When Kazuhiko Nishi introduced the MSX computer line in 1983, he aimed to offer something different to other 8-bit micros on the market.

His vision of a standardised computer system allowed any licensed manufacturer to launch an MSX-compatible computer while also adding their own variations. Some offered optional disk drives, some boasted additional cartridge slots, while others were even more specialized, with unique features like LaserDisc compatibility.

Read the full article on timeextension.com

Imagine you wander into your local retro game store and happen across a system you've never heard of before, produced by a company whose name is equally unknown – and then you discover that there are 50 games available for this platform, covering genres such as action, adventure, puzzle, fighting, platforming, sports, RPG and shmup. Then imagine that every one of these 50 games is addictive and engrossing – that effectively comes close to explaining the joy of UFO 50.

Produced by a team of indie developers (led by Derek Yu) with hits like Spelunky, Downwell, Skorpulac and Catacomb Kids under their collective belts, UFO 50 is set in an alternate universe where the entirely fictional company UFO Soft has produced a series of titles for the imaginary FX family of 8-bit systems, which are roughly comparable to the NES in terms of graphics and sound.

Read the full article on timeextension.com

With its cute visuals, accessible gameplay and addictive gameplay loop, Rocket Panda is a new game for the venerable Sega Genesis / Mega Drive which has gained a fair bit of attention over the past few weeks.

Developer Space Pants Games raised a respectable $23,405 via crowdfunding to help its development, and publisher Mega Cat Studios has produced a physical version, which is available with a full-colour manual and packaging.

Read the full article on timeextension.com

If you've heard of the Flipper Zero before – a device described by its manufacturer as a "multi-tool for geeks” – then there's a good chance that's due to the various negative news stories which have risen up around this pocket-sized hacking system.

There have been various videos published online which show the Flipper Zero – a tiny white candybar device with a monochrome display – doing things like spamming people's phones with Bluetooth requests or opening electronically secured doors without a key fob. Add this footage to reports that the Flipper Zero can perform other devious acts – such as cloning car keys and credit cards – and it's easy to understand why this diminutive device has gotten a bad rap.

Read the full article on timeextension.com

Like a great many games on Playdate, the Densha de Go!-inspired Zero Zero: Perfect Stop makes excellent use of the console's unique crank. The objective is to take your train through Japan, keeping an eye on the speed limit, the comfort of your passengers and (of course) your expected time of arrival at the next station.

Use of the crank is essential when it comes to success; when it's in the middle (facing upwards, towards you), the train's engine is in neutral; turn it downwards, and you'll be able to shift through five different stages of acceleration. Turning it upwards applies five different stages of braking, and turning it around 180 degrees (so it faces away from you) applies the emergency brake – which is only to be used in extreme situations.

Read the full article on timeextension.com

The Sega Dreamcast is a memorable console for many reasons, but its Visual Memory Unit memory card feels like one of the most significant innovations, certainly for the time period in which it was released.

While Sony had popularised the idea of a portable means of saving game data with its PlayStation console (and would come up with its own VMU-style device in the shape of the PocketStation), Sega's approach sought to bridge the gap between a memory card and a fully-fledged handheld gaming system, offering players the ability to indulge in mini-games while they were away from their main system. Furthermore, when connected to the console, the VMU offered each player their own "personal" screen, on which unique information could be displayed.

Read the full article on timeextension.com

AYANEO clearly knows its audience when it comes to its 'Remake' range of hardware. A selection of products that take inspiration from past classics, it includes a Nintendo DS-style dual-screen gaming PC, a power bank shaped like a Super Nintendo and even a Game Boy-style handheld.

Today, however, we're taking a look at the Android-based AYANEO Pocket Micro, a member of the Remake line which aims to stir up nostalgic feelings about the Game Boy Micro, Nintendo's abortive attempt to create the most pocket-friendly handheld imaginable.

Read the full article on timeextension.com

Rushed to market in 1987, Haunted Castle is considered to be one of the worst entries in the Castlevania series – which makes it the perfect candidate for an upgraded and remastered version. That's precisely what M2 and Konami have done with Haunted Castle Revisited; included in the Castlevania Dominus Collection alongside the Japanese version of the original coin-op, this is a complete remake which retains the core structure but overhauls pretty much everything else to produce a classic slide of old-school 2D Castlevania brilliance.

If you've played Haunted Castle, then you'll be aware that it's a brutally unfair experience which seems designed purely to suck up your loose change. It's unbalanced and awkward to control, and the Simon Belmont sprite is so huge it makes avoiding damage almost impossible. In Haunted Castle Revisited, developer M2 has reconfigured the level design to make things fairer and has generally sanded down the rough edges to create an experience which, while challenging, never becomes overtly frustrating. For example, falling off the bottom of the screen in the original game would cost you a life, but in Haunted Castle Revisited, you simply lose some health and are placed back on the platform you fell from.

