JamieO

@Loki7T1 It is a shame that you’ve been having so much trouble with the sound, mate.

The only reason I brought up the control settings is because from my memory of playing Amiga games they were predominantly controlled with a joystick with one or two buttons. Sometimes you even had to hold upwards on the joystick to make a character jump in an Amiga game.

This means that to release the first two Amiga Turrican titles on PS4 the developers would have had to remap all of the controls for the extra buttons on the DualShock 4. I think they did a great job with the new control scheme, especially with separate buttons for jumping, the manoeuvrable laser, turning into the wheel, bombs and the line attack.

I just wondered if this would have created difficulties in the emulation process, so I was troubleshooting if changing the controls may have disrupted the emulation.

The only other thing I can think of is that in the UK when I first got into 16-bit consoles it was a big issue that our PAL TV system was only 50Hz, so our games ran slowly, and the music sounded slowed down. Therefore, we would import consoles from Japan and the US, or modify our UK consoles to play games faster in NTSC 60Hz, as they were originally created.

However, the first two Amiga Turrican games were made in Germany, and created to run at 50Hz for Europe, so this may have made it harder for the developers to recreate the Amiga's output for modern PS4 consoles. I don't know if this would affect the sound, though.

Like I said, I'm just speculating and troubleshooting ideas.

Fingers crossed there's a patch soon that fixes it for you, because if you're experiencing sound issues, it's likely someone else playing it must be, too.

In the meantime, enjoy Gunlord X!

@Loki7T1 Yes, I thought it was unusual that Turrican Flashback has no trophies at all for Super Turrican. In some respects, I think that many people will play a lot of Super Turrican most of all, because the SNES game is so colourful and action packed, with arcade-like gameplay.

I completely understand why you feel so frustrated with the sound issues in your game, like I said, it doesn't really help you to hear things have been fine for me.

In your comment you mentioned that you have the same settings as me, but that you changed the button mapping.

If it helps, I could boot up the first two Amiga Turrican games in Turrican Flashback on my standard PS4 now, and if you tell me the changes to your button set-up, I could change the controls in my game to see if it triggers anything my end to make the sound stutter.

@Robocod Cheers for the Eurogamer link about Rebellion acquiring The Bitmap Brothers' portfolio in November 2019, I like learning about retro news like this. It sounds like it's been just over a year since they made the acquisition, so fingers crossed that we get to learn about Rebellion releasing some classic Amiga Bitmap Brothers games soon. I looked up more about the March 2019 PS4 release of GODS Remastered on Robot Riot Games' website, and it says that it was made "In cooperation with Mike Montgomery, owner of The Bitmap Brothers, and Sound of Games." I wonder if Mike Montgomery is still involved now that Rebellion owns Bitmap Brothers' classic library, although the Eurogamer article has a quote saying that he passed the torch to Rebellion.

@Vorlon Great stuff, it's good to hear that you still have access to different Amiga computers, and all of your discs. I have a boxed A500 here, but it's not my original computer, I got it later on. Sadly, the way my retro collection is stored, I don't have easy access to my Amiga, I'm afraid.

@XinGViruS Memories of gaming with friends and family, like what you've shared with a cracking list of 16-bit computer games, is one the reasons why I enjoy retro gaming so much. It's not just about remembering playing the old games, it's remembering who you were playing the games with back in the day that makes the nostalgia so strong.

@Loki7T1 In preparation for this review I spent many hours of repeated play of both Turrican and Turrican II on my launch model, base PS4, but I didn't have any problems with the music. Since then I’ve downloaded the Version 1.01 update file, and played Turrican Flashback on my PS5 too, and the music sounds great on my standard PS4 and PS5. I predominantly played Trophy Challenge mode on default settings, with no wallpapers. This doesn't really help you, but I hope you can sort it out, because stuttering sound must be frustrating, especially as the music in both Amiga games is fantastic.

@Balosi and @hi_drnick I agree with you both, they should have found a way to include the C64 games in this collection, especially since the origins of the series come from Manfred Trenz's C64 game design.

Also, when Balosi refers to real time strategy games like Amiga Mega-Lo-Mania – which had a nice, detailed art style, as Sensible Software were great at drawing tiny sprite characters – it made me start to reminisce about Bullfrog's Syndicate too. I always thought that Syndicate looked much better on the Amiga than the SNES version.

@Robocod Like you mention, I remember a lot of Amiga era games were given a graphical overhaul and released on PS3, for example Speedball 2 Evolution was an October 2011 PS Mini release. I've just watched its PSP trailer and it refers to The Bitmap Brothers, Tower Studios and Vivid Games all being involved. I'm not up-to-date with who holds the rights to the Speedball franchise now, though.

As you know, GODS was a Bitmap Brothers Amiga game, and GODS Remastered was published in 2019 on PS4 by a team called Robot Riot Games.

Both of Team17's Alien Breed and Superfrog HD were released on PS3 in 2013, but as you’ve also suggested, there was a tendency during the PS3 generation for developers to update the graphics of Amiga games.

From memory, I played Robocod as the PSone Classic version on my PS3, I think

I agree completely, I really hope that Turrican Flashback encourages publishers to release Amiga games in their pure pixelated, original 2D form. The Amiga days were good times indeed!

@sanderson72 Yes, there’s a good possibility that you played the original 1990 Turrican first on the C64. Manfred Trenz developed it on C64 before the Amiga version, and I noticed while researching this review that C&VG's C64 review was published three months earlier than the coverage of the Amiga version, where Paul Rand scored C64 Turrican with 93% in the May 1990 Issue 102.

You make a really intriguing point about how you view the original PlayStation as a spiritual successor to the Amiga, as well. When I think about it, the Amiga had a long lifespan, so the C64's bedroom coders in the UK who joined development teams to create Amiga games may have sometimes skipped the 16-bit consoles, and went straight to PS1 development in 1995.

