AUSRETROGAMER

The Pop-Culture E-Zine

You are here: Home / Archives for ausretrogamer

ausretrogamer

Chip It: The Chiptune Cover Challenge

By

Soundfly, the guys that brought you the free online chiptunes crash course  has launched the “Chip It Challenge“!

The Chip It Challenge is a one-month contest (started on January 19) to win a free modded Game Boy and flash carts (courtesy of Kitsch-Bent!), feedback on your work from chip artist Chipocrite, and promo on Flypaper for your project! Entries will be judged by three prominent chiptune artists — glomag, BIAS ONE (f.k.a. minusbaby) and chiptune course instructor extraordinaire, Chipocrite! All you have to do is whip up the best 60-second cover of Devo’s classic groove “Whip It” in a chiptune/8-bit style, and you are in with a shot!

So you reckon you can whip it up? For all the info on the tools to use, rules, judgement criteria, submission and fine print details, head over here. Make sure you chip it, chip it good!


source: Soundfly

 

Get Your Gaming Fix At ACMI’s Screen Worlds

By

If you are struggling to keep yourself and the kids entertained during the summer break, why not head on down to the free Screen Worlds Exhibition at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) at Fed Square (Melbourne).

There is plenty of interactive and immersive experiences at Screen Worlds, from playing video games such as Way Of The Exploding Fist, to checking out Minecraft in the Games Lab section. No matter your age, there is plenty to see and do at at Screen Worlds.

It is great to see a free exhibition such as Screen Worlds for all to enjoy. For retro gamers like us, we are absolutely delighted to check out the classic gaming area to get a history lesson on where games came from and Australia’s early involvement in the gaming industry.

Where: ACMI – Federation Square, Melbourne
Exhibition: Screen Worlds
Open: 10am to 5pm daily
Cost: FREE

 

photos: Ms ausretrogamer

 

Pinball: 2016-17 IFPA Australian Championship Series Final Is Coming!

By

The 2016/17 International Flipper Pinball Association (IFPA) Australian Championship Series (ACS) final will be held in Melbourne on February 11 and 12! Australasia’s top 32 ranked pinball wizards will face off for the ultimate crown!

With most of the Australian eastern states represented and a solitary New Zealander, the competition is guaranteed to be flipping hot! Number one contender is the young gun, Jordan Tredaway. Jordan has had another stellar year winning competitions or being in the top 4, which makes him the one to beat. Looking at the table of the top 32 players, any one of these wizards is capable of carrying away the crown. We will be covering the event, with live social media commentary and updates, so make sure you follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

Bring on February 11 and 12!

TOP 32 Australian Ranked Pinball Players
Pos. Name State
1 Jordan Tredaway VIC
2 Greg Gee NSW
3 Luke Marburg VIC
4 Martin Robbins VIC
5 Paul Jones NSW
6 Brett Goodwin NSW
7 Jason Lambert QLD
8 Gavin Drogemuller QLD
9 Stuart Thornton VIC
10 Johnny Crabtree VIC
11 Pat Nichols NSW
12 Paul Reid NSW
13 Robert Macauley SA
14 John Hutchinson QLD
15 Greg Siegele SA
16 Rob Singh QLD
17 Matthew Venables NSW
18 Brian Schleibs VIC
19 Michi Henning QLD
20 Stacey Borg VIC
21 Jasen Mouritsen QLD
22 Andrew Ferguson NSW
23 Wal Dickie VIC
24 Geoff Wills VIC
25 Grant Quinn QLD
26 Marcus Sezonov VIC
27 Marc Bell NSW
28 Nick Hamhougias VIC
29 Chris Wade QLD
30 Alex Nunn VIC
31 John Ebejer VIC
32 David Peck NZ

Young gun, Jordan Tredaway will be the one to beat

The Pinball Wizard himself, Wal Dickie – we bet he’ll shake things up!

Johnny Crabtree will be tough wizard to beat

The dynamic pinball duo, Nick Hamhougias and Martin Robbins

Dr. C (Stacey Borg), will be flippin’ with precision!

For those of you that want to know more about the IFPA Australian Championship Series and it’s finals competition rules, here you go:

The IFPA Australian Championship Series (ACS) is an annual pinball competition where the qualification is done over an entire calendar year. Results of all IFPA-endorsed tournaments held in Australia count towards qualification. The top 32 players at the end of the calendar year are invited to compete in the IFPA Australian Championship Series Final, held the following February. The winner is crowned IFPA Australian Pinball Champion.

