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Double Dragon IV: Billy and Jimmy Lee Are Back!

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Just in time to celebrate their 30th anniversary since kicking ten shades out of the Black Warriors gang, Billy and Jimmy Lee are back in Double Dragon IV! This time, the Lee brothers are bringing back the gritty 80’s with them, however the battleground has moved from New York City to Japan!
This instalment of one of the greatest co-op beat’me ups will be coming to the PlayStation®4 and Steam (PC) at the end of January (Jan 30 in North America). We have yet to hear if that is a worldwide release date – we hope it is! Either way, all Double Dragon fans should rejoice as key members from the 1987 arcade version including Original Planner, Yoshihisa Kishimoto, Designer, Koji Ogata, and Composer, Kazunaka Yamane, have teamed up to recreate the next chapter in this awesome saga.
Details about this sequel are sketchy, but the screenshots show that the game will follow Double Dragon‘s old school pixelated visuals and will offer both a story mode and a two-player duel. The catchy Double Dragon theme song has also been remixed for your aural pleasure.
To say we are excited for Arc System Works’ Double Dragon IV would be a gross understatement! Get your baseball bats ready!


video & image source: Arc System Works

 

Ausretrogamer 2016 Highlights

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As another year draws to a close, one can’t help but to reflect on the year gone by. With a record number of visitors hitting the site, we had a heap of highlights in 2016, so dwindling them down to a handful proved to be harder than we thought. Are you ready? Here we go!

We started the year by learning how pinball machines work and how to troubleshoot general problems – a course that was well worth doing!

Getting the grand tour of ZAX Amusements and getting to play the newly released (at the time) Ghostbusters Pro pinball machine was a double highlight!

What better way to spend your birthday than having the awesome Ms. ausretrogamer organising a birthday mystery tour involving escape rooms, USA foods, retrogaming hunting at vintage markets, arcade action and a drive-in movie!

It is always a wonderful surprise when you go on a holiday and find a market that has retrogaming goodies! Carrara Markets delivered the thrill of the hunt buzz we were looking for!

After the birthday mystery tour, it was only fair to repay Ms. ausretrogamer in kind, by surprising her with The Walking Dead Pro pinball machine for her birthday. The look on her face was priceless!

When Marcus Sezonov extended us an invite to his Rosstown Retro Pinball Arcade tournament, we definitely could not pass up the opportunity. With a fantastic pinball collection comprising of classic machines from a variety of manufacturers from around the world, we could not stop flipping the silverball. Oh yeah, Marcus also had an original Japanese Space Invaders cocktail table to satisfy our arcade urge.

Being part of Australia’s biggest gaming event is a privilege. For PAX Aus 2016, our Classic Gaming Area was even bigger and better – more arcade and pinball machines, old school computers and consoles, handhelds from yesteryear and for the first time, a classic gaming museum!

Another PAX Aus 2016 highlight was participating in Seamus Byrne’s Geek Trash or Treasure? Finding Collectibles with Real Value panel in the Gamespot Theatre! We can now say that we popped our public speaking cherry.

Last but not least, meeting Jack Guarnieri at the recent exclusive Melbourne Jersey Jack Pinball event was a huge highlight and one we will not forget in a hurry! Oh yeah, playing the Pat Lawlor designed, Dialed In, was pretty great too!

We can’t wait to see what awesomeness 2017 brings us all! We’ll take this opportunity to thank you for your patronage and hope that you’ll come and visit us again in 2017.

Happy New Year to everyone – we hope it is a happy, healthy, successful and fun one!

 

Mario Propaganda Posters

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LA-based graphic artist and web designer Fernando Reza of Fro Designs has just released 8 new posters in his Mario propaganda poster series, see them all on the Fro Designs website.

Source: Fro Design Company via Laughing Squid

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msausretrogamerMs. ausretrogamer
Co-founder, editor and writer at ausretrogamer – The Australian Retro Gamer E-Zine. Lover of science fiction, fashion, books, movies and TV. Player of games, old and new.

Follow Ms. ausretrogamer on Twitter

 

 

2016 Reset C64 ‘Craptastic’ 4KB Game Competition Results

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Whoa, the Reset C64 ‘Craptastic’ 4KB game coding competition was a great success and we would like to thank all of the competitors for their participation and hard work. Also a big thank-you to the judges and competition sponsors, Retro Computer Scene, Bitmap Books and Protovision.

The competition was extremely close and tough to judge, but every single entry brought a smile to our faces. Like any cmpetition, there could only be one winner, and this time it was Vanja Utne of Pond/Privy Software with her game, Goblin – an amazing achievement for a 4KB game!

The winner: Goblin by Vanja Utne

You can play the games on the official compilation disk (available here) which was coded and compiled by Richard Bayliss (thanks Richard!). Judges’ comments and more details will be published in the Reset Christmas mini-issue, which will be out soon! Until then, enjoy the games and on behalf of the Reset team, we wish you all a Merry Christmas!

PLACINGS

  1. Goblin by Vanja Utne (30)
  2. Dog by Vanja Utne (29.86)
  3. Lumberjack by MajikeyriC (28)
  4. Bonkey Kong by Graham Axten (27.57)
  5. Super Ski by Andreas Gustafsso (27.29)
  6. Rise and Shine Professor Miggles by Paulko64 (26.57)
  7. Attack of the Mutant Cabbages by Anthony Stiller (26.4)
  8. Winky Blinky by Roy Fielding (25.29)
  9. Granny’s Teeth by Richard Bayliss (23.67)
  10. Zombie Massacre by Wanax (23.57)
  11. Antarctica by Antarctica (23.29)
  12. Picross by Oziphantom (22.86)
  13. I am the Flashing C64 Cursor by Craig Derbyshire (22.29)
  14. Firefighter Jenny by OziphantoM (21.14)
  15. Watschinator by Georg RottensteineR (20.29)
  16. Valentine Day Shopping Simulator by Karmic (18.57)
  17. Princess Saver 2000 by Freakin Frankie (11)
  18. :10 by COUT (10.43)
  19. I Ate the Purple Berries by COUT (9.71)
  20. $#!7 by COUT (8.14)
  21. MASTERBAGELS by COUT (7.14)

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Unkle K / Reset C64
Father, husband, teacher and retro gaming/computer enthusiast! Editor of Reset… C64 magazine.

