Archives for January 2015

Geek Nirvana

January 30, 2015 By ausretrogamer

There are those of us with great ideas that never execute them, even with meticulous planning, we are gripped with the fear of failing. Then there are the entrepreneurial types that don’t care for the consequences and take risks. Somewhere in-between are hardcore geeks that decide to open up their house for business, mitigating that dreaded rental risk that plagues bricks-and-mortar shopfronts.

So, what does one do when they have lots and lots of freaky, geeky, nerdy, weird and wonderful items that they would like to share with the general public? They convert their house into ‘Freaks and Geeks’ and open it up for business! It’s about 14,466 km between Melbourne and Denton, so here we go…………..

Who doesn’t like glass cabinets? There is only one right answer!

Don’t you just want to drool over the glass? Again, there is only one right answer!

Splatterhouse runners? WTF? *Mind Blown*

Getting bored of the comics? Then blast some baddies!

Feeling very lightheaded! Click to enlarge and find out why

Care for some Sega 16-bit goodness? (click to enlarge)

Another Great Wall Of Action Figures! (click to enlarge)

Nintendo Entertainment System represent! (click to enlarge)

Flick through some comics. (click to enlarge)

Sega 8-bit and some hybrid 32(x)-Bit!

Let’s play….. pick a game! (click to enlarge)
Source: imgur

Head on over to imugr to see the rest of the photos from Freaks and Geeks! Drool not included.

The Thrill Of The Chase: Roaming In Melbourne

January 28, 2015 By ausretrogamer

Work can be a damn bore. To break the monotony of doing that sales forecast report that is due by the end of the week, we use our lunch-break as a sanctuary to get away from it all.

My lunch break shenanigans had me traversing the city, looking for gaming and pop culture gear in particular. I was pleased to find a number of Nintendo and Namco goodies – from t-shirts and hoodies, to board-games, figurines and pool cues!

Seems as though my timing was quite good, as there were discounts and two-for-one deals throughout the stores – as if I needed more temptation! Shop on!

The coolest NES tee!

Coolest Nintendo backpacks ever!

The coolest Zelda tee!

A super Super Mario!

The coolest Mario tee!

Nintendo has too many temptations

Are you a Nintendo gamer? Then you need to wear this!

The Nintendo Console History Timeline – where it started

The Nintendo Console History Timeline – the 90s and early 2000s era

You’ll be a Mega Man or a Mega Woman if you wear this!

I want to play pool with these Pac-Man balls!

Compliment your Pac-Man pool balls with this Pac-Man cue!

37 years on, and Space Invaders is still relevant!

Lots of drool-worthy tees on this wall!

Let there be light!

Everyone needs Indy in their life

If Nintendo can do it, so can Namco!

Australia Day, Ausretrogamer Style

January 26, 2015 By ausretrogamer

Some Australians celebrate Australia Day with a barbie (Ed: that’s barbecue for the uninitiated), others choose to sink a few beers and watch the cricket. For Ms. ausretrogamer and I, we chose to hit the road in search of some arcade and pinball machines.

Luckily for us, there were a few stores opened on this public holiday Monday. We did find a warehouse on the outskirts of Melbourne packed with arcade machines and pinball tables from all eras. We definitely got our fix of retro gaming eye candy this Australia Day!

Retro refreshments for Australia Day!

Oh yeah, some Sega Sport Car Ultimate Drive (SCUD) Race

Oh no, a Galaga I & II in need of some TLC!

*Scottish accent*Get in my belly!

Shagadelic baby!

Are you scared stiff?

They’re creepy and they’re kooky

I’ll take the Dalek!

I don’t think that light will fit

Lot of history in this place!

Care for some old school hockey?

Old beauties!

Pinball lovin!

May the force be with you!

Pinball tables from all eras!

Pinball tables as far as the eye can see

No one puts Virtua Striker 2 or Virtua Tennis 2 in the corner!

Evel Knievel and Playboy = what a match!

Operating on an ultimate cab

No joint is complete without a Zoltan!

Classic Video Game Characters Breaking All The Rules!

