Yacht Club games blasted on to the Indie scene with an amazing Kickstarter for Shovel Knight. The game was funded and all of the games strech goals were met giving the base game a TON of extra content. If you've had Shovel Knight since the beginning you've see it get update after update making the game get so much bigger and adding a ton of new story content like Plague Knight and Spector Knight campaigns as well as Gender Swap mode and Co-op. Shovel Knight is set to get it's final set of story based content in Shovel Knight: King of Cards in 2018!

"Shovel Knight: King of Cards is the final campaign in the Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove saga, and it’s bigger and grander than ever! Step into the regal shoes of King Knight, the Gilded Goon himself, as you shoulder bash and spin jump through all those who would oppose your reign! Travel through 4 new worlds and more than 30 all new courses, all on a journey to best the “Three Kings” who lord over the land. Discover what it takes to become a true monarch, meet a friend or two, and amass a King’s ransom in items and loot! Refined platforming, exquisite visuals, story with heart, action-packed courses, glorious new bosses and more await in Shovel Knight: King of Cards!"

Strangely or unstrangely enough Shovel Knight is also getting a mini card game too that seems interesting.

"Had your fill of glamorous adventure? Unwind and sharpen your strategic mind by competing in card battles with future subjects from across the land."

I wonder if this is the first step to Yacht Club releasing a Shovel Knight-verse digital collectors card game in the same way CD Project Red released Gwent? Remains to be seen but the thought that Shovel Knight gets even a mini card game seems like a really interesting idea.. so why not?

http://yachtclubgames.com/shovel-knight-king-of-cards-press-kit/

"We still can't believe it's happened, but SimCity for the NES has been unearthed! Back from the depths of a closet, two protoype carts have appeared like Bowser on the loose in Tokyo, stomping, smashing, and ripping up all guesses on what their value may be!

Yesterday, a longtime NA member BIGDADDYRAMIREZ posted the above two minute video showcasing the first footage seen of this unreleased NES game since it appeared on Johnny Arcade in 1991. Where exactly did they come from? Well, turns out BIGDADDYRAMIREZ is the owner of Back in Time, a chain of game stores in the Seattle area, and like unicorns are want to do, they both walked in the other day. We just got off the phone with him, seeing as we've been waiting for this moment all our lives it seems, and learned that both copies will be making an appearance at PRGE this year."

Finding these lost Nintendo prototype carts is really great because often times nearly completed ports are abandoned and in the case of SimCity revisioned to work on the Super Nintendo. The Super Nintendo SimCity port is incredible and Nintendo was right to release it on the system at launch but losing the Nintendo port to history is a bit sad and I'm glad it's been found so it can be preserved.

NES on SimCity will be at this years Portland Retro Game Expo and I'll be making a point to check it out.

http://nintendoage.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&blog_Id=1&Id=1754

Capcom is teaming up with IAm8Bit to create a limited run of Street Fighter II to 3,500 units at $100 each. It's an honest to God Super Nintendo repo cart and it's pressed to look like the original yet, it's red. The box is a tri-fold box with foil and a glossy finish that should make any collector jealous. They are randomly going to mix in 1k Blanka Green glow in the dark carts for the lucky few that get those shipped to their house. It's an interesting way to distribute and even more limited edition version of the game and the site totally allows buying 5 to increase you chances of hitting Blanka!

https://store.iam8bit.com/products/street-fighter-ii-30th-anniversary-edition

"The Open Beta phase will begin on August 29 at 10 a.m. PT. All PC players will be able to play for FREE during this period. To play, you’ll just need the Blizzard Battle.net desktop app and a free Blizzard account—no additional sign-up or code required."

I've heard great things so far about Destiny 2 on PC and it seems it's a very amazingly created port that runs super smoothly. Curious what everyones thoughts are now that anyone with access to Battle.net can give it a try for a couple days?

https://news.blizzard.com/en-us/blizzard/20974970/play-destiny-2-free-on-pc-august-29-31-during-open-beta?utm_source=destiny-2-open-beta-activation-20170829

Secret of Mana on the Super Nintendo is one of the best RPG's of all time. It was remade on the iPhone in 2012 and I thought that port was terrible in every possible way. So i'm a bit nervous to hear that Square is remaking Secret of Mana in 3D and launching it in 2018. It could be a great game. But... if the trailer is any indication, it doesn't look like it will be that good. Firstly the voice acting isn't to my liking and i'm not a big fan of the art style either. Still the game could be fun and i'm not going to rule it out entirely, i'm just not too excited about playing it. Personally, i'm more excited about getting it on the Super Nintendo Classic, but I am a sort of purist when it comes to certain games and films (like Star Wars). I don't mind revisionings of things but some games and films are better left as is and maybe Secret of Mana is one of those games? Also... maybe not so we will see how it turns out.

The 3D remake will be available on 15th February, 2018 for Steam, PS4 and PSVita!

https://cheerfulghost.com/jdodson/posts/259/secret-of-mana-is-one-of-my-most-beloved-games-of-all-time

Back in August of 2013 I wrote about the new Kickstarter for Death Road To Canada and quickly after that I backed the Kickstarter. After that I interviewed the creator of the game and then dug in to wait for the games launch. The game finally launched in 2016 and it was added to my backlog of games to play. Since the games launch they have updated it considerably and the game seems to be even more widely praised by it's fans so I decided to jump in and give it a shot.

