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Retro Gaming Culture

Man Walks into a Bar and Sees a Pac-Man Machine

June 26, 2018 By David Cutler

Source: Steve Ringman/The Chronicle 1981

By: D.C. Cutler, U.S.A.

I recently walked into a hipster bar that I had never been in before. I immediately felt slightly old. Everyone there was in their early twenties; some of them didn’t look old enough to order a beer. As I made my way past the bustling, long bar, I noticed something in the back corner of the place that I hadn’t seen in a longtime.

A large group of twentysomethings were gathered around an original Pac-Man arcade machine. I hadn’t seen a Pac-Man machine since I was a little kid. It was a smack of nostalgia in a place I didn’t expect it.

Like the Rubik’s Cube or the DeLorean DMC-12, Pac-Man is an 80s icon. Seeing a vintage machine with a group of Millennials playing it, made me curious. I sat at a small booth near the Pac-Man machine and watched the young group feed the machine quarters. They were having such a blast trying to see who could reach the highest score with one quarter.

source: ausretrogamer

After a few craft beers, I wanted to try my hand at Pac-Man; but they had taken over the machine. It was entertaining watching them shriek and groan when they got devoured by a ghost. It may’ve been the first time any of them had ever played the arcade version of Pac-Man, but I still wanted my turn.

Pac-Man brings people together. From the time the game was released in arcades in October 1980, Pac-Man has been a unifier that you could play with friends. Pac-Man is cross-generational. It seems simple at first, but as you keep playing, the difficulty of each stage keeps you addicted to clear the maze.

When Pac-Man was released in 1980, movie theatre owners and movie moguls were worried that the game would hurt the film industry. Pac-Man was taking money away from Paramount and 20th Century Fox. Pac-Man’s enormous popularity was short-lived, but at its height, movie studio executives had to be worried about how long they would be competing with the bright yellow machines.

I never got to play the Pac-Man machine in that bar that night, but I enjoyed watching the twentysomethings play a game that this October will turn 38-years-old. Will there ever be another Pac-Man? I doubt it.

source: ausretrogamer

 

Filed Under: History, Retro Gaming Culture Tagged With: 000000, 1980s, 80s, 80s icon, Arcade, barcade, Classic Arcade Gaming, David Cutler, DC Cutler, Midway, Namco, Pac-Man, Pacman, Retro Game, retrogaming, Toru Iwatani, video game

PUMA x SEGA RS-0 SONIC

June 22, 2018 By ausretrogamer

UPDATE: Please note that these sneakers are now sold out!

Just in case you’ve just arrived back to this planet, Puma has collaborated with Sega to bring us some very cool Sonic The Hedgehog inspired shoes, sneakers, runners or whatever the hell you wanna call them.

We couldn’t resist so we went online and bought the Puma x Sega RS-0 Sonic sneakers. It was a tough choice but we decided to go with Sega’s blue blur shoes instead of the Eggman (Ed: getting both pairs would have been the right answer!).

What do you guys think of these Sonic inspired shoes? Do you like both pairs or do you prefer one over the other? Join in the conversation on Twitter or Facebook.

 

Filed Under: Retro Gaming Culture Tagged With: Dr Robotnik, Eggman, Puma, Puma RS-0, Puma RS-O, Puma X Sega, Puma x Sega RS-0 Eggman, Puma x Sega RS-0 Sonic, Puma x Sonic, PUMAxSega, PUMAxSonic, runners, sega, sneakers, sonic, Sonic sneakers, Sonic The Hedgehog

Retro Gamer 182: Sega Mega Drive Overload

June 18, 2018 By ausretrogamer

If you are a Sega Mega Drive (Sega Genesis) fan, then issue 182 of Retro Gamer is your mag to indulge in some 16-bit nostalgia.

From all the inside information on how Sega’s magnum opus came to be, to its developers that made it sing and become a classic console.

The regular features are back, from the Classic Moments, Minority Report to Hardware Heaven and The Uncoverted to name just a few, this issue of RG is jam packed to satisfy your retro gaming lust!

