nintendo

Real-Life ‘Legend Of Zelda’ Escape Game

November 23, 2016 By Ms. ausretrogamer

‘Defenders of the Triforce’ is a REAL-LIFE puzzle escape game based on ‘The Legend of Zelda’ – thanks to a partnership between SCRAP Entertainment and Nintendo.

‘It is a fully hosted, story-based escape event designed for puzzle fans and fans of the Zelda franchise. There will be multiple teams in the event space all participating at the same time, and each team will have their own table to work at when not exploring.’

‘Defenders of the Triforce’ is touring eight American cities in 2017 – San Francisco, LA, Phoenix and San Diego seem to be sold out, but Seattle, Houston, Chicago and New York tickets are yet to go on sale. We’re just wondering when the Melbourne dates will be announced, lol!

Visit ScrapZelda.com for more information.

source: SCRAP and Nintendo on YouTube via Technabob

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Ms. 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

Conquered: EB Expo 2016

October 7, 2016 By ausretrogamer

As the old saying goes, time flies when you are having fun. This year’s EB Expo has come and gone, and yep, we had fun, lots of it!

A highlight for us was being invited by our Weird and Retro friends to assist in their awesome Retro Gaming section in the Freeplay City area. With 64 classic gaming systems to play, EB Expo attendees were not short on getting their nostalgia fix! From the ultra-rare Philips CD-I development kit, to the Commodore, Sega, Nintendo, NEC, Samsung and Atari wares, there was plenty to reminisce about.

While in the main hall, we got to sit on the Iron Throne, gawked at Optimus Prime, bumped into awesome cosplayers, played on PlayStation, Nintendo and Xbox’s latest gear and shopped at EB Games’ massive Mega-Store! No need for more words, we’ll just leave some of our photos from EB Expo 2016 to speak for themselves…

With the sun shining, it was time for EB Expo 2016!

First stop, Hall 6 and straight to the Weird and Retro Freeplay classic gaming area

Time for a Hewson classic! Go Pogo!

The new generation enjoying some old generation gaming!

Whoa, a Jaguar in the wild!

Attendees wowing at the 16-bit computing wonders!

Freeplay City Mario Kart 64 4P Showdown!

More 4P shenanigans on the Nintendo GameCube!

Whoa, a rare beast – the Philips CD-i dev kit!

Which classic system to play first?

Difficult decision: go straight for Hotel Mario or play Transylvania on the Apple IIe?

We weren’t aware that Deadpool was on the C64. And is that Stunt Car Racer on the Amiga? Whoa!

The decision of what to play on next just keep getting harder!

Doing the math on the Jaguars!

The dark side of Sega. Oh wait, look at that beautiful Atari ST!

Busted! Weird and Retro’s Serby blowing bubbles all the way to his own PS4 Pro!

What’s this, an Atari sign and some old wares? Time to shop!

Cosplay heroes!

Time to hit the Great (Main) Hall Of EB Expo 2016

Aha, a chill session may be in order!

The Iron Throne rules this hall!

Anyone want a test drive?

Hang on, we want a test drive in Optimus Prime!

Hulk Smash!

Lego Xbox!

Lego Kong Ride and some sweet Poke Balls!

A work of Lego art!

We found Pikachu! Quickly, where are our Poke Balls?

Shop till you drop at the EB Games Mega-Store!

The temptation is strong in these ones!

Stocking up on a few goodies *wink*

We’ve hit the motherload of retrogaming goodies!

Surely we can squeeze this beauty in our checked luggage…

Scarily beautiful!

Bumped into the famous Nintendo brothers…

Mind blowingly cool!

Of course we had to go here too!

Woohoo, just dance!

Jump on the tractor!

Gonna grab a seat at Nintendo-land

Let’s all play! Got lots of streetpasses here *winks*

The Nintendo posing podiums!

Another posing podium!

Heading over to Xbox

Forza Horizon 3 was quite popular!

Dr. Curlytek conquered the VeloDrone!

Waiting their turn patiently for some VR

Aha, there they are!

The unmissable PlayStation exhibit!

Wowing the masses with PlayStation VR

Dare to enter!

Driveclub VR = WOWSER!

A well deserved award!

