Retro Gaming Culture

Refashioned Vintage Pinball Machines

May 29, 2018 By ausretrogamer

Whoa, hipsters rejoice! Actually, we really really like how these vintage pinball machines have avoided going to the scrapheap and been refashioned as ultra cool furniture and home decor!

Some purists may thinks these old pinball machines should have been restored to their former glory, which we agree with, but if they were beyond repair, then why not give them a new lease of life as cool furniture – we need some of these for our Fun Factory!

Check out Michael Maxwell’s Silverball – Maxwell Furniture Company, the makers behind these darn cool refashioned pinball machine coffee tables, side tables, bars, consoles and wall mirrors – we love’em!

source: If It’s Hip, It’s Here

Thrill Of The Chase: Retro Games Hunting In Brisbane

May 28, 2018 By ausretrogamer

The Thrill Of The Chase feels great doesn’t it? That buzz you get never gets old!

A little while ago, we went retro games and vintage hunting in Queensland’s capital, Brisbane, aka: BrisVegas! So what did we find? Well, we found the Woolloongabba Antique Centre & Cafe before it moved and became the Camp Hill Antique Centre.

Luckily Ms Ausretrogamer was on the case (she found this place!), as she dug up and found a heap of gems I would have missed. Rather banging on about it all, we’ll let the photos do the talking. Enjoy!

If you intend on using any of the photos within this feature, please credit them back to this article – thank you.

Getting Our Nostalgic Fix on the PS4 with Sega Mega Drive Classics

May 26, 2018 By ausretrogamer

Let’s get this out of the way, if you are still enjoying the Sega Mega Drive Ultimate Collection on previous systems, then stop reading this review (even though you will be missing out!). If on the other hand you are yearning to play some classic 16-bit Sega games on your PS4, then read on. Oh yeah, Sega Mega Drive Classics is also available on Xbox One, but we don’t have a XBone, so there you go.

Now, should we connect our Sega Mega Drive console and compare the games side by side? Actually, if you are lucky enough to have a working Mega Drive console connected to your TV with all the titles that are in this Classics pack, then you know what, you should stop reading too!

Ok, we are glad we got that off our chest! Wow, two paragraphs in and we still haven’t started telling you about the games and the other bells and whistles in this nostalgia inducing package.

Sega Mega Drive Classics on the PS4 is the largest collection of retro classic games in one pack. There are over 50 classic Sega 16-bit games, ok we counted them all, there are actually 53 games (and that’s not counting the games that have region specific variants) to satisfy almost every genre under the sun, from arcade action, adventure, pinball (sort of), shooters, beat ‘em ups, fighters, puzzlers, hack’n slashers, tactical RPGs to everyone’s favourite, platformers – and there are lots of platformers!

These old favourites aren’t just dumped from their cartridges and thrown in this package, no sirree, they have had a raft of very cool modern features injected into them including mirror mode, rewind (for when you slip up), controller customisation, online multiplayer and achievements, optional emulation enhancement filters like pixel scaling and save states to save your game at any time, meaning players – both old and new, should find revisiting these retro games an absolute Sonic 3D Blast (Ed: Oh dear, that was terrible!).

Upon loading Sega Mega Drive Classics we were totally impressed by the opening title sequence, which we will leave as a surprise, but we can tell ya this much, it’s pretty darn awesome – either that or we are too easy to please. Anyway, once you stop drooling from the title sequence (unless you hit X!) you are greeted by the new-look menu system, developed by d3t, from which you can access the 53 Sega Mega Drive games and other options. The menu resembles the bedroom of an early nineties Sega fan, which is a great throwback, with dynamic time-of-day conditions, retro SEGA paraphernalia, a shelf full of the aforementioned 53 Mega Drive games, and of course, a CRT TV with the sexy Mega Drive console underneath it.

When selecting a game to play, its corresponding cart is removed from its case and then inserted into the Mega Drive console – pure nostalgic nirvana. On top of the already mentioned modern conveniences and features jammed into this package, the most important thing we can tell you is that the emulation of the games is spot-on. The word ’emulation’ may trigger negative connotations, but we are here to tell ya that this is as close as you will get to playing Mega Drive games without forking out for the console on eBay and then fishing around for the game cartridges.

We touched on this earlier, but we’ll elaborate – each game has additional options, some more than others, like region specific versions (L3), modifications (Y) and extras (R1) like target milestones that earn you specific trophies.

