If you didn’t know, most video game consoles from the 80s and 90s are still getting new games added to their library every month — just not “officially.” There’s a thriving indie development community centered around the NES, Game Boy, Genesis, and the 90s’ final gift, the Dreamcast.
A year ago, we brought to your attention a humorous sidescrolling platformer for the NES called Panzer. The game shared its name with the main character, an egotistical military general on a mission to bring his old gang back together, whether they wanted to be or not. Now, one sequel later, Panzer has succeeded in his mission, and just in time…a new evil has arrived in his land that will take the might of four warriors to defeat!
You might be forgiven for assuming the NES got a port of Montezuma’s Revenge. Originally released by board game manufacturer Parker Brothers for a variety of systems in the mid-80s, it was a platformer smash BEFORE Mario made the genre cool — but by the time the NES achieved dominance, Montezuma’s Revenge was no longer being sold.
Apologies for not telling you about this one earlier, but there’s a new Metroidvania game out there for the NES, and its crowdfunding campaign — which is a massive success — wraps up in just 24 hours. The game is called Mawthorne, it’s pretty much done and awaiting physical production, and it’s by homebrew creator CrazyGroupTrio (one person), creator of the excellent Shera and the 40 Thieves.
These days, it seems like we get a new physical production of a NES homebrew game every week. This time, it’s the action puzzle game Roniu’s Tale, developed by the four-person team at Kunjee Studio and distributed by Mega Cat Games.
Weight of the world got you down? Don’t get mad, don’t stay sad — paint a turtle!
About a decade ago, programmer Dave Nemeth was really into MMOs and had many adventures with his guild. It was at that time he was inspired to create a sprite-based webcomic based around the guild, which he kept going until the group broke up and the well of inspiration ran dry. Years later, he got into NES homebrew development, but was stuck on a subject until he got the idea to base the game around his old MMO character Panzer.
Retro game maker CrazyGroupTrio has put over two years of work into Shera And The 40 Thieves, a new NES game that crosses Donkey Kong with Prince of Persia to create a solidly entertaining experience. Now the Kickstarter is active, and it’s earned its initial goal in just two days.
Dana Puch, a game developer from Barcelona, has created several homebrew games for the Game Boy. He’s wrapping up work on his most ambitious project for the handheld yet, The Shapeshifter…in which you play as Elliot, just a normal dude out on a normal camping trip. What’s AB-normal is when an elf shows up, tells Elliot that he is the only one who can save elf-kind from an evil wizard, and grants him the magic power to turn into different animals. Elliot can’t just mess around with his new gift…it’s temporary and will only last through the night. He must embark on his journey and defeat the wizard before the sun rises!
Several high-profile actors have disappeared from Magnilo Movie Studios, and no one can figure out why or how. Only one investigator can crack this case…Detective Jones! …Too bad he’s dead. The studio will have to settle for the skills of Detective Smith instead, specifically you.
Virginia-based development team Woog Worx has been working on a new action platformer for the NES for the last two years. Now Ghoul Grind: Night Of The Necromancer is nearly done, and the crowdfunding campaign (launched today) is your chance to get a physical copy (or a digital one, if you prefer).
Dana Puch, a game developer from Barcelona, has created several homebrew games for the Game Boy. He’s wrapping up work on his most ambitious project for the handheld yet, The Shapeshifter…and you can get a physical copy through the crowdfunding campaign he’s recently launched.