AUSRETROGAMER

The Pop-Culture E-Zine

You are here: Home / Archives for Retro Gaming Culture

Retro Gaming Culture

Official PlayStation Home Furniture

By

Let’s face it, some of us are better than others when it comes to furnishing and decorating our homes. So what would you say if things were made easier for us home furniture decorator noobs by PBTeen? Well, it is true – PBTeen have released an official range of Playstation inspired furniture – we know, we are spinning out too!

From bookshelves, coffee tables, TV wall units to comfy one seat beanbags, the PlayStation furniture has you covered when decking out your lounge area or games room. We gotta say it, this PBTeen PlayStation Collection is just so damn cool!

image source: PBTeen

[source: technabob]

 

Review: SNK 40th Anniversary Collection

By

We bet that when you think of SNK you think of the NEOGEO, however SNK was developing and publishing pretty decent arcade games well before the NEOGEO.

When the SNK 40th Anniversary Collection was announced earlier this year, we immediately took note, as we got quite excited at the prospect of playing SNK’s library of awesome classic games on our Nintendo Switch.

This collection represents SNK’s golden age of arcade games, a true arcade connoisseurs anthology, which is already proving quite popular in the office – we have to wait our turn on the shared Switch (Ed: perhaps we need to leave a coin on the screen!).

So which SNK games can you play straight away? The current list of titles, which is a mix of arcade and console ports, are a great start for the trip down memory lane:

  • Alpha Mission (Console/Arcade)
  • Athena (Console/Arcade)
  • Crystalis (Console)
  • Ikari Warriors (Console/Arcade)
  • Ikari Warriors II: Victory Road (Console/Arcade)
  • Ikari Warriors III: The Rescue (Console/Arcade)
  • Guerrilla War (Console/Arcade)
  • P.O.W. (Console/Arcade)
  • Prehistoric Isle (Arcade)
  • Psycho Soldier (Arcade)
  • Street Smart (Arcade)
  • TNK III (Console/Arcade)
  • Vanguard (Arcade)

But wait, there is more! On December 11, there will be an additional 11 games added (for free!) to the already packed collection – check out these beauties:

  • Munch Mobile (Arcade)
  • Fantasy (Arcade)
  • Sasuke vs. Commander (Arcade)
  • Chopper I (Arcade)
  • Time Soldiers (Arcade)
  • Bermuda Triangle (Arcade)
  • Paddle Mania (Arcade)
  • Ozma Wars (Arcade)
  • Beast Busters (Arcade)
  • Search and Rescue (Arcade)
  • World Wars (Arcade)

With regular patches being released to enhance gameplay experience (like the Day 1 patch adding ‘Single Stick’ mode amongst a raft of other improvements), this compilation truly gets better and better. The emulation has a few bumps here and there, but nothing that detracts from the overall gameplay experience – If you have never played these games or played them long ago, you would never notice. And as mentioned, patches are being released to tighten up any loose ends.

Speaking of user experience, the overall presentation is simply awesome, with an easy to use menu system that not only provides access to the arcade games with enhanced features (like rewind gameplay, auto-fire and 1080p resolution to name just a few), but also a brilliant museum mode where a lot of painstaking effort was made to catalogue and preserve the legacy of one of Japan’s leading developers, which includes high definition artwork and original promotional assets. We actually spent a lot of time in the museum going through each game and finding out information we could not find anywhere else – those of you that are into history and research will love this mode.

We are really glad that SNK chose to celebrate their extraordinary milestone by giving us, the gamers, a brilliant high quality compilation. The SNK 40th ANNIVERSARY COLLECTION is packed full of retro gaming goodness with top-notch features with a complimentary museum mode which tops off what is an already solid package for those of you craving for nostalgia.

This is an essential collection to add to your Nintendo Switch games library. The only problem you’ll have is making the choice between physical or download – either way, you can’t go wrong!

image source: NIS America

Disclosure: SNK 40th Anniversary Collection [Nintendo Switch – download] was kindly provided by NIS America for this review.

 

An Atari 2600 Transforms Into The Lynx 2600

By

Retro Revolutions’ resident console modder, Jarred Green has mashed the venerable Atari VCS / 2600 (4-switch) console with Atari’s powerful colour handheld, the Lynx, to create one drool-worthy and awesome system – the Atari Lynx 2600! Having an eye for detail, Jarred doesn’t do things by halves – he complimented his unique console creation with an equally awesome custom packaging (by Logan Hunt from NeonVision Design) that wouldn’t look out of place on the shelves at your local video games retailer!

So how does the Atari Lynx 2600 hold up? Is it durable? Does it play well? Do the Lynx handheld games translate well to console / TV mode? Well, what a better way to have answered these questions than by having the Atari Lynx 2600 available for play (Ed: you mean punishment!) during one of the biggest gaming events in the southern hemisphere, PAX Aus 2018!

