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Pocket Atari 2600: Gaming On The Go

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Pocket_Atari_HDRWe absolutely love DIY console mods, especially cool ones like this Atari Flashback 2 stuffed into an Atari VCS/2600 cartridge!

We are fans of old systems being shrunk down to a portable size (Ed: we all remember the portable Atari 2600, yeh?), but this creation by lovablechevy tickles our nostalgic fancy due to its pocket friendly size and use of an Atari 2600 cartridge – which are so damn cool. Before you get upset, the game on the cartridge was long dead before it was used and converted as a pocket gaming unit.

Lovablechevy states that her creation was conceived almost a decade ago with it only coming to fruition now! We say that it’s better late than never! As mentioned right off the bat, the Pocket Atari has an Atari Flashback 2 stuffed inside of a standard Atari 2600 cart with a 2.5″ screen plus an audio amp, transplanted Wii Remote D-pad and buttons, a Super Joy III controller board and 2 x 3.7v li-ion 700 mAh batteries for power (giving you 3.5 hours of carefree and very loud gaming)!

This is definitely the smallest portable Atari 2600 which fits great in your pocket without weighing you down (Ed: it’s a measly 4.6 ounces in weight!). Now, let’s play some River Raid on it *winks*

Doing The Math: The Pocket Atari plan
Pocket_Atari_Plan

Cramming a lot of video gaming smarts in confined spaces!
PocketAtari_insides

Looking good!
Pocket_Atari_Beauty

Anyone for tennis?
Pocket_Atari_Paddles


source: lovablechevy

 

The Lovely Atari STacy

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STacy_HDRThe Atari STacy! What the? If Atari were good at one thing, it was naming their computer range, hence the STacy being a play on their Atari ST range and a cool woman’s name.

Who didn’t want a portable ST back in 1989 that weighed almost 7kg! Well, if we had arms like Arnie Schwarzenegger and a matching bank balance (The Atari STacy was not cheap – it retailed for a cool $3,000AUD!), we probably would have forked-out our hard earned cash for one. It definitely would have been a wise investment, as there were less than 35,000 units sold, making this portable Atari computer a very rare commodity.

The STacy came in four models, with the STacy 4 (4MB RAM version) being the top of the line. For those technically minded, here are the all-important Atari STacy specifications:

  • Operating system: Atari TOS 1.04
  • CPU: Motorola 68HC000 (at 8 MHz)
  • Memory RAM: 1 MB (4×220 bytes) (expandable to 4 MB)
  • ROM: 192 KB
  • Storage: 3.5″ floppy drive, 3.5″ SCSI 20MB-40MB harddrive Conner Peripherals Inc.
  • Display: 10.4″ EPSON LCD passive matrix backlight
  • Graphics: 320×200 (16), 640×200 (4), 640×400 (2)
  • Sound: Yamaha YM-2149, three channels, 8 octaves
  • Input: 95 keys, QWERTY, 2 Joystick ports, RS 232C, Centronics, external Floppy, ROM-Cartridge, DMA for Printer/HD, MIDI In/Out, Monitor
  • Power: NiCad pack, 12 standard C cell alkaline batteries, DC18V 2.0A 36W AC Adaptor
  • Dimensions: 13.3 x 15 x 13.3 inches
  • Weight: 7kg/15.2 lb

Open me up, Stacy!
STacy_Open

You turn me on Stacy!
STacy_On

Lovely keyboard you have there Stacy
STacy_Keyboard

A lovely rear-end
STacy_rear_end

Power up!
STacy_left

Insert joysticks and floppies on this side!
STacy_right

image source: eBay

 

Welcome to STARWORLD 78

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Starworld78_badge

For those of you that don’t remember, once upon a time Atari was the king of video games, not just in the home with their Atari VCS/2600, but also in the amusement parlours. Atari was so diversified, they even got into making pinball machines!

To get an understanding of just how huge the Sunnyvale company was, at the 1978 Amusement and Music Operators Association (AMOA) trade show, Atari had a massive exhibit titled Starworld ’78, showcasing their latest wares to wow the industry (and scare the pants off their competitors)!