This issue is also accompanied with an Essential Mega Drive games guide and stickers, so if you are a fan of Sega’s 16-bit game changer, then there is no excuse to miss this issue – go grab it now!

 

Filed Under: Announcements, Retro Gaming Culture Tagged With: 16-bit, Genesis, magazine, Mega Drive, Retro Gamer, Retro Gamer 182, retro gamer magazine, Retro Gaming, sega, Sega Genesis, Sega Mega Drive

Highest-Grossing Arcade Machines of All Time

June 15, 2018 By ausretrogamer

Let’s reflect and gloat for one second – it was great to be alive during the Golden Age of Arcade video games and experience arcade joints first-hand; from the clean franchised ones to the decrepit dark and scary independent ones – we loved them all.

Oh yeah, we loved the games too, from coin dropping in Galaga, Bomb Jack, Pac-Man, Tron, Double Dragon, DragonNinja to Sega’s beasts like Space Harrier, Super Hang-On, OutRun, After Burner and Thunder Blade – we spent up big and loved every single second of it.


The 1990s started with us hammering coins into Atari’s Pit-Fighter, Capcom’s Final Fight and Street Fighter II. However, it was Sega’s Daytona USA that emptied our piggy bank of coins – we just could not get enough of it.

source: The Arcade Flyer Archive

Looking at the top 10 highest grossing arcade games (below), we can tell you that we played them all during their heyday and understand why the dot munching Pac-Man is perched right up top – the game was a breath of fresh air (for its time), as it wasn’t a derivative of the then plethora of space shoot’em ups. Pac-Man was truly a revolutionary title which had universal appeal, both male and female gamers loved chasing Inky, Blinky, Pinky and Clyde.

source: A-1 Arcade Gaming

So what of Atari’s Pong then? Well, the 1972 game did very well for Atari, they sold somewhere between 8,500 to 19,000 units (1972 to 1973) grossing them around $11Million US dollars – not bad for 1973!

The revenues generated were quite staggering, reaffirming the Golden Age of Arcade video games period as the most prosperous of them all, with Street Fighter II, Mortal Kombat and NBA Jam flying the flag for the 1990s.

Source: Wikipedia, USGamer and Goliath

Filed Under: History, Retro Gaming Culture Tagged With: !Arcade!, arcade games, Arcade Machines, Asteroids, Atari, best selling arcade games, biggest selling arcade machines, Capcom, Defender, Donkey Kong, Galaxian, Highest Grossing Arcade Machines, highest-grossing arcade games, History, Midway, Midway Games, Mortal Kombat, most popular arcade machines, Ms Pac-Man, Namco, NBA Jam, nintendo, Out Run, OutRun, Pac-Man, popular arcade games, retrogaming, Robotron, sega, Space Invaders, street fighter II, Taito, what are the best selling arcade games, Williams, WMS

Oz Comic-Con Melbourne 2018 Highlights

June 14, 2018 By ausretrogamer

If you missed out on attending Oz Comic-Con 2018 in Melbourne, we have you covered!

With our trusty cameras in tow (thanks Alan Ly!), we snapped quite a few photos (over 60 photos actually) to make you feel like you were there, from awesome cosplay, comic book creators, artists, vendors with tempting gear, to a Star Wars X-Wing waiting for you to enter its cockpit and some Doom shenanigans at Bethesda’s booth.

Scroll through and enjoy what was a pretty epic Oz Comic-Con 2018!

If you made it this far, please consider supporting us by shouting us a coffee so we can keep bringing you heaps more awesome content! Thank you.

 

Filed Under: Retro Gaming Culture Tagged With: Actors, Art, Comic Con, comics, Cosplay, event, gamers, gaming, Oz Comic Con, Oz Comic-Con Melbourne, Oz Comic-Con Melbourne 2018, Retro Gaming, Star Wars

E3 News: My Arcade To Launch Two Classic BANDAI NAMCO Mini Players

June 13, 2018 By ausretrogamer

If Nintendo can do it with their ‘Minis’, then so can My Arcade and BANDAI NAMCO!

