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Oz Comic-Con Melbourne 2019 Highlights

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Oz Comic Con Melbourne (2019) has come and gone. It is always a blast attending this event.

If you missed out on being there, don’t fret, our awesome photography team from REE Photography captured some awesome pics from Melbourne on the Queen’s Birthday weekend for you to enjoy and feel like you were there!

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REE Photography
The new and awesome photography service that captures all of your special moments from pop culture and gaming events.

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Prepare for Impact: PC-Engine Mini, CoreGrafx Mini and TurboGrafx-16 Mini are Coming!

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Konami has done a mic drop at E3 2019 by announcing that they are entering the Mini classic consoles arena with three variants:

  • PC-Engine Mini (Japan);
  • TurboGrafx-16 Mini (US/Can); and the
  • PC-Engine CoreGrafx (Europe/RoW)

This is huge news, as it means Konami is going to go toe-to-toe with Nintendo and their SNES and NES Classic Minis and also Sega with their Mega Drive Classic Mini (due later this year). The three-way mini console war has been ignited!


source: Konami

Anyway, back on topic, they also revealed 6 titles to tickle our nostalgia, with lots more to come. We are loving the initial games by the way! Oh yeah, it also looks like the Japanese variant (PC-Engine Mini) will have a different lineup of games than the West variants – see below.

TurboGrafx-16 Mini & PC-Engine CoreGrafx Mini Games (announced so far)

PC-Engine Mini Games (announced so far)

Other details worth mentioning are that there will be a MultiTap released for 5-way gaming tussles (will be sold separately), save state functions – so you can play from where you left off and of course, the Minis will have various display modes (yay to scanlines!) to ensure you get the full nostalgic fix!

There were no release dates or pricing details at the announcement, so be sure to hit us up on Twitter and Facebook as more news comes to hand. We are damn excited!

image source: Konami

 

Lego Sonic Mania – Green Hill Zone: Vote Now

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Whoa, on the back of the cool Lego Sega Classic Arcade Machines idea we shared with you last week comes the Lego Ideas based on Sonic The Hedgehog!

Titled Sonic Mania – Green Hill Zone, you can show your support for this set on the Lego Ideas site right now!

This Lego Ideas set includes:

  • “Classic” Sonic the Hedgehog minifigure, with additional “running blur” build
  • Dr Eggman, Motobug and three Flickies as brick-built figures
  • Green Hill Zone “Spring & Palm Tree” and “Loop & Extra Life” modules
  • Egg Robot mech
  • Phantom Ruby and Ring accessories
  • 612 pieces, with 11 new prints (excluding minifigure).

If you still need convincing to support this awesome Lego set idea, here are a few play features to tickle your fancy:

  • Connect the Green Hill Zone modules together to design your own set pieces, mimicking the power of the Phantom Ruby warping the world!
  • Use the “Spring & Palm Tree” module to launch Sonic and his Flicky friends into the air, using the Technic lever to move the spring!
  • Use the Sonic the Hedgehog minifigure to run through the environment, collecting the ring and Extra Life (representing this being Sonic’s second try after his virtual journey through LEGO Dimensions!)
  • Dr Eggman can sit inside the Egg Robot mech, which can pose with its articulated arms and legs.
  • Use the handle on the end of the Egg Robot’s arms to extend its hands and use the drill attack on its enemies!
  • The Motobug can catch Sonic by surprise, making him lose his ring!
  • Have Sonic and Eggman fight for the Phantom Ruby!

image source: Lego Ideas – Sonic Mania

 

The Difficulty of Jeopardy! Makes It Fun

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By: D.C. Cutler, U.S.A.

Playing Jeopardy! on the Playstation 2 is like writing poetry; it’s challenging and difficult, but that’s what makes it so enjoyable. Also, like writing poetry, you never know if you’re actually any good at it. I’m exceptional at Jeopardy! when it comes to categories like history, science and movies; I’m not bad at sports as a category either. But playing the Playstation 2 game gives me no indication of how I would actually perform on the television show.

I’ve never seen the same categories or answers come up twice after years of playing the 2003 game. On the case, it says “Over 5,200 answers!” I believe it.

1 to 3 players can play the game. I enjoy playing solo against two other contestants. There’s a lot of pressure to spell out the right question with your controller. You watch the countdown nervously as you’re trying to spell out the correct question. I’ve always been pretty good at clicking in first to answer. If I was on the actual hit show, I have no idea how fast I’d be able to use my clicker. That’s an important factor in being able to perform well over the course of the game.

image source: psxplanet

The game has sample contestant exams, but I’ve never tried to take one. Maybe I’m a little intimidated? And a game is supposed to be fun; the thought of taking an exam when you put the disk in the system doesn’t sound like fun. Playing the game against two simulated players is in a way an exam. It’s certainly a challenge that can become addictive.

At times, I’ve played Jeopardy! for hours. You can play a complete game in about 30 to 40 minutes; it depends on how long it takes you and your opponents to give the correct question. And just like the show, a player can take over the categories if an opponent’s answer is incorrect.

Selecting a Daily Double is a bit nerve-racking. If my score is over $10,000, I get conservative and bet very little. If my score is under that amount, I go for it and bet as much as I think I can get away with. There is nothing worse than missing Final Jeopardy! because you’re busted.

First-person shooter games and sports games can sometimes feel repetitive and tedious. Jeopardy! never gets boring and it keeps you guessing. The game is a challenge that never disappoints, and you can learn something.

 

Infographic of the Most Popular Consoles and Games by US State

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Guest Post By: Evan S from JJGames

From the original Zelda games on the NES to GoldenEye 007 on the N64 and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas on the PS2, we take a look at the consoles of choice for retro gamers across America.

