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History of The Addams Family Pinball Machine

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Ask anyone that played pinball in the early 1990s to name their favourite machine, we reckon The Addams Family will be right at the top of the list.

Without a doubt, The Addams Family pinball machine is one of the greatest machines of all time. Not only was it the best-selling solid state pinball machine of all time (selling over 20,000 units worldwide) TAF, as it is affectionately known, is still beloved by many and enjoyed some 30+ years after its release. This Pat Lawlor and Larry DeMar designed pinball machine is an absolute masterpiece.

Enjoy this cool history about The Addams Family pinball machine!


source: Kevin Carrington



Review: Remote Life

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The first horizontal (or side scrolling for the retro crowd) shoot’em up that took the world by storm was Irem’s R-Type. There was also Konami’s Salamander (aka: Life Force) too, followed by the Thunder Force series on the Sega Mega Drive / Genesis. These titles have become iconic in the shmup genre, so it is our privilege to announce that there is a new contender to be added to this illustrious list, Remote Life.

Just looking at the screenshots we have in this review, you’ll agree that Remote Life looks darn amazing. Coupled with the gorgeous visuals is a great soundtrack and sound effects, but most importantly, the action is top notch! With a myriad of weapons to pick up and cycle through, your ship can arm itself to the teeth to take care of enemies (and other obstructions) standing in your way. The game mechanic and control system is intuitive with modern controllers (moving, shooting, cycling weapons etc), making Remote Life an absolute blast (pun fully intended!) and fun shmup to play on your given system.

To think that this fabulous shooter was created by a single developer (Next Game Level), totally boggles the mind. It has a AAA look and feel, without the price, which is a massive win for us gamers. The inspiration of Remote Life may be old schools shoot’em ups, but it stands on its own, with its own unique shooter features.

Remote Life successfully merges the classic shoot’em up formula with its own new and unique improvements to differentiate itself from the crowd. One very cool feature is the 360 degree shooting, which is unusual for this genre, expanding the combat mechanic, while the presence of support machines such as allied automatic turrets or temporary drones, and even usable vehicles that drastically change how combat plays out, are welcome additions that modernise the shooter gameplay. The variety is another positive, with differing types of enemies – with new ones revealed in each level, and many unique and visually amazing mid and end-level bosses – each with their own attack patterns to keep you on your toes.

As mentioned, the weaponry is varied with new weapons introduced at each level, each requiring the player to pick up them up. The twist in the weaponry is the limited ammo, so you will have to be wise in what weapon to use on any given level. There are 16 missions which are quite varied, with some feeling more “open world” than others, so there is a ton of content to test your shoot’em up mettle!

If you have any interest in shooters/shoot’em ups, then we can’t recommend Remote Life enough – it is a visual, aural, brutal and fun extravaganza! This is one of the best shmups we have played in a long long while!

Details:

  • Game: Remote Life
  • Developer: Next Game Level
  • Publisher: Ratalaika Games
  • Release Date: May 27, 2022
  • Platform(s): PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S & Nintendo Switch
  • Price: $18.99 / €17.99 / £14.99



Disclaimer: The Xbox Series X|S review code for Remote Life was provided by PR Hound.

Nintendo’s ‘Top Gun’: Landing Trouble

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By: D.C. Cutler, U.S.A.

Only a few more days until I watch “Top Gun: Maverick” in an IMAX theatre, and I’m so excited to finally see it. I’ve been wanting to watch the Tom Cruise sequel since I saw the trailer almost two years ago.

I have a lot of fond memories of playing the 1987 Nintendo game “Top Gun.” When I was little, I loved the movie, so I asked for the flight simulation game on my birthday. My father played the game more than I did when I first got it. He enjoyed showing me how many times he could effortlessly land his F-14 fighter plane on the U.S. aircraft carrier. I had a difficult time landing my F-14 at first. I couldn’t get the timing and steadiness right as I approached the aircraft carrier.

