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Arcade in Paradise

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TimeZone_ausretrogamer

I don’t know about you, but I still get that ‘butterflies in the stomach’ feeling whenever I stumble upon an amusement parlour (Ed: It is called an entertainment centre!).

During our recent trip to Queensland, not only did we stumble upon an amusement parlour, but we hit the jackpot – we found the largest Timezone in the world! A gaming paradise spanning over 5,000 square metres. This multi ‘Gold Coast Business Excellence Award’ winning entertainment centre knows how to cater for all gamers – young and old.

Yours truly enjoying some After Burner Climax
Yours truly enjoying some After Burner Climax

Timezone Funtasia has been part of the Surfers Paradise fabric for many moons. No visit to Cavill Mall is complete without going up the escalators and entering this great funhouse. There are the usual redemption machines, arcade machines based on smarthphone games (Ed: Doodle Jump!), lots of shooting and driving games, fighting games (Ed: I love a bit of Tekken), sports games (Virtua Tennis 4 is pure bliss), pool tables, slot car racing, miniature bowling alleys, air hockey and pinball tables, laser skirmish, merry-go-rounds, and even a dodgem (bumper) cars rink.

VF_ausretrogamer

I know what you are thinking – were there any old arcade machines from the late 80s and early 90s? Sadly, there wasn’t. The oldest machines were Sega’s 8-player Daytona USA and Namco’s Point Blank. However, there were enough machines and tables to keep you occupied for hours, literally!

The two videos below give you a glimpse of this Timezone. Nothing will beat being there in person and immersing yourself in a game; savouring the game play, hearing the sound effects, music and most importantly, the feel of playing on a machine. If you do find yourself on the Gold Coast, give Timezone a visit, you will not regret it!

 

 

If you would like to feast your eyes on more arcade machines from TimeZone, check out our album.

 

 

Galaga: The Affinity Lives On

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Galaga_arcade_flyer

Those on the ausretrogamer bandwagon will be aware that I LOVE Galaga! Namco’s vertical shoot’em up trapped me in its tractor beam back in 1981 and hasn’t released me yet.

Some 30 plus years ago, while waiting for relatives to arrive at Melbourne International Airport, I noticed a tabletop machine nearby. Upon gazing at the screen, I saw a little triangular ship shooting at formations of alien spaceships streaming from the sides of the screen. My first thought was, “wow, a souped-up Space Invaders”. Once I dropped in two 20 cent pieces, I immediately realised – this was no Space Invaders. This was way better! You could shoot multiple times (as long as you had the finger dexterity), your ship could be captured in a tractor beam, and there were challenge stages to rack up those high score points. To put it mildly, I was hooked.

Galaga_4

So, what was it about Galaga that got this child hooked all those years ago? Galaga was, and still is, an uncomplicated vertical shoot’em up with the right mix of challenge and entertainment. Blasting those pesky alien spaceships gives a great sense of satisfaction.

For those unfamiliar with Galaga, here is the low-down on this beautiful game: You control the ship at the bottom of the screen, firing at Galaga enemies, moving left and right to avoid their fire and kamikaze attacks.

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The enemy spaceships fly onto the screen from the left or right side. Unless you can shoot them all while forming, they assemble in the centre of the screen – just like in Space Invaders. As you play the game, you quickly learn the formation patterns and can anticipate when and how the spaceships will fly out onto the screen.

There is one particular Galaga enemy ship that is special – these enemy spaceships take multiple hits before they are destroyed. If you do not destroy them, they can fly down the screen towards you and release a tractor beam to capture your ship. To free the captured ship, you must destroy the captor Galaga while it is attacking you, if you fail, your captured ship will be destroyed. When you free your captured ship, it will dock alongside your current ship, and you are thus rewarded with a dual firing weapon of mass destruction.

Galaga_3

These dual ships are especially handy for blasting away enemies during challenge stages. With your dual ship you can clear stages quickly and collect some nice bonus points. Speaking of points, every 20,000 earns you an additional life (ship); and as the game increases in difficulty, every spare ship counts.

Galaga remains a firm favourite in the gaming community, especially to those who grew up in the 80s. Since dropping in those coins all those years ago, I can safely say my affinity for Galaga has not subsided one bit. Long live Galaga!

Graphics The star field is realistic enough to make you feel like you are flying through deep space engaging in some enemy fire.

90%
Sound Pew Pew sound effects never sounded any better.

90%
Playability Insert coins, move left or right and fire. Couldn’t be any easier, right?

93%
Lastability Galaga enemy spaceships have been fired upon ever since 1981. You do the maths on the lastability of this seminal shooter.

95%
Overall When it comes to old school vertical shoot’em ups, Galaga is at the top of its class.

