On Thursday, publisher Curve Games released Chenso Club, a new 2-D, rouguelike brawler for Nintendo Switch, PS4, Xbone and Steam PC. Developed by Swedish studio Pixadome, Chenso Club is inspired by the side-scrolling arcade brawlers of yesteryear. Up to four players can choose from a team of super-powered ladies and defend humanity from a horde of invading aliens. Here’s the
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Because “Beobattle” didn’t have the same ring to it. Independent comic book creator Vic King recently launched a crowdfunding campaign for Beowar, a 60-page, magazine-sized comic book. Written and illustrated by King (ASYL), Beowar is a fantasy adventure story featuring black and white artwork and a protagonist described as “purveyor of ale and tail.” Here’s the official pitch taken from
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Welcome back to 80s August, The Splintering’s month-long celebration of all things octogenarian… from a 20th century point of view. The SEGA Genesis is largely remembered as a 90s gaming powerhouse, but it was actually released in 1989. That makes a handful of the console’s early games babies of the 80s. Truxton (aka 達人 or Tatsujin in Japan… which means something like “expert”) is one
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Like Paper Mario – but everyone is dead. Publisher Digerati recently announced that the new “paper RPG” The Outbound Ghost will be released on 21 September for Steam and other PC storefronts for $19.99. A digital console release for Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbone, and SeXbox is expected later in 2022. Developed by Conradical Games, The Outbound Ghost is described
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Microids recently pulled back the curtain on New Joe & Mac: Caveman Ninja by releasing the very first gameplay trailer. Originally developed by Data East, New Joe & Mac is a remastered version of the 1991 arcade game. This revamped release will include updated visuals, additional modes, and an extended story mode. Here’s the official breakdown of New Joe &
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Welcome back to 80s August, The Splintering’s month-long celebration of the greatest decade since the creation of Italian sausage. It’s a truly great thing that the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: the Cowabunga Collection is now available from Konami, perhaps for me more so than anyone else on earth. It’s like a pang of guilt has been lifted from my shoulders after a decade of
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Publisher LocaGames recently announced that the genre-blending Future Mirror will be localized into English and released on Steam PC this November. Released in Japanese earlier this year, Future Mirror (Japanese title Mirai Kagami) was developed by indie developer Satsuki no Yume (皐月の夢). The game features elements of adventure, fantasy, and mystery, and boasts engaging characters, a gripping storyline, and “comical
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Coffin Comics recently launched a crowdfunding campaign for Lady Death: Diabolical Harvest, the 16th chapter of the Lady Death saga since the character’s resurrection in 2015. Like many of the previous Lady Death projects before it, the project has scared up quite a bit of cash, having raised more than $400 thousand at the time of this writing. Diabolical Harvest
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Welcome back to 80s August, The Splintering’s month-long celebration of the greatest decade since the martians built the pyramids. Today, we’re going to look at Capcom’s very first game, a 2D, vertically scrolling, space shooter titled Vulgus released in 1984. Humanity is under attack! Maybe. Who knows? I wasn’t able to discern any plot from my time with Vulgus, but that was pretty much par for
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“Greetings travelers…” A-hem! Nope, not today. Today – well, on Thursday, anyway – Blood Realm creator Robert Geronimo (!) launched a crowdfunding campaign for Little Maia Omnibus, a collected edition of three previously-released children’s stories. Written and illustrated by Geronimo and featuring colors by Jose Exposito, the Little Maia series is known for having vibrant, sequential artwork and no text.
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Publisher Hamster has announced that Super Volleyball is now available on Nintendo Switch and PS4 as part of the digital Arcade Archives series. Originally released in arcades by Video Systems in 1989, Super Volleyball is a multiplayer sports game that does not feature any fetching beach babes in bikinis. Instead, it recreates the indoor volleyball experience with an approachable arcade
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Welcome back to 80s August, The Splintering’s month-long celebration of the greatest decade since fry bread. Before Ronald McDonald starred in his own video games and the Geico Cavemen were given their own ill-fated television show, the marketing minds at CalRab (the California Raisin Advisory Board) decided to expand the presence of their own claymation mascots in pop culture. As
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RedDeer.Games recently announced that their retro-inspired adventure game UnderDungeon is coming to Nintendo Switch, Xbox and Steam PC sometime in 2022. Aside from the minimalist visual aesthetics, RedDeer also promises that one of the main selling points of UnderDungeon is its “good humor.” Pfeh! We’ll be the judge of that, thanks! Here’s the official breakdown of UnderDungeon from RedDeer.Games, followed
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Welcome back to 80s August, The Splintering’s month-long celebration of the greatest decade since the unification of Japan under the Tokugawa shogunate! Today, we’re going to look at Thunder Cross, an a side-scrolling shoot ’em up (or simply “shooter,” as we called them back then) released in arcades by Konami in 1988. It’s important to note up front that I am looking specifically at the US
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Welcome back to 80s August, The Splintering’s month-long celebration of the greatest decade since Gutenberg invented the printing press! And welcome back to Tale of the Toy, the feature where we tell stories about some of our most cherished childhood toys and action figures. Today, we’re telling the tale of how we originally acquired the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT)
