Update 10/20 - Ordyne, Guerrilla War, Aselia the Eternal, Volgarr the Viking, Blast Wind

Ordyne is game I should love. It's essentially a Gradius clone from Namco, with a cartoony makeover. But it's not QUITE as cartoony as Parodius, so it's not quite as funny, and the power-up system, which is stolen from Fantasy Zone, just doesn't work well enough. It's still okay though, and the music is very good. Guerrilla War is an offshoot of the Ikari Warriors series (kind of), a Commando-type run and gun from SNK. It's mostly infamous for its Japanese release, entitled Guevara, where the player controlled Che Guevara and Fidel Castro. Seeing as how US-Cuba relations have never been the best, this scenario and title was changed for the overseas release, though nothing else was altered. Aselia the Eternal: At the End of This Earth is one of the few non-ero games from JAST USA, a combination of a visual novel and a strategy RPG.

Völgarr the Viking is one of the more recent retro-style indie games for the PC. After a successful Kickstarter campaign last year, this 16-bit arcade-inspired game was released on PCs last month. It's incredibly difficult, in no small part to the sparse checkpoints, but it's very deliberately and fairly designed. And Blast Wind is one of the last shooters from Technosoft, and like Hyper Duel and Shinrei Jusatsushi Taroumaru, this is another Saturn rarity. It also has some unique history - it appears to be a retooled version of an unreleased arcade game called Inazuma Saber.

The latest 500 Word Indies covers Cogs, an interesting puzzle game where you build awesome machines that mostly consist of cogwheels. iOS Shooters: Arena Shooters Pt. 2 & 3 covers ten games: A.C.E.: Air Combat Elite, Asteroid Dust, Retro Dust, AstroZapper, Aerolite, Cataica, roids79, SpaceFight, AstroRaider, and Realms. And the Best of PC Engine / Mega CD Music: Pt. 5 features music from Ys III, Galaxy Fraulein Yuna and Stellar Fire / Stellar 7: Draxon's Revenge.

<p><center><img src="http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/volgarr/volgarr-20a.jpg"></center></p> <p><a href="http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/ordyne/ordyne.htm">Ordyne</a> is game I should love. It's essentially a Gradius clone from Namco, with a cartoony makeover. But it's not QUITE as cartoony as Parodius, so it's not quite as funny, and the power-up system, which is stolen from Fantasy Zone, just doesn't work well enough. It's still okay though, and the music is very good. <a href="http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/guerrillawar/guerrillawar.htm">Guerrilla War</a> is an offshoot of the Ikari Warriors series (kind of), a Commando-type run and gun from SNK. It's mostly infamous for its Japanese release, entitled Guevara, where the player controlled Che Guevara and Fidel Castro. Seeing as how US-Cuba relations have never been the best, this scenario and title was changed for the overseas release, though nothing else was altered. <a href="http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/aselia/aselia.htm">Aselia the Eternal: At the End of This Earth</a> is one of the few non-ero games from JAST USA, a combination of a visual novel and a strategy RPG.</p> <p><a href="http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/volgarr/volgarr.htm">Völgarr the Viking</a> is one of the more recent retro-style indie games for the PC. After a successful Kickstarter campaign last year, this 16-bit arcade-inspired game was released on PCs last month. It's incredibly difficult, in no small part to the sparse checkpoints, but it's very deliberately and fairly designed. And <a href="http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/blastwind/blastwind.hm">Blast Wind</a> is one of the last shooters from Technosoft, and like <a href="http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/hyperduel/hyperduel.htm">Hyper Duel</a> and <a href="http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/taromaru/taromaru.htm">Shinrei Jusatsushi Taroumaru</a>, this is another Saturn rarity. It also has some unique history - it appears to be a retooled version of an unreleased arcade game called Inazuma Saber. </p> <p>The latest 500 Word Indies covers <a href="http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/500wordindies/500wordindies-05.htm#cogs">Cogs</a>, an interesting puzzle game where you build awesome machines that mostly consist of cogwheels. <a href="http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/iosshooters/iosshooters302.htm">iOS Shooters: Arena Shooters Pt. 2 & 3</a> covers ten games: A.C.E.: Air Combat Elite, Asteroid Dust, Retro Dust, AstroZapper, Aerolite, Cataica, roids79, SpaceFight, AstroRaider, and Realms. And the <a href="http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/pcemcdmusic/pcemcdmusic5.htm">Best of PC Engine / Mega CD Music: Pt. 5</a> features music from Ys III, Galaxy Fraulein Yuna and Stellar Fire / Stellar 7: Draxon's Revenge.</p>