As we aren’t much of adventure or RPG fans, we stuck to Sega’s arcade conversions, platformers, beat’me ups and puzzle games. After playing a lot of Sonic, Ristar, Golden Axe, Streets of Rage, Gunstar Heroes, Columns, the Wonder Boy and Shinobi games, we can say that we definitely felt like we were back in the early 90s – good times!

Before we go on, here is the full list of games included in this package:

Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle
Alien Soldier
Alien Storm
Altered Beast
Beyond Oasis
Bio-Hazard Battle
Bonanza Bros.
Columns
Columns III: Revenge of Columns
Comix Zone
Crack Down
Decap Attack
Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine
Dynamite Headdy
ESWAT: City Under Siege
Fatal Labyrinth
Flicky
Gain Ground
Galaxy Force II
Golden Axe
Golden Axe II
Golden Axe III
Gunstar Heroes
Kid Chameleon
Landstalker
Light Crusader
Phantasy Star II
Phantasy Star III: Generations of Doom
Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Millenium
Ristar
Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi
Shining in the Darkness
Shining Force
Shining Force II
Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master
Sonic the Hedgehog
Sonic the Hedgehog 2
Sonic 3D Blast
Sonic Spinball
Space Harrier II
Streets of Rage
Streets of Rage 2
Streets of Rage 3
Super Thunder Blade
Sword of Vermilion
The Revenge of Shinobi
ToeJam & Earl
ToeJam & Earl in Panic on Funkotron
Vectorman
VectorMan 2
Virtua Fighter 2
Wonder Boy III: Monster Lair
Wonder Boy in Monster World

The problem with a pack like this is that players will concentrate on all the games Sega left out of the mix. Granted, Sega probably could put the entire Mega Drive catalogue on one Blu-ray and flog it for $90.00, but then we would find something else to complain about – you just can’t please everyone. The games that are included are solid, bar a few questionable titles, however, just because we don’t like adventure and RPG titles, it doesn’t mean they should be excluded. Same goes the other way, if you loathe platformers, beat’em ups and puzzlers, it doesn’t mean these genres should be thrown out for more RPGs. Actually, if there was a driving game like Super Monaco GP or a motorcycle-racing-bashing one like Road Rash, then we could say that most, if not all, genres are well represented. Come to think of it, a few more shoot’em ups, like Truxton and Thunder Force would have rounded out this already pretty awesome package. Ah, we can speculate all we want, but we have to give it to Sega, they have tried to cater for the majority and we reckon they have done an admirable job.

After waffling on about this Sega Mega Drive Classics package on the PS4, the ultimate decision to buy or not buy is yours, but we’ll leave you with this little nugget – if you want to get your Sega 16-Bit gaming fix on your modern console, then you can’t go too wrong with Sega Mega Drive Classics.

Review System: PS4
Release Date: May 29 2018
Format: Xbox One & PS4 (sorry Nintendo Switch owners)
Price: $49.95

image source: Mega Drive Classics

Disclosure: Sega Mega Drive Classics [PS4] download code was kindly provided by Five Star Games for this review.

Behind The Scenes: Making of the Ausretrogamer Header Image

May 24, 2018 By ausretrogamer

After her awesome work on the Ausretrogamer Fun Factory, Ms Ausretrogamer’s turned her talents to creating the ausretrogamer social media header image you have all seen (and hopefully like) on Twitter and Facebook.

Check out the behind the scene of making this header image, as it it definitely wasn’t easy. The end result was all worth it!

Open Fodder: An Open Source Port Of Cannon Fodder

May 22, 2018 By ausretrogamer

Surely you all know (or at least) heard of Sensible Software’s brilliant military-themed action strategy shooter, Cannon Fodder. If you had an Amiga back in the day, we bet the house that you would’ve played Cannon Fodder.

Roll on to present day and we now have a nod to this awesome game with the brilliant open source port for modern operating systems (Windows / Linux / Unix), Open Fodder. This project (source code can be found on GitHub) is the brainchild of one Robert Crossfield (aka: segrax) and the mysteriously named, Dr Novice.

While Open Fodder is packaged with two demos, the full game requires the retail release available from GOG or the data extracted from the Amiga version using the WHDLoad installer.

source: Robert Crossfield

Results Are In For Your Dream Pinball Theme

May 21, 2018 By ausretrogamer

image source: David Manzano via Ozark Pinball Syndicate – Facebook

You all cast your vote and now it is time to reveal the results of what you all wanted your dream pinball theme to be.

We swear, we did not influence this result, but let’s just say we are very very happy to see Masters Of The Universe at the top of the dream theme heap! We were surprised with Pokemon, Die Hard (movie) and Predator (movie) getting votes for equal 3rd spot, but Harry Potter (2nd) and Rick and Morty (equal 3rd) were always going to poll well.

