AUSRETROGAMER

The Pop-Culture E-Zine

You are here: Home / Archives for 2022

Archives for 2022

Super Mario World – Speedrun Record

By

image source: FURiOUS via Twitter

Super Mario World has been in our top 5 all-time favourite games for 3 decades – it is that good!

Now we recall playing SMW for hours and hours on end (we still do!), so you can imagine our jaw-dropping to the floor when we saw Brazilian gamer, Matheus Furtado (aka: FURiOUS) setting a new Super Mario World (0 Exit) speedrun record by completing it in 41.022 seconds!

Check it out!

PS: If you want to watch this speedrun effort on Twitch with all the beautiful SMW music and sound effects, go here.



Transforming a 90’s Hot Wheels PC into a Modern Gaming Beast

By


We have always been impressed by Shank Mods’ creations, like transforming the Virtual Boy in the Real Boy handheld!

Hold onto your hats folks, cause Shank Mods’ has now transformed a 1999 Hot Wheels PC into a high performance gaming beast! The eye-watering specs are impressive as they are expensive.

Before Specs:

  • Intel Celeron 500MHz processor,
  • 10GB hard drive,
  • 64MB of memory,
  • 56k modem,
  • 40x CD ROM drive,
  • 15″ CRT monitor and ran Windows 98

After Specs:

  • AMD Ryzen 9 5950X processor,
  • Gigabyte X570 Aorus Mini-ITX motherboard,
  • ASUS X570-I ROG Strix Mini-ITX motherboard,
  • EVGA NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 XC graphics card,
  • G.Skill Trident Z Neo Series RGB 128GB (4 x 32GB) RAM,
  • Samsung 980 Pro 2TB SSD, and an
  • LG WH16NS40 16x Internal Blu-Ray Rewriter.

This is pretty darn awesome!


source: Shank Mods



The Oregon Trail: The Story of a Classic Computer Game

By

The origin story of The Oregon Trail game dates to a long, long time ago when three teachers created this legendary game. Bill Heinemann, Don Rawitsch, and Paul Dillenberger in 1971 created this game to teach kids about the 19th-century pioneer. 

After this game was created, it got famous because of its interesting concept and easy-to-understand interface. Kids who grew up between in the ’70s and ’80s know how popular this iconic computer game is. 

Many people think that this game is long forgotten and dead. But that’s not true because it’s popular among young players even today. To keep the gaming audience intact, this game has seen quite a few revisions that have only made it better. 

If you like this game or want to know more about it, read on! 

Why Do People Love This Game?

Did you know that The Oregon Trail game online has been released on multiple platforms by multiple game makers who acquired the rights? But the main essence of this game hasn’t been adulterated. It remains the same, which is the prime reason behind its popularity. 

Below are three ways in which this game depicts the life of 19th-century travellers. 

Death

One of the main themes of The Oregon Trail is death. And dying in the game is kind of fun. Wondering why we are saying that? Because people of a party might suddenly fall ill and die.

Most of the time, the cause of death was a simple broken leg or drowning while crossing a river. But people in the game have also died due to cholera, measles, typhoid, exhaustion, dysentery, and snakebite. 

Besides people, the death of animals due to illness, mainly oxen, was quite common. If the members of a party want, they could even organise a funeral for the people who have died and then move ahead on the trail. 

Hunting

The next interesting aspect is hunting, which kept almost all the players hooked to the Oregon Trail game online free. For hunting, players would require pixelated guns that they can purchase at the beginning or during the game. 

During the game, you can get different hunting options. Also, you can hunt a variety of wild animals, which includes squirrels, deer, rabbits, elk, bison, and bears.

When this game was initially released, it didn’t have advanced graphics. Also, to kill an animal, players would have to type “POW,” “WHAM,” or “BANG.” Whether you make a successful hunt or not depends on how quickly you can type the letters. And if there was a spelling error, you might miss the target. 

After that, the game got updated, including a little man who could shoot in eight different directions at the fast-moving animals. And the most recent version made it possible for players to hunt using crosshairs, which could be controlled using a mouse. 

Players mostly targeted bison because they were the slowest moving animals, but they offered the most weight in the food. Next are the squirrels that moved fast but gave very small weight to the food. 

Now the thing is, even if a player killed a large animal, they could only carry 100 lbs in their wagon. It was done to give a real-like feel to the game players. 

