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Better Than A SNES Mini: Special Iron Commando Edition RetroDuo Handheld

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Phwoar, just when you were feeling down in the dumps with the announcement from Nintendo that they were pulling the pin on the NES Classic Mini, Piko Interactive comes out with a one-two knockout punch full of cheeriness!

No, we aren’t talking about some new boxing game from Piko Interactive, we are referring to their new SNES beat’em up games – Iron Commando and Legend, and their collaboration with Retro-Bit to produce a limited quantity of the Special Custom Edition Iron Commando (or Legend) RetroDuo Handheld!

Having played and reviewed the RetroDuo, we can say that we are quite excited to see an updated custom edition with a fantastic new SNES pack-in game (of your choice)! As this is an IndieGoGo campaign, there is a limited quantity of these custom edition units, so you will have to get in quick to grab one at the early bird price.

For those of you that already have a SNES and are hungry for some new beat’em ups to feed your 16-bit Ninty console, then head to Piko Interactive’s IndieGoGo campaign to check out Iron Commando and Legend.

source: Piko Interactive – IndieGoGo

 

GoldenEra: The Untold Story Behind The N64’s GoldenEye 007

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Hands up those of you that haven’t played GoldenEye 007 on the Nintendo 64. If you have put your hand up, then we strongly urge you to rectify the situation and play this game at this instant – it is that damn good!

For the rest of you, we all know how awesome and revolutionary Rare’s game was on the N64. GoldenEye 007 was so good, that it created the template for all First-Person Shooter (FPS)  games that proceeded it, even till this day!

We would love to know more about the team and what went on in making this landmark game, but we all know how secretive Rare is, especially its enigmatic founding brothers, Tim and Chris Stamper. But, we are happy to report that our prayers have been answered!

To celebrate the 20th anniversary of GoldenEye 007, Melbourne based, Roller Coaster Productions is aiming to create a documentary on this influential console shooter, with the aim of exploring the untold story behind the game. The film, aptly titled GoldenEra, will examine how a young and inexperienced team were trusted to work on such a huge licence, how the game continued in spite of its cancellation, and most importantly, how they motivated each other to surpass all expectations and create a game that would shape the genre and delight players for years to come. GoldenEra will also delve into personal anecdotes from the game’s developers, critics, fans and celebrities – discussing how it shaped them and their lives. This documentary will celebrate the game that revolutionised the way we play together, in our lounge rooms and bedrooms with friends and family around the world. GoldenEra’s crowdfunding campaign and teaser trailer have already launched on IndieGoGo, so go and take a look and back it if you can!

GoldenEra – The untold story behind the game from Drew Roller on Vimeo.

We are quite confident in the pedigree of the GoldenEra filmmakers, Drew Roller and Narayan Pattison, with both having extensive content creation and film making experience, so this documentary is in very good and experienced hands. We’ll eagerly watch this IndieGoGo campaign!

source: GoldenEra Documentary

 

SKYCURSER Is Coming Soon To Shoot Up Your Arcade

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Who says that the arcade is dead? If you are sick of seeing redemption machines at your local amusement centre, then perhaps the new horizontal shoot’em up, SKYCURSER will draw you back for some good old fashion blasting!

Griffin Aerotech’s SKYCURSER takes players through some gorgeously drawn worlds in which they must battle mutant hordes to save the planet. SKYCURSER has a total of four missions with a reward scoring system that keeps things quite competitive.

The game runs on a platform called Airframe and its creators have also promised free game updates. A year ago, the Griffin Aerotech team expressed hopes that the open-source nature of Airframe would attract other independent designers to create games for arcade cabinets and controls. This means that operators could potentially swap several games on the same Airframe using only a USB stick, which brings back memories of swapping those good old Neo Geo MVS cartridges.

There’s a Pro (USD$700) and Deluxe (USD$1,200) version of the kitted game, each coming with necessary software and hardware while the Deluxe has additional conversion art. The game is also available in a dedicated arcade cabinet ready to hit the floor (USD$3,499). Conversion kits are expected to ship by June 2017. For information on purchasing the game in a dedicated cabinet, click here.

The arcade industry needs more of these good old fashioned arcade games, like SKYCURSER, to draw back the 80s and 90s kids (now adults) into arcade centres for them to have fun while introducing their own children to the kind of games they played at their age many moons ago.

image source: Griffin Aerotech

 

Australian Jordan Tredaway Wins Division B At PAPA 20 World Pinball Championships

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Young Australian pinball wizard, Jordan Tredaway wins the PAPA 20 (Professional & Amateur Pinball Association) World Championship B Division!

