The Pop-Culture E-Zine
If you thought the contemporary F1 Spirit video game, a remake of the classic MSX title by Konami, was awesome, wait till you play Retro Reloader’s Project D – F1 Spirit, a tweaked version of Brain Games‘ remake with Initial D arcade style elements, from the music, sound effects, to the enemies, graphics and menu.
Go and burn some rubber, drift or blast a berm in Project D – F1 Spirit!
source: John Retro Reloader
It’s that time of year when the ausretrogamer team does the hard yards by going shopping to curate a plethora of cool retro and pinball products that you can grab as Christmas gifts for your geeky friends and family (and yourself too)!
Here we go!
Tiny Arcade Frogger via Amazon AU$32.64
Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego Handheld Game via Amazon AU$28.66
Boardwalk Arcade: TMNT Mini Pinball via Amazon AU$32.57
The Mandalorian t-shirt via Amazon AU$28.99
MicroArcade Tetris via Amazon AU$32.57
Retro-Bit Official Sega Genesis USB Controller 8-Button Arcade Pad via Amazon AU$32.57
My Arcade Mini Data East Retro Arcade Player via Catch AU$79
The Game Console : A History in Photographs via Book Despository AU$38.16
Complete Pinball Book: Collecting the Game and Its History via Book Depository AU$88.46
Pinball Wizard Enamel Pin (Red Glitter) 1980’s Throwback via Etsy AU$15.24
Custom NES Retro Gaming Themed Black Shoes – Ladies/Mens via Etsy AU$106.66
Sega Mega Drive Mini via Amazon AU$129
Polaroid OneStep 2 Viewfinder i-Type Instant Camera via Catch AU$196
Star Wars Chewbacca Jumpsuit via Catch AU$59.99
LEGO® Star Wars Darth Vader’s Castle Building Set via Catch AU$197
Star Wars The Black Series Darth Vader Premium Electronic Helmet via Catch $159
Harry Potter Hogwarts Back To School Backpack via Catch AU$29.99
My Little Pony – Princess Celestia via Amazon AU$15.00
GO-TCHA Evolve Smartwatch for Pokemon Go Daredevil Red via OzGameShop AU$59.99
Sonic Boom – 5 Figure Multipack – Sonic, Knuckles, Tails, Amy & Dr. Eggman via OZGameShop AU$32.69
Baldur’s Gate Enhanced Edition Nintendo Switch via OzGameShop AU$57.99
Star Wars Pinball Nintendo Switch via OzGameShop AU$42.99
Rick and Morty Spaceship & Garage Large Construction Toy Set via Amazon AU$29.31
Data East Classic Collection SNES Cartridge via Amazon AU$36.04
Attack From Mars Pinball – Shadowbox Art via Etsy AU$196.59
Tempest X RepliCade via Amazon AU$215.06
Casio Retro Calculator Unisex Watch via Amazon AU$39.00
8BitDo SF30 Pro Bluetooth Controller via Amazon AU$59.99
“Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Heroes in a Half-shell Turtle Power”
Boom, just in time for Christmas, a tiny replica of the original Data East TMNT pinball machine! Well, it’s not identical to the Data East machine from 1991, but this Boardwalk Arcade TMNT Electronic Pinball machine is pretty darn cool, and considerably cheaper than the real thing 😉
You can grab the tiny Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Electronic Pinball Machine via Amazon US or Amazon Australia. It makes a great Kris Kringle / Secret Santa Xmas gift!
PS: All we need now is for Stern to release the new modern TMNT pinball machine! Yep, you read that right, a new modern real TMNT pinball machine is coming. We are quite excited, so keep an eye out for the news on our social channels!
title image and video source: Pixel Dan
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Pinball Press
Pinball Press is here to spread the word on everything pinball across the known universe. For business / PR email: [email protected]
Follow Pinball Press on Twitter and Facebook
The very first game we bought when we got our Neo Geo MVS arcade machine was Metal Slug. That was quite a while ago, and we must admit, we have the series on pretty much every format – the games are that darn good!
