Posts from ‘Remakes’ Category

Endless Forms Most Beautiful

By: Derek Yu

On: July 19th, 2012

Endless Forms Most Beautiful

Endless Forms Most Beautiful is a Locomalito remake of a fairly recent (February 2012) ZX Spectrum game by David Hughes. Spanning 15 levels, the goal of the game is to collect all the imps on each level while avoiding various monsters. Moving around takes a bit of getting used to as it defies convention – you can travel up and down on teleport pads but only if you’re standing on top of a pad. Also, by leaving the screen you’ll end up either on the row above (if you went left) or the row below (if you went right).

Once you get a hang of the controls, though, EFMB becomes a fun little “coffee break” action game that offers a relatively large amount of variety from level to level. Two-player co-op and versus modes round out another polished gem from Locomalito and the guys at RGCD (and David Hughes, of course).

TIGdb: Endless Forms Most Beautiful

La-Mulana Returns to PC on July 13

By: Alehkhs

On: July 6th, 2012

Retro-inspired platformer and puzzler La-Mulana will be returning to its PC roots next week.

Priced at $15 USD, the PC version of this remake will include the Hell Temple and Attack Mode features that were made available as DLC on the WiiWare version, as well as support easy modification of the game.

La-Mulana will be available at the launch of Playism’s new English site on July 13, 2012. The original game can still be downloaded for free however, so be sure to check it out in the meantime!

Reprisal

By: Alehkhs

On: May 21st, 2012

When graphic designer Jon Caplin found himself with time on his hands while recovering from a broken jaw, he began work on a personal art-design project that drew from his memories of playing the classic god game Populous. What began as a simple hobby project arrives today as a full, completed game. Titled “Reprisal,” the finished product features one of the most gorgeous presentations of pixel art I’ve seen and is free to play in-browser.

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Avernum: Escape From the Pit

By: Derek Yu

On: April 15th, 2012

Avernum: Escape From the Pit, by Spiderweb SoftwareScreenshot taken by crowe.

Avernum: Escape From the Pit is a remake of Avernum (1999), which itself is a remake of Exile: Escape From the Pit (1995), Spiderweb Software’s very first RPG. Built on their latest game engine, Avernum: EFTP retains the original’s storyline and environments, but revamps the graphics, interface, and certain game systems. On top of that, it adds some new characters and areas to explore.

The game is available for Mac, Windows, and iPad.

TIGdb: Entry for Spiderweb Software

Zelda Classic Quests

By: Derek Yu

On: February 4th, 2012

[This is an overly enthusiastic guest article by vinheim that was originally posted to TIGForums. Zelda Classic is an enhanced remake of the original Legend of Zelda that runs custom quests built with ZC’s editors.]

Hey TIGers, prepare your anus for a waaaaall of text.

I bet some of you who’ve played the Legend of Zelda series and enjoyed it are probably thinking “Damn, these are incredible, it doesn’t get better than this!” or “There’s no way a LoZ fan game could compete with these.” Well I’m here to tell you that you are completely wrong and it gets better. Much, much better.

I’d like to introduce two types of LoZ fan games. For the rom hack games, I’ve made some short reviews on [a TIGForums] post. There’s one post near the top and another near the bottom. Don’t worry about the negatives, the gameplay makes up for it.

Second, for the Zelda Classic games, which may as well be the pinnacle of gameplay in the history of videogames since forever. These quests take the core engine of LoZ, add some additional functionality, graphics, and music through scripting and the level editor and let their creativity do the rest. One of the unique functionalities is how people have emulated side-scrolling screens.

Here’s some of the best I’ve played. Assume that graphics, gameplay, sound, and exploration is already awesome and the story is mediocre before reading the additional comments.

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Hyper Princess Pitch

By: Derek Yu

On: December 1st, 2011

Hyper Princess Pitch, by Daniel Remar

Hyper Princess Pitch, the latest game from Daniel Remar (Hero Core, Iji), is a top-down arena shoot ’em up. A remake of Beaucomm Interactive’s Operation Carnage (DOS, 1996), Pitch seems like it plays more like the faster-paced Smash TV (Arcade, 1990), with lots of enemies streaming in quickly from the walls and sides of the screen. It’s quite short, having only 4 stages, and an average player shouldn’t have too much trouble completing it on the medium difficulty settings. However, the highest difficulty setting is no joke, as the bullets are much more prodigious and the bosses are given an extra attack pattern after they would normally die. You also only start with one extra life.

