The Pop-Culture E-Zine
This miniature homemade pinball machine is so darn cute!
Don’t be deceived by its tiny looks – this little beast can play one of the greatest pinball games from the 90s, Pinball Fantasies, on its tiny screens! To make it even more like its bigger and heavier brother, it sports a working plunger and haptic feedback for added realism – mind totally blown!
For those of you that want to know the technical aspects of this creation, check out it out here.
source: Sprite_tm
story source: hackaday.com
We still remember the day when we visited Treasureway (defunct now) store in 1982 and seeing He-Man and Skeletor on the shelf for the first time – we were immediately drawn to the action figures and the MOTU universe in general. It would seem that Mattel knew exactly how to market these muscle-bound toys to kids. We begged to get one and after some incessant begging, we were told that we could choose one that day. It was a tough choice, but our very first MOTU action figure was He-Man! Our second one was Zodac, closely followed by Stratos. We didn’t get Skeletor till well after.
source: Masters Of The Universe on Facebook
Over the course of the early to mid 80s, we had a modest collection of MOTU action figures, so when we finally got Castle Grayskull for Christmas in 1984, we felt like we had completed our MOTU journey. Upon hearing that there was going to be a cartoon based on Masters Of The Universe, we couldn’t contain our excitement. The cartoon couldn’t come fast enough! Saturday mornings on the couch with the doona (duvet to our UK friends) over us, watching He-Man battle Skeletor and his evil minions was a perfect way to start our weekend!
40 years on and Treasureway may no longer exists, but we still have our collection of original He-Man and the Masters of the Universe action figures – long live MOTU!
Some of our original MOTU collection
When it comes to villains, we reckon no one tops Darth Vader. He has been our fave antagonist from the first time we saw him wield his lightsaber and force choke his underlings.
The story of Darth Vader has evolved since we were kids in the late 70s and early 80s, but that doesn’t diminish our love for the character, on the contrary, the latest Obi-Wan Kenobi Disney+ series cemented Lord Vader as our favourite villain of all time.
With that said, here are some awesome Lord Vader artwork!
image source: Star Wars Always (Facebook) – Stern Pinball Inc.- Fine Art America – Pinterest – myhotposters – comicbookmovie – Artsper – disneyartonmain – Robert Voisenni
QUEEN & PINBALL BROTHERS ANNOUNCES NEW PINBALL MACHINE:
QUEEN – LIVE IN CONCERT!
With over 300 million albums sold worldwide, the iconic British rock band Queen are one of the biggest bands ever. Formed in London in 1971, Queen have released 15 studio albums, toured extensively, and produced innovative film, video and theatre shows for over 5 decades and they continue to pull in the crowds around the world.
The time has now come to honour this legendary band with a pinball machine based on their truly spell-binding songs – all played LIVE!
The game will be available in two different editions: Champions Edition and Rhapsody Edition. The Rhapsody Edition is limited to a run of 1,000 numbered games and comes with a certificate of authenticity. The limited Rhapsody Edition will come with a number of unique add-ons and the two editions will be different in appearance – see pics below!
Pinball Brothers have worked closely with the band to ensure their approval, which features the following live songs:
Game Features
The game features 14 live songs accompanied by call outs by the band, exclusively recorded for the game. Featured also is Brian May’s legendary Red Special guitar, in the shape of an upper playfield where you can lock balls to start the Red Special multiball. Or you can visit the epic Wembley Stadium to lock balls to start yet another of the game’s many multiballs.
Keep an eye on the Radio – it might help you time your flips! Collect autographs, instruments, band members, tour passes and posters on your way to eventually reaching the final wizard mode »I Want it All!«
The game is presented with an awesome full RGB light show and a Hi-Fidelity sound system, including an 8” bass speaker. It is hard to imagine a better way of experiencing Queen live, whether it be at the club or in your own living room. It is truly immersive! This machine will truly rock you!!!
Pricing and Availability
* The Champions Edition will become available in Q1 2023.
^The Rhapsody Edition is limited to 1000 units and will be available through Pinball Brothers’ global distributors.
The new Queen pinball machines can be pre-ordered via your local distributor right now! For Australian folks keen on these machines, please contact Mr. Pinball Australia.
Follow all things Queen Pinball on the dedicated Queen.Pinball Instagram page!
The developers of the popular Monopoly theme park in Hong Kong, Derek Lo and Stephen Lo, are hoping to capitalise on the popularity of the board game by opening a second Monopoly themed park called Monopoly Dreams, in Melbourne, with all the trimmings of the iconic board game, like passing GO, going to jail, Community Chest and as well as Chance!
