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Archives for October 2015

Celebrating the PC-Engine

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PCengine_celebration_TitleYesterday we celebrated the Japanese release of the Mega Drive, today, it’s NEC’s little pocket rocket, the PC-Engine’s turn to bask in the glory of its awesomeness. On this day (October 30) in 1987, a little white unassuming console, the size of a chip packet, burst onto the Japanese market and caused an immediate stir. Within its compact size was an 8-bit (CPU) heart with twin 16-bit (GPUs) eyes, which resulted in beautiful looking games that were equally packed with great sound and gameplay. It’s games came on cute little cards called HuCards (Hudson Cards) or Turbo Chips in North America.

The PC-Engine enjoyed a stack of great arcade conversions with Namco(t) leading the charge. There were great platformers (PC Genjin/Bonk’s Adventure, Legend Of Hero Tonma) and even greater shoot’em ups (R-Type, GunHed, Gradius) – the console certainly had the major gaming genres covered with games that would appeal to even the most ardent of gamers.

NEC/Hudson Soft may have stumbled when attempting to release the PC-Engine outside of Japan, but the compact console definitely packed a punch that gave both Sega and Nintendo a scare in the late 80s in Japan. If you haven’t experienced gaming on a PC-Engine, then check out our genealogy and take your pick – you will not be disappointed!

image source: Wikia

 

Celebrating the Sega Mega Drive

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MegaDrive_TITLESega’s 16-bit beast may have arrived on our shores late in 1990, but on this day (October 29) in 1988, Japan got a taste of the future with the release of the Mega Drive. A leap from the Master System, the Mega Drive brought home (almost perfect) arcade conversions, especially those from Sega’s own arcade stable.

While most of the western world was still in the micro computing craze with their C64s, Amigas and Atari STs, Sega stamped their authority with their latest, and as history would record it, their most successful console ever. The Mega Drive was the catalyst for converting a generation of micro computing enthusiasts into console gamers, I should know, I was one of them. My transition from 8-bit (C64) and 16-bit (Atari ST) computing was quite stark – as soon as I got my Mega Drive and whacked in the pack-in Altered Beast game, I honestly thought I had an arcade in my bedroom. Once I played Golden Axe, I was smitten with the machine. Alas, from that day forward (well, for the duration of the 90s) my micro computers were relegated to the back of the wardrobe because there was a new gaming system in town, and its name was Mega Drive!

What were your earliest memories of Sega’s 16-bit beauty? Hit us up on Twitter or Facebook and join in the conversation.

 

New Super Mario Bros. Speedrun World Record

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On 18 October 2015, US speedrunner darbian set a new Super Mario Bros. speedrun world record of 4:57.627. The run was completed on a NES (not an emulator) and only took 6,607 tries!


Video source: darbian on YouTube

Source: darbian via Cheezburger

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msausretrogamerMs. ausretrogamer
Co-founder, editor and writer 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

 

 

PAX Australia announces return of the Classic Gaming Area at PAX Aus 2015

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The Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) is proud to announce that the Classic Gaming Area will be returning for the third time, bigger and better than ever, at PAX Aus 2015. The Classic Gaming Area joins the dozen of areas on the show floor catering to PAX Aus badge holders over the three-day event including Tabletop, Console, PC, eSports, and more.

PaxAus_ClassicArea_2015Image source: Blow The Cartridge

The Classic Gaming Area will feature a plethora of playable retro consoles and computers from the 1970s to the early 2000s, and for the first time, arcade machines and pinball tables! This will also include the new and much anticipated Game Of Thrones pinball tables!

gotImage source: IGN

A joint initiative between PAX and Melbourne-based retro gaming experts Ausretrogamer, Retro Domination, Weird and Retro (all providing retro consoles and computers), local barcade Bartronica (providing arcade machines), and pinball enthusiast Scott Kellett with Amusement Machine Distributors, Bayside Pinball Club, and Pinmem (providing pinball tables), the Classic Gaming Area will transport PAX Aus attendees young and old to the golden age of video gaming.

