The Pop-Culture E-Zine
We bet you’ll never forget your keys with these awesome Numskull Designs official Sega retro key rings! No matter if you are an 8-bit (Master System) or 16-bit (Mega Drive) Sega fan, put your keys on one of these key rings (Ed: or on both!) and you’ll instantly be the coolest retro gamer strutting your stuff.
If you have a habit of losing your keys, we bet you won’t be losing them once you grab these awesome Sega retro key rings! Grab your set here.
image source: Numskull
We’ll start this by thanking Twitter. I know, it is a strange way of starting an interview piece, but the context must be set. If it wasn’t for the social media Goliath, we would never had met so many fantastic people in the retro gaming community, just like our very good friend from the UK, Richard Evans (aka: Retro Rich). After many conversations, limited to 140 characters of course, we decided it was high time we got Rich in the ausretrogamer interview hot seat! Grab your favourite snack and beverage, kick back and let’s see what Rich has to say for himself…
AUSRETROGAMER [ARG]: So Rich, hope we can call you Rich, tell us how you got into gaming?
Retro Rich [RR]: You certainly can call me Rich! Well my first memory of gaming was at my cousin’s house when I was very young. He had what I now know to be an Atari 2600 with the game Combat. Whenever I went there I always asked him to play Combat with me. I loved the tanks! Around the same time I visited another cousin of mine and she had Grandstand Astro Wars. I wanted both the Atari and Astro Wars so badly, but it wasn’t until some years later I was lucky enough to own a computer of my own. My father decided that we needed a BBC Micro at home because that was what we had at school. I don’t really ever remember using it for school work, but I do remember playing Granny’s Garden and Magic Adventure at school. The first games we owned at home were Acornsoft titles Planetoid and Arcadians which were good clones of arcade hits Defender and Galaxian. I grew up with the BBC and ended up with it in my room, so I bought games myself. The ones which I remember and loved the best were Elite, Citadel, Chuckie Egg, Repton 3 and Codename: Droid. I only really replaced the BBC when I got a Sega Master System Plus many years later and it spiraled from there. Next came a Mega Drive, then the Playstation, Playstation 2, N64 and so on.
ARG: Are you equally both into retro and modern gaming?
RR: Not really, it’s mostly all retro nowadays. I do own an Xbox 360, but my son Ethan plays that most of the time. He plays FIFA and Minecraft a lot. The last games I played on the 360 were Skyrim and Fallout 3 which I think are amazing games. So immersive, especially in Dolby 5.1 surround. Bethesda are awesome! The trouble is I find I don’t have the time to get into those longer games, and that’s where arcade games fit in since I can just play one for 10 minutes without having to spend an hour remembering where I was.
ARG: What is it about retro gaming that you most like and enjoy?
RR: There is obviously a significant nostalgia value to these old games since I grew up with them. But more than that I think some of the games still hold up against the games of today. Gameplay truly is more important than great graphics and sound. I also really enjoy the social interaction of the retro gaming scene, which I mostly participate in through Twitter. I’ve made so many friends! It’s like becoming a member of a really large club where there are so many cool and interesting people with similar interests. A group of us have created our own gaming organization / club called the Gaming Illuminati which started from an informal high score competition. There are five of us now, and we have the website coded by one of our members (Rob). The site features our scoreboard where we compete against each other for fun. Finally another attraction for me is the engineering side. I love fixing things and vintage gaming provides opportunity for that in large amounts!
ARG: Tell us about your games room setup?
RR: Unfortunately I don’t have a proper games room as I’m limited by space, so my games share the lounge (Den, family room). If I move house I intend to buy a place with enough space for a proper games room.
My console collection consists of: Mega Drive (PAL), Megadrive 2 PAL (modded to allow 60Hz and NTSC and NTSC-J), a jailbroken Neo Geo X, SNES, Playstation 2 – 1st Gen, Nintendo Wii, XBOX, Nintendo Gamecube, Sega Dreamcast, Xbox 360, Atari 2600 Jr, Nintendo 64, Game Boy, Nintendo DS and a Nintendo DS Lite.