The $20 million dollar Melbourne location will be modelled on the original site and will be a considerable 1,650 square metre Monopoly themed indoor park inside Melbourne Central.
There will be a total of 15 attractions across the expansive space, split into two sections where guests will be able to win real prizes. Guests will also be able to win money to spend in the on-site café and retail store.
There’s no set date as to when Monopoly Dreams Melbourne will open, though it’s likely to be later in 2022.
image source: Monopoly Dreams
Here we were thinking it doesn’t get any better than Lego’s Nintendo Entertainment System set, but looks like we were terribly mistaken! Lego have now gone up another level with their amazing Atari VCS/2600 (10306) set! Just look at the intricate detail, it oozes an intoxicating aroma of nostalgia. The set contains 2,532 pieces that create the iconic woodgrain console, three game carts, a CX40 joystick, three-shelf cabinet and three 3D vignettes of classic 2D games!
Just like when the Lego NES set was released, this won’t be cheap. Slated at a retail price of AU$369.99, you can grab one from 1st August – not long to wait now!
image source: Brickfinder – Facebook
We saw this Nintendo PlayChoice countertop machine and thought we’d share it with you!
We don’t recall coming across this countertop in any of our travels around Australia, so if you are like us, this may be the first time your eyes are feasting on such awesomeness! We have seen and played on the standup PlayChoice machines, but this one is definitely a rarity for us.
This one is for sale (at the time of writing) in Las Vegas for US$3,000. There countertop comes with 5 carts, Kung-Fu, Dr. Mario, Baseball Stars, Excitebike and Tecmo Bowl. However, it is missing a few components and the unit does have a few bumps and nicks. So if you are in the Vegas area and are keen on this expensive beauty, check out this post on Facebook to get in touch with the seller.
image source: Facebook
We love Lego Ideas that have a nostalgic link to our past, just like this Game Boy Colour Transformer “PRISMATIS” by Baron Von Brunk.
Built in 2017, this particular Lego Ideas entry is based on an iconic full-size 1990s Game Boy Color, with its crisp lime green colours, a battery case on the back that comes off to store two batteries that double as missiles – how clever! Baron tells us that the transformation process is straight forward without the need to remove parts. The Transformer arms and hands are articulated with individual fingers on each hand – talk about attention to detail! Oh yeah, how cool is that speaker vent – another great touch to this very cool Lego Ideas entrant.
With the explosion in popularity of Formula 1 (Ed: thanks to Drive to Survive), it is great timing to have a game like Formula Bit Racing DX hit our gaming consoles!
So why is Formula Bit Racing DX great? Well, firstly it is a lot of fun to play! Secondly, we love its influence from classic arcade racing games from the 80s and early 90s, so if you enjoyed games like Super Sprint, RC Pro-Am, Super Skidmarks, Micro Machines, Super Off-Road Racing, to name just a few, then you will absolutely love this game from 2Awesome Studio!
The charm of this game is its low-poly HD graphics and top-down/isometric point of view of the race track, coupled with great control and the challenges thrown at the racer before they cross the finishing line.
Borrowing elements from iconic arcade racing games, Formula Bit Racing DX builds on this pedigree with a few modern twists, including the aforementioned gorgeously crisp low-polygon HD grx, catchy retro soundtrack and of course, the 20 fun circuits to race on with one of 10 unique cars! The exciting gameplay that the genre is known for is perfectly captured by Formula Bit Racing DX – lots of high speed action and skill series which are quite easy to get into, but mastering the control to turn, drift on the racing track is what keeps you coming back to it. The only thing we wish this game had was the ability to play against your friends, but the game is still solid playing solo.
At well under AU$10.00, this game is absolutely and totally worth grabbing, no matter your console – Xbox, PlayStation or Nintendo Switch. So go ahead, start your engines and prepare for the craziest and most addictive racing you’ll experience today!
When we stumbled upon our good friend’s, The Nintedork, thread about his super fun time with his family at Timeline Arcade, we knew we had to share their awesome experience, which was loaded with a ton of nostalgia!
The Nintendork was happy for us to share some select photos (see below) from their fun times, but if you would like to see all the photos, full of arcade and pinball nostalgia, from this amazing place, then please check out the Twitter thread below, we promise you’ll be amazed!
Had a Super fun time with my son Riley and his girlfriend at @Timeline_Arcade in York!
A thread… pic.twitter.com/w096lILv0b
— Tʜᴇ Nɪɴᴛᴇɴᴅᴏʀᴋ 🇺🇦🎮🕹️ (@Nintendork9) July 10, 2022
Thanks again to The Nintendork for allowing us to share his fun experience at Timeline Arcade!