The “Starworld” theme was chosen by Atari to preview their new games, which they cleverly dubbed as the “Stars” of the 1978 AMOA show. Previewed pinball machines included Space Riders, the colossal  Hercules and the double playfield extravaganza of Middle Earth. In the video gaming stakes, their new 2-player space duel game, Orbit and the 3-games-in-one version of Breakout (very smartly titled) Super Breakout were gaining a lot of attention. Also taking centre stage at Starworld ’78 were: Sprint 2, Sit Down Night Driver, Starship, Smokey Joe, Fire Truck, UFO and the unique dual monitor submarine strategy game, Subs. If that wasn’t enough, Atari also had their service technicians on hand to demonstrate the latest test equipment to show off to operators.

And what is a trade show without prizes? Atari was promoting their ‘Starworld Sweepstakes’, a first at the AMOA trade show. Prizes included a Super Breakout machine, a Sony Betamax video tape recorder, a colour TV, a set of leather luggage and a Sony 5” Swivel-vision TV. There were also minor prizes awarded by Atari in their sweepstakes, including Seiko pocket digital alarms and Seiko desk clocks! Whoa, if only we had attended the 1978 AMOA trade show!

Starworld78_flyersource: The Arcade Flyer Archive

 

SNES M16 Multipurpose Arcade Combat Simulator

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MACS_M16It may be April 1st, but this ain’t no joke! Our good friends at The Gaming Warehouse made us aware that the elusive and extremely rare Multipurpose Arcade Combat Simulator (MACS) Basic Rifle (M16 Rifle) was for sale on Amazon at a cool price of $3,000!

Many would be asking themselves, what the hell is this? In a nutshell, it is an M16 Rifle designed (for the U.S. Army Infantry School) to simulate Basic Rifle Marksmanship (BRM) by using inexpensive off-the-shelf products, in this case, a lightgun, software and a Super Nintendo.

The Multipurpose Arcade Combat Simulator (MACS) was developed to overcome the training problems that resulted from insufficient facilities and too few instructors. While interest was primarily focused on its use as a rifle marksmanship trainer, MACS was designed so that the basic hardware could be used to provide training on a variety of weapons systems.

The MACS product was patented in 1986 by the US Army Research Institute Fort Benning Field Unit, which conducted research on training and training technology with particular emphasis on individual and small team skills in the Infantry arena.

Now, enough of this talk, we want to keep drooling over this M16 lightgun – who can spare us $3K? 😉

Connect me to that SNES!
MACS_M16_SNES

Looks like this M16 lightgun has seen some action
MACS_M16_muzzle

RTFM’ing like a boss!
MACS_SNES_TrainingGuide

Aha, all MACS bits required!
MACS_equipment

Whack in the cart, and away we go!
MACS-Multi-Purpose-Arcade-Combat-Simulator-Version-1994.0-SNES-Game

sources: Amazon, DTIC and Video Game Museum

Melbourne Silverball League: Get Flippin

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MelbSilverballLeague_TitleAttention all you pinball loving peeps, April 1 2016 will mark the commencement of the new Melbourne Silverball League monthly pinball tournament. This new tournament will be based on a selfie format, but more on that later! No, this is no April Fools’ Day joke, this is for real!

After his recent US trip to Arcade Expo 2.0 competing in the It Never Drains In Southern California pinball tournament, Martin Robbins was inspired to set up a similar qualifying and competition format here in Melbourne, hence the Melbourne Silverball League (MSL) was born. The first selfie competition in Melbourne will be at Bartronica in Flinders Lane. This is how the MSL pinball competition format will work:

Each month there will be particular pinball machines at Bartronica selected for qualifying – for the month of April the machines will be: Creature from the Black Lagoon, Party Zone, Addams Family, Goldeneye 007 and Pin*Bot. Play on each of these machines and take a photo of your score. You can either upload your picture via the tournament location at Matchplay.Events or post it to the Melbourne Silverball League (MSL) Facebook page. One of the MSL scorekeepers will review your photo and then submit your score. Your ranking on each machine will be worth more points the higher up you are to give you a combined overall ranking (based on the PAPA format i.e.: 100 points for the top score, then 90 for 2nd, 85 for 3rd and so on). The combined scores of the top 16 ranked players will qualify for the playoff (which is on the first Sunday of the following month).

To ensure your score submission goes smoothly, your selfie should have your face and the score to help the MSL scorekeepers validate your submission. Some patience might be needed where certain machines take a while to scroll through credits to get back to your score.