All good things must come to an end. Till the next EB Expo…

Retrospective: E3 1996

June 14, 2016 By ausretrogamer

With E3 2016 being the biggest news this week, we thought we’d rewind the clock twenty years, back to 1996 when Nintendo, Sega and the newest player on the console block, the Playstation were the headline acts.

After wowing the crowds with their hardware the previous year, Playstation ensured that the 1996 E3 event was going to be even bigger and better by announcing a price drop to get the console into more homes, sending shivers down the spines of the old guard, Nintendo and Sega. Not to be outdone in the gaming stakes, Sony Computer Entertainment introduced everyone to Crash Bandicoot, who would go on to become a PlayStation mascot (and get remastered for the the PS4 20 years later!) and Lara Croft, whose appearance in Tomb Raider was the first step towards becoming a cultural icon.

At this second ever Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), Sega was showing off the latest and greatest games for their Saturn in the hope of making a dent in the Playstation’s armour. With games like Virtua Fighter 3 (which was ultimately cancelled), Fighting Vipers, Virtua Cop 2, NiGHTS into Dreams, Panzer Dragoon II Zwei and Daytona USA (among others) from their own stable, Sega was ensuring that heads would be turned towards their 32-bit beast.

Third-party Saturn games were also announced by Acclaim (Alien Trilogy, Battle Monsters, The Crow: City of Angels, Dragonheart and Space Jam), Ubisoft (Rayman 2), Capcom (Marvel Super Heroes), Crystal Dyanmics (3D Baseball, Ghost Rider and Legacy Of Kain) and Konami (ISS Deluxe and NBA Hangtime).

Sega also wanted to show that there was still (some) life left in their 16-bit Mega Drive (Genesis) by showing off Arcade Classics, Sonic 3D Blast, Vectorman 2, X-Perts and X-Women (which never saw the light of day!). Perhaps Sega should have given up on their 16-bit console (and it’s many add-ons) and concentrate their might on the 32-bit battleground. Ah hindsight, it’s always 20/20.

And then there was Nintendo. The Kyoto giant chose the 1996 E3 event to showcase their latest hardware, the Nintendo 64. Nintendo chose to up the ante in the ‘bit’ wars by leaping over their two main rivals with their 32-bit systems. Basking in the glory of their 16-bit success with the SNES and full of confidence, Nintendo chose to stick with cartridges rather then the now-accepted CD format. To ensure that the Nintendo 64 was going to pull-in the crowds at E3 that year, Nintendo had a number of launch titles available to experience – Wave Race 64, Pilotwings 64, Star Wars: Shadows Of The Empire and Super Mario 64. New hardware needs a ‘killer app’ that captures the public’s imagination and makes consumers snap up a machine – Super Mario 64, just like Super Mario Bros did for the NES, did exactly that! With Mario entering 3D for the first time, Nintendo no doubt were the best in show at E3 1996.

What product will wow us and become best in show at E3 2016?

sources: [IGN | Sega Retro | Playstation.blog]

December 11, 2015 By Ms. ausretrogamer

In this adorable and fascinating video from Eurogamer, Shigeru Miyamoto and Nintendo designer Takashi Tezuka explain (with much enthusiasm) how Super Mario Bros.World 1-1 was made.

Video source: Eurogamer on YouTube

Source: Eurogamer via Laughing Squid

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Ms. 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 Twelve Gifts Of Christmas

November 27, 2015 By ausretrogamer

“On the First day of Christmas my true love sent to me”, No, no, no! There will be no ‘The Twelve Days Of Christmas’ singing here, thank you. With Christmas just around the corner, we thought we would ease the gift buying burden by giving you ‘The Twelve Gift Ideas For Christmas’ to help you get something special for your really cool geeky / nerdy partner.

Forget about going out to the local shopping centre and battling for a car park only to get frustrated when you can’t find anything suitable. We are here to make this Christmas shopping period a pleasant experience from the comfort of your own home and one where your partner will thank you for the awesome gift (Ed: don’t you mean gifts!)!

Enough chatter, as promised, here are The Twelve Gifts of Christmas!

Star Wars: The Original Topps Trading Card Series, Volume One – Just in time for the Force Awakens!