Day two of E3 got us excited with the announcement that My Arcade and BANDAI NAMCO have joined forces and to create two new gaming devices filled with Classic NAMCO games. The new machines further expand the line of products borne out of the partnership, which already includes a set of Micro Player Arcades featuring classic titles such as PAC-MAN™, GALAGA™, and DIG DUG™.

The NAMCO Museum Mini Player will be packed with 20 classic titles and features a large vertical-oriented screen for authentic arcade gameplay. It also features dual front facing speakers for optimal sound, a detachable joystick, and back-lit marquee and coin trap. All of the titles included on the device are the original arcade versions of the games, unless there was no original arcade version available. The Namco Museum Mini Player™ is slated to release in the Holiday 2018 season (between now and end of August).

The PAC-MAN Pocket Player is a brand new 16-bit handheld console designed by My Arcade that is compact, portable, ergonomically designed, and boasts a full colour screen. The Pocket Player™ will include three classic PAC-MAN titles, including original arcade favourite PAC-MAN, along with PAC-PANIC™ and PAC-MANIA™. The Pocket Player will be available starting July 2018 at retailers such as Walmart and Amazon.

We finally got to get excited about something at E3 2018! We can’t wait to get our hands on these units!

source: My Arcade®

 

Filed Under: Announcements, Retro Gaming Culture Tagged With: 16-bit, Bandai Namco, Dig Dug, E3, E3 2018, Galaga, My Arcade, My Arcade Bandai Namco, Namco, NAMCO Museum Mini Player, Pac-Man, Pac-Man Pocket Player, Pac-Mania, Pac-Panic, Retro Gaming

2018 Reset64 4KB Craptastic Game Competition Preview

June 12, 2018 By ausretrogamer

Development for the 2018 Reset64 4kb ‘Craptastic’ game comp is in full swing. Deadline is fast approaching (June 30th) so we thought we’d give you all a quick look at what some of the devs are up to for the comp.

Best of luck to all the competitors and we can’t wait to try your craptastic creations!

Title: Rabid Robots 4K – Out of Control

Credits: Code & Sound Effects by Richard Bayliss, Graphics by Alf Yngve.

This is a score attack game, consisting of 8 levels. You are a schoolboy, who was playing outside his house with his dog. Suddenly out from nowhere comes a rampage of robots. Your quest is to protect yourself or your dog from incoming robots. For every robot shot with your water pistol, you will score points. If you or your dog makes contact with any of the robots. You’ll run away from the street and the game is over. The robots will be appearing from both sides of the screen. You can only fire left or right. Good luck.

Programmed using CBMPRGStudio by Arthur Jordison.

Title: Shinobiden Gaiden 

Author: @_fou_lu

Shinobiden Gaiden is a short survival adventure game where you are a ninja who must collect a few magical items from a maze-like map before you die or time runs out. You’re pursued by undead the whole time, and all you can do is throw shurikens to stun them. The idea was to practice C64 assembly coding (using a Mac) and enter a silly prologue game to a more serious title I intend to make into the 4kB competition. I only have about 600 bytes left after compression; luckily all that’s left besides filling in the map is game loop and game over logic.

Title: Orb

Author: Annina Games

The game is a demake of Duet, which is a game developed for android/iphone that fits well on the c64. The goal is to manoeuvre two balls in sync, avoiding blocks by rotating either clockwise or counter clockwise. The engine is 90% complete. At the moment the level design is the more difficult stage.

Title: Wave Hero

Author: Geir Straume

How far can you go on your personal watercraft, without hitting any rocks or reefs?
You start off slowly, but the speed automatically increases as you reach various distance milestones. The watercraft is controlled using the fire button only.

Title: G7000 Racer!