Follow Reset C64 on Twitter

 

 

A Very Skeletor Christmas

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“Skeletor is BACK and there is only one thing he wants for Christmas.”


Source: Brock’s Dubs via Laughing Squid

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msausretrogamerMs. ausretrogamer
Co-founder, editor and writer at ausretrogamer – The Australian Retro Gamer E-Zine. Lover of science fiction, fashion, books, movies and TV. Player of games, old and new.

Follow Ms. ausretrogamer on Twitter

 

 

Home Alone – 8 Bit Cinema

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“Ho-Ho-Ho-Home Alone returns as a retro action-packed arcade game for your holiday cheer! So sit back, relax, stir up some hot cocoa, and watch little McAllister cause some mayhem. Happy Holidays!”


Source: CineFix via Laughing Squid

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msausretrogamerMs. ausretrogamer
Co-founder, editor and writer at ausretrogamer – The Australian Retro Gamer E-Zine. Lover of science fiction, fashion, books, movies and TV. Player of games, old and new.

Follow Ms. ausretrogamer on Twitter

 

 

The Great Christmas Video Game Gifts Wish Book Of 1992

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Christmas is always a great time. We associate good times with family and friends, holidays, and obviously the gifts (giving and receiving!).

Let’s not pretend though, as kids, we loved Christmas for one thing, the presents! It was also around this time that retailers would bombard us with their catalogues, tempting us to load up our wish-lists with all matter of toys, electronic gadgets and video gaming items. We would pore over these catalogues, circling items and then leaving the catalogues in a prominent spot in the hope that our loved ones would notice.

If you loved (still love) looking at catalogues, then let us take you back to the 1992 Christmas Sears, Roebuck & Co. ‘The Great American Wish Book’ – yep, this catalogue is a 830+ page book!

Let’s see what is inside this hefty catalogue!

We wish for a Game Boy!

Or do we wish for a Sega Game gear?

Ah yeh, of course we wish for an Atari Lynx!

Which console to circle – the NES?

Or maybe the TurboGrafx-16 (aka: American PC-Engine)?

Maybe we should go for the 16-bit beasts, like the Sega Mega Drive?

Or the mighty Super Nintendo!

We also need games!

Lots of games!

Whoa, a new computer!

A new computer will need some software and a few peripherals!

See, we told you the NES isn’t just a games machine! We can learn to play the piano!

Pfft, who needs smartwatches!

Whoa, arcade pinball action!

Oh wow, you could save $200 on the Philips CD-i! What a bargain!

The only way to listen to music while on the move!

If we buy a console, we need a CRT TV to play it on! Circle that too!

For those that want to video record their play!

Lego should be on the list, always!

Reading material is good for Christams

Yeh, why not!

A certain Mr Panek would love this TMNT madness!

Please Santa, I want a Jet Wave too!

 

Most Expensive Classic Video Game Item Sold In Australia

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There was something quite rare and exotic that sold on eBay Australia this week. The auction started at $500AUD, but once word got out in the gaming community (especially amongst the retro gaming collectors!), a bidding war erupted!

The exotic item that everyone was falling over themselves was a very rare Japanese Bandai Vectrex store demonstration unit. This rarity ended up selling for $4,450AUD, making it the single most expensive classic video gaming item sold in Australia**. Considering these Bandai Vectrex demo units go for $7,000AUD+, the buyer got themselves a bargain!

If you are the buyer or if someone reading this knows the buyer, please get in touch with us! In case you were wondering about the seller, they are a Japanese antiques retailer from Ocean Grove in Victoria (Australia).

** excludes arcade and pinball machines!

Sold for $4,450! An Australian record for a classic video gaming item!

The description!

Standing tall and proud! The ‘legs’ were not part of the original demo unit

Taking a closer look

Oo’er Mine Storm!

The secured control deck – just in case the player made off with the controller!

¥54,800! That was mindbogglingly expensive for the early 80s (~$650AUD)

Oh that beautiful marquee!

source: eBay Australia

 

LEGO Piranha Plant Kinetic Sculpture

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Jason Allemann has made an amazing working LEGO Piranha Plant from Super Mario Bros.

“The model features some interesting mechanics in order to get the plant’s mouth to open and close as it is raised and lowered in the pipe. In this video I explain how it all works. More information can be found on my website”


Source: JK Brickworks via Technabob

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msausretrogamerMs. ausretrogamer
Co-founder, editor and writer at ausretrogamer – The Australian Retro Gamer E-Zine. Lover of science fiction, fashion, books, movies and TV. Player of games, old and new.

Follow Ms. ausretrogamer on Twitter

 

 

Awww – A Tiny Commodore PET

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pet-2 Follow this Adafruit tutorial and you can have your very own 3D printed mini replica of the iconic Commodore PET (Personal Electronic Transactor) computer.

pet-1


Video source: Adafruit Industries on YouTube

Source: Adafruit via Laughing Squid

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msausretrogamerMs. ausretrogamer
Co-founder, editor and writer at ausretrogamer – The Australian Retro Gamer E-Zine. Lover of science fiction, fashion, books, movies and TV. Player of games, old and new.

Follow Ms. ausretrogamer on Twitter