The video poker is one of the games of the late seventeen century. This was one of the main attraction for the club and children of that time. At that time, video poker was known as a giant gaming machine. When the casino started, at that time, the gamblers use to test their skill with the computer as an opponent. In video poker game the computer is your opponent, and it will do all shuffling, etc. The only goal of a player in video poker is to keep the best five-card poker hand. This will help the player to win the game.
What are the stages of the video poker game?
As discussed before that, your opponent is your computer. So it is being designed in an AI programmed way so that it can give the feel of late 70s version of video poker. Mentioned below is the basic structure across all the stages of the game.

• The first thing you need to do is purchase coins based on your bank balance.
• Then, you will find that the computer will divide five cards for you.
• Here, you need to decide which card to accept, hold and which card to discard.
• After this, if you find that the present hand matches the qualifying hand, you can win the prize.

What are the different types of video poker game?
There are many types of video poker game available, and you can enjoy them if you install video poker app on your device. Following are the popular types of video poker game:
Jacks or better
This is of the most commonly played types of video poker game. If you go with the name, you can easily deduce that you must possess five card pokers at the end of the round. And these five cards should have a pair of a jack or the higher card to win.
Joker Poker
In case of this variant of poker game, an additional two joker cards are mixed. This helps to increase your chances of getting a strong poker hand.
All American
Once you start playing All American variant, you will find that the increased payout is usually offered to the flushes and straights. Thus, you can say that the only difference in this variant of the video poker game is the winning payout.
Deuces Wild
In case of Deuces wild variant of the video poker game, the 2s act as the wilds. This means that if you get a card number 2 of any suit, you can transform it based on your choice. Thus, you should always keep in mind never discarding a 2s card for Deuces wild video poker game.
Inference
If you want to enjoy a different variant of the video poker app, you can try a real money poker app. You can also earn real money from it.

​
Whamoo Casino Review & Free Bonus
Sign up with Whamoo Casino and test slots in freeplay - No Deposit Required! Additionally, take advantage of 300 Free Spins and up to 600 EUUSD Welcome Bonus. Exclusive promo codes apply. Click on the link below and start playing for free!
>> Get No Deposit Bonus Now <<

About Whamoo Casino [Full Review]

Whamoo is a brand new, fun-loving online casino that has recently opened its premises for gamblers from many countries around the world. It does however promise to be more than just an online casino, as Whamoo describes itself as a lifestyle and feeling.
The rush you feel when the reels spin. The sound you make when that spin turns into a huge win. That’s Whamoo. Yet Whamoo is so much more than that. This online casino promises all you would expect from a reputable online casino – but then improved further. A massive game library? Check. Live casino? Check. Full mobile compatibility? Check. An entire VIP bonus programme for loyal customers? Check. Whamoo is a casino which comes with the entire package which players have come to expect of a casino provider.
On paper Whamoo sounds like a great online casino. But being a newcomer on the scene, there are of course always some open questions. How reliable is Whamoo? What can you expect from this brand new casino when it comes to the available games? How cooperative is their online help desk? What kind of welcome bonuses are there for new players who wish to open an online account?
In our extensive Whamoo review, we will try to answer all of the above questions and guide you through this brand new casino. So do read on and let’s explore this exciting new addition to the world of online gambling!
>> Get No Deposit Bonus Now <<

A fully licenced online casino

Whamoo is a fully licenced online casino and a safe place for gamblers to put down their wagers. The website of whamoo.com is operated by DialMedia Ltd, a company registered by the Malta Business Registry with number C86642, on the registered address of Depiro Point, Block A2, Triq Mons G. Depiro, Sliema, Malta.
As gambling operator, DialMedia Ltd. fully licensed and regulated by the Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) under licence number MGA/B2C/542/2018 issued on 10/04/2019.
What does this say about the reliability of Whamoo?
The MGA licence is one of the better ones you can find in the online casino world as Malta is the major European nation when it comes to online gambling. It is home not only to most of the world’s top online casinos, but also to many software providers and other businesses providing auxiliary services in the gambling industry.
A Malta Gaming Authority licence is not handed out with ease, as a company needs to fulfil many criteria before being granted one. The national gambling authorities of this Mediterranean island and EU member state check for example if all games which are made available are indeed fair and honest. They also check whether a company has enough cash reserves to pay out lucky winners of casino games and hold regular audits to ensure that there are no irregularities.
If an online casino has a MGA licence, it means that all the important criteria when it comes to safety, honesty and reliability are fulfilled and that it is a safe place to gamble. For us, the online casino licence is always a first thing we check before we even would consider playing somewhere. With this crucial criteria being fulfilled, we can thus move forward in our Whamoo review and look at all the other things this casino has to offer. And to be honest, the whole Whamoo package looks quite promising! Three of the main selling points of the Whamoo online casino are:

• Compile your own welcome bonus package and decide between free spins or a deposit bonus – or a combination of both.
• Hundreds of games from top casino software developers, including an exciting live casino platform.
• Recurring reload bonuses every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

Whamoo clearly sounds like a promising casino when looking at the selling points, but do these points hold up when we test out the casino in real? Let’s continue our review of Whamoo with one of the most important aspects of every online casino: its game library. Which casino games can we find back in the Whamoo game collection? How honest and fair are these games? These are all legit questions which must be looked into before you can decide whether or not an online casino is suitable or not.
>> Get No Deposit Bonus Now <<

Games from top software developers

When checking the list of Whamoo’s software providers you can only feel relieved as this brand new online casino only has games from the world’s top casino games developers. Especially for a newly opened online casino it is important to show to the public that you are talking serious – and you can only do that by adding the most popular games from the top software providers to your game library.
It’s not only about fun. Sure, these top software developers are known for making some of the most fantastic video slots, stellar table games. They have the most exhilarating and professional live casino tables to which you can connect in just a few clicks. But it’s more than just playing fun, graphics and game design.
By only having games from the top software companies, you are giving your players a clear message that you are only satisfied with the best quality games. Perhaps the most important aspect is game reliability, honesty and fairness. All games from the top software companies are fully tested and accredited by regulatory bodies. These gaming authorities check whether games indeed turn out completely random results and give gamblers a honest shot at winning. This is perhaps even more important than just a fantastically designed game, as in the end what matters most is reliability and honesty inside a casino.

RNG

The games which can be played at Whamoo Casino all have a piece of code called a Random Number Generator (RNG). With a random number generator, the outcome of every game is completely random and independent from previous results. It means that every card being dealt on the table, all dice which are thrown during a game, and every ball spinning around in the roulette wheel is never predetermined. Let’s put it this way: if you throw a single dice with the numbers 1 to 6 on it, you have indeed an exact 1 out of 6 chance that it will land on your predicted number.
A random number generator is absolutely crucial when it comes to delivering fair game results and giving gamblers a honest chance at winning. By having games from the top software providers, Whamoo makes sure that you can trust the fairness of every casino game you play. The good thing is that not only are the game results subject to occasional audits by regulatory authorities, but that these software providers also pro-actively test their own games to ensure they fulfil the highest industry standards. They hire independent testing agencies such as eCOGRA to check their games, both in virtual simulations and real-time results.
Let’s take a look at the software providers whose games have already been added to the Whamoo game library. As these are some of the best known software developers in the world, chances are that you have heard about some of these names before!
>> Get No Deposit Bonus Now <<

NETENT GAMES

Also known by its full name of Net Entertainment, NetEnt is one of the largest casino game developers in the world. NetEnt is a Swedish company which was founded in 1996, which makes it one of the oldest companies in the relatively young world of online casino gaming. It is so big, that the company is even listed on the local NASDAQ stock exchange in Stockholm, Sweden!
NetEnt is best known for its vast video slot portfolio, of which many games are also playable at Whamoo. Having NetEnt games in your casino game library is almost a must for every online casino, as besides Whamoo some 300 or so more online casinos have NetEnt games available, which tells you something about the popularity of this company. Just like Whamoo itself, NetEnt has a full gambling licence in the EU member state of Malta, which means that all games are subject to regulatory oversight and can be trusted for their fairness. NetEnt also works closely together with independent testing labs to ensure that their games meet the highest standards.
Some popular NetEnt games which you can play at Whamoo are Jack and the Beanstalk, BerryBurst, Twin Spin, The Vikings, Wings of Riches, Aloha!, Fruit Shop, Jacks or Better, Gonzo’s Quest, Dazzle Me, Wild Bazaar and of course the eternal favourite of Starburst.

PRAGMATIC PLAY GAMES

Pragmatic Play is another major company in the online gaming world. The casino games of Pragmatic Play are always popular with the players, so it is no surprise that Whamoo has chosen to add quite a few Pragmatic Play games to its online collection. Pragmatic Play focuses mostly on online video slots, although they also make some exciting live casino games which are hosted in their own studios.
Being only founded in 2015, Pragmatic Play is a relative newcomer within the game developing industry. Yet in those few years time, the company already managed to reach to top heights with Pragmatic Play being considered to rank among the top game providers. Quality and safety are of immense importance for Pragmatic Play. Therefore, all games are documented and tested by independent auditors and testing labs such as QUINEL, BMM and Gaming Labs.
Popular Pragmatic Play games which can be played at Whamoo are John Hunter and the Aztec Treasure, Great Rhino Megaways, Leprechaun Song, Lucky Dragons, Mustang Gold, The Champions, Vegas Nights, Aztec Gems, Buffalo King, Starz Megaways, Triple Jokers, Magic Crystals, Sugar Rush, Beowulf and many more exciting video slots.
Of course, many baccarat, blackjack and roulette variants are available in Whamoo’s Live Casino which is powered by Pragmatic Play software. You are connected by high resolution video feed to professional dealers and croupiers in one of the Pragmatic Play casino studios where you can experience the thrills of a real life casino behind your computer or mobile phone. It’s almost like you are standing in Vegas!

STAKELOGIC GAMES

Stakelogic is another popular software developer which has added its games to the Whamoo game library. As one of the best-known developers in the software industry, it is always a good sign that Stakelogic games are available to play given that this company has made some exciting video slots.
Using HTML5, Stakelogic games are of course fully mobile compatible, which means you can play them on your smartphone as well. The company has also made some exciting new 3D slots which are not only gorgeous to look at but also wild fun to play. As an off-shoot company from gaming giants Novomatic, Stakelogic certainly is a reputable software developer which can be trusted when it comes to fairness and reliability.
Popular Stakelogic games are Epic Slam, Wild Stallion, Magic Wheel, Super Wild Arcade, Fruit Spinner, Lucky Gems Deluxe, Hot Fruits, Grand Slam Deluxe, Runner Runner, Turbo 4 Player Jackpot, Dragons and Magic, Big 5 Jungle Jackpot, Mariachi and The Big Cash Game.
>> Get No Deposit Bonus Now <<

High limit gaming options

Whamoo is an online casino which is not only suitable for gamblers on a tight budget, but also for the true high rollers. You can place bets as low as a few cents, or as high as several thousands of euros or dollars at this online casino. Depending on your game of choice, whether its a jackpot video slot or classic table game, there are countless of options to bet big for maximum excitement and chances of winning top prizes. Further down in this Whamoo review, we will discuss some of the high limit games which are available.
Highrollers should also note that Whamoo comes with its own VIP programme in which you can quickly work yourself to the top category if you bet big. You can get instant access to your own dedicated casino manager and will get invites to high stakes tournaments. There are special weekly cashback bonuses as well for the true high roller gamblers at Whamoo. We will discuss the VIP program more in depth a bit further down this Whamoo review.
For now, let’s take a look at all the high roller games which are available at Whamoo Online Casino!