Just using Psygnosis as an example, they released numerous games in the first few years of the PS1, from WipEout to Destruction Derby, and G-Police.

Sony must have been conscious that the PlayStation was a newcomer in the console hardware business in 1995, so they actively encouraged smaller developers with welcoming ideas like the PS1's Net Yaroze software development kit, which was accessible to hobbyist coders. This would have made the PS1 attractive to Amiga developers, too.

@XinGViruS A few of the comments here remind me of just how much I used to play computer games by visiting family and friends. I got to play many more games than I would have normally on my cousin's Amiga, even after I sold mine and moved on to 16-bit consoles.

@LieutenantFatman Thanks for your response, and your thoughts on putting the time in to earn a Platinum trophy, even with challenging retro games. It's cool that the level 3-1 vertical shooter-esque section in the first Turrican still sticks in your mind, it shows how Manfred Trenz's game design was memorable through variety and by bringing an arcade flow to home computer games.

@BertMan666 I agree, a big highlight of playing these four Turrican games again is the music, I remember loving Super Turrican's soundtrack when I bought it on the Wii's Virtual Console too. Even when I wasn't playing the games, I’ve still been blasting Chris Huelsbeck's tunes while writing this review.

@Carl-G Like you mention with First Samurai, I hope that the Amiga is embraced more by publishers, so that more 16-bit computers games get released and preserved on modern consoles. Just as one example, I have such good memories of split-screen multiplayer Super Cars II, but I've not played that game in something like thirty years.

@Voltan The first time I saw DOOM was also on my cousin's PC. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing, I was astounded by the technical leap in its fast, smooth and action packed first-person perspective.

If anyone has any questions about Turrican Flashback, please let me know.

I’m interested in hearing anyone else's memories of gaming on home computers in the late 1980s and early 1990s, or if anyone bought an Amiga or Atari ST for retro gaming later on. As a kid I went from an Acorn Electron to a BBC Micro Model B, then to a C64 and Amiga 500, before I even bought my Mega Drive.

Therefore, I especially enjoyed revisiting the first two Turrican games for this review. As I was looking through Issue 105 of C&VG, which I mention above, I found an 80% scoring review of the Amiga's conversion of Midnight Resistance too, which was another 16-bit computer run-and-gun port that I have heaps of nostalgia towards.

Also, what is your preference in regards to earning trophies in retro collections? Do you like to prove your skills like in Turrican Flashback’s "cheaters don’t win trophies" way, or if you put the time in to complete an old game using save states for convenience, do you think the trophy should still unlock?

Cheers everyone.

@StonyKL Cool, I didn't expect to find myself reminiscing about my youth visiting Southport's arcades here, so this has turned into a pleasant surprise.

We used to skate from Southport train station to down by the pier where there was a helter skelter slide park, which also included a concrete snake run with banks for skating.

We'd stop at lots of the arcades on the way, so I can remember playing Konami's four-player Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles coin-op with my mates, and also Shadow Warriors — which was the arcade beat-'em-up version of Ninja Gaiden that I loved. I know that it was 1988 and 1989, because the arcades were flourishing enough for them to regularly make new machines available.

I also have fond memories of the arcades at New Brighton, good times indeed!

Cheers, and all the best to you for 2021, too.

@B_Lindz Yes, mate, you're correct in your observation. I wasn't sure if I should mention it here, but it's very fresh and recent, and at the forefront of my thoughts.

To be honest, I thought that mentioning it felt relevant in regards to 2020 being a tough year, because I think many people can relate to going through a hard time.

At least a New Year is coming for fresh starts, so I hope that 2021 is a good year for everyone.

Thanks for your kind comment, and all the best to you.

@carlos82 I agree, PS4 Resident Evil 2 set the standard for developers going above and beyond at establishing the atmosphere of a 32-bit game — in this case with the Raccoon Police Department setting, with surrounding cells, labs and hidey-holes — but with presentation and gameplay that still feels relevant today.

I like how you describe them as "recreations" of PS1 classics, because I think that Capcom's team must have genuinely loved their source material in creating that game. Just imagine having a crystal ball in 1998 and seeing just how much video games would advance 21 years later.

Just to elaborate on a few points in my Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2 section, I feel that this year, and the PS4 generation in general, has been particularly great for remakes that expand upon PS1 games.

I think that publishers like Activision and Capcom, and developers who balance the feel of a retro game with modern additions to the gameplay, should be commended for recreating the nostalgia of a 32-bit classic, but freshened up for modern standards.

Also, when I refer to "groms" above, I'm affectionately harking back to my days as a skate grommet in the late 1980s. I tried to rekindle how we embraced talking with our own slang and terms as skaters, through being influenced by skate videos like Public Domain, Shackle Me Not, and Streets on Fire.

I was still skating when the first PS1 Tony Hawk's Pro Skater was released, so I saw its huge influence first hand, and how it encouraged more people to skate. The thing is, skating wasn't cool in the north of England in the late 1980s, for example we'd get legged through Birkenhead and jumped on the train to Southport for having skateboards.

Yet, the THPS PS1 games helped change people's attitudes towards skateboarding, to the point that our gobbledygook language with using words like "sick" has become pretty common to hear nowadays from young people. I love how these remakes bring back so many good memories.

@LieutenantFatman Cheers for the recommendation, I remember when NG:DEV.TEAM released Gunlord on the Neo Geo and Dreamcast years ago — I can't believe that it was as far back as 2012, actually — so it's cool news that Gunlord X has arrived on PS4. I love the Euro-style design that Turrican brought to the run-and-gun sub-genre. I'm also a big fan of Super Turrican on the SNES. Chris Huelsbeck's music was so amazing, so it was a real treat to receive the Turrican CD with Chris Huelsbeck's remixes, included with Issue 200 of Retro Gamer magazine. Thanks for the heads-up!

