A commercial failure by comparison with its rival the PlayStation, the Saturn nevertheless boasted stylish, genre-defining titles that are still played and beloved by retro games enthusiasts today It is one of the greatest injustices of video game history that the Sega Saturn is widely considered a failure. The console, which was launched in Japan on 22 November 1994, almost two weeks ahead of the PlayStation, is continually and pejoratively compared to its rival. We hear about how Sony produced a high-end machine laser targeted at producing fast 3D graphics, while Sega’s engineers had to add an extra graphics chip to the Saturn at the last minute. We read that Sony’s Ken Kutaragi provided creators with a much more user-friendly development system. We know that Sony undercut the price of Sega’s machine, using its might as a consumer electronics giant to take the financial hit. All of that is true, but what aren’t always mentioned are the vast success of the Japanese Saturn launch, and the extraordinary legacy that Sega’s 32-bit machine left behind. What I remember is this: Edge magazine reporting from Akihabara in Tokyo, where its Japanese correspondent had joined a queue outside the major Laox computer game centre to try and snag one of the thousand or so machines not already preordered by fans. Two-and-a-half hours later, the writer emerged with his purchase, which included a copy of Virtua Fighter, the best arcade fighting game of the year. It was a lucky buy: the shelves were emptying fast all over town. Sega shifted an unprecedented 200,000 units that day. Continue reading...

Marking the anniversary, the creators of the rap beef beat-em-up sequel share memories of transforming Flavor Flav and Snoop Dogg into legendary video game characters ‘I remember we visited Ghostface Killah [of the Wu-Tang Clan] and he was mad at us!” recalls Daryl Anselmo, former EA employee and art director for 2004’s landmark hip-hop-fused beat-em-up, Def Jam: Fight for NY. “Ghostface had a four-pound solid gold eagle bracelet and he insisted his character’s finishing move should be this bird coming to life and pecking out all the other rappers’ eyeballs. The limitations of the PlayStation 2 technology and our violence restrictions meant we couldn’t pull it off. It was impossible.” The game’s producer Josh Holmes interjects: “When Ghostface first asked me about the eagle, Lauren [Wirtzer Seawood, another one of the game’s producers] told me just to nod along and smile. When we saw him again in the studio for the sequel, I apologised [for misleading him] and we quickly moved on to recording his character’s expanded insults for the new game. I remember one was: ‘Go home and cry to your momma. And, while you’re at it, tell her I’m hungry!’” Continue reading...

The collection comes from a mysterious (and fictional) 80s video game company and includes puzzles and platformers, RPGs and category-defying hybrids, all in 8-bit splendour When it comes to video games, one thing is universal: releasing one is tough. But releasing 50? At once? That’s another boss level entirely. This is the challenge for the team behind UFO 50. This much anticipated 8-bit anthology of retro-styled games is finally due to release this September, seven years after its announcement. With 50 games included, the wait is justified. UFO 50 is a jumbo variety pack of complete video games, each with its own title, genre and story. “They’re not minigames,” asserts developer Derek Yu and creator of 2008 platformer Spelunky, named one of the greatest games ever made. “Every game could exist as a full release on some 80s console or computer.” Continue reading...

With a £34 mini computer and an emulator, gaming’s entire back catalogue opens up to you to play. But there are important points to consider – not least questions of legality In the past, whenever I have written enthusiastically about a modern retro console such as the Nintendo Classic Mini: SNES or the Analogue Duo, there have been a smattering of comments below the article asking why people don’t just buy a Raspberry Pi mini computer, download an emulator and play all the games they like for virtually nothing. My answer has usually been ease of use and accessibility. When you buy a mini console, you’re getting a plug-and-play product without any complicated set-up or potential compatibility issues. Simple. But recently I bought a Raspberry Pi for an article on the beautiful PiDP-10 machine, so I thought I might as well check out its retro gaming credentials. Here is what I found. Continue reading...

The England player’s impromptu move took me back to the noughties, when PES 4-6 provided ‘the illusion of control in a sandbox of chaos’. It was the beautiful video game Football, like everything else important in life, is about stories. People implant themselves into the narrative: where they were when they saw Maradona’s handball, the strangers they hugged when Ole Gunnar Solskjær scored that historic last-minute winner at the 1999 Champions League final. No doubt new tales are already being conjured around Jude Bellingham’s scissor kick against Slovakia in the dying seconds of Sunday’s Euro 24 match. Sport is a nostalgia machine – and this is as true for video game simulations as it is for the real thing. Every gamer has their favourite footie sim, but for me, and many other players of my … ahem, vintage … it was Pro Evolution Soccer, numbers 3 to 6. This was the early 2000s, the age of the PlayStation 2. I was a writer for hire at Future Publishing, basically hanging out at its office in Bath, working mostly on the Official PlayStation magazine. But every lunch time, all the magazines would get together and play PES – especially during major tournaments, where we’d organise our own versions. Fifa? Forget it. Konami had already proved its ability with footie games through the excellent International Superstar Soccer series on the Mega Drive, Nintendo 64 and PlayStation, but the introduction of PES in 2001 brought a new level of dynamism and detail. Pace was fluid, player abilities were defined by 45 different stats, adding depth and variety, controls were intuitive yet expansive. “These games felt like authentic football,” says Ben Wilson who was editor of Official PlayStation at the time. “There was genuine joy to be had in grinding out a 1-0 win. Modern football games have as much in common with basketball as football – you shoot, I shoot, you shoot, I shoot, final score 6-4.” Continue reading...