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All English-Language SNES Manuals Are Now Available Online

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Retro gamers rejoice, you can finally put away your physical SNES game manuals as you can now use the SNES Manual Archive online library to check out any game manual from your smart device (or computer) anywhere in the world!

This amazing resource for nostalgic fans of videogaming history was painstakingly curated by a team of dedicated peeps lead by Peebs. To say we owe them all our gratitude would be a massive understatement!

PS: If you look closely, there are Super Famicom, N64 and Virtual Boy manuals too!

Story source: The Verge / image source: Reddit / Title image: Peebs



Introducing the Super Famicom SF-1 Mini (SNES TV)

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Every morning we do what most of us probably do when rolling out of bed  – we grab our phone and scroll through our Twitter timeline to see what we had missed while asleep!

This morning was no different till we came across a tweet from our Liverpudlian friend, Paul Darbyshire, who showcased a DIY Super Famicom SF-1 Mini that was fully integrated with a 5.5 inch LCD TV in a cute CRT case!

I mean just look at this thing – it’s so adorable! The creator of this amazing DIY is Limone Studio, so you should check out his DIY creation video here.

Oh yeah, now we need to find the ChoFamitsuku DIY kit (~ AU$55.00) to make our very own SF-1 mini!

SF-1 Mini Features:

  • 5.5 inch LCD screen
  • usb c-type 5v power supply
  • RGB output
  • Stereo sound



The Time is 1-Up On This Super Mario Bros. LED Clock

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Thanks to Ms. Ausretrogamer for sending this through – this Super Mario Bros. RGB LED Clock is a DIY project we reckon we can tackle! We love the DMD look on the RGB LED Matrix!

The instructions for this DIY build by Jonathas Barbosa are nice and easy to follow, so we have no excuse to not being able to get this done (unless there is a shortage on the parts required!). You got to admit, this animated Super Mario clock makes an awesome retro decoration!

So, who is making this?

source: laughingsquid & Instructables



How To Afford A Real Pinball Machine In Your Home

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Pinball has been around for a long long time. As an iconic cultural phenomenon, pinball has had more golden ages than we can count! It just so happens that it finds itself again in the middle of another golden age era.

With popularity at an all-time high, it seems pinball has attracted players from all walks of life, age and gender. The by-product of this popularity is that affording a pinball machine in your home right now may seem like an out of reach possibility, however, we are here to tell you that there may be a way!

Of course you can go and play pinball at a location near you (which you should, if you are able to), but if you are like us, you’d want to have a pinball machine in your home, ready to be played whenever you get the urge to belt the silverball around the playfield.

New or Old Pinball Machines: Profit or Break-even

The cost of ownership is quite steep, with new pinball machines fetching well above the AU$10K mark these days. The second-hand market isn’t much better, with popular old titles costing way more than new machines – it’s crazy times! There was a time in the early 2000s when you could pick up machines for the same price it costs to buy a PS5 now, but those days are long gone. You can still find cheap machines, but you’ll have to be prepared to look long and hard (and possibly travel interstate) and spend a lot of time and more money in getting it to a working and playable state.

If you have the means to be able to purchase a new or second-hand pinball machine, we are here to tell you that this investment will pay itself in spades, not just in fun times (which is priceless!), but when it comes to moving the machine on to replace it with another one, you’d expect to make a tidy profit or at worse, break-even. There are caveats though, if you abuse your machine and don’t take good care of it, then of course you won’t get top dollar. From our own experience, we have never lost on a sale of one of our machines, which means we haven’t needed to dip into our savings or redraw from the home loan to afford the next pinball that catches our eye. Since machines seem to go up in price (there has been no price correction in over a decade!), what may seem expensive right now, could look like a bargain in a year or two. Again, the initial outlay is quite high, so only jump in if your finances allow it.

Swapping

If you already own a pinball machine(s) at home that you don’t want to offload it to afford another one, then swapping is an option that many pinball owners get into to get their fix. There are many pinball based social media groups and forums that have swapping available, so if you want to swap your Stern Spider-Man for another title, this is the best way to go! Like with any swap, it’s best done with others that you may know or who have a reputable standing in the community that are local to your area.

Rent A Pinball Machine

You read that right! If you don’t have a machine to swap or you can’t justify outlaying AU$10K+ for one, then there is another way to enjoy pinball in your home – rent one (or more)! The global pandemic had a huge impact on location pinball, so some operators, like Ryan from Melbourne Pinball Hire, got creative by offering their extensive range of pinball machines for rent. The rent process is pretty straight forward – you find the machine you want, contact the operator, pay for the month’s rent and then wait for the machine to be delivered and setup for you. All you have to do then is enjoy playing the machine without any other worry! The longer your rental agreement (like a multi-month rental), the better the price.

