JamieO

@Zuljaras It's nifty to see that you own a physical copy of Panic Button's Switch DOOM (2017), although I never snagged myself a physical cartridge of that game.

I've treated myself to the Switch version of Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus (2018), as I've just bought its SteelBook Edition from Limited Run Games. It's only available for a few more hours, because the pre-orders end on Sunday 16th November.

I love how Bethesda, MachineGames and Panic Button worked together to release technically challenging games on the relatively underpowered Switch, and both of these ports featured in Nintendo Life's The "Impossible" Nintendo Switch Ports YouTube video back in 2019.

@Ristar24 Cheers, mate, I'm looking forward to 9 Years of Shadows, because it's nice to try out a game without knowing anything about it sometimes, a bit like finding a new coin-op back in the day.

It's good to hear you're having fun with the Gremlin Collection 2 on your Evercade.

I was too slow off the mark to buy the first Neo Geo Arcade cart, but I've got my eye on Evercade's upcoming Rare Collection 1 release.

I'll be excited to play a handheld version of Rare's 1994 arcade version of Battletoads in particular.

@Perturbator Thank you for sharing your experience of 9 Years of Shadows, I haven't started playing it yet, so it's nice to be forewarned about potentially troublesome boss battles.

Just recently, both Sammy and @playstation1995 have mentioned the Shinobi: Art of Vengeance demo to me, so if I hit a difficulty spike in 9 Years of Shadows, I'll check out the demo's playable level from the new Shinobi game.

I also like the contrast in your screenshots between the bright purple landscape in Minute of Islands, compared to the claustrophobic, sci-fi dread in your Observation image, Perturbator (above).

Enjoy Darksiders: Warmastered Edition, plus Gravity Rush Remastered and Immortals Fenyx Rising this weekend too, playstation1995.

@playstation1995 Apologies for my late reply, I've been spending time with family, so I've not had the chance to download the Shinobi: Art of Vengeance demo yet.

Both you and Sammy were kind to give me a heads-up about SEGA releasing this playable demo recently, and I'm grateful to the two of you for thinking of my retro gaming tastes.

I've also placed my order for a physical version of PS5 Shinobi: Art of Vengeance with Limited Run Games, as well.

I'm really glad to hear you're enjoying the demo lots, plus it's already the weekend again soon, so I look forward to reading your next WAYP gaming picks tomorrow, mate.

Oh, and like you, I also think that Joe Musashi is a legend!

@playstation1995 Cheers right back at you for the shout-out, plus you have listed an excellent group of games to play for this latest WAYP.

One little side thought from reading your plans is that I've not played the first Psychonauts game in ages.

I gave it a quick search, and it turns out that based upon its US release, the PS2's version of Psychonauts was 20 years old this June 2025.

It doesn't feel like as far back as June 2005 for the PS2's Psychonauts release, although I guess that 2005 was relatively late in the PS2's overall life cycle.

Anyhow, enjoy your gaming time this weekend, playstation1995!

@playstation1995 Thank you kindly for mentioning me in your comment above, mate, and it's great to hear that you've been enjoying the Streets of Rage series so much.

I still read a lot of retro magazines, so I can vividly remember when Computer and Video Games (CVG) reviewed the first Streets of Rage. CVG scored it 93/100, praising the detailed background graphics, and simultaneous two player co-op, when the series debuted in late 1991.

As you know, Streets of Rage 2 took the series to the next level, and it features in many people's top Genesis/ Mega Drive game lists. The second game consistently ranks highly out of the entire 16-bit wonder machine's catalogue of games.

I actually own Bare Knuckle III for the Japanese Mega Drive, and while the third game doesn't rank as highly as the second title, I still think that it's fun to play, and I like flicking through the colourful manual to look at the artwork and screenshots, even though I can't read Japanese.

We both share an interest in beat-'em-up games — I often play as Axel Stone as an iconic character, like you mentioned — and I agree that Streets of Rage 2 is my favourite in the series, too.

Also, like you said, Streets of Rage 2's soundtrack is amazing. This makes Shinobi: Art of Vengeance an especially exciting 2025 PS4 and PS5 release, with Yuzo Koshiro and Tee Lopes both working on Shinobi: Art of Vengeance's music.

Cheers again for kindly mentioning me in your comment, my friend, and enjoy playing all of those retro brawler games.

@Fishnpeas and @PlatinumMikey — Great stuff on you both keeping hold of goodies like old retro posters, and VHS tapes.

Fishnpeas, my friend in school had an Amstrad CPC 464, and we'd often play the flick-screen scrolling port of Gryzor, and the classic brawlers Renegade and Target Renegade on his Amstrad.

I've heard that RoboCop was an excellent movie game on the Amstrad, but I've been trying to rack my brain to remember if my friend owned it.

Like RoboCop, I think that Gryzor was published by Ocean too, while Renegade was published by Imagine ...the name of the game.

I was also looking back at Issue 100 of Computer and Video Games magazine recently from March 1990, and it has a small box-out that scores Amstrad Chase HQ a whopping 97%!

The Amstrad Chase HQ conversion has become well known for being technically impressive for an 8-bit computer port, retrospectively.

Cheers for your "Murphy" response earlier today too, PlatinumMikey!

I have been having lots of WAYPer fun this weekend with my journey shooting from 1988 Data East (RoboCop arcade), along to 2023 Teyon (RoboCop: Rogue City).

I need to watch the original 1987 film again, to complete my blast through from decrepit Old Detroit to shiny Delta City.

Below is a link to my JamieOretro post on X with a montage of RoboCop coin-op screenshots, and a couple of pics from RoboCop: Rogue City, too.

Nice shootin', son. What's your name?

https://x.com/JamieOretro/status/1911332297959223416/photo/1

@playstation1995 Wow, mate, I've truthfully got a piece of note paper here with the title 'Kind PlayStation1995 WAYP Recommendations', to keep a list of your ace suggestions!