The IFPA ACS final consists of a group stage and a knockout stage. For the group stage, the field of 32 players is split into two pools of 16 players each. Qualifiers ranked 1,4,5,8,9,12,13,16,17,20,21,24,25,28,29,32 are placed in Pool A, and qualifiers ranked 2,3,6,7,10,11,14,15,18,19,22,23,26,27,30,31 in Pool B.

The group stage consists of 5 rounds of 4-player group match play. Each player is grouped with the other 15 players in their pool once each across the 5 rounds. Groups play 3 games in each round: one old, one mid, one new. 7-5-3-1 scoring. The top 7 players from each pool advance to the knockout stage. The winner of each pool receives a bye in the first round of the knockout stage. Players tied for 1st or 7th place in their pool will play a one-game tiebreak match on a randomly selected machine.

The knockout stage consists of head-to-head, single elimination best-of-3 matches until the final, which will be best-of-5.  Players will be seeded according to group stage standings, then ACS qualifying rank. The higher seed in each match will have choice of machine or order for game 1 or 2 (at their discretion), as well as game 3. In the final, the higher seed will have choice or machine or order for any two of games 1 to 4 (at their discretion), as well as game 5. No machine may be played more than once in a match.

If you want to watch Australia’s top pinball players in action, then head to the Thornbury Bowls Club, 27 Ballantyne St, Thornbury on February 11 and 12 (from 10am). It’s a short walk to the High Street cafes, the St Georges Motor Inn, Route 11 and 86 trams, and Thornbury station on the South Morang train line. We can’t wait!

 

Final Fight: The Complete History

By

We reckon  Daniel Ibbertson from Slope’s Games Room must have a direct link to our gaming memories. Either that or we have identical tastes in video games – which is a great thing!

Daniel’s Double Dragon, Metal Slug and Splatterhouse complete history videos were absolutely brilliant, and now with his latest video, a complete history of our second fave beat’em up of all time, Capcom’s Final Fight, Daniel has nailed it yet again! From the game’s inspiration and franchise origins, to the game series and its many characters, Daniel leaves no stone unturned.

What’s this Street Fighter ’89? Daniel explains it all in his video

So head on down to Metro City, smash some telephone boxes, grab some meat rolls and swing a pipe at the complete history of Capcom’s awesome side scrolling brawler!


source: Slope’s Games Room


Thrill Of The Chase: Neo Geo Pocket Color Hanshin Tigers

By

It’s a new year and what a better way to start it than to hunt down a Neo·Geo rarity!

SNK’s 16-bit handheld, the Neo·Geo Pocket Color (NGPC) came in a number of colours, but it’s the special limited edition Hanshin Tigers version that is its most prized of the NGPC lineup. Inspired by the Japanese baseball team, there were only 5000 units produced, making it the rarer NGPC handheld.

2017 has definitely started with a bang at ausretrogamer as we bag our first thrill of the chase for the year. What else will we go hunting for in 2017? Only time will tell…

If only we were Richmond Tigers fans!

The Hanshin Tigers NGPC looks great from any angle

The NGPC’s home, an official SNK case to store the handheld and some games

No system is complete without games!

The Hanshin Tigers NGPC frolicking!

Bit of KoF action!

Let’s get button mashin’!

Super Mario Hot Wheels

By

We love anything Super Mario and we love our Hot Wheels, especially their gaming related die-cast cars!

When Hot Wheels released their Super Mario die-cast car series, we set out to hunt them all down to complete the collection. With 8 cars in the series, we were hoping to find them all before they disappeared off the retail shelves.

So how did we go? Did we get them all? Absolutely!

First cab off the rank, Toad’s Vandetta!

Next we have Mario’s sibling, Luigi and his Ryura RX

Then we have Wario’s offroad beast, the RD-08!

The evil Bowser breathes fire in his Cruise Bruiser

Princess Peach looking cool in her hotted up Bully Goat

The one and only, Super Mario and his Bread Box!

Yoshi’s Flathead Fury should go really fast!

Last but not least, Donkey Kong’s Super Van. DK can fit a fair few bananas in there!

The Hot Wheels Super Mario Die-Cast (8 car) series!

 

Back To The Virtual Future

By

image source: VR Source

We live in a brave new world of virtual reality and ‘real’ 3D experiences. The race for full-immersion is on, with big money invested in tech to transport you into a virtual world. It seems some people won’t rest until every home has access to a Star Trek style holodeck. In these heady days of VR pioneering, it’s easy to forget that the seeds were planted long ago. This post looks at early appearances of VR in popular culture that inspired the current gold rush.