Endless rows of jackpot video slots

If you are a real lover of video slots you will be glad to hear that Whamoo has several hundreds of online video slots available. Although some of these slots are more suitable for beginning players or those on a tight budget, there are plenty of slots available where you can bet up to 100 euro/dollar per spin. This makes for some exhilarating and thrilling slot game action which will please any high stakes gambler out there!
Of course, Whamoo also has its share of jackpot slots where you have a shot at winning the progressive jackpot which can run well above a million euro or dollar! These premium slots, such as those using the famous Megaways system, offer countless of opportunities to place maximum bets at your video slot of choice.
Check the Whamoo game library whether or not your favourite slot is available as well, or try one of the many exciting new game additions! It is easy to browse through the Whamoo website. You can sort slots by software provider, or use the search function to check for your beloved title.

Join for some high stakes blackjack action

Blackjack has always been one of the most popular games among high rollers and the reasons why are quite clear. You can often bet high amounts of money on a single play and you can as a player slightly influence the outcome of a game as you need to decide whether you want to stand or hit another card.
At Whamoo, there is plenty of high stakes blackjack action. There are both normal blackjack games such as American Blackjack and multihand Blackjack, as well as blackjack tables in the live casino. In the live casino, which is powered by Pragmatic Play software, you can play several blackjack variants. Bets of up to several hundreds of euros or dollars, or even higher for the real VIPs, are possible.
Beat the hand of the dealer and hit that score of 21. Maybe it will be your lucky day playing blackjack at Whamoo Online Casino!

Grab a seat at the roulette table

There is plenty of roulette action at Whamoo as well. You can choose between virtual roulette versions, or opt for a seat at a roulette table in the live casino, where you are connected to a real-time croupier by video feed. Especially in the live casino high bets of up to a thousand dollar or more are possible, making roulette a big favourite among the real high stake gamblers.
Of course, Whamoo Casino has all of the the standard roulette versions of American Roulette, French Roulette and European Roulette. Most of these games are developed by software giants NetEnt.
In the live casino, there is also Roulette Macao Live, where you will be connected to a gaming environment which makes you feel like you are playing in the famous casinos of this Chinese gambling mecca. Live Speed Roulette, Live Roulette Auto and Roulette Azure are popular Pragmatic Play live casino versions of roulette which are available to Whamoo players.
>> Get No Deposit Bonus Now <<

Whamoo's unique bonus package

One area in which Whamoo stands out as online casino is its great bonus package. Of course, there is a great welcome bonus for newly registered users. But the fun doesn’t stop there! At Whamoo casino, it is bonus day almost every single day of the week. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays the casino has recurring bonus offers if you reload you bankroll on one of those days. This makes Whamoo not only an attractive casino at the moment you sign up, but also at all those moments when you come back to play again.
300 free spins or a €200 deposit bonus

The Whamoo welcome bonus

We start of discussing the Whamoo welcome bonus which is called the “Welcombo” bonus by the casino. On a picture the Welcombo might not look too appealing as its packed in a carton takeaway box you might get at a certain fast food restaurant, but trust us on this: its contents are truly fantastic.
The Welcombo box contains a combination of goodies you get with your very first deposit at Whamoo. And what is best of all? You can decide what combo you want to receive! If you sign up at Whamoo for a free online casino account, you can determine your own bonus by adjusting the slide until you have found a combination which matches your idea of a perfect bonus.
This is a great option as it allows people to choose the bonus which best suits them. You can choose between free spins and a deposit bonus – or a combination of both. If you are an avid video slot gamer and do not care much about table games, you may want to slide all the way to the maximum free spins bonus. In that case, you will receive 300 free spins, but your deposit bonus will be 0%. The free spins in the Welcombo package are valid on the popular Amatic Industries slot Book of Fortune.
On the other hand, if you only care about table games and are not really interested in free spins and playing video slots, you want to adjust the slide to the maximum deposit bonus. This is a 100% deposit bonus of up to 200 euro. This means that if you deposit 200 euro of your own money to your newly created online casino account, Whamoo will top this up by another 200 euro from the house! If you select the full 100% deposit bonus, you will however not receive any free spins at all.
Of course, you can also opt for a mix between free spins and a deposit bonus. If you leave the slider in the middle, you will get 150 free spins and a 50% deposit bonus, for example. You can tweak this in any direction you want, for example to a 70% deposit bonus and 90 free spins. The higher your deposit bonus, the less free spins you receive. Want more free spins? Then your deposit bonus will decrease.

Welcombo bonus terms and conditions

Only one bonus is allowed per household and/or per player account. Do note that Whamoo’s bonuses remain valid until seven days after the required deposit has been made. Once this period ends, the bonus is automatically flagged as expired by the system and can no longer be released. The expired bonus funds are then automatically removed from the player’s account.
Of course, there is a wagering requirement which must be met in order to withdraw your bonus money and any winnings which may derive from it. Real money balance is used prior to bonus balance. The bonus balance will only be used when there is no real money available in your account. Only real money funds and released bonus funds can contribute towards the wagering requirement of the bonus. The wagering requirement for the Welcombo deposit bonus and free spins is thirty times (30x) the deposit + bonus.
Do note that players that deposit money using Paysafecard, Skrill or Neteller are not eligible for the Welcombo. To assure fair gaming and prevent fraud, Whamoo has placed a maximum cap on bonus money wagers, which are limited to a maximum per round/bet of €5 or its equivalent in other currencies. You should also be aware that certain games cannot be played using bonus money. There is a full overview of these games on the Whamoo bonus page.
Bets placed in certain games might not contribute fully to the wagering requirements.

• Bets placed on video slots count for 100%
• Bets placed on scratch cards count for 100%
• Bets placed on blackjack count for 10%
• Bets placed on video poker count for 10%
• Bets placed on poker count for 10%
• Bets placed on roulette, baccarat, sic-bo and craps do not count
• Bets placed on live casino games do not count

Recurring bonuses at Whamoo

The bonus fun does not stop at the welcome bonus when you play at Whamoo! You can count on a constant stream of promotional campaigns and bonus offers. The casino has recurring promo offers every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. If you deposit some extra money to your online casino bankroll on one of those days, you are eligible for a bonus. It therefore pays off to wait for these days before you decide to reload your online funds.
On Monday it is Pick ‘n’ Play day to start off the week with some good vibes. On this day, the casino basically tops up your deposited money You can:

• Turn your €20 into €25 with the code 100024;
• turn your €50 into €65 with the code 100025, and/or
• turn your €100 into €135 with the code 100026.

It is even possible to combine these bonuses if you want to deposit a larger sum! Alternatively, you can use the bonus codes of WHPICK5, WHPICK15 and WHPICK35 by putting these into the promo code field on the cashier page every Monday.

Whoa Wednesday

Wednesday is for many a difficult day in the week, it being right in the middle of another long week of work. To spice up things, Whamoo has come with an unusual bonus which it calls “Whoa Wednesday”.
Every Wednesday you get to uncover your secret gift – for free, no strings attached. The casino will add this gift to your next deposit. This can be a bonus, a set of free spins, or even both. You’ll get all the details once you’ve pulled off the cover and logged into your account. You will receive the bonus details and promotional code, which you can use in the promo field at the payment page to receive your hard-earned Wednesday bonus.

Freeday bonus

Friday is the favourite day of the week for many people – and the reason why is quite obvious. It marks the end of another working week and the start of some well-deserved weekend R&R! For many people this involves paying a visit to a land-based or online casino to get their kicks at their favourite game, whether it is a card game, roulette or video slot.
Whamoo knows that many people cannot wait for the days off work to start and therefore has come up with a special Friday bonus to welcome in the weekend! This bonus day is called ‘Freeday’ by Whamoo. The casino basically hands you a bunch of free spins if you are a regular customer. For every weekday from the previous week (Friday through Thursday) that you’ve deposited 30 euro or more, you get 10 free spins. For every weekend day you even get 20 Free Spins! That means up to 90 Free Spins are yours to play with. That’s a great start to a weekend full of partying and fun!

Wagering requirements

Do note that wagering requirements do apply to all daily promo offers. These are more or less the same as we outlined above in the description of the welcome package, but do take a look at the bonus terms and conditions page on the Whamoo website to know precisely what you can expect! As always, it is important to read the small print in order not to face any surprises later on.
>> Get No Deposit Bonus Now <<

A fully mobile compatible casino

As a brand new online casino, Whamoo knows that already a majority of gamblers nowadays play on their mobile phones rather than on computers. Because of this, the Whamoo casino is fully compatible with mobile devices and tablets. If you load the Whamoo website on your smartphone, it looks just as good as on your laptop of computer. It’s equally accessible and orderly too! The mobile website is a breeze to browse through and you can easily access all the important pages such as the game library and payment page.
The same counts for the actual games themselves. Whamoo only works with software providers which are known to offer full mobile gaming support. These games are made in code such as HTML5, which means that the games can simply be played in your (mobile) internet browser. There is no download or special app required to play these games. Whether you are playing on your computer, tablet or smartphone, you simply surf to Whamoo.com and select your favourite game from the library. This game will then open in your internet browser – and you can play instantly. It does not matter whether your phone runs on Android or is an iPhone, nor does it matter whether you have Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, Opera, Safari or any other internet browser. Whamoo will function just fine!
This is absolutely great as you can now play at Whamoo wherever you are, whenever you want. Want to put down some wagers on the roulette table while you are sitting in public transport on your way to work? That’s easily doable! Just take out your smartphone on the train or bus, and surf to Whamoo.com to play at your favourite roulette table. Are you sitting on your couch at home and want to play a few hands of blackjack before going to sleep? Just take out your laptop, tablet or phone and within seconds you can have some of the most exhilarating blackjack fun on your screen.

The Whamoo Live Casino

Whamoo’s live casino is powered by Pragmatic Play and NetEnt software – which are two of the biggest, most reputable software providers in the world. This is great news for the players, as you can access high quality tables in just a few clicks.
In the live casino, you are connected with a live video feed to a real-time casino table in one of the casino studios of these software providers. You can play games like baccarat, blackjack and roulette like you are standing in a real land-based casino in Vegas or Monaco! Thanks to the high definition video stream, you have a great overview of all the action which unfolds on and around the table.
All table games are led by experienced, professional croupiers and dealers who are not only well-trained, but entertaining as well. By all means, feel free to open your microphone or the chat window to have a talk with them, or even with other players from around the world. This is what makes the live casino such a great invention. Even though you might be sitting at home in front of your laptop or computer, it does almost feel like you are standing in a casino for real!
Especially for high rollers the live casino is a worthwhile addition as table limits are often much higher than in regular games. Of course, if you are on a tight budget there will definitely be live casino tables where low minimum bets are allowed too – no worries there. But it is the experienced, high stakes gambler who probably feels most at home in the live casino.
There are multiple baccarat, blackjack and roulette variants which you can play. For roulette, there is American Roulette, European Roulette, French Roulette, Speed Roulette, Live Roulette Auto and Roulette Macao Live. If you prefer the casino classic of blackjack, you will find plenty of different tables all with slightly different betting limits. Baccarat is perhaps the game with the highest betting limit. Besides the regular version, there are also Speed Baccarat tables. A fourth casino game which can be played live at the Whamoo Live Casino is Sic Bo. Just browse through the list of live casino games, or use the search function to find your favourite table!
>> Get No Deposit Bonus Now <<