Update 12/13 - Scramble Spirits, Primordia, Steel Gunner, Pig Newton, Samurai Shodown, Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs

Sorry for the delay, I was out of the country on vacation, but hopefully we'll be back to weekly(ish) updates after this one! Scramble Spirits is a fairly typical overhead shooter from Sega, mostly designed to show off the high resolution of the Sega System 24 board, which also ran Gain Ground and Bonanza Bros.. Pig Newton is another early Sega title from their cooperation with Gremlin, which has a rather clever name. Most of us know Namco's Time Crisis series as one of the most popular light gun shooter games ever made, but before that they put out Steel Gunner, using entirely 2D sprites, and looking rather impressive for the early 90s. And moving away from arcade games, Primordia is the most recent publication from Wadjet Eye Games, an indie point-and-click with incredible lore and atmosphere.

We've updated two older articles - first off, Samurai Shodown has been revamped. Since we initially published the article six years ago, there's been some progress with Hyper Neo Geo 64 emulation, though it's still not perfect, so at least we could grab some nicer (albeit glitchy) screenshots from those two games, which to this day remain sadly unported. We also included a review of the most recent game, Samurai Shodown Sen, which was ported to the Xbox 360, and sadly, isn't very good. There's also some new screenshots of the Nakoruru Dreamcast game, amongst other improvements. The Amnesia article, covering the creepy underground first person horror games, has also been updated to include a review of the latest entry, A Machine for Pigs.

And finally, in celebration of Columbus Day, please remember to check out our own adventure game work-in-progress Christopher Columbus is an Idiot, to see if you can figure out how to scam Queen Isabella of Spain, round up the three famous ships, and escape to the New World!

<p><center><img src="http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/primordia/primordia11.jpg"></center></p> <p>Sorry for the delay, I was out of the country on vacation, but hopefully we'll be back to weekly(ish) updates after this one! <a href="http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/scramblespirits/scramblespirits.htm">Scramble Spirits</a> is a fairly typical overhead shooter from Sega, mostly designed to show off the high resolution of the Sega System 24 board, which also ran <a href="http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/gainground/gainground.htm">Gain Ground</a> and <a href="http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/bonanzabros/bonanzabros.htm">Bonanza Bros.</a>. <a href="http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/pignewton/pignewton.htm">Pig Newton</a> is another early Sega title from their cooperation with Gremlin, which has a rather clever name. Most of us know Namco's Time Crisis series as one of the most popular light gun shooter games ever made, but before that they put out <a href="http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/steelgunner/steelgunner.htm">Steel Gunner</a>, using entirely 2D sprites, and looking rather impressive for the early 90s. And moving away from arcade games, <a href="http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/primordia/primordia.htm">Primordia</a> is the most recent publication from Wadjet Eye Games, an indie point-and-click with incredible lore and atmosphere.</p> <p>We've updated two older articles - first off, <a href="http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/samuraishodown/samuraishodown.htm">Samurai Shodown</a> has been revamped. Since we initially published the article six years ago, there's been some progress with Hyper Neo Geo 64 emulation, though it's still not perfect, so at least we could grab some nicer (albeit glitchy) screenshots from those two games, which to this day remain sadly unported. We also included a review of the most recent game, Samurai Shodown Sen, which was ported to the Xbox 360, and sadly, isn't very good. There's also some new screenshots of the Nakoruru Dreamcast game, amongst other improvements. The <a href="http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/amnesia/amnesia.htm">Amnesia</a> article, covering the creepy underground first person horror games, has also been updated to include a review of the latest entry, A Machine for Pigs.</p> <p>And finally, in celebration of Columbus Day, please remember to check out our own adventure game work-in-progress <a href="http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/columbus/columbus.htm">Christopher Columbus is an Idiot</a>, to see if you can figure out how to scam Queen Isabella of Spain, round up the three famous ships, and escape to the New World!</p>