The Pop-Culture E-Zine
We may not be wearing our nerdy Christmas jumpers, you know, coz it’s bloody hot here, but we still thought we’d take this opportunity to wish you all an awesomely geeky, safe and fun Christmas!
Hope Santa can drag himself away from playing pinball and deliver presents to all the good folks out there.
On behalf of the ausretrogamer team, Merry Christmas!
Have you had enough of the huge prices that Nintendo’s Game & Watch games demand? Well, you are in luck, as JB Hi-Fi have the exclusive Retro Pocket Arcade handheld going for $24.95!
This fun on the go mini handheld arcade sports a colour 1.8″ LCD and comes packed with 150+ games – take that Game & Watch! The little pocket rocket is powered by 3 x AAA batteries so you can game on the go for hours.
We know what you are thinking – what games are on it and how does it play? Well, if you like Game & Watch games, then you’ll love the incarnations on this little beast. Games like Parachute are on there (it’s actually called Parachute!) – save the parachuting kamikazes by catching them with your boat. We’d be here all day if we went through the entire list of games, but rest assured there are games on the Retro Pocket Arcade to please everyone (take a peek at some in the pic below).
The LCD is nice and bright, making viewing better and easier on your eyes. The D-pad is replaced with four buttons, but that isn’t a bad thing, as it’s reminiscent of the older Game & Watch games that predate Gunpei Yokoi’s wonderful directional pad. The buttons all feel easy on the finger without any lag, but they would have been even better if they were convex instead of being flat. At $24.95, this little beast comes highly recommended if you can’t be stuffed chasing the elusive and expensive Game & Watch games by Nintendo.
With Christmas around the corner, this is a great stocking stuffer for the retro gamer. JB, you’ve done it again!
* The Flea Market Retro Pocket Arcade handheld was supplied by JB Hi-Fi for this article.
We are always told everything in moderation is good for you. Pfft, stuff that, RIVE: Ultimate Edition doesn’t do things in moderation – it’s full on from the get go!
Get your twitch senses ready, as Two Tribes’ final game, RIVE: Ultimate Edition is pure twin stick shooting mayhem on the Nintendo Switch!
RIVE: Ultimate Edition eases you into the game (sort of!) by blasting away asteroids (reminiscent of Atari’s Asteroids, with scrolling!), but that then gives way to some pretty hair-raising action as you manoeuvre your spider-tank with one stick and aim and shoot with the other. Sounds simple enough? RIVE ramps up the difficulty quite quickly (even in easy mode), but persistence is rewarded by etching away at each level – checkpoints do help with your progress. The mayhem onscreen may feel overwhelming at times, but you will get used to it as you hone in your skills at moving around and shooting. There is also some very cool banter between the rogue AI and your pilot, which will make you laugh with its cheesiness, but it helps to keep things lighthearted, as you will invariably have palpitations at the swarm of enemies that come at you like kamikaze pilots! The aim is to constantly be on the move, and power up your spider-tank to take out the rogue enemies.
RIVE goes an ‘Ultimate’ step on the Switch by introducing co-op/copilot mode. This takes advantage of the split Joy-Cons, allowing one player to pilot and another player to ‘man the gun’. Controls switch over when you die, leading to some chaotic and hectic gaming sessions. This extra layer, coupled with the HD Rumble effect makes the game even more enjoyable to play. And just another interesting titbit, we love the ‘Guru Meditation’ error message thrown in for good measure – a nod to the great Amiga 16-bit computer, many thanks Two Tribes!
As the saying goes, it’s great to go out on top. Seeing that RIVE: Ultimate Edition on the Switch is Two Tribes’ final game, they sure are going out in style and at the top of their game (no pun intended).
RIVE: Ultimate Edition is pure twin-stick shooting heaven. What a way to go out Two Tribes, you know how to get our hearts racing!
Hit the Nintendo eShop right away and get this!
