared vision.

A project that needs your support

Memory Club is scheduled to open in September 2026. The total budget stands at €70,000, with €55,000 already secured. The Ulule campaign aims to fund the final stretch — renovation work, interior setup, and decoration. In return, contributors can get some very fitting rewards: a limited-edition token, a screen-printed T-shirt with a distinctly 90s vibe, a collector’s glass, or even an ultra-limited edition IPA from Lyon-based brewery Saint Cru featuring artwork created especially for the occasion.

This place will also belong, in some way, to all of you and to the shared passion we continue trying to keep alive in different ways. And that’s something you can’t put a price on.

Source: Ulule Campaign — Memory Club

We talked a lot about the Nintendo Switch 2 this week — and for good reason. Between the announcement of the Star Fox remake and the matching plush toys, the mood was celebratory. And then Nintendo decided to ruin the buffet.

On May 8, 2026, shortly after publishing its financial results, the Kyoto-based company announced a worldwide price increase for the Switch 2. In Europe, the console will rise from €469.99 to €499.99 starting September 1, 2026. Thirty extra euros, sold without a game included, pushing it past the symbolic €500 mark.

Record profits, higher prices

That’s where things start to sting. Nintendo did not announce this increase after a bad year — quite the opposite. During fiscal year 2025-2026, the company nearly doubled its revenue, reaching around €13.2 billion, with net profit up by 52%. The Switch 2, launched in June 2025, has already sold close to 20 million units. Nintendo is doing just fine, thank you very much. The official explanation politely mentions “changing market conditions” — in other words, rising component costs and global geopolitical tensions, including U.S. tariffs... suuuuuure.

And what about the games?

The console alone is one thing. But we all know it: a console without games is still just a nice-looking box. First-party Switch 2 titles are priced around €79.99, and Nintendo Switch Online subscriptions are also increasing — for now only in Japan, but Europe is watching closely. So expect to spend around €600 to get started properly. That’s about what a PS5 cost a few years ago, as many players have pointed out on forums — and they’re not entirely wrong.

The window to buy at the current price

The good news, if we can call it that: Nintendo announced the increase four months in advance. The console will remain available at €469.99 — or even less from some retailers — until August 31, 2026. For those still hesitating, this might be the best time to decide. And if emulation is enough for you for now, Recalbox will keep running your classics without asking too many questions about pricing.

Sources: Nintendo-Difference, Jeuxvideo.com, Switch-Actu, King of Geek

Oh sure Nintendo! You think all it takes is releasing a remake of a game we loved on the Nintendo 64, then announcing plush toys based on the heroes and expecting us to buy them? Well yes… yes… alright fine, we’re going to buy them.

And to be fair, Sanei definitely knows how to capitalize on nostalgia at the perfect moment. The Japanese manufacturer, well known for its Nintendo plush collections, announced on May 7 an official Star Fox lineup featuring all four members of the team: Fox McCloud, Falco Lombardi, Peppy Hare, and Slippy Toad.

Four characters, four sizes

Peppy tops the list at 29 cm tall, ears included. Fox and Falco both stand at 25 cm, while Slippy comes in at 20 cm. Each plush will retail for 3,300 yen, or around €20.

Import only for now

The collection has currently been announced exclusively for Japan, with a release scheduled for late June. No official international distribution has been confirmed yet, meaning European retro gamers will likely have to rely on imports — or wait patiently. Considering the current hype surrounding the franchise, however, a worldwide release would not be surprising.

Perfect timing

Nintendo clearly planned everything carefully: the remake launches on June 25, the plush toys arrive at the end of June, and Fox McCloud already had a major role in The Super Mario Galaxy Movie just a few weeks ago. For those of us who grew up with a Nintendo 64 controller in our hands, resisting is going to be difficult.

Sources: Retro Dodo, Nintendo Wire, Nintendo Life, GoNintendo

Nintendo caught everyone off guard this Wednesday, May 7, by announcing during a surprise Nintendo Direct the return of Star Fox on Switch 2. Simply titled Star Fox, the game is a full remake of Lylat Wars — known overseas as Star Fox 64 — and launches on June 25, 2026.

