We’re a bit late, but better late than never.

As you heard, Metal Gear Solid producer Hideo Kojima is leaving his longtime employer after the release of Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain. One of the many causalities of this split was a planned Silent Hill game starring Norman Reedus and co-produced by Guillermo Del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth, Blade II, Pacific Rim). There had been rumors of issues brewing between Konami and Kojima, and youtuber Super Bunny Hop made the above video based on contact he had with an anonymous source following an inquiry he made into the issue. While I personally believe that this person has no reason to lie, he is an anonymous employee as noted in the video, so you can take what it says with a grain of salt. The video contains interesting stuff, such as a possible feud between Kojima and Konami CEO Kagamasa Kozuki, tales of employee mistreatment, gambling, and politics. However, there is more. Check out after the jump:

[Read the rest of this entry…]

Ever since 2010’s Lords of Shadow, the Castlevania franchise just hasn’t been the same. Seeing as how Konami is currently making some questionable moves, Koji Igarashi is hard at work creating a spiritual successor to the franchise. This game will adopt the ‘Metroidvania’, or as he calls it ‘Igavania’ style of gameplay that was made famous by titles such as Symphony of the Night, Portrait of Ruin, and Dawn of Sorrow. Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is a 2.5D action platformer in the vein of SOTN. Playing as a young girl named Miriam, you investigate the appearance of a mysterious castle in a world controlled by an organization known as the Alchemist Guild. The gameplay will feature a crafting system, upgradable weapons, and special abilities. The art style (right down to the logo as seen above) evokes memories of Konami’s classic franchise. Iga even recruited longtime Castlevania composer Michiru Yamane to do the soundtrack. Seeing as how Koji has gone indie, he’s turned to Kickstarter to secure funding for the title. While he was only asking for $500,000, He managed to raise over 3 times as much (as of the time of this article). With the funding, Iga has secured several stretch goals such as new characters, and voicework from David Hayter (that’s the former Solid Snake) to those who don’t know. The game will be developed by Inti Creates, who are currently working on Mighty No. 9, a spiritual successor to Mega Man. It’s clear that this title will be to Castlevania what Mighty No. 9 is to Mega Man. Perhaps next we should get someone to create a spiritual successor to Contra? Igarashi is hoping to release the game on Mac, PC, Linux, Xbox One, and PS4 in March of 2017.

Magazines have themselves become a retro medium, but what if someone could use that to their advantage in a dying industry? Double-win if you can tie it to retro video games. That’s exactly what we have with our guests this week! Vinnk and Sean welcome co-founders Mike Kennedy and Mark Kaminski of Retro Magazine to talk about their Year 2 Kickstarter, and their favorite retro games. They also stick around for Future Retro and Pile of Shame to share some really interesting games we (or at least some of us) haven’t played before!

Leave your own voicemail at 608-492-1923, or just share your thoughts in the show notes at FamicomDojo.TV:
http://famicomdojo.tv/podcast/110

[Read the rest of this entry…]

What are your favorite scary games? How about just ones that remind you of Halloween, or are about traditional “scary” critters, but are just too darn cute to be scary themselves? Or, depending on what actually scares you, extreme isolation? Sean and Vinnk invite Sindra and David back to the podcast for this special Halloween episode! And we may or may not discuss the P.T. Silent Hills demo… JUMP SCARE!!

Leave your own voicemail at 608-492-1923, or just share your thoughts in the show notes at FamicomDojo.TV:
http://famicomdojo.tv/podcast/109

[Read the rest of this entry…]

Admit it: If you played Nintendo as a kid, this was your ultimate fantasy. Whisked off to a world inspired by your favorite video games, teaming up with your favorite characters, and scoring with a hot princess. From 1989 until 1991, Nintendo, DIC Entertainment, and Saban made it a reality, although the execution was a bit off.
[Read the rest of this entry…]

This past memorial day, we remembered the brave men and women in our military who made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom. We as gamers also remember the many games that have been left on the cutting room floor, some due to budget issues, others due to executive meddling, and others due to censorship. This list of titles once again mentions 10 games that didn’t make it past previews and concept stages. Some titles we were better off without. However, other titles were potential classics that were killed off before their time. All games mentioned deserved their time in the spotlight, even if metacritic would have given them a rating of only 5.5.
[Read the rest of this entry…]

Castlevania: Circle of the Moon was the first Castlavania game for the Game Boy Advance. On a personal note, when I got my Game Boy Advance, COTM was the first game I picked up. The game adopts the exploration heavy formula of Castlevania Symphony of the Night. Despite a few nagging problems, and the fact that its storyline is considered non-canon, COTM is a classic entry in the long standing franchise.
[Read the rest of this entry…]

If La Mulana had been released on the SNES, it would have stood right up there with games like Castlevania and SUper Metroid as one of the greatest titles of the 16-bit generation. The game isn’t pretty shabby today either. La Mulana is an upgrade of an independently developed game. The original La Mulana (available for free on Tiggit) was done as a tribute to classic MSX games, and was developed by Takumi Naramura. A company known as Nigoro snatched up the game, upgraded it’s visuals to resemble 16-bit gaming systems, and ported it to WiiWare, while GR3 Project ported it to Microsoft Windows. Having a exploration-heavy style of gameplay similar to Metroid and later Castlevania titles, La Mulana puts players in the role of a young archaeologist who explores an ancient tomb. You’ll gather items and abilities to progress, and the game is non linear. The game has a high difficulty level and leaves it up to you to figure out how to progress. You’ll run into several bosses and characters throughout your journey. If you’re a fan of classic action games, you will want to add this to your collection. It’s available at Gog.com, where it’s discounted as part of the site’s winter sale.