Here's my feedback on all four of your weekend gaming choices (below):

• Dragon's Crown Pro: I remember when Vanillaware first released Dragon's Crown on PS3 and PS Vita in 2013, and it felt especially amazing to see such a beautiful 2D art style on the Vita's OLED touchscreen. People can save 80% off PS4 Dragon's Crown Pro in the PS Store's 2025 spring sale now too, so it's only £4.99 in the UK until the 23rd April.
• Grand Theft Auto: Vice City: I played Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas most of all on my PS2 back in the day — so I accrued many PS2 hours on GTA San Andreas in 2004 — although I realise that Vice City is worthy of lots of praise, too.
• The Legend of Dragoon: I'm honestly not very knowledgeable about JRPG titles in general, apart from the most well known releases, so I'm going to read Rob Ramsey's review of The Legend of Dragoon to get a feel for this 1999 PS1 JRPG.
• The Swords of Ditto: Mormo's Curse: This cutesy, "Rogue-Zelda" RPG is completely new to me. I've never heard of it before, so I'll read Mitch Vogel's review on Nintendo Life.

Many thanks and wishing PlayStation1995, as well as every Push Square WAYPer, lots of fun playing video games this weekend!

@Mostik It fascinates me that you have fond memories of playing Amiga RoboCop 3, because I missed it overall.

During its release in late 1991/early 1992 my gaming focus was on the Mega Drive and arcade coin-ops, while I saved for a SNES.

I definitely remember being impressed by multiformat magazine screenshots showing Ocean and Digital Image Design's (DID) polygon presentation of RoboCop 3, which felt unique for a 16-bit movie licensed game.

I looked it up online, and ZERO magazine praised DID in its 91/100 scoring review by saying that, "DID have built up a series of filled-vector 3D games each tied to the film's main elements."

I had friends and cousins who still showed me their Amiga games in 1992, so perhaps I saw Amiga RoboCop 3 in motion, but I don't remember for definite.

It's cool to hear you mention Amiga RoboCop 3 here, though.

Also, happy gaming back at you! I hope you get to spend time with both Astro Bot and Black Myth: Wukong.

@playstation1995 Fair play, I've never actually heard of Rogueside's 2015 PS4 run-and-gun game Guns, Gore and Cannoli before.

I'd never heard of Rogueside as a developer too, for that matter, so you're educating me about a retro modern game here.

I've looked into Guns, Gore and Cannoli after you mentioned it.

It turn out that Guns, Gore and Cannoli is an interesting take on a side-scrolling run-and-gun platform game with a unique setting of Vinnie Cannoli as a member of the mob, who fights off zombies during the prohibition era in 1925!

That's a premise that grabs a gamer's attention!

I can't recall many games that are set in the roaring twenties, all I can think of is L.A. Noire, which took place much later in 1947.

I've read some comments on a YouTube video, which compares Guns, Gore and Cannoli's visual style to a 2010 PS3 title that I used to enjoy called Shank.

I've accumulated a big backlog of bargain releases on sale recently, alongside having many of my PS Plus Essential and Premium games to play, but I'll still make a note to remember Guns, Gore and Cannoli based upon your recommendation.

As always, have a great weekend, my friend, and may all of Push Square's WAYPers enjoy gaming on this weekend.

@playstation1995 That's a great shout-out, as always bud, because I absolutely love 2019's Blazing Chrome!

I'm a big fan of the detail in JoyMasher's pixel art graphics, and its presentation of classic retro gameplay as a Brazilian indie developer in general, so 2023's Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider was fantastic, too.

Ollie Reynolds posted an interesting 2023 interview with JoyMasher over at Nintendo Life called Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider's JoyMasher On Dev Nightmares And Changing Direction.

Funnily enough, JoyMasher's Danilo Dias discusses how he enjoys the first 1997 PS1 Armored Core game too, which links back to my WAYP this weekend.

I'm definitely going to replay PS4 Blazing Chrome now that you've mentioned it here.

Wishing you and all of Push Square's WAYPers a brilliant weekend, mate!

@playstation1995 Thanks lots, mate, because chatting with you the other week about our nostalgic arcade games gave me inspiration for my WAYP choices this weekend.

It was you who mentioned the classic The Simpsons coin-op when we last spoke, so I updated my PS3 to replay The Simpsons Arcade Game.

You were also talking about the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection being part of March's PS Plus Essential picks, which encouraged me to replay the arcade version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time.

Finally, I booted up my PS4 too, because I have Arcade Archives Vendetta downloaded on it, and Vendetta is ready to play on my PS4.

It's very cool to me that Konami's coin-op designers were so talented that all three of these quality beat-'em-up games released in the same year, which was 1991.

Here's a montage of screenshots of all three coin-ops over on my Bluesky profile.

Cheers, and have a brilliant weekend, playstation1995!

@PuppetMaster Funnily enough, not only have I been returning to Capcom's 1990 arcade MERCS, but I have also been dipping into Saurus' 1997 Neo-Geo Shock Troopers too, by way of Hamster's ACA NeoGeo Shock Troopers, recently.

MERCS is my personal gold standard for retro, topdown run-and-gun games, largely because I imported the single-player only Mega Drive port of Senjō no Ōkami II during Christmas 1991.

I play the three-player CPS-1 arcade version of MERCS via the convenience of PS4 Capcom Arcade Stadium now.

Anyway, I hold Shock Troopers in as high esteem as MERCS nowadays.

I like the way that you can fix your shot in place in Shock Troopers — for example, by aiming on a diagonal — and then strafe from side-to-side.

I also like the way that Saurus' game allows you to evade bullets with a dodge roll too, and how you can take different route paths in Shock Troopers.

There's a Nintendo Life review of Mega Drive MERCS on the Wii's Virtual Console from way back in 2009.

Nintendo Life also has a review of arcade Shock Troopers on Switch, too. Both of these reviews were written by Damien McFerran.

If you ended up playing Shock Troopers over the weekend, I hope that you had fun, bud.

Throughout February and March 2025, I've been stocking up on 14 PS Store sales games for my PS4 and PS5, so I've built a library of backlog titles to enjoy as my What Are You Playing This Weekend? gaming picks during early 2025.