“I want X for Switch”, “when is X coming to the Switch”, “X is perfect for the Switch!” How often have you heard or said these sentences? Quite a lot, probably, especially about Nintendo franchises. Nintendo fans really like first-party games, and they’re always asking for their favorites to come back. Problem is, even though Nintendo owns dozens of franchises, there’s only a few that are guaranteed to show up during any given console, so fans of smaller franchises are left wondering when they’ll play them again.
Well, today I’ll try to mostly answer these questions. I’ll take a look at several, Nintendo-owned franchises and try to figure out what are their chances of coming to Switch. I’ll be basing myself on this such as release schedule, success of previous entries, popular demand, market niche and internal interest at Nintendo.
However, keep in mind two things. One: Nintendo owns a shit-ton of IPs, and I won’t cover them all. I’ll focus on the ones that have multiple entries, and even then, I might skip a few if I feel I have no meaningful insight.
And two: No matter what I or anyone else says, the chances for any of these games to come back is NOT ZERO. Nintendo is unpredictable and they’ll sometimes bring something out of the blue when you least expect it. This year alone we saw the return of Brain Age (a franchise not seen since 2012), Clubhouse Games (a sequel to a game from 2005), and Famicom Detective Club, a franchise with two games from 1988/89, which then received a remake in 1998 and then nothing until twenty two years later. Granted, it’s another remake, but it is still a modern installment in a franchise twenty two years dormant. If Famicom Detective Club can come back in 2020, so can your favorite franchise. Now, let’s begin, in alphabetical order:
Art Academy
Starting off with a small one. Art Academy is a series of drawing games that started on the DS in 2010 and then released pretty consistently over the following years, with three entries on 3DS and two (well, one and a half) for the WiiU between 2010 and 2016. Already this feels like a franchise with a pretty consistent release schedule, even though it hasn’t been seen for four years now. I don’t think any of the games were blockbusters, per se, but they also don’t need to be. They’re small games, probably inexpensive to produce that seem to do consistently well enough to get new sequels.
There are several obstacles that present themselves to the release of a new Art Academy, but I think all of them are easily overcome. For starters, AA is the type of casual game that thrived during the DS/Wii eras, a Touch Generations game. Since the Switch released, many have noted that Nintendo may want to distance themselves from that era due to the failure of the WiiU, and there may be some truth to that, but I feel like this is starting to change. Again, this year saw the return of both Brain Age and Clubhouse Games, both casual, Touch Generations DS games. I feel like, at the start of the Switch’s life cycle, Nintendo was indeed trying to focus on core gamers, but now that they have secured that core gamer audience, they may be more comfortable releasing more casual fare.
Furthermore Art Academy is developed by Headstrong Games, a British developer that doesn’t seem to do much other than AA. However, in 2017, that team was absorbed into its parent studio, Kuju Games. This move, which happened the year after the last AA game released, may have something to do with the franchsie’s MIA status. But, Kuju games is still active, having released a game just last year, and I don’t see why they couldn’t take up the mantle.
Finally, some speculated a few years ago that AA was dead due to the Switch not having a stylus but, OH WAIT, Brain Age fixed that too!
All in all, even though Art Academy is hardly a hot franchise, there’s very little standing in the way of its return, and little reason to doubt that it will.
Chances: Good
Chibi-Robo!
We may have started on a positive note, but here comes a downer. Chibi-Robo is probably not coming back anytime soon. This cute little robot debuted in his self-titled Game Cube game, developed by Skip Ltd. Like most games by the developer, it was quirky and fun, and not very popular, but had its fans, and Chibi-Robo must have endeared someone at Nintendo, because he kept showing up here and there. He got two DS sequels, though the second one was Japan-only, already a red flag. In 2013, he starred in a 3DS eshop game that was very different from the main games, more of an experimental spin-off, and was not well-received.
But the real final nail came in 2015, with Chibi-Robo Zip Lash! The game was announced to be a 2D platformer, and many fans identified the change in genre (from a unique adventure game to one of the most over-saturated genres in Nintendo consoles) as a total sell-out, and they were totally correct! The developers basically admitted that they did it to try and get more players (red flag). Series producer Kensuke Tanabe then said that if the game didn’t sell well, it could be the end of the franchise (RED FLAG). And then, the unfortunate but inevitable happened. Zip Lash was a critical and commercial bomb, and neither the developer nor the franchise has been seen again. Aside from the inevitable Smash Bros mentions, Chibi-Robo has only been seen on that infamous flaming tweet from 2018 (I told you someone at Nintendo really likes them). To make matters worse, there are increasing signs that Skip Ltd may be going under
So, a struggling franchise makes a desperate move to gain fans, a developer expresses concerns for its future if the game bombs, said game bombs and now the developer may be going out of business? It seems the writing is on the wall.
Now, even if Skip goes under, that is not necessarily the end of Chibi. Nintendo would still retain the rights, as they did for Trace Memory and Hotel Dusk after developer Cing went under. As for whether or not Nintendo would want to give the franchise a second (third? Fourth?) chance, it doesn’t look good
Chances: Very bad
Custom Robo
From one diminutive robot to another, the Custom Robo series is and robo-battle series that began on the N64. It was Japan only, as was its N64 and GBA sequels. Afterwards, Nintendo did try to expand it, releasing a GameCube game in NA, and a DS game in NA and Europe. However, despite the fact that players of these games will attest to how good these games are, they didn’t seem to do very well, and the franchise has not been seen since 2007.
There was one statement of internal interest, when a developer in 2014 said that he heard demands both inside and outside the company for a new entry, but that there were no plans for one, and he was unsure when there would be. Six years on, it seems there still aren’t. In fact, the developer itself, Noise, is also strangely MIA. Though they are officially still active, with their website being updated for 2020, they have not worked on a game since 2015.
Then, in 2018, many fans watched in horror the news that Nintendo let the trademark expire. Some have pointed out that this isn’t as bad as it seems, as it refers specifically to games on optical discs, which Nintendo doesn’t make anymore, but I don’t know enough about the subject to say for certain. Regardless, it’s evident that Nintendo still owns the franchise, as Custom Robo content appears in Smash Ultimate.
On the other hand, one of the series creators, Kohji Kendoh, is still thinking about it. He is working for another developer, and released a suspiciously similar game called Synaptic Drive just this year, as well as talking about Custom Robo in social media. It seems like a Mighty no9/ Yooka-Laylee/Bloodstained situation, in which the owner of an Ip is not using it, so the creator releases a spiritual successor.
Bottom line, there seems to be demand for Custom Robo. A developer saw it six years ago, and the creator is seeing it now. Whether or not thinks this demand is enough to revive the franchise, is tough to say, but doesn’t look great.
Not as bad as Chibi-Robo, though
Chances: Bad
Daigasso! Band Brothers
Here’s a franchise Americans never got. Daigasso! Band Brother is a rhythm game released for the DS in 2004 and stars Barbara the Bat, who has an uncharacteristically risqué design for Nintendo. The game was Japan-only but seems to have been successful, it received a sequel in 2009 (released in Europe, but not NA), and another in 2013 for the 3DS. Despite not having received new games since then, the series is far from inactive. Barbara the Bat in particular, like Chibi-Robo, seems to have fans inside Nintendo because she pops up everywhere. She had cameos in a few other DS games, she was an AT in Brawl and a spirit in Ultimate, she was a costume in Mario Maker, she appeared in a comic strip with WarioWare’s Ashley, and the series has a Twitter account that was super active all the way up to April of this year (more on that later). In 2017, that account even tweeted a comic strip of Barbara demanding a Switch. That was probably not a tease of anything, as it’s been 3 years and nothing, but stuff has happened with the franchise even more recently.
Last year, in 2019, six years after the release of the 3DS game, there were 30 songs added to the game in celebration of the series 15th anniversary. So as late as last year, Nintendo was celebrating this franchise with an in-game event. Now, the servers for the game were shut down earlier this year (hence the end of the Twitter account), and the game was removed from the eshop (as it is basically pointless without the servers), but with recent news that the 3DS has ceased production, it’s pretty clear that the game’s end is a consequence of the 3DS’ end, and not a lack of players. So if the series is alive, but can’t be on the 3DS, it has to go somewhere, no? Bottom line: the games are successful, the series is active, and the character is popular. I don’t know if Barbara the Bat’s next tour will be an international one, but I’m confident it will happen
Chances: Very Good
Dillon’s Rolling Western
DRW is a unique western-themed tower defense game released on the 3DS eshop in 2012. It received mixed reviews, but had a dedicated fanbase, and was successful enough to spawn two sequels, one in 2013, and a post-apocalyptic themed one in 2018. With a game having released just two years ago, its reasonable to say the series is not dormant, so the prospect of a new game is always likely. The developer, Vanpool, who mostly works on smaller scale stuff like this, is both still active and still working at Nintendo.
So, really the only reason to believe the series wouldn’t continue would be if the latest game bombed really hard. It’s hard to say that it did, as sales figures are unavailable, but it was a 3DS game in 2018, probably didn’t set the charts on fire. But then again, unless Nintendo had some really unrealistically high expectations, I don’t think it could have bombed hard enough to kill the franchise that fast.
There’s not much more to say. There aren’t any rumblings of a return, but also no reason to be pessimistic.
Chance: Above Average
Earthbound
Let’s make one thing perfectly clear: There will not be a Mother 4
The Creator of the series, Shigesato Itoi, has said that he would not work on a fourth installment, as he feels the story is complete. Now, normally, Nintendo could just say “screw creative integrity, let’s make a fourth game anyway!” but Shigesato Itoi directly co-owns the series’ copyright so they actually can’t. So unless Itoi changes his mind, or he dies and Nintendo decides to ignore his wishes (neither scenario is completely outside the realm of possibility), Mother 4 is not happening.
So, if new Mother content is made, it’d be either a remake, or Mother 3 localization. We all know demand for this last one is overwhelming, Nintendo themselves have acknowledged it multiple times, but it still hasn’t happened, and it doesn’t seem things have changed. A remake is possible, but don’t hold your breath for it.
Despite the series’ popularity, I think all we’ll see of it is the first two games in NSO.
Chances: Bad
Excitebike
This is a hard one to pinpoint. Excitebike is one of those classic NES games that Nintendo likes to reference all the time, like Ice Climber, Balloon Fight, Wrecking Crew and Duck Hunt. Unlike those, Excitebike actually received sequels and established a franchised. There was a great entry on the N64 and three entries on the Wii, but nothing more since. I can’t imagine the Wii entries were super successful, and there really hasn’t been any word from Nintendo about any interest in reviving the series, either from developers, or the fans. The developer of the Wii games, Monster Games, is still active, and still makes racing games and extreme sports games, but hasn’t worked with Nintendo in 5 years.
Now, one point I see often, and that I’d like to address, is the idea that Nintendo doesn’t want multiple games from the same genre on the same console. I can’t agree. With the exception of the WiiU, every Nintendo home console since the SNES has had multiple Nintendo-published racing games released for it. WiiU didn’t but that console is an exception to many norms. I don’t see why Mario Kart, behemoth that it is, would stop any other racing game from being made, especially when they are so very different (although the fact that MK8 has an Excitebike track doesn’t inspire confidence).
No, I don’t think Mario Kart is the problem, I think is just lack of interest. And though Excitebike is not a franchise Nintendo will ever truly forget, it’s not really revving up for a comeback either. It could happen, it could not
Chances: Medium
Fatal Frame
This horror franchise wasn’t originally a Nintendo product, being released on the PS2 by Tecmo. However, since the fourth game, each title in the series has been published and copyrighted by Nintendo, and this seemingly applies to all future entries, as the series producer said the series’ future is up to Nintendo. So, how does that future look like?
Well, the last game in the series, Maiden of Black Water, was a WiiU game, which means it didn’t sell well, but not as badly as you might think. From all I could find, which is admittedly not much, sales for the game seemed to be only slightly less than previous entries, a gap more than explainable by its console. So, if the series was getting sequels before, the WiiU game’s sales wouldn’t be the reason why there wouldn’t be more. And though Nintendo of America has had to take baby steps into accepting the franchise overseas, Nintendo of Japan seemed satisfied with it, releasing four games between 2008 and 2014.
So sales aren’t an evident problem, what about the developer? That developer is Tecmo Koei, who is not only active and buddies with Nintendo, their current project is none other than Nintendo’s big holiday title. There’s obvious trust there. As for interest, there is a lot. From Koei Tecmo calling it a valuable IP, to the series producer stating multiple times, including this year, that he’d like to bring it to the Switch
Now, this comment pretty much confirms that a new Fatal Frame is not in development as of now, but it has a chance of happening. And remember, the last game is on WiiU, and if we know anything about those, is that they like to come to Switch. And though I don’t see Nintendo breaking their necks to make a new entry, I don’t think they’d oppose it if Tecmo pitches it to them, especially if it’s just a port.
Chances: Good
Fossil Fighters
This game is not Pokémon, or so its fans tell me. Fossil Fighters is a DS game from 2008 where you collect various species of dinosaur and battle with other ~Dinosaur Trainers~ Fossil Fighters in RPG battles. It didn’t receive great reviews, but was successful enough to get a sequel two years later, and another one on the 3DS in 2014. Three games in six years is a pretty good release schedule, and things were looking alright, until that 3DS game came. It was primarily developed by a different studio, and it showed. The game received abysmal reviews, and fan reception was similar. Sales weren’t awful, but not great either.
Since then, the series has been completely quiet. The developer, Red Entertainment, is still active, but hasn’t worked with Nintendo since the 3DS game. As for interest, there hasn’t been a peep from Nintendo about this series at all. No interviews describing vague interest in bringing it bad, no acknowledgment of fan demand, no cameos in other games (aside from Smash, which doesn’t count, Smash has everything). Even fan demand doesn’t seem too high, most of what I’ve seen is a Change.org petition which has been up for a year and has not reached its 2500 signatures goal.
It looks like this series could become a fossil itself. Someday some might dig it up and revive it to use in battle, but I’m not feeling it.
Still not as bad as Chibi-Robo
Chances: Bad
F-Zero
This is the reason you’re reading this.
Oh, F-Zero. If fan demand alone was the deciding factor, F-Zero would be top priority. People want F-Zero, people beg for F-zero, people who have never played, beg for F-Zero. And Nintendo knows this, they’ve acknowledged it. They themselves haven’t forgotten it. Even putting Smash aside, there was an F-Zero minigame in Nintendo Land. There are F-Zero tracks in Mario Kart. They’ve done everything but make a new F-Zero game, but why the hell not?
Well, it’s important to understand that the F-Zero series declined in sales throughout its life. The best-selling game is still the first, and though the following games were fantastic, they sold less and less, and yet, strangely enough, between 2003-2004, Nintendo released THREE F-Zero games. Around the same time, they also released an anime. There are several great articles and videos about what happened to F-Zero, but the best point I’ve seen is that Nintendo tried, in 2003, to really push F-Zero, but it didn’t work. So, with their attempt failed, they let the series sleep, and just never woke it up, even as fan demand increased.