All the consoles that support stereo sound end up going through my surround amp in one way or another. I try and connect them to the TV using the best picture method, so where supported they have RGB Scart or component cables.
The arcade collection is as follows: Neo Geo MVS 6-slot Electrocoin Arcade and a JAMMA cabinet I built from a flat pack kit – which is wired for JAMMA+ and has various arcade systems installed; a Hyper Neo Geo 64, 2 x Neo Geo MVS 1-slotters and a GameElf with both horizontal and vertical game card (which has about 1000 arcade games).
ARG: Do you have a fave retro system? If so, tell us which one and why it is your fave.
RE: It’s really difficult to pick one only! I think my favorite console is the SNES. The SNES has some of my favorite games including Legend Of Zelda, Super Mario Kart and Super Mario World and I love the control pads on the SNES – small but perfectly formed with loads of buttons. I feel I also need to mention my Neo Geo X as it’s rather special. It has a Jailbreak by OMG-SNK installed which means it plays all but 2 of the 148 official Neo Geo games, and has emulators for Capcom CPS too. It also plays ROMs from most 16-bit and below systems including Mega Drive, Master System, SNES, NES, Game Boy, GBC, GBA and Atari. It has literally hundreds of games on it and is a great emulation system with the addition of being completely portable when the handheld is removed.
ARG: From chatting with you on social media, we know you are a huge Neo Geo fan – why do you have such an affinity for SNK’s Neo Geo?
RR: I’m actually quite a latecomer to Neo Geo would you believe? I never played or owned one as a kid. I saw games for sale in magazines and couldn’t understand why they were so expensive when compared to other games systems of the time. It was more a myth, with one of my friends claiming they had another friend who owned one. When I started getting interested in arcade games I watched John’s Arcade on YouTube and when I saw his Neo Geo 4-slot “Big Red”, I knew I wanted to get one – it just looked so awesome! I still want a US spec Neo Geo like that one, but I’m very happy with my UK spec machine. I love the architecture from a technical point of view, and it has in my opinion, some of the best arcade games ever made. I could literally list tens of games here as the best ones, but I particularly like the Samurai Showdown and King Of Fighters series, the Metal Slug series, Pulstar and Blazing Star.
ARG: Any plans on getting an AES? If not, what other potential retro gaming items are you targeting for 2016?
RR: I don’t have any immediate plans to get an AES because I own several MVS systems and obviously I still have a long way to go to get all the games I want. That coupled with the fact that MVS games are generally cheaper anyway, means I’m unlikely to start collecting for AES any time soon – unless I come into large sums of money obviously! I would like to make either a consolized MVS, or better still, a SuperGun with a cool custom enclosure and control panel. That might be a better option since I could then plug in other arcade systems including an MVS. I kind of like the idea of making this myself and I certainly have the technical know-how needed. The more challenging side of it would be making it look cool, but I have friends who could help me with that. On the console side, I would really like a NES and a bunch of games. Will probably start looking out for a good deal this year. Finally, I really want an original R-Type arcade board, or better still, a Nintendo R-Type arcade cabinet. I love this game which I first played on the Sega Master System as a kid. I would like to go for the Twin Galaxies world record on R-Type, but keep that to yourself… sshhh… ARG: Your secret is safe with us! *winks*
ARG: You recently put up a YouTube video (which our readers can see below), what are the plans for your channel?
RR: I’m going to keep it simple to start with and not over complicate it or try to come across as a pro when I’m obviously not. I will continue to record using my iPhone 6s for now, but if things work out I will get a dedicated camera later. I’d also like to aim to stick to one-take videos so that I don’t end up delaying a release due to editing time etc. I have enough to think about remembering all the stuff I need to say, and trying to stay focused as it is when I’m recording – not to mention how nervous I am! As far as content goes, I aim to keep it all focused on retro gaming. I will continue to upload my Twin Galaxies world record attempt videos. I also have a list of requests to cover and things I’ve added myself, which include: more restoration videos, including my Neo Geo MVS; videos on the Xbox Steel Battalion plus the controller; my JAMMA cab and it’s various systems and technical setup; the scan-line generator (in the JAMMA cab); my Hyper Neo Geo 64 and the four fighting games; my consoles and demos of the modified Mega Drive 2. I’m also going to do a video on the Neo Geo X jailbreak. I will cover some of the Neo Geo games, and will probably tweet out before I record it asking for suggestions from my followers for games they would like me to include in the video, and then I will credit them with a mention!