My newest PS4 purchases are Atari Flashback Classics Vol. 1 (Jan. 2017), Battlefield 4 (Nov. 2013) and DOOM (May 2016).

All of these prices in my list below are the discounted amounts that I've spent on the 14 PS4 and PS5 games in February and March 2025, through three PS Store sales.

• Critics’ Choice Sale (PS Store, mid-February 2025): 1. Balan Wonderworld (PS4 and PS5, £5.24) and 2. Gotham Knights (PS5, £9.74).
• Planet of the Discounts Sale (PS Store, late-February 2025): 3. Batman: Arkham Collection (PS4, £4.99), 4. Burnout Paradise Remastered (PS4, £2.69), 5. Double Dragon Advance (PS4, £2.67), 6. Double Dragon & Kunio-kun: Retro Brawler Bundle (PS4, £6.89), 7. Gungrave G.O.R.E (PS4 and PS5, £4.99), 8. Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story (PS4 and PS5, £13.46), 9. Super Double Dragon (PS4, £2.67), 10. Tempest 4000 (PS4, £4.99) and 11. Vanquish (PS4, £4.99).
• Dealmania Sale (PS Store, early-March 2025): 12. Atari Flashback Classics Vol. 1 (PS4, £6.39), 13. Battlefield 4 (PS4, £0.79) and 14. DOOM 2016 (PS4, £3.19).

Like I say above, my most recent WAYP bargain title is Battlefield 4 at £0.79, where I saved 95%, as it should be £15.99.

I've put about five hours into Battlefield 4's campaign recently, which amounts to approximately 15p or 16p an hour. Here's a screenshot montage of Battlefield 4 from my JamieOretro post on my X Profile.

Note that the Dealmania early-March 2025 PS Store sale is running until Wednesday 12th March.

Have a very most excellent weekend to all of Push Square's WAYPers!

I've been hoarding 11 PS Store sales games on my PS4 and PS5 during February, so I'm all set for my What Are You Playing This Weekend? gaming picks throughout the first part of 2025.

I've also bought my cousin's Windows 11 laptop, and I was chuffed to discover that it can run modern games. Therefore, I've doubled-up on PlayStation and Windows PC games, by buying both Balan Wonderworld (PS4, PS5 and Windows PC), and Gotham Knights (PS5 and Windows PC) for especially cheap on the different systems.

Like I mention above, I'm currently playing Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy on both my PS4 and my Windows 11 laptop — admittedly it chugs a little bit on my laptop — because I've already beat Eidos Montreal's comic book game on my PS5.

All of the prices below are the bargain prices that I spent on each game in February 2025 in the three sales, with my 11 PS4 and PS5 February 2025 bargains listed below, too.

• Lunar New Year Sale (Microsoft Store, early-February 2025): Balan Wonderworld (Windows PC, £5.24), Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare — 2007 (Windows PC, £7.49), Final Fantasy VII Windows Edition (Windows PC, £5.11), Gotham Knights (Windows PC, £9.74), Halo Infinite — Campaign (Windows PC, £18.14), Halo: The Master Chief Collection (Windows PC, £7.49 — sadly Halo: The Master Chief Collection doesn't work on my laptop), Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy (Windows PC, £11.99), Psychonauts — Windows 10 (Windows PC, £3.35) and Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition (Windows PC, £3.14).
• Critics’ Choice Sale (PS Store, mid-February 2025): 1. Balan Wonderworld (PS4 and PS5, £5.24) and 2. Gotham Knights (PS5, £9.74).
• Planet of the Discounts Sale (PS Store, late-February 2025): 3. Batman: Arkham Collection (PS4, £4.99), 4. Burnout Paradise Remastered (PS4, £2.69), 5. Double Dragon Advance (PS4, £2.67), 6. Double Dragon & Kunio-kun: Retro Brawler Bundle (PS4, £6.89), 7. Gungrave G.O.R.E (PS4 and PS5, £4.99), 8. Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story (PS4 and PS5, £13.46), 9. Super Double Dragon (PS4, £2.67), 10. Tempest 4000 (PS4, £4.99) and 11. Vanquish (PS4, £4.99).

I've got my eye on the latest PS Store sale next, which is called Dealmania, but I'm going to rest my wallet for a bit, because Dealmania is a PS Store sale that lasts until Wednesday 12th March.

Have a great weekend, everyone. Roll on WAYP 2025!

@playstation1995 In regards to my favourite arcade games, mate, I've been focusing on playing lots of CPS-1 Capcom coin-op games, recently.

I just can't get enough of the late 1980s and early 1990s Capcom arcade era — like Forgotten Worlds, Ghouls'n Ghosts, Strider, Final Fight, MERCS and Knights of the Round etc!

I've actually been checking out a PS4 boxed version of Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics from a UK shop called Argos, because I really want to play Capcom's 1993 The Punisher beat-'em-up from its CP System Dash.

Scott McCrae scored Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics 8/10 on Push Square in September last year.

It's always great to hear from you, and enjoy Huntdown, my friend.

@playstation1995 Hello there, PlayStation1995, I hope that everything's going well for you.

I watch a lot of Push Square YouTube videos, and recently I was checking out an old May 24th, 2016 video called What Can Sony Do To Top E3 2015? - DOOM | Episode 7 | Push Square Podcast.

It has Ben Potter and Ben Tarrant discussing E3 2015, and 2015 was definitely one of my favourite E3 years of all time.

Episode seven of the Push Square Podcast also has Joey Thurmond talking about his 9/10 scoring review of PS4 DOOM from May 2016 — note that the DOOM chat is at 29 minutes into the video.

Like you say, PS4 DOOM 2016 is an instant classic, so 80% off in this PS Store 'Dealmania' sale is a great price at £3.19 in the UK ($3.99 in the US).

Another 'Dealmania' retro bargain that has caught my eye is Atari Flashback Classics Vol. 1, with 60% off at £6.39 (Atari Flashback Classics Vol. 1 usually costs £15.99).

I've been spending quite a lot of cash on PS4 and PS5 deals during February, so I have until Wednesday 12th March to decide if I'm going to treat myself to more cheap games.