@Robocod Spot-on, a Ghosts 'n Goblins/ Ghouls 'n Ghosts collection by Capcom that took into account both the PSP, as well as the PS2's Maximo games would be awesome. It's good to hear from another fan of the computer ports of Midnight Resistance, too.

@playstation1995 Here you go, mate, this is a link to Nintendo Life's feature, Hardware Review: SNK Neo Geo Mini International Edition. The Neo Geo Mini is shaped like a miniature arcade cabinet, complete with its own small screen, but it can also be connected to a TV with a HDMI cable. It has a quality list of 40 Neo Geo games.

@playstation1995 Yep, I have both the Capcom Beat 'Em Up Bundle, and the Castlevania Anniversary Collection on PS4, and as you mention, they are both really great retro compilations. Good call about hoping for a disc collection of Neo Geo games, I would buy that on day one. I'd be chuffed even if they simply released the PS2 version of SNK Arcade Classics Vol. 1 on PS4, but I think that SNK views the Neo Geo Mini as a way to make more money than a collection, I'm afraid. You never know, though!

@SoulChimera Great stuff, I'm really pleased that my review inspired you to check out Blazing Chrome. I was a little apprehensive that the readers may be less interested in a Mini Review of a five month old release, but a comment like this one could open up the possibility of covering more Mini Reviews of slightly older indie and retro releases on PS4.

@LieutenantFatman It's great to hear from another gamer who loved Midnight Resistance, mate. My nostalgia levels are sky high for that game after playing Special FX's quality two-player conversion on the Amiga, and then a closer graphical version, but single-player only port on the Mega Drive. I was buzzing when I got to play the novel and clever aiming system with the rotating joysticks on the coin-op version when I went to Play Blackpool years ago.

@playstation1995 Sending a shout-out to you, because you reminded me in the comments of my Top 5 PS4 Games of 2019 to check out the Contra Anniversary Collection, so I bought it today at £7.99 with 50% off in the UK PS Store's current January sale.

@Ralizah I agree, the visual effects in Blazing Chrome feel like the cutting edge of the late 16-bit era, or even like the potential of a 2D sprite run-and-gun game during the 32-bit era, for example if 3D wasn't so prevalent in run-and-gun games like Contra: Legacy of War, and C: The Contra Adventure.

Thanks to Push Square for publishing this review as it links to my Top 5 PS4 Games of 2019 list. When Blazing Chrome released in July 2019 it was a couple of months before the disappointing Contra: Rogue Corps came out, and people responded that Blazing Chrome feels like the true spiritual continuation of the Contra series.

I'm a fan of side-scrolling run-and-gun games – I mention Midnight Resistance above, and the Amiga port cemented my appreciation of the subgenre in 1990 – so I absolutely love Blazing Chrome. The music by Dominic Ninmark and Tiago Santos is brilliant, and the vocal CD track 'The Danger' tune by Kristine is fun for the end credits. Take Mission 5's Hidden Outpost as one example, which I mention has an energetic tune, but once you ditch the bike the music makes a fantastic change to icy chimes and chugging guitar riffs in the Snow Base.

Mission 5 starts with a frantic snow hover bike opening, as you jump spikes like the horse and Jet Ski sections in Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master. The detail in the snowy backgrounds reminds me of the graphics in Irem games like GunForce II, a style that Nazca developed further with Metal Slug. The mission ends with a snaking, teeth chattering machine diving out of a toxic pool, as the level design shows how set pieces often make a great run-and-gun game.

If anyone has any Blazing Chrome questions, please let me know.

@carlos82 and @Gmork___ I went to a party on New Year’s Eve at my cousin's house, and he was also recommending that I should buy The Messenger. From what I've heard I would really love the visual design, as it shifts between 8-bit and 16-bit styles. I'll definitely keep The Messenger in mind.

@Kienda Just as a follow up, it's worth mentioning that I buy many of my digital retro games in sales. For example, if you search 'Anniversary Collection' on the PS Store at the moment you can find Konami's Arcade Classics, and Castlevania, or Contra collections all on sale. The same 'Anniversary Collection' search will bring up Street Fighter 30th Anniversary, and SNK 40th Anniversary collections, all of which are better than half price in the PS Store's current January sale.

As a general response to the comments here, I also think it's cool how many people are saying that they like the diversity in the picks of our Top 5 games of 2019. There's been lots of variety in Push Square's Games of 2019 individual writers' lists, and it's spot-on that the readers are open to the team having varied tastes in gaming. It's heartening to receive a positive response, because it makes it possible for us choose more obscure and unexpected indie and retro games. Thanks again, everyone!

@Kienda I don't actually have an arcade stick set up on my PS4, so I may not be the best person to make recommendations, but one possibility would be to focus on buying retro coin-ops on the PS4, because by their very nature they were built to be played with an arcade stick.

I particularly like retro pixel art games following on from the style of the 16-bit era, and if you have similar taste, plus you enjoy one-on-one fighting games, then Neo Geo games are a great pick. The ACA NeoGeo games from Hamster Corporation cost £5.79 each, and include classic one-on-one fighters like The King of Fighters '98. If you search for 'ACA NeoGeo' on the PlayStation Store there are also shoot-‘em-ups (Blazing Star, Pulstar, and Last Resort), side-scrolling beat-'em-ups (Sengoku 3), and top-down run-and-gun games (Shock Troopers, or Shock Troopers 2nd Squad).