The Atari Lynx 2600 was an absolute winner and a head-turner at PAX Aus 2018

Over the course of the three day PAX Aus event, the Atari Lynx 2600 was never left unattended, with gamers playing a swag of Lynx games, including California Games, with their reactions always being the same – huge smiles and just wowing at Jarred’s creation. The amount of positive feedback was actually quite overwhelming. Jarred was always on hand to answer questions from eager gamers, from how he made the console to being asked if he could create one or do a production run for them to buy one! Actually, you can lump us in that category – we want one too!



Retro Revolutions doesn’t do things by halves! The Atari Lynx 2600 comes in its own unique retail packaging!

For the technically minded, the Atari Lynx 2600 sports some very impressive specifications that take advantage of current technologies, including output via HDMI. As we mentioned earlier, Jarred’s eye for detail extends from the aesthetics (like the airbrushed logos and the 3D printed cartridge adaptor for the Lynx carts – by Extreme Consoles), customs ports (for VGA and HDMI out) and custom paint detailing, to the innards with McWill’s LCD mod (with VGA output), the VGA to HDMI scaler (for compatibility with current displays) and of course the mapping and wiring of the Lynx controls to the DB9 joystick ports. Oh yeah, the one-button Atari joystick didn’t cut the mustard, so Jarred used a NES control-pad (also custom painted to compliment the colour scheme of the console) to implement the Lynx’s two button control system – he really did think of everything.

We can’t compliment Jarred enough, cause this is one super impressive mod that not only knocked our socks off, but it knocked the socks off thousands of PAX Aus attendees that got to play it – you can’t get a better endorsement than that! And yes, the Atari Lynx 2600 survived PAX Aus!

The Atari Lynx 2600 creator – Retro Revolutions’ Jarred Green

So what’s Jarred’s next creation? He tells us that he will have something just as unique and just as jaw-droppingly awesome as the Atari Lynx 2600. Perhaps we will see it at PAX Aus 2019? We honestly can’t wait!

You can follow Jarred’s awesome mod projects via his Retro Revolutions social platforms on Twitter and YouTube.

Watch the vid to see how the Atari Lynx 2600 evolved from idea to console!

source: Jarred Green, aka: Retro Revolutions 

The one off Atari Lynx 2600 is carefully packed and ready to be unleashed at PAX Aus 2018

The only place on the planet where the Atari Lynx 2600 could be played – in the Classic Gaming Area at PAX Aus!

The feature rich Atari Lynx 2600 – even the unique box takes centre stage!

Initial test is a success! Of course we were going to play our fave Lynx game first!

Getting in control!

Ready for PAX Aus 2018 action!

The players are starting to chase some high scores



Using A Real Car As A Mario Kart 64 Controller

By

There are some cool and crazy mods out there, and then there is this one!

Let’s face it, not everyone is a fan of the N64 controller, so what does one do to compensate for this deficit? If you are Dan Hlavenka, you grab your dad’s Chevrolet Volt and hack a Raspbery Pi with a CANbus (PiCAN2) shield that plugs between the OBD-II port and a laptop with tools and a N64 emulator. Once all the controls are mapped and setup, you use the real Volt’s steering wheel, accelerator and brake pedals to play one of the best N64 games ever!

Pfft, who needs the N64 controller when you can use a real car instead.


video source: Gordon Hlavenka

[source: technabob]

 

Arcade1Up – Rampage Review

By

Arcade1Up’s line of diminutive arcade cabinets turned a lot of heads online when they were first announced. After all, the chance to own officially-licensed arcade machines for a fraction of the price of a real cabinet, complete with authentic controls and games? It’s a no-brainer! So there was a lot of waiting to see which of these machines (if any) would reach our shores in Australia, and if so, what were they like?

So it was with great trepidation that I scoured the local ALDI stores to find one on the day of their release. I had heard that they were selling out fast, and it didn’t help that ALDI didn’t offer any convenient way to find out which stores had stock in, so I was eager to get out and about to my nearby stores.

The question I was asking myself on the trip was, which one of the two available would I choose? On the ALDI site they were advertising two versions of the Arcade1Up cabinet. One was advertised as containing Williams / Atari classics Rampage, Gauntlet, Joust and the greatest shmup of all time, Defender. The other had a placard boasting it had a roster of Capcom favourites: Street Fighter 2 Championship Edition, Final Fight, Ghouls ‘n Ghosts and Strider.

The good news is that a local store had plenty of both machines on hand to purchase. The not good news? The Capcom cabinet was purely for Street Fighter 2 games. To make things even more confusing, the American version of the Street Fighter 2 machine had all five variants of the legendary fighting game, but the Australian one had only three. That’s….oddly frustrating. My personal favourite Street Fighter 2 Turbo, was completely missing and for the life of me I can’t understand why.