When I would hear one of the film’s iconic songs, like “Take My Breath Away” or “Danger Zone,” I would get anxious and frustrated. The songs made me think about my inability to land my jet on the large carrier.

Coming into land

Then my brother started playing “Top Gun” when I wasn’t playing it. He landed on the aircraft carrier with no problem within about three tries. It floored me. I thought, how was I so bad at landing? I kept trying, and I kept crashing like an amateur. I even started to wonder if I was playing on a harder mode than my family. Or that my brother and father had some sort of cheat code that they found somewhere or through someone they knew.

All my gamer friends at school would make fun of me because I was unable to land my F-14 on the aircraft carrier. I would come home from school or baseball practice and try to land, again and again. I got so discouraged; I didn’t play “Top Gun” for a week. I just let the game cartridge sit in the corner of my room, on my dresser. It was basically my way of ignoring the game.

Landed!

Then, one weekend morning, I got up early and I slide “Top Gun” into my NES. I took a few deep breaths and anxiously played the game until I got to the aircraft carrier. I kept my controller steady, and I kept hitting all the right buttons. If I could’ve nervously started biting my fingernails, I would have, but my hands were busy. My F-14 steadied out and I landed like it was a piece of cake. I called my friends and told them, waking most of them up from a deep sleep.

After I successfully landed my jet on the aircraft carrier, it became rather simple. The trick: I wasn’t thinking about failure so much.

image source: mobygames



RACV asks, is this Australia’s Best Nintendo Collection?

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Who would have thought RACV were into retro gaming?!

To our astonishment, we stumbled upon a great article in their bi-monthly magazine, RoyalAuto, where they ask the most pertinent question, does Sam Crowther have Australia’s best Nintendo collection? To find out, go and read all about Sam’s impressive and vast collection here.

story and image source: RACV RoyalAuto



Galacticon – Nintendo Switch Review

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Galacticon is exactly the type of game our Nintendo Switch has been screaming out for! There is something familiar and comforting about Galacticon, its look, feel and sounds hark back to our arcade days from the 80s.

Upon starting Galacticon, you are reminded that it is inspired by a couple of iconic Williams titles, Defender and Joust – not a bad way to start. Where you constantly scroll at breakneck speeds in Defender while attacking enemies and rescuing some poor souls, Galacticon implements this mechanic in mostly a single screen, making the game a tad easier to play. We aren’t saying Galacticon isn’t challenging, far from it – but at least you don’t contend with the constant sideways scrolling and getting hit by an enemy that you can’t see.

The graphics, sound, control and gameplay could’ve easily been ripped out from the early 80’s arcades, they are that cool and add to the overall experience of this title. Did we mention how amazing the raster scanline patterns look? Your eyes will love you for it. This game oozes nostalgia for those with an 8-bit retro heart, but modern players aren’t left out in the cold, as they too get a romping great game that is fun to play and looks and sounds darn awesome.

The mix of blast and rescue (with a sprinkle of puzzle) gameplay action is a welcome distraction for our Switch. Galacticon will have you flying back to it over and over, either to beat your previous score or get yourself onto the world high score table, this is one fun way to spend quality time on your Nintendo Switch! Highly recommended!

Release Date: May 22, 2022 (Nintendo Switch & Steam)
Developer: Radin Games
Publisher: Flynn’s Arcade / Pikii
Price: €4.99/$4.99/£4.99 (20% off in the first week of release)



Tesla Coils Performing The 8-Bit Super Mario Bros. Theme

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Nikola Tesla was one clever cookie – imagine what he could’ve come up with if he was still around? Well, we would guess that he would use his namesake coils to perform an 8-bit cover of the Super Mario Bros. theme.

Watch out for the sparks!


source: Franzoli Electronics



Cloud Computing With The Commodore 64

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It was only a matter of time that the venerable Commodore 64 would get onto the cloud! Yep, you read that right, you can now dust off your trusty breadbin and use it to communicate with a variety of clients over Azure using a SignalR client written in 6502 assembly!

