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Turn Your A500 Mini Into A Retro Console Beast!

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We know there will be the purists out there that will want to leave their THEA500 Mini retro system as it was intended (Ed: stock standard), but for those looking to spice there’s up, Team Pandory’s A500 Mini Pandory500 V2 Mod is for you!

The below video highlights the newly added features to the Pandory mod, which was released a few months ago. There’s the new Amiberry 5.3, new Dreamcast cores, native PPSSPP, and also making it compatible with the official firmware updates, to name just a few!

The installation is easy, all you need to do is download Pandory500 from Github and dump it onto a USB stick – it is that easy! Oh yeah, this is a softmod and does not change anything on TheA500 Mini. Go and have some fun 😉


source: Team Pandory



It’s On Like Donkey Kong – The Amazing PC Case

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Sometimes there is a huge pay off being in Facebook creator / modder groups, like the PC Builders Community group, which as the name suggests, is where clever peeps share their creations and modifications.

On this occasion, group member, Dennis Riese shared his custom Donkey Kong PC case, which as you can see in the photos, is mind-blowingly amazing!

Impressed with the PC case? You should be! The intricate level of detail is so spot on, this would pass as a Nintendo first party PC case – it looks that good. So what’s powering this liquid-cooled beast under the hood? It’s just as impressive as the case:

  • Motherboard – ASUS ROG Maximus XII Hero
  • Processor – Intel i9 10900
  • Graphics Card – NVIDIA GeForce 3080Ti Founders Edition with Corsair Hydro X water block
  • RAM – 32GB Crucial Ballistix MAX
  • OS – Windows 11 Pro
  • Storage 1 – WD Black 500gig M.2 NVme
  • Storage 2 – Samsung 970 Evo+ 2TB M.2 NVme
  • Cooling – 2 Corsair Hydro X water loops

Dennis says that,

Fun build and completely overkill for me to play Minesweeper on it but I am big on future proofing.

This Donkey Kong PC case is just next level awesome!

image source: Dennis Riese via Facebook



Taito Egret II Mini Arcade To Get An Update

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TAITO EGRET II MINI OWNERS: There will be an update that can be downloaded starting September 5th!

This is awesome news for those of you that were lucky enough to snag the Taito Egret II Mini. To commemorate the half year anniversary of the Egret II Mini, a commemorative program will be broadcast live on Famitsu Tube.

This live web broadcast will be delivered by the editorial department of Famitsu.com – a Japanese gaming and entertainment information/magazine site. Celebrities known for their love of games will serve as MCs and introduce the appeal of the latest games together with the Famitsu staff.


source: FamitsuTube

Voice actor Miyu Takagi will be the Master Of Ceremonies of the live broadcast this Friday, September 2nd.  There is much excitement in anticipating what will be revealed this Friday in relation to the half-year anniversary of the Taito’s Egret II Mini. Some of the updates that Taito has disclosed for the Egret II Mini ( available on September 5th) include:

  • Game Adjustments including controls (including spinner controller)
  • Bug Fixes on 8 titles
  • Display Adjustments whereby the aspect ratio of all 50 titles displayed on the main unit to be changed to 4:3, also changing the aspect ratio to 4:3 for screen display via HDMI output. Resolution of the title wallpapers will also be lowered to improve game performance while connecting to a TV via HDMI

You will need an SD card (or micro SDHC card with a SD conversion adapter) to transfer the update from your computer to the Egret II Mini. You will need at least 512 MB (FAT32) to store the update. We can’t wait!



story source: Taito

It’s Okay that Kyler Murray’s a Gamer

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By: D.C. Cutler, U.S.A.

Several weeks ago, you would’ve thought Arizona Cardinal’s quarterback Kyler Murray clubbed a baby seal and posted it on social media.