Read the full article on timeextension.com

While names such as Anbernic, PowKiddy and Retroid are pretty famous in the world of handheld emulation these days, there are other companies on the fringe of the market who are starting to make themselves known, one of which is MagicX.

The company's latest handheld, the XU Mini M, is a significant release because it was promoted as showcasing the Rockchip RK3562, a chipset which hasn't been seen in one of these devices so far. However, as we've since discovered, this isn't the case.

Read the full article on timeextension.com

The trusty Rockchip RK3326 has powered a wide range of emulation handhelds over the past few years, and generally offers decent performance if you're sticking to systems like the Game Boy Advance, SNES, PC Engine and Neo Geo.

It's slowly but surely being replaced by more capable chipsets, but PowKiddy has revived it for one more ride around the track in the V10, a curious little handheld which costs just $45.

Read the full article on timeextension.com

It's hard to imagine a video game series having quite the same impact as Tomb Raider did back in the '90s. Lara Croft's 1996 debut didn't just attract the attention of gamers the world over; it made her a legitimate cultural icon and (dare we say it?) sex symbol. Sequels, movies, merchandise and much more followed, and while Miss Croft remains a famous face today, her profile in the '90s was arguably much, much higher.

A lot of that has to do with the first three Tomb Raider outings, which have been remastered recently for modern-day platforms. We've also got this collection for the Evercade family of systems, and while it lacks some of the more advanced aspects of the remasters (what you have here is essentially straight emulation of the PS1 originals), it's still a very welcome addition to the Evercade's burgeoning library.

Read the full article on timeextension.com

If you're a long-time reader of Time Extension, then you'll know we're big fans of John Szczepaniak – after all, he's one of our regular freelancers and has contributed some fantastic features to the site.

However, outside of that little disclosure, it's worth noting that we've admired John's work for many years, and consider his "Untold History" series – where he visited Japan to interview some of the unsung heroes of the video game industry – to be a masterpiece of modern games journalism.

Read the full article on timeextension.com

When Anbernic released the RG Cube not so long ago, it turned a few heads. The system's square display suited old-school retro games, and its Sega-style rolling D-pad looked great. The LED lights under the analogue sticks also helped the device stand out from the crowd.

Sadly, issues with quality control – including screens with excessive light bleed – have curtained some people's interest in the device, but, as is so often the case when it comes to Anbernic, you don't have to wait very long for an alternative to arrive.

Read the full article on timeextension.com

Anyone who has dabbled in the world of emulation will know that it's something of a double-edged sword.

Yes, you can have entire libraries of games at your fingertips, but sometimes, too much choice can be a headache; how many times have you fired up an emulator only to spend more time scrolling through lists of ROMs than actually playing something?

Read the full article on timeextension.com

There's really never been a better time to be a retro gamer. Thanks to digital stores, micro consoles and DIY emulation boxes, we now have access to decades of gaming content – most of which can be played on our modern-day HD televisions without having to invest in expensive custom AV cables or dust off original hardware. The appetite for vintage gaming has arguably played a huge part in this deluge of content, which means that, should you feel the urge to sample the classics of yesteryear, then it's not hyperbole to say you're practically spoilt for choice.

Of course, not all of these options are created equal. The NES Classic, for example, is the perfect entry point for casual players – it offers excellent emulation and comes with an authentic controller; another big plus is that it's created by Nintendo itself so is legally watertight and buying it allows you to reward the copyright owner of the original games (before reading on, yes this piece will indeed be talking about the shady practice of using ROMs, so if that kind of discussion brings you out in hives, we'd advise you navigate away from this page immediately). However, critics will point out that, although the emulation is superb, it's still software-based and therefore cannot be considered totally accurate – you're also limited by the fact that the NES Classic cannot be (officially) updated with new games.

Read the full article on timeextension.com

When it comes to flash carts and ODEs, the Sega Saturn has had more than its fair share of options. In the past few years, we've seen the Fenir, MODE and Satiator all come to Sega's 32-bit console, offering fans the chance to give the console's ageing CD drive a rest and load up an entire library of games without having to invest thousands in original copies on the secondary market.

There's a new kid on the block which aims to shake up this sector of the market, however. While the aforementioned options can cost a pretty penny, the open-source SAROO cartridge (which, like the Satiator, blurs the line between a flash cart and an ODE, as it's technically both) is available for around $60 (that's roughly what we paid, but you'll find prices can vary quite wildly, depending on where you order it from). Despite the fact that it has come to market behind all of its rivals, it's actually a project which has a decade of development behind it – so is it the best ODE option for your Saturn?