In 2015, Miyamoto commented on the series, and said that, though he heard the demand, he was unsure on what to do with the series, on how to make a new game. Many fans scoffed and said he’d just need to make a modern F-Zero and that’d be great, but I think internal concern runs deeper. Just doing F-Zero failed in 2003, so why would it work now?
That said, I think there is hope. Fan demand is powerful, and more and more we see a new generation of Nintendo developers pushing the company forward. These younger developers are the ones behind new IP like Splatoon and ARMS, and great reinventions of existing ones like Odyssey and BotW. It’s possible that these same younger developers could hear the fan demand, and want to take on the series without the hesitation of their older peers.
It’s been 16 years, but Kid Icarus was gone for 19, wasn’t it?
Stranger things have happened
Chances: I want to believe
Golden Sun
And here’s the other one.
Few Nintendo fans are as vocal and dedicated to their dormant franchise as Golden Sun games. For those who don’t know, Golden Sun was a couple of excellent GBA RPGs released in 2001 and 2002, with a DS sequel in 2010. Such erratic release schedule would make predicting the series’ future difficult at the best of times, but the DS game was seen as a disappointment by many fans and sales were unimpressive. With ten years having passed with no new game, is the series done for? Well, let’s look at it.
In 2012, one of the developers gave an interview in which he straight up said that, if there was fan demand for it, there would “naturally” be a fourth game. We know that developer interview doesn’t immediately guarantee a sequel, but this is also a much more positive statement than Custom Robo and F-Zero’s “We know there’s demand, but we don’t know what to do with it”. This is “If there’s demand, it will happen.” So, is there demand?
You bet your ass there is. And it feels like it is growing. There was a high-profile hoax about a fourth game in 2017 (a similar hoax happened some time before the third game, by the way). The series received notably more content in Smash Ultimate than series of similar standing (quite possibly an acknowledgment of its popularity). And last year, Cory Balrog, director of 2018’s GOTY God of War, tweeted about all the franchises he would trade for a new Golden Sun. Nintendo could hardly have asked for a higher profile endorsement within the industry.
So if fan demand is there, why hasn’t it happened yet? Well, it helps to look at the development history of the series. The first game took eighteen months to develop, considered a long time for a handheld game at the time. And though the eight years between the GBA and DS games may have you believe it took a long time to greenlight a sequel, that’s not the case. Signs point to internal discussion about a sequel to the GBA games as early as 2002, with developers quoted as saying that Nintendo was asking them to make a new one. One of the series producers also said that the series takes a long time to make because of its complexity. After the DS game failed to meet expectations, its understandable that Nintendo may not have been as enthusiastic for a new game as it was before, but it seems like, even if the series is alive and well, the long hiatus would not be uncharacteristic. In that same interview quoted before, the developer even said that a new game would take a long time. In fact, if GS4 had started development shortly after that interview, if it took as long as Dark Dawn, the game would be wrapping up production around now.
Then there’s the developer, Camelot. Aside from Golden Sun, they pretty much only make Mario Tennis and Mario Golf. They release schedule is also super consistent, with a new game every other year, sometimes every year. We already got a Mario Tennis on Switch two years ago so, if not for COVID, their new game would probably have released this year. All things point, then, for the next Camelot game to hit the Switch next year. Smart money would be in Mario Golf, but maybe it is finally Golden Sun.
Finally, I don’t think, as others do, that Xenoblade is the reason GS is not happening. Again, I don’t see evidence to support the idea that Nintendo doesn’t want to publish more than one game in the same genre. Both the GBA and DS had more than a dozen Nintendo-published RPGs, and the Wii and 3DS got RPGs even after Xenoblade released for them. I don’t see why Xenoblade would stop a Switch Golden Sun, especially when they are very different kinds of RPGs. GS is actually closer to Octopath Traveler, whose success was enough to impress SE, why wouldn’t Nintendo want a piece?
Really, I think the biggest obstacle is that Nintendo might want to prioritize the safe investment of Mario sports games over Golden Sun, but the more I research, the more I feel like GS’s chances are higher now than they were at any point in the last ten years.
I feel there’s hope this sun will rise again
Chances: Above average
Kid Icarus
Sorry to keep you waiting.
Kid Icarus was an OK NES game that had a forgotten Game Boy sequel and then nobody cared about it for 19 years until it was unexpectedly revived for the 3DS in 2012. This story is a testament to the fact that, just because its been a long time, it doesn’t mean it will never happen. But in order to know if it will happen again, let’s understand how it happened in the first place.
It’s important to mention that reviving Kid Icarus was not the intent behind KI: Uprising, it was the idea of its director, Masahiro Sakurai. Nintendo had given him a project and Sakurai decided to use an established franchise for it. He briefly considered Star Fox, but decided to use Kid Icarus, for which he probably had a soft spot, considering he had added Pit to Brawl some years earlier. So, there wasn’t an exec at Nintendo who woke up one day and decided to bring Kid Icarus back, they gave the director a project, and, after some deliberation, he decided to use Kid Icarus for it.
That director is currently busy developing Smash Bros DLC, but even after that’s over, he probably won’t revisit Kid Icarus. He has shot down the idea of him working on a sequel or a port. His words were: "For now, my thought is that perhaps we'll see someone else besides me make another Kid Icarus in another 25 years." Yikes. That’s pretty damning. Sure, Nintendo could get someone else to make the game, but if it was only Sakurai that was interested in the series in the first place, what is the hope of that?
Well, that statement is not super accurate. Before Uprising, there was actually a Kid Icarus reboot in development for the Wii. It was cancelled, and thank God for it, as it was an awfully stupid gritty reboot, but it showed that there was interest in the franchise even before Uprising. Naturally, you’d expect interest to be bigger now than before.
The fact that Uprising not only grew the series’ fanbase, but the that there are Kid Icarus characters in Smash Bros, means that the franchise has a permanent place in the interest in Nintendo fans. Smash in particular means that there are 18 million people who know Pit and Palutena and would turn their heads if a new game was announced. Furthermore, Nintendo’s new CEO is interested in bringing 3DS franchises to the Switch after the success of the Switch Lite, especially now that the 3DS is officially dead, so the opening is there for it.
There is definitely demand for a new Kid Icarus game, but it is too sporadic a franchise to be certain, and if it were to happen, Nintendo would have to find someone new to do it. But, in the end, the series is definitely in a better place now than it was 10 years ago.
Chances: Medium
Legendary Starfy
Legendary Starfy was a 2D platformer for the GBA that was apparently really successful, as it received four sequels in the span of five years. Not only that but, like Barbara and Chibi-Robo, Starfy himself was quite popular. He had cameos in Mario & Luigi and Super Princess Peach, music of the series was in Donkey Konga, he is a regular Assist Trophy in Smash and was a costume in Mario Maker. Though the series took until the last game to come to the West, there were plans to bring the first four games too, as well as consideration for expanding the series to the Wii. The series was widely advertised, with animated commercials and tons of merchandise, including plush dolls, CDs, pencils, birthday balloons, casino cards and two manga series. When asked if there were plans for a sixth game, the developer answered “Yes!”, no ifs, not buts, straight-up Yes.
And then… nothing. The series just stopped. And the reason why is: I have no idea. Maybe if the last game bombed spectacularly, but it doesn’t seem to be the case. Sure, Japanese sales declined with each entry, but not by that much. Maybe NA sales weren’t what Nintendo was hoping for, but surely not enough to kill such a steady franchise.
The confusion only grows when we look at its developer, Tose. Now, this is interesting. You’ve probably played a Tose game without knowing. They have worked on over A THOUSAND GAMES, but they never receive credit. They merely assist with development in the shadows. As one exec puts it: "Our policy is not to have a vision. Instead, we follow our customers' visions. Most of the time we refuse to put our name on the games, not even staff names." They are a ghost developer. Even its Wikipedia page admits that the list of games on it is purely speculative. There are probably hundreds more, that we don’t know about.
The only exception is the Starfy series. That series was their vision. So why did they stop? Could they have decided that it was against their vision to make a game of their vision? We can only speculate.
The fact that the series’ end was so unexpected, and its developer so mysterious, means that any speculation about it is a shot in the dark. All I can say is that there’s no particular reason to expect it.
Chances: Not Good
Nintendogs
Here’s a big one. Nintendogs was one of the biggest successes of the casual era, on par with Brain Age and Wii Fit, but unlike those, it remained a multi-million seller during the 3DS/WiiU generation. And though Nintendo may have tried, at first, to distance the Switch from that era, the return of Brain Age and Clubhouse Games indicates that other casual games would follow, and Nintendogs would be a no-brainer.
There is, however, one big problem: the Switch does not have a microphone. While Brain Age on the DS also used the microphone a lot, it was not essential to it. You could easily make Brain Age without it. But not Nintendogs. Issuing voice commands to your virtual pup is integral to the experience. No microphone means no Nintendogs.
But with that said, Nintendo did go to the trouble of making a Switch stylus, seemingly just for Brain Age, so maybe they could make a microphone peripheral. Sure, a microphone would be more complex to make than a stylus, but not inconceivable. They did something like that with the Wii Speak. I’m sure for that nintendogs money, Nintendo would do it.
Worst case scenario, Nintendo releases Nintendogs and forces you to use the NSO app’s voice chat to talk with your dog. You know they’d do it.
There’s also the fact that another developer released a nintendogs clone for the Switch last year, but I don’t think Nintendo gives a shit.
Chances: Good
Nintendo Wars
You may know this series better as “Advance Wars” and you may also know that it is fantastic. In fact, it is one of the highest rated Nintendo franchises on Metacritic, and had a pretty consistent release schedule between 1988 and 2008. All was looking pretty god. But unfortunately the series has been dormant since the last entry on DS. Part of it may be because the series, though originally Japan-only, was never all that popular in Japan. In fact, that last game only saw a limited release as a My Nintendo reward in the region.
There is, however, still demand for the series, both externally and internally. Producers from both Nintendo and developer Intelligent Systems have expressed enthusiastic support for a new entry, although they’ve also expressed some uncertainty on what they’d do with it, similar to the Custom Robo and F-Zero responses.
The developer for the series is Intelligent Systems, who do a ton of stuff and will be discussed multiple times in this post. They used to release multiple games a year, but have slowed down this past game to just one or two games a year, another possible reason why Advance Wars has been deprioritized, especially in comparison with that boogeyman of Advance Wars and Smash Bros fans alike: Fire Emblem. There is real concern that Nintendo might not want to make a new Advance Wars when they could just make the similar but more popular Fire Emblem instead.
That said, IS has already released a Fire Emblem and Paper Mario for Switch, and though we definitely will get at least one more FE during the Switch’s life cycle, there’s enough years left for IS to release some other games, whether they be AW or one of the three other franchises we’ll discuss in the future. Problem is, of those franchises, AW might be the most difficult to produce, and the most risky, so it could probably be lower priority. When asked about the series last year, one IS producer gave a pretty evasive answer, so things aren’t looking too good, but they aren’t hopeless either.
Chances: Medium
Ouendan/Elite Beat Agents
This rhythm series for the DS is widely beloved by those who played it, but its life cycle was pretty limited. One game in 2005, and Americanized version in 2006, and one sequel in 2007. Nothing more since The games were critically acclaimed, but not blockbuster hits.
The series creator said back in 2016 that he would love to create a new game, but nothing else has been said about it. The game’s developer iNis, doesn’t appear to be super active either.
All in all, there is very little pointing to a return
Chances: Bad
Pilotwings
The biggest obstacle to seeing this series of arcadey flight sims on the Switch is that the series has a very specific purpose: it’s a tech demo. All three games were launch titles for their systems and explicitly meant to show off each system’s new tech. The original game was made to show off the SNES’ Mode 7, the N64 game was meant to show off the console’s polygonal graphics, and Resort was meant to showcase the 3DS’ stereoscopic 3D. With the Switch’s release far behind us, and its graphics not really needing a showcase, Pilotwings chances seem low. Granted, Pilotwings doesn’t need to be a tech demo, but it could be how Nintendo views it as.
There is some fan demand for it, but not as much as F-Zero or Golden Sun, and no developer has commented on the possibility of a return. Pilotwings has always been moderately successful, but not enough to justify constant releases. The only glimmer of hope is the comment from Nintendo’s CEO about wanting to bring more 3DS franchises for the Switch, but it’s quite possible that he didn’t have Pilotwings in mind when he said that
Chances: Bad
Punch-Out!!
Another series popular enough to get a Smash character but not popular enough for consistent sequels, Punch-Out is a beloved classic with a consistent fanbase, but with a very erratic release schedule. After the SNES game in 1994, the series lay dormant for 15 years until it was revived for the Wii in 2009 and then laid to rest again. One explanation is that the series was never really popular in Japan. Neither the NES or SNES games were even available as full releases in the country, being instead, distributed as prizes or rewards. And though the Wii game got a full retail release, it sold very poorly. It’s always been a game more for Americans, so it is understandable that the Japanese developers at Nintendo aren’t super enthusiastic about it. That said, it was Nintendo who pitched the reboot in the first place, so they may want to do it again someday.
The developer for the Wii game was Next Level Games, who release a game every three or two years, and they also develop Mario Strikers and Luigi’s Mansion. Having already released LM3, it’s likely they’ll release another game for the Switch some time soon. That could be Punch-Out, but it is just as likely that it could be Mario Strikers, or something else entirely.
Some think that the series use of flagrant national stereotypes would impede it from coming back in today’s political climate, but frankly, I don’t think that’s as definitive a problem. Worst case scenario, they simply make a new cast, just like Super Punch Out, but less racially insensitive.
Another interesting development is that Mike Tyson has been talking about wanting a new Punch-Out this year. I don’t think Nintendo cares what he says, and they definitely don’t want to associate with him again, but it is a pretty high-profile person talking about the series, which is bound to raise interest. Whether that’s enough for Nintendo to consider a new game? I don’t think so. But regardless, Punch-Out is popular enough that the door is never truly closed for it.
Chances: Not Good
Pushmo
This acclaimed puzzle game was released for the 3DS eshop in 2012 and was successful enough to get three sequels. Although it hasn’t been seen since 2015, there doesn’t seem to be anything impeding its return. The developer is our good friend Intelligent Systems, and, of the aforementioned IS franchises still to launch on the Switch, Pushmo, being a simple, but beloved, puzzle game, seems like the safest investment. It likely could be developed alongside another major game.
There is demand for it, and considering Nintendo’s eshop efforts, Pushmo would fit in perfectly alongside Snipperclips and fellow 3DS eshop puzzle star Boxboy. All in all, there’s no reason not to expect Pushmo to come back.
Chances: Good
continued in comments