If they are Zelda fans, then this 2.5″ 8-Bit Link Action Figure will tickle their fancy

But if they are a Donkey Kong kinda guy or gal, then they’ll go ape over this!

Secure their DS / 3DS with a retro NES inspired case!

Sega fans rejoice! Plug and play the Sega Nano on any TV (with composite connectivity)

There should always be a Masters Of The Universe gift under the Christmas tree

If clothing is preferred, then nothing says cool like a C64 tee

Bookworms partners will love this Commodore book!

Can’t afford a real Intellivision? Then the Intellivision Flashback is the next best thing!

Or maybe they are a ColecoVision type of gamer…

Forget forking out thousands for an arcade machine, grab them a My-Arcade mini retro machine!

And if you really want to spoil him or her, get them the ultimate handheld emulation system, the GPD XD

image source: supplied

Sean Tagg: The PAX Aus King Of Kong

November 10, 2015 By ausretrogamer

There was no doubt that the Classic Gaming area was popular at this year’s PAX Aus event. One of the more popular attractions were the competitions, especially the high score challenge on the original Donkey Kong arcade machine (Ed: a big thanks to Greg Pell for sharing his awesome machine with us all!).

The PAX Aus patrons swarmed to the Donkey Kong machine like moths to a flame. High scores were racked up while players took control of ‘Jumpman’ to hurdle over barrels in the attempt to save Pauline from the evil clutches of the great anthropomorphic gorilla.

With great poise and precision four-way control, Sean Tagg showed the masses how to go about saving Pauline. While Billy Mitchell was declared the King Of Kong all those years ago, it was Sean Tagg’s high score of 103,900 (on Sunday) which saw him crowned as the PAX Aus King Of Kong! Well done Sean!

Sean Tagg barrel jumps and then hammers his way up to the top!

Sean’s high score was enough to clinch the PAX Aus King of Kong crown

Like father, like son – Henry gets in on some arcade action!

The PAX Aus Classic Gaming medal is handed to its rightful owner!

Retro Gaming Anniversary: Nintendo 64

September 29, 2015 By ausretrogamer

image source: IGN AU

On this day [September 29] in 1996, those lucky North Americans got the latest (and last) cartridge based system from Nintendo – the sublime Nintendo 64! I say lucky, because we had to wait till the following year (March 1, 1997) to get our hands on Nintendo’s 64-bit beast. But spare a thought for gamers in Brazil, they had to wait till December 1997 to play Super Mario 64 on the N64!

The Nintendo 64 console seemed to polarise gamers – from the use of cartridges (Ed: CD-ROM was huge at this point in history), to the three-pronged controller. To be honest, we loved the fact that the system was cart based, and we absolutely love (and still do) that controller. It was typical of Nintendo to go against the grain and do their own thing.

There were heaps of stand out games on the system, but the early ones are still seared in my memory, from Super Mario 64, Wave Race 64, Turok: Dinosaur Hunter, Blast Corps and of courses, Mario Kart 64, to GoldenEye 007 and International Superstar Soccer 64, we had a blast on the grey beast.

Considering we still love playing on the N64, it is a great testament to Nintendo for building such an awesome system for all of us to enjoy. What are your favourite memories of the N64? Hit us up on Twitter or Facebook to let us all know!

Mario Myths With Mr. Miyamoto

September 16, 2015 By Ms. ausretrogamer

To celebrate Mario’s 30th anniversary and the release of Super Mario Maker, Shigeru Miyamoto indulges us with the answers to some important questions about Super Mario Bros. Take it away, Mr. Miyamoto!

Video source: Nintendo UK

Source: Laughing Squid

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Ms. 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

Super Mario Bros. 30th Anniversary

September 13, 2015 By ausretrogamer

To help celebrate Super Mario Bros. 30th anniversary (released in Japan on 13 September 1985), Nintendo UK have paid homage to the Brooklyn plumber by creating a very cool website. The dedicated site has: an about and thank you page, an awesome history of all Super Mario games, a link to Super Mario Maker – the awesome new Wii U release, and finally, a 43 second Special Movie for the king of all video game character franchises.

Check out the site now and celebrate the Super Mario Bros. 30th Anniversary with Nintendo! Be sure to check back often for more announcements from the Big N!

Nintendo says Thank You to everyone for loving Super Mario!