Simulated reality is a very powerful idea. It strikes at the heart of the human experience and touches on existential questions about our nature. I’m not suggesting Oculus Rift is going to shed new philosophical light on the writings of Descartes, but it certainly highlights a longstanding human desire to shape our own reality.

Early science fiction novels played with the idea of virtual reality from as early as 1941. Robert A Heinlen’s book ‘They’ tells of a man confined to a mental institution because he believes he is one of the only real people alive and that the rest of the universe has been created by a few others to deceive him. This solipsistic work sets the tone for many early virtual realities. Most are generally dystopian in nature and play heavily on people’s fears of being unable to trust their own senses and the people around them. This theme reoccurs frequently in popular culture.

Phillip K. Dick, took a slightly different tack. In his 1953 novel “The Trouble with Bubbles” we first see the idea of humans creating virtual worlds for others to experience. It is an interesting concept with relevance to the creators of today’s VR experiences. The book fully explores the morality of having total control over the lives of others.

image source: DailyTech

It’s not just books that play with virtual reality. TV and films explore the trope in great detail. One of the first references to VR on TV was, of course, Star Trek. In 1974, long before Captain Picard was flouncing around the holodeck, the crew of the Enterprise has an encounter with an unusual cloud that affects their computer. The ship starts to play practical jokes; including turning the recreation room into a dangerous virtual reality area that almost kills the unfortunates who get stuck there. A far cry from the holodeck’s mainly benign incarnation in Star Trek: The Next Generation.

image source: Front Effects

Tron (1982) is one of the first examples of close human computer interaction in film and of course borrows heavily from computer games for its action scenes. Again, it is a very twisted form of reality with the main character trapped in a computerized world, fighting against the very system he programmed. The VR on display is highly advanced, with full body immersion and the very real possibility of death.

Other films like Lawnmower Man (1992) and Johnny Mnemonic (1995) come closer to the current day experience with headsets and body suits that relay information between user and applications. The Matrix (1999) has a connection straight to the brain that delivers an almost fool-proof illusion of reality. The first two have technology that is either within our grasp or very close, while the direct brain plug of the Matrix is not as far away as you might think. Advances in direct neuro controls for things like prosthetic limbs shows our understanding of the brain is expanding at a rapid rate.

You can bet that the brains behind the current crop of VR are aware of the fiction behind the science. Science fiction has always influenced technology, inviting scientists and engineers to turn the imagination of writers into reality. With the amount of money being invested in the new generation of VR, it’s only a matter of time before more outlandish ideas become reality. At the current pace, we will likely see highly convincing virtual reality with haptic feedback and all senses engaged within our lifetimes.
It is strange that something that is clearly a great fantasy for many people is inspired by popular culture that generally warns of the dangers of the technology. Let’s just hope that science fiction has only predicted the emergence of the tech and not its dystopian themes.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Andy Trowers is a game design consultant, freelance ne’er-do-well and staff writer for www.australia.for-sale.com

 

Interview With The Neo·Geo Collector

By

There are Neo·Geo collectors, and then there is Frazer Rhodes – he is the real-deal, as he is known as the Neo·Geo Collector on Twitter. Having rebuilt his Neo·Geo collection countless times, it is hard to argue Frazer’s loyalty, determintation and passion towards SNK’s Neo·Geo family of systems.

As is normal on social media, we met Frazer on Twitter – it was his handle and avatar that caught our eye. His collection is second to none and as fellow Neo·Geo fans, we knew we had to grab Frazer for an exclusive interview. Get yourself comfortable and start reading!

(WARNING: some drooling will be inevitable!)

AUSRETROGAMER [ARG]: Welcome Frazer, let’s start with, how old were you when you got into gaming? Do you remember your first system and first game?
Frazer Rhodes [FR]: I started to get into gaming when I was 8 or 9 years old with an Atari 800XL. The Atari was bought second hand but came with loads of games on tape and also the large floppy disks. I spent hours on that computer. I don’t remember what my first game was, but I vividly remember playing Green Beret, IK+, Ghostbusters and Pole Position to name just a few. Other friends had Spectrums, both the 48K and 128K models, but we all quickly moved on to 16 bit machines. Most of my mates opted for the Amiga, and I stuck with Atari and went for a 520STE. The one game on the ST that I always recall is Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders – I loved that game!

ARG: When did you first play on a Neo·Geo? Do you remember the first Neo·Geo game you played?
FR: The first Neo·Geo I ever played was an Electrocoin 4 slot (MVS) machine in Manchester. It had four games, NAM-1975, Magician Lord, Baseball Stars and Top Players Golf. I elected for NAM-1975, which is still one of my favourite games today. That would have been around 1991. I bought an Electrocoin 4 slot in 2009 and added those four original MVS games. The machine currently resides in my kitchen alongside a Sega Astro City!