Once we had heard that Bitmap Books was going to publish a book on this brilliant gaming franchise, our interests were obviously piqued. Upon receiving Metal Slug: The Ultimate History from Pixel Crib, we noticed this thing was heavy, which is a good thing when it comes to these kinds of publications.
If you have read any of our previous Bitmap Books book reviews, you’ll know what to expect from this published work of art – it oozes quality and quantity. When you hold a Bitmap Books tome in your hands, we guarantee you’ll be smiling from start to finish. Sam Dyer and his amazing team have done a wonderful job in bringing us a fully licensed art book on the Metal Slug series.
With unprecedented access to SNK‘s vast archives, this book contains some of the best high-resolution artwork (including concept artwork) and illustrations, with some being made publicly available for the very first time. Even though it is primarily an art book celebrating Metal Slug, this tome also contains eleven exclusive and detailed interviews with key members of the development team, including Kazuma Kujo, Takushi Hiyamuta, Andoh Kenji and Takeshi Okui, the latter two of which have never spoken about the series previously. These insightful discussions bust myths and reveal the real truth behind the creation and evolution of this esteemed franchise, extensively covering the formation of Nazca and the truth behind Metal Slug Zero – the version of Metal Slug when you only controlled the SV-001 tank. The book also dives into and explores the roots of Metal Slug, looking at Irem titles In the Hunt and GunForce II and how these arcade cult classics influenced what was to come later. This page turner is definitely a must for any fan of the Metal Slug series, and if you are into art, then this book is for you too.
Since Christmas is around the corner, we reckon the Metal Slug: The Ultimate History book would look pretty good under that Christmas tree.
The important bits:
Disclosure: Metal Slug: The Ultimate History book was provided by Pixel Crib for this review.
When it comes to pinball themes, there is a ton of video game franchises that would translate (and sell) quite well in their silverball incarnation. Getting the permission and license to translate the said video game franchise to make a pinball machine is another story altogether – unless you go homebrew!
Step in Enea Toluzzo, the Italian homebrew pinball extraordinaire, who is in the middle of creating a pinball machine based on Don Bluth and Rick Dyer’s classic arcade video game, Dragon’s Lair. Interestingly, Dragon’s Lair was originally going to be produced by Gottlieb after Black Hole, and an early whitewood prototype was built by the Black Hole designers. However, the idea ended up being scrapped and they built Haunted House instead.
Just checking out the eye popping photos of Enea’s creation will induce a heap of nostalgia and plenty of excitement! Enea aims to complete the homebrew machine and showcase it at Pinball Expo 2020! We may be visiting Chicago in October next year 😉
You can follow Enea’s progress via the Dragon’s Lair Pinball Facebook group.
image source: Dragon’s Lair Pinball – Facebook
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Pinball Press
Pinball Press is here to spread the word on everything pinball across the known universe. For business / PR email: [email protected]
Follow Pinball Press on Twitter and Facebook
That earworm of a song has invaded the 8-bit space! Yep, you’ll be singing “Baby shark doo doo doo doo doo doo” all day long, so we apologise in advance – at least the 8-bit visuals will be to your liking.
Once you are done singing this mega viral YouTube song, listen to the fascinating history of Baby Shark via the Twenty Thousand Hertz podcast.
source: Baby Shark Official
There is no doubt that pinball is currently going through a great resurgence and is the ‘in’ thing right now, but the silverball game was struggling to stay relevant in the 21stcentury and was subsequently killed off in October 1999 before it could showcase the future of pinball with the Pinball 2000 platform. Wow, that was 20 years ago!
To observe the anniversary of pinball’s downfall, let’s turn the clock back two decades. It was the last year of the nineties and the last for the 20th century, so just like Prince sang many moons ago, “I’m gonna party like it’s nineteen ninety-nine”! Ah 1999, we were all panicking about the inevitable doom that the Y2K bug was going to befall on all of us, but at least the year started well for pinball.
