The Pop-Culture E-Zine
Introducing, The Legend Of Super Mario 1.2 – a crossover between the original The Legend of Zelda and Super Mario Bros. NES games! Big thanks to hacker extraordinaire, NesDraug.
Enough said, enjoy this amazing abomination!
source: Mangrich1 Gaming via Facebook
In a momentous tribute to his groundbreaking contributions, the esteemed engineer and computer scientist, Al Alcorn, has been inducted into the Amusement Industry Hall of Fame this year. Alcorn, renowned for his pivotal role in the inception of the iconic game Pong, joins the ranks of esteemed visionaries, including fellow Atarian Nolan Bushnell, a member of the inaugural class.
Alcorn embarked on his illustrious career at Ampex in 1968, where he initially delved into the development of a high-resolution video system. However, it was in 1972 that he embarked on a transformative journey with Bushnell and Ted Dabney at Atari. Together, they spearheaded the creation of Pong, a seminal milestone in the realm of video amusement games, heralding a new era of entertainment.
Reflecting on Alcorn’s indispensable role in shaping the landscape of gaming history, RePlay publisher Eddie Adlum remarked, “If you ask 10 operators today who programmed Pong back in the day, five would say Nolan Bushnell and the other five would say they don’t know. The answer, obviously, is Al Alcorn.” Working under Bushnell’s guidance, Alcorn meticulously engineered the circuitry that birthed the revolutionary machine in 1972, laying the foundation for the burgeoning video game revolution.
Al Alcorn’s induction into the Amusement Industry Hall of Fame not only honours his extraordinary legacy but also underscores the enduring impact of his visionary ingenuity on the fabric of modern entertainment. As his pioneering achievements continue to inspire generations of creators and enthusiasts alike, Alcorn’s legacy remains indelibly etched in the annals of gaming history.
story & image source: RePlay Magazine
You know the deal by now – go watch the award-winning Still Standing documentary, it will be the best 74 minutes of your day!
Now, the other bonus featurette made available by Brad Gilbertson (Creator/Director of Still Standing) is of the truly mind-blowing 1UP ARCADE in Brisbane, Australia’s LARGEST retro arcade. Let 1UP Arcade owner, Stephen Holmes, take you on an insightful and intoxicating trip back in time.
source: BGVC Films on YouTube
Let’s start with the obvious, if you haven’t as yet watched the amazing and absolute banger of a documentary, Still Standing, then hop to it immediately – it’s available on SBS On-Demand, Viceland, Amazon Prime (US) and a swag of other streaming services!
If you have already watched Still Standing, we recommend you probably watch it again – it is that good. We are pretty chuffed to see that the creator of this award-winning documentary, Brad Gilbertson, has made available extra bonus footage that couldn’t fit into the 74 minute feature.
The first of these bonus featurettes is on the Australian Pinball Museum, where its owner, Lyndon Carter, takes us on a very insightful and magical tour of this must-see museum in Nhill (Victoria).
source: BGVC Films via YouTube
As huge fans of Atari Games’ Super Sprint and Championship Sprint overhead racers, we are actually quite chuffed to hear that NeoSprint – a sort-of-sequel to the “Sprint” series, is coming to our modern gaming systems sometime this winter (Jun – Aug – Atari hasn’t as yet confirmed the exact date/time)!
According to Atari,
NeoSprint is a single screen arcade racer for up to 8 players on supporting systems. Paired with a robust track builder and intuitive sharing tools, NeoSprint provides a racing experience that will satisfy speed demons and architects alike.
source: Atari
Available on PlayStation 5, Xbox , Nintendo Switch, and Steam, we honestly can’t wait for NeoSprint!
PS: If you have an Atari VCS, then we are officially jelly, as NeoSprint is already available for you to hoon around on!
Our resident doctor, Dr. Brant Raven is currently in Japan on holidays. Instead of heading to Suzuka to catch the F1 circus or the cherry blossoms, he has instead gone hunting for retro gaming goodies in Ikebukuro, another centre of otaku culture. The Doc has his priorities right.
This time, Brant paid a visit to Super Potato. Before you get too excited, this Super Potato store is much smaller than the main store in Akihabara, but it’s still adorned with nostlagia inducing retro gaming products. Brant tells us that the store is very small, but it has “shelves and shelves and shelves full of very rare stuff” – they were his words! Unfortunately Japan hasn’t been immune to costs rising, so the retro stuff that the Doc was checking out was expensive.
For now, we are living vicariously via Dr. Raven and can’t wait for him to send us more pics as his visits more retro gaming stores!
Publisher Wired Productions and award-winning independent developer, Nosebleed Interactive, are thrilled to reveal that Arcade Paradise VR is releasing on 25th April 2024 for Meta Quest 2, 3 and Pro.
It’s almost time to enter the virtual realm in Arcade Paradise VR, transporting you back to 1993 for an all-new immersive experience oozing with retro-fuelled gaming nostalgia! Taking you on an empowering journey from rags to riches, Arcade Paradise is an adventure and light-management sim combo game where you transform the decrepit King Wash laundromat into a thriving business.
Set in the rundown town of Grindstone, you play as Ashley, a rebel teenager going against your father’s wishes to continue the family business. Get hands-on managing the fully gamified day-to-day tasks, from manually picking up gum, doing the laundry, and scrubbing a toilet perfectly clean – to throwing out the trash in a basketball style mini game. Then, take your hard-earned money from completing these tasks to unlock your real objective… buying more arcade units!
Featuring 12 fully realized VR cabinets alongside 27 traditionally controlled games from the original release, it’s time to play, profit and purchase your way to your very own Arcade Paradise. So, strap on your latest virtual reality tech – because the future is NOW!
Features:
Arcade Paradise VR launches on April 25th, 2024 on Meta Quest 2, 3 and Pro for US$19.99 / GBP£14.99 / AUD$27.32.
Press Release supplied
We love a clever and funny parody, and this RackaRacka produced Street Fighter In Real Life (IRL) video nails it perfectly.
The character depictions, stunts, VFX and special moves are the cherry on top of this hilarious Street Fighter parody cake!
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:
image source: CAPCOM TOWN
Established in 2004, Freeplay is one of the world’s longest-running independent games festivals and explores games at the margins – independent, alternative, experimental and hyperlocal.
Freeplay bridges the gulf between the games industry and Australia’s local arts ecosystem – working with small developers, game-making collectives and the innovators and dreamers at the fringe of digital and interactive art to celebrate games as art – not just commercial products.
Freeplay is the first step for many Australian emerging studios into the broader games ecosystem. For twenty years, Freeplay have helped shape now world-renowned studios like Massive Monster (Cult of the Lamb), Witch Beam (Unpacking), League of Geeks (Armello), House House (Untitled Goose Game), 2Pt Interactive (Heavenly Bodies) and Worm Club (Frog Detective).
The critical details:
image sources: ACMI and Freeplay