I bumped into a rather interesting website when I was doing some research for an earlier blog post, and it’s actually the web version of a classic Apple II turn-based strategy game called Taipan!. How cool is that? The original game was inspired by James Clavell’s novel of the same name and had players sailing around the Far East, trading at different ports and battling pirates.

The web version of the game is available over here, and it has a nice green-over-black do on it.

A friend and I stumbled onto a little known fact (well, at least to us) when we were reading a Wikipedia entry on the classic hit Super Mario Bros. Apparently there are not one, not two, not three but four different ways to getting extra lives. The first three, grabbing green or orange mushrooms or collecting 100 coins, should be pretty familiar to most players, but the last one, defeating several enemies in a row with a Koopa shell…that’s a new one to me.

So the next time you fire up Super Mario Bros on a NES, or an emulator, or even on the Virtual Console, don’t forget to check out the last technique mentioned above. I leave you with a YouTube video highlighting the infinite 1-up techniques in Super Mario Bros 3. Look out for the Koopa shell example .

We’ve featured before several of rickonami‘s tribute videos for a number of popular Konami titles (check out our previous post). This time around, the prolific animator and special FX artist has come up with a short tribute intro for Contra! There are a couple of things, I mean, personalities, to look out for in this amazing looking tribute, see whether you can spot them:

Fans of the Pepsi Throwback Atari Arcade, and especially fans of the old Tempest arcade game would be happy to know that Tempest has been released on the Facebook app as of yesterday. For those not in the know, Tempest was a shmup and has the distinction of being the first video game to introduce difficulty levels. To get a piece of the action, check out the app over at https://www.facebook.com/pepsithrowback?sk=app_166469713413840.

Participants on the weekly high score challenge stand to win the Atari Flashback 2+ Console. For the less talented among us, there’s still the lucky draw for the iCade and iPad loaded with classic Atari games.

What I learned a couple of days ago was that a year before Ralf Jones (a.k.a Paul) was kicking ass in SNK’s Ikari Warriors, he was the main character of an earlier SNK arcade title, T.N.K III. Players are tasked with destroying a weapon on an island, and to do so, will need to eliminate enemy troops and tanks with extreme prejudice, and they get to do that in a tank.

Each hit from enemy units will cause the tank’s energy bar to drain and thankfully there are power-ups to replenish the energy bar. Other power-ups provide bonuses to weapons and there’s one that takes away every other power-up, making not taking it a no-brainer. There are 12 different levels to go through in the game and you’ll definitely need them power-ups.

The  game features an interesting control scheme whereby a switch will cause the tank turret to rotate in notches, allowing the tank to move independently and aim at a separate direction at the same time. While I do not have a problem with the turret control (I find it rather cute actually, archaic as it sounds in the previous sentence), the tank’s movement controls translates rather poorly in the PS Mini port of the game.

My advice would be to ditch the analog stick in favour of the direction pad, but then again do not expect it to work as well as an arcade joystick. To me, the control scheme made the game a little of a pain in the ass but what’s not to love when faced with classic arcade gameplay. Like every other SNK ports to the PS3, players are given a little more extra when it comes to saves, cheats and even configuration and networked multiplayer capabilities.

Nine Over Ten 9/10 rates T.N.K III at a 4 out of 5. The game is available on the PSN Store at a price of USD 2.99. A review code was provided to Nine Over Ten 9/10 for the purpose of this review.

DOS-era throwback, Gorillas, has received a new leash of life as an iPhone remake. Gamers young and old can now experience the incredibly entertaining and ultra- addictive gameplay of the classic physics-based game Gorillas for iPhone, with gorgeous graphics, enhanced animation, game field zooming, new game modes and individual or multiplayer gameplay bringing retro gaming into the 21st Century.

Created by Lyndir, the Gorillas remake contains the same addictive gameplay and competitive multiplayer action that ensured the original DOS game spawned a new genre of projectile physics games. High resolution graphics, weather effects, explosions, dynamic zooming, new game modes and world themes provide a slick, easy-to-use and modern presentation whether competing with the in-game AI or multiplayer and team modes.

“Gorillas for iPhone has been created to capture the acclaimed addictiveness and suspense of the original, coated with all the goodness and enhancements that iOS can offer.” commented creator Maarten Bilemont. “New game modes such as Last Man Standing, Dynamic, Team and Classic ensure gameplay longevity, whilst Game Center support offers the challenge to play against other users anywhere in the world.”

Easy to pick up and play, Gorillas the retro physics-based iPhone game, has already gained several 5 star ratings. It offers gamers an immediately rewarding experience plus a long term challenge and considerable repeat play appeal. Additional features include configurable or dynamically adjusted difficulty, retro audio remixes, slow motion kill shot replays, optional vibration and high resolution artwork for iPhone 4 and iPad in 2x mode. Check it out over here: http://itunes.apple.com/app/lyndir/id302275459

Consoles were pretty hard to come by back during the day from where I came from, so in order to build up a some sort of retro gaming knowledge repository, I frequently read Retro Gamer magazine, a publication originating from the UK. At one time, I was into buying old 2nd hand consoles like the SNES, which in hindsight, wasn’t such a good idea.

Thankfully companies like SNK Playmore which are bringing their old titles back to modern consoles, giving a chance for players like me to experience yesteryear nostalgia and fun. The service provided by SNK Playmore is called NEOGEO Station and brings high quality PS3 and PSP ports of NEOGEO titles from the 1990s, some of which never seen by the western world.