Scoring 

The third interesting aspect of The Oregon Trail game original was the scoring. Players would get a score at the end of the game. The awarded score depends on a few factors like remaining possessions, survivors, cash, and the profession that players have selected at the beginning. 

Different professionals offered different points. For instance, the given points would double if you have selected a carpenter. And tripled if you have selected a farmer. But if you have selected a banker, you won’t get any bonus. 

Why Was the Oregon Trail Established Originally?

The original Oregon Trail was established due to the following: 

Mining 

Mining made the Oregon Trail famous because travellers moved south of Oregon during the California Gold Rush to make money. While moving, they followed the route once used in the Oregon Trail between 1848 and 1855. 

Fur Trading

Fur trading was another reason that led to the establishment of the Oregon Trail. Wondering how? During the 1940s, fur trading became the primary source of income for the people of Canada, the U.S., and the Pacific Western area. 

Why Was the Oregon Trail Difficult? 

While the game was fun, the real Oregon Trail was difficult. This difficulty came mainly due to three factors: pestilence, war and the harsh natural environment. 

Pioneers faced difficulty finding clean water, and many had to resort to drinking dirty water, resulting in dysentery and death. Water-borne diseases such as cholera and smallpox also affected the masses. The conditions were only worsened by the bad weather. 

In the final years of the trail’s use, conflicts between the pioneers and natives became common. This made moving westward using the Oregon Trail more challenging than ever before. 

Traversing the Oregon Trail was no easy feat – but the game makes it all fun and games for the sake of entertainment. 

Conclusion

The cartoonish and silly parts of the game, like death by dysentery, will seem funnier now that you understand the realities of the Oregon Trail and the story of how the game came to be.

Whether you’ve played it for hours on end before or have never played it, the Oregon Trail is a game you should experience at least once once on a modern computer. Play The Oregon Trail on your browser for free on Classic Reload!

image source: Classic Reload



Taito EGRET II Mini Arcade – It’s So Awesome

By

When the Taito Egret II Mini was announced in 2021, our collective jaws dropped at this cute and awesome little arcade unit. The Egret II was packed with Taito’s greatest arcade hits, which was a good start. But that wasn’t all! To differentiate itself from the Sega Astro City Mini and any other mini arcade unit on the market, Taito’s offering had a rotating screen (just like its big brother), so you could play games in either TATE (portrait) or landscape (horizontal) orientation – how clever and awesome is that?!

You turn me on!

The games menu is quite intuitive. The orientation of the game is also depicted, which is a great feature

The downside to all this great news was that the Egret II Mini was only going to be available to a limited set of countries for pre-orders. But, we managed to get our hands on the Taito Egret II Mini, and we must say, this thing is so cool and oozes quality – everything looks and feels top notch! The rotating screen is something to behold and feels industrial grade, which is a relief. The other great feature is the ability to switch and lock the joystick in 4-way mode or the usual 8-way – this makes a big difference for games that only have four directions of play!

8-Way or 4-Way – another neat feature!

Taito’s Egret II Mini comes pre-installed with 40 games (see list below), from platformers, shoot’em ups to puzzle, beat’em ups and fighting games to keep you entertained. There are bound to be games you like in Taito’s stable of arcade hits that come with this mini arcade unit. We absolutely love Bubble Bobble, Tatsujin (aka: Truxton), Elevator Action Returns, Rastan Saga and The New Zealand Story to name just a few.

Horizontal? No way!

You spin me right ’round, baby, right ’round

Vertical – that’s much better!

Taito Egret II mini vs Sega Astro City mini: Both are darn cute & awesome!

An essential purchase with the Egret II Mini is the paddle and trackball games expansion set, which incudes the aforementioned paddle and trackball controller and an additional 10 games on an SD card! Speaking of which, we can’t wait to see what the clever modders out there will do with the SD card slot on the Egret II.

It is still early days playing on our Egret II Mini, but so far during this honeymoon period, we love it. This mini arcade unit is packed with great games and feels pretty good to play on. Let’s be honest, this thing is great, but its price does cause a wince. The standard Egret II mini is approx. AU$280 and above (depending on the exchange rate) and that is without shipping. If you want the limited edition (blue joystick top and blue fire buttons), then you pretty much double the price of the standard unit, but we reckon save your dollars and stick with the standard if you really got to have the Taito Egret II mini.

