Mega Cat Studios: ‘Britt’s Mega Drive Odyssey Part 1: Coffee Crisis’ ☕️ @megacatstudios #IndieGame #IndieGameDev #GameDev #RetroGaming #SEGAGenesis

Since joining GF back in 2016, one of the pleasures of my life has been discovering new titles for one of my favourite consoles – the Mega Drive. There are several companies out there that are doing the Lord’s work in bringing out new games out for SEGA’s saucy black box, but Mega Cat Studios were the first I was made aware off, when I covered Paulo Andres de Matos Villalva’s secretly wonderful ‘Devwill Too’ back in 2020*, and so I’ve always associated them with developing and publishing new MD titles, breathing life back into the system and hopefully getting players worldwide to dust off those creaky controllers!

This is the first in a series that will see us covering a large portion of the Mega Cat Studios Mega Drive-related output, with the end result being an interview and deep dive into the studio itself.

Rocket Panda, will launch for the Sega Genesis and Mega Drive on September 16, 2024. 🐼 #Retrogaming #SegaGenesis

The confectionary connoisseurs at Mega Cat Studios, Space Pants Games, and Video Game Sage are excited to announce that their upcoming jet-powered adventure, Rocket Panda, will launch for the Sega Genesis and Mega Drive on September 16, 2024. 

Get ready to soar in a scrumptious adventure where collecting treats and battling ferocious enemies is the name of the game! In Rocket Panda, players join our heroic panda as he sets out on a delicious quest to gather goodies, rescue badgers, and thwart the nefarious Biscuit Head. With more than 60 maze-like levels to navigate and cookie-crumbling action, this retro gem promises to be a treat for fans of classic 16-bit gaming.

SEGA Mega Drive Game Preview – The Viking & the Ninja 📯🥷 @DelayedAgainAB #IndieGame #GameDev

The Viking & The Ninja is an action RPG similar to the Dungeon Explorer series, set in an anachronistic fantasy setting with a lot of humour. The main theme and gameplay centres around cooperation between the two playable characters, but to succeed you also need to explore, fight bravely, and talk to other characters with important information.

Astebros SEGA Mega Drive Review 9.5/10 "The Pinnacle of Mega Drive Gaming" ⚔️ @DAsteborg #IndieGames #GameDev

Back in 2021, I was lucky enough to cover Demons of Asteborg, Neofid Studios’ first release on the Mega Drive. At the time I hailed it as a modern Mega Drive classic, I was really taken by the almost perfect action-platformer, which was up until that point the best game that I had covered on the Mega Drive as it was not only a great game to play, but was also a marvel in terms of the technical design.

In the space of only two years since that release, Neofid Studios have returned to the world of Asteborg and doubled down on what made the preceding title so great, this time upping the ante with local co-op and rogue-lite aspects that exist to add longevity to the game, making it the absolute cream of the Mega Drive crop.

Life on Mars: Genesis Kai Magazine Software SEGA Mega Drive Review 8.5/10 "There’s life in the Mega Drive, as well!" 🌕 #SEGA #SegaGenesis #IndieGames #GameDev

When Life on Mars: Genesis was announced, I was excited due to the fact that there were so few (if any) Metroidvania titles on the Mega Drive. I’m a fan of the genre, especially the shorter, snappier releases such as Shadow Complex. 

I find that a sub-12-hour blast keeps things spicy and fresh, and Life on Mars: Genesis falls into that camp, feeling like a novice entry in the genre, which fits in well with the fact that it is effectively an entry to the genre as a whole on the Mega Drive.

💥 Life on Mars - Genesis | "It takes us into a realm on the Sega Mega Drive that gets my blood pumping" 💥

Life On Mars: Genesis is the next game from Kai Magazine Software, the company that brought us Metal Dragon. Whereas that game was a humorous run ‘n gun title, Life On Mars: Genesis takes us into a realm on the Sega Mega Drive that gets my blood pumping almost as much as RPGs on the system, Metroidvania. The Mega Drive was starved of several genres – and true sequels to Landstalker… - and the Metroidvania genre was certainly one of those.