If we have lost you so far, here are the TL;DR (that’s Too Long;Didn’t Read) notes:

  • Register your participation at the MSL Facebook page;
  • play pinball at Bartronica;
  • upload pictures to MSL Facebook page of your awesome scores;
  • check the MSL Facebook page to see how you are ranking for that month;
  • get in to the top 16 players to qualify for the monthly head to head comp to determine the overall winner.

It is that easy! So what are you waiting for? Go and register now and then hit Bartronica during the month of April to rack up your high score!

Martin Robbins – the brains behind the Melbourne Silverball League
Martin_At_ArcadeExpo2.0

Shane Rubans getting some testing done at Bartronica
Bartronica_ShaneRubanssource: Melbourne Silverball League

 

Wizard Of Wor: The Flip R’Cade Board Game

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WoW_Box_TitleAh Wizard Of Wor, that otherworldly labyrinth duel that was the ultimate showdown against evildoers. What was there not to like about this arcade game – you got to prowl a maze-like dungeon teeming with Worlings, Worluks and other evil minions of the titular sorcerer either in cooperation with or against a friend – choosing the latter always had the risk of ending a perfectly good friendship. We loved the arcade game (and its many home conversions) so much, that we gave it a healthy review score of 92%.

Wow_conversions

Many of you are well aware of the classic video game, but did you know that there was a Wizard Of Wor board game? If you answered no, then look around at the photos strewn in this piece and wonder no more – the board game replicates the video game (to a certain degree). Instead of using a joystick to move your Worrior on a screen, you use the Flip R’Cade Game flipper-shooter to either shoot or advance your plastic game piece(s) around the maze on the board.

WoW_Box_Rear

If you are struggling to grasp how this game is played, here is our quick overview: you play with two players – player one assumes the role of the Worriors and player two the Worlings and Wizards. Don’t stress about this, as the players reverse their roles to complete the game. Anyway, the objective of the player controlling the Worriors is to destroy as many of their opponent’s Worlings and Wizards before their Worriors are destroyed (by either landing on a Worling or Wizard, or being shot by a Wizard), while the player controlling the Worlings and Wizards tries to destroy all four (4) Worriors of their opponent while protecting their Worlings and Wizards from destruction. Clear as mud? Argh, that’s what instructions are for!

WoW_game

WoW_boardgame

While there is no two player co-op in this board game, rest assured, you will get a lot of pleasure beating your opponent on points. Oh yeah, and unlike the video game version of Wizard Of Wor, the board game definitely requires two players to get the maximum fun out of playing it!

The calm before the storm! Let’s assemble!
WoW_the-board

Forget Batman V Superman, it’s Board Game V Video Game
WoW_boardVSvideo

Board Game V Video Game: Part II
WoW_boardVSgame2

WARNING: Don’t rush out to buy the Wizard of Wor board game! You are about 30 years too late 😉

 

Toasted TV Goes Retro

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ToastedTV_HeadingIf you are a regular viewer of Channel Eleven’s morning cartoon variety show Toasted TV, you will know that they have an awesome weekly retro gaming segment called ‘Flashback Friday – Retro Games Edition‘.

While kicking back in our pyjamas watching Toasted TV on Good Friday, we spotted the multi-talented retro gamer and our very good friend, Cameron Davis (aka: Gazunta) make a special guest appearance on our fave segment. Cam was rewinding time to 1999 to show-off Sega’s last console, the Dreamcast! With the VMUs (Virtual Memory Unit) tucked inside the controllers, the action got quite heated between Cam, Jono and Ollie on Sonic Adventure 2!

We got so excited watching Cam on TV, we grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and asked him about his new found fame and also for his autograph. But before you read on, check out the Flashback Friday Retro Games Edition segment now!

ToastedTV_Gazunta

AUSRETROGAMER [ARG]: So Cam, how did you get involved with Toasted TV?
Cameron Davis [CD]: Toasted TV is filmed up here in Brisbane, and the show’s producer put a call out for people who still had working Nintendo 64 systems and some games for their weekly ‘Flashback Friday’ segment. Of course, I had two N64s still in perfect condition and a pretty nice library of the best games. So I shot them an email to give them some background on who I was and what kind of retrogaming experience I had, and they were interested in me coming on to show off some N64 and Dreamcast classics!

