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Lobos Collectables: Where Self-Control Goes to Die

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A Time Warp to the 80s: Our Visit to Lobos Collectables

We dropped into Lobos Collectables over the weekend and were immediately confronted with a very real problem: we are not as strong as we thought we were.

Within seconds of walking through the door, we were hit by a nostalgia blast powerful enough to send us straight back to the mid-80s – a time of carpeted lounge rooms, CRT TVs, and arguments over which Transformer was actually the best (it was Optimus Prime, obviously).

One Store. All the Universes.

Lobos Collectables is less a shop and more a carefully curated pop-culture time capsule. Everywhere you look, there’s something ready to trigger a memory you didn’t even realise you’d filed away.

Star Wars figures stare back at you like old friends. Aliens merch reminds you that the franchise used to be genuinely terrifying. Masters of the Universe is present in glorious force, instantly resurrecting Saturday morning cartoon rituals and backyard He-Man vs everyone crossovers.

Add in Star Trek, Transformers, The A-Team, classic wrestling gear, stacks of vintage comics, and a whole lot of “wait… I used to own that” moments, and you’ve got a store that’s basically weaponised nostalgia.

The Danger Zone

The biggest risk at Lobos isn’t tripping over boxes – it’s convincing yourself that buying just one thing is completely reasonable. Every shelf feels like it’s quietly whispering: “You’re an adult now. You deserve this.”

Resisting a purchase took genuine willpower. One wrong move and we’d have walked out with a bag full of plastic dreams and a sudden urge to watch cartoons before dinner.

More Than a Shop

What makes Lobos Collectables special is the vibe. This isn’t a sterile collectibles store – it’s a place to browse, reminisce, talk nonsense, and relive the days when toys were built to survive backyard warfare.

Whether you’re a serious collector or just chasing a hit of retro dopamine, Lobos absolutely delivers.

Final Verdict

If you love retro gaming, 80s pop culture, sci-fi, cartoons, comics, or simply remembering when life peaked at age 10, Lobos Collectables is a must-visit.

Just be warned: You’ll walk in “just to look” – and walk out questioning all of your life choices.

(Lots of photos below – scroll slowly! Wallet damage not shown.)

All images © ausretrogamer.com

‘Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein’ video game on the SNES

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By: D.C. Cutler, U.S.A.

After watching Netflix’s “Frankenstein,” I recalled how much I enjoyed playing “Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein” on my Super Nintendo.

“Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein” looked great on my Super NES. The graphics were typical for an action platform, but at the time of its release, it just looked better than other single-player games of its time. The Creature’s look was genuinely scary to me, and the game recreated the look from the Kenneth Branagh film completely. The game followed the plot of the movie closely. I’m not sure how the weapon of the blue ball of negative energy came about in the game; it wasn’t in the 1994 film. But the weapon is very useful as The Creature plods through the streets of Ingolstadt, Bavaria.

The game does get a little redundant the further you get into it. The ending is anticlimactic. It’s so disappointing, but I do like the ice landscape that The Creature must maneuver to get to its maker. I guess it’s a satisfying ending if you dislike Victor Frankenstein.

When I read the novel “Frankenstein” in college, I didn’t like it very much. When my class was assigned to read the Shelley classic, I thought, I love the video game, the book must be great as well. I was disappointed, but there were memorable moments in the novel.

Watching Guillermo del Toro’s “Frankenstein” on Netflix has made me want to go back and read the book. Toro’s film was fantastic. He put you in a world that felt so authentic and gothic. An adaptation of his film into a video game on PS5 or Xbox could be amazing. The Netflix film is far superior to the 1994 film which starred Robert De Niro as The Creature. Del Toro’s film was much more engaging, and Jacob Elordi’s performance as The Creature is worthy of an Oscar. Elordi’s The Creature would be an amazing central character in a modern game that takes you from the lab in the castle to the countryside, fighting off various threats. In the film, The Creature’s fight with a pack of deadly wolves was an outstanding action sequence.

 

Back to the Future: Classic Gaming at PAX Aus 2025

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Old-School Was Cool at PAX Aus 2025 🎮✨

We saved the best of PAX Aus 2025 till last 😉 Because as much as we love the new, shiny, RGB-filled world of gaming, our hearts will always belong to the pixel-packed past. The Classic Gaming area once again felt like coming home – a warm hug of CRT glow, joystick clicks, and the unmistakable chime of 8-bit magic.