If you are keen to check this out for yourself, take a look at the SignalR-C64 code on GitHub.

Long live the Commodore 64!


source: moozzyk

PS: Thanks to Matty G for making us aware of this geeky awesomeness!



2022 Reset64 4KB Craptastic Game Competition

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We’re excited to announce the 2022 Reset C64 4KB game coding competition. This year’s competition theme is once again…. Craptastic!

“What the bloom’n heck does craptastic mean?”, I hear you ask.

It certainly doesn’t mean crap, although it can! Craptastic can mean ludicrous, bonkers, outrageous, funny, wacky, far out, and silly. The theme simply implies that the compo is just for a bit of fun, not a serious coding competition. You are more than welcome to make an excellent game to submit for the compo. Your game may contain some humour or silliness to fit more with the theme, but it doesn’t have to!

2020 Craptastic Comp Winner: Fall by Megastyle

In our previous competitions, some entries were truly excellent, others excellent but silly, others truly awful but funny! It’s just a chance for people to do something a little different if they wish and explore ideas/concepts that wouldn’t normally work well in a more serious compo.

Please remember that this competition is limited to 4KB. Yes, any entry submitted can be no more than 4KB when compressed. If your game is more than 1 file, then all the game files put together must not exceed the 4KB limit. This includes hi-score save files.

We want craptastic game entries. Remember, the key word here is fun. We want both coders and players alike to have fun and enjoy this comp!

Submit your entries to RESET64 (via email) by 30th June, 2022 (23:59:59 GMT).

Take a look at our previous Craptastic compo entries from 2018 and 2020 to help draw inspiration!

RULES

The basic rules for the competition are as follows:

  • The competition deadline is 23:59:59 GMT on the 30th June, 2022. All entries to be submitted to [email protected] by the deadline or will be deemed ineligible.
  • All entrants must register at [email protected]
  • Entrants are free to preview screenshots and videos of their game(s) to other publications/websites.
  • The competition will only begin when there are at least 5 registered entrants.
  • All submitted games MUST be 4KB or less (when compressed or uncompressed), and executable on a stock C64 on either or each of tape, disk and cartridge. Your submission may have a separate docs file (either as a C64 executable or a txt file, which doesn’t count towards the 4KB cap). However, hi-score saver files will count towards the cap.
  • The games must be previously unreleased and be your own work, whether that be by yourself or as part of a collaboration.
  • PAL must be supported, with additional NTSC support optional (but encouraged).
  • Participants may submit multiple entries, either as an individual or within a team. Team entries must be registered by an individual, and any potential prizes will be sent to the registered individual only.
  • Entries should be submitted exclusively to RESET64 by the competition deadline. Please feel free to share your entry as you wish after the competition has ended (after the compo deadline has passed).
  • There will be a panel of judges (TBA), and entries will be scored on a point distribution basis across several criteria. The decision of the panel is final.
  • Games must be submitted as freeware.
  • Games will be published by Reset64 (not necessarily exclusively) on a future disk compilation for the whole world to enjoy, after the competition has concluded. All entries will be made available on the Reset64 itch.io site after the compo concludes.
  • Games must not be released before the competition deadline, or will become exempt from scoring and will be deemed ineligible.

We reserve the right to change, add or delete rules during the competition if deemed necessary!

2nd place in the 2020 Craptastic Comp: Dots by James

SCORING SYSTEM

The scoring system used for Craptastic is very simple. Each game will be scored against 7 criteria, each worth 5 points. An entry can score up to 35 points. When the panel has scored each game accordingly, the totals for each individual game will be divided by the number of judges to produce a mean average. The average will be the game’s final score.

The criteria that each game will be evaluated on are:

  • Originality – New idea or “rip off”? Off the wall ideas encouraged.
  • Concept – Quality of game design, is it fun, is it bonkers, is it craptastic?
  • Execution – Execution of design, taking into account controls and other factors such as execution.
  • Presentation – Quality of graphics, audio and overall presentation. Supremely bad can be seen as a positive in some cases!
  • Gameplay – A measure of how enjoyable the game is to play.
  • Lasting Appeal – replay value, addictiveness.
  • OMG factor – when you see it, do you think “wtf!?” This is the true measure of craptasticness!

