Flash News

Developer Gary Riches has released a brand-new, native C++ port of the 1991 Amiga platformer James Pond 2: Codename RoboCod. Utilizing static recompilation, the project translates the game's original Motorola 68000 assembly code into modern C++. This allows the classic game to run natively across a wide array of modern hardware without relying on traditional emulation overhead.

The open-source project is available now on GitHub and supports Windows, macOS, Linux, Steam Deck, Android, and PlayStation 5.

Key Modern Upgrades: Enhanced Visuals - Introduces true widescreen support and smooth motion rendering for modern displays. Authentic Audio - Fully replicates the iconic Amiga 500 sound chip (Paula). Quality of Life - Adds an all-new pause menu and resolves original sound cut-off bugs. Native Performance - Powered by SDL3 for responsive, cross-platform playability.

To play, users must provide their own legally acquired Amiga disk image (such as an .adf file) of the game. The recompilation tool unpacks the game's main program from the disk image, translates the code, and compiles it with a custom runtime to create a standalone executable.

The latest builds (up to version 1.0.4) are currently available to download from the project's GitHub releases page.

Nintendo’s 16-bit cartridges have another comeback invitation. Analogue has unveiled Super Nt+, a refreshed version of its FPGA-based console for original Super Nintendo and Super Famicom games, with output up to 1080p over HDMI. The main additions are built-in Bluetooth and 2.4GHz wireless controller support, USB-C power and a revised design.

Original wired controllers remain supported, while new conveniences include powering the console on or off from a controller and swapping cartridges after quitting through the system menu. Three finishes are available: Classic, SF and Black.

Preorders open on Monday 19 October 2026 at 4pm UK time (8am PDT), priced at US$219.99, with shipping scheduled for December 2026. Controllers are sold separately. There are also no bundled games, including the Super Turrican Director’s Cut supplied with the original Super Nt.

A fresh excuse to revisit the SNES shelf, and discover whether those Super Mario Kart reflexes survived.

Your Mega Drive cartridges have another reason to escape the cupboard. Analogue has announced Mega Sg+, an updated version of its FPGA-based Sega console, with built-in Bluetooth and 2.4GHz wireless controller support, USB-C power and a refreshed design. Video output remains 1080p over HDMI.

The practical improvements include switching the console on or off from a controller and changing cartridges without powering down, provided you first quit the game through the menu. Original wired controllers remain supported, and a Master System cartridge adapter is included. Owners of original Sega CD or Mega CD hardware can connect those too.

Preorders open on Monday 19 October 2026 at 4pm UK time (8am PDT), priced at US$219.99, with shipping scheduled for December 2026. USA, EU and JP styling variants are offered. Controllers are sold separately, and there are no built-in games—including Ultracore, which accompanied the original Mega Sg.

The cartridges supply the nostalgia. Your knees may appreciate the remote power button.

Mark Hamill, Kilrathi fighters and a PC trying its best to be a cinema: Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger captured a particular moment in gaming history. Now, the 1994 space-combat classic is preparing for another mission, with an anniversary edition revealed during EA producer Jim Vessella’s presentation at the Portland Retro Gaming Expo.

The restoration comes out of Vessella’s work digitising EA’s video archives. Reports from the presentation describe the recovery of more than 600 source tapes, with original footage helping make a new release possible. For a game remembered as much for its filmed performances as its dogfights, recovering that material is a substantial discovery.

The original release featured Mark Hamill as Christopher Blair, alongside Malcolm McDowell and John Rhys-Davies. Its cinematic ambitions were squeezed into the storage and playback limitations of the time, leaving players with heavily compressed video. Returning to the surviving source material gives the restoration a much better starting point.

A presentation slide shared by Steve Lin of the Video Game History Foundation identifies the project as a 30th Anniversary Edition. It lists original-source and upscaled FMVs, a community enhancement patch, gameplay at up to 60 frames per second, controller support, and planned availability through Steam, GOG and the EA app.

The slide also mentions “Kilrathi Saga Integration”, although the wording does not establish whether the earlier games or their expansions will be included. Release timing and pricing remain unconfirmed in the material shared so far. Despite the anniversary branding, the original game’s thirtieth birthday was in 2024.

For those who remember watching Hollywood actors appear between missions on a home PC, the appeal is easy to understand. There was something wonderfully ambitious about Wing Commander III. Giving those performances room to breathe again could make returning to the cockpit particularly worthwhile.

LHX: Attack Chopper is taking flight in the browser with a graphics upgrade. Developer kznsq has shared a project that runs Electronic Arts’ 1990 helicopter simulator unmodified inside a JavaScript PC emulator, while handing its 3D rendering to the GPU.

The project offers two visual approaches: an accurate mode that redraws the original graphics at full resolution, and an enhanced mode featuring real satellite terrain, modern models, lighting and shadows. The original game remains underneath, with a new rendering layer giving its battlefields a different look.

For anyone who remembers scanning those sparse polygon landscapes for targets, it is an intriguing way to revisit an old cockpit—and see how far a visual overhaul can take a classic.

DOOM has found another unusual home: the Vectrex. Jason Kopp, aka Arcade Jason, has brought the classic shooter to the console through his UVMC2 cartridge, with gameplay footage showing E1M2 rendered in glowing vector outlines.

The cartridge’s modern processor does the heavy lifting, while the Vectrex provides its distinctive display and controls. The result gives familiar DOOM corridors a striking new look.

Eye of the Beholder is getting a rather unusual second life. BtD, an experimental engine created by Moon Bunny, reimplements the 1991 dungeon crawler as a true 3D first-person experience with smooth, continuous movement instead of the original game's grid-based steps and 90-degree turns.