Credits: Code by Igmar Coenen, Charset by David Almer

Drive your car as long as possible without crashing into other cars. Try to get 10000+ points to finish the game. You can choose the level of difficulty (easy or hard). The longer you drive the harder it gets (up to three levels).

Interesting info: My first c64 machine language game coded ever. Inspired by the race game on the Philips Videopac G7000 game console. First game I played (besides Pong of course).

Title: Neptune’s Oil

Author: Oziphantom

You are an oil mining company harvesting oil from Neptune, however the Plutonians are not happy and want it for themselves, so they have sent multiple attack drones. Your job is to defend the pumps in this side scrolling blast’em up.

Title: Snake-a-Space

Author/Credits: Designed by Molly Fuller, Coded by Jamie Fuller

Get up on a poorly, planetary-protecting-snake and defend IT for a change!

A simple run-and-jump joystick-mashing bit of craptastic fun! All the ideas for this game came from the imagination of Molly Fuller, my 6 year old daughter, who also helped with some of the graphics and play testing.

Title: Freaky Fish

Credits: Programming by Chris Page, Graphics and Sound by Chris and Brent Page

Freaky Fish has the ability to blow bubbles and must protect himself and his friends over 30 levels from the redneck who is fishing from his boat with dynamite!

This is our first Commodore 64 project since the early 90’s. At the time of writing the game is almost code complete with 88 bytes free when compressed, but space is at a premium and every addition now has to be weighed and optimized. At one point the game looked great but it blew out to a bit over 5k without some “essentials” such as collision detection so we had to spend a few weeks rewriting, cutting features and paring the graphics down. Given the 4k limits, there are lots of sprites, sound effects, music and code that didn’t make the cut so there is the possibility of an enhanced version after the competition.

For development used Kick Assembler, Visual Studio Code, Exomizer 3, VChar64 and Spritepad and we have also used our home grown SFX Editor on the C64.

Title: Kalle Kloakk 4k (Megastyle)

Credits: Code by Docster, Graphics & Music by Rotteroy

The game is about an old man who get stuck in the bathroom on the shopping mall and his struggle to pick up toilet paper that he can stack under the window and climb up and escape. It’s a plattformer with a twist; first you have to set all plattforms, then you have to complete the level. Memory eating music made in Goattracker!

Title: Trump Towers (Megastyle)

Credits: Code by Docster, Sprites by Rotteroy, Graphics by FX

Control the president around in his tower, grab the pussy when you can to get extra points.
No screenshot to be shown yet, Docster just started working on the engine.

Title: Fire (Megastyle)

Credits: Code by Docster, Graphics by FX, Sprites by Rotteroy

Game and watch go C64 4k!

Title: WTF

Credits: Code, Graphics & Audio by Mika “Misfit” Keränen

Bouncing ball has own intelligence. The player only manages the scrolling and the desperate ball tries to keep itself in the middle of the screen.

The main logic and graphics are finished. Needs audio and more levels. I’m very pleased. This game is so frustrating that players will hate me.

Title: CONGA4096

Author: Paul Koller

Game will be an arena shooter with a twist. Game is practically finished. I am currently working on getting some music and sfx into the game. I’ve added a teaser screenshot, which doesn’t show too much, to keep the surprise high.

Title: Dustin’

Author: Graham Axten/Pond Software

Credits:  Code & Graphics by Graham Axten, Music and SFX by Vanja Utne

Dustin the robot has been tasked with cleaning the dust from the precious innards of the world’s best 8-bit computer! Guide him around and help him clean up the dust particles, but watch out for electrical pulses that move across the circuit, they will fry him!

Title: Fire Rescue

Author: Syed U Rizvi

Well to describe the game, I guess you could say the name sums it up but to be honest. It’s a simple rescue mission whereby the ambo guys with a stretcher have to save people jumping from a burning building! And then make sure they make it to the ambulance without falling. Simple eeh!

The progression? So far, so good! I would say the game is 60 percent complete and I am currently working on collision detection and score updating. The rest would be straight forward with setting character graphics on the screen (burning building and other graphic objects).