January 24, 2015 By Ms. ausretrogamer

“Whose turn is it?”. “Who cares, let’s rush him!” – imagine if classic video game characters could break all the rules! This video from Dorkly shows us exactly what crazy things might happen if our favourite character just did what they wanted. Let the antics begin!

source: Dorkly
Via: Laughing Squid

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Ms. ausretrogamer
Editor and Researcher at ausretrogamer – The Australian Retro Gamer E-Zine. Lover of science fiction, fashion, books, movies and TV. Player of games, old and new.

Follow Ms. ausretrogamer on Twitter

Super Bread Box: Superb C64 Fun

January 22, 2015 By ausretrogamer

NEWSFLASH: RGCD has announced that Super Bread Box is available for download for all you C64 fanatics (Ed: proud to be a C64 fanatic). This news is great for all retro gaming fans, as Paul Koller’s game is damn awesome. Even if you do not possess a C64, you can get in on the action via VICE on your Windows machine.

Super Bread Box is available for free, but if you can spare a few coins, please throw some over to show your support and reward the developer for their great effort. What are you waiting for? Hop to it!

Super Bread Box on RGCD.DEV

source: RGCD

Hot Wheels Battle: Star Trek VS Star Wars

January 21, 2015 By ausretrogamer

I may have been a Matchbox fan in my younger years, but it’s all about Hot Wheels right now! Starting with the Atari Nostalgics, Hot Wheels (well, Mattel) have definitely piqued my interest in their little cars.

It seems that Hot Wheels have jumped on the pop culture bandwagon and are hurtling down to your local toy store. Not only have Hot Wheels fused their cool toy cars with one sci-fi cult classic, Star Trek, but they have given us the equivalent of a boxing one-two sucker punch by also giving us the Star Wars collection(s).

Considering it is a new year, and in the spirit of giving (thank you Ms. ausretrogamer), I wasn’t going to deny myself either of these collections. Star Trek or Star Wars – let the battle for the sci-fi universe begin!

The Star Trek collection

Star Trek Collection explained

Oooooo, Spock!

The Star Wars Hot Wheels gang!

Looking good Mr Skywalker

Join the dark side of the Hot Wheels force!

The Battle Of The Hot Wheels Universe!

Vader is all over Bones!

The Thrill Of The Chase: Out and About

January 19, 2015 By ausretrogamer

An impromptu lunchtime sojourn comes up trumps! With no intention of hunting for retro or pop culture goodies, I was surprised what I found in Melbourne’s CBD (Central Business District) as I was out and about. From Sonic comics and video gaming related books, to bartop arcade machines at the most unlikeliest place, it was a lunch break I didn’t expect.

A great start to the week indeed. Oh yeh, my wallet was also worse for wear.

Green Lantern VS Zodac? *Mind completely blown*

An awesome book that is to be read by every gamer!

Another awesome book. A great reference indeed!

One for the Zelda fans!

Wish I could flip through the pages of this book!

Sonic Comic! Hey, that rhymes!

Sega fans would love this!

More Sonic love!

Oh wow – Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back! I gotta get these!

Your keys would ROCK and look MEGA on this keyring!

Sam Fisher in his desert suit. Very cool indeed.

The dark side awaits!

An arcade machine in Myer? No way! Oh, that old school phone is cool too.

Yes way – it is an arcade machine at Myer!

The last word always goes to Ron Swanson.

Partying With My Retro Gaming Brethren

January 18, 2015 By ausretrogamer

When I first ventured into retro gaming, little did I know that I would meet such awesome and like-minded people. Since establishing a great bond with the locally based Retro Domination and Weird and Retro guys, we have shared many a good time, not least of all, at our annual Classic Gaming extravaganza at PAX Aus.

With family priorities keeping me away for most of the 2014 PAX Aus event, the rest of the Classic Gaming crew, including the Adelaide based Retrospekt team, were hugely supportive, which was greatly appreciated.

