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Tips And Tricks To Get The Most Out Of Your NES Console

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Be warned peeps, this tips and tricks video will void your old console’s warranty!

The Ben Heck Show team go under the hood of the NES (Nintendo Entertainment System) for a complete teardown with tips and tricks on how to breathe new life in the venerable Ninty console.

The team start by disabling the lockout chip (yay!) and also give the cartridge loading bay care and attention as it’s one of the common failures, partly because it functions like an old VCR player! Ben also provides anecdotes from his time at Funcoland (now Gamestop) and also gives us other possible mods for the NES.

So what are you waiting for, grab the screwdriver and start taking apart that grey Nintendo shoe box!


source: The Ben Heck Show


How the Gun on the Original Duck Hunt Worked

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‘If you’ve ever played Duck Hunt or any of the other NES games that used the NES Zapper gun, you probably at one point or another wondered how the game actually knows where on the TV you are aiming the gun when you pulled the trigger. It turns out, the method for accomplishing this is incredibly simple, as is the gun itself.’


Source: Today I Found Out

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msausretrogamerMs. 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.

Follow Ms. ausretrogamer on Twitter

 

 

The Ultimate NES – Now You’re Really Playing With Power

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Whoa, our socks have well and truly been blown off! From all of the console mods and superguns we’ve come across, Gamester’s Ultimate NES (UNES) is by far the most impressive!

Gamester’s UNES hybrid console supergun can play original NES carts, JAMMA boards and Neo Geo MVS carts – how awesome is that! The impressive feats just keeping coming – the UNES has dual video outputs, allowing two different games to be played simultaneously on two TV screens! Oh yeah, the addition of the Neo Geo controller ports, hidden under the flap above the NES controller ports is downright ingenuous.

Best part about this console mod is that it was not turned into some Frankenstein monster – if you look at it front on, you would swear that it was just an original NES console. No one can tell the power that lurks inside this beast! Gamester’s UNES is truly playing with some serious power.

Ultimate NES Specifications:

  • Base: 1985 Nintendo Entertainment System with new 72 pin connector
  • Power Supply: Astrodyne external triple output, 5V@10amps, 12V@3amps, -5V@1amp
  • Outputs: Composite Video, S-Video, Component Video and Stereo/Mono Audio
  • Inputs: JAMMA Connector, Neo-Geo controllers
  • Video Encoder: NeoBitz + JROK Sync Cleaner
  • Weight: 3lb 8oz / 1.6kg

Looks normal enough…
UNES, Gamester, Ultimate NES, JAMMA, MVS, Neo Geo

Wait a minute, what are these extra Neo Geo controller ports…
UNES, Gamester, Ultimate NES, JAMMA, MVS, Neo Geo

That is one sexy rear!
UNES, Gamester, Ultimate NES, JAMMA, MVS, Neo Geo

The power is within! Oh, great NES game inside too…
UNES internal, UNES, Gamester, Ultimate NES

source: Jamma Nation X – Gamester’s Ultimate NES

 

The Retro Freak: It’s Freakin Awesome

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retrofreak_titleWhen we received the Retro Freak console from Play-Asia, we put our thinking cap on to try and find a way to review the unit objectively. Our thinking cap must’ve worked, as we came up with an ingenious idea – take the Retro Freak to the biggest gaming expo in the southern hemisphere, PAX Aus 2016!

By having the Retro Freak available to play at PAX Aus, it gave us the opportunity to observe attendees playing on the console and gauge their unfiltered and objective feedback. With thousands in attendance, we weren’t short of people having a go. There were youngsters and older players, families and couples all having a go. The overwhelming responses from players was, “What is this console?”, “Where can I get one?” and “How much is it?”.

Play your old school carts on the Retro Freak!
retrofreak_top_carts

For those that are not aware, this awesome console from Cyber Gadget allows you to play your original game cartridges/cards from your Famicom, SNES/Super Famicom, Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, PC Engine, TurboGrafx-16, SuperGrafx, Game Boy, Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance. By supporting these legacy systems, the Retro Freak ensures that you only need the one console setup in your games room to play all of your favourite classic titles! Hooray, you can finally declutter!