MAME 0.223

MAME 0.223 has finally arrived, and what a release it is – there’s definitely something for everyone! Starting with some of the more esoteric additions, Linus Åkesson’s AVR-based hardware chiptune project and Power Ninja Action Challenge demos are now supported. These demos use minimal hardware to generate sound and/or video, relying on precise CPU timings to work. With this release, every hand-held LCD game from Nintendo’s Game & Watch and related lines is supported in MAME, with Donkey Kong Hockey bringing up the rear. Also of note is the Bassmate Computer fishing aid, made by Nintendo and marketed by Telko and other companies, which is clearly based on the dual-screen Game & Watch design. The steady stream of TV games hasn’t stopped, with a number of French releases from Conny/VideoJet among this month’s batch.
For the first time ever, games running on the Barcrest MPU4 video system are emulated well enough to be playable. Titles that are now working include several games based on the popular British TV game show The Crystal Maze, Adders and Ladders, The Mating Game, and Prize Tetris. In a clear win for MAME’s modular architecture, the breakthrough came through the discovery of a significant flaw in our Motorola MC6840 Programmable Timer Module emulation that was causing issues for the Fairlight CMI IIx synthesiser. In the same manner, the Busicom 141-PF desk calculator is now working, thanks to improvements made to Intel 4004 CPU emulation that came out of emulating the INTELLEC 4 development system and the prototype 4004-based controller board for Flicker pinball. The Busicom 141-PF is historically significant, being the first application of Intel’s first microprocessor.
Fans of classic vector arcade games are in for a treat this month. Former project coordinator Aaron Giles has contributed netlist-based sound emulation for thirteen Cinematronics vector games: Space War, Barrier, Star Hawk, Speed Freak, Star Castle, War of the Worlds, Sundance, Tail Gunner, Rip Off, Armor Attack, Warrior, Solar Quest and Boxing Bugs. This resolves long-standing issues with the previous simulation based on playing recorded samples. Colin Howell has also refined the sound emulation for Midway’s 280-ZZZAP and Gun Fight.
V.Smile joystick inputs are now working for all dumped cartridges, and with fixes for ROM bank selection the V.Smile Motion software is also usable. The accelerometer-based V.Smile Motion controller is not emulated, but the software can all be used with the standard V.Smile joystick controller. Another pair of systems with inputs that now work is the original Macintosh (128K/512K/512Ke) and Macintosh Plus. These systems’ keyboards are now fully emulated, including the separate numeric keypad available for the original Macintosh, the Macintosh Plus keyboard with integrated numeric keypad, and a few European ISO layout keyboards for the original Macintosh. There are still some emulation issues, but you can play Beyond Dark Castle with MAME’s Macintosh Plus emulation again.
In other home computer emulation news, MAME’s SAM Coupé driver now supports a number of peripherals that connect to the rear expansion port, a software list containing IRIX hard disk installations for SGI MIPS workstations has been added, and tape loading now works for the Specialist system (a DIY computer designed in the USSR).
Of course, there’s far more to enjoy, and you can read all about it in the whatsnew.txt file, or get the source and 64-bit Windows binary packages from the download page. (For brevity, promoted V.Smile software list entries and new Barcrest MPU4 clones made up from existing dumps have been omitted here.)

MAME Testers Bugs Fixed

• 02603: [Sound] (cinemat.cpp) tailg: Phasor sample plays incorrectly. (Aaron Giles)
• 03307: [Sound] (cinemat.cpp) ripoff: Multiple issues with sound samples. (Aaron Giles)
• 03720: [Sound] (cinemat.cpp) speedfrk, wotw, wotwc: Incomplete sound samples implementation. (Aaron Giles)
• 06033: [Gameplay] (sothello.cpp) sothello: Gameplay logic is broken. (hap)
• 06896: [Gameplay] (gottlieb.cpp) krull: Invisible enemies cause deaths in cave scene. (dink)
• 07237: [DIP/Input] (vsmile.cpp) vsmileg [walle]: Wall-E does not recognise the joystick controller. (Ryan Holtz)
• 07340: [DIP/Input] (vegas.cpp) nbagold, nbanfl and nbashowt: Digital joystick inputs are not present. (Ted Green)
• 07537: [Sound] (nemesis.cpp) twinbee: Speech does not play. (AJR)
• 07608: [Gameplay] (uzebox.cpp) uzebox: All systems (except craft) that use the avr8 CPU have regressed severely. (hap)
• 07644: [DIP/Input] (pcipc.cpp) pcpci: Mouse movement causes spurious keyboard input. (Samuele Zannoli)
• 07687: [Compiling] AsmJit fails to compile for ARM targets. (Belegdol)
• 07689: [Sound] (s8a.cpp) scrzy_l1: Sounds do not play. (Robbbert)
• 07690: [Crash/Freeze] (kingdrby.cpp) cowrace: [debug] Assert upon start. (AJR)
• 07691: [Crash/Freeze] (eprom.cpp) eprom, eprom2: Game freezes upon end of demonstration. (AJR)
• 07693: [DIP/Input] (dooyong.cpp) sadari: Third button (activate power-up) is not present. (hap)
• 07696: [Graphics] (taito_l.cpp) fhawk, fhawkj: Background graphics are not displayed correctly. (hap)
• 07708: [DIP/Input] (segas18.cpp) wwallyj, lghost, and clones: Controls do not work. (Ivan Vangelista)