As a thank you, Ms. ausretrogamer and I invited our Victorian based retro gaming colleagues to celebrate the grand opening of our new games room. Between the consumption of pizzas, beer, soft drinks and Ms. ausretrogamer’s famous Black Russians, there were pinball high score challenges, Frisbee action via Windjammers on the Neo Geo MVS and a lot of laughter and reminiscing. It was also great to meet Mrs. Daz Retro and their three lovely kids.

I was humbled to receive many gifts, which were totally unexpected. Matt Cawley handed me a few custom MVS boxes, Ultimate Body Blows and a number of other Amiga CD32 goodies. As per usual, Daz surprised me with a boxed (Last) Ninja 3 for the C64 and the equally awesome, Dracula – The Undead for the Atari Lynx. However, the biggest surprise came from Mr. Mark Cassar. Without any fanfare, Mark handed me an awesome custom-made ausretrogamer C64 t-shirt. To say I was rapt, would be a great understatement!

Since the new games room has now officially been opened, I hope to host many more retro gaming parties with great friends. Game on!

The calm before the retro gaming storm!

Pizzas, Drinks and great company = perfect ingredients for a party

Matt having a crack at the Pin*Bot high score!

The great Mark Cassar taking a swing on the Neo Geo!

Daz showing the boys his flipper skills!

The next generation of retro gamers

The awesome gifts! I have been spoiled.

A Brief History Of Graphics: Pixels, Sprites and Polygons

January 16, 2015 By ausretrogamer

If your New Year’s resolution was to learn more about video game graphics, you are in luck. For those of you with limited time to spare, I present three videos by Ahoy, providing a brief history of graphics; from pixels and sprites, to those super cool polygons! Are video games all about graphics? Of course not! Feast your eyes and ears right now, you may learn something.

Part 1: Pixels Pioneers

Part 2: Sprite Supreme

Part 3: Polygon Realm

source: Ahoy

Screen Scene: Screenshots of Awesome 80s Arcade Games

January 15, 2015 By ausretrogamer

When I first began playing video games in the early 80s, arcade games were the pinnacle of the gaming experience – they had huge cabinets, great graphics, booming sound, and if you were good enough (or had lots of 20 cent coins), gameplay that would keep you coming back.

Being a nostalgist, I was recently reminiscing about arcade games I played at the local darkened arcade parlour, the corner milk bar and also the fish and chips shop near my school. With a smile on my face, I compiled a number of screenshots of arcade games that kept me mesmerised in the 1980s. I hope these bring back great memories for you, as they have for me. Enjoy and remember, “Winners Don’t Use Drugs!”.

My favourite beat’em up of all time. Nothing beats the kneeing to the head and wrapping a baseball bat around a the Black Warriors head!

Save Ronnie and grab some burgers and coke! We are bad dudes fighting the dragon ninja!

Still my go-to vertical shoot’em up! Plenty of 20c coins were spent on Galaga!

The little yellow dot muncher never let me down

The droning sound of this most awesomest of dungeon-maze crawlers is still sublime

Wrestling was huge in the mid 80s, and Wrestle War was a laugh!

Saving the kidnapped Madonna, one kick at a time!

Who could forget this aerial dogfighting classic from Yu Suzuki!

Another Yu Suzuki classic!

The game that ushered in the Golden Age of Arcades

The helicopter cockpit version of Thunder Blade was simply awesome!

The ninja craze was huge in the 80s. Everyone wanted to throw shurikens like Joe!

My beat’em up love began with Kung Fu Master

It was either Salamander or R-Type. I chose Irem’s blaster!

Yu Suzuki’s Out Run will always be associated with coolness!

Ikari Warriors – guerrilla warfare with a mate

Heavy Barrel – just like Ikari Warriors, but with a rotary stick to shoot baddies in 8-directions!

Another Sega classic. This was as close as I got to riding a motocross bike in the 80s

The seminal Nintendo classic will always be on my favourites list

The timeless Taito platform beauty – I love you Bub and Bob

A bomb disposal hero in leotards = perfect!

4P dungeon exploring never got any better than this!

Tempest – the vector splendour!

Going to Flashbacks on Swanston Street was always about Discs of Tron