ARG: Now we get to the hard hitting question – do you have an all-time favourite game? If you have more than one, that’s cool, we will allow this privilege only this once *winks*
RR: Well, as predicted, that is a tough one! I have always loved the Legend Of Zelda games, and if you had to push me to pick one it would probably be A Link To The Past on the SNES, but I do really like the gameplay on the Wii versions. The Skyward Sword game with the Motion Plus controller really works for me. I also really love shmups, so Pulstar, Blazing Star and R-Type have to get a mention here too.
ARG: Where can people get in touch with you or check up on what you are up to?
RR: They can follow me on Twitter or subscribe to my YouTube channel. Oh yeh, check out http://gaming-illuminati.net. I love seeing and hearing about other collections and gaming related stuff, so just get in contact!
We wanted to keep Rich in the interview hot seat and ask him a heap more questions, but we had to allow him to get back to his family and his many retro gaming goodies. We can always ask him follow up questions on Twitter – so watch out Rich!
A big thank you to Rich for agreeing to this interview and allowing us to take a peek at his awesome gaming collection. I wonder who we will put in the interview hot seat next…………
Coffee is great, but can it be improved? The only possible way is to combine it with videogames. These awesome coffee and videogame mashups will prove it’s a winning combination.
CapsuleKong is a beautiful coffee pod holder inspired by, you guessed it, Donkey Kong. Watch out for those capsules Jumpman!
Video source: Hologramer on YouTube
Have a joyful start to your day with this Space Invaders arcade mug.
WELCOME TO CAFFEINE ZONE!
You very own Weighted Companion Cup.
Can I please have a cup of coffee? Shoryuken!
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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
We don’t need to say much more than ‘OMG: A Wearable Mega Man Helmet!’. Note: expect to see a lot of Mega Man cosplayers at upcoming events.
Source: Technabob
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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
At last, Australia has a dedicated video games console museum! The Nostalgia Box is a museum dedicated to all things video gaming consoles. The museum opened its doors last month in Perth, and to say the public took to it like a duck to water would be a gross understatement.
Among the pew-pewing echoing in the museum, we caught up with the brainchild and boss level ninja of The Nostalgia Box, Jessie Yeoh, and asked her some hard hitting questions about her awesome museum.
AUSRETROGAMER [ARG]: Tell us how the idea behind The Nostalgia Box video game console museum came about?
Jessie Yeoh [JY]: I’ve always been interested in video games when I was growing up. Unfortunately I had to leave those behind as I got busy with studies and work, but the memories stayed with me. I get super excited when I see games I grew up with, and I figured many people must be going through something similar. My dad is a business man and he is someone I look up to, so starting my own business has always been my dream. When I was considering what I wanted to do long term, I thought, why not combine the two. I wanted to recreate those special childhood memories again and share them with everyone that comes in, and also show the younger generation how far we’ve come. That’s how the whole concept came about.
ARG: Who are the people (the team) behind The Nostalgia Box?
JY: It’s a solo effort by myself but I’ve received a lot of help from friends and even complete strangers. It is amazing to see how passionate people are about this and just how far they’re willing to go to help with the Museum without expecting anything in return.
ARG: Where do you or did you source the classic gear from?
JY: Some items are from my personal collection but for the most part I have been buying at local markets, eBay, various websites and during my travels. A friend just bought a whole bunch of gear while traveling in Europe and will be bringing it back to Australia for us. We’ve even had visitors come in and donate their own games and consoles to the museum which is remarkable and makes me proud of what we are trying to accomplish here. Our collection of games and consoles just keeps growing!
ARG: What consoles and games can the public expect to see at the museum?
