Showing posts with label Gemaboy Zero. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gemaboy Zero. Show all posts

New Sega Dreamcast Games in GameStop? — Ten Indies Being Reissued by VGNYsoft

While an onslaught of homebrew ports and other crazy projects have been hitting the Dreamcast on an almost weekly basis this year, the commercial indie scene seems to have taken a bit of a backseat. Although we've recently seen a few new larger scale projects being announced for future release, for those who still love the ceremony of placing a physical disc containing a brand-new game into their Dreamcast, the options have certainly become less frequent than in previous years.

But fear not, young hoarder, for VGNYsoft, the publishing arm of Videogamesnewyork, is reissuing ten Dreamcast indie titles, with one of them even getting a special limited edition version too. The games are Cyborg Force, GemaBoy Zero Origins, Captain Barrel, Andro Dunos 2, Breakers, Ganryu, FlashBack, Another World, Escape 2042, and Arcade Racing Legends.

The majority of these titles have received praise from the Junkyard in the past, as demonstrated by review quotes from us that you will find emblazoned on the back covers of these new VGNY releases. Of course, it's worth mentioning that we don't receive any monetary kickback for endorsing these games, we simply wanted to share our praise for some genuinely good indie titles, and VGNYsoft thought that was a great idea too.

Tom Charnock's flash poem about Flashback.

We're particularly happy to see both Cyborg Force and Captain Barrel from developer Neo Byte Force make a return, as they were originally self-published back in 2024, but the developer decided to cease publishing their games themselves. What's more is Cyborg Force will be recieving a special limited edition as well, which will include a super cool VMU shell featuring artwork of the game on it. 

This isn't the first time VGNYsoft has done one of these VMU shell editions for their games. They released one for Sturmwind back in 2024, so anyone who grabbed that will be familiar with what to expect.


Currently, all of the standard editions of these games are ready to purchase from VGNY's site, with the exception of Captain Barrel, which will be available from Monday. The Cyborg Force limited edition with the VMU shell will be going up for pre-order at 10am EST on Wednesday the 9th of September.

Speaking with VGNYsoft, they also let me know that international shipping is now also available. Previously, VGNY haven't offered this option, so it's great to hear that those outside the States will be able to easily grab these as well.

These releases will also be available through Canadian online retailer Video Games Plus.

What's this about new Dreamcast games in GameStop?

Yeah, you heard that correctly. VGNYsoft has also informed us that this particular run of Dreamcast indies will be available at GameStop stores across the U.S. as part of the chain's GameStop Retro initiative. Six older VGNYsoft releases will also be sold alongside the ten titles already mentioned: Shadow Gangs, Sturmwind, Reknum Souls Adventure, Hermes, Xenocider, and Ploid. These six games are already available for purchase on GameStop's site.

Whether you love GameStop or not, seeing a brand-new Dreamcast game on the shelves of a chain that big in the year 2026 is pretty cool, right? Better than endless aisles of Funko Pops, anyway. We just need CEX to do the same here in Old Blighty, especially seeing as they've now said they'll be focusing more on retro too.

Credit: IGN

So, what do you think of the selection of indies VGNY are repressing here? Let us know in the comments below, or via social media!

Gemaboy Zero heads to Dreamcast in 2023!

Taking the prize for the first news story I could be bothered to report on in 2023 (don’t worry, there are plenty more to come - just needed a bit of a break after the festive period!), Nape Games have announced that the ‘retro’ version of their successfully Kickstarted Switch/PlayStation 4 title Gemaboy Zero X will also be gracing the Dreamcast. A companion release to the NES variant, Gemaboy Zero is a slightly paired back iteration of the current-gen game, which promises backers an ‘action, exploration and platform Cyberpunk Ploidmania’ experience. Their words, not mine.

Nape Games are no strangers to the Dreamcast scene, having previously released Reknum and Ploid on the platform; and Gemaboy Zero promises more of the same high quality Metroid-style gameplay that fans of this particular developer will be familiar with. Personally, I haven’t played any of the previous Nape Games Dreamcast releases; but you have to hand it to them - while the Spanish outfit might not be the most recognisable of indie studios out there, they have clearly poured a lot of time and effort into creating their own stable of interesting and original IP, with the Ploid canon in particular carving out its own niche and deep world building.

From the Gemaboy Zero Kickstarter page: “Within the RETRO version for the NES and Dreamcast we will include the new GemaBoy Zero adventure, which will be a parallel adventure to GemaBoy Zero X, a growth adventure for our protagonist Omega while he perfects his Skillmaster ability and thus, be the definitive PLOID X!

If any of that makes sense to you, then congratulations - you are clearly fluent in the lexicon of the Nape Games universe! For the rest of us, basically Gemaboy Zero is a cool looking, retro-themed Metroid-style platform exploration adventure that is worthy - on first glance at least - of your attention. Visit the Kickstarter and the Nape Games website for further details.

I’m reliably informed that Nape Games usually have copies of their Dreamcast titles available to purchase after campaigns have ended, so even though Gemaboy Zero crowdfunding closed in December 2022 it’s well worth keeping an eye on these links to stay informed of when physical or digital will be available to purchase by us plebs who didn’t back it.

Are you a fan of Nape Games’ output on the Dreamcast? Will you be acquiring a copy of Gemaboy Zero? Are you a pleb like me? Let us know in the comments!