Once again, there are plenty of pinball operators out there that offer their machines for rent, so hit the pinball social media groups to find the nearest one, or if you are in Victoria, then Melbourne Pinball Hire has a great collection of pins to choose from between AU$375 – AU$500 per month!

JJP’s Guns N Roses machine rental from Melbourne Pinball Hire

image source: Melbourne Pinball Hire



DISCLAIMER: We are not a financial advisor. None of the information provided in this article should be considered as financial advice. This feature is strictly informational/educational.

An Alternative 80s iPhone

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Now this alternative-history 80s iPhone by Redditor, Echonix9, is so darn clever!

But alas, it is only a prop! Don’t despair, we can still enjoy in imagining having such a device in the 80s. Echonix9 also added a light-pen peripheral, with Redditor Danamania going a step further by adding an old school green on black display (see below pic)!

Echonix9 advises that:

This took about 4 weeks to make from modelboard and laser cut acrylic. Apparently it looks like a render which I can only take as a compliment!

The display is vacuum-formed acrylic, though I essentially let the soft plastic droop into the shape of the screen. I then back-sprayed it with grey and a little silver.

I first created a CAD model in Rhino, using the rough overall dimensions of a pocket TV I have. This allowed me to print off scale plans and have the front panel cut from modelboard with a CNC machine.

With the 3D model I could also laser-cut the back and sides from acrylic, with icons and holes for sockets. There was a lot of filling and hand-sanding to get it smooth and the corners just right!

Details like the aerial, db9 socket and power switch on the opposite side were bits from my electronic stash.

I’m simplifying what is quite a unconventional method of making something like this, especially considering I have a model I could just 3D print, but I learnt a huge amount by giving it a go, making mistakes and taking advantage of the equipment I won’t always have access to, outside of education.

source: reddit | imgur | danamania



Butcher Billy’s Stranger Tales: The Second Season

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If you are a Stranger Things fan, then you’ll know the artwork from Brazilian designer/illustrator, Butcher Billy, is stunningly amazing!

The timeline of Stranger Things is perfectly suited for us nostalgia seekers with nods to everything retro that we loved from the 80s. Butcher Billy captures the Stranger Things aesthetic perfectly in his art creations, including this eye-popping Stranger Tales: The Second Season series, which includes Atari VCS/2600 cartridges and Stephen King paperback novels – Butcher Billy aptly states that “these are some of the stranger things of the 80’s.”

Check out the entire collection here and then head over to Butcher Billy’s RedBubble store.

The Atari Carts

Stephen King pulp paperbacks
source: Butcher Billy via behance.net



The Eerie Timex X Stranger Things Watch Co-Lab

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With the popularity reaching fever pitch for the latest season of Stranger Things (season 4), it was inevitable that major brands would jump on the partnership bandwagon.

The timing (pun intended) of the Timex X Stranger Things watch collaboration is perfect, just in time for the second part of season 4 kicking off this Friday, July 1 on Netflix.

It seems that Timex have captured the aesthetic of the show quite well with the 80s digital (and analogue on the Camper version) look and most importantly, a nod to the show with hidden features and alarm sounds that play the iconic Stranger Things melody – this perfectly completes the hair-raising sci-fi-horror-drama immersion.

We love the Timex X Stranger Things T80 digital watch with its stainless steel bracelet and overall silver tone. Oh yeah, it has the spine-chilling graphics on the watch face and a hidden Stranger Things logo when you activate the INDIGLO® backlight!


source: Timex x Stranger Things



JAWS Pinball – You’re Gonna Need A Bigger Boat!

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There is one theme that has been asked for by pinheads ever since we can remember – a JAWS-themed pinball machine!

We stumbled upon this post on Facebook that Jake Danzig shared from the Pintastic New England event) on the Strictly Custom Pinball Machines! group which totally blew our mind! The pinball homebrew scene has been growing at a rapid rate these past 5 or so years, with amazing creations either from scratch or rethemes of old machines. There are a lot of highly skilled pinball homebrew builders out there. This amazing homebrew JAWS pinball machine looks like a Dino Gaspari (shipmypinball.com / pinballdepot.ca) creation, but we’ll need to confirm this!


source: No Quarters Arcade

This JAWS pinball (retheme of an old machine – anyone recognise the donor machine?) is simply stunning with its meticulous and eye catching cabinet, playfield, lockdown bar, legs and backboard artwork – we just can’t stop staring at it! By listening to the sound in the above video, it would seem the theme’s immersion is complete! If we do stumble upon a video of the machine being played, rest assured we’ll update this post.

The JAWS licence may be difficult to obtain, but if a pinball manufacturer can miraculously pull it off, they will definitely make bank!

image source: Jake Danzig via Facebook



Review: Wonder Boy Collection

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Let’s get one thing straight, we are checking out the digital version of the Wonder Boy Collection, which is vastly different from the physical boxed edition from Strictly Limited Games. Just so you guys are informed, this digital version contains 4 Wonder Boy games, whereas the Strictly Limited Games (physical) edition has all 6 of the classic Wonder Boy titles, plus every Master System, Mega Drive/Genesis, Game Gear and arcade versions of those games, both in English and Japanese, for a grand total of 21 games – so you see, there is a pretty big difference!

