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A Nostalgic Set of Mix Tape Cassette Kitchen Sponges

June 10, 2021 By ausretrogamer

Do you wanna rock your kitchen with this set of nostalgia inducing kitchen sponges?

Being from a certain generation, we love cassettes, so the look of these classic mix tapes cassette sponges are right up our alley! The detail on the cassettes are so cool, with mix tape graffiti style scrawling on each sponge with clever titles like; “Spruce Springclean”, “‘NSink”, “Sponge N’ Hoses”, and “Greasy Boys” – so punny!

The mix tapes cassette sponges are sold as a pack of four inside a retro-style boombox case! Let’s just say that this will make cleaning more fun!

image source: genuinefred

Recalbox 7.2 – The Awesome New Update!

April 23, 2021 By ausretrogamer

Recalbox 7.2 – released on April 23 at 9pm (GMT+2)!

Hey peeps, here is some awesome news that the Recalbox folks have shared with us – this Friday, April 23rd, at 9:00pm (GMT+2), they will finally launch their long awaited 7.2 update, packed with heaps of new features, new systems, functionalities and optimisations!

source: Recalbox via YouTube

To recap what is new and improved in Recalbox 7.2, which there are many, we thought we’d share the major highlights right here:

MAJOR NEW FEATURES:

Light-Gun Games!

Play more than 250 lightgun games on many different systems (Arcade, Megadrive/MegaCD, Dreamcast, and Playstation to name just a few), no configuration needed! Now gathered under a new “LightGun” virtual system.

Better 3D performance on Raspberry Pi 4!

The team has optimised Recalbox, allowing almost all N64, Dreamcast, Naomi & Atomiswave games to run at full speed on Raspberry Pi 4!

Overclock the Raspberry Pi 4!

And for even more performance, we’ve tested and chosen 4 optimal overclock settings on the Raspberry Pi 4. Overclocking your Pi will increase the frame-rate on CPU and GPU intensive games.

Improved PSX/N64/PSP performance on ODROID-GO Advance/Super

Play almost all PSX, N64, and PSP games at full speed on both ODROID-GO Advance & ODROID-GO Super!

NEW FEATURES:

New systems!

5 new supported systems are added to the nearly 120 systems already supported in Recalbox:

Watara Supervision: This cheap Game Boy clone was manufactured by Watara in 1992. It was later licensed to several third-parties, and released under many different names. 69 games have been officially released.
PICO-8: A virtual console similar to the TIC-80 with over 4000 games available, largely popularised by the incredible success of “Celeste”, the famous platformer initially developed by Noel Berry and Maddy Thorson on Pico-8 in 2015, before being released on all modern platforms in 2018!
Pocket Challenge V2: A Japanese handheld console that specialises in educational games.
Elektronika BK: BK (БК), Russian abbreviation for “бытовой компьютер” – “home computer” is a series of Soviet 16-bit home computers, developed under the brand Electronika by NPO Scientific Center. Elektronika BK was the only “official” Soviet home computer. The BK-0010/BK-0011 and Terak 8510/A were manufactured from 1984 to 1993 and sold at the price of 650 Rubles, which was… almost 4 months of average salary!
EPOCH SuperCassette Vision: The 2nd generation EPOCH console released in 1984 and counting a total of 30 officially released games and 3 unreleased. The porting of this Japanese emulator to Libretro is a Recalbox exclusive!

Dual JoyCon support (Nintendo Switch controllers)

Recalbox now supports both left and right JoyCons! In addition, you can use both JoyCons as a single combined controller!

Bluetooth Audio

Connect your Bluetooth headphones or speakers! (just pair them like you would a controller, for now).

New cores

3 new emulators are also available, depending on your hardware:

Libretro NeoCD added as NeoGeoCD core: loads CDs so much faster!
Libretro DOSBOX Pure: Don’t struggle with complicated DOS setups anymore! These games
have never been more plug & play!
Libretro-craft: A Minecraft clone available on x86 & x64 platforms only.

Hide pre-installed games

Pre-installed games are no longer copied into the user share. They stay on the system and can be hidden/shown using an option from the settings menu.