The 16 year old Melbournian showed poise and maturity beyond his years by beating veterans double and even triple his age from across the globe in the world’s most prestigious pinball championship. We managed to grab Jordan as he was tucking into a well deserved dinner to ask him how he was feeling right now, “Ecstatic! Feels like a dream come true”. Also flying the flag high for Australia was Martin Robbins, whom also had a fantastic tournament.

14 year old Jordan (JTH) smashes Game Of Thrones at PAX Aus 2015

Jordan’s PAPA 20 (Division B) win was just reward for his hard work and consistent pinball tournament wins in Australia. We first met Jordan at Supanova in 2015 when he won the Under 18s Pinball vs. Supanova Championship at the tender age of 14! With his current IFPA world ranking at 231, we are pretty sure that this win at PAPA 20 will propel him in the top echelon of pinball wizards, and who knows, perhaps an A Division win at next year’s PAPA 21!

The PAPA World Pinball Championships is the most renowned event in all of competitive pinball which is held annually in Carnegie, Pennsylvania USA.

PAPA 20 competition floor!

Jordan in action!

Martin Robbins keeps an eye on the standings, while Jordan keeps an eye on the competition!

Jordan Tredaway, PAPA 20 Division B World Pinball Champion!
image sources: Martin Robbins and Carme Martinez

Jordan’s impressive points tally in Division B at PAPA 20

 

Learn To Make Your Own Video Games With PICO-8

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Finally, my childhood dream of making games in my bedroom can come true!

How to make games with PICO-8 Kickstarter is exactly what we have been seeking – an easy-to-learn and all-in-one development tool that allows you to draw sprites, design levels and add sound effects and music. The programming itself is done in an extended version of Lua, a widely used and easy to learn programming language.

This Kickstarter (by Tassilo Rau) is for the book on how to make games with PICO-8*, which comes with 100 full-colour pages in a child-friendly layout, with reasonably sized textblocks and lots of illustrations. While the book’s primary target audience is kids and teenagers, us adults will get a hell of a lot out of it too. Feel safe in knowing that this book will help you to take your first steps to making games.

With the Kickstarter campaign ending in about two days, you better hurry and secure your tome so you can start making your own video games!

source: Tassilo Rau on Kickstarter

*Note that PICO-8 is not included with this book, so you will have to increase your pledge by USD$14.99 or buy the license separately. PICO-8 can be used on Windows, Linux, Mac or a Raspberry Pi with a 700MHz CPU and any video card.

 

PAPA World HQ Site On The Market!

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REPLAY FOUNDATION OUTGROWS WORLD HEADQUARTERS
World’s Largest Pinball Tournaments to Continue

With PAPA 20 around the corner, Replay Foundation, the NPO that operates the Professional & Amateur Pinball Association (PAPA) brand of tournaments, has just announced that it is placing the PAPA World Headquarters, a facility in Scott Township, just outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on the market. This facility currently houses more than 700 rare and valuable pinball and arcade games in the Replay collection.

PAPA Buildout – January 2004

Since its founding in 2011, Replay Foundation has operated two of the largest pinball tournaments in the world, the PAPA World Pinball Championships and the Pinburgh Match-Play Championship. In 2013, the PAPA World Headquarters, which opened for the first public PAPA event in the Pittsburgh area in 2004, was donated to Replay Foundation and used to operate these events. The Pinburgh championship quickly outgrew the PAPA World Headquarters facility and was moved to the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, as part of the annual ReplayFX event, starting in 2015.

PAPA 7 – September 2004

PAPA 9 – August 2006

This reduced the headquarters to hosting only one public event each year, and that event, the PAPA World Pinball Championships, has exceeded the facility’s capacity for the past several years. Consequently, the headquarters is being put up for sale on the commercial real estate market, effective immediately, with a transaction expected to close sometime after the PAPA 20 event this month. Replay Foundation will not be reducing the size of its collection, nor are there plans to discontinue the PAPA World Pinball Championships.

PAPA 13 – August 2010

PAPA 19 – April 2016
source: PAPA

“We recognize that our followers have thirteen years of nostalgia and great memories of the headquarters, but the facility has hit its limits in terms of attendance and logistics, and of course parking was always a nightmare,” said Kevin Martin, chairman of Replay Foundation. “We are very optimistic about the continued growth of our events and the PAPA brand, and we look forward to making further announcements regarding PAPA 21 and next year’s Circuit Final.”

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Pinball Press
Pinball Press brings you news from the world of pinball – events, product reviews/updates, interviews and the people in pinball!

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PAPRIUM: A New Brawler On The Sega Mega Drive

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Strike Harder, Beat Stronger!

Do you yearn for a Streets Of Rage-like game for your old trusty Mega Drive (Sega Genesis to our American friends)?

