Retro Gaming Weekly News #0202
Welcome to this week’s Retro Gaming News roundup from Leeds, with a mix of preservation updates, hardware tinkering, and a few proper surprises for retro fans.
Top of the list, RetroShell reports that Star Wars Jedi Knight 2: Jedi Outcast originally had lightsaber combat features cut before release, and PC fans have now restored the missing elements. If you like this kind of coverage, you can also keep an eye on our news tag page for more updates like this.
Elsewhere, M2 has cancelled Ubusuna, the spiritual successor to Ikaruga, with creator Hiroshi Iuchi leaving the company. On the hardware side, the USB Dolphin adapter for GameCube adds USB connectivity options through either the SP1 port or the memory card slot, while the community-led Super Mario Galaxy decompilation has now passed 50 per cent completion.
Nintendo has also officially revealed plans for a new LEGO Donkey Kong arcade machine set, and AYANEO has announced the KONKR Pocket Block, the Pocket AIR Mini IGS edition, and a teaser for the Pocket Play handheld. In another preservation and modding story, a sophisticated retro hack has brought Windows CE to the Nintendo 64 through a complex hardware mod.
There is plenty more in the mix too. Former Nintendo executive comments suggest the NES and SNES Classics helped sustain the company during the Wii U’s difficult final years, the MegaWifi cartridge aims to bring online connectivity to the Sega Mega Drive, and the Nintendo 64 library has received rollback netcode support on Switch Online.
On the fan and remake front, Sega has teased a new Crazy Taxi entry with its first social media post in seven years, the 8BitDo 64 is being pitched as a strong modern pad for retro Nintendo play, and homebrew coder Richter Wilker has made Game Boy Color demakes of Animal Crossing and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. There is also an unofficial Zelda: Twilight Princess port, a Final Fantasy 16 SNES demake, and news that Blu-ray drives can now legally rip GameCube, Wii, and Xbox games with new firmware technology.
Finally, Time Extension, VGC, and TechSpot are among the sources behind this week’s stories, with Capcom also reportedly working on a new remake of the original Resident Evil.