JY: We want visitors to learn about the history of video game consoles, and what better way to do that than to let the consoles tell their story. We have almost 100 consoles on display, from the first generation through to the seventh. To name a few; we have the Magnavox Odyssey, the first commercial video game console ever released in 1972, Sears Tele-Games Pong which is Atari’s first home console; more popular consoles visitors are likely to be aware of such as the Atari 2600, Nintendo Entertainment System, Sega Mega Drive etc. Visitors can expect to see most if not all the consoles that have made a significant impact in video game console history from its early beginnings to what it is now. In terms of games available for hands on play, we want visitors to have an all rounded experience, so we try to have games and consoles from each generation. For example, we currently have Pong, Colecovision with Donkey Kong , Atari 2600 with Space Invaders, Nintendo Entertainment System with Super Mario Bros, Nintendo 64 with Mario Kart etc. We currently have 10 consoles hooked up for playing and will be adding more in the future. We will also be regularly rotating games for special events and upon request out of our extensive video game library.
ARG: Will you keep adding classic gaming systems to the museum collection?
JY: We are pretty happy with the collection we have now, but will definitely keep a look out for other rare consoles that are important to the home console history. One particular console we would like to have is the Epoch’s Electrotennis which is Japan’s very first video game system released in 1975. Unfortunately this console is very rare and very expensive.
ARG: Do you have permanent exhibits or will you rotate the collection?
JY: The exhibits pertaining to the history of gaming consoles are comprehensive and will remain permanent exhibits. As for our gaming area, we will rotate the games to be played regularly and for events. But we do have plans to do special themed exhibits in the future, we will see.
ARG: Are all of the exhibits interactive?
JY: Yes very much so, the experience is twofold. Visitors can learn about the history and background of each console and how gaming developed, then proceed to our gaming area where they can actually interact with a range of consoles, enjoy themselves and experience history.
ARG: Will the museum branch out to arcade and/or pinball machines, or will it just remain as a console museum?
JY: If all goes well, we would like to branch out to other systems like arcade and computer in the future, truly making this a nostalgic experience for everyone, not just home console gamers.
ARG: When did the museum open officially?
JY: We opened our doors on the 16th of December in time for Christmas and we’re open 7 days a week.
ARG: What is next for The Nostalgia Box?
JY: We intend to implement more events to help foster a local retro gaming community. Keep an eye out on our Facebook page for themed gaming nights, tournaments and other kinds of great events. Still too early to say if the concept works, but if all goes well and the museum becomes sustainable on its own, maybe one day we’ll consider branching out to other states. But Perth is our home for now.
ARG: And before we let you go, do you have an all–time fave gaming system and/or game?
JY: It is a very cliche answer, but Super Mario Bros. on the NES is my all time favourite game (ARG: ours too!) not only because it is a classic but also because it brings so many fond memories of playing and fighting over the controllers with my brothers. Sometimes they would give me an extra controller that wasn’t even plugged in and because I was so young I thought I was playing. These are some of the nostalgic memories we hope to invoke from our visitors as well as create new ones for the next generation of gamers.
If you are in Perth, you have no excuse, you must visit The Nostalgia Box museum for your retro gaming fix. For everyone else, if you intend to visit Perth, then you must experience some video gaming history at The Nostalgia Box.
What: The Nostalgia Box – Video Game Console Museum
Where: Shop 3, 16 Aberdeen Street, Northbridge, WA 6000
Open: 7 days; 9:30am to 5:00pm
Admission Fee: Adults $14; Family (2 adults 2 children) $40; Concession: $10
images supplied by: Jessie Yeoh – The Nostalgia Box Museum
We keep sounding like a broken record, but geez there are some really clever and talented people out there. Take djmdesign‘s awesome Pointless Arcade Cabinets gallery on Imgur as a prime example – all the Photoshopped cabs are so darn cool, exceptionally clever and most importantly, very funny! We love them all, but the ‘Can YOU make it work?’ MS Windows arcade cabinet and the Operation Wolf stylised Instagram cabinet are our faves. Which one is your favourite?
source: djmdesign on Imgur
This year will be the year of Virtual Reality (VR). If you have been gaming as long as we have, you’ll know that this isn’t the first time we have all gone gaga over VR!