Thanks, as always, to Stephen Tailby for his consistent coverage of these PS Store deals. Push Square has saved me lots of money recently!

It's almost the weekend, so have a great one, mate.

@Quintumply This guide to 35 'Planet of the Discounts' sale games is brilliant, Stephen.

I specifically want to thank you for pointing out that there's 45% off Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story (£13.46).

This tipped me off to buy Tempest 4000 (£4.99), too.

@PuppetMaster You posted a great list above in regards to this 'Planet of the Discounts' PS Store sale, mate.

Although I already own both the Capcom Beat 'Em Up Bundle and the Castlevania Advance Collection, your nod to Double Dragon Advance was a great shout-out.

This also encouraged me to buy the Double Dragon & Kunio-kun: Retro Brawler Bundle (£6.89), and Super Double Dragon (£2.67), too.

The ''Planet of the Discounts' sale ends in just over ten hours, so below are my final five bargain purchases:

• Gungrave G.O.R.E (Prime Matter) PS4 and PS5. Sale price £4.99, should be £24.99 (Save 80%).
• Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story (Digital Eclipse) PS4 and PS5. Sale price £13.46, should be £24.49 (save 45%).
• Super Double Dragon (Arc System Works) PS4. Sale price £2.67, should be £5.35 (Save 50%).
• Tempest 4000 (Atari) PS4. Sale price £4.99, should be £24.99 (save 80%).
• Vanquish (SEGA) PS4. Sale price £4.99, should be £19.99 (save 75%).

I'm loving these PS Store sales, and I'm equally loving these Push Square articles that cover these sales. I've just bought:

• Batman: Arkham Collection (Warner Bros. Interactive) PS4. Sale price £4.99, should be £49.99 (save 90%).
• Burnout Paradise Remastered (EA Swiss Sarl) PS4. Sale price £2.69, should be £17.99 (save 85%).
• Double Dragon Advance (Arc System Works) PS4. Sale price £2.67, should be £5.35 (save 50%).
• Double Dragon & Kunio-kun: Retro Brawler Bundle (Arc System Works) PS4. Sale price £6.89, should be £29.99 (save 77%).

The 'Planet of the Discounts' sale ends tomorrow (Wednesday 26th February), so I still have time to head back, and add to my ever growing deal based library, by plucking some PS Store bargains.

"Red Five, I'm going in!"

@Amnesiac Many thanks, mate. I'm just heading out to spend the day with my family now, so I'm sure bundles of birthday cake will be devoured!

I noticed Under Defeat on the PlayStation Store the other day, so have fun playing this World War II themed shooter.

I've just looked it up, and it turns out that G.rev's shmup was out in arcades in 2005, and on the Japanese Dreamcast in 2006.

It doesn’t feel like 20 years since that game released, though. Perhaps it's because I'm thinking back to the PS3 version from 2012.

Who knows, I could even buy Under Defeat for myself next week, if my birthday delivers me some spare spondoolies!

I meant to say that as well as mentioning above about Balan Wonderworld (PS4/PS5 £29.75 saved) and Gotham Knights (PS5, £55.25 saved), I also bought Namco Museum Archives Vol.1 (PS4, £12.00 saved) and NEW Joe & Mac - Caveman Ninja (PS4/PS5, £20.00 saved) in the PS Store's Critics' Choice sale for last weekend's What Are You Playing This Weekend? - Issue 567.

• Namco Museum Archives Vol 1: Regular price is £15.99. 75% off at £3.99 sale price. Saved £12.00 (Published by Bandai Namco, developed by Bandai Namco. Released on Thursday 18th June, 2020). Scored 6/10 in Push Square's review by Nathanial Eker.
• NEW Joe & Mac - Caveman Ninja: Regular price is £24.99. 80% off at £4.99 sale price. Saved £20.00 (Published by Microids, developed by Mr Nutz Studio. No review on Push Square.

In total I've spent £23.96 (£5.24 + £9.74 + £3.99 + £4.99 = £23.96).

Also, in total I've saved £117.00 (£29.75 + £55.25 + £12.00 + £20.00 = £117.00).

There are only a couple hours left for the Critics' Choice sale, but I've already got my eye on Liam's news article about 1,500 PS5, PS4 Games Discounted in Latest Huge PS Store Sale (Planet of the Discounts).

On top of that, Stephen has very kindly compiled a Push Square feature called 35 PS5, PS4 Games You Should Grab in PS Store's Planet of the Discounts Sale, which I'm going to read in detail after I've watched the brand new February 2025 State of Play at 10pm GMT tonight (Wednesday 12th February, 2025).

Lastly, here's a link to Sammy's Push Square coverage of Live: Watch Sony PlayStation's State of Play Livestream Right Here (12th February, 2025).

Since the Critics' Choice PS Store sale ends today (Wednesday 12th February, 2025), I've decided to treat myself to PS4/PS5 Balan Wonderworld (85% off at £5.24), and PS5 Gotham Knights (85% off at £9.74).

I chuckled a little bit that Balan Wonderworld scored a 'Bad' 3/10 on Push Square, but the PS Store still considers it a Critics' Choice title for this particular sale.

Anyhow, I figured that £5.24 is less than a large caramel latte at Costa, so I'm going to give Balan Wonderworld a go.

I'll actually be hoarding lots of PS Store sale games in February, so I'll have the first half of the year set for What Are You Playing? games each weekend.

Just last week I saved £225.18 from the Lunar New Year Microsoft Store's 2025 sale for my Windows laptop too, thanks to a Pure Xbox article.

Cheers to @get2sammyb, because I've also just saved £85 in this Critics' Choice sale now.

• Balan Wonderworld: Regular price is £34.99. 85% off at £5.24 sale price. Saved £29.75 (Published by Square Enix, developed by Balan. Released on Friday 26th March, 2021). Scored 3/10 in Push Square's review by Brett Posner-Ferdman.
• Gotham Knights: Regular price is £64.99. 85% off at £9.74 sale price. Saved £55.25 (Published by Warner Bros. Games, developed by Warner Bros. Games Montreal. Released on Friday 21st October, 2022). Scored 7/10 in Push Square's review by Liam Croft.