Read the full article on timeextension.com

Epilogue is a Romanian company which has been in the headlines recently thanks to the fact that it's currently working on a device which will allow you to play your original SNES and Super Famicom carts directly from your computer – as well as preserve your save data and check if a cartridge is legitimate or not.

There's a lot of interest in this new product, which should be out soon, but we thought it would be the perfect time to check out Epilogue's previous release, the $50 GB Operator. This device has been available for a couple of years now, but the software behind it has been evolving at quite a steady rate, making now the ideal opportunity to give it a spin.

Read the full article on timeextension.com

We don't want to labour this point too much, but any games console with an optical drive inside it is effectively a ticking time bomb. Sure, the same could be said of all consumer hardware, but systems which use optical discs – CDs, DVDs, Blu-rays or even GD-ROMs – are likely to fail much faster than those that use cartridges or game cards.

As a result of this, we've seen a sharp rise in the number of Optical Drive Emulators (ODEs) on the market. These replace the optical drive with a clever piece of hardware which (as the name suggests) mimics the actions of the drive, usually loading ISO files from solid-state media, like a MicroSD card or USB thumb drive.

Read the full article on timeextension.com

Anbernic's emulation-based handheld range has done a good job of paying tribute to some of the most iconic portables of all time, with the likes of the Game Boy, Game Boy Micro and Game Boy Color all being referenced in the design language of its products.

However, the shift to a clamshell-style device based on the iconic GBA SP feels like an evolutionary step, and one which has made the $70 RG35XX SP one of the most eagerly awaited Anbernic products so far.

Read the full article on timeextension.com

Android-based gaming handhelds are becoming increasingly popular, and with good reason; Google's OS benefits from years of development, has a vast array of games and emulators available for it and is backed by some seriously impressive hardware, such as Qualcomm's Snapdragon G3X series of chips.

We've already been impressed with the likes of the AYN Odin 2 and AYANEO Pocket S, but we're circling back somewhat with the Razer Edge ($399.99), which launched at the start of last year.

Read the full article on timeextension.com

Devil Blade was originally developed by Shigatake – a Japanese illustrator who is best known today for their work with Vanillaware – using the PS1 shoot 'em up creation software Dezaemon Plus. Devil Blade Reboot (available on Steam now) is a complete remake of that game which enhances the visuals, audio and gameplay – and it's one of the most electrifying shmups we've played in recent years.

The core mechanics seem simple enough; you have two shot types (Narrow and Wide), which can be toggled between at will. Narrow is more powerful but causes your craft to move more slowly when used, while Wide is weaker but covers a wider area and doesn't result in a speed penalty.

Read the full article on timeextension.com

It's always interesting to see how design trends play out in the world of emulation-based handhelds, and it seems that the super-compact landscape format is in vogue at present; we've only just reviewed the Miyoo A30, and now we have the very similar Anbernic RG28XX.

Both of these devices are aiming for a high level of portability combined with a Game Boy Micro-style form factor – something that could be seen as both a blessing and a curse.

Read the full article on timeextension.com

Editor's note: We don't normally revisit reviews, but in the case of the Anbernic RG ARC, we felt compelled to. This is one of the best products Anbernic has ever produced, in our eyes – but after six months of use, we've run into an annoying issue with the D-pad and felt compelled to update this review (which was originally published back in November of 2023) to warn potential buyers.

The Sega Saturn may have sold less than ten million units worldwide compared to the PlayStation's 102.49 million, but if you were a fan of 2D gaming – especially one-on-one fighters – then it was the platform of choice back in the '90s.

Read the full article on timeextension.com

While it hasn't been quite as prolific as its rival Anbernic when it comes to releasing new emulation handhelds, Miyoo has nonetheless become one of the more popular companies working in this space, largely down to the Miyoo Mini and Miyoo Mini Plus – two devices which found a lot of favour with retro gaming fans.

While those products tried to emulate the Game Boy form factor, the new Miyoo A30 takes aim at the Game Boy Micro, offering a pocket-friendly design which packs in a surprising range of control options.

Read the full article on timeextension.com

AYANEO has previously made a name for itself in the realm of gaming PC hardware, from portable powerhouses like the Flip DS and Flip KB to tiny desktop devices, such as the AM01 and AM02 'retro' mini computers.

It has also dipped a toe into the world of Android-based gaming with the Pocket Air, a portable gaming system which uses the same case design as the company's Windows-powered 'Air' line.

Read the full article on timeextension.com