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SNES Classic Mini: To Hack Or Not To Hack, That Is The Question

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Hack or not to hack the SNES Classic Mini: that is the question and my dilemma! On the one hand, I want the SNES Mini to remain as it was intended by Nintendo, and on the other, I want to load it up with more games than you can poke a stick at!

Apart from entering the murky waters of gaming rom legalities, I also don’t want to risk bricking my cute little SNES. I am aware that the hack to load more games is well tested and there are easy to follow instructions out there, but I choose to leave my SNES Classic Mini as is – with its 21 legal video games!

I’ll admit that in the past I dabbled in the shadows of piracy by exchanging C64 games on tape in the schoolyard. Even though I thought it was cool to do this back in the day, I am now filled with regret that I had cheated the creators of making a pretty penny for their creation. The other and less moralistic reason for not wanting to hack my SNES Classic Mini is that I’ know I would suffer from being spoiled for choice. When faced with a choice of hundreds of gaming roms, I know I’d skim past a fair few of them, thus missing out on playing some real gems, and worse still, not play a load of games due to the sheer volume of choice.

Whatever your choice, you can do whatever you see fit with your SNES Classic Mini. I just chose to leave mine alone.

 

Nintendo Labo: Make, Play, Discover

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The big news of the day has to be the announcement of Nintendo Labo, a brand new build and play interactive experience for your Nintendo Switch! From piano to motorbike, a robot and much more, each Toy-Con comes to life when combined with the mighty Switch.

Don’t believe us, then check out the trailer below. Basically, this cardboard tech will tickle your creative bone, we just hope that it could somehow be integrated with our PinBox 3000 😉

Nintendo announced two Toy-Con kits (Variety and Robot) with a Customisation Set that will provide handy materials, like stencils, stickers and tape. Nintendo Labo kits will be available on April 20 in Australia. So, what’s the verdict?

image source: Nintendo of America

image source: Lil-Ausretrogamer’s PinBox 3000!

RIVE: Ultimate Edition – Twin Stick Mayhem on the Nintendo Switch

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We are always told everything in moderation is good for you. Pfft, stuff that, RIVE: Ultimate Edition doesn’t do things in moderation – it’s full on from the get go!

Get your twitch senses ready, as Two Tribes’ final game, RIVE: Ultimate Edition is pure twin stick shooting mayhem on the Nintendo Switch!

RIVE: Ultimate Edition eases you into the game (sort of!) by blasting away asteroids (reminiscent of Atari’s Asteroids, with scrolling!), but that then gives way to some pretty hair-raising action as you manoeuvre your spider-tank with one stick and aim and shoot with the other. Sounds simple enough? RIVE ramps up the difficulty quite quickly (even in easy mode), but persistence is rewarded by etching away at each level – checkpoints do help with your progress. The mayhem onscreen may feel overwhelming at times, but you will get used to it as you hone in your skills at moving around and shooting. There is also some very cool banter between the rogue AI and your pilot, which will make you laugh with its cheesiness, but it helps to keep things lighthearted, as you will invariably have palpitations at the swarm of enemies that come at you like kamikaze pilots! The aim is to constantly be on the move, and power up your spider-tank to take out the rogue enemies.

RIVE goes an ‘Ultimate’ step on the Switch by introducing co-op/copilot mode. This takes advantage of the split Joy-Cons, allowing one player to pilot and another player to ‘man the gun’. Controls switch over when you die, leading to some chaotic and hectic gaming sessions. This extra layer, coupled with the HD Rumble effect makes the game even more enjoyable to play. And just another interesting titbit, we love the ‘Guru Meditation’ error message thrown in for good measure – a nod to the great Amiga 16-bit computer, many thanks Two Tribes!

As the saying goes, it’s great to go out on top. Seeing that RIVE: Ultimate Edition on the Switch is Two Tribes’ final game, they sure are going out in style and at the top of their game (no pun intended).

RIVE: Ultimate Edition is pure twin-stick shooting heaven. What a way to go out Two Tribes, you know how to get our hearts racing!

Hit the Nintendo eShop right away and get this!

Price: $12.75 (US/Canada) / £13.49 or equivalent (UK/EU/AU)

* RIVE: Ultimate Edition was provided by Two Tribes for this review

 

Play Your Fave Retro Gaming Systems in Your Web Browser

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Virtual Consoles – a recently launched website makes it possible to play legendary computers and consoles like the Apple II, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum and Super Nintendo (to name a few) right in your web browser.

The Virtual Consoles website offers its services free of charge: you can play on 9 old school gaming systems without installing any add-ons or plug-ins. Now that is pretty damn cool!

With the revival of retro gaming and the ever escalating costs, this site has come at the right time. “The site generally uses open-source development, so the use of emulators is completely free of charge. An up-to-date browser and an average desktop computer is all that is needed, although most of the retro computers offer good experience on tablets, as well”, says Kornel Kolma, founder of virtualconsoles.com.

Play with Spacewar! from 1962
Currently there are 9 online emulators available on the site: Apple II, Atari 2600, NES , Super NES. DOS, Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum. There are also some curiosities to be found in the collection, like the CHIP-8 interpreter which ran on microcomputers of the 1970s, and the DEC PDP-1, which was introduced in 1959 – making it possible to play the original Spacewar! game online.