With all this talk of dream pinball themes, we wonder if the major pinball manufacturers and their licensing teams will take heed and surprises us in the not too distant future? We should hope so!

So, do you agree with this vote result? What theme would you have preferred to be number 1? Let us know via Twitter or Facebook – go on, have your say!

LEGO Minifigs: Unleash Your Inner Mini Retro Gamer

May 18, 2018 By ausretrogamer

Just like Elaine Benes of Seinfeld fame once said, “I am without speech”. Well, if Elaine was to see these Minifigs in the Game On! range, she’d probably be speechless yet again!

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, there we said it! With these mini arcade cabinets resembling the classics with some clever title manipulation like Puc-Mun, Dankey Kang and Brick Invaders, you are sure to unleash your inner mini retro gamer. Made with loving detail, these old arcade machines even come with their corresponding game screens too!

Oh yeah, your mini arcade machines will also need mini players, so with the likes of Lara Croft, Chun Li, Ryu and Solid Snake, you should be set!

image source: Minifigs.Me

The Ultimate Airbnb Experience: The Tiny House with a Pool and Retro Arcade!

May 15, 2018 By ausretrogamer

We definitely need a holiday! Who doesn’t like holidays, right? Well, we may have just found the perfect place to stay for our next getaway via Airbnb! This proves that tiny can be awesome!

If the photos of this tiny house with the great arcade and pool don’t convince you why it’s a cool place to stay at, then perhaps the write up may sway you:

“Our goal is to offer guests a unique opportunity to experience life in a “Tiny House” and to re-live some of their childhood in our retro arcade (all 45 games on free-play!). The atmosphere we’ve tried to create is “fun & different”. We want AirBnB’ers from ages 6 – 106 to relax, have fun and feel at home here. We’d love to have you come back to visit again & maybe even tell your friends about us too!? We’ll do everything in our power to make sure your stay is awesome, just like you expect it to be.”

Rightio, we have dibs on this tiny place next summer 😉

image source: Airbnb

LEGO: The Amazing Pinball Machine

May 14, 2018 By ausretrogamer

Remember Vladimir van Hoek’s playable Lord Of The Rings pinball machine made from Lego? Well, not to be outdone, The Brothers Brick’s Bre Burns has created the ultimate playable space themed Lego pinball machine!

Boasting some 15,000 bricks, this Lego built Benny’s Spaceship Adventure pinball machine has to be seen and heard to be believed! The level of detail that Bre has undertaken is simply breathtaking. Using LEGO’s Mindstorms NXT programmable bricks, Bre has ensured that this masterpiece gives you aural pleasure while also keeping score, just like a real pinball machine. Find out more about the technical details and build process here.

image source: The Brothers Brick

While we are all collectively picking up our jaws of the floor, watch the video of Bre’s brilliant pinball machine and be in awe of the loving detail of her masterpiece. AMAZING STUFF!

source: The Brother Brick

Evolution Of The Ausretrogamer Fun Factory

May 11, 2018 By ausretrogamer

This post has been a long time coming!

Not content with the home office acting as our games room, Ms. ausretrogamer came up with the idea to transform the garage into a fun factory – a place where all of our retro gear would be setup to be played and enjoyed.

Once the overall design was pitched, it took a while for me to come around to convert the garage into a gaming space. The garage was basically going to provide an idyllic setting for all of our computers, consoles, arcade and pinball machines in the one space so that they could be enjoyed by anyone at anytime – no more fetching stuff out of cupboards and wiring them up to be used!

With the garage already sporting painted walls and ceiling, the next step was to make it secure from the elements – we didn’t want dust to come in and damage the delicate old school gear. Once the garage was secure and weather tight, the interior design was kicked off by Ms. ausretrogamer. Her eye for detail and use of space was second to none! I must admit, I had trouble picturing how the whole thing would look like, but I should not have had any doubt. Ms. ausretrogamer’s vision for the room was exactly what both of us had wanted, I just didn’t know it till I saw it done!

The games room, now called the ‘ausretrogamer fun factory‘ started taking shape once we relocated the computers, consoles and the Dreamcast kiosk on one side, the cupboards holding the precious software on the opposite side and the larger items (pinball and arcade machines) utilising the rear of the room. Every inch of the room was used to its fullest extent – no waste of space in this fun factory!

The ausretrogamer fun factory has evolved over the last few years, with old items making way for newer old items, with the overall design and function remaining true – which is an ideal space for friends and family to get together and have fun!

All great ideas start with a mess!