MONTHLY 5 - June 2026

My god has it been hot this past June. The 40°c heatwave that blasted throughout the U.K. has been incredible, and there's another one on the way in a matter of week (if any of the reviews end up being late, this is why)! So, get away from the heat and into some air con (if you're lucky enough to have it) and play some old video games.

And as it's feeling like desert heat out there, why not visit an actual one in the historic adventure Egypt 1156 B.C.: Tomb of the Pharaoh (1997 Réunion des Musées Nationaux, Canal+Multimedia & Cryo Interactive Entertainment). Cool down in some high seas before going on a pillage with the strategy game Cutthroat: Terror on the High Seas (1999 Hothouse Creations & EIDOS Interactive). If ancient Egypt or the Caribbean isn't your thing, how about a trip to Europe in the mysterious adventure game The Watchmaker (2002 Trecision SpA & Got Game Entertainment LLC). And for the action-hounds, we have the action-heavy helicopter sim Hellfire Zone (1995 Absolute Entertainment Inc. & Gametek (UK) Ltd.) or the hovercraft first-person-shooter Rapid Assault (1995 GTE Vantage Incorporated & IBM Corporation).

As for the ongoing update project, there's three to talk about this month. The PC version of the classic puzzle game ZooCube ZQ has been updated for compatibility with Windows 11, as has Spider-Man 2: Activity Centre. Among other upgrades, Shadow of Destiny has had its speed problem fixed thanks to some tweaks to the updated dgVoodoo config. Visit their game pages or the Game Updates section for more information.

MONTHY 5 - May 2026

After a chaotic couple of months, I'm trying to get to some semblance of normality come May's close. And so, I bring you the return of the Monthly 5. Pick of the month is the Myst-like adventure game Sentinel: Descendants in Time (2004 Detalion SC), a game I've owned physically since its release but never played fully until now. Almost as much fun is the arcade flight combat sim Arfix Dogfighter (2000 Paradox Entertainment AB) which has you control model aircraft around every-day locales Micro Machines-style.

On the more obscure side of things is the overlooked FMV sight-seeing spy adventure C.I.T.Y. 2000: London (1993 Rollogame & Aditus Inc) which is a unique time capsule of my country's capital from the early 90s. Then there's the Ocean-published action-adventure hybrid Guts 'n' Garters in DNA Danger (1997 Magic Canvas Entertainment) which has more going for it than at first glance.

To round out the month is a return to the light and bubbly world of Disney with Disney-Pixar Monsters, Inc. Wreck Room Arcade (2002 Disney Interactive), a collection of mini-games that were sold separately to tickle that collectable instinct in us all.

That's not all! I've been doing my best to update as many games as I can for those of us who've taken the plunge on Windows 11 like I've recently have had to do. The native versions of Virtua Cop and Virtua Cop 2 now use dgVoodoo and Thexder for Windows '95 has improved compatibility with the Indeo video codec. Stupid Invaders removed an old DxWnd setup and now relies solely on the more stable current version of dgVoodoo. Last but not least, Star Wars: Monopoly now uses a nifty piece of software I've recently discovered called DREAMM. See each title's game page or visit the Game Updates section for a full rundown on what's been changed. I'll be keeping it updated as and when a new version gets completed, so check back there often.

I'll be back at the end of June for some more retro-gaming goodness, but in the meantime check out this month's choices after the jump...

UPDATE - APRIL 2026

Those who follow me may know that I have recently got a spanking new Windows 11 PC. I wasn't planning this, as I wanted to wait until Microsoft cut off European support for Windows 10 this coming October (a year later than the US as demanded by the EU consumer protection laws). Alas, my PCU died last month so I decided to bite the bullet early and scramble some money together to get a new desktop PC. 

This means that this past month has been dedicated to setting up and organizing my new desktop and checking on the compatibility of existing games on this site. That's over 150 windows-based games I've been testing (a far cry from the 8 I had to check when upgrading to Windows 10 back in 2015). I'll be detailing about where I'm at with that after the jump. Some partially work, some are broken and need more troubleshooting, and some have simple solutions that you can easily implement yourselves in the meantime before I get round to revising and updating the packing. I'm planning to get back to my regular monthly fives next month, but until then check out this updates post below.

MONTHLY 5 - March 2026

March is for movies, and with the Oscars crowning its achievements, I thought I'd crown one of mine. Braveheart (1999 Eidos Interactive, Paramount Pictures & Twentieth Century Fox) has long since been a troublesome game to run, being on my radar right from the very beginning of this sight. The wartime strategy game is now fully playable thanks to some testing and tweaking so go try it out for yourself!

That alone might've made it my pick of the month, but it's another strategy game that takes that for me. The Movies (2006 Lionhead Studios Limited). This business sim from the mind of Peter Molyneux has you create an entire movie studio where you can even make your own in-engine shorts. You won't get anything Oscar-worthy, but it's a fun ride nonetheless.

To round out the stacked month is the much-requested voice-recognition FMV adventure The Jungle Book (1996 International Business Machines Corporation & Disney), the cinematic platformer based on Michel Ocelot's underseen animated movie Azur & Asmar (2006 Ouat Entertainment & Emme), and the obligatory yet entertaining educational tie-in Shrek 2: Activity Center - Twisted Fairy Tale Fun (2004 DreamWorks L.L.C. & Activision Value).