In Murray’s new five-year, $230.5 million contract, the Cardinals had included a clause requiring Murray to “complete at least four (4) hours of independent study” during game weeks. The “homework clause” specified that Murray would not receive credit for studying on an iPad if he was simultaneously playing video games, watching TV, or surfing the internet. Then, the Cardinals eventually removed the “independent study” clause from the quarterback’s contract.

If Murray didn’t like what was in the contract that was presented to him and his agent, he didn’t have to sign it. But some of the National Football League pundits who were dismantling the Murray contract addendum on various shows, had no kind words when the subject of video games came up. Most NFL gurus shrug at the mere mention of video games because they don’t have an investment or stack in gaming; they don’t gain anything when video games are brought up in their circles.

The 25-year-old quarterback took a thumping from most NFL commentators. Ryan Clark, on “NFL Live,” compared Kyler Murray to a fifth grader. Pretty harsh. Granted, fifth graders play a great deal of video games, but so do people in their thirties and forties.

A couple of fashionable pundits have said that when Murray throws an interception this season, fans will immediately say, “He’s been playing video games too much.” There could be a lot of reasons why Murray throws a pick. The most likely reason being that the cornerback anticipated a pass play when Murray drops back. Playing video games will have nothing to do with it.

Some in the sports media seem anti-video gaming. The revenues for the global game market were $159.3 billion in 2020. Do people who are paid to give their sports takes on the NFL know how many young people play video games? It’s estimated in 2023, there will be 3 billion video game players worldwide.



image source: Fox Sports

You Can Now Play OutRun on Atari 8-Bit Computers!

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Say what?! Yep, OutRun can be played on your Atari 8-bit (A8) XE/XL computers!

This is a Work In Progress (WIP), so there is more content/improvements coming, but for now, it is still looking and sounding pretty darn good!

Read up on the development/progress of OutRun on the AtariAge forum and download the WIP file direct from here. Brush the dust off your A8 computers (grab your Atari MAX cart) and get some OutRun into ya!


source: Atari 8-Bits Forever



Our Fun Factory Gets a RPI2DMD Retro Arcade Wall Clock

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We have always admired the Run-DMD clock and RPI2DMD arcade wall clocks, but getting one always proved elusive.

In October last year we serendipitously stumbled upon a new post on a UK pinball forum advertising a limited run of these DMD retro arcade clocks. We immediately registered our interest and the rest as they say, is history! The maker of these was going to do a run of about 30 units, so we definitely got lucky, as they got snapped up within minutes of the post going live!

Let the build begin!

We received our meticulously handmade RPI2DMD Retro Arcade Wall Clock in early January, which was amazing, considering all the international shipping disruptions due to the pandemic.

We must say, this amazing DMD panel is eye-poppingly gorgeous in real life and is quite large – which is a good thing. The DMD clock is connected via WiFi (it also has an Ethernet/RJ45 port), allowing us to login and configure our location (for time and weather information) and the animations we want to cycle through.

Speaking of animations, this thing is loaded! It has 5235 animations to be exact. The animations range from arcade and pinball attraction screens, logos, consoles, computers, to Christmas and Halloween GIFs to name just a few. There were also some *ahem* questionable adult animations, but we switched those off for obvious reasons.

Setting up the RPI2DMD

DMD Wall Clock

Specs of the RPI2DMD Retro Arcade Clock include:

  • Built on Raspberry Pi, Custom software, Colour panels, Remote accessibility and settings
  • Brightness settings dependant on the time of day (so it can go dim at night, and then on bright at 8am for example)
  • Edit the display duration (or switch the individual function off!), choose different fonts & background images
  • Display a 7-day weather forecast (using an API key from OpenWeatherMap)
  • WiFi and Ethernet connection
  • 5000+ animations across 14 categories

And of course, to do all of this, ideally you would need a Wifi Connection, or wired Ethernet (although not essential, highly recommended – the Weather forecast does NOT work without an internet connection).

The wait to get one of these was definitely worth it. It looks absolutely amazing and is always a great conversation starter.

