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Homebrew Games Summer Showcase 2024 reveals tons of new NES, SNES, Game Boy and Virtual Boy games
Who says these platforms are dead?
There are some major game showcases and presentations to come, and some of them are pulling back the curtain in just a matter of hours. Those events will reveal new games for the latest platforms, but what if you’re a more retro-minded gamer? Well you’re in luck, as the Homebrew Games Summer Showcase is right up your alley.
The whole point of the Homebrew Games Summer Showcase is to spotlight brand-new games that are heading to decades-old platforms. While Nintendo may have long since supporting hardware like the SNES or GBA, dedicated retro enthusiasts are keeping the platforms alive with fresh experiences.
The 2024 Homebrew Games Summer Showcase featured a whopping 120 games from developers around the world, and the lion’s share of titles are heading to Nintendo’s legacy platforms. There are games in the works for the NES, SNES, Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance and even the Virtual Boy! No matter what Nintendo retro flavor you enjoy, the 2024 HGSS has something for you.
You can check out the presentation above to get quick looks at all of these hot homebrew titles, or if you’d rather just get down to details, you can find a complete spreadsheet of every single game discussed here.
My Nintendo adds retro postcards and more for Father's Day
The fatherload?
My Nintendo is back with another round of goodies for you to spend your Platinum Points on, and this latest batch of items is geared towards dear-old Dad for Father’s Day…or at least that’s what Nintendo says. I’m not a Dad, but I sure as hell want some of this swag!
Please your game-loving pops with a pack of retro postcards featuring Game Boy, Game Boy Advance, and Nintendo 64 games! And remember, you can play a selection classic NES, Super NES, and Game Boy games with any Nintendo Switch Online membership. And with a Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack membership, you get additional access to a library of Game Boy Advance, Nintendo 64, and SEGA Genesis™ titles. You can redeem 450 My Nintendo Platinum Points to get these postcards.
Need a cool card for Dad? You can bring a smile to Dad’s face with these retro Father’s Day cards. These can be picked up on My Nintendo for 30 Platinum Points.
Give dad the gift of some of his favorite things wrapped into one fun coupon book! Redeem your 30 Platinum Points and add this to your gift. If that’s not your thing, you can add some style to your scrapbook with colorful cut-outs inspired by the Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. These cut-outs are priced at 30 Platinum Points as well.
For links to all of these items, you can visit this My Nintendo Father’s Day page.
Jeremy Parish covers Cobra Triangle in NES Works 137
It's a boat time!
Our pals at Rare are back to apologize for that whole John Elway mess with a slick, high-speed combat racer. At the same time, they’ve ratcheted up the difficulty to utterly painful levels as a way to punish everyone who complained about John Elway. Our pals at Rare giveth, and they taketh away.
As long as you can abide by the extreme challenge level, which would inform future original productions by Rare, Cobra Triangle has a lot going for it. Technical finesse! A variety of mission types! Slick graphics! A Gradius-inspired power-up system! And, somehow, it rips off Ocean’s Waterworld for Virtual Boy six years before Ocean’s Waterworld or the Virtual Boy ever existed. That’s a neat trick. Truly, was anything beyond Rare’s abilities in the NES era?
Microsoft shows how to run .NET on an NES
Microsoft does what Nintendon't
Over the last decade or so, Nintendo and Microsoft have become quite close with one another…business-wise. Microsoft and Nintendo have worked together on countless deals, and Microsoft has even brought over a bunch of their games to the Switch. Now we see that respect for one another continue, and in a very interesting way.
The official Microsoft Developer YouTube Channel has just uploaded a video showcasing how to get .NET running on a Nintendo Entertainment System. Microsoft dev Jonathan Peppers walks us through a “hobby project” of making the C# program run on Nintendo’s breakthrough console. This talk covers topics like reverse engineering, opcodes, MSIL, binary formats, and much much more!
This video is one of many sessions delivered for the Microsoft Build 2024 event. As for Peppers himself, he’s a Microsoft engineer on the Android workload for .NET. Last but not least, for those who don’t know, .NET is a free and open-source, managed computer software framework for Windows, Linux, and macOS…and now NES!
Rod Land available to pre-order for NES and Game Boy
Spare the rod, spoil the gamer
Rit and Tam were living in a peaceful fairy village along with their mother after their father had passed away. Suddenly, the people and creatures in the village become aggressive and an evil monster kidnaps their mother. Now after 30 years, the Rod Land games finally arrive in North America for the first time!
