Retro Gaming Culture

Tomb Raider: The LEGO Valley

04/04/2015 By Ms. ausretrogamer

Tomb Raider is one of my all-time favourite games, and ‘The Lost Valley’ is one of my favourite levels – and I must not be alone, as Janet Van D has built a model of the level out of LEGO. 18,000+ pieces of LEGO in fact! The model took her four months to build and was completed in June 2014. It was displayed at Brick2014 in London.

Watch The Brick Show take us on a video tour of Janet’s awesome work of brick art.

Source: The Brick Show on YouTube

Here are some beautiful still shots for your visual pleasure.

Overview

Overview – Dinosaurs!

Broken Bridge – Medipack

Broken Bridge

Large Waterfall

Secret Passage!

Medipack

Valley Floor

T-Rex

Lara Minifig

Finally, watch this walkthough of the original ‘The Lost Valley’ if you want to refresh your memory.

Source: Richard Halloran on YouTube

Source: Janet Van D on Deviant Art, The Brick Show on YouTube, Richard Halloran on YouTube

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Ms. ausretrogamer
Editor and Researcher 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

Atari Lynx: Case Closed

03/04/2015 By ausretrogamer

What does one do with an unused Atari 2600 4-switch plastic case? Well, to keep it in the Atari family, the plastic case gets transformed into secure storage for the Atari Lynx II and all of its peripherals and games! If you have this case and would like to do some DIY, read on…

What you need:
* Atari 2600 4-Switch plastic case
* Packing foam (from Clark Rubber)
* Chalk
* Bread knife

Here we go:

Clean that case! Use a wet sponge on this baby

Open her up and measure the bottom of the case

Slot the packing foam into the bottom of the case

Lay the Lynx wares how you like

This is the layout I like!

Carefully trace around the items with chalk. Remove items and get carving with the bread knife!

Ta da, finished! Yep, it was that easy

Case (about to be) closed!

1Up Living: Furniture And Homewares For Geeks

02/04/2015 By Ms. ausretrogamer

1Up Living makes and sells furniture and homewares for geeks – pixel art chopping boards, coffee tables, pixel wall art and Tetris shelves! But if you prefer to DIY – they also provide step by step guides, see here and here.

Chopping Boards

Coffee Tables

Pixel Wall Art

Tetris Shelves

Source: 1Up Living via @thinkgeek

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Ms. ausretrogamer
Editor and Researcher 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

Made In Australia: SNES Games

31/03/2015 By ausretrogamer

With the NES and Mega Drive getting their Made In Australia once-over, we thought we would complete the trilogy by documenting the video games that were made Down Under for Nintendo’s 16-bit powerhouse, the Super Nintendo!

Looking at the SNES games developed in Australia, it is great to see so many chart topping titles in the list, from the awesome Super Smash TV, to MechWarrior and the cyberpunk-fantasy action role-playing game, Shadowrun.

The SNES was blessed with great titles and I am proud to say that Australian made games were counted amongst them. Which Australian made SNES game did you like?

Super Smash TV (1991)

Cal Ripken Jr. Baseball (1992)

George Foreman’s K.O. Boxing (1992)

NBA All Star Challenge (1992)

Super High Impact (1993)

MechWarrior (1993)

Shadowrun (1993)

Choplifter III: Rescue Survive (1994)

WCW Superbrawl Wrestling (1994)

Radical Rex (1994)

Super Solitaire (1994)

Super International Cricket (1994)

True Lies (1994)

Jim Lee’s WildC.A.T.S: Covert Action Teams (1995)

image sources: destructoid, giantbomb, gamefaqs, rfgeneration, mobygames, wikimedia commons & retrogamingaus

Video Game Of Thrones

30/03/2015 By Ms. ausretrogamer

We are eagerly anticipating the fifth season of HBO’s Game of Thrones which is scheduled to premiere very soon – 12 April, 2015!

