Ah, not only a famous franchise of films but one of the most famous vector arcade games created. Atari’s Star Wars isn’t the easiest choice of game to remake but Minionsoft managed it with aplomb.
Not only is it a fast, faithful and graphically updated version of the game but it’s also accessible.
Minion later went on to remake The Empire Strikes Back for the 2008 Retro Remakes Competition (also available from the site link above) but through the fault of the original designers as opposed to the sterling remake, it’s not even in the same league.
2. Head Over Heels (Retrospec)
Perhaps the most famous remake from around these shores, Tomaz Kac and Graham Goring’s gloriously beautiful take on the Jon Ritman classic is scarily 7 years old now and still looking every bit as wonderful as it did when it was first released.
The timeless nature of the pixel art and the clever game design is something that really, most people should experience at least once.
Even if the doors are wrong.
Knot In 3d was perhaps, a few too many years ahead of its time. Taking the Tron Lightcycles concept into 3d on a 48k Spectrum sadly was never going to quite work despite being a brave move.
Years later, along came Nenad (of Rescue The Beagles fame) who saw the potential and gave it the life it needed and a place on hardware that could do the design justice.
See also: X-Out’s Multiplayer take.
An absolutely massive undertaking of a reasonably obscure (but memorable) BBC Micro game, Cholo is an adventure game set in a Tron-esque world. Take over robots, collect rampaks and careful with that nuclear reactor, Eugene.
An early example of what we’d later get to know as the FPS genre and a lovely, updated remake from the Ovine boys.
5. Manic Miner: The Lost Levels (Headsoft)
It’d be remiss of me not to include at least one Miner Willy game and to be fair, it is a tough choice. However, Manic Miner: The Lost Levels for the Nintendo DS is a great piece of work.
Inspired by a Stuart Campbell article in Retro Gamer which tied a number of “extra” screens from alternative versions of the game into a coherent-ish narrative, MM:TLL is the great Miner Willy Game that sort of never was.
Bonus Stage: Other games to consider
Demon Attack. Simple put perfect update of the Atari 2600 game.
Zektor. Sokurah’s glowing take on the 1982 Sega arcade game.
3d Ant Attack. Uncle transmogrifies Sandy White’s isometric classic into full 3d.
Wild West Hero. A 1:1 remake of an under appreciated entry into the universe of arena shooters.
Monty On The Run. Removing the escape kit makes the remake more essential than the original game.
Vectors Revenge – Yars Revenge. Compulsive and HSW approved.
2009
A selection of remakes salvaged from Geocities sites before they closed down.
Contents: Battle Nation, Break In, Casio Invaders, Space Invaders Digital, Chibi Pong, Dogfight, Quasimodo Demo, Kung Fu Master, Kung Fu Master Returns, Monadius, Mr Driller, Secret Quest, Telejogo 1&2, Wild West Hero 2004.
> download geocities salvation pack
2008
The complete set of games produced for the Retro Remakes 2008 Competition.
Contents: The Empire Strikes Back, Ultimate Bruce Lee, Sportz Daze, The Factory, Spare A Thought For The Little Guy, Blockmania DS, Whack A Monty Mole, Space Fury, Deathchase, Devil Ronin, Starquake DS, Kung Fu 2, Monuments Of Mars, Ropor, Zektor, Lightmare, CPC Demo, Blast Passage, Sigue Sigue Sputnik, The Kiwi’s Tale, Battlezone, Tetroid, Twenty First Century Frog, Dingo, Retroman, Pauline’s Way, Parallax, KickleC, Super Mario Kart, Revenge Of The Punched Tape, Staroid, Carnival 1980, As Time Goes By, Snakoban Dash, Mini Saboteur, Lords Of Conquest, A Sliding Puzzle For Helen, Sabre Wulf, Raid On Fort Apocalypse, Sewer Shark, Electro Freddy, Dizzy: The Lost Island, Bandits At 3 O’ Clock, SEUCK, Sorcerer Lord, Hamurabi 2, Letter Blaster, Retro Boxing 3d, The Eggyard
> download 2008 competition entries
The 2008 competition was kindly sponsored by
80′s Tee’s | Acekard | Addictive247 | Axialis | Castle Software | Charlies Games | Clickteam | Cosmigo | Delgine | Gamesocks | GLBasic | Hal Spacejock | Kobalt Computers | Leandro Correia | Midnight Synergy | Milkshape | Mumbo Jumbo | One Switch | Pandora | Raptisoft | The Game Creators | WalkerITC | XGamestation | Zombie Cow
2007
A selection of games based on names, games and covers featured in the BBCTV series “Look Around You”
Contents: Bibbleman, Pongo, Horse Fight, Space Cabbage, Chaffinch Challenge, Snobby, Pongo (2), Space Cabbage (2)
> download look around you competition entries
A selection of games designed with the restrictions of a pocket calculator in mind. A lot more fun than it sounds, it’s got Deathchase! In a calculator style! Amazing.
Contents: A Mini Falafel Adventure, Daleks, Deathchase UFO, Dungeons, Empire Strikes Back, Four Colour Shooter, TI-Dash, TI-em-up, TV Man TI
> download calculator competition entries
2006
The Retro Remakes Big Competition 2006
Probably my favourite selection of games in one bundle, 2006 was the year it all seemed to come together just right. Admittedly with all the usual compo hassles but who cares when you end up with a bunch of wonderful, wonderful games?