OK, we have got that out of the way, let’s get into the 4 games that you get in the digital version of the Wonder Boy Collection. First off the bat (and our absolute favourite, because we grew up with it) is the arcade version of Wonder Boy (1986). The next one is another arcade version, Wonder Boy In Monster Land (1987), with the last two titles being Mega Drive/Genesis ports of  Wonder Boy in Monster World (1991) and (Wonder Boy) Monster World IV (1994).

This is not a bad little collection, but it does feel incomplete if you are a hardcore Wonder Boy fan. Considering there other titles in the main series left off this compilation, coupled with the remakes and Adventure Island ports, this could have been such a stellar collection worthy to be in everyone’s games library. Anyway, we digress!

If you are reading this, then you will know what types of games these are. Wonder Boy is an out and out platformer with jumping and collecting items on the way to rescuing his girlfriend – sound familiar? Yeah, it is in the Super Mario Bros. ilk, which isn’t a bad thing. The rest of the collection take this formula and sprinkle RPG elements to spice things up in each of the successive titles in the collection.

All games have the option to save/load states, modify the controls, rewind speeds and importantly, the video, which includes options to change the display, scaling and shaders – ensuring that you can retro it up to your heart’s content. The arcade ports have the additional options to change the number of lives, bonus lives and difficulty level, with Monster Land having the option to change how you use your special weapon. It would be remiss of us not to mention a blaring error on the Wonder Boy (1986) selection screen where there is reference to Tom-Tom’s girlfriend as Tanya instead of Tina. Hey, we know we are being very pedantic, but come on, this is elementary detail that should have been a no brainer.

All games are faithful to their original content, with the emulation accuracy being quite good on the Nintendo Switch. As it stands, for AU$39.99 (US$29.99), you get four pretty good Wonder Boy titles, but you can’t help it think how much more awesome it would have been if they added Monster Lair and Dragon’s Trap to this collection.



Disclaimer: The Nintendo Switch eShop code for the Wonder Boy Collection was provided by PR Hound.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge – Review

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Cowabunga! Sorry, we really had to start with that!

How good do we beat’em up fans have it right now? Both Final Vendetta and TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge get released within a day of one another. The last time we had it this good, I had a mullet and the singing budgie, Kylie Minogue, was killin’ it with her Stock Aitken Waterman hits. Oh yeah, and we are late doing this review because this game is deliciously addictive, just like a capricciosa pizza (minus the anchovies)!

You’ve probably read (or watched) a ton of reviews about this game already, so we honestly don’t know what else to say that hasn’t already been said – if you are into scrolling beat’em ups (playing solo or co-op), then adding TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge to your games library is a no-brainer, GET IT RIGHT NOW!


source: DotEmu

For those that need an extra push that are asking, how darn good is this game, well let us tell ya! We played Final Vendetta before Shredder’s Revenge and called it the beat’em up genre’s magnum opus (it’s darn good), but we honestly reckon Shredder’s Revenge is just as good (if not better!). The main pull for us is the fact that this game oozes nostalgia with its beautiful full-colour pixel visuals, aural (yay Tee Lopes!) and play mechanics by transporting us back to early 1990 in the video rental store where we first played the 4P Konami arcade game which totally blew our mind. Shredder’s Revenge has blown our mind too! Obviously it is a step above the original arcade with ample levels that are choc-full of foot clan baddies to smash with satisfying moves, attacks and brutal combos – there are 21 in total. Some moves do consume your Ninja Power bar, so you have to be strategic when to use it. Being TMNT, there is also a radical mode (basically god mode) that can be unlocked to mow down everyone on screen. Oh yeah, you can also taunt your enemies before you unleash your fist of fury. Did we also mention that you can play with up to six players simultaneously? No? Well, we have now – it’s just so gnarly! What else can we tell you about this game that no one has said already? It’s so bodacious!

We love the fact that you can play Shredder’s Revenge in Story or Arcade mode, with the latter basically giving the player a harder challenge with limited lives, continues and no saved progression – just the way we like it. Both Story and Arcade modes offer an easy (chill), hard (okay) and tough-as-nails (gnarly) difficulty levels, so it all depends on your mood and skill level.

If you need more convincing, then perhaps this game isn’t for you. If you are sitting on the fence, we say get off it and get playing TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge on your chosen system ASAP, you’ll thank us for it! Seriously though, if we had a rating system, we would give this all the stars in the observable universe. Bravo and thanks Tribute Games and DotEmu for giving us a superb game.

image source: DotEmu



Disclaimer: The Nintendo Switch review code for TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge was provided by DotEmu.