For anyone unfamiliar with it, DroidDeck is a relatively new, open-source Android application that lets you run Valve's actual Steam client, along with PC games from your Steam library, on supported Android phones and handhelds. Rather than just launching individual Windows games through something like Winlator, it brings much of the familiar Steam Deck experience to Android, including Steam's interface, Proton compatibility, controller integration and more. It does all this without needing to root your device or replace Android with another operating system. It's still experimental, but the progress has been pretty amazing so far.

So I've been chatting with the people behind DroidDeck over the last couple of weeks, and I've finally put together what turned into a pretty lengthy feature about the project, its history, and the people making it happen.

I interviewed The412Banner, Max, xXJSONDeruloXx, Kimchi and Astro Sky, digging into everything from their earliest experiences with gaming and development to how their separate experiments with Linux, Gamescope and Steam eventually came together. What started as a way of getting the actual Steam client running on Android has grown into something way more ambitious, and I really wanted to tell the story of how that happened rather than just write another overview of what the software can do.

We also got into the technical challenges, the ridiculous pace of development (it updated and changed a few times while I was writing this!), their approach to AI-assisted coding and automated testing, the importance of open source, and where they hope to take DroidDeck in the future. There are some personal stories in there too, particularly about the early breakthroughs and the excitement of finally seeing things work. It's a long read, admittedly, but I wanted to give everyone involved the space to tell their side of the story. I'm really grateful to all five for taking the time to answer my many, many questions, and I hope you enjoy getting to know a little more about the people behind a project that's quickly become one of the more interesting developments in Android handheld gaming!

And just to be transparent, since I know it's a subject people have strong feelings about, DroidDeck does make use of AI-assisted development.

We discuss that openly in the article, including how the developers use AI tools, automated testing and code reviews as part of their workflow.

I'm not a Commodore 64 gamer myself (the system was a little before my time!), but I've really grown to appreciate just how passionate and active the community still is. This is the second C64 story that's caught my attention this week, following my piece on Steel Ranger 2. Most of my usual writing on my site is about retro handhelds, emulation and interviews with developers, but I've recently started experimenting with my own little corner of NeoCities too, and it's been a lovely place to share some of the more unusual things I come across. It felt appropriate in a 'hacky' way to add this article there.

This time, I found it fascinating that two completely independent Sabre Wulf remasters arrived for the C64 within just four days of each other, with their developers taking quite different approaches to a 42-year-old game. I've written a little about both projects, their development and the people behind them. I know this probably isn't news to anyone here, given how closely you all follow the scene, but I hope you enjoy reading it anyway!

This will probably be my second and final C64 news article for now, but I've thoroughly enjoyed learning more about the community and the work people are still putting into these old machines.

The two developers behind Azahar have announced that they're dropping official support for Anbernic retro handhelds, following the company's decision to promote its upcoming 3DS-esque dual screen RG DDS using AzaharPlus, an unofficial fork of the 3DS emulator.

I spoke at length with Azahar's two lead developers, OpenSauce and PabloMK7, some time ago for a separate interview, and looking back through their answers, I realized a few were particularly relevant to what's happening now. I've included some of those comments in this article, alongside a look at what prompted the decision, the differences between Azahar and AzaharPlus, and what it might mean for Anbernic owners.

Again, this is a much, much shorter 'article' than my usual work, so it is on my NeoCities page/experiment this time, rather than my usual site :)

We have modernism and also post-modernism that are tied to a specific range of dates. I'm wondering if people feel the same way for "retro"

I've been reading through Finnish developer Lasse Öörni's development notes for Steel Ranger 2, his enormous new Commodore 64 action adventure. Which is pretty damn niche, since who runs a C64 these days (I know I don't, but I find it all interesting regardless!)

He's spent over four years making it, handling almost everything himself, from the programming and graphics to the music. The finished game has over 800 screens to explore and a 45-minute soundtrack, all running on hardware from 1982.

I put together a super little article about the game, the technical challenges Lasse encountered along the way, and how wonderful it is that people are still making games of this scale for the C64 in 2026. This isn't on my usual site, just my curiosity with NeoCities which I've been enjoying the last couple weeks or so.

I guess this article is for just a handful of folk, but no better space than retro gaming to share it!

Recently made a close friend with similar tastes in my uni dnd group and I remembered I have retroarch. Anyone knows fun 2 player retro games we can try? Fantasy and rpg games especially. Thank you!