Price: $12.75 (US/Canada) / £13.49 or equivalent (UK/EU/AU)
* RIVE: Ultimate Edition was provided by Two Tribes for this review
It absolutely boggles the mind to think about the talent some peeps have. I mean how does one come up with the idea to make a real life Super Mario Bros. game using cardboard? It is truly an amazing DIY creation that blows our minds! Take a peek, you’ll be impressed.
source: Sata Production
Crawl is an innovative and refreshing take on an indie dungeon crawler; your friends are your enemies. Up to a group of 4 players can play together locally (AI replaces the other 3 in single player) and as the human player moves through each room and each level (reminiscent of Diablo), every object/trap/monster summoning circle can be manipulated by your 3 ghostly friends to bring about your demise so they can take your place as the human. The aim being to become the first player to get to level 10 as human so they can tackle the final boss (which is also controlled by the other 3 players).
Mutually inclusive levelling mechanics along with upgradeable monsters and purchasable weapons/items (there is a safe-room like shop on every level to provide some much required reprieve) adds depth to the game so that it’s not simply about who can be human for as long as possible; it is imperative to be powerful both as ghost and human to give you the best shot at making it to the final boss first. There is a deeper level of strategy involved here that I feel would be advantageous to the players who can best exploit them.
From the moment you boot up the game, where it asks you to ‘insert coin’ rather than the ubiquitous ‘press any key’, to the hectic race to level 10 to the exhilarating final boss battle, Crawl is wonderfully retro and a joy to behold. The pixelated graphics brings back memories of classic beat’em ups whilst the cheesy announcer and pumping music reminds of the best of the 90s era arcade games. It is also punishingly difficult; you are supposed to die…a lot, as foreshadowed by the introduction, where you are pitted against powerful monsters with impossible odds of survival.
A typical session may only last 15 to 30 minutes, however with randomly generated dungeons and the frantic moment to moment gameplay, each round is refreshing and getting to the end is often greeted with a sense of achievement and relief at the same time; I beat the boss with what must have been the last sliver of health left on my first try.
I played the review copy of Crawl on the Nintendo Switch (scheduled for released tomorrow – 19th of December), and the game is perfectly suited to the system with the joy cons enabling easy local multiplayer and further solidifies Nintendo’s focus on quality indie games with the Switch system.
Crawl is not a game for everyone, however if you have a few mates around and enjoy a fun retro inspired local multiplayer game (at time of writing there wasn’t any online multiplayer features), then Crawl is an easy recommendation.
Release Date: December 19, 2017
Price: $19.99 AUD, $14.99 USD, €14,99 EU, £12.99 GBP
*Crawl was supplied for review by Powerhoof
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House
House plays pretty much anything and everything but has almost time for nothing. A devout beat’em up fan, House enjoys a round of captain commando every now and then and can never forget spending hours in dark arcades playing warriors of fate after school. Oh yeah, his favourite console of all time is the original Famicom!
Virtual Consoles – a recently launched website makes it possible to play legendary computers and consoles like the Apple II, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum and Super Nintendo (to name a few) right in your web browser.
The Virtual Consoles website offers its services free of charge: you can play on 9 old school gaming systems without installing any add-ons or plug-ins. Now that is pretty damn cool!
With the revival of retro gaming and the ever escalating costs, this site has come at the right time. “The site generally uses open-source development, so the use of emulators is completely free of charge. An up-to-date browser and an average desktop computer is all that is needed, although most of the retro computers offer good experience on tablets, as well”, says Kornel Kolma, founder of virtualconsoles.com.
Play with Spacewar! from 1962
Currently there are 9 online emulators available on the site: Apple II, Atari 2600, NES , Super NES. DOS, Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum. There are also some curiosities to be found in the collection, like the CHIP-8 interpreter which ran on microcomputers of the 1970s, and the DEC PDP-1, which was introduced in 1959 – making it possible to play the original Spacewar! game online.
