The Pop-Culture E-Zine
A very cool video of the evolution of Nintendo consoles by our good friends at GameSpot Today I Learned!
Before some of you say, “But where is the Game Boy, DS and 3DS?”, relax, this is the evolutionary line of their consoles, not their handhelds. Having said that, it seems like the Virtual Boy doesn’t fit in any category 🙁
How many Nintendo consoles have you owned since their Color TV-Game 6?
source: GameSpot Today I Learned
We’ll keep this short and sweet – if you want to realise your childhood dreams of making a new (cartridge based) playable game for the NES but don’t have the necessary coding expertise, then hit the NESMaker Kickstarter immediately. Hurry up, ’cause there are only a few hours left to secure this awesome bit of dev-kit!
Go on, unleash your inner game developer without the need of coding skills!
PS: Don’t worry about funding, the project has already blown waaaaay past its goal and has unlocked a number of stretch targets!
source: The New 8-Bit Heroes
The World’s best-selling Home Computer on sale from 29 March 2018The fully licensed re-imagining of the 80’s bestselling home computer – THEC64® Mini – will be released on the 29 March 2018!
Developed by Retro Games Ltd – and distributed by Koch Media – THEC64® Mini is half the size of the original C64 and is a fully functioning home computer that connects directly to your television and comes with two USB ports for the joystick and a keyboard.
Launched in 1982, the C64 home computer went on to dominate the home computer scene throughout the 1980s. Millions of units were sold across the world and have a special place in the hearts of its former owners.
36 years later and it’s back as the reimagined THEC64® Mini. Plugging into any modern TV via its HDMI port, users can play any one of the 64 licensed classic pre-installed games. This includes games from developers like Epyx, Gremlin Graphics, Hewson and The Bitmap Brothers boasting titles such as California Games, Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe, Paradroid and Impossible Mission among many others.
Also included is the classic puzzler Boulder Dash®. The game sees ‘Rockford’ cavern crawling in search of gems while trying to avoid creatures, cave-ins and gas explosions. Stephan Berendsen, President of BBG Entertainment GmbH said: “Retro Games and BBG brought back together what has always belonged dating back to 1984 – the C64 and Boulder Dash®.”
Most of these games were rated over 90% by leading publications of the day, with many winning coveted awards. From sports to shooters, platforms to puzzles, there is a plethora of titles to keep the most discerning retro enthusiast happy!
“We are delighted to bring to retail THEC64 mini and let both original fans of the machine, and all-new generations of games players discover this amazing system, as well as maybe even have a go at programming it for themselves!”, said Paul Andrews, Retro Games’ Managing Director.
What’s in the box:
Other features include:
image source: THEC64® Mini
Set the date to 1987 and get ready to revisit the classic 8-bit adventure games that mesmerised a generation of console junkies. Now is the opportunity to play cult favourites Shadowgate™, The Uninvited™ and Déjà Vu™ the way they were supposed to be played, with controller in hand and worlds awaiting to be explored!
The 8-Bit Adventure Anthology (Volume One) will be available on Steam, PlayStation®4 and Xbox One on October 31.
The three classic ’80s thriller adventures games are being bundled into one package by Abstraction Games. Set within the realms of fantasy, horror and film noir, these three fantastic stories are a must have for those who lived in the decade of neon and those that wish that they had.
The 8-Bit Adventure Anthology (Volume One) includes these classic games:
source: GamePress
Just in case you have been busy drooling over the SNES Classic Mini, you may have missed the news that the greatest 8-bit computer, the Commodore 64, will also be joining the Mini stable!
Slated for release in 2018, The C64 has told us that this reborn C64 Mini will feature high-def output via HDMI, a pixel filter for pixel perfect graphics, 2 x USB ports, a classic style joystick (like the Comp Pro!) and most importantly, 64 built in games!
The list of included games cover every kind of gaming genre, including sports titles like California Games, awesome shmup action via Armalyte, and platforming shenanigans on Impossible Mission II, just to name a few!
2018 can’t come fast enough!
image source: The C64
Everyone loves a nostalgia trip. They take you back to a time once forgotten, and with these awesome gifs, done by car leasing company Select Car Leasing as part of a quiz, you’ll get that two-fold, with these legendary movie motors, re-vamped into an iconic, old-school 8-Bit style.