In 1992, ports for the NES and Game Boy appeared but were limited to Italy, the Netherlands, and Spain. The minimal amount of text made it easy to port, however, it never saw a physical release in the United States. This was possibly due to the SNES launching in 1990 and Nintendo of America pulling publishing support for the aging NES to focus on the newer console
With the rise of the internet, the price to own Rod Land has ballooned, regardless of the port or region. Today, a complete set of the NES PAL version would cost you well into the hundreds of dollars and even more for a new copy. Even in Japan, collectors have started pushing the prices up at some Japanese retro game shops. While pricing for the Game Boy and Famicom isn’t far behind, the price to own and enjoy Rod Land is very high, even after its release 30 years ago.
Retro-Bit Publishing Rod Land Collectors for NES
- First official physical release in North America
- Enchanted 8-bit cartridge for NES® consoles
- Exclusive Acrylic Cartridge Display Stand
- Numbered hardcover magnetic cartridge packaging
- Full-colored instruction manual
- MSRP: $54.99/€64,99
Retro-Bit Publishing Rod Land Collectors for Gameboy
- First official physical release in North America
- Silver Sparkle cartridge for Game Boy®
- Numbered hardcover magnetic cartridge packaging
- Full-colored instruction manual
- MSRP: $44.99/€49,99
You can pre-order your NES or Game Boy copy of Rod Land through Limited Run Games.
This summer, Nintendo is bringing joy and excitement to cities across the U.S. with the Play Nintendo Tour! From June 13 to September 2, families can dive into the fun and adventure of Nintendo at various stops nationwide. This free event is packed with interactive experiences, photo-ops with beloved Nintendo characters, and playable demos of the latest Nintendo Switch games.
What's in Store at the Play Nintendo Tour?
Character Meet and Greets
Get ready to meet Luigi, Princess Peach, Pikachu, Isabelle, Tom Nook, and more! Snap a photo with your favorite characters and create unforgettable memories.
Interactive Activities and Games
There’s something for everyone at the Play Nintendo Tour! Whether you’re a seasoned gamer or new to the world of Nintendo, you’ll find plenty of activities to enjoy:
- Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD Photo-Op: Brave the spooky scene from Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD, releasing on June 27.
- Princess Peach: Showtime! Demo: Walk the red carpet and play as Peach in her theatrical adventure, transforming into different personas like Swordfighter Peach and Patissiere Peach.
- Super Mario Bros. Wonder Demo: Experience the magic of Wonder Flowers in this new Mario game. Play as Mario, Luigi, Peach, Daisy, Toads, Toadette, Yoshi, and Nabbit and discover exciting new power-ups.
- Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Races: Rev up your engines and race through thrilling speedways in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and the Booster Course Pass DLC.
- Pokémon Adventures: Pose with Pikachu and learn about the Pokémon in Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet.
Additional Game Demos
Try out other fantastic games such as Mario vs. Donkey Kong, Nintendo Switch Sports, Kirby and the Forgotten Land, Pikmin 4, Just Dance 2024, and starting July 18, Nintendo World Championships: NES™ Edition.
Family-Friendly Fun
Parents and kids can enjoy personality quizzes, jumbo puzzles, memory matching games, and more. There’s even a claw machine where you can win fun items and plushies of your favorite Nintendo characters!
Exclusive Rewards
Guests will receive a free Play Nintendo Tour passport to collect stickers by participating in activities. Complete the passport to earn Nintendo goodies like Play Nintendo bracelets, coloring pages, and a free 14-day trial code for Nintendo Switch Online (while supplies last). Attendees with a Nintendo Account can check in with My Nintendo to receive a Super Mario-themed gift and 100 My Nintendo Platinum Points to redeem for rewards.
Tour Schedule and Locations
The Play Nintendo Tour will be stopping at the following locations:
- Salt Lake City, UT: The Shops at South Town, June 13 – June 16
- Denver, CO: FlatIron Crossing, June 20 – June 23
- Houston, TX: The Woodlands Mall, June 27 – June 30
- Des Moines, IA: Jordan Creek Town Center, July 11 – July 14
- Philadelphia, PA: King of Prussia, July 18 – July 21
- East Rutherford, NJ: American Dream®, July 25 – July 28
- Greenville, SC: Haywood Mall, August 1 – August 4
- Miami, FL: Aventura Mall, August 8 – August 11
- Minneapolis, MN: Mall of America®, August 30 – September 2
Jeremy Parish checks out Baseball Stars in NES Works 136
Step up to the plate
1989 has been a year of impressive maturation for the NES platform, but Baseball Stars really shows how far along the console—and console gaming as a whole—have come since the early days.