“We only attached games to the emulated computers and consoles if they were freeware games or had gotten approval from the copyright owner. For most of the emulators we made it possible to upload games from existing collections. Our long-term goal is to come to an agreement with copyright owners of old games and make these games available in a retro gaming online store”, says Kornel Kolma. Kornel also added, “The short-term plan of Virtual Consoles is to launch additional emulators which will run in your web browser”.
With Virtual Consoles, the game is definitely not over!
If you are a long time shoot’em up fan, there is no doubt you would have come across Gunbird on other platforms (or in the arcade). If you have fond memories of Psikyo’s beautiful vertical shmup and are now in possession of a Nintendo Switch, we reckon it is time you reacquainted yourself with Gunbird.
Let’s start by saying that Zerodiv have done an absolute corker of a conversion on the Switch. Not only can you play Gunbird in landscape form, you can also turn your Switch 90 degrees and play it like it should be, in portrait /vertical goodness. If the label Psikyo sounds familiar, it may be due to their pedigree in games, one example being Aero Fighters 2 (Sonic Wings 2), which we absolutely love. Lucky for us (and you too!), Gunbird hits the shmup sweet spot by being up there with the aforementioned beauty.
The premise of the game doesn’t really matter, but for those that want the back story, Gunbird provides 5 protagonists, each one with their own special chosen craft. The story plays out in between levels and before boss fights, telling a tale of how the protagonists are trying to collect pieces of the Magic Mirror of Atra to make their wish. The antagonists are a group called The Trump, yep, you read that right, The Trump, who are lead by the fearless female, Rogue.
Just like all great vertical shoot’em ups, Gunbird has a plethora of power-ups to pick up to bling out your artillery to ridiculous levels and also bombs, which are in limited supply, so they should be saved for the awesome boss fights!
Gunbird can be played in single player or with a friend in co-op mode – which amps up the playability! The cut-scenes between stages are quite funny and add to the charm of this exquisite shmup.
Gunbird ticks all the right boxes for a shoot’em up and we are glad that it’s not one of those full-on bullet-hell type games, although you can dial up the difficulty for it to be one. This game caters for all skill levels, from monkey (yep, apparently monkeys can’t play as well as a child) to rage-inducing hardness.
In conclusion, if you are into shoot’em ups, then Gunbird should be an instant buy. At AUD$9.99, it really is great value. Gunbird is an absolute 10/10 blast that should be in your Switch games library right now!
Gunbird was kindly provided by Zerodiv for this review.
If you have been with us since we began our retro gaming journey, you’d know that we are huge Double Dragon fans, especially the arcade game!
Speaking of the arcade, would you believe that Double Dragon is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year! It’s amazing that after three decades, this game is still being talked about with such affection.
Kung-Fu Master and Renegade may have preceded it, but Double Dragon was the first co-operative beat’em up on the arcade block. Who could forget the two Lee brothers punching, kicking, elbowing Black Warrior thugs to get to their damsel in distress. Let’s not spoil it for those that haven’t finished the game, but let’s just say that brotherly love doesn’t count.
Being the first co-op beat’em up game, Double Dragon paved the way for all that came after it and kickstarted the golden age of the beat’em up. Long live Double Dragon!
Interesting fact: Double Dragon’s arcade board is quite complex – instead of utilising an expensive 16-Bit CPU, the game runs on two 8-Bit CPUs with a third CPU dedicated to sound! How ingenuous!
What do Super Sprint, Super Off-Road, Micro Machines, Circuit Breakers, Super Cars and Over Top have in common? Ok, not Over Top, but the rest are all classic overhead or top-down racing games. Well now you can add VooFoo Studio’s Mantis Burn Racing on the Nintendo Switch to this illustrious list. Mantis Burn Racing (MBR) is an instant classic!