First, we have everyone’s favourite time-travelling vehicle, the DeLorean, Marty McFly’s mode of transportation to go back and forward through time in the unforgettable Back To The Future films. The DeLorean, which had to reach 88 mph in order to time travel, is actually back in production, being pieced together in Texas, rather than in Northern Ireland where the original was produced.
This Aston Martin V12 Vanquish is probably more famous for the epic ice chase/battle it had in the James Bond film, “Die Another Day” than it is as a standalone classic bond car. Going up against Zao’s Jaguar XKR, the two cars had possibly the greatest one-on-one battle of the Bond franchise, flipping over missiles and crashing through ice walls, with the baddy meeting his demise after being impaled by an ice chandelier.
The guys at Select Car Leasing couldn’t do work on iconic movie cars without putting at least one Batmobile in. Here is the first Batmobile that hit the movie theatres back in 1989 when the first Batman film arrived starring Michael Keaton as the caped crusader.
Not all of movies’ most iconic cars were restricted to driving on the road you know? Here we see the Spinner from the classic cyberpunk film, Blade Runner that featured Harrison Ford as main character Rick Deckard. These flying Police cars were used to survey the general public from the skies and will be seen again in the upcoming remake, Blade Runner 2049.
And finally, another motor that could take to the skies, possibly the most iconic car in movie history, the amazing Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. This vehicle looks fantastic but according to lead actor Dick Van Dyke, saying that Chitty Chitty Bang Bang was “a little difficult to manoeuvre, with the turning radius of a battleship”.
You can see more awesome 8-Bit movie cars by taking Select Car Leasing’s quiz here, which includes vehicles such as the Ecto-1 from Ghostbusters, Mad Max’s Interceptor, Herbie and a really cool transforming Bumblebee!
Have you ever wanted to touch up your favourite NES games? Perhaps make them brighter or make the graphics pop? Well, a talented digital artist by the name of Andrés Moncayo, has done it!
Andrés has digitally painted over some of the most iconic NES games like Duck Hunt, Contra, Double Dragon II: The Revenge and Zelda II – The Adventure of Link among other fan faves. Andrés has ensured that his versions keep the spirit of the original games.
We don’t know about you, but we absolutely reckon Andrés has nailed these touch ups! If you would like to see the rest of Andrés Moncayo’s NES paint overs, go and check them out here.
source: Andrés Moncayo
Change your soiled trauserz peeps, as RGCD is busily flashing C64 cartridges with Paul Koller’s Luftrauserz game. Yep, you read that right, the awesome shoot’em up Luftrauserz is coming to the venerable 8-bit micro! Work is also being done on the game’s manual and case inserts which we must say, look absolutely amazing. We’ll hopefully get word on the release date very soon – we’re betting that this game will sell like crazy!
While we are on the C64 news bandwagon, RGCD are also relaunching their out of stock games, which is great news for all of you that missed out on awesome games like Powerglove, C64anabalt, Super Bread Box and Bomberland. These relaunched titles will have improved cartridge labels (see below) and newly designed printed manuals. We reckon we’ll have to hit up RGCD for a few C64 carts for the Classic Gaming Area at PAXAus 2017!
source: RGCD
Yep, you read that heading right – an advanced Windows version of the seminal Nintendo arcade classic, Donkey Kong. Take a bow on a job well done, Mr. Justin Bohemier!
When our very good friend Aaron Clement (from Press Play On Tape Podcast fame) gave us the heads up on this game, we thought we would do the same by sharing it with the rest of you. Before Ninty’s lawyers issue a cease and desist, make sure you grab your copy of Donkey Kong Advanced now!
So you may ask, what’s new in this version of Donkey Kong Advanced? Since you asked nicely, here you go:
source: Justin Bohemier
image source: Donkey Kong Advanced in itch.io
CineFix brings us an 8-bit interpretation of the awesome Sam Raimi classic ‘Army of Darkness’ – Hail to the king, baby!
Video source: CineFix on YouTube
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Ms. ausretrogamer
Co-founder, editor and writer at ausretrogamer – The Australian Retro Gamer E-Zine. Lover of science fiction, fashion, books, movies and TV. Player of games, old and new.
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