New working machines

• Conny / VideoJet Dora l'exploratrice - Pocket Dream Console (VideoJet, France) [TeamEurope, David Haywood]
• Conny / VideoJet PDC150 Tactile - Pocket Dream Console (VideoJet, France) [TeamEurope, David Haywood]
• Conny / VideoJet PDC200 - Pocket Dream Console (VideoJet, France) [TeamEurope, David Haywood]
• Conny / VideoJet PDC40 Tactile - Pocket Dream Console (VideoJet, France) [TeamEurope, David Haywood]
• Conny / VideoJet PDC50 - Pocket Dream Console (VideoJet, France) [TeamEurope, David Haywood]
• Conny / VideoJet Plug Play TV Games 2 (4-in-1) (VideoJet, France) [TeamEurope, David Haywood]
• DataCash Systems / Staid CompuChess: The Second Edition [hap, Berger, Achim]
• Dice game [Aleksandr Gofman, MetalliC]
• Elektor AVR-Max Chess Computer (English) [hap]
• Fidelity Electronics Chess Challenger (model UCC10, 10 levels) [hap, Berger, Achim]
• Guitar Star (Europe, PAL) [David Haywood, TeamEurope]
• Linus Åkesson / kryo The Hardware Chiptune Project [Ryan Holtz]
• Linus Åkesson Phasor [Ryan Holtz]
• Linus Åkesson Power Ninja Action Challenge [Ryan Holtz]
• Micro Vs. System: Donkey Kong Hockey [algestam, Ryan Holtz]
• Millennium 2000 GmbH Millennium Arcade 101 (M489) (Game Station 2 101-in-1) [TeamEurope, David Haywood]
• Motorola EXORterm 155 [68bit]
• Motorola M6800 EXORciser (M68SDT) [68bit]
• Novag Micro Chess [hap, Berger, Achim]
• SciSys / Intelligent Games Intelligent Chess [hap, Berger, Achim]
• SciSys Chess Companion [hap, Berger, Achim]
• SciSys Chess Intercontinental Traveler [hap, Berger, Achim]
• Senario / Marathon - Mystery Animation Inc. Totally Spies! (France) [TeamEurope, David Haywood]
• Senario Vs Maxx 6-in-1 Casino / Senario Card & Casino Games [Sean Riddle, David Haywood]
• Subor Sports and Dance Fit Games Mat D-555 (PAL) [David Haywood, TeamEurope]
• Telko / Nintendo Bassmate Computer [algestam, Mr. Do]
• Ultimate Products Ltd. Reactor 32-in-1 (NTSC) [Sean Riddle, David Haywood]
• Ultimate Products Ltd. Zone Mini [Sean Riddle, David Haywood]
• WinFun Guitar Buster [Sean Riddle, David Haywood]
• Wireless Fitness / Dance Fit (Senario) [Sean Riddle, David Haywood, anonymous, Kev (FBN)]
• Xing Wireless Interactive TV Game 'Wi TV Zone' 48-in-1 (Europe, PAL) [David Haywood, TeamEurope]

New working clones

• 4-in-1 (version SWS1-110984) [Siftware]
• Astro Fighter (set 4) [Juan Romero, ClawGrip]
• Cruis'n USA (rev L4.4) [Brian Troha, The Dumping Union]
• Dead Or Alive ++ (Korea) [chacal231077]
• Double Wings (set 2) [Jorge Silva]
• Elektor AVR-Max-Schachzwerg (German) [hap]
• Fidelity Electronics Elite A/S Challenger (Glasgow program, set 2) [Berger]
• Galaxian (Cirsa Spanish bootleg) [Juan Romero, ClawGrip]
• Hammerin' Harry (World, M84 hardware bootleg) [ClawGrip, Roberto Fresca, Recreativas.org, The Dumping Union]
• Jack Potten's Poker (set 13, ICP-1 PCB) [Roberto Fresca, Matt B]
• Jolly Joker (original program, interleaved GFX, Impera logo) [Roberto Fresca, TeamEurope]
• Jolly Joker (original program, interleaved GFX, no logo) [Roberto Fresca, TeamEurope]
• Master Boy (1987, Z80 hardware, Ichi-Funtel, set 2) [Retromaniacs, Recreativas.org]
• Ms. Pac-Man (bootleg, set 3) [Andrew Welburn]
• Ms. Pac-Man (Novatronic bootleg) [Juan Romero, ClawGrip]
• New Lucky 8 Lines (set 11, W-4) [Siftware]
• Pipi & Bibis / Whoopee!! (Ryouta Kikaku bootleg, decrypted) [jordigahan]
• Race Drivin' (compact, prototype) [andynumbers, The Dumping Union]
• Robotron: 2084 (Unidesa license) [Juan Romero, ClawGrip]
• Ultimate Products Ltd. Zone 7-in-1 Sports (PAL) [David Haywood, TeamEurope]
• Slap Shot (Ver 2.2 J) [Jorge Silva]
• Space Trek (Video Game S.A., Spanish bootleg of Scramble) [Rubén Casaña (Retro Arcadia Valencia), Isaías Hernández]
• Splash (Modular System) [jordigahan, ClawGrip, David Haywood]
• Super Forte (version C, V3.6) [Berger]
• Witch Star [Brian Troha, The Dumping Union]
• Zero Time (Spanish bootleg) [Juan Romero, ClawGrip]

Machines promoted to working

• Adders and Ladders (v2.1) (MPU4 Video) [Ryan Holtz, James Wallace, David Haywood]
• Barquest (v2.6) (MPU4 Video) [Ryan Holtz, James Wallace, David Haywood]
• Blox (SJM BLOX, 50p/20p Play, Version 2.0) (MPU4 Video) [Ryan Holtz, James Wall, David Haywood, Angelo Salese]
• Business Computer Corporation Busicom 141-PF [Robbbert]
• The Crystal Maze (v1.3) (MPU4 Video) [Ryan Holtz, James Wallace, David Haywood]
• The Crystal Maze Team Challenge (v0.9) (MPU4 Video) [Ryan Holtz, James Wallace, David Haywood]
• The Mating Game (v0.4) (MPU4 Video) [Ryan Holtz, James Wallace, David Haywood]
• NBA Showtime / NFL Blitz 2000 (ver 2.1) [Ted Green]
• NBA Showtime Gold / NFL Blitz 2000 (ver 3.0) (SportsStation) [Ted Green]
• NBA Showtime: NBA on NBC (ver 2.0) [Ted Green]
• The New Crystal Maze Featuring Ocean Zone (v2.2) (MPU4 Video) [Ryan Holtz, James Wallace, David Haywood]
• Nice Code Plug and Play Sudoku Game (NES based) [Sean Riddle, David Haywood, GameHistory.org]
• Photo Y2K 2 / Chaoji Bi Yi Bi 2 / Dajia Lai Zhao Cha 2 / Real and Fake 2 Photo Y2K (M101XX 05/25/01 11:02:54) [iq_132, dink]
• Prize Tetris (BWB) (MPU4 Video) [Ryan Holtz, James Wall, David Haywood, Angelo Salese]
• SCCH LLC-1 [Robbbert]
• Senario Guitar Star (US, Senario, NTSC) [David Haywood]
• Strike it Lucky (v0.5) (MPU4 Video) [Ryan Holtz, James Wallace, David Haywood]
• TaiKee Rockstar Guitar / Guitar Rock (PAL) [David Haywood]
• Tetris Payout (BWB TET1 Version 2.2, set 1) (MPU4 Video) [Ryan Holtz, James Wall, David Haywood, Angelo Salese]
• unknown rocket/animal-themed poker [Roberto Fresca]
• Vegas Poker (prototype, release 2) (MPU4 Video) [Ryan Holtz, James Wallace, David Haywood, Highwayman]

Clones promoted to working

• Adders and Ladders (v2.0) (MPU4 Video) [Ryan Holtz, James Wallace, David Haywood]
• The Crystal Maze (v0.1, AMLD) (MPU4 Video) [Ryan Holtz, James Wallace, David Haywood]
• The Crystal Maze (v1.1) (MPU4 Video) [Ryan Holtz, James Wallace, David Haywood]
• The Crystal Maze (v1.2) (MPU4 Video) [Ryan Holtz, James Wallace, David Haywood]
• The Crystal Maze Team Challenge (v0.8) (MPU4 Video) [Ryan Holtz, James Wallace, David Haywood]
• The Crystal Maze Team Challenge (v1.2, AMLD) (MPU4 Video) [Ryan Holtz, James Wallace, David Haywood]
• dreamGEAR Shredmaster Jr (NTSC) [David Haywood]
• Eurohard S.A. Dragon 200-E [Nigel Barnes]
• The New Crystal Maze Featuring Ocean Zone (v0.1, AMLD) (MPU4 Video) [Ryan Holtz, James Wallace, David Haywood]
• The New Crystal Maze Featuring Ocean Zone (v2.0) (MPU4 Video) [Ryan Holtz, James Wallace, David Haywood]
• Photo Y2K 2 / Chaoji Bi Yi Bi 2 / Dajia Lai Zhao Cha 2 / Real and Fake 2 Photo Y2K (ver. 100, Japanese Board) [iq_132, dink]
• Prize Space Invaders (BWB INV1, 50p/30p Play, Version 1.2) (MPU4 Video) [Ryan Holtz, James Wallace, David Haywood, Angelo Salese]
• Prize Tetris (BWB) (Showcase) (MPU4 Video) [Ryan Holtz, James Wallace, David Haywood, Angelo Salese]
• Sirio II (Calfesa S.L. Spanish Moon Cresta bootleg) [Ivan Vangelista]
• Strike it Lucky (v0.53) (MPU4 Video) [Ryan Holtz, James Wallace, David Haywood]
• Tetris Payout (BWB TET1 Version 2.2, set 2) (MPU4 Video) [Ryan Holtz, James Wallace, David Haywood, Angelo Salese]
• Torch Computers Torch CH240 [Nigel Barnes]
• VTech V.Smile Motion [Ryan Holtz]

New machines marked as NOT_WORKING

• El auto de papa [Victor Fernandez (City Game), ClawGrip]
• Bingo Roll / Turbo Bingo? [TeamEurope, Roberto Fresca]
• Captain Lucky [Siftware]
• Destruction Derby [TTL] [Frank Palazzolo]
• Diana Olakoa [Victor Fernandez (City Game), ClawGrip]
• E-mu Systems Carnaval - Jugando con Fuego [DBWBP]
• E-mu Systems EMAX II 16-Bit Digital Sound System [DBWBP]
• E-mu Systems Orbit 9090 - The Dance Planet [DBWBP]
• E-mu Systems Planet Phatt - The Swing System [DBWBP]
• E-mu Systems Pro/Cussion Maximum Percussion Module [DBWBP]
• E-mu Systems Proteus/1 16-Bit Multi-Timbral Digital Sound Module [DBWBP]
• E-mu Systems Proteus/1 XR 16-Bit Multi-Timbral Digital Sound Module [DBWBP]
• E-mu Systems Vintage Keys Classic Analog Keyboards [DBWBP]
• Far West (Compumatic) [Victor Fernandez (City Game), ClawGrip]
• Football [PinMAME]
• JAKKS Pacific Inc / HotGen Ltd Hannah Montana G2 Deluxe - All in One (JAKKS Pacific TV Game) [Sean Riddle, David Haywood, Kev (FBN), anonymous]
• JAKKS Pacific Inc / HotGen Ltd High School Musical G2 Deluxe - All in One (JAKKS Pacific TV Game) [Sean Riddle, David Haywood, Kev (FBN), anonymous]
• JAKKS Pacific Inc Power Rangers Super Megaforce Hero Portal [David Haywood, Team Europe]
• Kawai Musical Instruments Manufacturing KSP10 Digital Piano [DBWBP]
• Kawai Musical Instruments Manufacturing SX-240 8-Voice Programmable Polyphonic Synthesizer [DBWBP]
• Korg microKORG SynthesizeVocoder [DBWBP]
• Korg WaveStation A/D [DBWBP]
• Korg WaveStation EX [DBWBP]
• Korg WaveStation SR [DBWBP]
• Lexibook Console Colour - Disney's Planes [TeamEurope]
• Lexibook Console Colour - Minnie Mouse [TeamEurope]
• Lucky 7 (Impera) [TeamEurope, Roberto Fresca]
• Macro Winners Game Sporz Wireless Duet Play Ping-Pong [Sean Riddle, David Haywood, Dave Silva]
• Marvel Avengers TV Game Console (32-bit) (Lexibook) [TeamEurope, David Haywood]
• Michael Jordan (1.30) [PinMAME]
• Millennium 2000 GmbH Millennium Arcade 250 (M527) [TeamEurope, David Haywood]
• Puzzle Me! [TeamEurope, Roberto Fresca]
• Reno Reels (JPM) [David Haywood]
• RS-70 648-in-1 [David Shah]
• Sharp Zaurus SL-5500 "Collie" [Ryan Holtz, O. Galibert]
• Sony NWS-3860 [Plamen Mihaylov, Patrick Mackinlay]
• Sport Dart TV [Victor Fernandez (City Game), ClawGrip]
• Susanita tiene un raton [Victor Fernandez (City Game), ClawGrip]
• Tecnodarts [Victor Fernandez (City Game), ClawGrip]
• Toy Story 3 (Lexibook) [Sean Riddle, Kamaal Brown, David Haywood]
• unknown 'TE06' [TeamEurope, Roberto Fresca]
• Unknown Compumatic ProSPDP based darts machine [jordigahan, ClawGrip]
• VideoJet Kiu Games [Sean Riddle, David Haywood]
• Virtual TV Ping Pong [TeamEurope, David Haywood]
• Yataimura Kingyosukui (4-player, China, Ver 1.000) [Darksoft]