This isn't simply a remake with prettier graphics. BtD reads the original DOS Eye of the Beholder data files, retaining the game's dungeons, puzzles, scripts and underlying content while interpreting them inside a modern Unity-based engine. No original game assets are distributed with the project, so you'll need a legitimate DOS copy of Eye of the Beholder to use it.

The developer says considerable effort has gone into keeping the original logic intact, including writing a virtual machine capable of processing the game's original level scripts. Enemies have received some modernisation too, including pathfinding better suited to unrestricted 3D movement.

BtD originally entered open beta in May 2026, and the project has recently started attracting fresh attention after footage of it resurfaced online. If you've ever wondered what Eye of the Beholder might have felt like had Westwood's dungeon been freed from its invisible grid, this is probably about as close as we're going to get.

Apparently blackjack was getting far too comfortable with modern hardware.

Deck of Time is a new humorous card game created for MS-DOS, combining blackjack with a deliberately 1990s PC aesthetic and enough weirdness to ensure nobody mistakes it for serious casino software. The game was created by RubenRetro for the second MS-DOS Club DOS Game Programming Contest, whose theme this year is time travel.

Underneath the jokes is a genuinely old-school DOS game. Deck of Time is written in C, uses Allegro 4.2.3, requires only a 386 or faster, 4 MB of RAM and VGA graphics, and will run under MS-DOS 5.0 or later. In other words, your forgotten beige box in the attic may finally have an important job again.

The game takes the familiar blackjack formula and wraps it in a much less familiar presentation involving time-themed nonsense, an intimidating dealer and multiple outcomes. There is even an intentionally retro-style age check, because apparently getting into a DOS blackjack game in 2026 should involve proving that you survived enough of the 1990s to understand the references.

Deck of Time was published on 11 September 2026 and received an update on 16 September. A downloadable DOS version is available, along with a Windows x86 build, but you can also play the whole thing directly in a modern browser through itch.io.

So yes: we have reached the point where people are developing completely new blackjack games for MS-DOS again.

Nature is healing.

Pararena has landed on Playdate, bringing John Calhoun’s Macintosh hoverboard game to a new handheld audience. Released on 14 September 2026, this independent port by Konstantin Popov adapts the original artwork for Playdate’s screen. It follows the release of the source code for Pararena 2.0, originally published by Casady & Greene, under the MIT licence.

The premise is wonderfully odd: two hoverboard riders chase a ball around a bowl-shaped arena, trying to throw it into their respective goals. Gravity complicates the steering, while boosting, braking and knocking your opponent aside keep things lively. Holding the ball too long or throwing it out earns a foul, with three fouls awarding your rival a point.

The port includes six computer opponents, five leagues, quick matches, a tournament and a practice mode, alongside instant replays, statistics and records.

Pararena for Playdate is available on itch.io for US$2.50 or more.

Until 20 September 2026, a US$4 Macintosh Classics for Playdate bundle also includes Popov’s port of Continuum, Brian and Randy Wilson’s gravity-driven space game. Two opportunities to revisit Macintosh gaming without clearing desk space for an old beige computer.

The Sega Master System has another homebrew to explore: Oriflame, an arcade puzzle game from ArtOfAltair, published on itch.io on 7 September 2026. Inspired by Adventures of Lolo and classic arcade design, it challenges players to climb 50 floors of the Tower of Hope, solving puzzles, confronting enemies and lighting fires to reach the summit and restore its beacon.

This is not simply a modern game wearing an 8-bit disguise: Oriflame is a genuine Master System ROM, playable through an emulator or on the original console using a compatible flash cartridge. The developer describes a “gameplay first” approach, deliberately working within the hardware’s strengths and limitations. It is an independent production, with no involvement from Sega.

Available for US$9 or more, the download includes the game, an instruction manual containing controls, rules and passwords for every level, plus soundtrack files in VGM and MP3 formats.

Sony’s original grey PlayStation is getting the LEGO treatment. Revealed on 3 September 2026, LEGO PlayStation (72306) is a 1,911-piece, near-life-size recreation of the console, complete with a brick-built version of its original controller. Designed for builders aged 18 and over, it is a display model rather than a working games machine.

The nostalgic details go beyond the familiar shape: the controller plugs into the front, while mechanical Open and Power buttons add something to fiddle with. Hidden inside are two removable dioramas celebrating Gran Turismo and Ape Escape, featuring a miniature racing circuit with tiny cars and a scene incorporating the monkeys’ distinctive helmets. Both can stay concealed or be displayed separately.

The set costs £139.99 / €159.99 / $179.99, with LEGO Insiders early access starting on 1 October 2026 and general availability from 4 October. The finished console measures approximately 26 × 19 × 6 cm—a manageable slice of PlayStation nostalgia for the shelf. The startup sound, unfortunately, is yours to provide.

Developer GammaCorrection has shared a preview of Jacob’s Elevator, a homebrew game in development for the Nintendo Entertainment System. In the accompanying Reddit discussion, the creator confirmed that the project is being programmed in assembly language.

There is a touch of oddball humour, too: when a commenter compared a tree character to Zelda’s Deku Tree, the developer clarified that this is the “Wise Mystical Tree”, a distinct character.

The finished game is planned as a free release on itch.io, with the option to play directly in a web browser. For now, however, this is a development preview rather than a launch: the announcement gives no release date, and Jacob’s Elevator is not yet listed on the developer’s itch.io profile.

Announcement: https://www.reddit.com/r/retrogamedev/comments/1wa02yp/jacobs_elevator_a_homebrew_for_nes/