Death Road To Canada is a very well polished rogue like zombie bashing road trip game that pays homage to the Oregon Trail and the Ninja Turtles arcade game. Like most rogue likes you die... a lot but the main game loop is so much fun that doesn't really matter. There is much strategy to the base game and how you approach zombies, collecting loot and making choices really matter. Not to say there isn't a fair amount of RNG at play making some games massively unfair but sometimes the RNG is in your favor and that luck and your skill make it a very special experience. One other fun element of Death Road is that you can play it with a friend. I had a friend over recently and we played the game for hours really enjoying ourselves.

You can play the game with a keyboard and mouse but I seriously recommend you use a gamepad. I found the experience with a controller to be much better and playing with friends, it's a must.

Looks like the game will be getting even more future updates and if you are interested in checking those out, check the steam update link below. If you are looking for a new rogue like to play that hooks you right from the start and works on PC, Mac and Linux you should look into Death Road to Canada.

http://cheerfulghost.com/jdodson/posts/1590/interview-with-death-road-to-canada-s-kepa-auwae

https://steamcommunity.com/games/deathroad/announcements/detail/2353548518942679770

Back in May I started my playthrough of Link Between Worlds on the 3DS. It's a fun follow up to Link to the Past and bring enough new things to the table to be interesting. As with most new Zelda games and because I have a one year old I play it in bursts. Recently I completed a few dungeons in Lorule, which is the Dark World equivalent in Link Between Worlds. Link Between Worlds keeps the dungeon locations to the same places as Link to the Past. The Lorule dungeons are all different but keep some of the themes with the original dungeons. For instance, Lorule has a Thieves Dungeon that is similar to the Link To The Past Dungeon. Each dungeon in Link Between Worlds, so far, keeps the base similarity to Link to the Past while changing the puzzles and having the dungeon layout be totally different. I'd also say, in general, the Link Between Worlds Dungeons are a bit harder and more varied in puzzles. The Lorule Dungeon bosses are also based on the original Link to the Past dungeon bosses but feature a new mechanic. So far, like most Zelda bosses, they have a couple hooks but once you understand them are easy to beat.

If I had to guess I'd say i'm slightly less than half way through the game and given about how long it's taken me to get to this point I should complete it sometime this holiday season. Good thing people in Hyrule are used to living under the thumb of evil despots because i'm not going to save them anytime soon. But you know, freedom doesn't come quickly when you have kids.

I've heard shooters in VR make people sick. I've also heard that one solution to this is to move people around by warping the player around the game field but this solution has always seemed odd to me. That said, that does seem like the VR "solution" to the problem and Doom VFR seems to employ that mechanism to make the game work. In service of the new play controls in VR the story is a bit different and given what you need to do that to make a VR shooter amazing the story seems natural enough to fit how Doom should feel. But with VR you sort of have to try it to have it all make sense.

"Hyperkin's RetroN 5 continues to be a popular yet decisive retro clone system that has many redeeming qualities...and a few things it needs to improve upon. Metal Jesus & Kelsey give you their honest opinion after using the Retron 5 for several years."

The RetronN 5 is a classic console mega station that allows you to play NES, Famicom, SNES, Super Famicom, Genesis, Mega Drive, Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy Advance games. I picked up the RetroN 3 to replace a broken NES & Super Nintendo but the RetroN 5 supports WAY more systems and is totally compatible with HDMI outputting your retro games in amazingly crisp HD. Seems like the consensus is it's pretty good with a couple negative points such as the RetroN controllers are terrible, but you should just use your original ones anyway.

If you are looking to replace an old NES, Super Nintendo and Genesis on an old CRT TV check out my review of the RetroN 3 below.

http://cheerfulghost.com/jdodson/posts/3182/the-best-retro-3-in-one-my-review-of-the-retron-3

February of this year I picked up "Playing With Power" a strategy guide for the NES Classic games. It didn't review each game but hit the main ones and provided a really great history of the NES along with reprints of the original Nintendo Strategy Guides and Nintendo Power issues. It was a inexpensive and fun guide for people that like that sort of thing, which I do.

Recently Prima has let us know that it is going to release "Playing With Super Power" which is a strategy guide for the upcoming Super Nintendo Classic. It's going to feature game play tips and walkthroughs for many of the games including Star Fox 2 and more. And some of the "and more" looks well worth the price of admission alone such as:

"The Legacy: An in-depth look at how the Super NES has left its mark on the gaming industry, and how its legacy continues.

The Memories: Featuring a plethora of fan art, music, and more, this book is a love letter to playing with Super Power!

Speedrunning Tips: Some of the best speedrunners around share their tips and strategies for getting the best times in these beloved classic games."

Awesome. Seems like a really great upgrade to the last guide and yeah, i'm definitely going to pick this up. I got the NES Classic "Playing with Power" as a paperback and it's all fine and everything but this time I plan on getting the hardback.

https://www.primagames.com/games/nintendo-snes-classics/products/playing-super-power-nintendo-snes-classics-collectors-ediiton

Check out my NES Classic "Playing With Power" book review:

http://cheerfulghost.com/jdodson/posts/3246/it-s-dangerous-to-go-alone-take-this-playing-with-power-book-review