All Things Retro
“Machines were considered boys’ stuff and they wanted to bring girls in”. It’s hard to imagine a time before Barbie was a multi-media megastar, but at the start of the ’90s, she had only appeared in one game that had ultimately failed to live up to the expectations of its publisher, Epyx: Barbie (1984) for…
Updated with impressions of the N64 EM05 Ultra Module. Originally announced back in 2017 as the RetroBlox, Polymega has endured a fairly tumultuous journey to market. While the system’s objective has always been the same – to offer players the chance to access software for a wide range of cartridge and CD-based retro consoles in…
Want to get a more professional feel when playing with your favourite handhelds? Check out our list of the best controllers for Windows handhelds and get more precise with every shot, punch, goal, and drift-powered corner. I know what some of you are thinking; why would I want to use a controller with my handheld?…
…but not quite yet. Polymega’s N64 module allows users to install Game Boy and Game Boy Color games to their system, thanks to the N64’s Transfer Pak. The Transfer Pak was originally intended to allow connectivity between N64 and Game Boy software, but, when connected to a controller on the Polymega, it allows you to…
How Henk Rogers, the man who bought Tetris, introduced the RPG to Japan. On Wednesday, 10th February 1988, Japanese police arrested nearly four hundred schoolchildren involved in a mass breakout of truancy in what a National Police Agency spokesperson later described as “a national disgrace”. The absenteeism was inspired by a video game, Dragon Quest…
Monochrome marvels. Nintendo certainly isn’t short on hugely influential, million-selling pieces of hardware, but the original Game Boy is perhaps the first system produced by the Japanese giant that became a desirable, almost ubiquitous consumer product brand. There’s a well-known anecdote – which may or may not be apocryphal – that claims a high-ranking Sony…
Taito’s classic joins the Arcade Archives range. Taito’s classic arcade Rainbow Islands: The Story of Bubble Bobble 2 is coming to the Arcade Archives range on Switch and PS4 early next year, it has been revealed. Released in arcades in 1987, Rainbow Islands is the sequel to Bubble Bobble, even though the gameplay is quite…
How Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX 3 morphed into something very different. Misguided, crass, even tawdry. All valid criticisms of BMX XXX, which featured the unlikely pairing of BMX riding and gratuitous nudity with a side order of fart jokes and dog sex. The game was a flop on its release in 2002 but garnered a…
Via the “Polymega Game Shop”. The latest Polymega system update has revealed that arcade games are coming to the modular console via its digital game store, known as the Polymega Game Shop. A digital offering of some form has been on the cards since before the Polymega launched, but this is the first confirmation that…
“It could have been the biggest disaster ever, can you imagine?”. If you grew up playing games in the ’80s or ’90s, you’ve probably encountered more than a few titles featuring the name Ocean Software. The Manchester publisher/developer was prolific back in the day for releasing computer and console ports of popular arcade games as…