Retro Video Games FTW

My girlfriend came up trumps with her valentine's Day gift to me this year- six Sega Megadrive games (Genesis to our US readers). I promptly spent a chunk of the evening playing Sonic The Hedgehog and reliving my youth before we headed out to see a film.

What a great idea for a gift. Plus, retro video games are a great idea for a gift at any time of the year. If there's a video games fan in your life, then retro video games would make great gift ideas for pretty much any occasion.



There's some great alternatives to tracking down vintage consoles too when looking for retro video games, including Plug and Play versions of classic games, handheld games devices loaded with 16-bit classics and even new consoles capable of taking old cartridges.

It's a cool idea that's sure to raise a smile with that games fan in your life, and it's a field which does seem to be growing right now as interest in retro video games continues to grow.

VIDEO GAME MOVIES- WHAT SHOULD BE NEXT?

Okay, so there’s a movie of Gears of war on the way, and Bioshock, and (evetually) Halo, but there’s still a ton of classic video game titles out there that could be given the big screen treatment. Why has this come to mind? A review of Paul W.S. Amderson’s script for a proposed Castlevania movie has gone up online, and it got me thinking. The blatant one that comes to mind would have to be Zelda, but then I’d also love to see a great big CG version of Sonic the Hedgehog. Think about it. A full speed Sonic adventure on the big screen, full of badass Robotnik action would be an awesome sight.

So if Hollywood is running out of ideas (as it certainly appears to be doing), here’s a few suggestions for classic video games that would make fantastic films (animated or otherwise).

Streets of Rage

Fatal Fury

Eternal Champions (I’m joking with this one)

Golden Axe

Altered Beast

Space Invaders (think about it- this could be the definitive game movie)

Alien Storm

Frogger

Alex Kidd

Flashback (oh sweet Geek Jesus yes)

Ecco (hehehe)

Out Run (an all time classic that would be great fun onscreen)

Zero Wing (ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO US- on the big screen. That sells itself doesn’t it?)

There are literally hundreds of others out there. Any of you guys and gals have any other suggestions? God knows we’ve spent enough of our lives in front of these things- they must have something going for them. I know this list is kind of old school by current standards, but there’s so much good stuff in those video-games that it’d be a crime to ignore them.