Contents: 2nd Encounter, 3D Construction Kit, Archaist, Asteroids v.2, Asteroids, Balloon Fight XP, Bezerk 3d, Bezerker Bots, Bombzuka, Bullet Train, Choplifter, Chronos, City Defence, Clockwiser, CounterClockWise (Knot In 3d), Demon Attack, Dig Dug Aftershock, Donkey Kong Arcade, Donkey Kong Jnr XP, Drelbs, Endurance Kaboom, Fame Quest, Formation Zero, Froggy Ribbit, Ghostbusters, Ghouls & Ghosts Remix, Great Britain Limited, Green Beret, Gridfire, Gumball, HERO, Highway Encounter, Implausible Mission, Kastle Kumquat, Kirby’s Dreamland, Kornonis Rift, Labra Tetris, Lady Bug, Metal Sector, Millenium, Montezuma’s Revenge, Nemesis, One Step Beyond, Panther, Poster Paster, Project Firestart, Quantum Fighter, Rise Out, Robotron, Rock N Bolt, Serioux, Shooting Gallery, Sky Ranger, Snake 3d, Solar Striker, Space Fortress, Spiky Harold, Star Wars, Start Wars, Super Mario Land Plus, Superkid Returns, TANK, The Goonies, The Life Of A Fish, The Pyramid,The Run, Traffic 2006, Tubopac, Twilight Treasures, Venture Into Adventure, Willy Does Dallas (!), Wings Of Fury, Xaind Sleena, Zampa Bolas, Zynaps.
> download 2006 competition entries
2005
The 2005 Winter Mini Competition
A bit of a long and icky story about how this competition came to be in our year off from having competitions and well, saved by a couple of lovely games at the end of it all. Horace And The Spiders is worth the entrance fee alone.
Contents: Forbidden Forest, Kung Fu Master, VoidWalker, Little Rabbit Foo Foo, Sonicball, Gravetaker, Horace and the Spiders, Panic Dizzy, Link Em Bamboo, Kersplash, Jetpack Jamboree
> download 2005 competition entries
2004
THE 2004 Competition // DIV for Windows
DIV was, once upon a time, a DOS based programming language. Unfortunately, the Windows version never emerged but thanks to the kind generosity of the creator of DIV a number of remakes were converted for use on a (relatively) more modern OS for the competition. We’ve had these tucked away for a number of years now in the vaults so I guess it’s time to put them out there so people can play them with minimum fuss.
Contents: Menace/Menace Fix, Balloon Fight, Mario Kart Remix, Spy Hunter, Time Pilot
THE 2004 Competition // Complete Set
The second Retro Remakes big competition and a massive haul of great games. Legend Of Shadow took away (rightly) the grand prize but there’s a bumper selection of really good stuff in here to complement it.
Contents: Adventure, Alien Kill, Android 1, ANSI Shinobi, Arcadia, Back To The Aztec, Ball Wars, Balls Too, Battle City, Battlefield, BC’s Quest For Tyres, Beach Head, Blaster 2085, Boxing, Break Free, Burgerland, Castle Awesome, CJ’s Elephant Antics, Combat DX, Comic Bakery, Complex X, Cookie Cruncher, Cosmic Tunnels, Curse Of The Aztec Tomb, Depth Charge, Dizzy Remake, Ewo’s Adventure, F1 Spirit, Flipull Advantage, Football Manager, Haunted House, Hawkeye, Herbie The Hedgehog, Jet Set Willy TOTU, Joe Blade 3, Jumping Jackson, Kane, Laser Zone 2004, Legend Of Shadow, Manic Miner 30321, Moon Cresta, Nam, Nibble, Not Everyone’s A Wally, P8ng, Paragon DX, Picture Mixer, Pipe Crazy, Point X, Potty Pigeon (Speccy), Potty Pigeon (c64), Push Push Penguin, rEGeneration, Retro River Raid, Robotron 2004, Robotron Blitz, Rocket Crazy, Room Ten, Rootin Tootin, Sensitive, Sir Lancelot, Sleuth, Soccer2600, Splat, Starion 2010, Starship Hector, Still No Escape, Stop The Express, Stupid Ape, Super Burger Bar, The Birds And The Bees, The Purple Turtles, Thunderpac, Timebomb, Tranz Oz, and Trashman Anniversary.
> download 2004 competition entries
2003
THE 2003 Competition // Complete Set
The first ever Retro Remakes competition. A lesson in madness but with a lovely haul of games at the end of it all. NB: Some entries may not work on modern OS without DOSbox.
Contents: Alpha Lunar, The Sacred Armour Of Antiriad, A-Out, Aquaplane, Aroid, Asteroids, Balloon Fight, Berzerk, BlackWhite, Blasto 3d, Blockman, Bomber Warrior, Chikara Flame, Conan, Crazee Rider, Crystalis, Daredevil Dennis, Dizzy’s Bad Day, Duct Hunt, Elevator, Emotion, Faxanadu, Flyroads, Foxx Fights Back, Frog, Fungaloids, Galaxy Warrior, GlugGlug, Ghosts ‘n’ Goblins, Ground Attack, Hard ‘n’ Heavy, Harrier Raid, Impossaball, IO-X, Island Connexion, Joust3, Jumbly, Jungle Trouble, Karateka, Kokotoni Wilf, Orion, Pacmaniac, Pitfall 2, Pong, Pure Sheriff, Push, Quincetron, Road Fighter, Robocop, R-Tronic, SMDodgeball, Space Harrier, Space War, Spore, Spy’s Demise, Spy Hunter, Squish ‘Em, SWIV, Terra 3d, Time Pilot (1), Time Pilot (2), Time Pilot Remix, TSChallenge, Uridium, Vatman, Vib Tilez, Watermania, Water War, Wizball.
> download 2003 competition entries
