Retro Gaming Culture

Super Mario World Transformed Into Flappy Bird

05/05/2016 By Ms. ausretrogamer

Get ready to be amazed, Seth Bling has transformed Super Mario World into Flappy Bird using only SNES hardware. Seth made use of glitches to inject code (written by p4plus2) and claims this is ‘the first time a human has ever completed this kind of exploit‘ – amazing!

Find out just how he did it in this neat video (or watch the whole process via the Twitch livestream archive, or check out the code injection notes).

Source: SethBling via Laughing Squid

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Ms. 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 4KB Game Coding Competition

04/05/2016 By ausretrogamer

Dust off the C64 and grab that ideas pad where you scribbled down your game design all those years ago, as you now have the opportunity to enter the 2016 Reset C64 4KB game coding competition, AKA: the Reset Crap Game Compo!

This is going to be one mega CRAPTASTIC comp! Say what? Crap game comp? What gives? My game will be awesome! Relax, don’t get precious about it, the theme of the comp is craptastic, so the crappier the game, the better chance you have at being crowned the winner.

For those of you that want the lowdown on how to enter, just be aware that your game must not be greater than 4 kilobytes in size. Oh yeah, your game can (and should) be ludicrous, awful, bonkers and downright outrageous. The main aim is to have fun. So once you have your crap game done, make sure you email it to the Reset editor by no later than October 1 2016! So go on, get cracking, ahem, we mean coding!

For a complete list of the rules and regulations, go here. This Reset competition is proudly sponsored by:

There will be awesome prizes, including Reset physical issues for the top three winning entrants!

PIK3A: Raspberry Pi 3 IKEA Cocktail Tables

01/05/2016 By Ms. ausretrogamer

There’s no better IKEA hack than a retrogaming IKEA hack, and these fantastic ‘PIK3A’ Raspberry Pi 3 IKEA cocktail arcade tables are the best! Even better, you can make your own by following spannerspencer’s detailed instructions on the element14 website (PIK3A mark I and PIK3A mark II).

The PIK3A mark I

The PIK3A mark II

Sources: element14 via @mattgillard, and element 14

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Ms. 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

‘Player Two’: Videogames Can Be A Spiritual Experience

30/04/2016 By Ms. ausretrogamer

Player Two is a short film by John Wikstrom based on a YouTube comment by 00WARTHERAPY00 on the PBS Game/Show ‘Can Video Games Be A Spiritual Experience?‘ episode. This beautiful film tells the touching story of a boy discovering a ghost driver of his father’s fastest lap in RalliSport Challenge on an old Xbox console years after his death.

Source: John Wikstrom on Vimeo via Laughing Squid

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Ms. 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

Retro Gaming Hunt: On The Road To Newcomb

26/04/2016 By ausretrogamer

What does one do on a long weekend? Well, we decided to hit the road to Newcomb for a retro games hunting expedition at the Amazing Mill Market!

The Amazing Mill Market definitely didn’t disappoint, with loads of retro gaming gear found on the ground and upper floor. Ms ausretrogamer’s keen eye found some hidden treasures, which we didn’t hesitate in snapping up.

There were some fairly pricey items, but looking hard in each stall paid dividends – we snagged the SNES Super Disk Interceptor for a very reasonable price, which turned out to be our catch of the day!

For now, sit back and enjoy a sampling of some goodies that may tickle your nostalgic fancy…

Well, well, well, what do we have in this glass cabinet

We wonder if Nintendo approved these copycat ‘Game & Watch’ devices?

Where do we even start here?

Whoa! We wouldn’t mind flippin on this pinball table *wink*

Finally, we can pirate, ahem…. we mean, backup our SNES games

The trick here is to get past the PS2 games overload!

Woot! A solitary Sega Mega Drive game among a sea of 2600 carts!

At that price, we had to walk past the boxed NES

Fishing for some GBA gaming bargains!

The Commodore 64 represent!

Is it really the ultimate entertainment pack?

Forget Nintendo’s Game & Watch, you need Q&Q’s Card Game Clock Tarzan!

Super Mario and Pac-Man in cahoots

Yes, Tetris 2 has been spotted!

This was the most popular QuickShot joystick in Australia – because it was cheap!

A bit light on with the N64 gear…

Turtle power!!

Oo’er, a 3DO controller but no 3DO system to be found!

Forget the CRT TVs and that SNES, look at that Daytona USA arcade topper!

Lucky dip!

Boxed Xbox!

Before IBM’s Deep Blue chess computer, there was Schach-Computer!

I spy with my little eye, something beginning with V!

Oh man, we have a woody!

What to play on first?

A sight for sore eyes!

Donkey Kong In Real Life

24/04/2016 By Ms. ausretrogamer

Have you ever wondered what Donkey Kong would look like in real life? Of course you have. Well wonder no more, Banks shows us exactly what it would be like – and it’s awesome!

Want more? Watch Tetris in real life or the making of the Donkey Kong in Real Life video.

Source: MyNameIsBanks via Cheezburger

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Ms. 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

Supa Cosplay at Supanova Expo Melbourne 2016

23/04/2016 By Ms. ausretrogamer

We love watching cosplay – the wigs, the makeup, the lycra, the armor, the props – wow! We especially love seeing the amazing variety of characters and interpretations people come up with. Well, our fellow Melbournians did us proud at the recent Supanova Expo, here are our cosplay highlights from the 2016 Supanova Pop Culture Expo Melbourne.