@Zuljaras Hi there, mate, even though I don't contribute to the comments here regularly, I read the WAYP comments each weekend, and I just wanted to say that I think that your consistent WAYP photographs are awesome.

You and I are both on the same page with our weekend gaming recently too, for example I've been playing the original 2005 version of Resident Evil 4 on my PS3 and PS4 as a way for me to celebrate its 20-year anniversary this January 2025.

I also saw your post about PSP Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles last weekend for WAYP 564, which partially inspired my WAYP above here, alongside my current celebration of 1997 as one of my favourite years in my life.

I actually have a save file deep into the fang-tastic Inverted Castle in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night from back when I reviewed Castlevania Requiem on PS4 in 2018, but seeing your comment encouraged me to start the 1997 PS1 classic from scratch as an unlockable in the PSP's Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles instead.

Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles is also a nice 2007 PSP game to have in our collection of physical UMDs, although I'm playing it on my PlayStation TV for the convenience of it on my big TV.

Your photograph of your massive Nintendo Switch collection in WAYP 564 was very impressive, as well.

Great stuff all around, Zuljaras!

@SoulChimera I was away last weekend, so I couldn't reply to your comment about Slipstream, mate, so I hope it's okay that I'm responding in this latest WAYP 521, instead.

I often enjoy returning to Slipstream, like you mentioned, and I appreciate that modern developers are keeping retro racers alive with new games. It's cool that there have been modern releases that are inspired by early polygon arcade racers — Hotshot Racing was lots of fun — and I want to buy New Star GP at some point this year.

I think Ansdor is largely a single developer from Brazil called Sandro Luiz De Paula, so fingers crossed he's able to team up with BlitWorks again to make a sequel, which expands upon Slipstream.

Also, hopefully your plan to finish Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is going well. My stepdad has been playing it loads since its 29th February release, although he has just taken a break to try The Expanse: A Telltale Series for a bit.

To supplement this Mini Review, it's interesting to compare the differences, and the similarities between the NES original and this PS5 sequel.

NES Ufouria: The Saga starts differently to the new game, as there's a greater sense of being lost in the exploration, since the player initially feels unsure about which direction to take.

Once Hebe meets O-Chan in the NES game, each character's skill differences are more pronounced, where not only can O-Chan swim on the surface of water, but she also doesn't slip and crash on ice.

The 1992 NES original holds the player's hands less, and the retro game is noticeably more challenging than the sequel.

I described PS5 Ufouria: The Saga 2 as part-sequel and part-remake, because the graphical themes of the stages, Naoki Kodaka's recreated NES music, and the similar boss battles feel like a remake, too.

However, the sequel's design has levels feeding away from Hebe's House area as a central point to the World Atlas, and the way the four characters' personalities are expanded is unique to Ufouria: The Saga 2.

The new game also has consistent humour with O-Chan as a karaoke loving orange cat-like girl, Sukezaemon as a ghostly looking character in sunglasses and a baseball cap who floats across big gaps, and Jennifer is a sleepy green anglerfish-like boy who explores deep below the water.

Both the 1991 original Famicom Hebereke game and the 2024 sequel have Kerasu bird muck to avoid though, and the PS5 game even has a Trophy if you get hit with Kerasu droppings 30 times!

Extending my thanks to Push Square's Stephen Tailby for contacting me about this PS5 Ufouria: The Saga 2 Mini Review, because I hadn't heard of Sunsoft's 1991 Famicom/ 1992 NES Ufouria: The Saga before, so I've gained some retro knowledge by researching about this game.

It's been a chilled out, relaxing PS5 side-scrolling platformer to review, which is just nice and mellow to play overall.

If anyone is interested in buying Ufouria: The Saga 2 to target its Platinum Trophy, the main game might be a cakewalk — and only takes about three-and-a-half hours to beat — but the Platinum is more time consuming.

The best advice I can give is to collect over 50,000 coins as early as possible, because the Gold 'Ufouria Aplenty' Trophy is a grind. The most elusive Gold Trophy I've encountered so far is called 'How's it flappin'?', because I've been quite thorough exploring to collect all the eggs from every Vending Machine, but I seem to be missing an egg somewhere.

One last tip is that if you buy the CRT Television for 1000 coins to encounter more powerful enemies, be sure to Butt Bounce on the telly to turn the screen on to activate the increased difficulty. The game's still too easy with the TV on, regardless.

Ufouria: The Saga 2 has released today on PS5 for £19.99 on the UK's PS Store (Friday 1st March, 2024), so please feel free to send me any questions, folks.

@Amnesiac Thank you muchly for your kind birthday wishes, mate. I've spent the weekend with my girlfriend and her mum, where they treated me to a ticket to watch Shrek the Musical at the Liverpool Empire theatre — so I've spent my birthday hanging out with Bub and Bob, as well as Shrek and Donkey!

I've a friend who consistently lists 1986's arcade Bubble Bobble as one of his favourite games ever, however for my personal nostalgia, it's Rainbow Islands that's a timeless retro game to me.

As I mentioned above, it was playing the import Mega Drive version that brings back my fondest memories of Rainbow Islands Extra close to its release back in 1990.

Interestingly, Time Extension recently had an article titled What Music Will Rainbow Islands Use On Nintendo Switch And PS4?, which mentioned that the 'Over the Rainbow' theme wouldn't be included in the Arcade Archives version that I bought this weekend.

I don't mind too much though, because I feel that the NES version's adapted music fits with the vibe of the game nicely, and I really enjoy returning to a true TAITO classic, anyway.

@Amnesiac It's always a treat to get an Amnesiac comment on one of my retro reviews, and your comments are always appreciated, mate!

You gave me a good laugh with your breakdown of the kid-friendly story themes in Star Wars Episode I - The Phantom Menace.

It reminded me of 'The Phantom Menace Pitch Meeting' on YouTube where Screenwriter Guy explains that "Well, I'd like to gear this one towards kids a lot more, you know… so what I did was focus heavily on politics."

Then Producer Guy replies with "Oh, the taxation of trade routes to outlying star systems is tight!"