ARG: What was it about the Neo·Geo that got you hooked?
FR: At the time I played on that Electrocoin, a limited amount of information about the Neo·Geo was starting to appear in video game magazines. The machines were available on grey import but it wasn’t that easy to find information on the machine or the games. Some magazines, C&VG in particular, would give initial snippets of information on the Neo·Geo, and it wasn’t till 1992 that they started to review many of the games as they were released. By this time, the Neo·Geo had officially launched in the UK.

Some of the gaming mags at the time gave the console a really hard time and very critical reviews. Let’s be honest, the price of the games was always going to be an issue, especially the new releases, but at the time, the SNES games were creeping up in price – I recall Street Fighter 2 for the Super Famicom being around the £90-100 mark on import, so the Neo·Geo games weren’t too far from that price point.

The Neo·Geo AES was like no other console – the carts were enormous, the joysticks were chunky and felt just like those at the arcade, it had a memory card to save your games….the list goes on.

At the time, the gulf between arcades games and home computers and consoles was considerable. Here was a console you could own which was exactly the same as the arcade – no compromises of any kind. I was hooked, I had to own one. I worked during the holidays at a screen printing factory – not particularly glamorous and not well paid either but nevertheless, I saved hard. I think my parents, now thoroughly bored of me going on about the Neo-Geo, realised how committed I was to owning this console. The system had just been released in the UK and one evening after work, my dad picked me up and rather than heading home, he said we needed to go run an errand. We arrived at a house not too far from home. Turns out my dad spotted a for sale advert for a Neo·Geo in the local paper and we’d come to buy it. I had a fair bit saved up and my dad put the rest towards it. I couldn’t believe it, not only was I going to own a Neo·Geo, but the machine came with two control pads plus Fatal Fury and Robo Army, the two games which had just been reviewed in C&VG – they happened to be the titles I wanted the most!

ARG: Your Neo·Geo collection is extremely impressive – when did you start collecting and how long did it take to complete your AES collection?
FR: Having picked up that Neo·Geo in around 1992, I built up a modest selection of games – around 15 titles by 1994. We then of course had the release of the Neo·Geo CD. All the signs indicated that this would be the future, after all £40 games versus £200 was a no-brainer (or so I thought).

Obviously we know different now but I sold the AES, picked up a CD machine but never felt the same way about it as the cartridge machine, so I moved on to buy a Sony PlayStation on the day of its release. I began to get back into the Neo·Geo around 1997 having missed the games and I picked up a boxed Neo·Geo Gold System. Slowly but surely I started buying back games, which were relatively cheap back then. I bought English versions of the games and by 2002 had built up a collection of 84 English Neo·Geo titles. At the time I was looking to buy my first home and had the dilemma to either sell the Neo·Geo games and move on or stay put. With an offer from Holland for over half the collection, I took the deal and bought my own place. Fast forward to 2004 and I was again missing that Neo·Geo collection.

The English variants of the games by this time had started to rise in price considerably. I was now settled in a house with a decent income so I decided I wanted to try and get a full set. Two trips to Japan in 2006/07 certainly helped, as the games were still plentiful over there and I’d come back with a suitcase full of titles. Slowly but surely I managed to pick up the titles I needed through a good network of contacts and trusted suppliers. The collection was featured in Retro Gamer (Issue 61) in early 2009 and I was 5 titles short of the full Japanese set at that time. Not long after that article, a fellow collector and friend sold me 4 of the 5 I was short, with the final game, Overtop, purchased from a seller in Japan. In total it took around 5 years to get the complete set.

ARG: Do you have a favourite game or genre to play on the Neo·Geo?
FR: Choosing a favourite title is a challenge. I do love fighting games and with the Neo·Geo its safe to say I’m spoilt for choice. KoF98, Last Blade 1 and 2, and Mark of the Wolves are some of my favourites. Outside of fighting games, it’s NAM-1975, Magician Lord, Metal Slug 1, X and 3, Pulstar, Shock Troopers and Baseball Stars. I’m also a big fan of the NGDevTeam games.

ARG: Are there any Neo·Geo items you are still hunting?
FR: There are a few items I’d like to find. I’m always on the lookout for any early material from the rental period in Japan (1990), and I’d like to pick up some of the third party joysticks made by Hori. The ultimate collectors piece is the Neo·Geo Deck, sometimes referred to as the Hotel system – a machine that was only released in Japan, which is very rare and very awesome – I’d love to own one.