Amazing dwarf makeup – we think this was done by the Weta Workshop

Kool Kylo Ren Kosplay

This – This is Negan, and he is awesome
(surprisingly, this was the only Negan we came across)

A stunning display at the Torb and Reiner booth

Punky Bowser

Ready… Fight!

Welcome to Silent Hill – quick, where’s my Rock Drill?!

So much Star Wars

Boba Link: The Zeldalorian bounty hunter

The steampunk elf king

You might be a king or a little street sweeper, but sooner or later you dance with the reaper

Wow – Fallen Captain, Destiny

Marvel-ous cosplay by David Cunning a.k.a. Delta one cosplay

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Ms. 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

Supanova Temptations

20/04/2016 By ausretrogamer

If checking out the wonderful roster of TV stars and the awesome cosplay wasn’t enough, Supanova Pop Culture Expo (in Melbourne) hit the trifecta this past weekend by tempting its visitors with cool gear, from comics, novels, animation cels, action figures to Game Of Thrones leggings – let’s just say that there was something for everyone!

As we walked around the main hall of Supanova, we found ourselves stopping at each stall and taking a good hard look at what wares were available for purchase. The temptation was strong to buy everything in sight, but we had to be mindful of that dreaded credit card sitting in our back pocket.

There were plenty of items we would have loved to had taken home, but for now, we’ll just reminisce about them…

We stood and stared at these for hours! Well, ok, we stared for minutes!

Tada! The (evil) Doctor is in da house!

Shoot that Well Walker in the head!

It is Judgement Day! The menacing T800 is coming to get us!

Flipping the bird at Iron Man

Wanna go back to ’85?

Where do we even start?!

The most evil bust in the universe!

The most evil statue in the universe!

Let’s bag this, Mario!

Magic mushroom?

Look who we ran into!

House Targaryen!

We bet on House Stark!

Oo’er, nice framed Zelda artwork!

Oh man, Care Bears and Strawberry Shortcake! Now that’s a blast from the past!

Whoa! Where is Jabba The Hutt?

More Star Wars goodness!

Where do we even start here? Oh look, it’s Daryl Dixon!

We might need a few bags here! *wink*

NG:Dev.Team Dreamy Dreamcast Titles

18/04/2016 By ausretrogamer

Just in case you have been on a sojourn to the moon and have just landed back on earth, we have some HUGE news – those awesome folks at NG:Dev.Team have announced that due to popular demand, they will re-issue some of their past Dreamcast games in Japanese styled CD jewel cases!

If you haven’t already got them, you can grab Gunlord, Fast Striker and Last Hope Pink Bullets now to enjoy on your Dreamcast. These re-issued games are aimed at new customers but previous owners may want the CD case releases to compliment their DVD case editions of the same games.

There is a limited run of each game and the special bundle, so you better be quick! Shipping is scheduled to commence between April 20th and 25th! More details at the NG:Dev.Direct site – get ordering!

image source: NG:Dev Team

Arcade and Pinball Sale Of The Century

16/04/2016 By Aaron Clement

So it was at some unholy hour on a warm Saturday morning back in early January that I found myself standing outside of an old office supplies warehouse in North Hobart along with a whole range of people from all over Australia. Why you ask? Inside was a significantly large assortment of pinball tables, jukeboxes and arcade cabinets, all for sale or auction by one of the oldest operators in Tassie.

Proof that we do get warm, clear days in Hobart!

If you’ve ever spent time in Hobart, you may have passed a building on the corner of Patrick and Campbell streets with a faded sign advertising “Pinballs from $400”. The building is home to Automatic Music, a local family-owned amusement operator founded by a guy named Erwin Boot back in the 1960s. While their focus now is mainly pool tables and jukeboxes, Erwin had kept a lot of the older and unused machines stashed away at various locations across the state. So with retirement looming, there was only one thing to do; open the warehouse to the public and sell, sell, sell!

I want a $400 Pinball machine!

Quite the line-up!

Jukeboxes were the major theme of the sale, with easily a hundred or more out on display, although it was hard to miss the entire wall lined with some 30 to 40 years of pinball history! With machines ranging from early electromagnetic releases like Sky Jump (Gottlieb, 1974), Sky Kings (Bally, 1973), Lawman (Gottlieb, 1971) and Super Star (Williams, 1972), through to more recent titles like Star Wars (Data East, 1992), Judge Dredd (Midway, 1993) and Dr. Who (Midway, 1992). There were definitely bargains to be had, although the cheaper the machine, the better your repair skills had to be!

Smaller than their solid state descendants, the electromagnetic Pinballs of the 60s & 70s are unmistakable

The most expensive machine sold on the day wasn’t a pinball table, it was a 1959 AMI Continental Jukebox that was snagged by a Gold Coast man for $6100! On the pinball front, Star Wars, Playboy (Bally, 1978) and Dr. Who all cleared the $3000 mark, with the cheapest going for just over $200 (for a mostly incomplete, non-working machine I might add).

The Doctor is in the house!

Given my holy grail was well out of reach (I’ll own Star Wars one day!), I was happy to just attend and spend time walking amongst all of the amusement history on display. Although there’s another long time amusement operator down here with an equally large warehouse of machines, so maybe we’ll see another sale sometime soon…

Oh my, $50 for a Taito Thunderbolt!