In the world of cinema, the term ‘development hell’ is regularly bandied about when describing a production that has been passed from director, to studio, to producer - often with the cast being changed drastically. Very often, these movies never see the light of day and remain the fodder of forum chatter. Games are no different, and over the years many a game has been teased through blurry screenshots in magazines of yesteryear, only for the trail to suddenly go cold. Months pass with no news of that particular title you were looking forward too…and then you find out it has been quietly cancelled. Sound familiar? Some of these cancelled games end up on other platforms in vastly altered states, but many of them never see the light of day. In this latest issue of RetroCollect FM, your hosts Chris, Katsu and Tom discuss the games they were looking forward to, but simply vanished from release schedules. In some cases they did appear in different forms, but in others they disappeared without a trace. https://soundcloud.com/mirkokosmos/starsoldier http://ocremix.org/remix/OCR01406 https://soundcloud.com/rukunetsu/imperial-break-panzer-dragoon

RetroCollect FM - Issue 20: Shinobi With a Legendary lifetime starting way back in 1987 surely most retro-gamers have experienced a taste of Ninja Magic in their gaming lifetime? Join our stealthy hosts on a journey through time as they discuss everything Shinobi: The Shuriken from Sega! This issue of RetroCollect FM contains an eclectic mix of co-hosts, each with a diverse smattering of opinion and of course sensational personality. Bonus flavors include HighStefanion, Jake74, Ian8bit, and SonGoku182 to help deliver our standard Katsu, Cauterize, and Suzzopher specials. Bonus points to anyone wearing a Ninja mask whilst listening to this episode, we had great fun making it!

In 1987 Irem's classic R-Type burst into the Arcades and got many of us feeding the system, as we scrolled through the universe to defeat the Evil Bydo Empire. Later it ported to our home systems, then spawned many sequels turning it into one of Irem's most popular series. Join our hosts Katsu, Chris, and Adam on a journey through time, talking about everything that is R-Type! アール・タイプ

This time on #RCFM: Our intrepid hosts dedicate the entire RetroCollect FM episode towards responding to your intriguing and sometimes odd questions? Ladies & Gentlemen we bring you the Re-Quest II! If you are new to our Re-Quest series? In a Koopa Shell, It’s your chance to put forward questions to the #RCFM team so they can endeavor to answer them on the airwaves… So join Chris, Katsu, and RCFM newcomer Barrie (Aka SonGoku182) as they get stuck into each other and your RCFM Q’s!

Released in Japan in 1985 as the Sega Mark III, The Master System eventually made it's way to US and UK shores in 1986 and 1987 respectively. While Nintendo's Entertainment System enjoyed unparalleled success on the other side of the Atlantic, in the UK it was the Master System that arguably won the battle for gamers' cash. In this latest episode of RetroCollect FM, join Adam, Chris and Katsu as they discuss the rise of the Master System, the variants of the hardware, the lesser-known titles available and also some of the hidden features of Sega's precursor to the Mega Drive.

1997 was an amazing year for gaming: the N64 was finally released in Europe, Suikoden and Final Fantasy 7 entertained PlayStation owners, while Sega Saturn gamers got Manx TT and PC gaming saw the release of Carmageddon, MDK and Dark Forces. Join regular RetroCollect FM hosts Chris, Tom and Katsu as they reminisce about the good, the bad and the ugly in gaming in the year of 1997.

In this latest interview issue, regular RetroCollect FM host Chris is joined by Barry Island from indie developer Infinite State Games to discuss the birth of their newest game Don't Die Mr Robot. Other topics of conversation include Barry's history in the industry, what five games he'd take to a desert island and the revelation that Chris and Barry have both owned a VM Labs Nuon.

For many retro gamers, the 90s was a wonderful era packed to the brim with exciting new developments and technological advancements. Despite the rise of the Internet and other forms of getting our gaming fix delivered daily, one dedicated service we all know and loved remained on the most basic form of communication still around - Teletext. Digitiser was ‘The World’s Only Daily Game Magazine’ and one that wasn’t afraid to push the boundaries every 24 hours.

During the earlier years of the video game industry, companies such as Sega and Nintendo trialled various methods of keeping their dating hardware alive. Instead of releasing new consoles and casting away the old, the latest technology was often crammed into add-ons and expansions to gift older systems an added boost of power. Although seeming like the perfect solution on paper, these enhancements didn't always turn out as planned.

Growing up we all dreamed of the day arcade-perfect gameplay would arrive at home. While it may have hit our living rooms much earlier than expected, the journey there left behind a shed-load of tragic ports and attempts to re-create the coin-op magic.

In 1991 video gamers found themselves cast onto the crime-flooded walkways of a once peaceful city, a location three ex-police officers set out to reclaim from the syndicate. Armed with nothing but their bare knuckles, Axel, Adam and Blaze changed the console gaming landscape forever...