SNK Playmore has also released Neo Geo games separately to Hamster, so sticking with one-on-one fighters you can find the excellent Garou: Mark of the Wolves for £11.99. It's not that well publicised on the PS Store, but SNK Playmore also has Neo Geo compilations on PS4 that were originally released on PS2.

Buying collections of games is a cheaper way to get more retro games in a bundle to use with your new stick, so a few SNK Playmore examples are Art of Fighting Anthology (£11.99), Fatal Fury Battle Archives Vol.2 (£11.99), and Fu'un Super Combo (£11.99 for two less well known SNK fighting games, Savage Reign and Kizuna Encounter). As for side-scrolling run-and-gun games the PS2 compilation version of Metal Slug Anthology is an easy way to get lots of Metal Slug games in one purchase of £15.99.

Aside from the Neo Geo, if you do a separate search of 'Arcade Archives' on PlayStation Store, there's lots of choice of retro coin-op games from beat-'em-ups like Double Dragon to Vigilante, and recent releases like Irem's graphically detailed shoot-'em-up In The Hunt. Again they cost £5.79 each.

If you stick with coin-op collections, I highly recommend the Capcom Beat ‘Em Up Bundle for seven quality arcade Capcom brawler games, with online co-op available. If you like older arcade shoot-'em-ups, Konami’s Arcade Classics Anniversary Collection has eight games, and most are shooters, including Gradius, Gradius II, Salamander, and TwinBee.

It's worth checking each game that I’ve mentioned to see if it includes online multiplayer, or if they only allow for local multiplayer games. Take into account that I play most of my retro games through local multiplayer with friends, so online multiplayer is not hugely important to my retro purchases.

I hope this gives you a few ideas of retro coin-op games for your new arcade stick. Cheers!

@Kidfried Thank you kindly, all the best to you!

@playstation1995 Thanks lots for you kind comment, I always appreciate the positivity you bring to the comments section of Push Square's retro articles and reviews.

I still need to buy the Contra Anniversary Collection. I held back from getting it, because I already own many of the games in various releases on other systems, plus I wanted to wait to play Contra: Hard Corps until my girlfriend bought me a Mega Drive Mini for Christmas. I'll still pick up the collection at some point, though, especially for the convenience of having so many classic Contra games in one place on PS4.

Cheers again, and have a fantastic 2020, mate!

Big cheers to Push Square and Nintendo Life, as always, for giving me the opportunity to write about retro games. It's also cool to me that my Top 5 2019 list was published on New Year's Day.

All of my picks take me back to fond memories of specific retro games, so nostalgia is heavily involved in my choices, but each game has been boosted by a PS4 lick of paint.

I hope that 2020 is an awesome year for everyone, and it's going to be especially exciting for Push Square with the upcoming release of the PS5.
Wishing you all a very Happy New Year!

@Powerpellet Good question! The Ninja Saviors reminds me a bit of Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled, because it feels like a cross between a remaster and a remake.

For example, the main tracks, kart racers and Adventure mode were the same, but CTR Nitro-Fueled added new tracks and characters, had a harder difficulty level, and changed the feel of driving karts slightly, so it ended up being more than just a remaster of the PSone engine with upgraded graphics.

Similarly, all of the eight stages, enemies and the three main characters from the SNES' Ninja Warriors Again are exactly the same in the PS4's Ninja Saviors. Therefore, I could see how people could view Ninja Saviors as being a graphical overhaul as a remaster, and I would agree to a point.

However, the game feels a bit smoother and more responsive, has new two-player co-op, the difficulty level feels different, and the PS4's 16:9 widescreen makes the fighting area wider to view – so I would imagine that it's not built purely on the same engine or code as the SNES game. Also, the inclusion of the two extra characters with brand-new controls and move sets expands it beyond a remaster to becoming a remake in my eyes.

@playstation1995 Cheers, and good call mate, because Bad Dudes Vs. Dragon Ninja has a similar perspective to the Ninja Warriors games, since the scrolling play areas are confined to a single plane, as opposed to how you could walk deeper into the backgrounds in games like Double Dragon. It also makes me laugh how President Ronnie said to the Bad Dudes, "Let’s go for a burger" at the end of that game. I miss the heyday of the arcades, too.

@Dan_ozzzy189 The Ninja Saviors is £15.99 on the UK's PS Store, while River City Girls is nine pounds more at £24.99. However, I hear what you're saying, especially when a compilation on PS4 like the Capcom Beat 'Em Up Bundle — which I mentioned in my previous post — includes seven games for £15.99. A lot of care has gone into Tengo Project's remake of The Ninja Warriors Again, though, and it makes an expensive, sought-after SNES game much easier to experience.

If anyone has any questions, please let me know. I'm happy talk about PS4 The Ninja Saviors: Return of the Warriors, but I also own the Super Famicom version of The Ninja Warriors Again from 1994, as well as the 1987 Arcade Archives The Ninja Warriors on PS4, so I can answer questions about those retro games, too.

In regards to my point about a difficulty spike in Ninja Saviors when you face the final boss Banglar at the end of stage eight, this hurdle is mostly dependent upon how good you are at grabbing enemies and throwing them upwards. Ninja Saviors is a skill based side-scrolling beat-'em-up, and it benefits from its emphasis on mastering each character's controls, but in general beating the single-player mode on Normal difficulty is trouble-free – I personally found it easier than the Super Famicom game.

Once you beat Normal mode you unlock Hard difficulty, which will test your skills more, and there's variety between mastering the five characters' different moves. Also, while there is no Platinum trophy, I noticed that a number of the trophies are based around clearing the game without using continues, or by beating it in faster times.

I enjoy short games anyway, and the game length of one hour is a throwback to the 16-bit generation, but there's plenty of replay value if you enjoy gameplay that builds upon the Kung-Fu Master-style, with moves more similar to the 1990s Capcom Beat 'Em Up Bundle-type brawling games.

