The Pop-Culture E-Zine
In this Nintendo Battle, the showdown is on your wrist! The gauntlet is thrown down and the gloves are off between Super Mario Bros. 3 (made by Zeon) and Star Fox (made by Nelsonic).
How did this battle pan out ? Read the full article (by yours truly) on Nintendo Life
Lock up your dogs, give your cats to your mum, EB Games Expo Sydney 2013 is coming this October, from Friday 4th to Sunday the 6th!
Tickets have already gone on sale to Australia’s biggest and best gaming event, and by the looks of it, you better be quick, as they are going faster than Usain Bolt in a 100m sprint!
Making a return to its home at the Sydney Showgrounds, EB Games Expo 2013 will feature exhibitions of the hottest games from the biggest brands in gaming. Showcased in an exhibition hall bigger than two football fields, the Expo truly has to be seen to be believed. For more information on this huge event, check out the EB Games Events Team press release
Tickets for the EB Games Expo 2013 are on sale right now, get them at all EB Games stores, online store or Ticketek . General admission prices are the same as 2012, however the organisers have also introduced a new discounted 4 person multiplayer pass for both the Friday and Saturday twilight sessions. You better hurry up before they are all snapped up!
All images sourced from and remain the property of EB Games Expo 2013
It never ceases to amaze me how talented people are. Once such person, Jérémy Huet is no exception. His (retro and modern) video gaming inspired artwork should be shared and enjoyed. With that said, I hope you like it.
Pop Chart Lab has created the family tree of video game controllers, from joysticks, paddles, gamepads, power glove to bongos and guitars!
The powerhouse that was Sega in the late 1980’s indulged us in some awesome arcade hits. Towards the end of that decade, Sega released memorable arcade games: Crack Down, Dynamite Dux, ESWAT Cyber Police, Scramble Spirits and Power Drift. To keep up this pedigree of arcade hits, Sega unleashed Golden Axe in 1989. Once again, Sega proved that they were the king of the arcade hill.
The big rage back in the late 80’s was two player co-op, horizontal-scrolling fighting games, or in this case, slashing evil minions to pieces and getting to the final boss. The medieval theme of Golden Axe implements the hacking and slashing game play to perfection. The storyline is pretty much run of the mill – the evil Death Adder has kidnapped the King and Princess of Yuria and it is up to the protagonists to rescue them and also seek revenge on the evil that was done to their families.
To set off after Death Adder, the player controls one of three characters, Ax Battler (a Conan The Barbarian lookalike), Gilius Thunderhead, the viking dwarf, and Tyris Flare, the Amazonian goddess (my first female video game character crush – sorry Lara!). Even though Tyris is a great character to use, her long-sword is no match for the battle axe that Gilius Thunderhead wields.
Anyway, on with the adventure – there are lots of different enemies to slash and if things get tough on screen, each of the protagonists can call upon their unique magic power – Tyris Flare has the coolest magic, she uses fire to incinerate everything on screen. There is finite magic power, so the player will have to pick and choose when best to use it. But wait there is more – mounted enemies riding creatures can be knocked off and the players themselves can then hitch a ride on the creatures and use them as weapons (swiping with their tail). The other neat attack is to charge and ram Death Adder’s henchmen by double-tapping the joystick right or left.
The level design is simply awesome – from Turtle Village (which is on a shell of a turtle), to the back of a giant flying eagle. Last but not least, there is the castle where you must defeat Death Adder and reclaim the Golden Axe.
SPOILER ALERT: Once the game is beaten, the ending shows a view of an arcade where the characters “jump out” of the game, run out of the arcade and down the street.
I have always been a huge Sega arcade fan. Whatever they pumped out, it was an instant hit. Golden Axe was no exception.
| Graphics | Using the Sega System 16 board, this was the pinnacle in visuals at the time. Great sprites and awesome looking levels. |
87% |
| Sound | The background music and digitised effects and grunts add perfectly to the axe wielding and sword swooshing atmosphere. |
88% |
| Playability | Sega knew what they were doing when adding an Amazonian beauty to the mix. Golden Axe remains easy to get into, but its best played with a buddy. |
87% |
| Lastability | It is a run of the mill side scrolling hack and slash, but hey, there is nothing wrong with that. |
88% |
| Overall | In 1989, I pumped the equivalent of my body weight of coins into this game. It was also one of the reasons I bought a Mega Drive when it was released. Best played with a friend, Golden Axe has it covered – great graphics, awesome sound effects and great game play. |
89%
|
Manufacturer: Sega
Year: 1989
Genre: Platform
Number of Simultaneous Players: 2
Maximum number of Players: 2
Gameplay: Collaborative
Control Panel Layout: Multi Player
Controls:
– Joystick: 8-way
– Buttons: 3 [Jump, Attack, Magic]
Sound: Amplified Mono (single channel)
Over at the forums on Assembler Games, an interesting thread caught my eye, ‘The Real Sega Pluto’ – posted by forum member and ex-Sega employee, Super Magnetic.