Every corner was a trip down memory lane: old-school computers, consoles, handhelds, and pinball machines all humming in harmony. There’s just something about playing retro games on their original hardware – the tactile clunk of inserting a cartridge, the flicker of a cathode ray screen, the rush (and rage!) of losing your last life. No emulator can replicate that kind of nostalgia.

And those display cabinets? Chef’s kiss. They were packed with rare and droolworthy treasures, including the ultra-obscure Apple/Bandai PiPP!n ATMARK dev unit and PiPP!n @World, plus the Sharp Famicom Titler AN-510 and the elusive Sharp FamicomStation (aka Famicombox). Retro hardware heaven!

Of course, the silverball scene was just as strong, featuring pinball machines that just landed on Aussie shores – like Pinball Brothers’ Predator and Jersey Jack Pinball’s magical Harry Potter. Picking a favourite was near impossible, but as lifelong ‘80s Arnie fans, Predator definitely got our thumbs-up, with Labyrinth and Dune hot on its heels.

There’s truly nothing like the Classic Gaming area at PAX Aus — it’s where the roots of gaming are celebrated, preserved, and most importantly, played. Here’s hoping it returns in 2026 to remind us once again why the classics never die.

image source / copyright: ausretrogamer.com

SNES Super Soccer and FC25

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By: D.C. Cutler, U.S.A.

After I bought “FC25,” I played about ten matches in a row, and it made me miss a game I played on my Super Nintendo called “Super Soccer.”

“Super Soccer’s” graphics were crude, but it was almost as entertaining as any current EA Sports soccer game. The view of the pitch was goal line to goal line, from behind the goal. It was a curious angle that I never understood. You could lose track of the action if players played exceptional defense. Dribbling was harder than it is in current soccer games like “FC25.” The tiny, early-1990s shorts that the players wore were comical.

I’m an avid Premier League viewer. I’m an Arsenal and Manchester City fan; but I’ll pretty much watch any Premier League match that is on. The crude graphics of “Super Soccer” don’t compare to what the game looks like now by light-years, although, the crudeness doesn’t get in the way of how fast paced action the game has. Anytime you dribble down the sideline, an opposing player, like clockwork, would kick the ball out of bounds. It was frustrating. The more you played the easier it got to break down the sideline. I found the numbering of the players distracting. I get why they did it, but the numbering sometimes got in the way of the speedy play.

Super Soccer – SNES
EA Sports FC25

The corner kicks were odd because you were seeing the pitch from behind the goal. You couldn’t put the soccer ball where you wanted it when you kicked it. You would kick it and merely hope that it somehow landed by one of your teammates and not an opposing player. I also found it difficult to control my goalie. They would often leap on the oncoming ball when I wasn’t ready, and the ball would skirt by and into the goal.

If I have one complaint about soccer video games over the years, it’s why doesn’t the game covers have more female stars of the sport? When I play “FC25,” I often play with the women’s Manchester City team and Lauren Hemp and Khadija Shaw are stars on the squad. Why aren’t they on the cover of any new releases. How about the cover of “FC26”? There are dozens of female soccer stars around the world; has one of them ever been considered for a game cover?

image source(s): supplied

 

Long-Awaited Nintendo Museum Opening In Japan Later This Year

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Japan to Open Long-Awaited Nintendo Museum This Autumn (northern hemisphere)

Nintendo enthusiasts have reason to celebrate as the highly anticipated Nintendo Museum in Kyoto, Japan, is set to open its doors this spring (or autumn if you like in the northern hemisphere).

Originally slated for a 2021 opening, the museum’s completion has been confirmed in a recent financial earnings report. The final preparations are underway, with an official grand opening expected later this year. The museum promises to be a landmark destination for fans of the iconic video game company.

This will be another venue to add to the already growing “This to do and see in Japan” bucket list! For more details, visit the TimeOut article here.

CAPCOM 40th Anniversary – 11 Retro Games To Play for Free In Your Browser

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Play old school CAPCOM games for free in your browser!

Celebrating it’s 40th Anniversary (since 11th of June 2023), CAPCOM has launched a very special website destination in honour and celebration of this event – CAPCOM TOWN!

Capcom Town offers an interactive museum, a product factory (allowing you to download Capcom-themed icons for X/Twitter!), pages dedicated to C-Suite level Capcom executives telling the story of the company, and most importantly, the Town allows access to retro games that you can play gratis (that means FREE) directly in your browser!