@NotSoCryptic Thanks for the feedback about mentioning Trophy support in either the Pros or Cons of a PS1 review. I discussed this with Push Square before writing this Star Wars Episode I - The Phantom Menace review, and we decided that we wouldn't mention anything that's unique to the PS4 and PS5 re-releases in the main body of a PS1 review, because we want these reviews to be specific to the content in the PS1 game.

This means that I didn't mention anything about PS4/PS5 features like Trophies, Rewind, Quick Save, Visual Presets and the PS Store's £3.99 UK price point in this review, too.

If you get the chance to look at one of my older Push Square PS1 reviews — for example Mickey's Wild Adventure, which I wrote in 2015 — you'll notice that I mention that "If you're purchasing this on the PlayStation Vita, PS3, or PSP it's worth noting that Mickey's £4.99 PlayStation Store price tag is more expensive than Rayman, too."

I also referred to the PS1 as PSone, because the PS Store for PS3, PS Vita and PSP catalogued PS1 games under the term 'PSone Classics'. However, historically the term PSone actually refers to an update of the PlayStation hardware into a smaller, more compact design style in 2000 — a bit like how we get slim revisions of hardware today.

By referring to details that were only relevant to the PS3/PS Vita/PSP re-releases, these older PS1 reviews haven't aged as well to be re-published in the future.

I always try to post a comment as early as possible when my reviews are published to ask for questions, so based upon your enquiry, I'm going to mention in bold at the top of my comments to highlight if each re-release has Trophies from now on. I've edited my comment above with this detail.

As one last side-note, the score of 6/10 is only relevant in comparison to other PS1 games. Therefore, the quality of Star Wars Episode I - The Phantom Menace can be directly compared to Syphon Filter by our readers as two 6/10 PS1 games. Yet, it would be unfair for The Phantom Menace to be compared to a 6/10 PS5 indie release like Have a Nice Death, just because they were both released on PS5.

I hope this explanation makes sense. Cheers!

• Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. PS1, 1999 (EU and US). Developed by Big Ape Productions. Published by LucasArts. On PS Plus Premium, and available to buy for £3.99 (Tuesday 16th January, 2024). No Trophies included at PS4/PS5 launch.

I'm away this week, but I look forward to reading people's thoughts about PS1 Star Wars Episode I - The Phantom Menace, so please copy me in for any questions, and I'll make sure I reply by the weekend.

Also, as an aside, there are no Trophies in the PS4 and PS5 versions of this re-release, but the modern addition of the 'Rewind' function was invaluable during jumps in this game's difficulty.

I'm also a big Star Wars fan, but let's face it, Star Wars fans understandably have big opinions about Star Wars nowadays. I've personally been harsh about the prequel films before in my review of SNES Super Star Wars on PS4, but it was never my intention to dump on people's memories, or their nostalgia, and I wouldn't want to spoil the fun for other fans — in this case, whether it's regarding Star Wars Episode I - The Phantom Menace the film, or the PS1 video game.

Therefore, to balance out my thoughts in this review, below is an alternative reaction to this game taken from a retro magazine's review in 1999:

• Total Control - Issue 9 (UK print magazine from July 1999, PC version reviewed by Will Adkin, who scored it 80/100). Will Adkin said, "I really enjoyed playing The Phantom Menace straight from the start", and he continued that, "any self-respecting Star Wars fan will find themselves completely immersed in a matter of minutes."

Have a great week, everyone.

@LN78 I've recently received The Mandalorian: The Complete First Season on Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD for Christmas, so like you mentioned above, I'd love it if Disney could set it up with Lucasfilm to release a physical version of Andor.

Andor deserves praise as a Star Wars show, so I was pleased to see that you set it aside as a standout amongst modern Star Wars releases.

@LN78 Did you enjoy the lightsaber duel with Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi against Darth Maul, all set to John Williams' 'Duel of the Fates' score, though mate?

That part of The Phantom Menace looked and sounded great on the big screen.

Thank you, and "Roger, Roger" to @RogerRoger, because I've very much enjoyed having my own mini Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace celebration this weekend.

With the exception of me loving Episode III – Revenge of the Sith from its release, I have had a love/hate relationship with the prequel films, although I've watched them over-and-over, so I must love them really.

I've seen every Star Wars film on the pictures, and there was a very long 16 year wait between watching Return of the Jedi on the cinema in 1983 as a kid, and seeing a brand new Star Wars film in 1999.

Over this time, there was no way that The Phantom Menace could meet my lofty expectations, so while I enjoyed it in 1999, I was unkind to its poor pacing, the focus on political trade disputes, Anakin as a precocious kid, and the introduction of Jar Jar Binks as a goofy, comical character.

Since then I've watched it many times, so I sometimes skip any ship parts fetch quest and midi-chlorians discussion during the Tatooine build up, and I go straight to the action. If you focus on watching the opening, then enjoy the podrace, and see the Naboo planet and space sections to the end, it's a fun film.

I also appreciate the way that Senator Palpatine was puppeteering, and manipulating things so early on in the Senate now, as it was a well planned scheme, even though the storytelling felt like a diversion from Luke, Han, Leia and Chewie's hero's journey in the original trilogy.

Everything with Darth Maul is still awesome anyway, like in that LEGO The Empire Strikes Out Darth Maul "Awesome!" song.
Cheers, mate.

@ShogunRok Your first two comments cracked me up!

Wishing you a top-notch New Year, and an RPGrrreat 2024, Rob!

@ShaiHulud I really appreciate you saying that my Top 5 is your favourite so far. It's especially good to hear since some of my retro based picks are so niche.

@Simon_Fitzgerald Great minds think alike with our number one pick, Simon, plus it was cool to see Sea of Stars in your Top 5 GOTY list. I haven't played Sea of Stars yet, but its stunning 2D graphics must be competition for Blasphemous II for the 'Best Pixel Art of 2023' award. It was by reading your Push Square Mini Review that I was introduced to Revita, by the way, so cheers to you for showcasing a quality indie game to me.