For anyone in Australia looking to get the Taito EGRET II Mini, check them out on Play Asia!

We love the little extras we got with our Taito EGRET II mini

Egret II specs and features:

  • 40 pre-installed games, including arcade classics
  • Special in-game features like: Save states, adjustable lives and rapid-fire
  • 5-inch 4:3 rotating monitor (1024×768 resolution) for horizontal and vertical alignment and an optimal adaptation to the selected game
  • 6-button arcade layout and joystick that is individually adjustable for each game – easily switch from 8 directions to 4 directions
  • HDMI output to also play the games on newer TVs
  • SD card slot to add more games
  • Own integrated sound through stereo speakers
  • Two USB Type-A controller ports for the additional, optional EGRET II mini controllers
  •  Power Source: Above 5V/2.4A (12W)

Games:

image source: ININ Games



Indiana Jones: The Pinball Adventure – Review

By

Zen Studios teased us late last year with their Indiana Jones: The Pinball Adventure game for their Pinball FX3 platform and we have been eagerly awaiting the release ever since!

Well, the day has come where we can now play the famous and popular 1993 Williams Indy pinball title right on our Nintendo Switch and Xbox Series S! We loved playing the Mark Ritchie designed IJ:TPA pinball machine back in the day at our local arcade centre, with many many coins being pumped into it – it was very addictive. Luckily for us, this version doesn’t require coins to play it, but you will need Pinball FX3 (which is free!).

The Indy trailer that Zen Studios teased us with late last year!

source: Zen Studios

Indiana Jones: The Pinball Adventure is the 100th table to Pinball FX3 and the first Williams recreation to Pinball FX and the newest classic to Williams Pinball mobile too. Zen Studios have recreated many other popular Williams titles, and we are here to tell you that this latest one is just as awesome, fun, addictive and faithful to the classic pinball machine.

The real pinball machine that this game is based on was released in 1993 as part of Williams/Midway’s “SuperPin” line of widebody games. It was also the very first pinball machine to use Williams’ DCS sound system (Digital Compression System). The Indy machine has a plethora of playfield features to keep you flipping, like pop bumpers, slingshots, active pinballs, standup targets, kick-out holes, ramps, 3-bank drop targets, captive ball and three video modes. The cooler features and toys are the player-controlled tilting upper playfield and the rotating idol head which releases the balls into play. Of course no pinball machine game is complete without multiballs! This one has plenty, with a 3-ball regular multiball, a quick 2-ball multiball, a “Well of Souls” 6-ball multiball and an “Eternal Life” wizard mode (6-ball).

Nothing beats playing Indiana Jones on our PinSwitch cabinet!

All of this grabs and immerses the player in Indy’s adventures and gets the heart racing. As soon as we started playing the game on our Switch, our heart was racing and we couldn’t wipe off the smile from our face – it was that awesome!

As far as getting the physics right, this is as close as you’ll get to playing the real pinball machine in the digital world. Zen has painstakingly and lovingly put together a brilliant recreation, remaining faithful to a timeless classic Williams pin. But that is not all, Zen have also injected a new way to play the machine with extra 3D effects in the ‘Enhanced’ version that includes side wall art, ball trailer effects, particle effects and a whip-wielding Indiana Jones. Playing this title was non-stop fun, from playing it on our 55″ TV, in handheld mode to playing it on our custom PinSwitch cabinet – it’s a whole lotta flippin action!

There’s a lot to live up to when a huge franchise is taken on, and we can confidently say, the Holy Grail of Pinball finally arrives in a first digital recreation. If you are into pinball games, then this is a must have!

Title: Indiana Jones: The Pinball Adventure (Pinball FX3)
Available: March 10, 2022
Platforms: PlayStation, Xbox, Switch & PC (Steam)



Disclaimer: Nintendo Switch review code for Indiana Jones: The Pinball Adventure was provided by Sandbox Strategies.

Melbourne International Games Week & PAX Aus Are Back!

By

After 2 years of virtual events, 2022 is shaping up to have two massive events back in-person!

The Melbourne International Games Week (MIGW-22) (Oct 1 – 9) and PAX Aus 2022 (Oct 7 – 9) events are back! Save the dates, book in your annual leave, get a sitter and get ready to be back catching up with likeminded peeps at these (industry and public) events.