New clones marked as NOT_WORKING

• Anakonda [Robbbert]
• Funhouse (L-2) [PinMAME]
• Funhouse (L-2, prototype PA-1 System 11 sound) [PinMAME]
• Kharkovsky [Robbbert]
• Laser Ball (L-2, PROM sound) [PinMAME]
• Last Action Hero (1.04 France) [PinMAME]
• Last Action Hero (1.07) [José Renato Castro Milanez, Sergio Munemori]
• Magic Card - Wien (Sicherheitsversion 1.2) [TeamEurope, Roberto Fresca]
• Nove Diamante (bootleg) [Ioannis Bampoulas]
• Unga [Robbbert]

New working software list additions

• fmtowns_cd: Akiko - Premium Version, Cal III - Kanketsu-hen, Chiemi & Naomi, Curse, Eikan wa Kimi ni 2 - Koukou Yakyuu Zenkoku Taikai, FM Towns Application Catalog CD-ROM - Original Soft-hen, G5 (HMA-206), Gambler - Queen's Cup, Gokuraku Mandala, Hyper Fetishism, Illust Hyakka - Yamashita Hideki no Ikiiki Cut-shuu, Iris-tei Serenade, Jouhou Club - Card Processor Ver. 1.1, Mahjong Musashi, Manami no Doko made Iku no? 2 - Return of the Kuro Pack, The Manhole (1990-08-01), Marionette Mind, Mirage 2 - Torry, Neat & Roan Fairladies in MagicLand, Noushuku Angel 120%, Shamhat - The Holy Circlet (FM Towns Marty version), Tenshin Ranma, Two Shot Diary, Viper-V12 RS, Viper-V8 Turbo RS, YES! HG - Erotic Voice Version [redump.org, r09]
• gba:
  • Rayman IV (Rayman - Sunshine of Trip) (unlicensed) (protection hacked) [RibShark]
  • Crash Advance IV (unlicensed) (protection hacked), Digimon - Ruby and Sapphire (unlicensed) (protection hacked), The Lord of the Rings IV - The Fellowship of the Ring (unlicensed) (protection hacked), Pokemon - Sapphire Version (unlicensed) (protection hacked), Rayman IV (Rayman - Puteshestviye Solnechnogo Sveta) (unlicensed) (Russian) (protection hacked), Sonic 3 - Fighter Sonic (unlicensed) (protection hacked), Super Mario DX (unlicensed) (protection hacked), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 (unlicensed) (protection hacked), Ultraman - Confrontation Between Justice And Evil (Ul'traman - Konfrontatsiya mezhdu spravedlivost'yu i zlom) (unlicensed) (Russian) (protection hacked), X-Man - Armour of Might (X-men) (unlicensed) (Russian) (protection hacked) [taizou]
  • Chaoji Maliou DX (unlicensed) (Chinese) (protection hacked) [yy小龙虾]
  • Leiman IV - Guangming Zhi Lv (unlicensed) (Chinese) (protection hacked) [侵蚀你的私处]
• ibm5150:
  • Bloodwych (Quest & Glory Compilation) (Euro), Bloodwych (USA), Budokan - The Martial Spirit (5.25"), The Colonel's Bequest (3.5"), The Colonel's Bequest (5.25"), Dragon's Lair (5.25"), F29 Retaliator, Lakers vs Celtics and the NBA Playoffs (3.5"), Leisure Suit Larry Goes Looking for Love (in Several Wrong Places) (5.25"), Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards, Mario Andretti's Racing Challenge, Speedball 2 - Brutal Deluxe (Euro, 3.5"), TV Sports Basketball (3.5", USA, EGA/TANDY version), TV Sports Basketball (3.5", USA, VGA version), TV Sports Basketball (5.25", UK, EGA/TANDY version), TV Sports Basketball (5.25", UK, VGA version), Xenon 2: Megablast [ArcadeShadow]
  • SCO XENIX System V Development System version 2.1.3 [archive.org, Davide Cavalca]
  • IBM Personal Computer Interactive Executive (PC/IX) 1.00 [WinWorld, Davide Cavalca]
• ibm5170: B-17 Flying Fortress (5.25"), Corridor 7: Alien Invasion (demo), Maniac Mansion: Day of the Tentacle (France), Out of this World (USA, 3.5" DD), Out of this World (USA, 5.25" HD), Sam & Max Hit the Road (Germany) [ArcadeShadow]
• megadriv: Starwars (Prototype 19930125) [ArcadeShadow]
• nascom_snap: Adventure 16K, Adventure 32K [The Nascom Repository]
• pc98_cd: F15 Strike Eagle III, if 2 - Invitations from Fantastic Stories, Manami no Doko made Iku no? 2 - Return of the Kuro Pack, Phobos, Pro Student G (ALS-0010), YES! HG - Erotic Voice Version, Yuurou - Transient Sands [redump.org, r09]
• sgi_mips:
  • Desktop Special Edition 1.0, European Language Module 1.1, European Language Module 1.3.1, Hot Mix 5, Hot Mix 7, IndiZone 1.0, IRIX 5.2 for Indy R4600PC and Challenge SX, IRIX Patch 5.1.1.2, ONC3/NFS for IRIX 6.2 Version 1, ONC3/NFS for IRIX 6.2 with Indigo2 IMPACT 10000 Version 1, Support Advantage 10/94, Support Advantage 6/95, SupportFolio 2/97, SupportFolio 4/97 [darkstar]
  • NetBSD 1.6.2, NetBSD 2.0, NetBSD 2.0.2, NetBSD 2.1, NetBSD 3.0, NetBSD 3.0.1, NetBSD 3.0.2, NetBSD 3.1 [NetBSD Project, Davide Cavalca]
• sgi_mips_hdd: IRIX 5.2, IRIX 5.3, IRIX 6.2, IRIX 6.5, IRIX 6.5.22 [Davide Cavalca]
• vsmile_cart:
  • Bianfuxia - Zhengjiu Chengshi (China) [tenyuhuang]
  • Disney/Pixar Wall-E (China) [tenyuhuang, Ryan Holtz]
  • Les Bisounours - Le monde merveilleux des Bisounours (France), Nickelodeon Bob L'éponge - Une journée dans la vie d'une éponge (France) [DisizDream]
• vsmilem_cart:
  • Disney/Pixar Cars 2 (France), Disney/Pixar Toy Story 3 (France), DreamWorks Kung Fu Panda - La mission de Po (France), Football Challenge (France), Martin Le Dauphin (France), Nickelodeon Dora L'Exploratrice - Les adventures de Dora Apprentie Mécano (France), Sporti'Folies (France) [DisizDream, Ryan Holtz]
  • Action Mania (USA), Disney/Pixar Toy Story 3 (USA), Marvel Spider-Man & Friends - Secret Missions (USA), Soccer Challenge (USA) [Sean Riddle, TeamEurope, Ryan Holtz]

Software list items promoted to working

• cpc_flop: Secret Agent - Sly Spy (UK), Secret Agent - Sly Spy (UK) (2 faces) (Spain retail version) [Original], Sly Spy - Secret Agent (NonGoodCPC), Sly Spy - Secret Agent (Ocean Software), Sly Spy - Secret Agent (Ocean Software)[cr XOR][t +2 XOR], Sly Spy - Secret Agent (UK) [a1] [Barry Rodewald]

New NOT_WORKING software list additions

• fmtowns_cd: Pro Student G (ALS-0010), Towns-Telop, True Heart [redump.org, r09]
• leapfrog_mfleappad_cart: Disney/Pixar Cars (Spain) [TeamEurope, ClawGrip]
• mobigo_cart: Disney Jake and the Neverland Pirates (USA, alt), Disney Princess (USA, alt), Disney/Pixar Brave (USA), Dreamworks Shrek - Forever After (US), NAND User Cartridge (unknown data, set 1), NAND User Cartridge (unknown data, set 2), Sesame Street - Elmo and Abby - Nature Explorers (USA) [TeamEurope]
• novag_ssensor4: Quartz Chess Clock [Berger]
• pc98_cd: DOR Special Edition '93, DOR Special Edition '93 (alt), Kanji Land 3-nen, Kyrandia II - The Hand of Fate, Lemon Cocktail Collection, Lip 3 - Lipstick Adventure 3, Mirage 2 - Torry, Neat & Roan Fairladies in MagicLand [redump.org, r09]
• pi_storyreader_cart: Disney Blanca Nieves y los siete enanos (Spain), Disney El Rey León (Spain), Walt Disney Peter Pan (Spain) [TeamEurope, ClawGrip]
• tvgogo:
  • Basketball (EU) [ClawGrip, TeamEurope]
  • Basketball (US) [Sean Riddle, David Haywood]
• vsmileb_cart: Teletubbies (France) [DisizDream]

