NEWS: The complete Wonder Boy Anniversary Collection is finally coming to digital!

The early SEGA arcade hit that shook the  gaming world forever comes back in an iconic Anniversary Digital Collection Six games, 21 versions, one collection

Stuttgart, December 13, 2022 - The year is 1986, and designer Ryuchi Nishizawa has  an idea for a new game. Mr. Nishizawa wanted to create an action game with an added  amount of pressure. The initial concept he came up with involved an automatic scrolling platformer, but it was too difficult, and even he couldn't play it. Some of these elements transferred into the game we know and love as Wonder Boy, such as the iconic  skateboard.

Today, more than 35 years after, Bliss Brain brings you a legendary Anniversary Collection of the universally-beloved Wonder Boy adventures in a downloadable version: Featuring 21 versions of six of the most iconic Wonder Boy games ever released, this incredible compilation brings the influential platformer series to today’s hardware, with precise ports and new features such as the ability to rewind your game at any moment, filter, shader, a save anytime option and many more that you’ll find  while playing!

This collection will be released digitally by Bliss Brain on January 26th, 2023 for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5.

The perfect blend of platforming and RPG action you can find throughout the Wonder Boy series has delighted generations of gamers, and now, the Anniversary Collection combines the beloved adventures with a complete package of Wonder Boy history, crisp chiptune audio, a menu in English, French, Italian, German, Spanish and Japanese  languages and perfect pixel art!

DOOM Retrospective

The year was 1993. It was a frigid Canadian December day, you may even say it was as cold as hell.

I was 9 years old, and a pint-size PC gaming fanatic. My first taste of computer gaming had come from the likes of edutainment titles such as Cross Country Canada and The Oregon Trail, as well as some of the Arthur titles which I had played in the classroom. That soon changed when my parents purchased out first home computer, a slightly used but not abused 486, and that opened my eyes to the bold new world of shareware. Through the portal of these magical floppies passed around by my friends I had hopped and bopped my way through the exotic alien worlds of Commander Keen, fought the Nazi scum throughout the moldering corridors of Wolfenstein 3D, and I was totally excited for whatever would come next. Luckily I would not have to wait long.

My friend Ryan called me over to his place, he had just downloaded the newest shareware, something that would "totally blow my effing head off". He bragged about how he had tied up the phone line all night just to download it (he had a 14.4 baud modem, still better than nothing), and then had played all the way through it in the early hours of that morning. He had a damn fine system, a 486 66mhz with 8mb of ram and a sound blaster 16, and a MASSIVE 17" monitor. (It was doubly as good as my own rig, a 486 33mhz with 4mb of ram, no sound card, and a measly 14" monitor.) Ryan told me to have a seat, and simply type in "doom". So that's what I did.

As I typed in the command to launch the game, and the scrolling startup text crawled up the screen, I could feel my heart pounding in anticipation of what could possibly be as amazing as Ryan was hyping it up to be. And then I heard it, the low droning of the title screen theme, and I stood in awe of the color and detail of the green-clad space marine surrounded by hideous, otherworldly foes drenched in the red of the landscape surrounding them. I didn't know it at the time, but this would be the first step on a lifelong adventure through space, hell on earth, and beyond. I chose Knee Deep in the Dead, and my difficulty, and then the screen melted away.

So there I was, in a blue-carpeted landing bay (Oh my gawd, there were floors and ceilings! And different heights too! The walls are at different angles!), the most epic synthesized metal that the Yamaha YMF262 could possibly muster pumping out of the speakers. My hands trembled as I tested the keyboard controls, pleased to find that they responded exactly like they did in Wolfenstein 3D. I took a look around the room, in awe of the colorful and detailed environment visible through the hangar windows. I then walked up to a barrel full of bubbling green goo and did the first thing that came to mind: I started shooting at it.

One messy death and respawn later I was off again, exploring the nooks and crannies of the starting room, finding my way up the stairs to the suit of fancy suit of green armor sitting on a pedestal(no undead grunts yet, I had chosen "I'm Too Young To Die" like a wuss). I then came back down the stairs, and proceeded through the first door I found (ignoring the deadly barrel this time), and came face to face with the first of the game's zombified ex-marines. After exchanging fire and dispatching him, and his compatriot around the corner, I came out into a room with a narrow walkway surrounded by glowing green sludge. It was at that point that I took a fireball to the face, and met my second untimely end.

Another respawn at the beginning of the level, I was starting to realize that anything and everything could kill me. I set out again, confident that I could win this time. I sprinted through, taking out my assailants with ease, and this time dodged the fireballs and nailed the spiny creep on the ledge. Feeling cocky and proud, and avoiding the green goo pooled at the sides of the walkway, I strode through the door into the next room and found myself face to face with another of the spiny bastards. Panicking, I fired blindly at it, setting off another explosive barrel which reduced said spiny and myself into a fine red mist. 

Yet another respawn.