🎃👻The Curse of Illmoore Bay Mega Drive Review 8/10 "16-bit Halloween Magic" 🎃👻 @alteredimension #Retrogaming #RetroGames

Purchase link -

https://www.second-dimension.com/catalog/the-curse-of-illmoore-bay

Developer – Second Dimension R&T, LLC

New Mega Drive games always feel special, whether they push the little black box to the edge of its capabilities or perhaps capture an earlier period of its shelf life. The Curse of Illmoore Bay is a title that feels like it captures the essence of Sega in 1993/4 with its platforming action, visual style and kiddy-creepy approach.

🦔... Why I Love Sonic The Hedgehog ...🦔 @pixeladdict_mag #Retrogaming

Exciting News From GF Deep Freeze HQ!

Rich has been published in PIXEL Addict Magazine Issue 3 and we're all really excited to see Rich's words in print.

Therefore, here are some pics from the magazine and also here's the full transcript from the magazine article.

Head here to get yourself a copy or nip into WH SMITH and see if you can grab a copy!

🤖 The Cursed Knight Mega Drive Review 8.5/10 "A curse for the knight, a blessing for your Mega Drive" 🤖 @TKthegame #IndieGame #GameDev

Funded in just seven hours on Kickstarter, it’s clear that there was a lot of interest and high hopes for GGS Studio’ creation. And rightly so.

Sometimes referred to as T.C.K, The Cursed Knight is set in the year 3122 - long after the fall of civilisation – and casts the player as Kalder, a knight who is in love with his king’s daughter and must set out to rescue her when she is kidnapped by nefarious forces just as the king bestows his blessing on their relationship.

🐲 Metal Dragon | Mega Drive | Review | "There will be bullets" 🐲 #IndieGames #GameDev #Homebrew #SEGAGenesis

Known mostly for their MSX releases, Spanish developers Kai Magazine are now branching out into the Mega Drive world with this, their first release on the platform - a run ‘n gun shooter that is presented with tongue firmly in cheek.

“Kill everyone, destroy everything, save the girl… just because you can” – great tagline.

Set in a parodic version of the ‘80s, Metal Dragon comes boxed with a reversible cover – representative of the grid / blue box art versions of Mega Drive games that changed over time.

I kept with the earlier ‘grid’ style as Metal Dragon feels like a game from the early ‘90s. The cover of each features our hero standing heroically atop a tank as a massive explosion looms behind – as does other, general carnage– as he holds his machine gun aloft, with the President’s daughter at his arm, scantily clad – natch.

⚔️ Demons of Asteborg | SEGA Mega Drive | Review | 9.5/10 | "A Modern Mega Drive Classic" ⚔️ @DAsteborg #Retrogaming #IndieGames #GameDev

The Mega Drive is very much a console that I hold in high regard. As someone who has played, loved and collected for the system for decades, it’s very clear to me, if Demons of Asteborg was a Mega Drive game released in the mid-'90s - it would be regarded as a classic, ‘must have’ title. 

Released in 2021 on the Mega Drive, however…. it’s still a classic, ‘must have’ title.

🎮🕹️💻 Remembering My Childhood Video Game Store 🎮🕹️💻 #RetroGaming

Sitting down in lockdown 3 watching some rubbish on the TV whilst reading Retro Gamer Magazine late at night I was dreaming of the time when we could walk into shops and browse video games and then my mind wandered off to when I was an 11-year-old boy who would visit LOGIC Computers in Cheshunt Hertfordshire to buy my Atari XE/XL tapes and cartridges for my ATARI XEGS.

🎨🎮 Badly Drawn Video Games Consoles - Cartridges 🎨🎮 #Retrogaming

Well here's more of my bad art as this time I use MS Paint to create an idea I had for an article on Video Games cartridges.

