The Double Dragon series has seen quite a few aesthetic changes as it’s traveled from developer to developer, ranging from the chessy goofiness of WayForward’s Double Dragon Neon (and its offshoot, River City Girls), the retro pixel roguelite Double Dragon Gaiden, and the NES-style Double Dragon IV. 2025’s Double Dragon Revive, published by Arc System Works, is close to the style of the original arcade games but with modern 3D visuals – the closest point of comparison is 2013’s Wander of the Dragons for the Xbox 360, though thankfully it’s a big improvement over that entry.
Join the HG101 gang, plus special guests FlannelKat and Katherine, as they discuss and rank an HD-ified remake of the first major dating sim. Then stick around as Tempest joins for Impossible Mission, a puzzle platformer that wants you to stay forever… or at least until six hours have run out!
Double Dragon Gaiden was developed by indie group Secret Base, who previously worked on the rather fun Streets of Red: Devil’s Dare Deluxe, which was in and of itself a throwback to arcade beat-em-ups of the past. That game introduced an interesting risk/ reward system; you have a special move bar that refills slowly over time, and if you’re able to kill at least three enemies with a special move, the game would reward you with a healing item. Four and five kill moves would increase the amount of health given back. As it turns out, this was a prototype for Gaiden, where Secret Base would refine their in-house style to deliver an accessible but quite deep beat-em-up rogue lite experience.
Metroid Prime 3 was released in 2007, in the early days of the Wii. After then, the series went through some rocky developments, including the poorly received Other M, and two portable spinoffs, Prime Hunters and Federation Force, neither of which are traditional Metroid titles. After an alright remake of Metroid II for the 3DS, the series was salvaged with 2021’s Metroid Dread, bringing back 2.5D action to the main storyline. But what of Metroid Prime 4? It began development in 2017 with Bandai Namco, before being cancelled roughly a year later and development moved back to Retro Studios. After seven years, it finally saw release in 2025, for both the Switch and Switch 2. Understanding the long development timeline illuminates how Metroid Prime 4 turned out the way it did.
By the early 90s, MicroProse had established a UK division to publish externally developed titles and create ports of their own games such as Gunship, F-15 Strike Eagle II and Pirates! Gold. In the middle of this, a small team within MicroProse UK (including future Crystal Dynamics/Naughty Dog designer Richard Lemarchand) developed an original side-scrolling action game called Tinhead, inspired by the likes of Sonic the Hedgehog and Blaster Master. Despite their high hopes for its success, Tinhead only saw a limited North American release due to financial issues within MicroProse, dooming a decent though frustrating adventure to obscurity.
Reblogged
'Yahwa'
[PC] [SOUTH KOREA] [MAGAZINE] [1996]
"The simulation portion in this game is even more complex than in FEW's first work Janggun, but that shouldn't deceive from the fact that all the planning and scheming as the boss of an underground mob always culmulates (sic) in mass brawls with other super deformed gangsters. Those play out just like a beltscrolling beat 'em up with bad controls, only that it doesn't scroll and instead takes place on seperate (sic) screens. Despite the somewhat sketchy quality, Yahwa sold 12,000 copies in just the first month6, a big success for a Korean game at the time." ~Sam Derboo, @hardcore-gaming-101 ("A History of Korean Gaming")
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- Source: Game Champ, October 1996 || RetroCDN; Asagoth
Source: retrocdn.net
Angry Video Game Nerd 8-bit is the third video game starring the famously foul-mouthed YouTube retro video game critic. The first two, developed by FreakZone Games, had a vaguely retro aesthetic gameplay style, but as the title states, this entry is more closely based on 8-bit NES games; very explicitly, it’s basically Mega Man.
Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven was released a mere six months after Emerald Beyond in 2024 and it’s massively different production values and goals are immediately apparent. As a remake, it has the luxury of having the core gameplay and story pre-established allowing it to focus on providing modern game design conveniences in addition to adding literal depth to the game world.
Scarlet Grace was a surprise to many people. Romancing SaGa’s remake for the PlayStation 2, Minstrel Song, was released 14 years before the international release of Scarlet Grace Ambitions but it would only be a mere five years more until Emerald Beyond debuted. In that intervening time, a steady clip of remasters and modernized ports of many of the older SaGa games have been released on modern devices. There has never before been more and better ways to try titles in the series. With more confidence that a new title would find an audience, what direction would a sequel to Scarlet Grace go?
Join the HG101 gang as they discuss and rank the BioShock sequel that BioShocks harder. Then stick around for Fights in Tight Spaces, an action-packed spy-themed deckbuilder!
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After Minstrel Song on the PS2, it would be a very long time before a new SaGa game was developed, but its eventual worldwide debut would represent a major pivot in Square Enix’s game release strategy. No longer confined to a single console, every new and re-released game would have a multiplatform release. But what could a new entry in this ever-experimental series even look like? Would we see a more conservative game intended for a larger audience? Something that would draw on the series’ roots? Or something completely different? What lessons may have been learned from 2005, the last time any part of the world saw an entry to this game series with roots as nearly as old as the company itself? Scarlet Grace (2016) (released internationally as Scarlet Grace Ambitions in 2019) would in fact make some radical changes to the formula, stripping a choice-heavy role playing game to just a few essential elements. So when you can’t do everything, what do you keep?