“We only attached games to the emulated computers and consoles if they were freeware games or had gotten approval from the copyright owner. For most of the emulators we made it possible to upload games from existing collections. Our long-term goal is to come to an agreement with copyright owners of old games and make these games available in a retro gaming online store”, says Kornel Kolma. Kornel also added, “The short-term plan of Virtual Consoles is to launch additional emulators which will run in your web browser”.

With Virtual Consoles, the game is definitely not over!


 

Super Size Me: Mega Nintendo Game & Watch Octopus

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Remember when you carried your Nintendo Game & Watch (or the equivalent knock-off) in your pants pocket?

Now try and imagine putting this mega (193cm by 116cm) Nintendo Game & Watch Octopus in your pocket and then whipping it out for a quick play – your friends would have been thoroughly impressed 😉

This gigantic Game & Watch is the brainchild of computer scientists and one clever Australian, The Tominator – Dr Thomas Tilley. This would have blown our mind back in the day, as it does right now! Awesome stuff indeed.


source: WithProfessorTom

 

Amazon’s Retro Zone: All Retro. All The Time

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While the big news is of Amazon arriving Down Under, we were more excited about their new Retro Zone!

Amazon has curated their best of the best retro gaming items, from console, games and toys, to clothing and books! Oh yeah, there is plenty of Sega, Nintendo, Square Enix and Atari gear too!

So what are you waiting for, go and hit up the Amazon Retro Zone now!

More Retro than you can poke a stick at!

The heavy hitters of retro gaming are all there! Wait, where is Commodore?

image source: Amazon Retro Zone

 

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

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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…

Of course there were plenty of Mario related tees. Oh yeah, Luigi gets in on the act too!

Do your eyes hurt?

Metroid and Zelda fans will be happy

Whoa, we love 8-bit Mario (which was the winning design)!

There is even a junior 8-bit Mario tees! Our little one will love this!

One of the cool Donkey Kong tees

We had to grab this DK tee!

The back of the DK tee is as cool as the front! The level of detail is just sublime.

Wish they had this in adult size *sad face*

Just some of the UTGP’17 tees we grabbed. We will be going back for more!

After you are done shopping, play some (free) Nintendo video games!

So true!

 

The SNES Classic Mini Is In Da House

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We may have missed out on the NES Classic Mini, but we were determined not to repeat the same mistake twice!

When the SNES Classic Mini was announced earlier in the year, we jumped in early to lock in our pre-order. Well, the wait is finally over and we have our grubby mits on Nintendo’s latest (and best) Classic Mini system.

Our initial impression is that it is so small and cute! Leaving the aesthetics aside, the console connects easy to any newer TV (via HDMI) with the correct aspect ratio. You can power your SNES Classic by connecting it to your TV’s USB interface – no more worrying about a power outlet. The most important part of this whole Classic Mini thingy are the games, and what a stellar list! The bundled SNES Classic Mini games reads like a who’s who of the greatest games of all time. Just when you thought Nintendo could not top this, they have also thrown in the previously unreleased Star Fox 2!

Did you get yourself a SNES Classic Mini? If you did, we would love to know what you think – hit us up on Twitter or Facebook!

Anyway, enough chatting, time to play!

 

Super Captain Toad Cake

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They say that you can’t have your cake and eat it too, but we say to hell with that!

Press Play On Tape podcast host and resident ausretrogamer contributor, Aaron Clement, showed us his son’s birthday cake which his awesome wife, Kel whipped up this past weekend. Kel’s Captain Toad cake was a work of art that looked too good to eat, but damn too delicious to let sit there for good looks. We may need to put in our request with Kel for our very own cool cake!

Oh yeah, just in case you didn’t know, the Press Play On Tape crew has formally joined the PAX Aus Classic Gaming Area, so we are looking forward to getting our nostalgia on with these very cool peeps!

Top of the world!

Mmmmm, M&Ms!

Oh wow, Kit Kats too!

Retro Gamer Issue 171 is Out Now!

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Extra! Extra! Read All About It! The latest Retro Gamer, issue 171 has hit the physical and virtual newsstands!

We are huge fans of Retro Gamer covers, but this one takes the cake – it is simply awesome! Behind this gorgeous cover you’ll find a myriad of retro gaming features to satisfy your nostalgia hunger. Still not convinced? Here is a taste of what’s inside this issue:

  • The Kings Of Donkey Kong – We quiz the high scores past and present about Nintendo’s hit arcade game.
  • Pushing The Limits: R-Type (Spectrum)
  • SNES Mini Feature
  • Making Of Saboteur II
  • Hardware Heaven: Sinclaur QL
  • Licence To Thrill: Aliens
  • Archives: Introversion Software
  • Making Of Wild Guns
  • In The Chair: Simon Phipps.
  • Ultimate Guide: Zaxxon
  • Peripheral Vision: Super Scope
  • Retro Revival: Shadowfax
  • Making Of Arch Rivals
  • Retro Revival: Super Adventure Island
  • The Unconverter: Spider-Man The Videogame
  • Lost In Translation: Enduro Racer (Master System)
  • Future Classic: Undertale
  • Retroinspection: PocketStation
  • Minoirty Report: Game Boy Advance
  • Retro Revival: Dungeon Explorer
  • Back To The Noughties: August 2000
  • Classic Moments: Mischief Makers

source: Retro Gamer