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Star Wars Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back: 40 Year Anniversary Stamp Pack

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Listen up Star Wars fans and stamp collectors, Australia Post has something really cool for you all!

Celebrating the 40th anniversary of the theatrical release of Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, Australia Post has a released a commemorative (licensed) The Empire Strike Back 40 Years stamp pack! This awesome stamp pack contains 20 $1.10 Map of Australia stamps from their Joyful Occasions stamp issue, as well as action-packed The Empire Strike Back graphics in the stamp tabs!

Oh yeah, they also have the Rise of Skywalker stamp pack too!

image source: Australia Post

 

STAR WARS Comic Art Pinball: May The Force Be With You

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A long time ago in a galaxy far, far too close to home, I was excited when Stern Pinball announced their Star Wars pinball machine. I was so excited by this news, I almost bought one without playing it!

But there was a disturbance in the (pinball) FORCE in mid 2017! Bear with me here, as this story delves into the depths of the dark side before I see the light.

Cooler heads prevailed and I took Ms. ausretrogamer’s advice to play the pinball machine before making a decision to buy it or not. Well, on that fateful day in mid 2017, my initial impression of Stern’s Star Wars pinball wasn’t at all positive. I played the Pro model of the game, and let’s just say that it didn’t inspire me to press the start button to play it again. The FORCE just wasn’t strong enough to engage me. I was gutted! I felt that the machine did not capture the theme and universe of my all-time favourite movie franchise. I buried my disappointment and forgot about the machine. As the great Jedi Master, Yoda once said, “Disappointment is the path to the dark side. Disappointment leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.” Welllll, he didn’t say that exactly, but you get my drift.

Luckily I did not give in to the disappointment, no matter how tempting the dark side of the force was. At the time, I found solace in another pinball machine, Chicago Gaming Company’s Attack From Mars Remake. My pinball mojo was back to peak level and the disappointment of the Star Wars pinball machine was all but a distant memory.

source: Stern Pinball Inc.

Then in mid 2019, there was a flicker in the FORCE. My brother-in-law, who got the silverball bug after playing our machines, went hunting for his first pinball game and settled for a Stern Star Wars Premium pinball machine. I remember thinking to myself, I hope he loves the game. Well, to my surprise, he did. What surprised me even more was my reaction to the game – once I pressed the start button and started flipping, I was immediately grabbed by the FORCE, just like Darth Vader’s force choke. Taking Yoda’s advice to heart, we had to unlearn what we learned about this game.

Wow, what a difference two years had made! The updated code and of course, this being the Premium model of the game, it felt like I was in the middle of the (original) Star Wars universe! I found that my excitement for the machine was at the same level as when Stern first announced that they were making a Star Wars pinball game. I knew then that I had to hunt down a machine to fulfil my wish of owning my pinball dream theme.

Just like all Star Wars stories, starting with a struggle and then ending on a positive note, so has this musing. I finally saw the light side of the FORCE and procured my pinball dream theme, a Stern Star Wars Comic Art Premium machine, beautifully presented by Star Wars comic artist, Randy Martinez – it’s so eye-poppingly beautiful. It was a long time coming to get to this point, but I am glad I went on this journey and reached my destination. The moral of my story is, never judge a book by its cover and always come back to a pinball game you haven’t played in a while, it may surprise you.

Thanks to the folks at Zax Amusements for fulfilling my wish – they made this Padawan very happy. May the FORCE be with you!

A lightsaber is required to bust open this beauty!

The Ausretrogamer Fun Factory is READY!

The machine is (almost) in its position – love the right side cabinet art!

Love the left side art cabinet too!

And we are upright!

We have the keys to the Millennium Falcon

Time to play and defeat the evil Empire!

Always Use The Force!

Love the LCD – it integrates the theme with visual Star Wars eye-candy

The comic art is eye-poppingly gorgeous on this machine

Taking in the comic art with the glass off!

Randy Martinez should be commended for his brilliant art work on this machine

Let’s blow up the Death Star

Making the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs

The magnets on this machine whiz the balls around on the hyperspace loop at breakneck speeds!

And we are on, like Donkey K… Ah, never mind!

Who doesn’t like seeing their name on the high score table

Just enjoying the view

A handsome threesome in the Fun Factory

 

This Myki Reader is DOOMed

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So that’s what happened to our tram’s Myki card reader – it got turned into a DOOM playing machine!

Got Doom working on a ticket validator (myki) from r/itrunsdoom

To be honest, it is a better use of a Myki public transport terminal. Who would have thought that the classic FPS could run on such a device!

Well done to reddit user zbios for hacking the Windows CE based Myki system to run the classic shooter we all know and love!

