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Archives for October 2020

TAITO Arcade Classics Featured on AtGames Legends Arcade Family

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We must say, the AtGames Legends Arcade Family suite of products have piqued our interest due to their versatility and now, the collaboration with TAITO Corporation, an arcade manufacturing powerhouse, bringing us some awesome classic arcade titles!

Current owners of the Legends Arcade Family products as well as those who have an interest (like us!) in classic arcade games are in luck! To compliment the AtGames’ already large selection of built-in video games, gamers can now add another 47 classic TAITO arcade games via a simple firmware update. This is the first time so many Taito arcade games have appeared at the same time on a single product! Check out the full list of games below which we guarantee will whet your nostalgic appetite!

The 47 TAITO arcade games are:

  • Alpine Ski
  • Battle Shark
  • Ben Bero Beh
  • Bonze Adventure
  • Bubble Bobble
  • Cadash
  • Cameltry
  • Chack ‘n Pop
  • Colony 7
  • Crazy Balloon
  • Don Doko Don
  • Elevator Action
  • Elevator Action Returns
  • Football Champ
  • Front Line
  • Growl
  • Gun & Frontier
  • Halley’s Comet
  • KiKi KaiKai
  • Kram
  • Kuri Kinton
  • Liquid Kids
  • Lunar Rescue
  • Metal Black
  • Nastar Warrior
  • Operation Thunderbolt
  • Operation Wolf
  • Pirate Pete
  • Plotting
  • Plump Pop
  • Qix
  • Raimais
  • Rastan
  • Space Gun
  • Space Invaders
  • Space Invaders DX
  • Syvalion
  • The Electric Yo-Yo
  • The Fairyland Story
  • The Legend of Kage
  • The New Zealand Story
  • The Ninja Kids
  • Thunder Fox
  • Violence Fight
  • Volfied
  • Wild Western
  • Zoo Keeper

These 47 TAITO arcade games are part of the growing number of built-in, licensed games on the Legends Arcade Family products like the Legends Ultimate and Legends Gamer series. Other current and future Legends Arcade Family products feature a similarly impressive mix of licensed arcade and console titles. We love the flexibility of adding games (legitimately!) to a home arcade system.

image source: AtGames Legends Family Arcade

Creative BT-W3 Bluetooth 5.0 Audio Transmitter – Review

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It is quite amazing to think that modern gaming consoles don’t come with built-in Bluetooth technology to allow gaming from the comfort of your chair without any wires getting in the way!

We were on the lookout for ways to play our Nintendo Switch with our wireless headphones, and to be honest, there wasn’t much out there, till now! Creative have stepped in to fill the void with their BT-W3 Bluetooth 5.0 Audio Transmitter. The BT-W3 package comes with a USB-C adapter, USB-C-to-USB-A converter and an analogue mic which all work on PC, Mac, PS4 and the Nintendo Switch.

The versatility in its use was what caught our eye initially, from being able to use it on our Switch, to then using it on our Windows based laptop, it was all very easy to pair up and use our wireless headphones. Where the Creative BT-W3 truly shines is in its support of four different Bluetooth codecs – aptX LL, aptX HD, aptX, and SBC. Each of these codecs have their own strengths and are suitable for different uses, like the aptX LL codec being essential for lag-free gaming experiences, while aptX HD is ideal for music enjoyment. Codec selection is done at a press of a button on the USB-C adapter. Each codec has a unique light indicator, so you will always know which codec you are currently using.

Press the button to select from a choice of 4 different codecs!

To be able to use the analogue microphone on our Switch for some online gaming chatter, we had to download the HFP-off firmware to enable the function. This firmware update is necessary because the Nintendo Switch does not allow for input and output audio to be from different devices. Don’t stress though, as it is also quite easy to turn HFP back on by downloading and executing the HFP-on firmware.

To enable the analogue mic on the Switch, you will need to turn off HFP (which is really easy)

We put the BT-W3 through its paces on both the Nintendo Switch and our Window 10 based laptop, and we are happy to report that it worked flawlessly. We didn’t experience any lag or Bluetooth disconnections, which in this day and age of Zoom and WebEx meetings is an absolute must! It is early days in our use of the BT-W3, but we are impressed so far.

You may be asking yourself, do I really need this AU$64.95 contraption? Well, if you want to enjoy a lag free gaming experience on your PS4 / Switch or just want the versatility and quality without any wires, then you need the BT-W3 in your life. We were so blown away with the provided Creative BT-W3 that we went out and bought another one for ourselves – it is that good!

We were so impressed with the BT-W3, we had to get another one!

 

Disclosure: The Creative BT-W3 was kindly provided by Creative for this review. The second Creative BT-W3 was purchased by us.

 

Welcome to the Jungle: Jersey Jack Pinball Unleashes Guns N’ Roses

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Welcome to the jungle, we’ve got fun and games! Yes indeed, Jersey Jack Pinball delivers a whole lot of fun in their pinball games, and their latest release, Guns N’ Roses pinball machine is no exception.

For those that are not in the know, Jersey Jack Pinball has partnered with legendary rock group sensation, Guns N’ Roses to bring the “Not In This Lifetime…Tour” concert experience to a pinball machine near you! Packed with features such as real drum stick ramp, platinum record spinning toy, guitar pick spinners, hand sculpted figures, articulating spotlights and so much more! Eric Meunier’s kinetic work of art truly brings the concert alive with hundreds of LED lights, multiple LCD displays showing custom animations and hours of Not In This Lifetime…Tour concert footage while 21 full-length studio master tracks from Guns N’ Roses blast from the 120 Watt 2.1 stereo sound system!

image source: Jersey Jack Pinball

There are three models in the Guns N’ Roses pinball machine range:

  • Guns N’ Roses Collectors Edition USD$12,500
  • Guns N’ Roses Limited Edition USD$9,500
  • Guns N’ Roses Standard Edition USD$6,750

To say we can’t wait to rock and roll Jersey Jack Pinball’s Guns N’ Roses would be a massive understatement!


source: SDTM

 

What’s Up America! – Video Warriors Mini Documentary From 1980

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We love finding obscure mini documentaries from the early 80s, just like this What’s Up America! mini documentary, titled Video Warriors, which provides an insight on the state of the arcade video games industry circa 1980.