IMPROVEMENTS:

Main menu

The main menus have all been rewritten. They’re now faster, consume less memory, and are more intuitive. The most useful options have been moved so they’re faster to access. Reboots can now be delayed. This way, you can configure everything you need to before having to restart.

New options have been added:

Swap A & B buttons: change the way you validate and cancel actions.
Factory reset: reset all configurations (only keeps your games, saves, and scraped data)

Sound

In-game video sound/music is now available! You can choose between the following sound mode:

Background music only (EmulationStation music)
Video sound only (scraped videos)
Background music AND video sound mixed
Background music OR video sound (when playing videos in the new Gameclip screensaver)

Internal Scraper

The internal scraper has been greatly enhanced:

Improved menus. Now more intuitive, less clicks required to get things done.
Better region priority management: get better metadata for your region.
Ignore file referenced from .cue/.m3u and other multi-file roms: no more scraping the same
game twice!

System

Check image integrity when updating Recalbox
Added a new Reset to Factory Settings option to reset all Recalbox & emulator settings
without losing any user data: games, saves, screenshots, music, etc.

Emulators

Many emulators have been updated and/or reconfigured for new features, or to achieve better performance.

Dolphin updated to version 5.0-13178.
Stella (A2600) updated to fix lots of bugs (eg: Pitfall II)
Supermodel updated to version 839
UAE updated to support CHD
Np2Kai (PC98) updated to fix several issues
Odyssey² updated to add Europeans/French models (new RetroArch options)
Mupen64plus-next updated for better compatibility and performance! This core is now available on almost all platforms and performs very well!
FBNeo updated to support latest game additions
Libretro Duckstation is now available on all platforms!
Beetle-Saturn updated to improve compatibility (PC only)
Amiberry updated to version 3.3 for better performance & new options
Libetro-Parallel-n64 updated and fixed on almost all boards (except low-end PIs)
VIC20 is now shown as its own system, instead of only being available under C64
Videopac+ is now available as its own system, instead of being available as Odyssey² sub-model
Libretro MAME has been optimised to run full-speed on low-end PCs.
ScummVM updated to v2.3.0 and merged with ResidualVM

BUG FIXES:

Lots of bug fixes, as usual:

Fixed the ODROID-GO Advance v1 controller
Fixed the 8bitdo NES30 Pro rev1 controller mapping
Fixed missing BIOS MD5 & other minor errors in BIOS database
Removed useless BIOS files (PalmOS)
Fixed the Retroarch shortcut on ODROID-GO Advance
Fixed shaders on ODROID-GO Advance
Fixed lost support of open and WPA-PSK-SHA256 WiFi keys
Correction a fan problem with the NESPi 4 Case

TECHNICAL FEATURES:

Buildroot

Buildroot has been bumped to version 2020.11.

Kernels

Linux kernels have been bumped to:

5.4 for the ODROID XU4
5.8 for both x86 and x64
5.10 for all Raspberry Pis
Both ODROID-GO Advance & GO Super use a special Rockchip 4.4 kernel.

PulseAudio

We’ve moved from a purse ALSA audio backend to PulseAudio! Recalbox now supports more audio devices — and even Bluetooth audio!

image source: Recalbox

There you go peeps, to say we can’t wait for Recalbox 7.2 would be a massive understatement!

TinyTV DIY Kit – Build Your Own Tiny Television

April 20, 2021 By ausretrogamer

We are suckers for cute tech, so this TinyTV DIY kit hits the bullseye!

This super cute DIY TinyTV Kit complete with a vibrant full-colour OLED screen, assembles in less than 5 minutes and lets you load up to 5 hours of videos using a special conversion tool to convert MP4 files. Once done with converting the videos, you load the files on to the included MicroSD card and then you just grab some popcorn and sit back (Ed: or close, the screen is tiny!) and enjoy!

source: TinyCircuits

New He-Man related Documentary, ‘Faking Filmation’ is now LIVE on Kickstarter!

April 12, 2021 By ausretrogamer

When we got the email from Rob McCallum about a new MOTU related doco, we sat up and took note. We had previously backed the Power Of Grayskull documentary, which was darn awesome. So when Rob’s email advised us of the new Faking Filmation Kickstarter, we knew we had to jump on it right away!