One of the best parts of watching Game of Thrones is the fantastic opening sequence. To keep us going for the next 2 weeks, here are some adorable retrogaming-style tributes – Dah Dah da da da Dah da da Dah Dah…

Hero of Time

The clever people from The Pixel Kingdom have created a Zelda-themed version.

Source: The Pixel Kingdom on YouTube

Super Mario Game of Thrones

NicksplosionFX shows us what GOT would look like in Super Mario World.

Source: NicksplosionFX on YouTube

Game of Thrones 16-Bit RPG

Reminisce with DoctorOctoro’s (slightly NSFW) 16-Bit RPG retelling of Season 1.

Source: DoctorOctoroc on YouTube

Game of Thrones: Donkey Kong-Style

Source: Pixel Baz

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Ms. ausretrogamer
Editor and Researcher 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

LEGOformers: Retro Consoles And Handhelds In Disguise

29/03/2015 By Ms. ausretrogamer

NYC-based LEGO master craftsman and graphic designer Baron Julius von Brunk (pictured above) has crammed so much awesome into these LEGO retrogaming transformers, they will blow your mind! But don’t just look at the pictures, make sure you click the links and read about how Julius designed and built each of these fantastic creations.

Game Boy Advance Transformer – ‘Vantage’

Nintendo 64 Transformers‘Ultra Hexacon’ and ‘Tetragon’ the transforming Nintendo 64 and controller, and their transforming game pak minions ‘Hot-Shot’, and ‘Mecha Kong’

NES Zapper Pistol – ‘Plasmashock’

Evil Segacon LEGOformers ‘Gearhead’, ‘Supersonic’ & ‘Knucklepunch’

Nintendo Game Boy & Tetris Transformers ‘Domaster’ & ‘Tetrawing’

And be sure to check out Julius’ other amazing work including this Giant fully-operational NES controller and Nintendo world mosaic.

Source: Julius von Brunk via Bit Rebels

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Ms. ausretrogamer
Editor and Researcher 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

Man Makes Real Life Space Invaders Game

26/03/2015 By Ms. ausretrogamer

Martin Raynsford from Just Add Sharks is a genius. He has created a real life Space Invaders game using a modified laser cutter – wow!

The game is controlled by a laptop and the player is given an overhead view from a webcam mounted on the laser cutter. Each paper Space Invader is attached to a paper clip and dies a fiery death when hit with the laser.

Be sure to visit Just Add Sharks for Martin’s in-depth explanation of how he built this awesome machine.

Source: msraynsford on YouTube

Source: Just Add Sharks via @DotChasers

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Ms. ausretrogamer
Editor and Researcher 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

LEGO And Retrogaming: A Match Made In Heaven

25/03/2015 By Ms. ausretrogamer

LEGO plus retrogaming is a match made in geek heaven. Feast your eyes on these amazing works of brick art.

Chris McVeigh

As well as being an awesome LEGO builder, Chris McVeigh is an author, illustrator and photographer. Chris develops build guides which he offers freely (for personal use only), and has custom building kits for sale at Storenvy.

A selection of Chris’ build guides

Some of Chris’ kits for sale at Storenvy

Source: Chris McVeigh via Kotaku

Retrogaming Mosaic

This fantastic mosaic was built using 10,511 individual LEGO pieces (fixed to fifteen 15″x15″baseplates)! How many characters can you name?

Source: Etsy via Technabob

Super Mario Bros. Aquarium

This gorgeous aquarium was made by designer and blogger Kelsey Kronmiller and it took her about 336 hours in total to build – but I’m sure you’ll agree it was well worth the effort.

Source: Kelsey Kronmiller via Geek

LEGO Bob-omb Battlefield (Super Mario 64)

This LEGO Bob-omb Battlefield is super-cute.

Source: Matt De Lanoy on Flickr via @Nyleak

LEGO Game Boy by Dario Dipic

You have to look twice at this amazing LEGO Game Boy by Dario Dipic to tell it’s not real!