ARG: How are the topics for ‘Flashback Friday Retro Games Edition’ chosen?
CD: We started spitballing some ideas for games to feature, and we both settled on the following guidelines: they had to be age-appropriate for the show (so that ruled out Goldeneye pretty quickly!), preferably multiplayer to give both the hosts something to do, and most importantly, be a great demonstration of what great retrogaming is about! For example, even though Sonic Adventure may not be the BEST Dreamcast game, Sonic is a familiar character to the show’s audience and the opening sequence just can’t be beat! It also gave an opportunity to show off one of the Dreamcast’s unique features – the removable VMU that can be operated like a simple LCD games machine, quite a revolutionary idea!

ToastedTV_Dreamcast

ARG: And lastly, how long does it take to prepare and shoot the segment?
CD: Even though the segments are only about three minutes long, each one took about thirty minutes to make. Every time there’s a cut or a different shot, the crew would need to plan out how each segment would look and what would happen. It’s fascinating to see them work so hard to get the show made – they’re total professionals! I spent a day or two beforehand cleaning all my old games for the show (some of those N64 controllers gather dust like crazy!) and re-learning the games so I wouldn’t look like a total n00b in front of a national audience!

Whoa! Cam has totally blown us away, and we reckon he nailed the segment! Looking forward to seeing more of Cam on TV (and in real life!). Oh yeah, we will pin down Mr. Davis to the ausretrogamer interview hot seat in the near future to chat about his start in gaming, the work he has done in the gaming industry and of course, his current projects including his awesome Blow The Cartridge and Rose comics – so stay tuned!

The action gets toasty on the Dreamcast!
ToastedTV_Playingsource: Toasted TV – Channel Eleven (tenplay)

 

40th Anniversary “He Called The Shot” Painting featuring Roger Sharpe

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RogerSharpe_Pinball_TitleGrab yourself a slice of pinball history and make a difference to children with special needs and autism spectrum disorders.

It has been forty years since Roger Sharpe “called the shot” in front of the the New York City council, overturning the 34 year ban on pinball! Available until March 25th, and commemorating this moment in history, is a Limited Edition Giclee (150 prints), personally signed by Roger. When you get one of these Limited Edition prints, your donation goes directly to Pinball EDU Charity.

You can have a piece of pinball history hanging in your arcade, games room or conference room!

Roger Sharpe – Calling the shot!
RogerSharpe_Pinball

“That shot” immortalized in a limited edition print
RogerSharpe_Pinball_Paintingsource: IFPA

 

8-Bit Pinball Action

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PETACO_TitleBeing a fan of the silver ball and 8-bit micro computing, I was always craving for a pinball game to play on my trusty Commodore 64. Finally, my prayers have been answered in the form of Errazking’s Petaco’5!

This new C64 pinball game was developed by Errazking and Maniako using ‘Bill Budge’s Pinball Construction Set’, coupled with cool music by the great chiptune composer, Richard Bayliss.

What you get is 6 pinball tables to play on, with as-close-to-realistic ball physics on your C64 – which is a good thing if you are a pinball purist. The screen is divided in half, with the playfield on one side and the player score on the other. If you are a pinball fan and are in need of a silver ball fix on your C64, then Petaco’5 will go a long way to satisfy your pinball craving.

Errazking’s PETACO’5 is available for free on CSDb. Get it now!

The T-UFO Table
PETACO_TUFOimage source: CSDb and Vintage Is The New Old

 

Super Russian Roulette: The Good, the Bad, and the Zapper

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SRR_titleMove over Duck Hunt, there is gonna be a new shooting game in town! And forget Wii Sports to bring your party alive! For your next party, you should be playing Super Russian Roulette on your NES! Yep, you read that right – get your Zapper ready!

Before you rush off to your nearest gaming store, relax, Super Russian Roulette is being funded via Kickstarter and it has already blown past its goal of $20K! What is there to say about this game other than, you and up to two of your friends and the trash talking cowboy take turns passing the pistol, spinning the chamber (or not!), and drinking to your own demise (or not)! That Andrew Reitano is a genius.

If you are party gamer, gunslinger or an adrenaline junkie, you need to back Super Russian Roulette now! The game will be available in NTSC and PAL formats.

SRR_pledge


source: Super Russian Roulette on Kickstarter