IGN Retro

[darksnowman]

IGN have launched a new section of their site: IGN Retro.

 

From it you can access info on rereleases and reviews and whatnot of the retro games on VC and Xbox etc, as well as check out features like the Castelvania timeline Bozon from the IGN Nintendo section put together. Heres the (lengthy) blurb from their welcome page:

 

Welcome to IGN Retro

Those who forget the past are doomed to... totally miss out.

by Levi Buchanan

 

January 11, 2008 - This week marks the ten-year anniversary of IGN, your premiere destination for all things video games and pop culture. For ten years, IGN sites have broken megatons, served up trustworthy reviews of landmark games from Tomb Raider to Super Mario Galaxy, and dished entertaining and informative commentary about gaming through oodles of reader mail and podcasts, like GameScoop and Three Red Lights. Every time you want to know what's next in the world of video games, you come to IGN -- and we thank you from the bottom of our hearts for doing do.

 

But while we always want to follow where gaming is going, it is equally important to know where it's been. And that's why we are proud to launch IGN Retro, an entire channel dedicated to the rich history of video games, dating all the way back to Computer Space and the first plinks and plonks of early console games. As exciting as it was the first time you realized just how massive Liberty City was in Grand Theft Auto III, imagine what gamers felt the first time they helped Pitfall Harry bound across those three crocodile heads in Activison's seminal Pitfall?

 

(And, while you're at it, imagine the crushing blow of seeing the Atari 2600 port of Pac-Man for the first time, too. Yeesh.)

 

This channel is dedicated to the classics and the not-so-classic classics. Today, we kick off with retro reviews of some Sega oldies, including Last Battle for the Genesis. In the near future, we'll have even more look backs at classic games for every classic system you can imagine -- from Vectrex to Dreamcast. In the same day, you may see something on Missile Command and Earnest Evans. We'll have retrospectives beyond the Mario and Metroid ones highlighted today. Yesteryear is so alive with incredible games, bizarre moments, and ultra-cool stories. And this is the place to get the scoop on all of it.

 

I am incredibly excited about shepherding IGN Retro. I not only love video games, but I am a child of the eighties. The first president I have a solid memory of is indeed Ronald Reagan -- although I can recall my parents talking about Jimmy Carter quite a bit. My first console was an Atari 2600. And I was hooked. These were my escapes -- and they continue to be so. In fact, video games are what stirred me to take up writing in the first place. Alex Kidd in Miracle World for the Sega Master System (yes, I was that kid) inspired the first and only piece of fan-fiction I have ever written, which then lead to creating fake manuals for imaginary video games, and it just kept going from there.

 

I hope you all have a fantastic 2008, but if you want to enjoy a little 1978 as well, welcome to IGN Retro.

 

I just read that they gave one of our latest VC additions, Startropics, an 8.5/10. I think I'll be keeping it in mind for a future download.

 

Check it out retro peeps at http://www.retro.ign.com.

[mcj metroid]

brilliant idea but it was always coming.. I hated vc games being lumped with normal wii reviews!

[darksnowman]

Well, they've been updating this section pretty regularly and putting the spotlight on some games that have already been released and reviewed on the VC.

 

One thing thats worth a read is the Geometry Wars Retrospective.

 

Another thing thats worth a read for any retro fan is the review of Alex Kidd.

 

 

And thirdly, an article on the Virtual Boy revisited.

[tapedeck]

I'd love to see some more of those old school "making of" features. I remember reading a fair few about Pilotwings, Mario64, Perfect Dark and they were excellent. Some of those would be excellent.