The mini-gallery
Seriously, just look at these.
Concept art from a cancelled 32X
title, Virtua Hamster, via the Video
Game History Foundation. “The
look and fast-paced action of VirtuaRacing and Virtua Fighter combined
with an amusing puzzle strategy
game and an unlikely group of
heroes and enemies.” Why, oh why,
were you ever cancelled?Opening Vvardenfell
This is by no means a new (old) thing,
but I’ve had my eyes firmly wedged on
the progress of the OpenMW project
recently. What’s that? Why, it’s an open-
source implementation of the original
The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind engine,
with all manner of sparkly new assets
and things created for it – as well as
compatibility with a plethora of systems
beyond the PC original. Now yes, one
might have to get a bit creative with
how they bring all of this to life, and I’m
certainly not about to explain anything
here, but the simple fact of the matter
is: you can get Morrowind running on a
Switch. For some reason, this blows my
mind more than getting Skyrim on the
Switch ever could. wfmag.cc/OpenMWThe Lynx effect
We’re not short of retro gaming devices
these days, whether they’re entirely
above board, or one of those hastily
slapped together Android-powered
devices (or, dare I say it, Raspberry
Pi-powered devices). The Evercade,
when it was first announced, was
something I immediately consigned
to that second category – but the
more that gets revealed, the more my
interest is piqued. Launching 9 April,
this little handheld looks like the knock-
off you’d buy from AliExpress, but is
actually backed by licensed cartridges
packed with games from the likes
of Technōs, Namco, and – brilliantly
for me – Data East. More recently,
there’s been the announcement of an
Atari Lynx cartridge, with 17 games
from the handheld time forgot (do
you remember how you could flip
it – physically flip the hardware – for
left-handed users? Brilliant). At the
time of writing, we’re told there are
135 licensed titles announced for the
Evercade, with more to come down the
line. I am, as they say, paying attention.wfmag.cc \ 65Backwards CompatibleRetro