@naruball You're super kind, no two ways about it, and your comment has completely made my day!

@Marquez You made my stepdad Jeff laugh with your comment, he had a look at his PS5 profile's time log, and he's accumulated 203 hours on Assassin's Creed Valhalla so far! He said that Valhalla's his favourite Assassin's Creed game, although he appreciates that some fans don't regard its gameplay as an authentic Assassin's Creed experience.

Jeff and I both completed Assassin's Creed Valhalla at the same time together, as well as finishing Wrath of the Druids and The Siege of Paris simultaneously too, but Jeff took it a step further by beating the Dawn of Ragnarok DLC expansion separately.

We also discussed fantasy Soulslike design traits as a subgenre this morning, as Marquez mentioned, and Jeff said that the thing is he has so much choice of games at the moment, as he's currently juggling his two Christmas presents: Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora and PS5 Resident Evil 4. This month and next month he says he has an avalanche of games he wants to play, but he's half thinking of checking out Elden Ring next year, though. Elden Ring's one he'll go for during a quieter time, and he was talking about trying Baldur's Gate 3 at some point, too.

@Gremio108 Jeff has played 240 games since he first bought a PS4 in 2020. Below are his Top 5's 2023 game time stats:
Assassin's Creed Mirage = 24 hours (not yet finished, 3/4 complete).
Final Fantasy XVI = 37 hours (not yet finished, 3/4 complete).
Hogwarts Legacy = 38 hours (main game completed).
Marvel's Spider-Man 2 = 25 hours (main game completed, playing side missions).
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor = 22 hours (not yet finished).

As a thank you for your comments — and for showing an interest in his gaming year — if you have access to BBC Four, Jeff recommends watching the 2023 Royal Institution Christmas Lectures' episode called 'My AI Life'. He said it has a discussion about the AI in Gran Turismo, which could appeal to a Sony fan.

@MB81 Good on you for your comment about my stepdad, mate, I'll pass on what you said to him.

I also hope I'm gaming at that level when I'm 81, although in truth he outshines my gaming progress now, anyway! It's genuinely amazing how quickly his skill level has progressed over three years.

I couldn't help but love rewatching Event Horizon, because I have such nostalgia for seeing it with my mates as a student in 1997-ish. I must admit that it hasn't aged well, though. My memories of it were better than the actual quality of the film.

@SoulChimera Thank you very much for your kind words. All the best to you!

@CJD87 Cheers, I was actually prewarned about Eviterno, because I bought Blasphemous II late, and I read about his encounter as a difficulty spike in the comments of a video. Like you mentioned, I was blindsided by naively thinking his first phase was okay, before he started whizzing about in the second phase — although I'm not ashamed to admit that I learnt his attack patterns the best I could, by watching YouTube videos when I wasn't playing the game.

An important extra thought for me is that my GOTY article gives me the chance to give a nod to my 81 year old stepdad, who has been the biggest gamer I know in 2023.

He went from buying a PS4 for additional entertainment during the 2020 UK lockdown — where he initially struggled to navigate so many DualShock 4 button presses in Assassin's Creed Syndicate — to completing multiple, massive games in 2023.

Starting with Assassin's Creed Valhalla in 2020/2021, we both play the same game at the same time, and discuss our progress together in what we call 'Jamie/Jeff Bonding Games'.

We're currently doing this with side missions in Marvel's Spider-Man 2, and then in early next year we're going to focus on Final Fantasy VII Remake in time for Final Fantasy VII Rebirth's 29th February, 2024 release.

We've also talked about playing Grand Theft Auto V before the much anticipated sixth GTA arrives in 2025, although Jeff preferred completing Red Dead Redemption II — one of his favourite games, so far — over beating L.A. Noire, because he doesn't like controlling a car in an open world game as much.

Below is my stepdad Jeff’s Top 5 games of 2023 list (he said his first and second picks are nearly interchangeable, but he felt that for him there was a bit more variety in Final Fantasy XVI):

• 1) Final Fantasy XVI.
• 2) Marvel's Spider-Man 2.
• 3) Star Wars Jedi: Survivor.
• 4) Assassin's Creed Mirage.
• 5) Hogwarts Legacy.

@get2sammyb Happy New Year right back at you too, Sammy!

Wishing the best for you, your family and everyone at Push Square to have a very most excellent 2024!

Thank you very much for people's comments, so far.

Cheers, @somnambulance, I really liked the way Dead Cells: Return to Castlevania opens by having to find Richter Belmont in the Prisoners Quarters' of the main game, and then after first confronting Death you have to explore through to the core game's Clock Tower to be able to continue, so it weaves the DLC into the biomes from the main content. As a consequence, I love that I've earned playing Return to Castlevania as a separate, linear Castlevania game on my PS4/PS5 now, too.

Nice one, @Mostik, PS5 Dead Space has become one of my favourite modern remakes, and that's high praise, since there's a lot of competition on that front. Good call on Evercade Full Void, as well. I meant to buy the Evercade version, so I've just sneakily added it to our shopping list for when I'm next in town to see if GAME has a physical copy.

Thanks, @playstation1995, it's kind of you to describe my list as "cool", and it's nice to hear that we've enjoyed similar games in 2023.

Have a fantastic 2024 all of you!

I touch upon how I focussed on playing a lot of smaller, less known pixel art games this year (above), so here's a bit more information about five forgotten pixel art games that released in 2023:

• Bat Boy (developed by Sonzai, released for both PS4 and PS5 on 25/5/2023). A Mega Man-esque platformer with a modern take upon fancified 8-bit graphics, where Bat Boy can not only deflect projectiles back at enemies, but he can chuck his baseball bat at them, too.
• Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragons (developed by Secret Base, released for both PS4 and PS5 on 27/7/2023). I wrote Push Square's Mini Review of this one, and I appreciated the replay value in this scrolling beat-'em-up. However, while I preferred the art in the backgrounds to the cutesy sprites, the soundtrack was consistently great and nostalgic.
• Full Void (developed by OutOfTheBit, released for both PS4 and PS5 on 30/11/2023). Following the disappointment surrounding Flashback 2, Full Void was kindly recommended to me as an alternative 2D cinematic platformer in the comments of my Flashback 2 Mini Review.
• Lunark (developed by Canari Games, released for both PS4 and PS5 on 5/4/2023). Similar to how Full Void was able to fill the, erm, void created after Flashback 2 was underwhelming as a sequel to a cinematic platforming classic, Lunark's chunkily pixelated presentation was a nice fit for the sci-fi story leanings that often accompany this retro subgenre.
• Revita (developed by BenStar, released for both PS4 and PS5 on 20/4/2023). I highly recommend reading Simon Fitzgerald's 9/10 scoring Mini Review of Revita to learn more about BenStar's side-scrolling, twin-stick shooter take on a roguelite platformer.

