The Gadget Helpline’s GAMING WEEKLY is here!
Each week our dedicated team of gamers will gather some of the top gaming news and announcements from the last seven days and deliver them here to you, our fellow players!
However..
This week we’re doing things a bit differently with a throwback a vintage Gadget Helpline feature – the RETRO REPLAY! This is because a number of the weekly gaming highlights are based on revivals of our childhood favourites with of a new 2D side-scrolling Sonic the Hedgehog game and Street Fighter 2 hitting the Nintendo Virtual Console and SEGA will take on Nintendo’s Mini NES by re-igniting a classic console war with it’s own Mini Mega Drive!
The Hedgehog Returns to his 2D Roots in Sonic Mania!
SEGA has announced the long-awaited genetic successor to the original Sonic the Hedgehog games with a new 2D retro style side-scroller called Sonic Mania which will arrive in early 2017!
A teaser trailer was released showing a classic style Sonic game which looks and sounds like it’s been lifted straight out of the early 90s. Classic Zones are set to make a comeback – familiar, but with new twists added to test veteran gamers, and new zones and special stages are to be included as well when the game comes out on PS4, Xbox One and Windows PC.
Players will get to choose from Sonic, Tails and Knuckles as playable characters each with their own signature characteristics and attacks and a new move called the Drop Dash is also thrown in – this allowing Sonic to hit the ground rolling after landing a jump.
Licensed and published by SEGA and developed by PagodaWest Games and Headcannon, Sonic Mania looks like a beautiful tribute to the first three Sonic games on 16-bit Mega Drive / Genesis and the SEGA jingle and music in the trailer alone gives us waves of nostalgia 25 years after the blue mascot first rolled out. Check out the clip below to see and feel exactly what we mean.
– Jay.
Street Fighter II Kicks Off on 3DS Virtual Console
As part of this month’s Nintendo e-shop deals a trio of Capcom’s classic Street Fighter games have been added to the Virtual Console for the handheld 3DS at a discounted price and there’s a buy two get a third free deal as well!
Included in the line-up of digital downloads is the game-changing Street Fighter II Turbo: Hyper Fighting which followed the same tournament format as the original Street Fighter II for SNES but redefined and turbo charged the fast-paced fighting action with speedy combos fired off a the touch of a button and, as well as the 8 classic fighters, the previously unplayable boss characters such as M Bison and Balrog became player controlled.
Completing the set of button bashing bargains is Street Fighter Alpha 2, another SNES title which brought Alpha Combos and Alpha Counters to the series and even more characters were unlocked as playable including Dan, Sakura and the fearsome Akuma.
Each game costs £7.19 individually and with the 2 for 3 deal you can really enjoy going back and enjoying some the Street Fighter series most enjoyable spin-offs or enjoy them again for the first time!
For the full list of this month’s Nintendo Wii U and 3DS offers starting from July 28th check out Nintendo e-shop site.
– Jay.
SEGA Licenses Mini Mega Drive / Genesis Console
We’re only just recovering from the overwhelming nostalgia that followed that announcement of Nintendo’s Mini NES console and now the company’s 90s rival SEGA has struck back, licensing a pair of tiny retro consoles of its own based on the popular Mega Drive platform!
Such games as Altered Beast, Alex the Kid, Columns, Golden Axe, Shinobi III, Sonic the Hedgehog and Mortal Kombat are stand outs, preloaded and ready to play out of the box on both platforms and if the full selection of 80 games and carts on the TV version still isn’t enough you can expand on the library via SD Card on the portable!
– Jay.
More NES-talgia on the Way With Playing With Power Companion Book
Not only will we be blessed with a new Mini NES console in the form of the Nintendo Entertainment System: NES Classic Edition but also there’s a lavish companion book on the way too, fitting titled – Playing With Power.
The book will be released to coincide with the Mini NES release on November 18th and will be published by Prima Games, best known for its strategy guides, and the book will come presented in a really retro hardcover slipcase which actually resembles a NES cartridge!
Playing With Power is already up for pre-order on Amazon ready for shipping in November and we highly recommend you pop it in the basket along with your new Mini NES!
– Jay.
What’s Old is New
It does seem that the current theme of the gaming industry is revival. You need only look at the upcoming surge of Virtual Reality into the mainstream marketplace – a throw away fad of the early nineties is getting a second chance and is quickly becoming one of the hottest technologies in gaming. Not to mention Nintendo recently launched a Mini version of its NES console including 30 classic games which people have instantly fallen in love with all over again – and Pokémon is once again popular thanks to some little app on our smartphones!
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