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Commodore Computer Sales 1977-1996

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We love these time-lapse sliding charts, so when we found this one based on sales of Commodore computers, we knew we had to share them with you all.

It is no surprise which Commodore computer ends up on top pretty much from 1982 to 1996, but the others were a bit of a surprise (which we won’t spoil).

Are you keeping up with the Commodore? 😉


source: Sven Dännart

NOTE: The creator (Sven Dännart) has advised that some of the figures are estimates, so take all of this with a grain of salt. It’s still cool though.



The Retro Gaming Vault – April 2021

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We are excited to start a new monthly feature, which we hope becomes a regular on ausretrogamer.com.

So what’s this newfangled feature we are so excited about? Well, as the title suggests, we’ll be delving deep into our photo vault full of retro gaming photos from years gone by. The aim is to give you all a dose of nostalgia and hopefully connect with new audience members.

For this very first edition, we dug through thousands of our images from the last dozen years and came up with a swag of nostalgia inducing photos; from the best joystick ever made, board games based on classic arcade titles, to our Commodore 64 smart watches and playing classic games on our Game Boy Micro – it’s all easy money 😉

Enjoy!

Original image copyright: ausretrogamer

 


The New Pinball Hall Of Fame in Vegas

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We have fond memories of our times in Vegas. Travelling to the US was never complete for us without popping into the desert city to catch a show, fly over Hoover Dam and the Grand Canyon, and of course, hit the Pinball Hall of Fame (PHoF).

Since our last visit at the Pinball Hall of Fame in 2015, a lot has changed! Pinball Hall of Fame’s Tim Arnold bought a large parcel of land on the strip (4925 Las Vegas Blvd South), which allowed for a huge building to be erected (25,000 square feet to be exact!) to house the many many pinball and arcade machines that the PHoF had in their old location (on and in storage. When we stumbled upon Debbie Courson Smith’s Facebook post about her visit to the new Pinball Hall of Fame, we were quite chuffed to see how far along Tim and his crew had come since we saw an empty lot that long ago.

According to Debbie, this was a soft launch, with the grand opening scheduled for July. Once air travel is safe, we know where we are going again 😉

PS: If you want to see how the old Pinball Hall Of Fame looked like, check out this post.

image source: Debbie Courson Smith via Facebook

 

 

19th Century Nintendo Office Recreated by Fan To Store His Collection

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This is what we call fan dedication! Actually, French Nintendo collector, Fabrice Heilig is what we would call a dedicated SUPERFAN!

Not only does Fabrice have an extensive collection of all things Nintendo, he has gone the extra (massive) step to recreate Nintendo’s 19th century Kyoto office in his backyard. Fabrice has created what all collectors yearn for – extra space (to house his collection), which he has done in style and in keeping with his love of all things Nintendo.

We must say, the result is incredible! Fabrice has faithfully recreated the iconic Nintendo building, with a tasteful fit-out to match the traditional Japanese style. If he wanted to charge for visits, we’d be his first customer!

Read more about the process of recreating this amazing building (with a ton more pics!) at Before Mario. This is amazing stuff.

Let the planning begin!
Nintendo Office

Foundation done and now the framework!

Laying the traditional Japanese roof tiles!

The level of detail is unbelievable – bravo Fabrice!

Now, to re-home the massive Nintendo Collection!

The finished product – WOW!
image source: Before Mario

 

Pac-Man: The Complete History

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As Daniel Ibbertson (aka: Slope’s Game Room) so eloquently puts it, it’s time to drop a coin into one of the highest grossing video game franchises of all time – Pac-Man!

In this history documentary, Daniel discusses the inspiration and creation behind Namco’s flagship mascot, the troubled development between Namco and Midway when bringing him to western shores as well as the interesting backstory behind the controversial Atari 2600 port.


source: Slope’s Game Room

 

Happy Anniversary, Nintendo 64

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By: Alex Boz (Sort of Final Boss @ ausretrogamer)

Every time March 1 rolls around, I am reminded of the day I got my Nintendo 64!