Sure, it’s another baseball game, but this one is packed with customization, season and career progression simulation, and even a business management aspect. All of this is saved to one of those newfangled lithium batteries… you know, like the ones previously used only for massive timesink RPGs.
This is a meaty take on baseball, offering the depth of a PC coaching sim but the snappy immediacy of a console sports game. It’s pretty much an all-time classic, and easily the single best console baseball game ever seen to this point in history.
Nintendo releases "Classic Zelda Games" promo video
The legend persists
You can play classic The Legend of Zelda games and many more from Game Boy, Super NES and NES with a Nintendo Switch Online membership. With a Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack membership, you can access Nintendo 64 and Game Boy Advance games in the series too!
We’re not quite sure why Nintendo felt now was the time to showcase Legend of Zelda games for the Switch Online service, but we’re not complaining. With so many classic adventures on the service, there’s a treasure trove of experiences awaiting new franchise fans.
It’ll likely be quite some time until we see the next mainline installment from Link and the gang, so why not spend some time with the classics?
The console wars of the 90s are alive and well, thanks to a new YouTube video from Retro Comparisons. In the channel’s latest upload, they show side by side comparisons of every single video game that was released on both Nintendo and Sega platforms. The video spans multiple generations, all the way from the NES and the Master System, to the GameCube and DreamCast, and even includes arcade games and unreleased ports.
Altogether, the video is over nine hours long, featuring a few minutes of gameplay of over one thousand titles. If you’ve ever wondered about a specific game and how the Nintendo version compares to its Sega counterpart, it’s in here somewhere! Who knows, maybe you can forward this to a friend from grade school and finally settle a decades old playground argument over which version of Aladdin is better.
REVIEW: Animal Well is one hell of a creature feature
All's well that ends well
While my first taste of gaming came from the Atari 7800 and the arcade, the bulk of my childhood was spent playing NES games. I am very much a product of that era, which means I’ve carried certain sensibilities with me throughout the years.
For better or worse, there were things NES games did that still resonate with me deeply to this day. Be it a design choice, the product of an industry finding its way, or nothing more than the sign of hardware limitations, NES games did things differently. In my opinion, one of the hallmarks of NES gaming were experiences that didn’t give you all the details. Multiple games kept a number of their mechanics, instructions and features secret, leaving the player to discover them on their own.Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest is a perfect example of this, but it’s also a game that took this approach to the extreme.
Now, at the ripe old age of 42, I still look back fondly on those days of mystery-filled NES gaming. I’m not someone who’ll say gaming was better back then and we’ve lost our way, but for my personal tastes, there’s a bit too much hand-holding in today’s games. I 100% think those components should be in every game, but as the player, I’d love to have an option of turning hints and prodding off. Let me wander, get lost, become confused…I want to figure things out on my own. For me, nothing beats that feeling of an “Aha!” moment where everything clicks and you find your way out of a conundrum that’s had you stuck for hours.
That long-winded intro takes us right up to Animal Well, a Metroidvania that puts you in control of a sentient blob. As the blob, you’re plopped down into a mystery well that’s filled with creatures, puzzles, and seemingly limitless possibilities. From the opening moments to the very end of the game, you’re left to your own devices to figure out what to do, where to go, and how to make your way through the adventure. You’ll need a keen eye, patience and a sense of exploration to see Animal Well through to its end, and for an ancient gamer like myself, it couldn’t have been a more enjoyable experience.
Another one of those monster-sized games with a massive legacy lands on NES. There really was something in the water in summer 1989, huh? Guess that’s what they mean when they say the NES had The Juice. The Juice was the mysterious thing in the water.
In this case, we have a console adaptation of a groundbreaking Japanese computer game—their own take on the hex-based war simulations that the American grognards loved so much. Unlike Dragon Warrior, Nobunaga’s Ambition was not built from the ground-up for consoles; this is a computer game through and through, and it makes few concessions for play on a two-button controller on a system marketed to kids. Nobunaga tosses you into the deep end and expects you to swim, and it isn’t afraid to stick you with a game over before you make your first move. It’s confusing, overwhelming, and opaque, and it makes no apologies for any of those things.