95%

 

 

 

 

arcade-game-galagaManufacturer: Namco
Year: 1981
Genre: Shoot’em Up
Number of Simultaneous Players: 1
Maximum number of Players: 2
Gameplay: Alternating
Control Panel Layout: Single Player
Controls:
– Joystick: 2-way (left, right)
– Buttons: 1 (fire)
Sound: Amplified Mono (single channel)

 

 

 

 

Galaga_Namco

Golden Axe: Swashbuckling Arcade Action

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GoldenAxe_header

The powerhouse that was Sega in the late 1980’s indulged us in some awesome arcade hits. Towards the end of that decade, Sega released memorable arcade games: Crack Down, Dynamite Dux, ESWAT Cyber Police, Scramble Spirits and Power Drift. To keep up this pedigree of arcade hits, Sega unleashed Golden Axe in 1989. Once again, Sega proved that they were the king of the arcade hill.

GA_screen1

The big rage back in the late 80’s was two player co-op, horizontal-scrolling fighting games, or in this case, slashing evil minions to pieces and getting to the final boss. The medieval theme of Golden Axe implements the hacking and slashing game play to perfection. The storyline is pretty much run of the mill – the evil Death Adder has kidnapped the King and Princess of Yuria and it is up to the protagonists to rescue them and also seek revenge on the evil that was done to their families.

GA_screen2

To set off after Death Adder, the player controls one of three characters, Ax Battler (a Conan The Barbarian lookalike),  Gilius Thunderhead, the viking dwarf, and Tyris Flare, the Amazonian goddess (my first female video game character crush – sorry Lara!). Even though Tyris is a great character to use, her long-sword is no match for the battle axe that Gilius Thunderhead wields.

Anyway, on with the adventure – there are lots of different enemies to slash and if things get tough on screen, each of the protagonists can call upon their unique magic power – Tyris Flare has the coolest magic, she uses fire to incinerate everything on screen. There is finite magic power, so the player will have to pick and choose when best to use it. But wait there is more – mounted enemies riding creatures can be knocked off and the players themselves can then hitch a ride on the creatures and use them as weapons (swiping with their tail). The other neat attack is to charge and ram Death Adder’s henchmen by double-tapping the joystick right or left.

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The level design is simply awesome – from Turtle Village (which is on a shell of a turtle), to the back of a giant flying eagle. Last but not least, there is the castle where you must defeat Death Adder and reclaim the Golden Axe.

SPOILER ALERT: Once the game is beaten, the ending shows a view of an arcade where the characters “jump out” of the game, run out of the arcade and down the street.

I have always been a huge Sega arcade fan. Whatever they pumped out, it was an instant hit. Golden Axe was no exception.

 

Graphics Using the Sega System 16 board, this was the pinnacle in visuals at the time. Great sprites and awesome looking levels.

87%
Sound The background music and digitised effects and grunts add perfectly to the axe wielding and sword swooshing atmosphere.

88%
Playability Sega knew what they were doing when adding an Amazonian beauty to the mix. Golden Axe remains easy to get into, but its best played with a buddy.

87%
Lastability It is a run of the mill side scrolling hack and slash, but hey, there is nothing wrong with that.

88%
Overall In 1989, I pumped the equivalent of my body weight of coins into this game. It was also one of the reasons I bought a Mega Drive when it was released. Best played with a friend, Golden Axe has it covered – great graphics, awesome sound effects and great game play.

89%

 

 

 

GoldenAxe_machine

Manufacturer: Sega
Year: 1989
Genre: Platform
Number of Simultaneous Players: 2
Maximum number of Players: 2
Gameplay: Collaborative
Control Panel Layout: Multi Player
Controls:
– Joystick: 8-way
– Buttons: 3 [Jump, Attack, Magic]
Sound: Amplified Mono (single channel)

 

 

 

 

GoldenAxe_Flyer

 

 

Top 5 Games Charts: March 1981

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Let’s rewind back to March 1981, dead smack in the middle of a thriving arcade age and a killer home console scene. These were heady times for Atari – they were dominating the arcades and the home video games market.

To find out what we were playing as youngsters, here are the top 5 games from March 1981 for the Atari 2600, Arcade and the venerable Game & Watch.

 Atari2600 1) Dragster (Activision)
2) Pele’s Soccer (Atari)
3) Video Pinball (Atari)
4) Fishing Derby (Activision)
5) Golf (Atari)

 

 galaga_arcade_machine 1) Pac-Man (Namco)
2) Missile Command (Atari)
3) Battlezone (Atari)
4) Defender (Williams Electronics)
5) Space Panic (Universal)

 

 GandW 1) Fire (Nintendo)
2) Manhole (Nintendo)
3) Helmet (Nintendo)
4) Vermin (Nintendo)
5) Flagman (Nintendo)

 

Musée Mécanique: The Mechanical Museum Of San Francisco

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San Francisco, it may not have Disneyland, but what it does have is an arcade aficionado’s paradise – the Mechanical Museum, or ‘Musée Mécanique’.

Located at Pier 45 in Fisherman’s Wharf, this wonderland is Mecca for arcade nostalgia buffs. Once you enter the museum, you are greeted by familiar sounds of coins dropping into machines, pinball bumpers being hammered, plastic fire buttons being mashed, and good old Zoltar providing fortunes – music to the nostalgic ear. This Musée contains one of the world’s largest (over 200) privately owned collections of coin-operated mechanical musical instruments and antique arcade machines in their original working condition. The best part is, you can play them all!