I'll probably use it as inspiration to draw these by hand.

🎨🎮 Badly Drawn Video Games Consoles - 5. SEGA Genesis 🎨🎮 #Retrogaming #SEGA #SegaGenesis

Some days I find myself trying to draw stuff in MS Paint and those are the days when I manage to produce BADLY DRAWN VIDEO GAMES CONSOLES!

My plan is to draw as many badly drawn consoles as I can in 2021.

Let's see how far I get...

Rich

📖📚 Mean Machines Magazines - All The Video Games Reviews - Issue 0-24 "The Video Games Guide You Didn't Realise That You Wanted" 📖📚 @JazRignall @RetroGamerDaz @MaximumPowerUp #MeanMachines #Retrogaming

Well, I've gone and done something with my Mean Machines Magazine collection that I've always wanted to do but have never got round to doing until now.

For some reason, I wanted to catalogue all the reviews from Issue 0 to 24 so that if I ever need to refer to a physical edition of Mean Machines then I know exactly what issue I need to look at.

Yes it's nerdy and yes it is a bit silly but I think that it's something that you probably didn't realise you need but you do now!

🎮🎄 The Best Video Games Console Christmas Presents From 1979 to 2001 🎮🎄 #Retrogaming #GamersUnite

So as we hurtle towards another Christmas in 2020 I thought it would be good to take a look at the best video games related Christmas presents from down the years.

These are either cool machines from when I was alive (I was born in 1979) or they are machines that I was lucky enough to get for Christmas.

My sister got a Pong machine in the early 80s for Christmas and I can barely remember it but after that Christmas, I was always eager for a Christmas video game or a console to be popped into my Christmas stocking.

There was the classic Christmas when I was desperate for a ZX Spectrum +2 but Dad got me an ATARI XEGS but I loved it! 

Christmas is a great time for a gamer as you seem to get that bit of extra downtime to play your new games before your next helping of cold turkey in a roll.

Let's kick off our Christmas look by hurtling back in time to December 1979...

🕹️ I Played That At My Mate's House 🕹️ #Retrogaming #C64 #Commodore64

When I chart back my journey through video games over the years and I think back to my childhood years of playing video games a pivotal moment in video games always took place at a mates house. 

From my first moments of seeing a Spectrum to the point where I realised I needed a PC these moments were all borne from a visit to a friend’s house who had the latest console or the coolest game of the time.

So let’s get into my own personal time machine and head on back to those key moments from when I was growing up and discovering video games for the first time.

🎨🎮 Badly Drawn Video Games Consoles - 1. SEGA Mega Drive 🎨🎮 #Retrogaming #SEGA

Some days I find myself trying to draw stuff in MS Paint and those are the days when I manage to produce BADLY DRAWN VIDEO GAMES CONSOLES!

My plan is to draw as many badly drawn consoles as I can in 2020.

Let's see how far I get...

Rich

🏝️🕌👿🏝️ Devwill Too | Review | SEGA MEGA DRIVE / GENESIS | "A Retro 2D Platformer With An Existentialist Narrative" 🏝️🕌👿🏝️ #GameDev #IndieGames

A 2D platformer with an existentialist narrative delivered through simple gameplay, Devwill Too is only currently available for the Sega Mega Drive / Genesis in physical form.

The developer – Paulo Andres de Matos Villalva – released the first game in the Devwill series (simply titled ‘Devwill’) on Steam in 2017 and it is currently priced at only a couple of pounds (£1.69, to be exact) it could be worth for people interested in this sequel to wait for a digital release as the physical copy is currently full price and probably one for Sega enthusiasts only. 

🎮 Britt's SEGA Mega Drive Day | “Would you mind if we spent all day playing Mega Drive games?” 🎮 #RetroGaming #SEGA #MegaDrive #Genesis

My brother came around last weekend and I had received a text from him the previous evening that simply asked:

“Would you mind if we spent all day playing Mega Drive games?”

My answer was in the affirmative, natch.