If a panel member has entered a game themselves, then the number of points that they can award will be adjusted (in this example, to 5) and they will not score their own release.

NOTE: CSDB will not be used for voting. Also, entries should not be uploaded to CSDB, or elsewhere until after the competition has closed. Feel free to post screenshots or info though.

PRIZES

A craptastic gaming comp requires craptastic prizes, right? We have some fantastic prizes lined up for this year’s compo thanks to some very generous sponsors.

A big thank-you to the following sponsors and supporters:

ausretrogamer

More sponsors to be announced!

Unkle K / Reset64
Official Twitter account for Reset64 Magazine – dedicated to the world’s favourite 8-bit computer!

Follow Reset64 Magazine on Twitter

 

 

 

 



TAITO EGRET II mini – United Games Entertainment brings exclusive version to the West!

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EGRET II mini – Exclusive version coming to the West
United Games Entertainment – TAITO Partnership Continues to Grow

Ever expanding German media publishing house United Games Entertainment, with its two game publishing labels, ININ Games and Strictly Limited Games, is moving into 2022 with an exciting announcement. They have secured the exclusive rights for the distribution of TAITO’s EGRET II mini in North America and Europe! The home version of the famous arcade cabinet will be available in different exclusive editions for the Western territories starting in 2022.

Great news for all fans who have been eagerly trying to order this yet to be released console, directly from Japan. With this exciting announcement United Games Entertainment, who exclusively distribute and sell TAITO’s titles in the West, both in digital and physical form, continues its growing relationship with one of Japan’s most iconic video games companies, well-known for legendary games such as Space Invaders, Bubble Bobble and many others.

The EGRET II mini is a faithful miniaturised version of the original, successful arcade cabinet TAITO EGRET II, coming with special content and features that make it a ‘must have’ for gamers:

  • A total of 40 pre-installed games, including classics such as Space Invaders, Lunar Rescue, Bubble Bobble, Darius Gaiden and many more

  • 5-inch 4:3 rotating screen (1024×768 resolution) for horizontal and vertical alignment and an optimal adaptation to the selected game

  • Joystick individually adjustable for each game – easily switch from 8 directions to 4 directions

  • HDMI output to play the games also on TV

  • Two USB Type-A controller ports for the different EGRET II mini controllers (that are sold separately)

  • Power inlet via USB Type-C port

  • SD card slot to add even more games

  • Own integrated sound through stereo speakers

  • Instruction panel for exchangeable instruction cards

  • Special in-game features like: Save states, adjustable lives and rapid fire

Games, Games and more Games!

In addition to the 40 pre-installed games on the console, 10 additional games can be added through an SD card that’s included in the EGRET II mini Paddle and Trackball Game Expansion Set, coming with Strike Bowling, Arkanoid, Plump Pop and seven other TAITO classics.

This adds up to an incredible total of 50 games of various genres, from 1978 to 1997 that will be available with the launch of the EGRET II mini!

More details about the different editions, what they will contain and where to get the EGRET II mini will follow soon!



Disclaimer: Press Release supplied by PR Hound

Shadow Ninja – Awesome C64 Chiptunes by SID Ninja 64

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What can we say, we are suckers for sweet, sweet C64 SID chiptunes!

We were recently stumbled upon the Shadow Ninja chiptunes concept-album on Bandcamp by the mysterious musician SID Ninja 64. What we heard was quite impressive and literally music to our ears. The original SID tunes on this album are stylised after great C64 maestros like Tim Follin, Jonathan Dunn, Matt Gray, Ben Daglish, Jeroen Tel and Chris Hülsbeck to name just a few – a pretty good darn pedigree.

If you are into SID tunes or chiptunes in general, check out SID Ninja 64’s Shadow Ninja album right now!

image source: SID Ninja 64