Title: Chef Quest

Author: Anthony Stiller/Pond Software

Credits: Code & Graphics by Anthony Stiller, Music & SFX by Vanja Utne

Oh no! Chef is out of ingredients so it’s time to venture into the restaurant’s dungeon to restock the larder with delicious monsters. Chef Quest is a tiny, action-oriented RPG and will almost certainly be ready by the deadline.

Title: Elevator Eric

Author: Derek

It’s not a game that’s going to shatter any records of quality, rather just a bit of fun that I knocked together over last day and a half whilst off work.  I haven’t really done much with the C64 for coming on 30 years now I guess it must be (and it shows! lol – I’m about as good or should I say bad now as I was back then!). The game concept is based on games such as Nifty Lifty and Wack Waiters.

Title: $100 Box

Author: Cout

This one is based on a mathematics game theory problem for 100 people, but the game simulates the problem with just one player. The computer selects a random number from 1 to 100 as your lucky number. You will need to guess which box from 00-99 where the lucky number is hidden. The game allows you to have up to 50 guesses, but it’s not easy to win as it sounds!

Title: I Found A Moon Rock In My Nose

Author: Cout

Title Reference: The title comes from a line from the character Ralph Wiggum which is seen on The Simpsons from the episode This Little Wiggy from Season 9, Episode 18.

About the Game:

The object of the game is to pick your nose to find ‘moon rocks’.
You can pick from either your your left or right nostril at anytime.
The more you pick the more points you score!
However, don’t pick too much or you will get a nosebleed!

Includes:

PETSCII Nose Graphics and SID Sound Effects!

About the Author:

Created from the developer of I Ate the Purple Berries from the 2016 Reset ‘Craptastic’ 4kb Game Comp and My Cat’s Breath Smells Like Cat Food which was developed back in 2003. Cout Games creates unique games from some of The Simpsons most popular quotations.

Title: Plunko

Author: Cout

This game is based off one of the pricing games from the US version of The Price Is Right. The player is given 10 flat discs which are released one at a time from the top of the board.  The game board consists of a number of pegs which bounce the disc randomly around. As the disc falls to the bottom, it is impossible to determine where the disc might end up. At the bottom of the board, the disc stop and lands in a money slot the player can win.

I put the game through 100,000 rounds and it is theoretically possible to get the top amount from anywhere the disc is dropped from on the board. However, you do have a greater chance of winning money from the middle, it is also twice as likely that you will get nothing as well. Statistics are available upon request.

Title: Role Role Role

Author: Cout

Roll Roll Roll is a dice game where you roll a single six sided dice where you can win money.

On the first roll, you have the option to keep your roll as cash or roll again. Similarly, on the second roll, you have the same two options again. On the third and final roll, you keep whatever you roll (whatever the outcome). There are 10 rounds to a game.

This is based on a mathematics problem with worked out from the averages of rolling three dice in the hope of scoring the most points. The aim of the game is to beat the average (3.5) or optimally (4.66 for 3 rolls).

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Unkle K / Reset C64
Father, husband, teacher and retro gaming/computer enthusiast! Editor of Reset… C64 magazine.

Follow Reset C64 on Twitter

 

 

Filed Under: Announcements, Retro Gaming Culture Tagged With: 2018 Reset64 4KB Craptastic Game Competition, C64 craptastic game coding comp, C64 craptastic game comp, C64 game coding comp, Commodore 64, commodore 64 coding comp, Craptastic, Kevin Tilley, Old School, RESET, Reset C64, Reset C64 4KB Game Coding Competition, Reset C64 magazine, Reset64, Reset64 C64 magazine

Documentary: Street Fighter 30th Anniversary

June 5, 2018 By ausretrogamer

In the beginning, Capcom created Street Fighter (1987). Then came the all conquering Street Fighter II in 1991, and the rest, as they say, is history!

In this three-part documentary, fans and players from around the world discuss what makes Street Fighter special. Each era of the series is explored before heading into the modern era!