Source: Dario Dipic on MOCpages

I found plenty of other amazing works of retrogaming LEGO art (a few so great they deserve their own post), so stay tuned for more LEGO stories in the near future. In the meantime, get building!

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Ms. ausretrogamer
Editor and Researcher 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

Retrogaming Toasters, The Best Thing Since The Breadbin

24/03/2015 By Ms. ausretrogamer

Retrogaming toasters – why not! Whether you want to play video games on your toaster, cook crumpets with your retro console, or decorate your bread with video game characters, there’s a product for you! Let’s start with the Super Nintoaster.

Super Nintoaster

As the name suggests, the Super Nintoaster is a Super Nintendo crammed inside a toaster – wow! Inventor Stupid Fingers explains it is ‘built from nothing more than a Super NES, a toaster, four different types of adhesives, magnets ripped from a broken hard drive, six orange LEDs, a bunch of resistors, plexiglass, and many many spare wires’.

Source: Stupid Fingers via Geekologie

Nintoaster and Nintoaster II

Just as awesome as the Super Nintoaster is its predecessors the Nintoaster and the Nintoaster II also made by Stupid Fingers.

Source: Stupid Fingers Nintoaster, Stupid Fingers Nintoaster II

But if you are feeling hungry, these actual toasters may be more to your liking – some are real products you can buy!

Super NES Toaster

How I wish the ‘Super Toast Retro Bread System’ was one of the real products, but alas – it appears to have been a 2012 April Fool’s Day joke.

Source: Spinning Hat via Bit Rebels

Space Invaders Toastie Machine

Chris Naylor designed this awesome Space Invaders Toastie Machine in response to a ‘retro Christmas gift’ brief during a one week industrial project in collaboration with M&S. Someone needs to manufacture this ASAP!

Source: Chris Naylor on Coroflot via Remove the Labels

Nintendo Console Toaster

While I’m happy with a toaster being sacrificed to house a console, I’m not sure I am happy about the reverse. It’s a good thing then, that this NES toaster is just a (fantastic) artwork (phew!).

Source: Deviant Art – My Burning Eyes via The DIY Adventures

Hello Kitty Toaster

At last, here is a real product you can actually buy! Your day is sure to go well if you start it with a piece of Hello Kitty toast.

Source: Via Japan Newbie

Darth Vader Toasters

Bread, give yourself to the Dark Side.

Source: Think Geek, Amazon

Keyboard Waffle Iron

And there’s even something for PC gamers – a keyboard waffle iron, yum! This is actually one of artist Chris Dimino’s works looking at giving new life the now useless typewriter.

Source: Chris Domino via Slippery Brick

VHS Toaster

Finally, if you are into DIY, you can make your very own cool VHS toaster. Just follow Instructables member Lemonie’s instructions. Lemonie was inspired by this clip from the classic British comedy ‘The Young Ones‘.

Source: Instructables

Watch it in action:

Source: YouTube

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Ms. ausretrogamer
Editor and Researcher 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

Preston Burt’s Minimalist Arcade Posters

21/03/2015 By Ms. ausretrogamer

While searching for a cool pinball-themed T-shirt for ausretrogamer, I stumbled across Preston Burt’s simply beautiful minimalist arcade posters on the Gameroom Junkies Podcast website. Interestingly, Preston is also a founder of the Southern-Fried Gameroom Expo (in Atlanta, June 19-21 2015) – if only I lived in the US!

Here are the posters for your enjoyment.

Bride of Pin•Bot

BurgerTime

Dig Dug

Double Dragon

Frogger

Funhouse

Ms Pac-Man

Pac-Man

Pin•Bot

Qix

Super Mario Bros.

Theatre of Magic

Source: Gameroom Junkies Podcast Website and Museum of the Game and International Arcade Museum Forums

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Ms. ausretrogamer
Editor and Researcher 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

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