Consoles on display will be NES, SNES, Dreamcast, Saturn, Master System, Mega Drive, GameCube, N64, PC-Engine, C64, Amiga, Atari ST, Atari 2600, Atari Lynx, Game Boy, Wonderswan, PS1, PS2, and Xbox.

The classic arcade section will include Mortal Kombat 2, Time Crisis, and even an original Donkey Kong cabinet.

dkImage source: Prima Games

Ausretrogamer’s Alex Boz explains “besides freeplay consoles, computers, arcade machines, pinball tables, and friendly retro gaming experts, the Classic Gaming Area will be running tournaments all weekend with some great prizes!”

Guy ‘Yug’ Blomberg, PAX Aus Content and Community Manager adds “the Classic Gaming Area has been a very popular and successful part of PAX Aus since we began in 2013, we are thrilled it is back for 2015 and excited about this year’s expanded range of activities.”

More information about the Classic Gaming Area, including tournaments, can be found at https://www.ausretrogamer.com/paxaus-2015-classic-gaming-tournaments.

Friday and Sunday badges and 3-day international badges are still available and can be purchased online at www.paxaustralia.com.au/registration.

For further information visit paxaustralia.com.au or follow PAX Australia updates via Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

Source: PAX Australia

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msausretrogamerMs. ausretrogamer
Co-founder, editor and writer 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

 

 

Modern Games As Atari 2600 Carts

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Have you ever wondered what your favourite modern games would look like as Atari 2600 carts? Well, check out DeviantArtist StarRoivas’ collection and wonder no more (see the whole collection via Lord Arse on Pinterest).

shadow of the collusus

MGS 3

fallout 3

COD

la noire

broken sword

borderlands

god of war

minecraft

silent hill

eternal darkness

Source: StarRoivas on DeviantArt via Lord Arse on Pinterest

If you love retrogaming, follow Lord_Arse on Twitter.

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msausretrogamerMs. ausretrogamer
Co-founder, editor and writer 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

 

 

Pinball Frenzy At PAXAus

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PinballFrenzy_PAXAus_TitleWho said that pinball was dead? Well, it may have taken a back seat a decade and a half ago, but boy, has pinball come back in a big way. There has been a resurgence of flipping the silver ball with companies like Stern Pinball making contemporary tables based on the hottest bands and pop culture franchises on the planet, from AC/DC, Metallica, KISS, to Iron Man, The Walking Dead, Star Trek and WWE Wrestlemania, there surely is no shortage of great pinball machines to tilt and bump on.

Since pinball has once again become cool (Ed: it never lost its cool!), it was a no brainer to start thinking about including pinball machines in the PAX Aus Classic Gaming area. After meeting Scott Kellett at Supanova earlier this year, we had a brief chat and that is when Scott mentioned how cool it would be to have pinball machines at PAXAus. A few discussions later, Scott’s idea was given the greenlight to pursue having pinball machines in the Classic Gaming area. Through sheer determination and dedication, Scott has round up the big names from the pinball community (Bayside Pinball Club, PinMem and AMD) to deliver us an array of amazing pinball tables (Ed: there will be 10 pinball tables!) for all of you to enjoy and compete on. In a major pinball coup, Scott has arranged to have the first Game of Thrones pinball table available for play in Australia at PAXAus 2015 – even more reason to see you all at PAXAus 2015!

For those with a competitive streak, the ‘PAXAus 2015 IFPA Pinball Tournament’ (proudly brought to you by AMD) will be on Saturday, October 31 – more details here. There will be great prizes on offer, including showbags full of Stern goodies and an awesome Game Of Thrones backboard translite! Get your flippin fingers ready for some pinball frenzy at PAXAus 2015.