This documentary features a fresh-faced Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell, Lyle Rains (Atari VP of Engineering, Coin-Operated Games Division), and Roger Hector (Atari Manager of Advanced Products) to name a few. The focus is primarily on Atari Coin-Ops games, but arcade games from other manufacturers are also shown. We really love the part where Roget Hector discusses his co-creation, Atari’s (unreleased) Cosmos holographic handheld games system!

For those of you outside of North America, the What’s Up America! TV series ran on the Showtime channel from 1979-1981. Now go and enjoy this hit of nostalgia!


source: Scottith Games

 

2020 RESET64 C64 Craptastic 4KB Game Competition Results

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Thanks to the competitors, judges, sponsors and everyone in between for making the Reset64 2020 4kb Craptastic Game Competition our most successful yet! Also, a special thank-you to Richard Bayliss for once again compiling the official compilation disk. It was an amazing competition with a record 38 entries making the deadline. Each of these games are an outstanding achievement and it was great to have both novice and experienced coders participating and exploring their ideas.

The expert judges this year are Rob Caporetto, Andrew Fisher, Raj Singh, Richard Tappenden, Paul Koller, Louie Dimovski and Andrew Hayes. We couldn’t have done it without the judges, who extensively played, critiqued and reviewed each of the 38 games. There was a lot of variation between scores from each judge, which illustrates just how different concepts appeal to different people! Overall, it was a very close competition and there wasn’t much separating each placing.

The Winner: Fall by Megastyle!

Thanks again to the compo sponsors – Bitmap Books, Protovision, Fusion Retro Books, Freeze64, K&A Plus, Puddlesoft, Megastyle, and Ready64. Please visit and support the competition sponsors. A big mega special thank-you to Ausretrogamer for hosting and publishing the compo updates and continued support!

Judges’ comments and more information about each game will be published in the near future. Until then, enjoy the games (which can be downloaded from the 2020 Craptastic page) and congratulations again to all of the entrants and winners.

PLACINGS

1. Fall – Megastyle (28.71)

2. Dots – James (28.57)

3. Jumpin Jalopies – Megastyle (27.71)

4. RodMän Jr – Misfit (27.43)

5. Bring Back My Bones – Commocore, Hose It Out – Oziphantom (27.29)

6. Orcapult – Puddlesoft (26.86)

7. Avoid – James (26.71)

8. Star Lair – Malcontent (26.43)

9. SWYD – Megastyle (26.29)

10. Blockheads – Carleton Handley (26.14)

11. Rainbow Edge Run – Geir Straume (25.29)

12. Makealevel – Monsters Go Boom (24.57)

13. Jump4k – Megastyle, Kung Poo Fighter – Megastyle (24.43)

14. Al-Bert – Derek (23.86)

15. Ewe Woz Ere – DESIGN/chaos, WYR – Malcontent (23.57)

16. Mini Danmaku 64 – Cogitare Computing  (23.43)

17. Stacks – Derek (23.29)

18. A Day in the Life of a Teleporter (BASIC 10 Liner version) – Roman Werner, Flappy Space – Megastyle (22.86)

19. Spunk v.s. The Rest – Twain Pain Games (22.57)

20. Plazzle – Goerp (22.29)

21. Dodonuts – DESIGN/chaos (21.71)

22. Make Them Jump 2K – map/Plush (21.57)

23. Snout About – Nick Sherman (21.29)

24. Fight – Megastyle (21)

25. MeteorMath – fancollector1980 (20.57)

26. Parking Ticket – Ruerob (20.29)

27. A Day in the Life of a Teleporter – ZeHa (19.71)

28. Customs – Vk4mx (19.29)

29. Zzaped in the Butt! – TND (18.71)

30. Kugelblitz – Haplo (17.43)

31. Cover Fire! – Jammer (17.29)

32. Country Pop – Tomaes (16.17)

33. 1991 USSR deep space probe control centre janitor – Goerp (15.71)

34. Rescue64 – Syed (12.43)

Dots

Jumpin Jalopies

RodMän Jr

Bring Back My Bones

Hose It Out

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Unkle K / Reset C64
Father, husband, teacher and retro gaming/computer enthusiast! Editor of Reset64 C64 magazine.

Follow Reset C64 on Twitter

Commodore 64 Beige Spray Paint

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Well, well, well, wonders never cease to amaze us! If you are yearning for your stuff to look more like they did in the mid 80s, then this Commodore 64C beige spray paint is for you!

The clever peeps at Retrohax are behind this nostalgia inducing spray paint, so if you want to get all artistic and go nuts on painting stuff all beige, then hit their store (~the spray paint is approx. AU$36.25).

Oh yeah, with this ongoing COVID-19 situation, spray paints are flight restricted items so they won’t get past the origin border, so unless you are situated in Poland, you may have to wait a bit to get some.

Just in case the C64C beige paint isn’t your thing, Retrohax also has Amiga 500 Beige and Atari XE/ST Grey spray paints to ensure you get creative! Now, if only they had a C64 breadbin brown spray paint 😉

image source: Retrohax