The Faking Filmation documentary delves in the history of cartoons, with lots of attention to Filmation – the pioneering animation studio that helped start ‘Saturday Morning Cartoons’ and revolutionised weekday afternoon cartoons with He-Man and She-Ra.

But wait, there is more! This new project tackles all that cartoon goodness and wraps it around the story of He-Man mega fan, James Eatock, who has spent the last 3.5 years crafting his own unofficial He-Man cartoon called, “The Return of Faker.” James was just about to release the unofficial cartoon when he was hit with a cease and desist letter preventing him from doing it. Now, he’s on a mission to overcome this obstacle and share it with the world – how awesome is that!

If you want more Masters of The Universe documentary content, or a look at cartoon history, or you just want to see James’ amazing work (and his process to pull it off), then jump on the Faking Filmation Kickstarter right now!

image source: Faking Filmation via Kickstarter

LEGO IDEAS – The Pinball Machine

January 25, 2021 By ausretrogamer

We don’t have to tell you how much we love the creations on Lego Ideas, especially ones that are pinball related, and this latest one is no exception!

Without waffling on too much, check out this Lego Ideas – Pinball Machine, it is so darn awesome! Created by Sebas Chilidog, this works just like a real pinball, with a ball shooter / plunger, flippers, score reel and pop bumbers just to give you that silverball fix.

You have over 400+ days left to vote for this Lego Ideas creation, so there is no sense of urgency right now, however, if you are like us, you may want to vote now before you forget to do so later down the track. Flip on peeps!

source: Lego Ideas The Pinball Machine

A Very Funny Street Fighter II Battle In Real Life

September 1, 2020 By ausretrogamer

Now this is so funny and so clever, so we had to share it with you all! The sound effects are hilariously spot on!!

Well done to the Japanese comdey duo, Nomotion – NO79369371 and @nomo_info, this is awesome!

😬😅
…when it got out of hand in 2020 pic.twitter.com/UyNgIT2mHM

— Adrien (@Adrien92100) August 17, 2020

MEGAMANIA 64 – Have a Blast On Your C64

March 16, 2020 By ausretrogamer

One of the better Atari 2600 video games, Activision’s MEGAMANIA, has now been expertly and lovingly ported to the Commodore 64 by the very clever and prolific game dev, Nick Sherman of Arla Games!

The best part is, MEGAMANIA 64 is totally free! What are you waiting for? Grab the game and fire up your Commodore 64 and get blasting!

image source: Arla Games

Go Back To The Future With DMC Watches

May 22, 2019 By ausretrogamer

Back To The Future fans rejoice! If you can’t get to a DeLorean and hit 88 MPH (141.6 KMH for us Australian folks) to go back in time, then you can use one of these DMC watches to keep (up with) time!

Of course, there was only ever going to be one inspiration for these watches, the original (and damn cool) DMC-12 sports car. Check out some of the DMC watches (below) from their Alpha, Dream and 1981 collections.

Oh yeah, for a limited time, you can get 10% OFF any DMC watch purchase by using the coupon code ‘WELCOME19’! What are you waiting for, get that flux capacitor going and grab your very own DeLorean time machine!

photo source: DMC Watches

Electrifying the 80s

January 3, 2018 By ausretrogamer

What a way to start the new year with these awesome 80s metal posters from the ‘Electrifying the 80s‘ collection via Displate!

There are 14 metal posters in the Electrifying the 80s collection that will make your eyes pop! Here are a few to whet your 80s loving appetite…

image source: Displate

The UNIQLO UTGP’17 Nintendo T-Shirts Are Out Now

October 11, 2017 By ausretrogamer

The wait is over peeps! Remember how we told you back in May about the UNIQLO Nintendo T-Shirt Grand Prix (UTGP’17) competition winners? Well now you can head on in to your local UNIQLO store and snag a few (or all) of the UTGP’17 Nintendo tees!

We started with one tee because we love Donkey Kong, but we couldn’t resist grabbing the two Super Mario tees. Oh yeah, the littlest member of the ausretrogamer crew also scored herself some tees – check them out!

If you intend on going into their store, UNIQLO also have a free play area for you to enjoy some premium Nintendo video gaming! And don’t fret if there is no bricks and mortar store near you, just head to their online store and buy them all!

Remember folks, life cannot be reset!

Whoa, where to begin…