🎮 Random Retro Game:

Title: World Cup USA '94
Released: 1994-01-01
Platforms: Game Boy, SEGA Master System, Game Gear
Also released on: PC, SNES, Commodore / Amiga, Genesis, SEGA CD

#WorldCupUSA'94 #GameBoy #SEGAMasterSystem #GameGear #Retrogames

I’ve now added enemies that move around the map on their own and change direction whenever they hit an obstacle. We can configure whether they move horizontally, vertically, or remain stationary.

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#commodore64 #c64 #retrogaming #retrogames #indiegames #indiedev #gamedev #retro

🎮 Random Retro Game:

Title: Alex Kidd in Shinobi World
Released: 1990-02-01
Platforms: SEGA Master System
Also released on: Wii

#AlexKiddinShinobiWorld #SEGAMasterSystem #Retrogames

🎮 Random Retro Game:

Title: Ultimate Soccer
Released: 1993-01-01
Platforms: SEGA Master System, Game Gear
Also released on: Genesis

#UltimateSoccer #SEGAMasterSystem #GameGear #Retrogames

Mina the Hollower: Most Excellent Action-Adventure Romp 🐭

From indie legends Yacht Club Games, here we have the action-adventure game Mina the Hollower. It launched on 29th May 2026 on PC and all consoles, with instant rave reviews and much other excellence.

It’s a fantastic game and it’s available on all consoles and PC. It’s styled like a Game Boy Colour type romp, clearly influenced by Nintendo’s Legend of Zelda series, but delivers a modernised gameplay experience with much joy.

GBA Style Adventuring in Mina the Hollower

Yeah, so this is like an overhauled version of Nintendo’s Link’s Awakening (1993) on the Game Boy. Specifically, the GBA version Link’s Awakening DX (1998) that brought colour to the previously black and white world.

Yacht Club Games is already a legend for its take on ’90s NES games. The studio is in Los Angeles and made its name with the legendary Shovel Knight (2014) and various spin-offs.

In fact, Mina the Hollower is its first non-Shovel Knight universe based outing.

This time out, players take control of the mouse Mina. She’s a genius inventor and a Hollower who travels to the island of Tenebrous via boat to investigate why one of her inventions (Spark Generators) are broken. Hollowers are members of a fabled guild dedicated to studying and science.

Once she arrives on Tenebrous, Mina finds all hell has broken loose. It’s up to her to head out and restore equilibrium to the land etc. A fine set up for some fine action-adventuring action. Behold!

Yacht Club Games is famous for its phenomenal attention to detail. Its commitment to the retro aesthetic of the ’90s era of gaming goes as far as using original technology to create soundtracks.

You can see all that love and attention paying off in Mina the Hollower. Every element has been fine-tuned to deliver an authentic retro gaming styled experience… right down to the notorious ’90s era level of often absurd difficulty.

The core action involves Zelda style dungeon exploring, with some badass bosses to take on. Some of these are mind-numbingly difficult (unfortunately).

This would be very off-putting for us, but the studio has been a dear and done the right thing.

Unlike other more obnoxious indie devs (*ahem* Team Cherry with Silksong), Yacht Club Games offers extensive accessibility options. Lovingly so. You can make the game as easy, or hard, as you please. As in, gamers get to choose how they’d like to play (please pay attention, Team Cherry) and it’s not about tedious “git gud” elitism.

That helps a great deal, then, but whilst the studio is famed for its attention to detail, its first action-adventure game isn’t perfect. There’s a great deal of backtracking a lot of the time.

Meaning, the area design isn’t as tight as it could be. Thinking of the first dungeon in Nintendo’s A Link to the Past (1992) and it’s a masterpiece of game design. It flows perfectly and then dumps players out the front after you’ve completed it. Zero backtracking.

Mina the Hollower isn’t quite as polished, but this is a small indie team we’re on about and it doesn’t have the same budget as Nintendo to mess around with.

What it can focus on is the budget-friendly retro details. Alongside the pixel art that’s so livingly created, the soundtrack by Jake Kaufman and Yuzo Koshiro has all the bleeps and bloops you could need.

The good news is, after six years of hard work, the game sold 300,000 copies in three days. Yacht Club Games has previously said the game was make-or-break for the studio should it sell “only” 100,00 copies.

That highlights how precarious the video game market is right now.

And this is one of the more successful indie devs, 12 years into its success story with the Shovel Knight franchise. Game design is expensive and the market on edge, but the £16 ($20) asking price has helped shift a lot of copies. 300,000 meaning Yacht Club Games should be safe and sound for now.

Which is great, as it keeps doing fantastic work like this. Mina the Hollower isn’t quite a 5/5 from us, but it’s damn close and offers around 20+ hours of excellent entertainment for all types of gamers. Not to be sniffed at. 🐭

🎮 Random Retro Game:

Title: Ultima: Runes of Virtue II (GB)
Released: 1993-11-19
Platforms: Game Boy

#Ultima:RunesofVirtueII(GB) #GameBoy #Retrogames

Crow Country: Brilliant Polygonal Survival Horror Jaunt 🧟‍♀️

This excellent survival horror game is by SFB Games based in London, founded by brothers Adam and Tom Vian. Crow Country launched in 2024 on PC and all consoles, it was an instant critical hit bagging many top review scores.

It’s stylised with PlayStation blocky polygon era graphics, but don’t let that fool you. The game is spooky indeed, clever with its puzzles, and it rightly deserves its status as an indie game classic.

Blocky Polygons of Creepy Corvus in Crow Country

If you played games in the 1990s, you’ll be aware of the horror series Resident Evil and Silent Hill. Crow Country particularly nods toward the original Resident Evil on the PlayStation (1996).

Yet does so with its borderline cutesy, chunky retro style polygons, all of which feature a weird grainy layer over the top as you play. At times it’s also like you’re playing Squaresoft’s Final Fantasy VII (1997), with the blocky Mara set alongside the pre-rendered backgrounds.

Obviously, that’s all intentional and a loving homage to 1990s survival horror games. The good news is, this one is an instant classic and very close to perfection!

The game delivers plenty of tension and scares. It’s masterfully delivered and instantly brilliant (within minutes you’re intrigued and immersed), with players taking control of protagonist Mara Forest and plunging into an abandoned theme park (Crow Country).

This type of game is methodical to play. Quite slow-paced, really, as you have to consider your surroundings, solve puzzles, and try not to get ripped to shreds by zombies. Here it is in action.

Some of the puzzles, whilst a little abstract, are great to solve. You generally face blockades to your progress, such as a missing lever, which you then use clues to solve. You have to investigate your surroundings to find answers, so don’t be afraid to check everything in every area.

But as you go about finding these items, them are some pretty damn creepy creatures you have to interact with. Your bullets are limited, though, so use them wisely.

It’s just brilliantly delivered. This is right up there with 1990s classics!

And there’s an intriguing soundtrack from composer Ockeroid, too, who has uploaded the whole thing onto YouTube. The piece Maybe Everything Will Be Okay… gives the vibes of what’s going on here.

There are about five to six hours of gameplay in all, so Crow Country doesn’t outstay its welcome. But it isn’t quite perfect, as some of the puzzles can be a bit annoying to resolve. We gave up and went on YouTube to solve some of them.

Investigating can be a bit tedious, too, and you end up with loads of the theme park’s employee notes to wade through. Plus, you can generally sprint past the demented creatures you come across, so it’s not quite as imposing as it initially seems.

Despite those few issues, there’s still so much to love here we were mightily impressed. Not quite a 5/5, but for its meticulously detailed sinister atmospherics and claustrophobia, it’s more than worthy of a go.