What are you still doing here, go and play some Super Ghouls’n Ghosts or Street Fighter II or Breath Of Fire or Final Fight or…..ahhhh, you get the picture 😉

NOTES:

  • All games are available in their US or Japanese versions
  • You must enable cookies in your browser
  • Saved data can only be played back from where you left off in the same browser
  • ⚠️ If you delete the cookies and offline data from your browser, the stored data will become unusable

image source: CAPCOM TOWN

Celebrate MAR10 Day In Australia & NZ

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Wahoo, Happy MAR10 Day!

Celebrate MAR10 Day in Australia and New Zealand with exclusive rewards on a range of Mario titles, including 10% back in Gold Points on Nintendo eShop, and collect an assortment of user icons parts from Super Mario games.

But wait, there is more! From now till 24th March, an assortment of user icons parts from Super Mario games will be available as Nintendo Switch Online member-exclusive rewards. There’s also a special mission you can complete by playing the Super NES classic Super Mario World to earn some Platinum Points.

Happy MAR10 Day to you all!

image source: Nintendo

Every Single Nintendo Game From 1985-2000

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We know this is now old news (over 5 years ago), but for those that missed Aaron Norton’s (aka: NintendoTwizer) Nintendo collection, check it out!

Unfortunately (or fortunately for) Aaron, he sold it all for US$164,000 (approx. AU$250,000), which some say is a pittance, considering the complete collections of NES, SNES, N64, Game Boy and GameCube games!

Anyway, we are glad that Aaron did one last tour of his collection before it was sold – WARNING: You may drool!


source: Aaron Norton on YouTube

The Nintendo Snack Pack DOES What Sega Don’t!

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The Nintendo Snack Pack Dedicated Oldschool Entertainment System (DOES)

We have always been in awe of Starforce Pi’s creations, like the amazing PC-Engine SD and Sega OMega Drive.

This time around we are in awe of The Nintendo Snack Pack, a portable gaming/streaming system fitted into a 1972 Sony TV-740 case, including a large 20,000mAh battery and 12v charger that makes it an easy proposition to carry around and play!

The Ninty Snack Pack specifications are quite impressive (see below), but at the heart of it are two boards, the SNES mini and NES mini, stacked on top of one another. Switching between ‘channels’ is done via the large retro-style rotary dial on the front of the all-in-one unit.

The rotary dial not only allows you to switch between SNES and NES gaming fun, but it also allows you to switch to a SEGA channel which comes complete with 8/16-bit Sega fun and a host of other gaming systems to play. The third channel, VIDEODROME, is used to stream classic cartoons, movies and other shows via Chromecast, and last but not least, the fourth channel allows any console with an AV/composite connection to be plugged in and played – wowser, this is one super impressive DIY creation!

It would be a huge understatement for us to say how much we’d love The Nintendo Snack Pack to be sitting in our games room right now!

The Nintendo Snack Pack DOES What Sega Don’t!

Nintendo Snack Pack SPECS:

  • Authentic Nintendo NES Mini Board (Channel 1)
  • Authentic Nintendo SNES Mini Board (Channel 2)
  • 4x Controller Ports (1-2 Player for Channel 1 & 2, respectively)
  • Google Chromecast 2nd Generation (Channel 3)
  • RCA Audio/Video Input (Channel 4)
  • Aluminium Rotary Dial to switch channels
  • 8″ IPS LCD screen in 4:3 aspect ratio, 1024×768 (HDMI/RCA/VGA)
  • Logitech 1.2watt Stereo Speakers (Z120)
  • 20.000mAh 12V DC Battery
  • Vintage 1972 Sony TV-740 Converted Case
  • Dimensions: 25 x 20 x 24 cm, Weight: 2.5kg (5.5lbs)

story & image source: Starforce Pi



Metroid Mike 64 Presents: Super Mario Bros. 5

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Yeah, you read that title right! Thanks to the hard and meticulous work over the last 7 years, Metroid Mike 64 has created Super Mario Bros. 5 using Super Mario Maker 2.

Metroid Mike 64 has fused classic NES/SNES 2D Mario platforming action with 40 full courses spread across 8 worlds. He has used elements from Super Mario World, Super Mario Bros. 3 and the one that started it all, Super Mario Bros.

We reckon Shigeru Miyamoto would be quite impressed with Metroid Mike 64’s wonderful creation! What are you waiting for, grab the Maker ID (0G9-XN4-FNF) and have some fun!

source: Metroid Mike 64 via Twitter