The scoring system is quite simple: playing at higher difficulty settings grants you a bigger score multiplier. By completing a level you not only get an extra life, but you also get bonuses for each room that you beat without taking damage. It’s worth noting that enemies do drop pickups randomly in this game, making luck a factor in scoring.

Pitch is set in the same world as Garden Gnome Carnage, and as such, it’s very light-hearted. The main character, the princess, fights an assortment of Christmas-themed baddies, from elves to ornaments. As for her arsenal, she has piledriver special attacks (see screenshot), uses black cats as options, and holsters two versatile secondary weapons: an ice shot that destroys yellow bullets and a bouncy rainbow shot.

Fans of Remar know he puts out fun games – this one is no exception. Happy Holidays!

TIGdb: Entry for Hyper Princess Pitch

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Super Smash Land

By: Derek Yu

On: September 15th, 2011

Super Smash Land, by Dan Fornace

Super Smash Land is a cute Game Boy demake of the popular Super Smash Bros. series of games. It features six characters (Mario, Kirby, Link, Pikachu, and two unlockable characters), three game modes (Arcade, Endless, and Versus), and up to four human or CPU players. The control scheme has been simplified to one jump button and one action button.

Preview: Xenonauts

By: Derek Yu

On: May 19th, 2011

Xenonauts, by Goldhawk Interactive

Fans of Julian Gollop’s X-COM might be happy to hear about a project that’s heavily-inspired by the classic strategy game. Unlike the FPS reboot by 2K Marin (titled “XCOM”), Xenonauts follows the original closely in terms of design, and features Geoscape, base management, and air and ground combat. However, the creators are trying to improve on X-COM in a variety of ways – for example, by adding a directional cover system to the combat system. The game also takes place in the 1979, during the Cold War, and eschews futuristic human technology in favor of more recognizable weapons and vehicles.

Xenonauts has been in production for 18 months so far, and Goldhawk Interactive is taking pre-orders to aid the development – people who pre-order can help test various aspects of the game before release. For more information, check out this development blog on the PC Gamer website that highlights a lot of the new features. There’s also a two-page preview that should appear in the PCG magazine in July.

(Source: Rock, Paper, Shotgun)

Streets of Rage Remake

By: Derek Yu

On: April 5th, 2011

After 8 years of development, Bomber Games has released version 5, the final version, of their Streets of Rage Remake. An incredible tribute to the Streets of Rage/Bare Knuckle series of beat ’em ups, SORR features 19 playable characters, 64 enemies, 103 stages, and 76 remixed, remastered music tracks – all based on the three original Sega Genesis games and their Game Gear conversions. On top of that, it sports an impressive number of editors, modes, options, and other improvements.

(Source: Türbo Bröther, via TIGForums)

TIGdb: Entry for Streets of Rage Remake

Streemerz

By: Derek Yu

On: July 23rd, 2010

Streemerz - mak gam

Glen “Radix” Forrester and Arthur “Mr. Podunkian” Lee have announced mak gam, their new game studio. This announcement coincides with their release of the FlashPunk version of Streemerz, a platformer based on the Action 52 game of the same name. Streemerz was created for Mr. Podunkian’s Action 52 project, where various developers sign up to create games based on the infamous Action 52 multi-game cart for the NES. As of writing, 20 of the 52 action-packed “gams” have been finished, and I believe there are still spots open if you want to participate (full list here).

In Streemerz you play as the lovable-but-misguided proletariat Superb Joe, who is out to topple the benevolent dictatorship of Master Y. Superb Joe is armed with a grappling hook (or “streemer”) which allows him to swing around and make his way through the flying fortress of Master Y. Like Bionic Commando, which the game parodies, the character is unable to jump and can only use his streemer to leave the ground.

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