You never forget the first time you completed Super Mario Bros. You also never forget the first time you held one of those iconic Playstation controllers or when the best way to troubleshoot a game was to blow in the cartridge.

Times have changed and new consoles have come and gone, but there’s still something to be said about those iconic gaming systems that we were raised on. Their games have a unique charm that no amount of fancy graphics can make up for, which is why we turn to emulators and why original NES games still in their boxes go for hundreds of dollars on eBay.

To celebrate the release of a new infographics, which digs into the favourite consoles by state and favourite games by states, we thought we’d jump on in and take a look at the data.

NOTE: The infographics are based on the number of units sold for each game/console on JJGames.com from 1999 to 2019. More than 2.5 million games sold.

[Click on each infographic to see a larger version]

 

Rebooting The Atari Jaguar

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It is wonderful receiving gifts, but it is even more so when they are awesome cartridge-based Atari Jaguar video games!

The very generous Lawrence Staveley (aka: CJ Reboot) of Reboot Games sent us two cartridge games, Cyrano Jones’ Downfall Plus and Bubble Bobble Arcade to make our Jaguar purr. To top of these amazing carts, they both light up when the Jag is powered on!

The Atari Jaguar development and homebrew scene keeps thriving, and it is because of dedicated folks like Reboot that ensure we have fresh content to play on the 26 year old 64-bit cat. Long may it continue!

Oh yeah, both games are great, making them very hard to put down. Speaking of which, we reckon it is time we get out of here and sneak in a few more games 😉

Thanks again to CJ Reboot for these generous Atari Jaguar gaming gifts – we were, and still are totally blown away!

 

The Official Space Invaders Board Game

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We have said this a few times now, we are very very choosy what we back (and promote) on Kickstarter– so take note!

Space Invaders is one of those iconic video games that transcends generations. It is the game that keeps on giving. Having celebrated it’s 40th anniversary last year, this time around we are set to get an official Space Invaders Board Game!


source: 612 Games

We are so pumped for this Kickstarter and can’t wait to defend against the invaders on a physical board! For more info, head to the Space Invaders Board Game Kickstarter page to check out what you can get with your pledge. The campaign has already blown way past its target goal, so this is happening! Pew pew pew!

image source: Space Invaders Board Game via Kickstarter

[source story: technabob]

 

Byte Driver – Review

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Get radical and blast down the endless highway in Byte Driver, the latest game from Vector Hat.

Feeling like a long lost arcade cabinet from the early 80’s, Byte Driver is an interesting mix of games like Outrun, Night Driver and Spyhunter. As you make your way through the courses energy slowly depletes, hitting an object or obstacle will drain a larger percentage and hitting zero means game over. As you drive along you can hack opponents stealing energy or earning upgrades like improved vehicle stats, weapons or other consumables for your vehicle. Progressing through levels means harder enemies with more defensive and offensive skills will be there to oppose you in your pursuit of high scores.

Byte Driver definitely has some cool retro styling, looking like an old vector drawn game with screen shake and glitches being thrown in for good measure. There is also a monochrome mode for those that really want to embrace that real vector drawn feeling. The soundtrack is  fantastic and suits the style perfectly, filling sound and vision with pure 80s aesthetic that really gets you into the feel of the game. Being high score driven means that at low level play, Byte Driver is perfect for hot seat score comps with friends while high level play can be fought for with online leaderboards.

Byte Driver succeeds in evoking retro game feel and charm but, much like it’s early arcade peers, there isn’t much else to the game beyond 5 difficulty levels and high scores. Challenge does ramp up nicely as you progress and it can get real tough towards the end but with practice it’s easy to shoot for those high scores. The addition of a “low Stress” mode is nice for people to come to terms with the mechanics and allows you to play without the energy meter falling to zero for some more casual play.

There is a lot of fun to be had here and fans of classic arcade games will likely enjoy what Byte Driver has to offer, a well made and fantastic looking indie title.

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Mat Panek
Retromancer – Collector, repairer & fan of retro games & tech. Atari to Amiga, Nintendo to Sega! LD, Zip, Beta and a proud dad! One half of the TiredParents on Twitch.

Follow Mat on Twitter and Twitch

 

 

Disclosure: Byte Driver was kindly provided by Vector Hat for this review.

 

 

Lego Sega Classic Arcade Machines – Vote Now

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LegoSegaArcade_TITLEWhen you stumble upon an awesome idea you must let everyone know about it. My good friend Raj informed me of a Lego Ideas campaign created by SpacySmoke which proposes the creation of classic Lego Sega arcade machines.

The idea campaign is still gathering support, so if you would like Lego to take note, then please throw your support behind this great idea by voting now – who wouldn’t like a Thunder Blade or Yu Suzuki classics like Space Harrier and Out Run replica Lego machines in their home? I have cast my vote, so should you!

LegoSegaArcade_SpaceHarrier

LegoSegaArcade_OutRun

LegoSegaArcade_ThunderBlade

LegoSegaArcade_figuressource: SpacySmoke on Lego Ideas

Go Back To The Future With DMC Watches

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Back To The Future fans rejoice! If you can’t get to a DeLorean and hit 88 MPH (141.6 KMH for us Australian folks) to go back in time, then you can use one of these DMC watches to keep (up with) time!

Of course, there was only ever going to be one inspiration for these watches, the original (and damn cool) DMC-12 sports car. Check out some of the DMC watches (below) from their Alpha, Dream and 1981 collections.

Oh yeah, for a limited time, you can get 10% OFF any DMC watch purchase by using the coupon code ‘WELCOME19’! What are you waiting for, get that flux capacitor going and grab your very own DeLorean time machine!

photo source: DMC Watches