Kick back and enjoy – Hadouken!

Part 1: In The Beginning

Part 2: The Community

Part 3: The Next Generation

source: Street Fighter on YouTube

 

Filed Under: History, Retro Gaming Culture Tagged With: Blanka, Capcom, Capcom Pro Tour, Chun-Li, Dhalsim, Doco, Documentary, eSports, fighting games, Hadouken, Ken, Ryu, Sho-ryu-ken, street fighter, Street Fighter 30th Anniversary, Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Documentary, street fighter II

Book Review: PlayStation Anthology

June 4, 2018 By ausretrogamer

Book: PlayStation Anthology (Classic or Collector Editions)
Publisher: Geeks-Line Publishing
Pages: 386 pages (Classic Edition) / 458 pages (Collector Edition)
Price $USD: $44.90 (Classic Edition) / $55.90 (Collector Edition – currently unavailable)
Available from: Amazon

After impressing us with their Nintendo 64 Anthology, Geeks-Line Publishing has taken its next book, PlayStation Anthology in a different direction. The result is a great read that not only explains Sony’s origins and the rise of its first console, but also includes some amazing interviews with a number of high-profile devs, like Jason Rubin, Yuji Horii, Kanta Watanabe and Suda51 to name just a few. It is let down in places by some low quality images, but it still manages to do an incredible job of retelling the story of Sony’s market dominance.

To add to the level of detail that the book offers, it finishes with a collector’s guide that lists every single PlayStation game that was officially published. This book was touted as a celebration of a console that brought wonder into the lives of many (us included), and a brand that reshaped the whole entertainment industry – we reckon the authors have definitely achieved this and surpassed what they had promised.

This IS the definitive book on Sony’s PlayStation. You won’t find any other book that covers so much detail on the original PlayStation as this one does, so we recommend you get yourself the PlayStation Anthology tome right now!

Disclosure: The ‘PlayStation Anthology’ book was kindly provided by Geeks-Line for this article.

Filed Under: Retro Gaming Culture, Reviews Tagged With: Book Review, gaming book, Geeks Line, Geeks Line Publishing, PlayStation Anthology, PlayStation Anthology Classic Edition, PlayStation book, PS Anthology, PS1, PSX, Review, Sony PlayStation

The Lost Arcade on SBS On Demand

June 1, 2018 By ausretrogamer

If you missed watching The Lost Arcade, don’t fret, you can now catch it on SBS On Demand. For those of you outside of Australia, you can catch The Lost Arcade on a myriad of streaming services.

Kurt Vincent’s The Lost Arcade is an intimate story of a once-ubiquitous cultural phenomenon on the edge of extinction, especially in New York City, which once had video arcades by the dozen. These arcades were as much social hubs to meet up and hang out as they were public arenas for gamers to demonstrate their skills. But by 2011, only a handful remained, most of them corporate affairs, leaving the legendary Chinatown Fair on Mott Street as the last hold-out of old-school arcade culture. Opened in the early 1940’s, Chinatown Fair, famous for its dancing and tic tac toe playing chickens, survived turf wars between rival gangs, increases in rent, and the rise of the home gaming systems to become an institution and haven for kids from all five boroughs.

A documentary portrait of the Chinatown Fair and its denizens, The Lost Arcade chronicles the evolution of arcades, while celebrating the camaraderie and history of a pop culture phenomenon.

You better hurry Australian peeps, as you have 29 days left (from today) to watch this on SBS On Demand. After that, you’ll have to watch it via a paid streaming service.

Sources: SBS On Demand & The Lost Arcade

Filed Under: History, Retro Gaming Culture Tagged With: !Arcade!, 26 Aries, Arcade Machines, Arcade pop culture, Chinatown Fair, Chinatown Fair NYC, Documentary, Film, History, Kurt Vincent, Mott Street, Movie, pinball, Pop culture, Retro Gaming, SBS, SBS On Demand, SBS Viceland, The Lost Arcade, Video Games

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