As for gaming updates, the excellent adventure game The Gene Machine got some quality of life improvements including an upgrade to DOSBox-X and controller support. The addictive GameCube puzzle game ZooCube got a handheld companion with the GBA port as well as some Retroarch improvements. Yutaka Saitō's Yoot Tower also saw an addition with its Japanese-exclusive iteration called The Tower II. It's been minimally translated by me to the best of my abilities so we can get a look at those region-locked addons. Lastly, the early Metroidvania, Eye of Horus, got a complete overhaul with emulator updates, remapped controls and the addition of the inferior Commodore 64 port and the definitive Atari ST original. See each of their game pages for a full rundown on their changes.

The first half of this month was spent anticipating the Oscar ceremony itself. I gave you all my predictions during my February post, and as time went on I got increasingly unsure of my choices. I could see Sinners - one of my favourites of the year - being snubbed for most awards, and the talk would be it being one of the Academy's biggest losers (they are notoriously anti-horror), but it got more love than I thought. That loser talk instead shifted to Marty Supreme. In the end, I correctly predicted 15 out of 24, but I ain't mad. Those that won were well deserved in an incredibly strong year.

***

As an aside, my PC decided to pack up on Friday, hence the potential delay of The Movies review. I've been wanting to get an upgrade sometime soon thanks to Windows 10 closing up shop but financial pressures said otherwise. I'll do my best to sort something out so I can get you more stuff next month, but consider this a heads up just in case I don't.

MONTHLY 5 - February 2026

February is traditionally the time for love, so let's get it on with five suiters from gaming past. First, we'll be wooing in style with National Lampoon's Blind Date (1994 Three Vision Interactive Pictures/Interactive Sales Group), an FMV consequence-driven adventure with some saucy comedy. Then, it's time to get some BANG! Gunship Elite (2000 Rayland Interactive & Red Storm Entertainment) for an energetic and fully-thrusted space sim. Quell your excitement as you dive deep into my personal pick, Sentient: Explore the Infinite (1997 Psygnosis Ltd), an action adventure that'll have your brain busting all over the place. Lap it all up doggy-style with a trip to the adventure game Dogday (1996 Asylum Productions Ltd). And, if you're still not satisfied, you can always play with your Mechwarrior (1989 Dynamix Inc, Activision Software & FASA Corporation).

I've a few updates comin' at ya for round two! Quik the Thunder Rabbit has a bunch of new additions, including the leaked prototype of the cancelled SNES sequel. UFOs (aka Gnap) now utilises ScummVM, though there's also the addition of a useful patch to update the remaining Windows  original. Lastly, The X-Files: Resist or Serve makes better use of the graphic features of new emulators and re-vamped the remapped keyboard controls. See each page or the Game Updates section for a full rundown on what's new.

That's quite a night ahead of you. Next month is Movie March thanks to the Oscars airing on March 15th (see my predictions below). I'll be gathering together a quintet of movie-themed games and some of them have been long awaited! I'll see you all then...

Head on after the jump to see the games...

TOP 10 GAMES OF 2025

 

 

The gaming landscape of 2025 was one of uncertainty. Uncertain if that big game from that big company would be as popular as it once was, uncertain job stability, uncertain if GTA would actually release to market, uncertain if I could actually afford a Switch 2... It's all quite worrying. What isn't uncertain is that some good games have released this year, and that I'll rank them into a (slightly belated) Top 10 list. Read on for my thoughts...

MONTHLY 5 - January 2026

2026 is here! And other than a nasty virus that kept me in bed for a week, it also brings the first batch of games escaping from the Collection Chamber. To keep the mood light mid-winter, the theme is music and pick of the month is a Myst-style adventure game revolving around a prog-rock band called Queensrÿche's Promised Land (1996 EMI Records). There's even a bonus disc that's your more traditional interactive encyclopedia. Despite its subtitle, that's all we get for out next game, Tommy: An Interactive Adventure - Then & Now (1996 Eel Pie Publishing Ltd & Backstage Productions Aps) that takes us behind the scenes of The Who's rock-opera, from album to stage musical to feature film.

If classical music is more your style, try and identify the re-jigged compositions of the classic works of Bach, Mozart and more through the iconography of Lewis Carrol's Wonderland in Alice in Music Land (1996 DS Multimedia Productions Ltd). To make your own music with the help of creepy crawlies, give SimTunes (1996 Electronic Arts & Maxis Inc) a go. Lastly, Coktel's last ever game was a mid-2000s rhythm-based mini-game collection called Kooka Bonga: Crazy Monkey Party (2006 Mindscape Northern Europe B.V.) is worthy of a look.

Alas, I haven't had time to return to some updates, and it looks like Top 10 Games will be a little late too (though my mammoth Top 10 Movies rundown is up). It's just me that works on this site, but my aim is to give you as many working old classics and oddities as I can. I'll be back at the end of February to do just that!

Until then, enjoy these musical ditties by clicking on the links after the jump.