We are mindful that it has been a while since these events were held in person, so there may be some anxiety, but please be easy on yourself and only attend if you are sure and feel comfortable in mixing in large crowds, especially after these last couple of years.



Star Wars Episode 1: Racer

By

By: D.C. Cutler, U.S.A.

In the fifth episode of “The Book of Boba Fett,” it was thrilling seeing The Mandalorian flying his newly constructed Naboo N-1 Starfighter through the very same canyons on Tatooine that young Anakin Skywalker raced through in “Episode 1: The Phantom Menace.”

That night, after watching the excellent episode, I broke out my Nintendo 64 and started to play one of my favourite racing video games “Star Wars Episode 1: Racer.” Twenty-three years later, the LucasArts game is still visually impressive. After seeing “The Phantom Menace,” I played “Racer” constantly after school, trying to break my previous lap records with every session. The more I played the game, the better my racing reflexes developed over time. At first, I would often crash and get frustrated. However, it didn’t take long before I’d pick up my Nintendo 64 controller, rally, and start another race.

image source: N64Today

I enjoyed racing on the various tracks on the ice planet. Was it Hoth? It could’ve been. I like thinking that it was, seeing that “Empire Strikes Back” is my favourite Star Wars film. I never played much multiplayer. I never liked the two-player split screen mode. My friends enjoyed playing the two-player mode, but my eyes could never adjust to the split screen for some strange reason. I couldn’t concentrate as well with the split screen. My controller skills were sloppy in that mode.

The boost function that you could activate when another podracer is closing in was a fun option. If you used it for too long your engine would suddenly explode. You had to keep an eye on your racer’s temperature.

The smack talk between podracers adds a humorous, competitive touch to the 1999 game. Jake Lloyd, the actor who portrayed Anakin Skywalker, provided voice-over for his character in the game. I never liked the two-headed commentators of the podrace in “The Phantom Menace.” They seem like they don’t belong in the Star Wars universe. They added some humour to the film, but I wish they would’ve been left out of the game.

Its, or there, name was Fodesinbeed Annodue. And I’m sure there’s a toy of them out there somewhere. I’m glad we didn’t see them thirty years older in “The Book of Boba Fett.”



An Atari ST That Has Been Running A Campsite Since 1986

By

Imagine still using an old school computer to run your business? Well imagine no more, as Dutchman Frans Bos is still using the Atari ST 1040 he purchased in 1986 to help run his campsite business, Camping Bohmerwald.

During the mid ’80s, the ST had impressive specifications, with 1MB RAM and a 70Hz monitor. Most PCs of that era only had 512KB RAM and were notoriously expensive. Even though the Amiga 500 was the dominant 16-bit computer at the time, the ST enjoyed popularity in Europe, where the machine was seen as a serious professional computer (as well as a decent music/MIDI and games machine).

Frans purchased his ST computer to manage bookings on the site and register guests. Not entirely happy with the software, Frans then proceeded to write his own program to manage his business better. The ST is a workhorse, which is heavily used during six months of the year when the camping site is open. If you pay attention to the below video, you’ll hear that Frans notes that he likes using the ST because it starts up quickly! Now imagine running a business on a computer that is almost 40 years old – totally mind-blowing!


source: Victor Bart



C64: Crazy Dog Racing

By

As you all may know by now, we love overhead / isometric racing games! So when we saw that Krissz (of Pac-Wor fame) created a cool looking racing game of the Commodore 64, we stood up and took note! Crazy Dog Racing was released years ago, but it had slipped past our radar somehow, so we are glad we have found it now!

The controls take a bit of getting used to, but practice makes perfect. If like games like RC Rro-Am, Super Sprint and the like, then give this one a shot too!

Download and play Crazy Dog Racing from here and have fun!



SEGA Genesis Interactive Plush Console

By

Sega Does What Nintendon’t!

Another nostalgia inducing product from Kidrobot for those Sega 16-bit and Sonic fans! Kick it oldschool with this cool retro plush! The beloved classic SEGA Genesis (we prefer, Mega Drive!) gaming console gets a plush makeover with interactive elements.

This Genesis/Mega Drive console is a 12″ / 30cm plush which includes a plug-in plush Sonic game cartridge and an original 3-button type plug-in plush controller.

image source: Kidrobot