As devout retro gamers, of course we are going to compare contemporary games with games we loved playing many decades ago. Mantis Burn Racing gives us the same thrill we felt when we played Super Sprint – a massive rush of adrenaline while drifting around corners and jostling for that lucrative first place. The thing that MBR has over some of the top-down golden oldies is that it is feature rich and can be played in various ways – docked, handheld and tabletop! Imagine if MBR could have been played with a steering wheel – that would have made it pretty much perfect.
So what’s MBR all about then? Well, let us tell you – it’s an immersive modern top-down racer that combines exquisite physics-based gameplay with intuitive arcade racing where your driving skills are put to the test in 12 stunning tracks (of varying environments) with five unique classes of vehicles over an 11-season single-player career with more than 150 events and 13 event types! There is enough here to keep you playing for ages and to totally bling out your vehicle to ensure your ongoing podium success.
Talk about being packed to the rafters, MBR’s feature list on the Switch is an embarrassment of riches, which include:
• Split-Screen Multiplayer – Compete on one console in classic couch-style split-screen races for up to 4-players.
• Go Head-to-Head – Take on friends in 2-player local split-screen races using individual Joy-Con™ controllers with players sitting ‘cross-table’ at opposite sides of the Nintendo Switch™.
• Local Wi-Fi Multiplayer – Connect multiple Nintendo Switch™ consoles and race together without the need for a connection to the internet.
• Cross-Network Play – Take the competition online with up to 8-players and race against opponents on other platforms with Cross-Network play.
• RPG-Style Upgrades – Fine tune your vehicle’s handling and performance via a RPG-style upgrade system that presents players with deep tactical choices.
• Consistently Smooth 60fps – in both TV mode and Handheld mode.
Oh yeah, we can’t forget to also mention Robert Allen’s mesmerising audio tracks, from Mantis Burn, Appetite For the Finish to Kicking Up Salt, Welcome To The Big Time and Closing The Gap – they all compliment the game perfectly.
When it comes down to why we love MBR we can pinpoint a myriad of things; from its excellent physics drift engine and vehicle control, its awesome vehicle upgrades, to its career mode that provides depth and replay value and last but not least, playing against other humans, either local or online always provides immeasurable fun (as long as you win!).
Mantis Burn Racing on the Nintendo Switch is highly recommended and we reckon it should be on your list of must have games. Go and grab it and let’s race!
image source: VooFoo Studios
Mantis Burn Racing was provided by VooFoo Studio for this review.
By: D.C. Cutler, U.S.A.
My love for the comic book character The Incredible Hulk started with my Sega Game Gear. As a kid, when I got a Game Gear, I played The Incredible Hulk game on the console all the time. I played it on the school bus; late at night when my parents thought I was sleeping; and when I should’ve been working on homework. I couldn’t get enough of the side-scrolling action game.
The Sega Game Gear gets a bad rap, but the small console had several great games. When all of my friends had Nintendo Game Boys, I was playing my Game Gear. I always thought the graphics were sharper on the Game Gear than the Game Boy. The game play looked similar to the actual Sega Genesis game.
Playing The Incredible Hulk everyday made me a fan of the green superhero. I started collecting the comic book because of the Game Gear game. My collection began with a few comics, but as my love for the character grew, a few comics became a hundred in about a year. I’ve always been fascinated by how Dr. Bruce Banner can morph into The Hulk and his dilemma with controlling it. Is it a gift or a curse? Both Banner and The Hulk have many layers as characters. When I was a kid, I connected to both characters.
I was bullied in grade school. Perhaps a part of me wished I could change like Dr. Banner could when he got angry. I played the game before school because my Game Gear was a pleasant distraction before the sometimes harsh school day began.
The Incredible Hulk was a simple side-scrolling game, but those were my favourite games when I was young. I never used the cheat codes, because I enjoyed the challenge of progressing through every level. And I took pleasure in being The Hulk and causing as much destruction as possible.
The Hulk game and my Game Gear were a nice escape at a time when I needed it. Sega may have not sold as many Game Gears as they had hoped, but I cherished mine, and found it far superior to the Nintendo Game Boy.
image source: Game Oldies