Event: PAX Aus 2015
Date: Oct 30 – Nov 1, 2015
Where: Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre (MCEC)
Tournaments: PAXAus 2015 Classic Gaming Tournaments

GoT_Pro_pinballimage source: Amusement Machine Distributors (AMD)

 

The 8-Bit Guy: How Oldschool Sound/Music Worked

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the 8 bit guy logo

In this very cool video, David Murray (The 8-Bit Guy) and guest Rob Ivy (The Obsolete Geek) cover three different eras of computer music: the Internal Speaker, FM Synthesis, and PCM Samples – we learned a lot, we hope you do too!


Video source: The 8-Bit Guy on YouTube

If you like this video, check out David’s other video about how 1980’s video game graphics worked.

Source: via 20khz

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msausretrogamerMs. ausretrogamer
Co-founder, editor and writer 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

 

 

Green With Envy: An Amazing Home Arcade

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This basement arcade built by Redditor mertzlufft and their father has to be one of the most awesome games rooms we’ve ever seen! Give that dad a prize for ‘father of the year decade’ then feast your eyes on the photos of this amazing home arcade.

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Source: Redditor mertzlufft via Cheezburger

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msausretrogamerMs. ausretrogamer
Co-founder, editor and writer 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

 

 

Love Hultén: Fusing Modern And Traditional

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We’ve written about Swedish designer and craftsman, Love Hultén’s elegant retro arcade, the R-Kaid-R, before – but that’s only the beginning. Hultén creates stunning electronic devices by fusing modern technology with traditional artisan knowledge. Everything is produced, polished, and assembled in his one-man studio in Gothenburg, Sweden.

BATTLECADEConceptual arcade console for two players, inspired by classic board games like Battleship.
battlecade


Video source: Love Hultén on YouTube

PE358Pocket sized portable game system inspired by the Game Boy Advance SP console built around a Raspberry Pi A+.
pe

R-KAID-42R-Kaid-42 (Arcade for two) is a two-player arcade/MAME machine.
rkaid42


Video source: Love Hultén on YouTube

R-KAID-KURBITS
R-Kaid-Kurbits is a special hand painted edition of the R-Kaid-42 unit, inspired by traditional Swedish furniture painting techniques.
kurbits

R-KAID-REVELATIONTwo-player arcade/MAME machine with two wireless joypads and a wooden bluetooth keyboard/mouse.
rev

PIXELKABINETT 42Limited edition of 50, JAMMA board of your choice, or it can be customized to run a modern computer, emulating all your favorite games through MAME (buy the Pixelkabinett 42).
42

pixel

700The 700 is a conceptual two-player arcade/MAME machine inspired by the Telechron Electrolarm 700 from 1929.
700

R-KAID-44A hexagonal four-player arcade/MAME machine.
rkaid44

YESTERDAY PIXELVISIONRetro enclosure for LCD/TV monitors of different sizes.
pixelvision

pixel 2

Source: Love Hultén and Laughing Squid

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msausretrogamerMs. ausretrogamer
Co-founder, editor and writer 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

 

 

Press Play On Tape: GenreBusters

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PPOT ep7 HDRThe Press Play on Tape (PPOT) lads are back again, and this time they have taken one prisoner, Mr Mark Cassar from Retro Domination and +3 To Geekdom fame! Mark gives an insight into his gaming past, while Alex Boz goes gaga over Mark’s love of arcade games and loathsomeness for Zelda. The PPOT crew and their special guest discuss their favourite gaming genres on 8 and 16-bit systems, with Daz delighting all with genre-busting games you may have not heard of or played before.

As per usual, the publisher of choice segment was another animated discussion, this time, the honour of choosing the publisher was given to Mark – no, it wasn’t Capcom, Mark chose the hit maker, System 3. With lots of games to choose from, there was no shortage of classics on offer, with IK+ and Last Ninja (among many others) getting the bulk of the votes. So rewind the tape, press play and kick back to another classic PPOT podcast!

PRESS PLAY ON TAPE podcasts are available on iTunes and Podbean.