Plenty of machines ready to play!

So, in the interests of game variation, I picked up the Williams / Atari (aka: Midway Classic Arcade) one. As much as I personally love Street Fighter 2, I knew the people who would be using the cabinet would get tired of it a lot quicker than I would, and the chance to introduce Defender to a new generation was too much to pass up. $500 later and I was driving out of the car park a happy man.

Ready to assemble!

Assembling the machine was surprisingly easy and straightforward. If you’ve ever assembled an IKEA book shelf you’ll be in familiar territory here. Frankly, I have to commend the designers here for making it such a painless process, as parts were clearly labelled and the included instructions made sense at every step. You’ll need a good Phillips-head screwdriver and about an hour or two of spare time to go from opening the box to having a small but perfectly formed arcade cabinet in your own home. It’s a good excuse to invite some friends around to help and share in the multiplayer fun afterwards.

Starting to take shape…

It’s when you start putting the machine together that you really get a sense of how small this thing is. Basically, everything is ​3⁄4 of regular size. The controllers are small, not too small, but small enough to be noticeable. The 17” monitor is small, but not enough to be a problem. The cabinet stands 1.2 metres tall, which…yeah, is an issue. Basically the cabinet is too tall to comfortably play while sitting on the ground, and too low to play at all while standing unless you’re under the age of ten. The raisers that Arcade1Up offer aren’t available at retail stores here in Australia, so you’ll need to figure out your own solution. The small size also means that it’s difficult to have more than two people comfortably crowd around the screen, especially if you’re sitting on chairs because of the height issue. It’s workable, but it’s an issue you need to keep in mind.

Almost there….

There are three microswitched sticks for three players, and two buttons (labelled Jump and Attack) that feel suitably responsive if not a teensy bit spongy. I have a hunch that the sticks won’t take the kind of pounding you can dish out in a real arcade, but I don’t really want to test it. On the controller deck is a big power switch and a switch for volume that goes between no sound, “loud enough to be clear for everyone who is playing” and “loud enough to let everyone else in the house know you’re playing”. It just feels nice to play with.

The back of the monitor houses the little box that runs the emulation software.

Anyway, enough about the hardware, let’s talk about the games! Arcade purists might scoff about how these systems use emulation, but honestly, for the price point this thing was never going to be 100% arcade accurate anyway (LCD screens can never replicate the feel of an old-fashioned CRT after all) and the emulation quality itself is legitimately good. However, the way the games play varies wildly.

No coins needed and always ready to play!

So, the cabinet is dedicated to Rampage, with all the original marquee and controller art to suit. That means that it’s a great Rampage machine and offers many hours of fun especially in multiplayer. It’s always a laugh when players end up hitting each other more than they’re hitting the buildings. So, Rampage is good.

Joust surprised me. I have always had a soft spot for the game since playing the Atari 2600 version back in the day, and for some reason I’m even more besotted with the arcade version. It looks the least interesting to play of the four games on offer but I have a hunch that it will be the one I return the most to. It’s a game that rewards skill and has a control system that will take a long time to master. So, thumbs up for Joust here.

Gauntlet is where things start to fall apart. The original was known for its four player action, but since the cabinet was designed with Rampage in mind it only has three controllers. So, at least you can play a three player session, right? Nope! For some unfathomable reason the version of Gauntlet on offer here is the two-player one. Frankly, that’s just absolutely stupid. Also, the game itself has not aged well at all and, since you can just give yourself infinite health with continued pressing of the start buttons, there’s absolutely no challenge on offer. I found myself just wandering aimlessly through the mazes not even bothering to fight any of the dungeon’s monsters. After fifteen minutes I gave this one a hard pass.

Finally we get to Defender. I love Defender. I mean I really, really love Defender. Eugene Jarvis and friends made what I think is one of the few “perfect” games. Legend tells of people who can survive more than five minutes of playing this exquisite classic, but I have yet to meet them. Yes, I am terrible at Defender but I still love it.

Defender plays like absolute garbage on this machine. I hate every second of it. The controls are so offensively broken that I feel like it wants me to grow a third or possible fourth hand to have access to all the buttons that are spread haphazardly across the entire surface of the control panel. You move up and down with the first stick, Thrust and Reverse with the player one buttons, smart bomb and hyperspace with the player two buttons, and fire with one of the third player buttons. It plays worse than it sounds. Your hands spend so much time moving across the panel there’s no way you can make the instinctive, split-second decisions needed to play Defender properly. This is one of the cases where I actually wouldn’t have minded if they used the control method found in some of the home console ports that eschewed the Thrust and Reverse buttons for left and right on the joystick. Even just thinking about playing Defender on this system makes me mad.