Some of the ports we're seeing in the retro handheld community lately have been great, and I love seeing developers push these little devices beyond what they were ever intended to do. But I've definitely noticed what feels like a growing amount of 'port-slop', with new projects appearing seemingly every few hours, many of them feeling more like quick experiments than anything particularly worthwhile.

I'm not against the experimentation at all, but I do wonder if we're reaching a point where quantity is starting to overshadow quality. Anyway, I put together a short opinion piece about it, just my own thoughts on something I've been noticing lately, especially here with my favorite old system: the PSP.

Yes, you can dodge, parry and riposte now.

Click here for more info, .ips patch and a video

Almost four decades after Wizball arrived on the ZX Spectrum, one developer has set about giving it the version it perhaps always deserved, with a little help from someone who worked on the original.

This isn't even an article-article, and if you've been following my posts at all you'll see it isn't for my site. This is just a bit of a ramble on a fun (yet super niche!) topic for my newly semi-formed NeoCities page I've been tinkering with.

If you're old enough for the ZX Spectrum, then you might find it vaguely amusing :)

I've been filling out my emulator collection and thought I'd poke my head into the world of Sega consoles, which I have no experience with.

What classic Master System/Genesis/32x/Game Gear/Sega CD games should I try? I'm more of an RPG guy, but I'll play a good retro platformer or whatever.

What I've found so far from my own research (mostly Genesis):

• Altered Beast

• Beyond Oasis

• Castlevania Bloodlines

• Comix Zone

• Crusader of Centy

• Death and Return of Superman (I just really liked this comics arc)

• Earthworm Jim 1+2

• Gauntlet 4

• Golden Axe 1+2

• Landstalker

• Might and Magic - Gates to Another World (I think this is MM2?)

• OutRun and OutRun 2019

• Phantasy Star 1-4

• Shadowrun

• Shining Force 1+2

• ToeJam and Earl

• Ys - The Vanished Omens

What I have no interest in:

• Sonic

• Fighting games

• Sports games

EDIT: I'll definitely take note of any Saturn/Dreamcast recommendations too, but my plan is to start with the older consoles and work my way up.

I've been looking into a lovely little preservation project involving EverQuest Online Adventures, the PlayStation 2 MMORPG that shut down way back in 2012.

Developer Ahmad Hassan (B-Ted) has been working on something called EQAI: an effort to bring the game's original 2003 character models back into its later Frontiers version. It turns out this is way more complicated than simply swapping a few files, involving all sorts of reverse engineering of the PS2's graphics and memory systems.

It's still a work in progress, but I find something really appealing about people putting this much time and effort into preserving the little details of online worlds that disappeared years ago. So I've written a short piece about the project and the wider community working to keep this forgotten corner of gaming history alive :)

Remember Z, the original from 1996, not Steel Soldiers? The RTS where time was the only resource: no mining, no base building, just flags, territory and factories that build faster the more ground you hold. It turned 30 this year, so I rebuilt it in 3D in Unity with several of the classic levels. Version 1.1 just came out with a jungle level, a flying shuttle and Alan and Brad as a hero squad.

It's free and open source (code GPL-3.0, assets CC BY-NC-SA), nothing is sold, and it's not affiliated with Rebellion or The Bitmap Brothers.

https://github.com/playopenz/OpenZ

Would love to hear from anyone who played the original. What did you love or hate about it?

Really sad to hear that BioWare is closing its doors after 31 years. I can't say it's entirely surprising given how difficult the last decade has been for the studio, but it's still a shame to see another enormously influential name disappear from the industry. This was the developer behind Neverwinter Nights, Knights of the Old Republic, Dragon Age: Origins and Mass Effect 2, among so many others. What an incredible run of games they had :(

I've written a little piece looking back at BioWare's history, some of my favorite games from their glory days, and how depressing it's becoming to see so many studios shutting down. Whatever you think of BioWare's more recent output, I think gaming is a little poorer without them.

Clearly the news has been covered and re-covered, so this is just a brief look over their work.

cross-posted from: https://programming.dev/post/58318406

Extremely useful for games that only run in full screen. There are many tweaks you can apply to them, such as hooking XInput or mapping a X360 controller to specific keys, force screen size and several other things

Well here's my Retroid Pocket Duo review! Retroid, the company, has released their higher-end Android-running retro handheld. AMOLED displays in a dual-screen form factor which can handle emulating Nintendo DS and 3DS games, and some more above that.

