Nintendo's '8-bit Summer' Starts Next Week

In a recent Nintendo Direct press conference, Nintendo announced a summer promotion for 3DS owners that should make retro fans very happy. Dubbed the "Summer of 8-bit," the promotion will see Nintendo releasing retro Virtual Console titles on the 3DS eShop for each week in July. Here is the list of games and dates they've put out so far:

• The Legend of Zelda (NES) - July 5
• Kirby's Pinball Land (Game Boy) - July 12
• The Sword of Hope II (Game Boy) - July 12
• Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters (Game Boy) - July 19
• Tumblepop (Game Boy) - July 19
• Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 (Game Boy) - July 19
• Sonic Blast (GameGear) - date TBA
• Sonic Labyrinth (GameGear) - date TBA  

Not too shabby of a list, and it's great to see not only NES games, but GameBoy and SEGA GameGear games as well on the list. For me personally, I'll be picking up Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters, Wario Land and both Sonic GameGear games.

Nintendo also released a trailer for the promotion, which you can check out below.

SEGA GENISIS on your Dreamcast

As many of you already know, you can run many platforms on the Dreamcast thanks to many emulators available throughout the internet. With the SEGAManiacal Summer under way I thought I'd share some emulators with you. While I never condone piracy, I do enjoy putting the games I already own on easier to use platforms. For example. I'm planning on burning all three titles of the SMS onto one easy to load disc for one of my Dreamcast consoles. This way I'll have Sonic, Streets of Rage and Shinobi III all in one easy to find spot so I can make sure I get my play time in this year.

Here's a link to a pile of emulators for your Dreamcast.

The SEGAmaniacal Summer Challenge Starts Tomorrow!

Dust off that old Genesis, because tomorrow kicks off the SEGAmaniacal Summer Challenge. Three months, three games, starting with the game that established SEGA's mascot for the 90's--Sonic the Hedgehog.

Over the next month, Jason and I will be checking in on the SI forums, as well as with a couple of podcast segments, so get playing!

Get Ready for the SEGAmaniacal Summer Challenge!

It’s time to start doing thumb push-ups, and getting your 16-bit self in shape, as the SEGAmaniacal Summer Challenge starts in a couple weeks.

Last year, we took 3 NES classics and played them during the summer months. This year, we’re giving the same love to SEGA’s 16-bit masterpiece of a console. Three months, three games, a summer of awesome.

First up in June is “Sonic the Hedgehog” (1991). The mascot of of the SEGA Genesis, Sonic’s blend of speed and platforming was like nothing that came before it. Despite the fact that the series has gone downhill over the years, the original is still amazing.

“Streets of Rage” (1991) will be punching players in the face during the month of July. The side-scrolling brawler let’s you take on the role of either Adam Hunter, Axel Stone or Blaze Fielding, three rogue cops trying to clean up the gang-ridden streets of the city.

Everyone knows that August is the month of the Ninja, and this year will be no different. “Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master” (1993) is a fitting game to round out this year's trilogy. It combines the platforming and brawling of our first two games, and adds in some ninja flavor to make a casserole of carnage.

All three of this year’s games can be found on “Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection” for the PS3 and Xbox 360. You can also find some of them on Wii Virtual Console, Steam, or iPhone and iPad. And let’s not forget, you could dust off your old Genesis and play the original carts themselves. Either way, you have a couple of weeks to get your games before we kick things off in the first week of June.

Get ready!

Sony Playstation Outage Means Retro Game Time

After DAYS of the Playstation Network being down, it's time to bust out my game retro consoles. Thankfully I recently received a SEGA Genesis recently and I've started with Sonic the Hedgehog and worked my way up to my TNN Bass Tournament. I may also bust out some Odd World from my PS3 downloads. Hopefully Sony will get on the ball and get the network running. But until then! Playstation will have me playing SEGA! SEEEEEEEEGAH!

It's a SEGA Genesis Easter

This year Easter was a little more like Christmas for this retro gamer. When I got to my parents house my Uncle popped this puppy out of his trunk. Yes, that's a Sega Genesis Core System 2 in box!!! He also handed me a bag full of games: 

TNN Outdoors Bass Tournament '96

Jurassic Park

Sonic 3D Blast

Mortal Kombat II

Cleaning Kit

Wheel of Fortune

PGA European Tour

Sonic the Hedgehog

I couldn't ask for a more amazing gift this Easter. Well, maybe a powerglove, but really, my Sega Genesis 1 (Original Model) Console Systemhas been out of commission for a long time with a busted controller input. I'm very happy to have this back in my collection. Now I can hook my Sega CD System - Video Game Console back up and play some Night Trap. Aw yeah!

Retro Gaming Yardsale Adventures

It's that time of year again. We're getting deep into spring, the weather is nice and we've got a tiny bit of cash in our pockets. So we'll be on the hunt for gaming consoles. GAMES GAMES GAMES at deep dish discounts. Parents unloading kids electronics and kids who want to buy their next system and will sell me electronics super cheap. What will our finds be? Who knows! We'll be breaking out some serious fleamarket and tag sale stories in the upcoming episodes. Deals we got and deals we lost.

The top consoles on my list this year will be a Coleco Vision, Commodore 64c, Atari 2600 - Video Game Console, Atari 5200 - Video Game Console (System), Nintendo Virtual Boy - Video Game Console and some random handhelds. I'll also need new games for my new GBA as well as other consoles sitting in my collection.

If you are out and about and see crazy finds. Even if you don't buy them, share you story in the comments, on the forum or snap a pict with your phone and shoot us an email.

That's right! Brian and I are back in action with NEW Cartridgecade segments. We'll be announcing the new episode soon. You'll be able to go check out the podcast by going to Secret Identity and downloading the latest episode, going to drivethrucomics.com to download or by streaming it via the link on the right column of this site. We'd like you to stop by our message board (RIGHT NOW) and tell us what games you want to hear us talk about.

What game controllers do you have?

I was zipping around the internet today seeking retro game goodness, when I came across this image in google images. Kotaku.com asks their readers, "which game controllers do you own?" I'm pretty sure I own seven from this picture. Do I know what they all are called? Nope. But I've got them. How many do you have?

Dreamcast Donation

Look what I picked up yesterday. I'm very excited. More to come...

DREAMCAST