Naturally, it became a long-running series and transformed Koei into one of the most powerful and sustainable game publishers in the world.
Nintendo updates their Japanese website with profiles for four more classic games
Can't forget the classics
We have no clue as to the rhyme or reason for doing this, but Nintendo has just added profiles for four Famicom titles to their official Japanese site. All four of these games came out in 1991, and now Japanese fans can visit Nintendo’s website to learn more about them.
The four Famicom games Nintendo has made profile pages for are as follows:
- NES Open Tournament Golf
- Time Twist: Rekishi no Katasumi de…
- Shin 4nin Uchi Mahjong: Yakuman Tengoku
- Yoshi
Some of these titles have been re-released on various platforms and can even be played on Switch, while others haven’t been seen in years. Either way, if you’re interested in snooping through the profile pages for these games, you can find them here.
Mega Man was originally planned for a Famicom Disk System release
Mega revelations
The original Mega Man game launched on the NES in 1987, but apparently it was originally planned for a different type of release. This new info comes to us from Akira Kitamura, the director/planner of the very first Mega Man title. He recently answered some fan questions on Twitter, which led him to revealing this fun tidbit.
According to Kitamura, Mega Man was first conceived as a title for the Famicom Disk System. The Famicom Disk System was an add-on for the original Famicom released only in Japan. The accessory used floppy disks and was meant to produce cheaper games, as well as higher quality sound. Apparently Mega Man was switched to a more traditional Famicom/NES release because its production was running on schedule, and the developers wanted to get it out to take advantage of year end sales. Kitamura says that this had no impact on the overall development or final outcome of the game.
History might have been very different if Mega Man’s release had gone as originally planned. It might not have been as successful for Capcom, and America might not have seen the game until much later, if at all. Fortunately, everything worked out and Mega Man’s legacy is safe and secure.
To celebrate the launch of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door game for Switch, a brave band of streamers will be adventuring along with Mario and friends during the launch weekend on Twitch. Watch as some of your favorite Twitch stars journey through a colorful world of paper to collect the Crystal Stars before the nefarious X-Nauts do. Let’s meet the streamers!
TeaWithMandy (@TeaWithMandy)
- Sponsored stream: Friday, May 24, 4:00 am - 6:00 am EST
- Full stream time: 2:00 am - 6:00 am EST
TeaWithMandy primarily focuses on playing a variety of single-player games and loves nothing more than to immerse herself and her community, the Cutea Club, in the most beautiful experiences that the gaming world has to offer.
Le Jeu C’est Sérieux (@JeuSerieux)
- Sponsored stream: Saturday, May 25, 1:00 pm - 5:00 pm EST
Le Jeu C’est Sérieux is a duo of video game enthusiasts made up of Guiz and Laurent. Nostalgia is a recurring theme for these partners in crime, specifically Guiz with his huge collection of NES games, while Laurent collects VHS recordings in search of artifacts of the video game past. They have shared their love of video games for over 10 years, both on YouTube and Twitch.
Thedragonfeeney (@thedragonfeeney)
- Sponsored stream: Sunday, May 26, 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm EST
- Full stream time: 4:00 pm - 8:00 pm EST
Thedragonfeeney captivates audiences with her boundless enthusiasm and friendly demeanor. Feen delivers engaging gameplay, nostalgic trips down memory lane, and an infectious passion for gaming. Thedragonfeeney continues to inspire and entertain, leaving a lasting mark in the gaming community.
The history of NES Tetris world records doc is can't-miss
Take this doc for a spin
When it comes to painstakingly chronicling world records in videogames, no one does it better than Summoning Salt. The gaming world record aficionado puts an absolute mountain of work and effort into breaking down the history of those records, and this time he’s turned his focus to Tetris on the NES.
As usual, there’s more than just one world record for Tetris on the NES. Depending on the methodology and approach, players can virtually compete to be the best in the world in numerous areas. You might think Tetris to be a rather straightforward affair, but as this documentary shows, there are all sorts of attempts, approaches and innovations that lead to the entire world record scene being flipped on its head.
The world record scene for Tetris has been active pretty much since the game launched, yet players are still pushing to be the best literal decades after this title first hit the scene. The ways in which players have not only discovered for speeding up gameplay, but pushing the game beyond its limits is downright staggering. If you haven’t been following the Tetris world record scene, you’re in for an absolute treat with this doc.