@deepspace5d Thanks for your response after I mentioned in this WAYP about the Death By Disco trophy in PS4 Ratchet & Clank, especially when you advised that "if you start a third game as new game++, then your Death by Disco progress will reset, so get it done within two runs."

I have just booted my old Ratchet & Clank save from 2016, and it is part way through a second New Game Plus playthrough of Challenge Mode.

My original plan was to take my time and perhaps move on to a third playthrough later on, so your guidance is very much appreciated, because I need to focus on the Death By Disco trophy during my second run now.

I can't actually remember how much I used the Groovitron when I originally beat the game in 2016, so I'm just going to have every enemy I meet boogieing with the Groovibomb this time around, and I'll backtrack to find missed enemies on other planets if necessary.

Cheers again, you have actually saved me potentially wasting time on this trophy, particularly if I had kept to my original plan of having more than two runs.

Refused's third main studio release was a landmark album called The Shape of Punk to Come on Burning Heart and Epitaph Records, which had a big impact in 1998.

There is a 2003 list online, re-published by Discogs, where Kerrang! has The Shape Of Punk To Come in 13th place amongst The 50 Most Influential Albums of All Time – just above Operation Ivy's album, Energy, as a little tidbit for any punk fans.

Refused didn't record any more albums for 17 years, so there was a lot of expectation when Freedom released as their fourth studio album on Epitaph in 2015.

I don't think they could ever live up to this hype, but I still enjoyed Freedom as a hard and heavy rock record, so I put it in 10th place on the alternative rock side of my Best 2015 Punk and Alternative Rock Albums Push Square forum topic, although I wouldn't necessarily categorise Refused as a hardcore band with this album.

I'm really excited to read this news that Refused will be contributing original music for Cyberpunk 2077. I think that their riff heavy, driven sound will be a great fit for Cyberpunk, and it is cool that a band from Umeå in Sweden is working with Poland's CD Projekt Red, because the two countries are close enough to cross with a six hour ferry.

@quinnyboy58 It's cool that you’re experiencing a remaster of this classic PSone game, especially since you grew up on Nintendo, and you only got your first PlayStation console recently. It's also really nice to hear that your wife is playing the new version after loving the original when she was young. I mentioned this in the comments for my PSone Crash Team Racing review, because I have a lovely memory of my girlfriend buying me the original PlayStation game as one of her first main gifts to me when we met in 1999. As we discussed earlier, I've also enjoyed the inclusion of 2003 GCN/PS2 tracks from Crash Nitro Kart, for example the visuals in Out of Time and Barin Ruins look beautiful in Nitro-Fueled, and Electron Avenue's graphics are similar to a neon F-Zero track.

@Onion Thanks for reminding me about Vicarious Visions' work on the N.Sane Trilogy. I should have remembered that there was even a Eurogamer news article with the heading "Dev confirms the Crash Bandicoot remaster is harder than the original: No, you weren't imagining it." Good point, perhaps Activision are requesting that developers add an extra challenge in their PSone remasters.

@Ristar24 Team Sonic Racing is still on my radar, but I prioritised buying Nitro-Fueled, because I have so much nostalgia for the PSone original game. I've been a big fan of Sumo Digital's racing games since OutRun 2006: Coast 2 Coast on PS2. I remember going to an interesting developer talk with Sumo Digital at Play Expo Blackpool a few years ago, plus I loved Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed on PS3, Vita and Wii U. I've already heard some Team Sonic Racing music, and you're right the tunes are brilliant.

@Porco and @AdamNovice – I played PSone Crash Team Racing for weeks for my recent review, and I felt like I was a skilled driver, who could beat the original eight racer GP Arcade four cups pretty much every time.

I've been playing the same four Local Arcade 'Cup Race' GP mode the last few hours on PS4 Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled, and I find the medium setting is noticeably more ruthless than the hard setting in the original.

It's faster for a start, but the AI is so aggressive, I've taken loads more cheap shots in one night on PS4, compared to weeks of play on PSone. I'm actually more frustrated from the medium setting of the Local Arcade 'Cup Race' on PS4, considering that I rarely felt angry playing hard difficulty in the PSone game.

My idea of a remaster is that it should keep the original gameplay intact, but add fancy new graphics on top of the original mechanics and controls, so surely by changing the difficulty balance it is not as authentic a remaster.

I'm still having tons of fun, by the way, but I prefer the PSone game's Arcade cup's difficulty curve.

@Rash We're actually agreeing with each other on most of your points, although the only part I’ve disagreed with is where you queried that, “A game that has been improved, deserves lowers scores”, and where @Stocksy commented about “how a website can post a review for the original and give it a 9 and then give a better in every way game a 7”.

In over ten years of reviewing retro games, I’ve scored each title in relation to other games from a similar genre, but I always score them in comparison to games from the exact same era. Therefore, with a PSone game scoring 9/10, I will decide the score in direct comparison to other 32-bit games, but this doesn’t guarantee the same score for a remaster in a modern context, released twenty years later.

I didn't personally want more gameplay advancements, or new innovation in Nitro-Fueled. I wanted a straight-up, stunning looking remaster from when it was announced, especially considering that Nitro-Fueled was one of my most anticipated games of 2019. It has completely delivered for me, I’ve only just played over one hour, but you're spot on, it's spectacularly beautiful and fun.

Nitro-Fueled never had to compete for a purchase from me either, I pre-ordered it straight away. However, it does have modern competition for gamers' cash with Mario Kart 8 Deluxe for Switch owners, against Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed on Xbox One through backwards compatibility, and against Team Sonic Racing on PS4 – which admittedly is a new karting game that I’ve not played, yet.

