Sony made some waves in the gaming community recently when it was announced that they were closing the PSN stores for the PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, and PlayStation Vita.  There was such a loud uproar of resistance to this news that Sony doublebacked on the plan and will leave the PS3 and Vita stores open while the PSP is still closing down.  This led us to start talking about our favorite video games that have been delisted from online stores, never to be seen again.  This week's podcast is all about those lost games that we still love and may or may not have had a chance to buy such as The Simpsons arcade game, Castlevania The Adventure ReBirth, ModNation Racers, Noby Noby Boy, and many more.  Download this week's episode directly from PTB, listen with the player below, find us on Stitcher, subscribe via iTunes, Amazon Music Podcasts, and Google Podcasts, toss this RSS feed into your podcast aggregation software of choice, and be sure to catch up on past episodes if you're joining us late. Remember that you can reach us via , you can leave a message on the Power Button hotline by calling (720) 722-2781, and you can even follow us on Twitter at @PressTheButtons and @GrundyTheMan, or for just podcast updates, @ThePowerButton. We also have a tip jar if you'd like to kick a dollar or two of support our way. 

Sega and Konami had trouble making a partnership involving the famed Castlevania franchise work.  Despite releasing Bloodlines for the Genesis in 1994, plans to produce Castlevania titles for the 32X and Dreamcast never did come to fruition as those hardware platforms went down in flames in the market.  One of the more intriguing cancelled games is Castlevania Resurrection for the Dreamcast which focused on the then-origin of the Belmont family line, Sonia Belmont from, 1997's Castlevania Legends, as she embarked on a 3D adventure that was to be a step up from what the 3D Castlevania titles on the Nintendo 64 offered.  While a few screenshots have made it out over the years since the game was canned in 2000, it's only now that a playable demo from E3 1999 has made it into eager fans' hands.  Playable in emulators and real Dreamcast hardware, it's supposedly 25% complete and includes four playable areas that were shown to the press behind closed doors.

Castlevania Ressurection, dans sa version prototypale de l’E3 99, comporte ainsi 4 stages (et un cinquième accessible via émulateur). En sachant que le titre, selon les rumeurs, n’est pas allé au-delà des 25 % de développement, cela laisse envisager qu’il subsiste peut-être une autre version mais si c’est le cas, elle ne doit pas être beaucoup plus avancée. Les intentions étaient là, la réalisation n’a rien de spectaculaire pour une Dreamcast mais il y a tout de même de jolis effets et certains décors sortent du lot. Le titre de Konami aurait pu être un très bon jeu mais il semblerait que des dissensions entre la maison-mère japonaise et la filiale américaine (tiens, ça me rappelle un autre éditeur) aient eu raison du projet. C’est dommage car le potentiel était là.

I've never felt satisfied playing a Castlevania game in 3D and I don't know if Resurrection would have changed my opinion, but it certainly looks sharper than the games that would come after it for the Sony PlayStation 2, Lament of Innocence and Curse of Darkness.  We'll never know if the finished game would have lived up to expectations, but at least now fans can have a taste of what was in in development.

Since buying a Sony PlayStation 5 last November I have played a number of games on the console, and while they've been impressive to experience, save for the pack-in Astro's Playroom, every game has felt like a dressed-up, boosted version of a PlayStation 4 game.  In truth, many have been exactly that: PS4 games with increased texture detail and more impressive lighting.  Sony and Insomniac Games revealed a new trailer for the upcoming Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart this morning that has me feeling that the next generation we've all been promised in interviews and marketing is finally about to begin.  This game looks impressive!  As a big Ratchet fan since the PS2 days who has recently replayed the original trilogy on PS Vita, I'm very excited to experience a new adventure in that world.  After the past few months, I think we can all use a break for something fun like this.  I know I do.

Introducing Rivet!

See the mysterious Lombax in action in today’s Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart trailer, then tune in to State of Play on Thursday at 2pm PT for extended gameplay from @insomniacgames – plus updates on a pair of upcoming indie titles: https://t.co/f0IEfDx3c6 pic.twitter.com/mASOmXl4H2

— PlayStation (@PlayStation) April 26, 2021

Over the past few years Hallmark has produced a variety of its popular Keepsake ornaments for a range of video game franchises, and while we started out with just a handful of Super Mario ornaments, this year the product line as revealed early by Keepsake fan site Digital Dream Book has expanded to include a little something for everyone from Caped Mario's famous Super Mario World appearance to a pair of 8-bit pixelized Link and Princess Zelda ornaments to commemorate the thirty-fifth anniversary of The Legend of Zelda with Sonic the Hedgehog and his pals showing up for the Sega crowd.  There's even ornaments from Mario Kart, Pokémon, Mortal Kombat, Fortnite, Kingdom Hearts, and Minecraft.  Oh yes, and I can't forget to mention the little Super NES replica following on from last year's Nintendo Entertainment System ornament that will light up and play sounds.  You can see all of these and more in the Hallmark Keepsake Ornaments Dream Book when it's officially released later this month.  It's going to be an expensive holiday season.  I love collecting these ornaments, getting my start as a young teenager with the Star Trek line and continuing on through the years.  Here's the complete lineup with pricing and release dates.

• Caped Mario (Super Mario World) - $17.99, 7/10/21
• Donkey Kong (Mario Kart) - $18.99, 7/10/21
• Link (The Legend of Zelda) - $8.99, 10/2/21
• Princess Zelda (The Legend of Zelda) - $8.99, 10/2/21
• Super NES console - $19.99, 7/10/21
• Charizard (Pokémon) - $17.99, 10/2/21
• Sonic and Tails (Sonic the Hedgehog) - $19.99, 10/2/21
• Knuckles (Sonic the Hedgehog) - - $17.99, 10/2/21, Limited Availability
• King Mickey (Kingdom Hearts) - $17.99, 10/2/21
• Sub-Zero (Mortal Kombat) - $17.99, 7/10/21
• Crackshot (Fortnite) - $17.99, 10/2/21
• Enderman (Minecraft) - $18.99, 10/2/21