ARG: You mentioned you have been to Japan – what has been your highlight(s)?
FR: I’ve been fortunate enough to have visited Japan on three occasions. I’d always wanted to go ever since poring over those video game magazines and seeing all the consoles and games being released out there. On my first trip there, it was everything I’d ever hoped it would be. My highlights would have to be video games shopping in Tokyo and Osaka (of course!), taking a trip up the iconic Tokyo Tower, exploring the temples and traditional parts of Kyoto, seeing the stunning Mt Fuji, visiting the peaceful temples at Kamakura and a visit to the Sapporo Brewery to name just a few.

ARG: Do you play on others systems? If so, which one(s) and are there any particular games you like?
FR: I have quite a few other systems, all of which are rigged up and ready to go in my games room. My other favourite systems would have to be the Super Famicom – so many memories from my childhood with games like Super Mario World, Pilotwings, Contra and Street Fighter 2. The other favourite is the FM Towns Marty – again, another one of those machines where there was little information available from importers at the time, which had some superb games; Kyukyoku Tiger, Tatsujin Oh, and a great conversion of Viewpoint. They even released a copy of Zak McKracken on the Marty, which I’m still hunting down!

ARG: Do you have any projects that are either imminent or on the go you can tell us about?
FR: I’m working on something really special at the moment which is Neo·Geo related. I can’t share any details at the moment as we have a Non-Disclosure Agreement in place. All I can say is stay tuned and all going well, there will be some exciting news for all Neo·Geo fans in Spring 2017 (northern hemisphere).

ARG: Where can people reach you or keep track of all your collecting and project activities?
FR: You can find me on Twitter – I am NeoGeoCollector.

As we pick up our jaw off the floor and wipe away the drool, we manage to thank Frazer for making time to talk to us about his love for the Neo·Geo and his video games playing days.

 

Stern’s Aerosmith Pinball Debuts At CES 2017

By

We knew there was a reason to attend the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas! Forget about the hottest tech in smart home appliances and virtual reality, we were excited about Stern Pinball’s first showing of their latest pinball machine, Aerosmith.

Testing Aerosmith Pinball at CES 2017

The new Aerosmith pinball machine was jointly announced by Stern and Aerosmith’s global licensing agent, Epic Rights. This new machine honours the classic and iconic rock band by creating high-energy and excitement that accompanies the experience of a live Aerosmith concert. Pinball wizards will rock to nine famous Aerosmith hits in the concert arena playfield and embark on an exhilarating pinball experience. Players score points and finish game objectives to raise the audience’s levels of energy, thrill and enjoyment. Higher scores amplify the experience–the higher the energy level, the bigger and louder the show – we like the sound of that!

The Aerosmith machines all feature original hand-drawn art provided by “Dirty” Donny Gillies, who has produced work for huge bands like Metallica. In addition, the machines feature custom speech from Brendon Small, creator of Metalocalypse, the American animated television series centring around a death metal band.

In addition to the heart pounding music and game experience, the machine features a full-colour high-definition display. In conjunction with Stern Pinball’s new SPIKE-2 electronic platform, the display enables high-definition graphics and innovative animations. The game includes a high-fidelity 3-channel audio system that is three times more powerful than audio systems of previous generations. Aerosmith pinball will have what it takes and be suitable for all skill levels.

Prices start from US$6199 for the Pro model and go all the way up to US$8999 for the Limited Edition.

A 4 minute sneak peek at Aerosmith Pinball
image and video source: Stern Pinball Inc.

 

Double Dragon IV: Billy and Jimmy Lee Are Back!

By

Just in time to celebrate their 30th anniversary since kicking ten shades out of the Black Warriors gang, Billy and Jimmy Lee are back in Double Dragon IV! This time, the Lee brothers are bringing back the gritty 80’s with them, however the battleground has moved from New York City to Japan!
This instalment of one of the greatest co-op beat’me ups will be coming to the PlayStation®4 and Steam (PC) at the end of January (Jan 30 in North America). We have yet to hear if that is a worldwide release date – we hope it is! Either way, all Double Dragon fans should rejoice as key members from the 1987 arcade version including Original Planner, Yoshihisa Kishimoto, Designer, Koji Ogata, and Composer, Kazunaka Yamane, have teamed up to recreate the next chapter in this awesome saga.
Details about this sequel are sketchy, but the screenshots show that the game will follow Double Dragon‘s old school pixelated visuals and will offer both a story mode and a two-player duel. The catchy Double Dragon theme song has also been remixed for your aural pleasure.
To say we are excited for Arc System Works’ Double Dragon IV would be a gross understatement! Get your baseball bats ready!


video & image source: Arc System Works