To be fair, you have great taste in kart racers, because Super Mario Kart is one of my favourite games in all my years of gaming. I reviewed the Wii U eShop release of Super Mario Kart on Nintendo Life. Cheers.

@quinnyboy58 I actually think that as a retro gamer I am the ideal target audience for Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled, because from everything that I have read and seen about it, I find the love that Beenox has put into remastering this game charming, and Stephen acknowledges Beenox's reverence towards the original in his review.

I agree with you, Nitro-Fueled is a great alternative to Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, especially to kart racing fans like myself who own both a PS4 and a Switch.

Just like you mentioned, I am also excited to check out the revamped look of the tracks from Vicarious Visions' 2003 PS2 game, Crash Nitro Kart. I've been playing PSone Crash Team Racing non-stop recently for my review, so the Nitro Kart tracks are going to be a real bonus for me in the remaster.

Enjoy the game, mate, I have Nitro Fueled sitting in my bag right now, and I can't wait until I first boot it up on my PS4 tonight.

@Rash and @Stocksy — I mentioned this in the Comments section for my Crash Team Racing PSone review, but it's worth repeating here that since I first started reviewing PSone games for Push Square in 2013 I have always scored each PSone title in the context of how they compare to other 32-bit and 64-bit games from the same era, which was the fifth generation of consoles.

Therefore, in comparison to Motor Toon Grand Prix 2, Speed Freaks, and Toy Story Racer on PSone – as well as other 32-bit games like Sonic R on the SEGA Saturn — I decided to score PSone Crash Team Racing as a 9/10 excellent game, which puts it alongside the best Nintendo 64 kart racers like Mario Kart 64 and Diddy Kong Racing.

The way I see it, Stephen has reviewed Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled twenty years later in the context of the current eighth generation of consoles. Since then there have been big kart racing genre advancements with user track creation tools in ModNation Racers, the ability to transform into water boats and flying planes in Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, and rollercoaster-esque anti-gravity race courses in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.

Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled has to compete against much more innovative kart racers today.

Therefore, even if I am personally more than happy to purchase Nitro-Fueled, because I love its classic gameplay template, and I appreciate it as a remaster of a 1999 retro game, in the context of modern kart racing gameplay innovations a 7/10 for Nitro-Fueled makes complete sense to me.

I can't wait until I get to play Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled tonight, it's one of my most anticipated PS4 games of 2019, and reading Stephen's review has me even more hyped to play it.

As the review states, it plays just like the original, and it sticks closely to the PSone game's gameplay template. A job well done it is then, Beenox!

My favourite point in the review is when Stephen says, "What's immediately clear is that the developer has a lot of reverence for the source material, and rightly so", because I think that this is one of the most important things for any remaster.

I hope that gamers don’t expect Nitro-Fuelled to revolutionise the kart racing sub-genre for the modern day, though. I never wanted it to compete directly with Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, or even with Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed – for example I love the skill-based power slide and jump hang-time boost mechanics, and I'll relish its challenge — so deep down Nitro-Fuelled has the heart of a 32-bit engine purring inside of it, which is spot-on to me.

A great review, @Quintumply, nice one.

I just want to elaborate on a point in my review, where I mentioned that, "race courses like Dragon Mines, Tiny Arena, and Cortex Castle seem heavily influenced by the Kalimari Desert, Wario Stadium, and Bowser's Castle tracks respectively in Mario Kart 64."

Crash Team Racing's Tiny Arena is extremely similar in design to Wario Stadium, and Cortex Castle's graphics are directly comparable to Mario Kart 64's Bowser's Castle. However, Dragon Mines doesn't look like Kalimari Desert in its visual style.

The main connection between Dragon Mines and Kalimari Desert is the railway track that runs throughout both courses — so you have to dodge the rails and avoid being run over by a mine cart (CTR), or by a train (MK64) — plus the Wild West, whistling, chug-chug-choo-choo train music is very similar between both game's tracks.

Incidentally, this comparison comes full circle, because the Wario's Gold Mine race course in Mario Kart Wii from 2008 reminds me quite a bit of Dragon Mines in Crash Team Racing, which came out nine years earlier.

@Dobbos Thanks for your suggestion of a Tomb Raider retro review, because feedback like this is always appreciated.

At the moment Push Square will be focussing on retro reviews that relate directly to new PS4 releases, so that our retro content is also linked to modern games for the readers. These reviews will predominantly be in regards to remakes, but they could possibly relate to new remasters too.

Therefore, if Square Enix were able to get together with a developer like Crystal Dynamics or Eidos Montréal to create a full remake of Core Design's very first Tomb Raider, then I would love to review the original 1996 game.

Another possibility, which I might pitch to Push Square, would be to review 20th anniversary PSone games, in the same way that Crash Team Racing will turn twenty in September 2019. This would open up the possibility for me to write a 20th anniversary PSone review of Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation, because the EU version of The Last Revelation will be twenty years old on the 19th November 2019.

No worries about double posting, too, I just clicked on double likes, one for each comment, instead.

@waluigifan1 Yep, Crash Team Racing is indeed better than the The Land Before Time: Great Valley Racing Adventure on the original PlayStation! A quality comment, mate, you made me chuckle.

@RogerRoger Great stuff, I had already checked out the Limited Run Games 'E3 2019 Showcase', because I recently received physical versions of the PS2 Jak games from them on PS4. I was buzzing from upcoming releases of interesting 2D pixel-art games like Blazing Chrome and Freedom Planet, but the Star Wars games were especially a great surprise. I already have Game Boy Star Wars with cartridge/box/instructions, but I'm tempted by The Empire Strikes Back on the Game Boy, plus like you mentioned, the physical versions of Bounty Hunter and Racer Revenge will be cool on PS4.