These titles feature several modern day innovations. Players can save their progression using the Save State function and the NEOGEO Memory Card is recreated by the NEOGEO Station emulator. The most interesting part is the Network Mode, which allows players to play against or cooperatively against other players.

I’ve just finished trying out two NEOGEO Station games this evening. The first one is Saurus’ Shock Troopers, and that’s the game we’re gonna talk about today. Originally released in 1997, it looks to be inspired by games such as Ikari Warriors, but the key difference being the former is a 8-way shooter, and has a lot of versatility in terms of how levels are portrayed. It goes without saying also that the game looks way better as well.

Players have a choice of playing as a single character or in charge of a team which allows players to shuffle between 3 different commandos (out of a pool of 8). The game itself is pretty violent, with plenty of blood when enemy characters are taken out by the myriad of firepower options available. Ever faced-off a fighter jet in a boss fight only to come away with it by using grenades? You got it here in Shock Troopers.

One grip that I do have about Shock Troopers are the controls. It’s pretty hard to get my guys to shoot or move in a particular direction, especially the NE/SE/SW/NW points, and the game has a hard time deciding whether a gesture on the analog stick is to move the character or change the direction in which he/she is shooting. Often it opts for the former, and I get my ass kicked. LOL.

In any case, Shock Troopers is a pretty cool arcade romp. There are 6 rather expansive levels to go through, and like I’ve mentioned earlier, the variety in level design makes the game interesting. Nine Over Ten 9/10 rates Shock Troopers at a 4 out of 5. Shock Troopers is available on the PSN Store for the PS3 (USD 8.99) and PSP (USD 6.99).

The retro-gaming experts DotEmu has announced a massive deal with Activision which will see DotEmu bringing back 3 games from the Gabriel Knight series, along with VAMPIRE: The Masquerade – Bloodlines and Dark Reign. The games will be offered for the first time in multi-lingual editions, sans DRM and available for Windows XP, Vista and another first, Windows 7. Check out the press release below for more details:

DotEmu announces deal with Activision : Gabriel Knight Series now in Multilingual Editions

Paris, France – July, 6th 2011 – DotEmu, quickly becoming one of the world’s leading digital developers and publishers committed to bringing back retro games, is bringing several of Activision’s beloved games back for eager digital gaming fans to enjoy. The games, now available for the first time in multi-lingual editions, are all low priced, DRM-Free, and available for Windows XP, Vista and for the first time in Windows 7.

The partnership will launch with five Activision titles, created between 1993 and 2004: three titles of the popular GABRIEL KNIGHT® SERIES, VAMPIRE: The Masquerade—Bloodlines™ and DARK REIGN®.

The Gabriel Knight series, set in New Orleans, allows players help solve multiple crimes with voodoo overtones. The series includes the games: GABRIEL KNIGHT: Sins of the Fathers® ($5.99), THE BEAST WITHIN: A Gabriel Knight® Mystery ($5.99) and GABRIEL KNIGHT® 3: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned ($5.99).

Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines ($19.99) is one of the best role playing games of the 2000s. In the game players get to embody a vampire, taste immortality and blood and increase their power. Set in every corner of Los Angeles, players can pledge allegiance to one of the seven clans, choose to join an organization and work for it or betray it to the benefit of its enemy.

DotEmu will also bring back one of the earliest Real Time Strategy Games, Dark Reign ($5.99). Originally released in 1997, the game allows you to control underground units and scout units on twelve different missions, either on your own or with seven other players. It will be available soon on DotEmu.

A Happy Good Friday to all you Christian Nine Over Ten 9/10 readers out there. I was at church earlier this evening for the Good Friday service and my iPhone couldn’t stop vibrating due to all the iOS games-related e-mails coming in, looks like Good Friday is indeed a good day to launch apps.

Not only that, EA Games decided to come up with its EA Games Mega Sale for nearly all of its iOS games. I’ve actually have a gigantic library of EA’s iOS games and simply clicking some bargains resulted in that “You have already purchased this item” error message. Oh well, I did manage to get NBA JAM and Dead Space at 99 cents each. That’s pretty darn cheap. Check out the sale over here: http://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/electronic-arts/id284800461

DotEmu, the retro game “revivalist”, on the other hand has launched Guilty Gear Isuka and 9 other classic games such as Eurofighter Tycoon and Realms of Haunting for digital distribution and these games come DRM-free! Check out the site over here: http://dotemu.com

The guys over at DotEmu are doing a great job bringing retro games back to life on the PC, iPhone and even on the Mac (speaking out bringing stuff back to life, check out the review for Handling the Undead over here), but check out what they have in store for Valentines Day:

Yup, it’s the Postal Pack, dubbed The Perfect Gift For Your Girlfriend and it contains Postal, Postal 2, and its expansion Apocalypse Weekend and the mod Eternal Damnation for the price tag of USD 9.99. I would admit that this is a bargain, but for those who are unfamiliar with the Postal series of games, these are really graphic games full of violence and stereotyping.

If you are buying this, I’m pretty sure that you should be buying this for yourself. I can’t see your other half liking this though. LOL. She might go postal on you instead. Check out the Postal Pack over here: http://www.dotemu.com/en/download-game/635/postal-pack-the-perfect-gift-for-your-girlfriend