The Direct itself was announced only ten minutes before airing through a message from Shigeru Miyamoto, making it one of Nintendo’s most unexpected communications in quite some time. The franchise had been dormant since Star Fox Zero on Wii U in 2016, marking a ten-year absence.

A faithful remake, but expanded

The levels retain the structure of the original Nintendo 64 game, but feature completely overhauled visuals, reworked dialogue, and character designs that lean even further into their animal-inspired appearance. Numerous cinematics have been added, including brand-new briefing scenes between missions that expand the universe’s lore. Nintendo also ended the Direct with a prologue featuring James McCloud, Fox’s father — fully dubbed in French. This scene can be seen at the end of the video below.

New Switch 2 features

The game will support the Joy-Con 2 mouse mode, including a local co-op mode where one player handles piloting while the other controls aiming with mouse controls. Compatibility with the reissued Nintendo 64 controller for Switch Online subscribers has also been confirmed, alongside a competitive multiplayer mode and new in-game challenges.

Launching in one month

Star Fox will be available on June 25, 2026 exclusively for Nintendo Switch 2, priced at €49.99 for the digital version. Its announcement comes barely a month after the release of The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, in which Fox McCloud plays a major role. A release timing that clearly seems carefully planned by Nintendo.

Sources: Nintendo-Difference, Journal du Geek, Kotaku

After the psychic labyrinths of Psychic 5, we stay within 90s Japanese arcade games but switch genres entirely. Enter Bal Cube for One Credit Challenge #17, a curiosity by Metro Corporation released in July 1996.

A reverse brick breaker

Bal Cube was developed and published by Metro Corporation, a low-profile Japanese studio whose 90s arcade catalog remains largely obscure. The arcade board runs on a Motorola 68000 clocked at 16 MHz with a YMF278B sound chip — modest hardware for a game that puts everything into its core concept. Released in Japan in July 1996, the title never received a home console port and quickly faded into obscurity due to limited distribution outside the Japanese market.

You are the cube

The concept flips the classic brick breaker formula: forget the paddle. Here, you directly control the ball — a spinning blue cube — by altering its trajectory with the joystick. Blocks of various shapes descend from the top of the screen, and your goal is to eliminate them all before they reach the bottom. Death occurs either when the cube falls into one of the holes at the bottom of the screen or when the blocks cross the fatal line. Power-ups are hidden in certain blocks: slowdown, full screen clear, the ability to break steel blocks in a single hit… Puzzle elements gradually appear in later levels, making the game more demanding than it initially seems.

The One Credit challenge

Bal Cube is easy to pick up, but mastering the cube’s trajectory quickly becomes extremely challenging as the speed increases. Finishing it without continuing requires mastering momentum — something only dedicated practice can achieve. Grab your joysticks.

For more technical information about Bal Cube, check out its Recalbox MAME DB page.

🏆 Challenge rules

Your objective is to achieve the highest score using a single credit.
The challenge runs from May 1st to May 15th, 11:59 PM. You may attempt it as many times as you like.

📢 How to participate?

• Launch the game (ROM: balcube.zip)
• Play and try to beat the highest score
• Take a screenshot or photo of your final score
• Share your score on the #challenges Discord channel, including your username and score

⚖️ Rules to follow

To ensure fairness:

The score must be achieved on a single credit, without save states, rewind, cheats, or auto-fire (unless built into the game).

Gentlemen’s agreement: the use of glitches that artificially inflate the score is also prohibited.

🎁 Rewards and fair play

The goal of the challenge is above all to discover games, share tips, and of course have fun — all within a competitive spirit.

The winner will receive a game key (GOG, Steam, etc.) to choose from a list of around 100 titles.
If you have won a challenge within the last three months, the reward will go to the next player.

Your ranking will be added to the One Credit Challenge leaderboard.
The Season 1 champion will win either an RGB Dual 2 or a one-year Recalbox Patreon subscription.

Good luck to everyone — may the best score win!