With an enraged roar, and a hearty laugh from Ryan, I set off again through the gauntlet. I managed to rip and tear every demonic freak that crossed my path a fancy new asshole, and even find a pump-action shotgun behind the first spiny's platform in the process. Finding my stride at last I continued my rampage through the next six levels, through nuclear plants, refineries and command centers, until I reached the ominous sounding Phobos Anomoly. I had learned to use explosive barrels to my advantage, and so I had no problem shredding the four butt-ugly gorilla-like pink demons near the entrance. Felling confident I took the elevator upstairs, straight into the lair of the two ugliest freaks I had ever seen, the Barons of Hell.

My first encounter with the barons went as expected, with my head immediately finding a new home up my arse. The second time went slightly better, I actually lasted 10 seconds or so that time! After 20 or so attempts I finally became good enough at strafing between their fireballs while delivering a salvo of rocket fire to take them out. As their still-warm corpses hit the floor the walls started rumbling, lowering slowly to the ground to reveal a vast outdoor arena. I braced myself, expecting to be overtaken by an onslaught of new foes, but they never came. I curiously explored the area, and found a teleporter platform at the end.

As I stepped through the teleporter, everything went black. I heard my space marine being torn limb from limb by invisible attackers, grunting in pain as what was left of his health drained, finally falling to his unseen foes. Then the screen melted once again, the ending text scrolling slowly out. It told me of my marine's fate, and of the battles that lie ahead if I was so bold as to face the challenge. I would have to order the full game to continue the experience. That would cost money. My young mind reeled, trying to work out how we would pay for it. 

I came to a decision.

Eyes wide, I turned to Ryan.

"We're gonna have to shovel a HELL of a lot of snow, man!"

NEWS: Awesome limited edition double pack coming to Nintendo Switch!

 

The Japanese Indie Shooter One-Two Punch Combo! - Two superb titles in one box -

Stuttgart, Germany - December 2022 - Strictly Limited Games welcomes two new Shoot ‘em up titles in one ‘hot’ combo physical releases for the Nintendo Switch to their store. In collaboration with Hanaji Games, this is the only physical version of these two gems available.

Two Different Styled Shooters, One Great Collection

Mecha Ritz: Steel Rondo is a vertically scrolling ‘score’ focused shooter set in an apocalyptic mechanised world. With seven different ships to choose from, each with different attack and movement properties, this frantic paced shooter delivers deep and satisfying combat. Exciting unlockables - 14 playable mechas, branching paths, multiple endings, and much more will be unveiled as you delve deeper into the game. Quickly clearing enemies and raising your rank is key to unlocking the final stage and is just one ongoing task to complete.

In Mecha Ritz: Steel Rondo, not only does the score hunt and challenging gameplay provide plenty of replay value, but also the branching stage paths will influence the ending. Paired with the quirky story and popping graphics, you sure won’t get bored playing this one.

Dezatopia is a classic arcade styled horizontal shooter with a huge assortment of content, which offers both value and an amazing experience. 24 different stages with 21 bosses arranged in 21 routes, with intuitive and simple controls that will please both experienced and novice gamers. Unique enemies, bosses, weapons galore and interactive components are supplemented with great art and visual backdrops.

Strange and unusual creatures inhabited Earth’s underground. These unknown to humankind until Momoko, a fashion-obsessed high school girl, accidentally discovered them; but now she plans to create a new world: Dezatopia. Akane and Aoba, Momoko’s schoolmates, are hired to help achieve her directive but things don't go to plan. The backdrop story could soon become a distant memory, as the all out colourful and non stop, over the top, but compelling, fire and hail explosive onscreen action ramps up!

The craft you control has four unique, intuitive weapons which can each be fired in one direction to halt the enemy onslaught. Upgrades and items can also be purchased from a mid-flight shop, but these advantages are countered by a dynamic difficulty system that automatically adjusts to match the player’s skill level to ensure their experience, strategy, technique and luck are always tested.

Both Mecha Ritz: Steel Rondo and Dezatopia present great and amusing backdrop stories which set the scene for the action and challenges that gamers will encounter once they are ready to face the enemy forces, along with some awesome Bosses and cast that will materialise!

ABOUT THE SLG BOXED VERSIONS The SLG Dezatopia & Mecha Ritz Limited Editions will come in two versions, each featuring a cover artwork focusing on one of the games in the collection, named Momoko and Veloce Edition as well as reversible cover artwork featuring both. Included is a colored manual for both games. The game cartridge included is the same. These are limited to 999 units each.

The Special Limited Edition will accordingly also be featured in 2 versions, with the artwork on the outer box being the same. These will be limited to 500 units each and contain the following items. Game for Nintendo Switch Special Limited Edition Box Colorful Game Manual Staff Book, approx. 80 pages containing developer insights for both games 2 CD Original Soundtrack Double-Sided Poster, A3 Size

Mecha Ritz and Dezatopia are out now on the Nintendo eShop. Pre-Orders for the physical editions can be placed from 4th of December 2022 exclusively on  https://www.strictlylimitedgames.com/collections/dezatopia-mecha-ritz