‘Shadow of the Beast’ Will Kick Your Ass, Old School Style

  Back in the day, video games weren’t your friends. They were kinda assholes, really. There were no hand-holding tutorial stages; nothing was dumbed down or anything like that. They just wanted to watch you, your best buddy and your mama crash and burn.  

It’s a funny thing, looking back at the games of the 90s. Licensed titles like The Lion King and Aladdin looked like cutesy Disney platform BS, but they were freaking fiendishly difficult. Imagine Mega Man with Simba in place of the Blue Bomber and you’re just about there. Go even further back, and there are even more shit-your-pants-evil games waiting for you.

Which is where the upcoming PS4 reboot of Shadow of the Beast comes in. This side-scrolling brawler first hit the Amiga back in 1989, and it’s notorious for being damn hard. The spangly new version will arrive on PS4 May 17, and it’s bringing the original with it. Updated a lil’ bit for this day and age, natch.

Matt Birch, CEO of developer Heavy Spectrum, told PlayStation Blog, ‘[The original Shadow of the Beast] is something of a notoriously difficult game… so we've added an infinite lives mode and some other helpful features.’ All of which, before the hardcore among us lose bowel control with rage, are entirely optional.

So there it is. Do you remember this one? Are you diving back in later this month?