@RogerRoger Thank you kindly, I was actually hoping that a remake of Resident Evil 3 would be announced by Capcom at Microsoft's E3 Briefing 2019, because then I would have been able to write a PSone review of the third Resi game, and the context would have still been relevant to Push Square's readers. Another time, perhaps.

Also, and this is off topic, but based on your avatar did you hear the E3 news that Limited Run Games are re-releasing retro Star Wars games, starting with a physical PS4 version of the PS2 Classic, Star Wars: Bounty Hunter, in nine days?

@Stocksy I score all of my PSone reviews by directly comparing the game to other PSone titles, and to other relevant games during the 32-bit and 64-bit era of the fifth generation of consoles. It wouldn't be fair if I based my score on comparing a twenty year old title to games with modern expectations. Then again if an issue retrospectively affects gameplay – like the camera and control in MediEvil, or the sluggishness of Battle Arena Toshinden – I will lower the score to highlight these issues. I still play lots of PSone games today, and I feel that just like with Ridge Racer Type 4, that Crash Team Racing is still an excellent game, which has aged well in the context of other racers in the PSone's library.

@Dange Cheers for your feedback, mate. We both posted similar thoughts regarding Crash Team Racing being a product of its time. I agree with your response, though.

@supergurr Thanks for the feedback about Push Square's retro content, mate.

@gingerfrog Spot on, you have very good reasons to have heaps of nostalgia about Crash Team Racing then, I think it's great when people share gaming experiences with their family. You're right, the last twenty years have flown by, but it's brilliant when an old game becomes so associated with happy memories that it transcends into full on nostalgia, so whenever you play it again the old memories come flooding back. Cheers for sharing this here.

@roe Thanks right back at you, I'm glad that you enjoyed playing through the full game three years ago, because I always enjoy returning to Crash Team Racing too.

@m1rk091 Cool, I still have my original Crash Team Racing disc that my girlfriend bought for me, as well. The instructions manual was quite handy for this review in regards to details about the handling differences between characters, specific weapons' 'Juiced Up' characteristics, and a quirky little description of the story.

@hotukdeals This retro review honestly wasn't meant as clickbait, we've been reviewing PSone games on Push Square for years now, and our plan was to publish this review of the original Crash Team Racing as a precursor article to supplement the PS4 review later on.

I was careful to be clear in the heading that it was a retro review by stating, "Naughty Dog Created the Best Kart Racer on PSone."

Earlier this year, we actually planned to write a similar style review of PSone Resident Evil 2 to be published in January around about the time of the release of the PS4 remake, but it didn’t work out that time.

Timing retro reviews to coincide with relevant new releases is definitely something I would like to do again in the future, though.

Apologies to anyone thinking this was a review of the new game, but if anyone has any questions about Crash Team Racing on the PSone, please let me know. I consider Crash Team Racing to have a guaranteed spot in my personal top five PSone games, so I very much enjoyed replaying the game again for this review.

A couple of ideas for discussions are below:

-- When did you first play Crash Team Racing? I met my girlfriend in 1999, so we celebrate our twenty year anniversary together soon, and one of the earliest main gifts she ever bought for me was Crash Team Racing. I remember really enjoying the Blizzard Bluff and especially the Polar Pass tracks during Christmas of that year, which is why I hint at my nostalgia for the festive feel of the music and visuals in the icy race courses above.

-- What are your favourite race tracks? As well as Polar Pass, I have a lot of fun racing on Hot Air Skyway, and I like the graphics in Cortex Castle most of all, although Oxide Stadium is a really cool track, with a massive jump at the end of each lap, too.

I'm interested, as always, to read your thoughts in the comments section, and to see if anyone has recently booted up this classic PSone kart racer — like @DerMeister and @Ypmud mention above — in preparation for the release of Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fuelled on PS4 later this week.

@Ralizah Not that this is a definitive answer, but I've just beaten Death on Stage 15 of the first NES Castlevania on the PS4 Anniversary Collection, and then I continued on to Stage 16, yet my game did not crash.

On my approach to Death I was very careful to crouch in a spot to avoid the many Medusa heads and take out the axe knights. During the Death boss battle I also tried to stress out the emulation by constantly pausing, or saving screenshots.

I find the boomerang-like Cross sub-weapon effective against Death, especially as he throws so many scythes on the screen. Still, I messed up my save, and I accidentally saved my game with only four bars of health before the fight, which Death can take out with a single hit.

I actually beat Death twice, but the first time one of his scythes hit me before I could collect the spherical red Magic Crystal to complete the stage. The second time I beat Death and I played on to Stage 16, although like you said there are lots of sprites around this boss fight, but it did not crash. It went smoothly for me, however it could still be crashing for other gamers.

Anyway, I may as well continue see if I can beat Dracula to complete Castlevania for 'The Cursed Simon Belmont' trophy now.

@hi_drnick and @Jimmy_G_Buckets Thanks to you both your kind words about my review.

@carlos82 Agreed, I have tons of nostalgia towards Castle of Illusion, plus Wonder Boy in Monster World will be quality, and Thunder Force III is a great pick. Super Fantasy Zone intrigues me too, because I associate the Fantasy Zone conversions with the Master System and PC Engine. Possibly best of all, like @playstation1995 mentions above, is the inclusion of Contra: Hard Corps – although I think that it will be the Probotector robots version when I get a UK Mega Drive Mini.

@Ralizah I'm playing the first NES Castlevania right now, because I’m determined to reach Death on Stage 15. I’m cheating really, as I keep repeatedly pressing 'Save' on the options menu steadily throughout the stages, and then whenever Simon gets killed, or even loses bits of health, I press 'Load' to boot up my previous state with better health, keeping my sub-weapon and ammo. I've just beaten the two Mummies bosses at the end of Stage 9. I always find the platforming across the blue cave's water in Stage 10 a bit awkward, but my cheap use of saves during this playthrough will ensure that I battle Death soon enough.