After admiring Laffing Sal, the very first game that took my fancy was the original Pong. I had never seen one in real life, so this was an experience to behold. The sharp and square cabinet is a testament to industrial design. The machine still works, even after all these years of punishment. The round dials were still responsive; and yes, after being down a few points, I did beat my less-experienced wife.

The most difficult decision in the Musée is where to go first, and what to see next. It is a huge place! It is akin to being a kid in a candy store. But after Pong, we proceeded to the ‘mechanical’ machines, built 80+ years ago. No photos can do these old machines justice. They have to be seen and touched in the flesh. Their build quality is second to none. Now I understand why people say “they don’t build them like they used to”. These things are built like tanks and are priceless relics.

Interspersed among the antique coin operated machines are pinball tables and arcade games from the Golden Era – Ms Pac-Man, Galaga, Pole Position, Moon Patrol, Sprint, Robotron 2084, and Dig Dug – to name a few. First I chose to play the 1962 electro-mechanical pinball table ‘Olympics’. I managed to draw some onlookers, fascinated by the bumper noises. I felt like a teenager, feeding off their attention. Once the table was tilted, it was game over and time for me to move onto the next machine.

At the rear of the Musée, you will find the largest concentration of golden era games (Centipede, Spy Hunter, Rally X, Battlezone and others) as well as more modern arcade machines, including SNK’s Neo Geo cabinets. Let’s just say, I spent a considerable amount of time (and money) in this area.

After prying myself (and my wife) away from these machines, we walked the floor of the Musée to (again) saviour the old and the not so old in coin operated machines. During this stroll one thing struck me, there were families containing multiple generations all enjoying every aspect of this place. There were parents showing their kids Pac-Man, grandmother’s having a go on Bally’s Sharpshooter, and kids generally wide-eyed at the wonderment that was within the walls of the Musée.

If you are an arcade video games player and you are in the vicinity of San Francisco, head to Pier 45 at Fisherman’s Wharf to soak up some nostalgia at Musée Mécanique.

To view all 111 photos from Musée Mécanique, hit the album on Facebook.

                         


Place: Musée Mécanique
Where: Pier 45 (Shed A), Fisherman’s Wharf, San Francisco, CA 94133
Tel: (415) 346-2000
Hours of operation:
Mon-Fri 10:00am-7:00pm;
Sat-Sun 10:00am-8:00pm;
Holidays 10:00am-8:00pm

 

 

 

Space Harrier: An Arcade Blast

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Yu Suzuki, Sega’s answer to Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto, has produced some of the most iconic arcade games ever. How does Out Run, After Burner, Power Drift, Super Hang-On and Virtua Fighter (to name a few) grab you ? Before all these superlative arcade titles, it was the 1985 hit Space Harrier, that propelled Yu into the stratosphere of legendary game developers. [Read more…] about Space Harrier: An Arcade Blast

Bubble Bobble: arcade

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This is the beginning of a fantastic story!! Let’s make a journey to the cave of monsters!
I know, too many exclamations. Well, when you are reviewing Bubble Bobble, you just can’t help yourself!

          

So what is this game about ? Well, in case you have been under a rock since 1985, you play two transformed dinosaurs, Bub and Bob – you try to complete 100 levels and then rescue your girlfriends by trapping the Baron’s minions in bubbles and bursting them. Sounds easy huh ? Well, not quite. This game grabs you by the scruff of the neck and then shakes you up in the later levels –  it gets hard, very hard. However, Baron von Blubba has left a number of power-ups and hidden abilities to help Bub and Bob get further in the game, like: bubblegum, teapot, umbrella (to teleport), water and lightning bubbles. You better get your bubble-blowing fingers in readiness !

          

Well, what can I say that has not been said about this great coin-op game. Bubble Bobble is an absolute classic !

Graphics Cute graphics of Bub and Bob blowing bubbles and bursting their enemies

85%
Sound The sound effects and catchy soundtracks are dead on perfect and complimentary to the visuals and gameplay

85%
Playability An easy to pick up and play game. This game is fun in single player mode, but when you grab a friend and frolic in joint play, nothing else beats it !

92%
Lastability With 100 levels, and two game modes (normal or super) this will last a life time. Yeh, you may find it tough after level 20, but I guarantee you will want to keep going. That is its timeless charm

92%
Overall This is as close as you can get to a perfect game. Easy to get into and play, fun and hard levels (and there are 100 of them!) and in the end, you rescue your girlfriend and become a hero. Nothing could be better

93%

Manufacturer: Taito
Year: 1986
Genre: Platform
Number of Simultaneous Players: 2
Maximum number of Players: 2
Gameplay: Joint
Control Panel Layout: Multiple Player
Joystick: 2-way [left or right]
Buttons: 2 [fire and jump]
Sound: Amplified (Mono or Stereo)