Sega Saturn Shiro's #BestOfSaturn series has featured Phantasmagoria, known in Japan as Phantasm, a 1995 Sierra On-Line PC horror adventure game that received a Japan-exclusive Saturn port in 1997. The spotlight notes it is best experienced using the Shuttle or NetLink peripherals. Phantasmagoria was notable in its original PC release for its extensive use of full-motion video and live-action actors. via segasaturnshiro.com
A new fan translation has been released for Time Twist: Rekishi no Katasumi de…, a 1991 Famicom Disk System game co-developed by Nintendo and Pax Softnica. The patch, made without AI tools, allows English-speaking players to experience the title for the first time in their own language. Time Twist is considered one of Nintendo's strangest releases, written and directed by Keiji Terui and seen as a last major title for the Famicom Disk System. The Famicom Disk System was an add-on peripheral for the original Famicom that used proprietary floppy disks instead of cartridges. via timeextension.com
A project has begun recreating the long-rumored Halo DS demo, a build that has only ever been known through images that circulated online since the 2000s. The original demo was never officially released, and details about it have mostly existed as chatter and speculation among fans over the years. This recreation effort aims to bring that elusive piece of Nintendo DS history back as a playable experience. via retrododo.com
A fan-translation patch for The Legend of Xanadu, Falcom's 1994 PC Engine CD-ROM² role-playing game, has been released. The patch was created by homebrewer "Elmer" with interpreter "SamIam" and is available to download from GitLab. The Legend of Xanadu, known in Japan as Kaze no Densetsu Xanadu, is the eighth entry in Falcom's Dragon Slayer series, which began in 1984 on Japanese home computers. The game had previously never received an official English release. via timeextension.com
A developer working on C64 RE Tools, an open-source toolkit for reverse-engineering Commodore 64 software with AI coding agents and the VICE emulator, used it to reconstruct Datasoft's 1984 game Bruce Lee. The rebuild was pieced together from three surviving cracked releases, matching the original game bytes and verifying the result in emulation. During the process, around 6 KB of unused memory was found to contain fragments of the game's original assembler source, including symbol tables with animation names, earlier versions of routines and graphics, music-editor data, and parts of a graphics utility used in development. via reddit.com/r/thisweekinretro
A warehouse used by Nintendo to help launch the NES in North America has reportedly been located and confirmed still standing, looking nearly identical to how it appeared at the time. The building played a role in Nintendo's 1985 push to revive the US console market after the 1983 video game crash had badly damaged retailer and consumer confidence. The find is being described as an important landmark in Nintendo's history, tied to a period when the company's Famicom hardware had succeeded in Japan but its prospects in North America were far from certain. via timeextension.com
A fan project called Neverwinter Nights Revival has brought back SSI's original Neverwinter Nights, the Gold Box style D&D online RPG that ran on AOL from 1991 to 1997 and is widely considered the first graphical MMORPG. The revival runs as a fan-operated server that connects to the original DOS client, letting players access the game again after AOL's version went offline. The project focuses on preserving the original experience rather than offering a remake or new engine. via forum.vcfed.org
A fan translation project for Policenauts on Sega Saturn has reached completion, covering all three discs of the Japan-exclusive adventure game. The patch translates subtitles, menus, in-game graphics, dialogue and video cutscenes, giving English-speaking players full access to the game's story. Policenauts was originally created by Hideo Kojima and released only in Japan, making fan translations the primary way for Western audiences to experience it. via console-classics.com
A fan translation team has announced that an English patch for Ningyo no Rakuin, a Japan-exclusive PS1 tactical RPG with Lovecraftian horror themes, will release on Saturday, October 31st 2026, timed to Halloween. The patch is being created by a group of translators working under the handles vervalkon, chaputranslations, laytonloztew and whowasphone404. The original game was developed and published by Highwaystar and NEC Interchannel and never received an official release outside Japan. via timeextension.com
Digital Foundry's DF Retro series has published a video titled "Inside The Embracer Games Archive: The Collection, The Mission, Dev Collaborations + More". The video, posted on the Digital Foundry YouTube channel, focuses on the Embracer Games Archive. via YouTube
A fan developer known as LemonHaze has decompiled the original console versions of Shenmue and Shenmue II, covering the Dreamcast, Xbox and PC releases. Decompilation turns a game's compiled code back into readable source, making it possible to study, modify and port the engine to new platforms. The project opens the door to community mods, fixes and potential ports of the two Sega-published action-adventure titles beyond their original hardware. Shenmue, released by Sega for the Dreamcast, is widely regarded as a landmark open-world game. via segasaturnshiro.com
Dreamcast community developer enfilade, who runs the DC99 project, has added online leaderboard functionality to Cosmic Smash, Wetrix+ and the Dreamcast port of Cruis'n USA. The feature lets players upload scores and lap times directly from their VMU save files using the console's web browser, with results reported and implemented by DC99. Unlike many revived online features for Dreamcast games that restore services the titles originally had, this leaderboard support is newly created rather than a recreation of a period feature. via thedreamcastjunkyard.co.uk