@Ralizah Yes, you're absolutely right, until now Castlevania: Bloodlines has never been re-released as either a digital game, or as a part of a collection. It has only ever been a Mega Drive and Genesis cartridge for Japanese, North American and PAL gamers — and as I bet you know, the PAL version's name was changed to Castlevania: The New Generation. Therefore, I think that it's especially exciting for retro gamers to finally have greater access to Bloodlines now that it has an official release on the Castlevania Anniversary Collection.

Like you mentioned, as part of my later research for this review I also read reports of the first Castlevania crashing during the Death boss battle. I can't confirm this though, I'm afraid. During my playtest for this review I reached Stage 13 of Castlevania – a little bit after the Frankenstein's monster boss battle. I haven’t personally had the first game crash, but I didn't reach the fight against Death, because it doesn't appear until Stage 15.

As a rule I try to complete all games for a review — for example this was possible with The Capcom Beat-‘Em-Up Bundle — but with the difficulty associated with this collection of games it was tough to finish all eight of them before submitting the review. I'm interested in learning about this, though, so I'll try to return to Castlevania from scratch this week to see if I can reach Death to test out the reports about this bug.

@shonenjump86 I think you'll really enjoy returning to Castlevania: Bloodlines, because it has aged beautifully. The visual designs of the stages are still very imaginative. I think people remember the lovely water reflections in stage 2's Atlantis Shrine setting in Greece, and I visited Pisa a few years ago, so I was buzzing from the graphics in stage 3's The Leaning Tower, where you scale the top above the clouds to face the giant red demonic bat boss. I don't remember seeing that creature when I steadily climbed nearly 300 steps to the top of the bell tower's stairs.

@Ristar24 Cheers right back at you! I have been a fan of playing portable games on a big screen TV for years now, going right back to the Super Game Boy. Since then I’ve loved the GameCube’s Game Boy Player, as well as hooking my PSP up to my TV, and of course the PSTV too. Having the two Game Boy games on the Castlevania Anniversary Collection really gives me high hopes for how mint the Game Boy Advance's Castlevania games would look on a future Konami bundle.

**** Edit: Hi again @Ristar24, I've just remembered that you and @Tasuki were talking about Castlevania Bloodlines when I wrote my Castlevania Requiem during Halloween feature in 2018. Reading both of your comments put Bloodlines into the back of my mind, and hyped me up to learn more about it from our chat last year. Nice one. ****

@carlos82 Kid Dracula localised as an NES game is such a pleasant surprise. It has large chunky, colourful sprites a bit similar to a game like Bonk's Adventure, and it's very quirky too. Kid Dracula meets Lady Liberty after avoiding Jason Voorhees lookalikes on top of a moving train, and she challenges him to a quiz, because she abhors violence! It's just brimming with fun.

@playstation1995 Yes, I'm definitely buying a UK Mega Drive Mini, I think its selection of games announced so far is really solid. Funnily enough, Castlevania Bloodlines was initially a major selling point for many people to buy it, although I think gamers are just as excited for Mega Man: The Wily Wars now that Bloodlines is on the Castlevania Anniversary Collection. I'd like it if the west got Super Shinobi just like Japan, though.

@playstation1995 Good call on the Genesis/ Mega Drive version of Rambo III, I remember when I was first saving for a Mega Drive that Rambo III was on my radar for a purchase, and it actually appeared in The Complete Guide to Consoles: Volume Two book from 1990 that I mention above. There's a Truxton review on page 23 of that magazine too, reviewed as its Japanese version, Tatsujin. I love Truxton!

@gdog989 Unfortunately, I'm not sure if M2 will update the display settings to make the 'Original' viewpoint for the consoles a better fit for the top and bottom of the screen. I guess it's possible, since they're providing updates like the Japanese versions. As a side note, obviously it's always preferable to have side borders, because these games look wrong to me when stretched to 16:9, but the 'Original' view's top and bottom borders were still a slight niggle of mine.

I'll check in on the comments here to see if anyone has any questions. Below are some of my thoughts as other discussion points:

- List of eight Castlevania Anniversary Collection games: Castlevania (1987, NES), Castlevania II: Simon's Quest (1988, NES), Castlevania: The Adventure (1989, Game Boy), Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse (1990, NES), Kid Dracula (1990, Famicom), Castlevania II: Belmont’s Revenge (1991, Game Boy), Super Castlevania IV (1991, SNES) and Castlevania: Bloodlines (1994, Mega Drive).

- Omitted games and remakes that are a good fit for a classic Castlevania collection: Vampire Killer (1986, MSX2), Haunted Castle (1988, Arcade), Castlevania: Rondo of Blood (1993, PC Engine CD), Castlevania Chronicles (2001, PSone) and Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth (2009 and 2010, WiiWare).

- A future update to include Japanese ROMs: The US PlayStation Blog stated on 15th May that, "we heard your calls and Konami will add Japanese title variants as a free update shortly after launch." The Japanese versions update isn't available, yet.

- The extra Bonus Book called 'The History of Castlevania: Book of the Crescent Moon' is brilliant: I'd like to buy this history book in print.

- Castlevania Anniversary Collection's PS4 display settings: The 'Original' display fills the top and the bottom of the screen for the two Game Boy games – including the option of a dot matrix, or colour filter – but the main console games have a smaller window, with a top and bottom letterbox border. To display the console games without this letterbox you can select the '4:3 Scanlines' viewpoint, but scanlines aren't everyone's cup of tea.

I look forward to reading your thoughts on this compilation.