Merged pull requests

• 6825: docs: Improved analog joystick mapping documentation, and added health warnings. [Firehawke]
• 6837: debugger: Added loadr and saver commands for loading or saving data to/from a memory region. [bombzj]
• 6838: fmtowns_cd.xml: Added 28 new entries, and replaced 22 entries with improved dumps. [redump.org, r09]
• 6844: gigatron: Hooked up CPU output callback, fixed program counter wrapping, and added CPU input callback. [Sterophonick]
• 6848: startouch.cpp: Added Biostar M5ATD motherboard BIOS option to europl01. [ClawGrip]
• 6849: armedf.cpp, ddenlovr.cpp: Improved DIP switch documentation; nes_vt.cpp: Added zudugo manufacturer. [David Haywood]
• 6850: ibm5170.xml: Corrected floppy interface for humans_525, and corrected metadata for inca2 and goblins. [ArcadeShadow]
• 6851: chicago.cpp, exidyttl.cpp: Corrected ROM dumps, and added a skeleton driver for Exidy Destruction Derby. [Frank Palazzolo]
• 6852: sound/ym2151.cpp: Simplified noise frequency calculation. [cam900]
• 6853: sound/k051649.cpp: Improved playback rate calculation, and cleaned up code. [cam900]
• 6856: sound/saa1099.cpp: Improved sample rate and mixing behavior, and fixed stereo output routing for vgmplay. [cam900]
• 6857: sound/k007232.cpp: Converted to use device_memory_interface and added support for clock frequency changes. [cam900]
• 6859: megaplay.cpp: Added motherboard PLDs. [caius, ClawGrip]
• 6860: cpu/cp1610: Ensure SDBD operations set condition flags correctly. [ElectricMagic]
• 6862: Only build asmjit for x86 and x86-64 targets. [Belegdol]
• 6864: Added arm64 and s390x configurations to Travis CI. [Belegdol]
• 6865: sgi_mips_hdd.xml: Added software list with pre-installed operating system images for SGI MIPS workstations. [Davide Cavalca]
• 6867: generalplus_gpl16250_nand.cpp, spg2xx_wiwi.cpp, tvgogo.xml: Added three machines and a software list entry. [David Haywood]
• 6868: sgi_mips.xml: Added eight entries, and corrected some metadata. [darkstar]
• 6870: leapfrog_mfleappad_cart.xml: Added an entry. [TeamEurope, ClawGrip]
• 6871: pi_storyreader_cart.xml: Added three entries. [TeamEurope, ClawGrip]
• 6872: vsmile_cart.xml: Added three entries. [tenyuhuang, DisizDream, ClawGrip]
• 6875: ibm5150.xml: Added six entries and corrected some metadata. [ArcadeShadow]
• 6877: sgi_mips_hdd.xml: Added an entry and improved instructions in comments. [Davide Cavalca]
• 6879: vsmileb_cart.xml: Added one entry. [DisizDream, ClawGrip]
• 6880: bosco.cpp: Fixed sprite/background priority. [kunikuni]
• 6881: vsmilem_cart.xml: Added seven entries and fixed two incorrect serial numbers. [DisizDream, ClawGrip]
• 6882: Added ten TV games, a V.Smile Motion BIOS, and several software list entries. [David Haywood, Sean Riddle, TeamEurope]
• 6884: midyunit.cpp: Fixed sound and added PAL dumps for mkyawdim2. [TwistedTom]
• 6885: sgi_mips_hdd.xml: Added one entry. [Davide Cavalca]
• 6887: sound/rf5c400.cpp: Fixed loop sample loop position calculation (GitHub #6883). [cam900]
• 6888: video/atarirle.cpp: Fixed source file name in header comment. [cam900]
• 6889: rf5c400.cpp: Fixed regression in sample loop and end position calculations. [cam900]
• 6890: vsmile_cart.xml: Added one entry. [tenyuhuang, ClawGrip]
• 6891: vsmilem_cart.xml: Corrected checksum/digest for cars2mf. [ClawGrip]
• 6892: microdar.cpp: Added skeleton driver for Compumatic Far West darts machine. [Victor Fernandez (City Game), ClawGrip]
• 6893: machine/cop452.cpp: Added partial COP452 frequency generatocounter emulation; hp_ipc.cpp: Added beeper. [F.Ulivi]
• 6894: machine/6821pia.cpp: Added checks for disabled side effects on read accesses. [68bit]
• 6895: bus/rs232: Initialize serial printer RxD output high (idle state). [68bit]
• 6896: formats/os9_dsk.cpp: Added 8" 16-sector single-density formats (used by OS9 L1 on Motorola EXORciser). [68bit]
• 6897: formats/mdos_dsk.cpp: Added Motorola MDOS floppy format. [68bit]
• 6898: formats/wd177x_dsk.cpp: Be tolerant of missing sectors from the third track onwards. [68bit]
• 6899: sgi_mips.xml: Added six entries, and added missing disc dumps to one entry. [darkstar]
• 6900: vsmilem_cart.xml: Added some serial numbers and updated notes. [ClawGrip]
• 6902: mobigo_cart.xml: Added five entries, and corrected the checksum digest for one entry. [TeamEurope, ClawGrip]
• 6903: sgi_mips_hdd.xml: Added one entry. [Davide Cavalca]
• 6904: sgi_mips.xml: Replaced a badly dumped disc image added in #6868. [darkstar]
• 6905: sgi_mips.xml: Added eight NetBSD installation/source sets. [Davide Cavalca]
• 6906: monkey_king_3b.cpp: Added skeleton driver for systems based on Monkey King 3B system-on-a-chip. [David Shah]
• 6908: formats/mdos_dsk.cpp: Fixed the cell size and gaps, and added notes. [68bit]
• 6909: Added five TV games and a software list entry. [David Haywood]
• 6910: Fixed arcade subtarget build. [MASH]
• 6912: ibm5150.xml: Added two entries, and re-dumped on entry. [ArcadeShadow]
• 6914: machine/cop452.cpp: Fixed timer reloading. [F.Ulivi]
• 6915: sgi_mips_hdd.xml: Added one entry. [Davide Cavalca]
• 6917: sound/rf5c400.cpp: Added support for clock frequency changes, flagged imperfect sound, and cleaned up code. [cam900]
• 6918: galaxian.cpp: Added Cirsa Spanish bootleg of Galaxian. [Juan Romero, ClawGrip]
• 6919: tourvis.cpp: Added Tourvision BIOS V4-54. [Juan Romero, ClawGrip]
• 6920: cave.cpp: Added graphics layout for sprite lines, simplified tilemap graphics decoding, and cleaned up code. [cam900]
• 6921: Added a TV game and a number of imperfect dumps of unlicensed Game Boy Advance cartridges. [David Haywood]
• 6922: sound/ymz280b.cpp: Improved frequency calculation and cleaned up code. [cam900]
• 6923: pdp11.cpp: Removed GPL dependency. [shattered]
• 6924: williams.cpp: Added clone Robotron: 2084 (Unidesa license). [Juan Romero, ClawGrip]
• 6927: Added Motorola EXORterm 155 terminal emulation. [68bit]
• 6930: mpu4vid.cpp: Allow v4strike and v4barqst to decode questions, and fixed some parent/clone relationships. [David Haywood]
• 6931: machine/mc6852.cpp: Implemented more functionality and added a byte communication interface. [68bit]
• 6933: devcb.h: Use GCC broken friend workaround with clang 8 as well. [Tiago Pierezan Camargo]
• 6934: pc98_cd.xml: Added 15 entries and replaced 11 entries with improved dumps. [redump.org, r09]
• 6935: hh_sm510.cpp: Added Nintendo Micro Vs. System: Donkey Kong Hockey. [algestam, Ryan Holtz]
• 6936: hh_sm510.cpp: Added gnw_dkong3 PCB label to comment. [algestam]
• 6937: mpu4vid.cpp: Added layout and tweaked inputs for v4addlad, and added a protection workaround. [David Haywood, James Wallace]
• 6938: ibm5150.xml: Fixed some data area sizes (GitHub #6876). [r09]
• 6939: megaplay.cpp: Added two more motherboard PLDs. [Kevin Eshbach, ClawGrip]
• 6940: cpu/gigatron: Added output callback; gigatron.cpp: Started implementing video, and added ROM V5a BIOS option. [Sterophonick]
• 6941: 4enlinea.cpp: Added Sport Dart TV. [Victor Fernandez (City Game), ClawGrip]
• 6942: ibm5150.xml: Added XENIX Development System. [archive.org, Davide Cavalca]
• 6944: galaxian.cpp: Added Spanish bootleg of Zero Time. [Juan Romero, ClawGrip]
• 6945: goldnpkr.cpp: Fixed syntax error in input port definitions. [Davide Cavalca]
• 6946: ibm5150.xml: Added five entries. [ArcadeShadow]
• 6947: ibm5170.xml: Added one entry. [ArcadeShadow]
• 6949: docs: Updated RTD theme to 0.5.0 (fixes issues with links in search results). [Firehawke]
• 6950: Improved screen aspect ratio in internal layout for EXORterm 155 terminal. [68bit]
• 6952: vsmile.cpp: Marked V.Smile Motion as working, as the games are playable even without accelerometer controls. [ClawGrip]
• 6953: bus/nes: Implemented FDS sound emulation. [cam900]
• 6954: vsmilem_cart.xml: Promoted software to working, and corrected some metadata. [ClawGrip]
• 6956: Significant improvements to Gaelco Modular System bootleg emulation, and new TV games. [David Haywood]
• 6958: Added driver for Motorola M6800 EXORciser (M68SDT) and device for corresponding floppy controller. [68bit]
• 6958: mw8080bw.cpp: Improved gunfight audio, including a better transistor model and noise generator. [Colin Douglas Howell]
• 6959: Improved video emulation for several Gaelco Modular System bootlegs, and added inputs/sound for raidenm. [David Haywood]
• 6960: plugins/autofire: Don’t save empty configuration files. [kunikuni]
• 6961: machine/v3021.cpp: Converted to use device_rtc_interface, and implemented serial interface and more commands. [cam900]
• 6962: ibm5150.xml: Added IBM Personal Computer Interactive Executive (PC/IX). [WinWorld, Davide Cavalca]
• 6963: namcos2.cpp: Worked around conflicting default input assignments for fourtrax. [MASH]
• 6964: raiden_ms.cpp: Improved raidenm emulation; spg2xx_zone.cpp: Added two TV games. [David Haywood]
• 6967: ibm5170.xml: Added five entries. [ArcadeShadow]
• 6969: plugins/autofire: Improved method for detecting empty configuration. [kunikuni]
• 6970: microdar.cpp: Added skeleton driver for unknown Compumatic ProSPDP dart machine. [jordigahan, ClawGrip]
• 6971: pgm.cpp: Cleaned up drawing code, and improved timing of intro sequences in some games. [cam900]
• 6972: hh_sm510.cpp: Added Telko / Nintendo Bassmate Computer. [algestam, Mr. Do]
• 6973: mpu4vid.cpp: Fixed inputs, fixed up machine ROM sets, and promoted several machines to working. [David Haywood]
• 6977: gigatron.cpp: Added audio DAC, started hooking up OUTX port, and cleaned up code. [Sterophonick]
• 6978: mpu4mod4yam.cpp, mpu4vid.cpp: Started untangling sets now that they boot, and tweaked inputs. [David Haywood, James Wallace]
• 6979: Added netlist-based audio for thirteen early Cinematronics vector games, and minimal artwork for Warrior. [Aaron Giles]
• 6980: video/imagetek_i4100.cpp, metro.cpp: Improved flip screen drawing; hyprduel.cpp: Fixed sprite delay. [cam900]
• 6982: Added five TV games. [David Haywood]
• 6983: sound/ics2115.cpp: Improved envelope behavior. [cam900]
• 6984: mw8080bw.cpp: Improve 280zzzap audio emulation. [Colin Douglas Howell]
• 6986: generalplus_gpl16250_rom.cpp: Replaced tkmag220 ROM with correct dump. [TeamEurope, David Haywood]
• 6987: Switched AppVeyor MinGW GCC build to use -O3 (works around GitHub #6804). [Belegdol]
• 6988: Changed Travis CI configuration for installing prerequisite packages in an attempt to speed up builds. [Belegdol]
• 6989: microdar.cpp: Added Diana Olakoa dart machine. [Victor Fernandez (City Game), ClawGrip]
• 6993: Added beam_dot_size for controlling the size of “dots” on vector screens. [Aaron Giles]
• 6997: sound/k053260.cpp: Suppress read side effects on debugger accesses. [cam900]
• 6998: microdar.cpp: Added EEPROM dump to “prospdp”. [jordigahan, ClawGrip]
• 6999: nes_vt.cpp: Added two TV games; mpu4.cpp, mpu4vid.cpp: Split up more sets and improved descriptions. [David Haywood]
• 7000: sound/ics2115.cpp: Resolved license issue, re-implemented envelopes and fixed ramping. [cam900]
• 7002: Worked around issue updating MSYS2 packages from AppVeyor. [Belegdol]
• 7005: ibm5150.xml: Added four entries. [ArcadeShadow]