In the post, Super Magnetic unveils a deep dark secret from his days at Sega – the Pluto console, a Saturn with a Netlink built in. A great post accompanied by great photos of the prototype Sega hardware. I am glad this ‘inside information’ is available to us all in the public domain. Without this kind of sharing, we would have been blissfully unaware of Sega’s Pluto endeavour.
If you weren’t sick of seeing the inevitable ‘Game Over’ screen, here is a kind reminder of a few:
Source: dibujoanimado
Finally, the great Vectrex has been hunted down and captured!
What has seemed like a life time of looking for the elusive (and in working condition) Vectrex, it is now in my grasp. The actual hunt was nothing too exciting.
Last Friday, as I laid in bed checking my phone one final time for that last tweet, I got a pop up message from eBay saying that I had new items to check out. To my astonishment, I saw that there was a boxed Vectrex which had just been listed (who lists a Vectrex at midnight!). I quickly saw the price and noted that the seller had offered a “make offer” option on the auction. I ran through the description to ensure it was in working condition and I then put in an offer $50 under the “buy it” now price. My heart rate went berserk once the offer was accepted and I received the “Congratulations” message, followed by the “Pay Now” button. With quivering hands, I had no hesitation to pay immediately.
To say I was thrilled would be a massive understatement. Another rare white tiger is crossed off the list. Next target, the Commodore SX64.
While Madonna’s “Into the groove” was rocking the number one spot on the music charts in August 1985, there were some awesomely great games in the charts of that month for the C64, Spectrum and Amstrad. Here is a hit of nostalgia:
 |
1) The Way Of The Exploding Fist (Melbourne House) |
| 2) Elite (Firebird) | |
| 3) Hyper Sports (Imagine) | |
| 4) Frankie Goes To Hollywood (Ocean) | |
| 5) Tour De France (Activision) |
 |
1) Dun Darach (Gargoyle Games) |
| 2) Beach Head (US Gold) | |
| 3) Red Moon (Level 9) | |
| 4) Alien 8 (Ultimate) | |
| 5) Knightlore (Ultimate) |
 |
1) Frank Bruno’s Boxing (Elite) |
| 2) Hyper Sports (Imagine) | |
| 3) Jet Set Willy 2 (Software Projects) | |
| 4) Spy Vs Spy (Beyond) | |
| 5) Glass (Quicksilva) |
Have you ever wondered what is ‘under the hood’ of your favourite video gaming system? I was curious and embarked on finding out just what kind of silicon was at the heart of our favourite systems – from home computers, consoles to handhelds. Some of this silicon horsepower has even become as famous as the systems they run. We pried open a few machines and checked in their engine bay.
| Chip: |
|
| Systems: | CBM-II, Commodore 64 / 128 and Max |
| Function / Features: | The legendary sound chip created by MOS Technologies for Commodore’s home computers / systems. |
| Chip: |
|
| Systems: | Commodore 64 / 128 |
| Function / Features: | The VIC-II graphics chip was created by MOS Technologies for Commodore’s highest selling home computer, the C64 and its bigger brother, the C128. The VIC-II could display a whopping 16 colours! |
| Chips: |
|
| System: | Atari Jaguar |
| Function / Features: | The Jaguar’s infamous pair, Tom and Jerry (no, not the cartoon characters!) processors are responsible for the graphics and sound respectively. Tom also controls the Object and Blitter processing smarts, whereas joystick control is Jerry’s responsibility. |
| Chip: |
|
| System: | Atari 2600 |
| Function / Features: | The Television Interface Adapter (TIA) is at the heart of the Atari 2600. It is responsible for creating the sights and sounds of your favourite (and not so favourite) games. |
| Chip: |
|
| System: | Atari Lynx |
| Function / Features: | Mikey is the custom central processing unit (MOS 65C02 CPU) and sound engine of the Lynx. The luscious visuals on the Lynx are all due to Suzy, the graphics processor. |