Let’s put on scanlines!
retrofreak_avsettings

We love the clean and easy-to-use interface
retrofreak_screen

The Retro Freak pumps out its audio visuals via HDMI, supporting 720p upscaling, which makes your old school games look great on newer TVs – so no more needing that 20 year old CRT TV! Well, we would suggest that you still hold onto your CRT TV *winks*. The other cool features that will freak you out (in a good way) include; filters, backing up of games from cartridge onto the console (on MicroSD card), instant save states and cheat codes (for certain games).

For control, there is the pack-in SNES-style controller, which does the job well, or if you prefer, modern gamepads such as the DualShock 3 and DualShock 4 can also be used (via USB). The Retro Freak Premium pack ships with a controller adaptor that supports Famicom/NES, Super Famicom/SNES, Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, and PC-Engine/TurboGrafx-16 controllers. If you prefer bluetooth control (perhaps you dislike wires!), you can procure the 8bitdo Retro Receiver, plug it into the controller adaptor and use any one of your PS3, PS4, WiiMote or Wii U controllers you may have lying around. Oh yeah, you can re-map controller buttons to suit your style! We love the flexibility that the Freak provides!

The pack-in controller does the job! At least the USB cable is 1.8M!
retrofreak_snes-controller

One side of the Controller Adaptor – connect your fave gamepads!
retrofreak_controlleradapter

Other side of the Controller Adaptor reveals more classic controller ports!
retrofreak_controlleradapter2

So how does it compare to playing on the real hardware? We threw all kinds of games at the Freak, and it ran them without a hitch. We didn’t encounter any incompatibility issues, which ensured we didn’t rage quit and turn off the console. The transferring of original game cartridge data to MicroSD is as easy as breathing, thanks to the user friendly interface. One niggle we did have was with Cyber Gadget’s support page being in Japanese – it made it difficult to ascertain the firmware and application updates required to ensure the Retro Freak was up to date. Google did came to the rescue here by pointing us to a forum that had the instructions in English on how to upgrade the firmware.

The elephant in the room is the obvious comparison to the RetroN5. With quality issues hampering the RetroN5, we know which system we would prefer to use – if only the Retro Freak was as good looking as the RetroN5! If you want to be able to archive your original game carts and declutter by only having one console to play your classic games on, then you can’t go wrong with the Retro Freak!

If you are keen to check out the Retro Freak console, then head to Play-Asia now.

Play Operation Wolf straight from the PC-Engine HuCard, OR…
retrofreak_opwolf

Backup the Operation Wolf HuCard to microSD! It’s the best of both worlds!
retrofreak_opwolf_backup

The Retro Freak makes it to PAX Aus!
retrofreak_pax

Family gaming together!
retrofreak_pikachu

The Retro Freak was a hit at PAX Aus 2016! The Sega Mega Drive version of Aladdin was quite popular.
retrofreak_girl

Super Famicom F-Zero action aplenty!
retro_freak_fzero

Time to SUPER SMASH (some) TV!
retrofreak_smashtv

Thanks to Play-Asia.com for supplying the Retro Freak used in this review.



8-Bit ‘King Of The Hill’ Intro

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koth-featuredClever pixel artist, Mauri Helme, has recreated the classic ‘King of the Hill’ intro in wonderful 8-bit style.

Mauri’s other work includes a beautiful pixel illustration of the NES:
nes

And the last scene of ‘Back to the Future’:

Sources: Mauri Helme via Laughing Squid, and Mauri Helme’s blog

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msausretrogamerMs. 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.

Follow Ms. ausretrogamer on Twitter

 

 

NES Classic Mini: Second Australian shipment will be available in December

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nes-classic-edition_titleHey peeps, did you miss out on the first batch of Nintendo’s NES Classic Mini? If you did, don’t stress, as Nintendo have announced that a second Australian shipment will be made available in early December. As Nintendo have stated, check the details with your local retailer!