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Atari has hit the ground running this year with revivals of classic franchises. The latest game to get the modern treatment is Yars: Recharged, the fourth game released under their “Recharged” banner. Co-developed by Adamvision Studios and SneakyBox, Yars: Recharged is a re-imagining of the great 1982 Atari 2600 game Yars’ Revenge by legendary creator Howard Scott Warshaw. This new
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Welcome back to 80s August, The Splintering’s month-long celebration of the greatest decade since the invention of the hurdy-gurdy. Today we’re going to take a look at Cyborg Hunter, one of the very few third party (sort of) games released for the SEGA Master System. Cyborg Season? Developed by SEGA and published in the United States by Activision in 1988, Cyborg Hunter
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ININ Games recently announced that 2-D brawler Slaps and Beans 2 will be coming to consoles sometime in 2023. Developed by Buddy Productions and Trinity Team, Slaps and Beans 2 is the sequel to the irreverent first game starring Bud Spencer and Terence Hill. The game was successfully crowdfunded in 2021, and will feature an improved combat system and the
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Welcome to the dark, shadowy underbelly of London Gothic,* where mysteries and magic abound. Here, hidden in the shadows, there is a secret battle being fought between an underground organization known as the Tuttori and… erm, the bad guys who worship demons. To be fair, they’re called the brotherhood of Sinistre, but you’d only know that if you read the back
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Welcome back to 80s August, The Splintering’s month-long celebration of the greatest decade since bacon. Today, we’re going to take a look at The 3-D Battles of Worldrunner (aka 3-D Worldrunner), a game published by Acclaim for the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1987. Developed by Square before they started making good Final Fantasy games, then bad ones, then good ones
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ININ Games recently announced that 2D beat ‘em up Jitsu Squad is scheduled to release later this year for Nintendo Switch, PS4, and PS5 (in both digital and physical format). A digital-only release for Xbox is planned for a later date. Developed by Tanuki Creative Studio, Jitsu Squad is a fast-paced brawler featuring unique character designs, colorful graphics, and both
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Behold, the power of mElOnS! Publisher XSEED Games recently released more details for its upcoming multiplatform title, Melon Journey: Bittersweet Memories. Developed by independent studio Froach Club, Melon Journey: Bittersweet Memories is a retro-inspired adventure featuring a visual aesthetic similar to a 1980s monochrome computer screen or a Nintendo Game Boy. The world of Melon Journey is populated by fruity
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Over the weekend, independent comic book creator and Dojo Kun Comics founder Brian Menard launched a crowdfunding campaign for Projectile Reptile, an all-new sci-fi fantasy book.* Written by Menard and featuring illustrations by Caius Schereiner and colors by Chris Leithwood, Projectile Reptile promises to deliver “gunslingers, druidic magic, super-heroes & artifacts.” Here’s the official pitch taken from the Projectile Reptile
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On the latest installment of Sit DOWN Sunday (hosted on Patrick Thomas Parnell’s YouTube channel Riot Press Productions), The Splintering founder Blake Worrell got another chance to discuss recent comic book news with comic writers Arvid Nelson and Phill Diaz and artists Matt Bahr and Billy Bacsko joined in the party, too. This week, we discussed Patrick’s upcoming Last of the Seekers
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Independent comic book creator Ryan Drost recently completed a crowdfunding campaign for the second issue of Stealth Hammer, a sci-fi fantasy superhero book starring a spunky teenage heroine. We were fortunate enough to get a chance to discuss his Stealth Hammer campaigns, and his plans for the future of the series. As always, the answers below are represented as closely to “as
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Welcome back to 80s August, The Splintering’s month-long celebration of the greatest decade since the chicken laid the first egg… or, wait… Today we’re going to look at Chack’ N Pop, an arcade puzzle platformer released by Taito in 1983. A horde of monsters has stolen all of Mr. and Mrs. Pac-Man Chack’n’s hearts, so now they don’t love each other, or something
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Konichiwa! Welcome back to 80s August, The Splintering’s month-long celebration of the greatest decade since the development of opposable thumbs. Today, we’re going to take a look at Ninja JaJaMaru-kun, an arcade style 2D action game developed by Jaleco and released for the Nintendo Famicom in 1985. Ninja JaJaMaru-kun stars the young hero JaJaMaru who must come to the rescue of Princess Sakura, who has
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Welcome back to 80s August, The Splintering’s month-long celebration of the greatest decade since movable type. When I was in elementary school, one of my friends had a computer in his bedroom that we would stay up all night playing around on. He was the only person I knew with a computer, and coming from a household that only gamed
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ININ Games has once again set out to deliver the glories of gaming past to the huddled masses of modern gamers, this time choosing to do so with Turrican Anthology Volume 1 and Volume 2.* Stemming from the early 90s and consoles such as the Amiga, the SEGA Genesis and the Super Nintendo, the Turrican series hasn’t been as readily remembered
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Veteran comic book creator Andrew (Andy) Belanger recently launched a crowdfunding campaign for Mother Trucker: The Double Whammy, the first two issues of a six-issue series. Written and illustrated by “The Animal” Bob Anger and featuring colors by Tatto Caballero, Mother Trucker takes place in a sci-fi world inspired by 80s pro wrestling and monster truck rallies. Here’s the official
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