DOOM on baby!

image source: Reddit

 

Custom Painted GameCube Consoles

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We have previously featured customised GameCube consoles, like the Mario Sunshine one, but these custom painted consoles by Mago Serenil (CustomsGameCubes on Etsy) are just so darn gorgeous!

The best part is, these custom painted GameCube consoles are available from Mago’s Etsy store (Mago is currently on a break, but you can still get in touch via Etsy).

[story source: [technabob]

 

Gradius V Official DVD The Perfect

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That Alex Reynolds (aka: Alexpletives on Twitter) has surprised us once again!

Hot on the heels of his Ikaruga Appreciate DVD, Alex showed us another DVD from Japan in his vast collection, this time, it was Konami’s Gradius V Official DVD The Perfect.

According to our good friend, Wikipedia:

“On April 9, 2004, Konami announced a DVD called OPTIONS, which was being offered to pre-ordering customers in Japan — containing interviews with the developers, art galleries and a number of videos demonstrating the inner workings of the game’s levels. Adding further incentive for customers to purchase the upcoming game, Konami later revealed the availability of The History of Vic Viper — a book indicating inner design, the background and the roadmap of the Vic Viper ships. The book was included with all versions of the original Japanese pressing of the game. An additional DVD with expanded content titled Gradius V Official DVD The Perfect was also released in Japan to be ordered separately or with the game from Konami’s online retail store, Konamistyle”.

We may need to ask Alex if we can “borrow” this DVD 😉

 

 

May The 4th Be With You – Happy Star Wars Day

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It’s STAR WARS DAY peeps! May the 4th be with you!

As huge Star Wars fans, we can’t go past celebrating this day. Since Star Wars Day almost coincides with our birthday, it makes it that little bit extra special.

We are celebrating this day with our new cool and very special gift, a Star Wars – Han Solo Limited Edition Invicta watch. We love everything about this awesome watch, from Han encased in carbonite sharing the watch-face with his beloved Millennium Falcon, his heavy blaster on the second hand, to the leather strap depicting his attire, and of course, the Millennium Falcon side plate and the see-through automatic watch movement. Do you have any special Star Wars items celebrating this occasion?

From all of us at ausretrogamer, have yourselves a great Star Wars Day, and May The 4th Be With You!

 

 

 

The Rise and Fall of Centuri Inc.

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Remember Centuri? Not really? We bet it will ring a bell when you watch this two-part series (on Centuri Inc.) and realise you probably played one (or more) of their licensed video games a fair bit at your local arcade joints.

Cassandra Chiles-Quirk (aka: Vintage Arcade Gal) has done a stellar job in encapsulating the highs and lows of this once great company of the golden age of arcade video games.

The Rise & Fall of Centuri – Part 1

The Rise & Fall of Centuri – Part 2

source: Vintage Arcade Gal

 

Nintendo Ball – The Game and Watch That Started The Iconic Series

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Nintendo Ball holds a dear place in our heart as it was their very first (Silver) Game & Watch product, released on this day [April 28] in 1980! This was the game that kicked off the iconic electronic handheld series.

Being the company’s first Game & Watch title, Ball is celebrated among the gaming community and within Nintendo itself, as evident from their many re-releases and remakes.

In case you never played Ball, the user controls a character who must juggle a few balls at once, ensuring that none of them are dropped. The control to keep juggling the ball is pretty straight forward – by pressing the left and right face button. It is this simplicity that made Nintendo’s Game & Watch series so memorable with its fans.

Do you have still have your Game & Watch(es)? Which one(s) is/are your fave?

source: Wikimedia Commons

 

IKARUGA Appreciate DVD

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During a private chat with Alex Reynolds (aka: Alexpletives on Twitter) he shared something that we weren’t aware till today – Treasure’s IKARUGA Appreciate DVD!

Alex told us that he loved Treasure’s game so much (Ed: who doesn’t?!) but like most mere mortals, found it extremely difficult to play and progress deep into the game, so when he saw the Appreciate DVD on a Japanese site, he grabbed it as it would be the means to see the rest of this brilliant game.

Wish we knew how to read in Japanese! Anyone else have this DVD? Hit us up on our socials.

 

Podcast: Vertical Hold – Retro Gaming In Self Isolation

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I can’t believe that we (myself and Ms. ausretrogamer) have never appeared together on a podcast! Well, I am here to tell you that we finally made our debut together in guest speaking on episode 275 of the Vertical Hold podcast!

The topic of discussion was how we were passing the time and keeping our sanity in this worldwide pandemic. We delve into the midst of nostalgia and discuss all things gaming, from retro and modern, pinball, arcade, board games to the Commodore 64, SNES, RetroPie and Nintendo’s Wii! Oh yeah, Double Dragon and Zelda came up in conversation too 😉

Thank you to Alex Kidman and Adam Turner for having us on their brilliant weekly Vertical Hold podcast, we had a blast!