As part of it, I've been chatting with the developers behind Eden, Eden Duo, SeedlessDS and Cocoon about their work, the challenges of dual-screen gaming on Android, and where they see things going from here. I've incorporated their perspectives throughout the review, alongside my usual hands-on testing and thoughts about the hardware itself.

I've also spent plenty of time testing everything from Nintendo DS and 3DS through to PSP, GameCube, PS2, Switch and PC gaming, seeing where the Duo does well and where the limitations start becoming apparent. There are some fun things I found when reviewing, and a few things I'd still change. Above all, though, Retroid has once again managed to make a handheld that feels nicely playful (something I love about their handhelds), and 'Nintendo-like', and I've had an absolute blast reviewing it.

As ever, this is a written article (and a very long one at that!), so if you're a fan of older gaming-style sites and features that aren't videos, this might be your kind of read. Hope some of you enjoy this!

Back in the day, I would power off my hardware. My computer would tell me when it was safe to power off, my Genesis and PS1 you pressed the power button and that was it.

But when I got my PS2, turning it off wasn't just turning it off. The power button didn't turn anything off, it just reset the system. So I always hit the power switch on the back.

It wouldn't be for a while before we learned we can turn it off and back on faster by pressing and holding the power button. Rather than killing the system. And newer systems like the PS3 didn't like it at all when they were powered off completely.

A few years back I was fortunate enough to be a part of a rescue mission that took a group of arcade collectors to France to remove multiple arcade cabinets from a run down building. If you missed …

First of all: This is a Chinese fan-made project. Not official merchandise, not genuine game, just for fun.

Here is what happened. I seemingly got the NS2 launch title Pokémon Emerald for only $14. The seller said he had exclusive access, and even claimed his friend worked on manufacturing NS2 game cartridges.

He sounded really confident. I thought if I could get this for $14, posting it online would blow up. He told me this was top secret, do not share it publicly, and he would send me more updates later.

Three days later I got the package. What was inside was nothing like what I expected. I thought the NS2 Pokémon Emerald box looked a little small… And it works perfectly on 20-year-old GBA and DS consoles! I get it now. Nintendo wants old players to enjoy this game. I want to ask everyone, did I get scammed?

The big reveal

Actually, I had a buddy in the modding community build this for me at cost (total $14): The cart is based on the open-source Chis Flash PCB with RTC support (cost $11, playing this romhack while waiting for my authentic copy to arrive), and I added a standard blank GBA cart ($3) just to round out the order. Let's keep it on the down-low—he only charged me for the pure hardware and DIY labor, this is absolutely NOT some scalper flipping roms for profit.

Box: A fan-made NS2-style GBA storage case from another shop. I originally planned to buy a normal case and found this by accident. The maker likes NS2 cartridge boxes and is a veteran GBA player, so he made this custom case. It uses a tape-style outer shell + 3D printed PLA inner tray + custom high-res cover art. Single unit costs $3.5, discount if you buy three. I also pretended I own GBA Dragon Ball: Advanced Adventure and Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow. Genuine physical copies of these three GBA games are very expensive right now. These are great for personal play!

Disclaimer: My friend only charged for the bare PCB hardware. Theoretically, you can put any GBA game into this shell and flashcart.

Lastly, for hardware mod fans, I share a comparison picture of chips used on different homemade GBA cartridges. What is fully integrated hard-packaged chip? What is COB soft-packaged "cow dung chip"? You can see the difference clearly. Decide yourself if it is for collection or casual play.

Quick info: Chis Flash is a well-known open-source GBA flash cart project from the Chinese homebrew community. People can order PCBs and solder it themselves. It focuses on RTC and low cost.

Most of the actual news about this project has already been covered elsewhere, so this is really just me indulging my love of strange physical gaming media and the wonderfully impractical things people come up with.

I've always been fascinated by oddities from gaming history, and the idea of someone getting Doom and Super Mario Bros. working with VHS tapes was far too interesting for me to ignore.

So here's a little/casual dive into GCVHS, the bizarre Action Max console from 1987, and why I think there's something super curious about people finding new uses for old technology. Sometimes I just like writing about things because they're weird :)