One fun 2023 honourable mention I want to note as an addition to my Game of the Year list was the Dead Cells: Return to Castlevania DLC.

Furthermore, as an extra bit of Push Square reading to complement my GOTY choices, Marvel's Spider-Man 2 deservedly received the Platinum Trophy as the Best Open World Game of 2023, and Simon Fitzgerald also chose Blashpemous II as his personal number one GOTY pick.

Finally, I discuss forgotten 2023 pixel art games in my GOTY list, and Max Freeman-Mills recently wrote a Push Square Soapbox examining if PS5 Dead Space Is This Year's (Almost) Forgotten Horror Delight.

It's only three days until the New Year, so thank you to anyone who reads my Top 5 here, and all the best for 2024 everyone!

@Clyde_Radcliffe and @kohiba99 — Thank you very kindly to you both for your recommendations, kohiba99 had already mentioned The Way Remastered in a previous comment, so I'm going to learn more about SONKA's modern cinematic platformer after being reminded about it. I've just spotted that it's a whopping 93% off its main £13.49 price point on the Nintendo eShop, so I'm lucky to be able to buy it for a bargain 89p!

Thanks again, this was such good timing!

I also noticed this week on Friday 22nd December that PS5 Flashback 2 had a version 1.000.005 update, which was a significant download size of 3.954GB. Note that the total size of the game is 6.17GB, so this update is hefty, as it comes in at over half the size of the main game.

I'll check out The Way Remastered on Switch, as well as Flashback 2 to see if there are any bug fixes, when things quieten down in the New Year, after this busy festive season.

In the meantime, all the best to you both, and have fun during this holiday period.

@Flaming_Kaiser I was looking up the physical release of Flashback 2 - Limited Edition on the UK retailer GAME's website, and it says that there is a PS4 physical version for pre-order to be released sometime in 2024.

I reviewed the Version 1.000.004 digital PS5 release of Flashback 2, so I wonder if Microids could tidy up this game with patches before it is available on a PS4 disc next year.

Note that it was a red flag when the Switch version of Flashback 2 received a last minute delay until Q1 2024 too.

Microids' developers will have their work cut out for them though, as I guess they could smooth out the slowdown and shorten load times, but I imagine that fixing all of the collision detection to stop Conrad clipping through so many different walls and environments would be a challenging task within a few months.

Like you said in your comment above, Flashback 2 should never have released on PS5 in such a bug ridden state in the first place, anyway.

@kohiba99 Good call, I actually discussed Lunark as a modern retro example of a cinematic platform game when I was first chatting with Push Square about writing this Flashback 2 review.

I've been interested in brand new pixel art games, you see, so I've been making a mental note of 2023 pixel art releases — which includes games like Bat Boy, Blasphemous 2, Revita, Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider, and of course, like you mention, Lunark too.

I didn't know about Full Void, though. After a quick glance at the UK's PS Store, it looks like Full Void is a 2023 release on PlayStation consoles, so I'll keep it in mind for a possible future purchase.

I appreciate you mentioning Full Void to me here, mate.

@Northern_munkey Cheers, the animations in Flashback were indeed amazing, and despite many console ports, I still predominantly associate both Another World and Flashback with the Amiga, too.

I'd like to think that a younger gamer who has a slight interest in retro games would still be impressed by rotoscoped animations today.

It was so impressive originally watching the character movement in Prince of Persia on my stepdad's Apple computer around about 1989, and I still enjoy returning to rotoscoping in old games.

As well as the subtle world building, it was the animations and the realistic movement of the characters that was another reason that this platforming subgenre earned the title 'cinematic'.

@Northern_munkey My logic was that there hasn't been a plethora of cinematic platform games in comparison to other retro genres recently, for example compared to the popularity of something like Metroidvania games, so a new game in the Flashback series would influence current opinion about Flashback in general, too.

I'd prefer for your point to be right about it not diminishing the original, anyway.

In any case, Flashback 2's design is pretty much the opposite of retro cinematic platformers, because it doesn't trust the player to work things out for themselves. From the beginning Conrad has a companion called A.I.S.H.A., who is an Artificial Intelligence guide, where alongside Conrad's incessant inner monologing, they both held my hand through every task in at least the first half of the game.

Later on, Flashback 2 introduces mini Metroidvania map areas, but the route through each larger level and the need to backtrack is often confusing. During one section I didn't hear a short bit of dialogue telling me to put on Conrad's wave flow analysis glasses to spot red, hidden background switches, so on this occasion I lost an hour of my playtime.

I was excited for Flashback 2, and I thought it might rekindle an interest in the series and side-scrolling cinematic platforming games overall.

Hopefully the disappointment about Flashback 2 won't reflect on this genre as much as I thought, because people will see things like videos and know that the gameplay doesn't directly relate to the original Flashback.

@rusty82 You're right, it really is a shame, like you say, because the original Flashback was ahead of its time with things like its atmosphere, and the way it presented the cyberpunk setting.

The bugs were so obvious in Flashback 2 that I noticed them almost from the outset. For example, early on I purposefully took advantage of these graphical glitches by clipping Conrad's arm and gun through a solid wall to shoot a Titan Corp guard in a separate room.

This was obviously not a good sign, but by the time Conrad got lost in the background scenery and fell through multiple floors of the map, it became frustrating at how these bugs were halting my progress. This clipping glitch then happened multiple times.