It was March 1 1997 that us folks in Australia received Nintendo’s 64-bit wonder. I had done something that I had only done once before (with the Sega Mega Drive), and that is, I plonked down $400 and bought the N64 on day one! It was a special feeling getting the latest and greatest console on day one, but the realisation that the games were sold out and new stock was still a few weeks away, was a painful experience. Once Super Mario 64 hit the shelves, I could not throw my $100 fast enough to the cashier and get back home to fire up the system to see what the fuss was all about. Let’s just say that I was not disappointed.

Thankfully (or embarrassingly) someone captured my excitement upon receiving the Nintendo 64!
image source: From the Boz Family photographic archives

Even though I have fond memories of the SNES, it is the N64 which tugs more on my nostalgic heartstrings, which till this day I can’t explain why. Perhaps it is the late night Mario Kart 64 sessions with four friends or the 2P battles I had with my cousin playing Wave Race 64, or going dinosaur hunting in Turok (fog included). Whatever it was, I am thankful for the N64 giving me thousands of hours of fun, especially playing with others sitting right next to me, not on the other side of the planet via some wires. Oh yeah, the controller cops a lot of flak, but to be honest, it is one of my favourites, which made gaming on the console even better.

What are your memories of the N64 – share them with me or via Ausretrogamer on Twitter and/or Facebook.

image source: Kelamy



Iconic TAITO STATION To Close In March

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Not the arcade gaming news we wanted to see in 2021 – another iconic arcade building is set to close.

First it was Sega’s (GiGo) Building 2 that closed in August last year, and now as reported by SoraNews24, Taito Station’s iconic Nishi Shinjuku branch is set to close its doors on March 21st, 2021.

If you are anywhere near Shinjuku, go and check this out before it closes. Unfortunately we will never get to tick this one off our bucket list 🙁

 

NEO GEO Games Infographic

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There are some images that need to be shared for their informative awesomeness, and this NEO•GEO games infographic is one that definitely fits that bill.

Created and shared by Ange Albertini of the Corkami Reverse Engineering and Visual Documentation github repository, this image speaks to us loud and clear! We love the fact that in one image, we can see the timeline of all the games that were released for SNK’s mighty NEO GEO.

To get a sense of this amazing graphic creation, please click on the image below to see it in its native resolution!

 

The Boy Who Thought Outside the Box: The Story of Video Game Inventor Ralph Baer

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Are you like us, obsessed with the Atari 2600, Intellivision, NES, Sega Master System, 3DO, GameCube, Xbox, PlayStation 5 and everything in-between? Meet the inventor whose work made them all possible – Ralph Baer, creator of the first home video game system, the ‘Brown Box’ (which became the Magnavox Odyssey)!

The Boy Who Thought Outside The Box – The Story of Video Game Inventor Ralph Baer is an awesome picture-book biography of Ralph Baer, whose family fled Nazi Germany for the US. It introduces kids (Ed: and adults!) to a great inventor and the birth of the first home video games console. Using wartime technology, Baer thought outside the box and transformed the television set into a vehicle for gaming; Baer’s invention, the Odyssey, was the precursor to the Atari VCS. Today, interactive gaming systems like the Switch, Xbox and PlayStation are descendants of Ralph’s innovative ‘Brown Box,’ making this award-winning inventor the true ‘Father of Video Games.’

The hardcover book is available via Amazon for AUD$18.99.

Ralph Baer book

 

Monsters of Terror: The Best Wizard of Wor Clone on the Amiga!

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Everyone knows by now that we love all things Star Wars, Double Dragon, Galaga and pinball, amongst many others. However, not many know that we have another love called Wizard of Wor!

We keep going back to playing Wizard of Wor on the Commodore 64, because it’s just so jolly fun and a cracking arcade conversion. Since there was never an official Wizard of Wor game released on the Amiga, lots of peeps missed out on playing a great game (Ed: unless they kept their C64 to play it on)! But don’t fret too much, as there is a top notch clone of Wizard of Wor for the Amiga, called Monsters of Terror, created by the super talented Matthias Bock (aka: flurrycow/lazycow).

Do yourself a favour, grab this game now, as it’s darn awesome!


source: WTF Game Tracks