Uh…no thank you?

Also, and this one completely infuriates me for some reason, high scores don’t save at all! That’s a particularly egregious oversight that for me completely diminishes the arcade experience. Arcade games are all about high scores! What, I have to get a chalkboard to put next to the machine for people to write their scores down? Are we cavemen?

For $500 there were always going to be some compromises, but some of them just make my blood boil. I get the size. I get the build quality. But I really can’t get over how two of the games are basically broken and there were weird software shortcuts. If you’re a super fan of Rampage, or if you want to use this as a starting point for a modification project then absolutely you should get one. Otherwise…keep looking.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Cameron Davis
Writer and artist of Rose: a comic about the world’s hungriest redhead and her love of food, friends, food, family, food and FOOD!

Follow Cameron on Twitter

 

 

Mini 3D Printed Classic Consoles and Computers

By

Do you want to collect retro gaming consoles and retro computers? Do you have a space issue?

If you answered yes to both questions, then Dave Nunez of Rabbit Engineering has a solution for you! Dave has created and 3D printed a series of more than 100 miniature devices and peripherals based on classic old school computers and video game consoles, each of which is small enough to fit in the palm of your hand (Ed: space issue solved!). They may not be exact replicas or to scale, but they definitely capture the spirit and style of the system to induce nostalgia!

Here is a sample of Dave’s very cool creations – you can check out the rest via his Rabbit Engineering Etsy store.

image source: Rabbit Engineering

[via: technabob]

 

PAX Aus 2018 Cosplay Highlights

By

PAX Aus would not be half the event that it is without the spectacle cosplay!

We were lucky enough to have our good friends at REE Photography and Ms Ausretrogamer capture the amazing cosplay while roaming the grounds of PAX Aus. So sit back and enjoy the highlights, but be warned, you will be thoroughly gobsmacked by the spectacle!

Zel T and Combustible Props – photo by: Ms. Ausretrogamer

photo by: Ms. Ausretrogamer

Kuma and Junko (aka: Kelly Deluxe) – photo by: Ms. Ausretrogamer

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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

Like REE Photography on Facebook

 

 

Classic Times at PAX Aus 2018

By

There is one undeniable fact about PAX Aus – attendees love reliving their gaming past in the Classic Gaming area!

For the sixth year in a row the ever popular Classic Gaming area returned to PAX Aus – this year brought to you by Ausretrogamer, Bartronica, Bayside Pinball Club, Mr. Pinball, Pinmem, Press Play On Tape podcast, Weird and Retro and Zax Amusements. These groups all brought along their carefully preserved (and awesome) wares to create the magical and nostalgia inducing area.

From the Commodore 64, Amiga 1200, Atari ST and MSX old school computers to the Atari Lynx, Game Boy, WonderSwan, Neo Geo Pocket handhelds and Atari 2600, Vectrex, Sega Master System, NES, PC-Engine, Sega Mega Drive and Super Nintendo consoles (just to name a few!), the Classic Gaming area had your retro gaming covered.

Of course the area didn’t just cater for old school computer and console gamers, it had arcade machines from the golden age like Asteroids, Bad Dudes, Rampage, Double Dragon, Mortal Kombat 2, Rastan, Street Fighter II and a dozen pinball machines, from the new Stern Deadpool to the old High Roller Casino just to tickle your sentimentality without the need of extracting coins from your pocket!

Another section that made a return due to popular demand was the display museum. Standing along the right perimeter of the Classic Gaming area, the glass display cabinets created the perfect backdrop by showcasing carefully curated classic and exotic gaming pieces that invoked strong feelings of intoxicating nostalgia from gaming’s past. This of course was the intention the Classic Gaming team was going for.

With the area proving to be popular as ever, there was never an empty seat or a lonely controller – attendees took full advantage of playing on machines from their childhood and for those with families, it was great to see kids playing games that their parents would have enjoyed when they were their age. With smiles all around and a lot of positive feedback, we can safely say that the PAX Aus Classic Gaming area was a huge success.

So what will we have in store for you all in the Classic Gaming area at PAX Aus 2019? You will have to wait and see, but rest assured, we will definitely be tickling your nostalgic nerve.

 

 

 

80s Baby: NKOTB Are Back Baby!

By


New Kids On The Block are back, baby! Well, so are Salt-N-Pepa, Naughty By Nature, Tiffany and Debbie Gibson performing 80s Baby. Part of the ‘The Mixtape Tour 2019‘, this new single is a throwback to the awesomest decade of them all, the 1980s!

This song will have you bopping along with that familiar cool 80s tunes. Oh yeah, the video clip is a throwback to Sega’s cool OutRun arcade game – a nice touch indeed!

Huge thanks to Poop Face (aka: Freakin Frankie) for letting us know about this!


source: New Kids On The Block