The story goes back a few years to 1997, the then President and CEO of Williams (WMS), Neil Nicastro, challenged the pinball division to come up with something new or risk being closed down. Williams’ designers worked hard throughout 1998 to come up with something innovative, a brand new kind of pinball machine, which became Pinball 2000. Pinball 2000 (P2K) fused video with classic pinball gameplay, almost like an early augmented reality (AR), it aimed to preserve what was great about pinball yet opening up new possibilities for a product that was on its last legs.
One of the most successful pinball designers of the decade, George Gomez and Pat Lawlor had shown their new modular creation and future of pinball, with the official unveiling of the Pinball 2000 architecture and the first game on the platform, Revenge From Mars, in January 1999. Even though Pinball 2000 was a success with Revenge From Mars selling 6800+ units, Williams’ President did not see that his pinball division had innovated enough to reinvigorate pinball. Once the last Pinball 2000 machine, John Popadiuk’s Star Wars: Episode 1, was released, Neil Dicastro and his executive team dropped a bombshell by jettisoning pinball in favour of gaming (gambling) slot machines, which was very lucrative for Williams. This meant that the next two Pinball 2000 machines, Wizard Blocks and Playboy, would never see the light of day – which is a darn shame. Closing down the Williams pinball division seemed like, at the time, the death of pinball.
As history would have it, the story of Pinball 2000 came to be, and its inevitable death, at the hands of Williams’ executives, but there was one company that survived and kept the pinball light flickering, Stern Pinball. A lot has transpired in pinball since 1999, with a new golden age that is currently in full swing, so the rest, as they say, is history. Long live PINBALL!
PS: There is a great in-depth documentary on Pinball 2000, TILT: The Battle To Save Pinball, which you can watch on Amazon Prime right now!
image sources: pinball2000.de & The Arcade Flyer Archive
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Hands up who doesn’t like Bomberman – if you put your hand up, shame on you! Haha, just kidding, if you aren’t into Bomberman, but like Lego, this still may be of interest!
We’ll come out clean, Bomberman is one of a handful of video games we play a lot, especially with friends, so when we saw Indy988’s Lego Ideas Bomberman entry, we were quite chuffed and immediately pledged our support! We want these things to become a reality! Go and support this – right now!
image source: Lego Ideas
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There are literally thousands of podcasts out there, which makes it difficult to find some gems.
ABC Radio National’s the Sum Of All Parts podcast usually has interesting topics. Speaking of interesting topics, back in August they had podcast about chiptunes, which piqued our interest.
Lots of great discussion with well-known chiptune artists, like Chris Mylrea (aka: cTrix) and author of the ‘Bits and Pieces: A History of Chiptunes’ book, Professor Kenny B. McAlpine, amongst a few other chiptune maestros.
Kick back, press play and listen to Bel Smith’s report on the evolution of the 8-bit music scene.
image source: cTrix and Game Boy LSDj via ABC: Belinda Smith
The original Atari logo is as close to a religious symbol for old-school gamers as you can get. Atari may have lost its soul since it changed ownership (Ed: on countless occasions), but the vision of its original founders (Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney) and game creation engineering geniuses, will always be (fondly) remembered.
For the history conscious, on this day [November 25] in 1975, Atari registered its now ubiquitous logo. The logo design started as a doodle by George Faraco and later refined by Atari’s in-house graphic designer, George Opperman. George created lots of art for Atari’s coin-ops, but his most famous work will forever be that beautiful ‘Mt. Fuji’ logo. Just to set the record straight, the design of the logo had nothing to do with Mt. Fuji – the logo was to have a stylised letter A, the first letter of the company name, and the three prongs were a salute to its first gaming hit, Pong. All hail, the Atari logo!