Testing the RPI2DMD

Shinobi on DMD Wall Clock



Tiny Pinball That Can Play Pinball Fantasies

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This miniature homemade pinball machine is so darn cute!

Don’t be deceived by its tiny looks – this little beast can play one of the greatest pinball games from the 90s, Pinball Fantasies, on its tiny screens! To make it even more like its bigger and heavier brother, it sports a working plunger and haptic feedback for added realism – mind totally blown!

For those of you that want to know the technical aspects of this creation, check out it out here.


source: Sprite_tm

story source: hackaday.com



Intoxicating Nostalgia: The LEGO Icons Atari VCS (10306) Set

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Here we were thinking it doesn’t get any better than Lego’s Nintendo Entertainment System set, but looks like we were terribly mistaken! Lego have now gone up another level with their amazing Atari VCS/2600 (10306) set! Just look at the intricate detail, it oozes an intoxicating aroma of nostalgia. The set contains 2,532 pieces that create the iconic woodgrain console, three game carts, a CX40 joystick, three-shelf cabinet and three 3D vignettes of classic 2D games!

Just like when the Lego NES set was released, this won’t be cheap. Slated at a retail price of AU$369.99, you can grab one from 1st August – not long to wait now!

image source: Brickfinder – Facebook



Lego Ideas: Game Boy Colour Transformer “PRISMATIS”

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We love Lego Ideas that have a nostalgic link to our past, just like this Game Boy Colour Transformer “PRISMATIS” by Baron Von Brunk.

Built in 2017, this particular Lego Ideas entry is based on an iconic full-size 1990s Game Boy Color, with its crisp lime green colours, a battery case on the back that comes off to store two batteries that double as missiles – how clever! Baron tells us that the transformation process is straight forward without the need to remove parts. The Transformer arms and hands are articulated with individual fingers on each hand – talk about attention to detail! Oh yeah, how cool is that speaker vent – another great touch to this very cool Lego Ideas entrant.



Review: Final Vendetta

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Sorry Double Dragon, Final Fight & Streets of Rage, there is a new beat’me up contender that kicks your a***

As an enduring genre we have always loved beat’em ups, especially at the arcades! Starting with Double Dragon in 1987 where we could play with a buddy kicking two-shades out of the baddies, we were very excited to get our hands on Final Vendetta!

Final Vendetta harks back to the good ole days of arcade beat’em ups, like Final Fight, with hard-hitting action, packed with modern stunning pixel art visuals, thumping dance/techno soundtrack featuring exclusive tracks by Utah Saints (yep, Utah Saints!), and most importantly, being able to brawl with bad dudes and tough girls across (six) very dangerous environments.

The hardcore fighting action pulls no punches in Final Vendetta, with heaps of enemies to take down with one of three playable heroes (characters) that have varying fighting styles with fresh beat’em up  mechanics like the ability to block and strike downed opponents and a plethora of other moves and combos to master. Oh yeah, to ensure your character’s health bar is always in tip top shape, there is succulent street food to sample across each level.

With only having time to play the arcade mode before this review, FV has four exciting game modes in total, with the aforementioned Arcade mode, Survival, Versus and Boss Rush – enough to keep you brawling for ages!

Goddamn this is a top class game. There honestly isn’t enough superlatives to describe the luscious visuals, the amazing sound effects and soundtracks, and of course, the gameplay with its usual moves and combos. But what sets Final Vendetta head and shoulders above anything else that came before it are the newly minted beat’em up mechanics/moves like blocking, striking downed opponents and performing juggle combos – these truly are the cherries on top of an already delicous cake!

Here is the final word on Final Vendetta – it is simply the complete beat’em up video game package, and we would go as far as saying this is the genre’s magnum opus – it’s that bloody good!

Details:

  • Game: Final Vendetta
  • Platform(s):
    • Digital: Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox X|S & Steam
    • Physical: check retailers at Numskull Games
  • Available: June 17, 2022 (UK and Europe)
  • Price: US$24.95 (Switch eShop)