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Happy Thursday! This week I’ve flagged up some deals that may interest retro gamers. Would you like to see more of these?

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Benjamin @ Thumb Punks

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RIP: Dragon Quest composer Koichi Sugiyama has died at 90. While a prolific musician, he was a divisive figure owing to his views on the Nanking Massacre and ‘comfort women’, among others. Kotaku have an obituary with more details.

Steal My Sunshine: A full mod of the Gamecube’s Super Mario Sunshine is set for release. Titled Super Mario Eclipse, it has a new story, world, moves, and playable characters, including Luigi and Shadow Mario. You can download a demo right now, and there’s a trailer to boot.

God of Wah...?: David Jaffe has revealed that the first God of War was originally in first-person. Worried that third-person games often make the player character difficult to follow, Jaffe took inspiration from Maken X and decided to bring the kills closer to home. He changed his tune after seeing the excellent combat in Devil May Cry, and borrowed the red color of Shinobi’s scarf for Kratos’ blades.

Deal Me In: Some corking deals this week: Humble Bundle have the complete Neo-Geo Classics collection for $12.99. And Ubisoft are giving away 2001’s Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon for free!

Party Like It’s 1942: New Wave Toys have released their 1942 Replicade cabinet. A 1/6 recreation of the original arcade machine, it includes 1943: Battle of Midway as a bonus, and costs $149.99.

The Japan Only Metroid Game That Changed The Series (Zebes Invasion Order) (DidYouKnowGaming?, 9 minutes)

Cheating a bit here, really; Zebes Invasion Order is a choose-your-own adventure book rather than a video game. But wait – it contains Metroid lore and storylines that wouldn’t appear in cartridge form until years later. Interested? Some nice folks have converted into Twine.

Who are Mario's Parents? The 35 year mystery, SOLVED! (Thomas Game Docs, 13 minutes)

In a typically excellent doc, Thomas uses video games, comics, magazines, and other media to try answer the question: who are Mario’s parents? And he manages to find out, along with plotting more of Mario’s mysterious family tree.

Panorama Cotton review – Segadrunk (SNESDrunk, 5 minutes)

Soon to be ported to all major systems, Panorama Cotton was a Japan-only title that has become one of the Genesis’ most expensive games. It’s a fine shooter, too; similar to something like Space Harrier, and making full use of the console’s capabilities.

Official Lost Levels of Super Mario 3 (gruz, 15 minutes)

Turns out there are lost levels hiding in Super Mario Bros. 3 – 15 of the blighters, in fact. You can access them via a Game Genie or a handy romhack, or watch gruz’s review of the whole lot.

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DOOM (HG101, 17 minutes)

The HG101 crew are covering the entire DOOM franchise in a series of articles. These are not your standard game reviews, however, veering between the history behind the games as much as their quality.

PAL retro games deserve to be preserved, respected, and re-released (Kimmi The Game-Eating She-Monster, 10 minutes)

Before the PS3/Xbox 360, gamers in Europe would receive PAL copies of games that had less vertical resolution and ran a whopping 17.5% slower. You’d think that you’d want modern consoles to emulate the superior NTSC versions, but often the Euro versions would feature key differences (and, on occasion, be – whisper it – better). It also raises a interesting preservation issue – shouldn’t Europeans have the option to play games as they remember them?

Hardware Review: GB Operator Lets You Switch Between Game Boy And PC With Ease (Nintendo Life, 11 minutes)

The GB Operator is a piece of hardware magic that allows you to back up your Game Boy, GBC, and GBA carts and play them on a PC. This in-depth review weighs up the pros and cons of the device.

Skies of Arcadia – Developer Interview Collection (Shmuplations, 103 minutes)

This whopping collection of interviews with the developers of the Skies of Arcadia shines new light on the game. Originally featured in Famitsu Dreamcast and Dreamcast Magazine, it’s a joy to discover the history behind one of the Dreamcast’s (and, later, the Gamecube’s) seminal titles.

Quiz Time: What was the name of the 1991 sequel to Crime Fighters?

Answer at the end of this email!

GB Corp. (Game Boy, $FREE)

This is an odd one: an idle game where you must switch the cart between any physical Game Boy consoles you own to progress. It’s a novel spin on the genre and certainly worth checking out.

Community Pom (Translation Patch) (PlayStation, $FREE)

Similar to the 2D Zelda entries, this Japan-only game gets a spiffing English translation patch. With vibrant art and music, it’s sure to fill a Link-shaped hole in PS1 gamers’ hearts.

Project Vaelius (ZX Spectrum, $FREE)

Project Vaelius is an action adventure game similar to Hero on the Atari 2600. As Space Marine John Kromdar, you must journey to unknown planets to find an antidote to lethal gas Vaelius.

Abu Simbel Profanation - The Full Adventure (Commodore Amiga, $FREE)

A fresh port to the Amiga, Abu Simbel Profanation is the third entry in the Johnny Jones Saga, originally released in 1985. It’s an action adventure title with nice use of the computer’s graphics.

• Remember that cool looking LEGO Mario Question block we featured? There’s now a video trailer

• Both the NEOGEO Pocket Color Selection compilation and SNK vs. Capcom – The Match of the Millennium have landed on Steam. The former contains an extra not found in the Switch release: 1981’s Crush Roller

• My word – this new Street Fighter II Deluxe mod for the NES looks fantastic

• Has Mario been hiding in Sonic The Hedgehog all along?

Quiz Answer: Vendetta.

Thanks to Lou for the question! Have a better one? Send it over and we’ll put it in a future edition!