Pi Cart: 2,400 Vintage Games In A NES Cartridge

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pi-cart-2Wow – this innocent-looking NES cartridge contains 2,400 vintage games! Watch the video, then make your own.

Source: howchoo via Technabob

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msausretrogamerMs. 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.

Follow Ms. ausretrogamer on Twitter

 

 

Vans X Nintendo: Powered Up Streetwear

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VansXNintendo_HDRIt is great being on holiday – nothing beats being relaxed and away from your every day concerns! On our recent trip to Queensland’s Gold Coast, where it is beautiful one day and perfect the next, we happen to stumble across the Vans store at the Pacific Fair Shopping Centre. To our surprise, the store featured a complete Vans X Nintendo range by having an eye catching display at the front of their store.

We obviously didn’t need much coaxing to enter the Vans store once the exclusive 8-bit Nintendo graphics inspired gear caught our attention. The Vans X Nintendo range includes all of your fave Nintendo characters in an assortment of streetwear; from shoes, trucker’s hats, backpacks, to ties, socks, t-shirts and long-sleeve sweaters! Oh yeah, there are sizes for the little ones too!

So get “Off The Wall” and check out what we found at the Vans store on the Gold Coast…

Vans Gold Coast! What do we have here then…..
VansXNintendo_1a

Woohoo, the Vans X Nintendo Collection is ranged!
VansXNintendo_1

So much to see and touch! What do we look at first?
VansXNintendo_2

Cool runners (that’s sneakers for our American friends)
VansXNintendo_3

Oo’er, we REALLY like these NES inspired runners!
VansXNintendo_4

GAME OVER? Never!
VansXNintendo_5

Tough choice: Donkey Kong or Duck Hunt…..
VansXNintendo_6

Mario and Luigi’s personal parking spots!
VansXNintendo_9

CIB – complete in box! Gotta try some!
VansXNintendo_7

The level of detail is phenomenal!
VansXNintendo_8

Gonna keep this!
VansXNintendo_11

Whoa, the kids can don their Vans X Nintendo gear too!
VansXNintendo_12

Vans X Nintendo is where the heart is…
VansXNintendo_10

We didn’t walk away empty handed *wink*VansXNintendo_box

We had to get the cool NES runners!
VansXNintendo_sneakers

Oh yes, the collectable pins given away were a great surprise!
VansXNintendo_pins

It’s never GAME OVER!
VansXNintendo_GameOver



Power Glove Hacked: It’s So Bad

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PowerGloveUniversalHID_TitleForget Lucas Barton declaring his love of the Power Glove because it was so BAD. Yep, the Power Glove was a terrible peripheral, but goddammit, it was so damn cool! What’s there not to have liked about it when you looked like a cyborg with it on!

Now imagine if the Power Glove was a useful peripheral! Imagine no more, as computer engineering genius, Nolan Moore has devised a Power Glove UHID (Universal Human Interface Device) project to overhaul Nintendo’s peripheral with modern sensors and wireless communication to provide the ability to use gesture and motion controls with almost anything you can think of, but in style!

Check out the video below of what has been achieved thus far with this oh so bad peripheral! Keep up to date with the project by visiting Hackaday.io. Thanks to Nolan, we can (at last!) say that the Power Glove is sooooo good!


source: HACKADAY

 

Patti Lapel: Awesome Retro Pins

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patti lapel logo1Jensen Karp‘s Patti Lapel sells awesome retro pins among other weird things (check out the Ian Ziering/Led Zepplin mashup T-shirt for example). The latest pins include a N64 GoldenEye cart and a NES Game Genie.

GoldenEye

GameGenie

And there’s plenty more – you’d better buy some more jackets because you’re going to start running out of lapel space!
Discman

Rollerblade

BB-EncinoMan

BB-Clue

DieHard

Dwayne

Ned

Darryl

Source: Patti Lapel

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msausretrogamerMs. 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.

Follow Ms. ausretrogamer on Twitter