Long before the Playstation VR, the biggest name in virtual reality gaming was the Virtuality Group. Their ‘Virtuality’ arcade gaming machines promised and delivered immersive gaming via their stereoscopic visor (aka: the visette) while standing on a platform in a huge round pod waving your hands around like you were swatting flies – ah, how we miss the good old days of VR.
The popularity and mass media coverage of VR meant that it would always make its way into our homes. In 1994, Virtuality signed an agreement with Atari to develop a head-mounted-display (HMD) unit for use with Atari’s 64-bit Jaguar console. The agreement was expected to lead to the production and sale of the Jaguar VR HMDs in 1995. Sadly, it all went belly-up between Atari and Virtuality, with all Jaguar VR prototypes headed for the scrapheap.
Alas, the salvaged Jaguar VR prototype(s) have now become the most sought after and holiest of gaming grails, with the last known prototype selling for $14,500 on ebay in 2013.
source: eBay
From the ashes of the Jaguar VR HMD technology arose Takara’s HMD DynoVisor and Philip’s Scuba Visor. The DynoVisor sported the Pupil Projection System with a ground breaking 120-degree field of view (FOV) display using Sony’s Active TFT and LCD lenses. Coupled with Hi-Fi stereo and Inter Pupil Distance (IPD) focus adjustment, these consumer products quickly sold-out upon release in Japan.
Even though the Takara HMD DynoVisor is considered to be laughable, their uniqueness and rarity in the wild makes them highly desirable among gamers and collectors alike. At a fraction of the cost of the Jaguar VR headset and being indentical in technology, Takara’s HMD DynoVisor has become a retro gaming grail itself.
To finally find the Takara HMD DynoVisor and be able to play the Atari Jaguar (and any NTSC console with composite / AV output) with a VR headset, has truly been a unique experience, one that every old school gamer should encounter! Viva la VR!
Holding tight onto the first retro gaming holy grail for 2016!
Takara’s HMD DynoVisor arose from the ashes of Atari’s Jaguar VR
Made from high impact ABS moulded components, this is one tough headset!
The DynoVisor can connect to any NTSC composite / AV console
Luckily Virtuality’s work wasn’t wasted
Contrast, Brightness and IPD control is within reach
Immersing myself in some old school VR on the PlayStation
Peeking into the VR abyss!
Christmas is always a great time to reflect. We usually reflect on the year that had just gone by, but for this year, let’s change that and go back a bit further, like back to the 80s when Atari was still king of the video gaming market.
Grab your eggnog and reflect on these early 80s Atari Christmas commercials compiled by haikarate4.
source: haikarate4
Just in case you wanted to know which commercials made up this great compilation, here they are:
• E.T. Commercial Atari 2600
• Atari 5200 Ms Pac Man and Jungle Hunt
• Atari 2600 Atlantis Commercial By Imagic
• Cosmic Ark By Imagic Featuring the kid from A Christmas Story
• Atari 5200 Super System Commercial
Dear retrogaming friends, wishing you a very geeky Christmas and nerdy New Year! Please enjoy these awesome Christmas trees as we hit the peak of the festive season, and seriously – best wishes to you and your family for a safe and happy holiday period.
An amazing Pac-Man Christmas tree
(Source: via Technabob)
C is for Cookie Monster Christmas tree
(Source: enhydralutris45 on imgur)
Christmas in 8-bit
(Source: via HyperVocal)
Have a super Christmas!
(Source: LighterCases on Etsy)
10 Points for whoever put together this beautiful Hogwarts Christmas tree
(Source: via Nerdist)
CEL-E-BRATE!!!
(Source: via Geekrant)
The Christmas cake is a lie
(Source: via TheGrue)
Minecraft IRL is perfect for making Christmas trees, but don’t forget to build a chimney too!
(Source: IgniteMotion.com on YouTube)
Oh LEGO tree, oh LEGO tree…
(Source: SMH)
The festive spirit is strong with this one
(Source: The Daily Mail)
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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
The talented guys from CineFix are back with the 8-bit cinema video we have been waiting (looking?) for – the Star Wars Original Trilogy! This is one of their best videos yet, how many different game references can you spot?
Source: CineFix on YouTube
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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