Well yearn no more! WaterMelon Games, the development crew that makes cool retro games like Pier Solar, are back with their latest (and possibly greatest) 16-bit killer game, PAPRIUM (aka: ProjectY)!

PAPRIUM is a post-apocalyptic, outrageous head-kicking brawler made in the spirit of classic beat’em ups like Double Dragon, Final Fight and Streets of Rage. This brand new Sega Mega Drive (Genesis) game is being built from the ground up and is expected to smash on your 16-bit Sega console in 2017!

PAPRIUM has been lovingly crafted at WaterMelon’s Magical Game Factory using Investor’s votes and suggestions, which have helped shape the game! Make no bones about it, this game has been developed by a team driven by true passion and 16-bit excellence.

PAPRIUM is the biggest Sega Mega Drive game ever made (over 80-MEG!), featuring multiple game modes, speed (uncompromised 60fps!), 24 levels and up to 5 selectable characters! Come at us PAPRIUM, we are waiting!

We have pre-ordered ours, so if you want to do the same, go here.


source: WaterMelon Games

PS: Thank you to Anthony Durso for bringing PAPRIUM to our attention!

Pimp Your Vectrex Controller

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Even in its original guise, the Vectrex is one unique and gorgeous piece of gaming hardware! The all-in-one vector gaming system has been a long-time favourite of collectors, hence its hefty price tag.

If you happen to have a Vectrex and you want to make it pop, then perhaps some custom controller overlays of your favourite Vectrex games from German store, arcadeartshop, would be an ideal way to personalise your machine. Arcadeartshop also allow for individual designed controller overlays, all you need to do is send them the graphics and they’ll do the rest!

With a choice of glossy or rough laminate, these custom controller overlays are a cool way to add some colour to your Vectrex and protection for your controller. Priced at €5 (plus shipping) per overlay, we reckon that they are very reasonably priced – we’ll get a couple, thanks!

source: arcadeartshop.de

 

The Atari PONG Coffee Table – It’s Not Just A Game

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UPDATE: Since this article was published, the Atari PONG coffee table crowdfunding campaign has been moved to Kickstarter (from IndieGoGo)!

Make way traditional coffee table, there is a new and fun coffee table in town!

If you are sick of the bland look and the one dimensional use of your current coffee table, then the retro futuristic Atari PONG game coffee table is for you.

Before you start casting aspersions, this is not your average DIY-Arcade-Cocktail-Table people make out of Ikea furniture (Ed: not that there is anything wrong with that!). This Atari PONG coffee table is WAY more than that – it is a physical implementation of the classic Atari video game! Think of it as a playable, mechanical homage to one of the first video games. The coffee table doesn’t just have an iconic game built in, it is totally multi-functional with four USB ports, Bluetooth for music streaming, clock and all of this in a great looking retro futuristic design.

Originally developed as a tribute to the iconic game, the plan of Table Pong Project was to bring back the same experiences you used to get when playing the digital version, with awesome retro sounds, bouncing lights and maintaining the same mechanics that stay true to the original gameplay. This coffee table won’t just be used for holding your books, laptops, drinks, food or your tired feet, no siree, this gorgeous thing will also reunite family and friends by stimulating social interactions, just like the old Atari VCS/2600 console did.

Don’t be fooled into thinking that this Atari PONG coffee table uses archaic technologies to bring it to life. Thanks to modern electronics, electric motors and magnetic fields, the Table Pong Project has managed to create a playable real-life coffee-pong table that is stylish and super fun!

With a smidge under 30 days left on the Kickstarter campaign, you still have a chance to grab yourself a piece of history which your family room will thank you for.

Hmm, there is a hard waste collection coming to our suburb, so it will be out with the old and in with the new (old). We definitely want to join the revolution! *wink*

 

source: Table Pong Project

 

Pre-Order Your Neo Geo Pocket SD Flash Cart Now

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After the great response to our story on SainT’s Neo Geo Pocket SD Flash Cart project, we had been keeping a close eye on the genius hardware hacker’s progress on his highly anticipated piece of Neo Geo kit.

Well, it is time to pop the champagne! SainT has been keeping quite busy tinkering away on the device and we can now report that progress on this wondrous kit has reached a point where pre-orders are being taken. Hop to it now so you don’t miss out.

Check out SainT’s latest progress videos below and then make sure you pre-order your Neo Geo Pocket SD flash cart, as they will go quick!

The first video shows the functionality of the menu system and how the device will function from navigating the SD card contents to installing and running games.

This latest video from Retro HQ’s SainT shows that all issues have been resolved, including the running of 4MB games, like Metal Slug 2 – which works great! According to SainT, the hardware is now complete. Our excitement is set to maximum level!

source: Retro HQ