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From Pixels to Perfume: Retro Gaming Scents You Didn’t Know You Needed

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Eau de nostalgia

Just when you thought retro gaming couldn’t get any cooler (or weirder), Andrews UK drops a surprise that’s equal parts nostalgic and nose-tingling: a collection of premium fragrances inspired by classic home computers. Yep, you read that right — retro gaming perfumes are officially a thing, and we’re absolutely here for it.

Launching just in time for Christmas 2025, the Retro Gaming Fragrance Collection features four unique scents that pay tribute to the legendary machines that shaped our pixelated childhoods: THEC64, The Spectrum, ZX80, and ZX81.

🕹️ The Lineup: Smell Like a Legend

Here’s what’s in the olfactory lineup:

  • THEC64 Fragrance Pour Homme
    Bold, sophisticated, and just a little bit mysterious — think citrus, florals, and a rich patchouli-musk base. It’s the scent equivalent of booting up your C64 and hearing that SID chip sing.
  • The Spectrum Fragrance Pour Homme
    A vibrant blend of bergamot, woody warmth, and musky depth. It’s like loading Jet Set Willy on a rainy afternoon — comforting, chaotic, and unmistakably British.
  • ZX80 Eau de Parfum
    Feminine, elegant, and sparkling with florals, soft fruits, and creamy vanilla musk. A scent that’s as graceful as the ZX80 was groundbreaking.
  • ZX81 Pour Homme
    Refined and masculine, with lavender, leather, and aromatic freshness. It’s the kind of fragrance that says, “Yes, I coded in BASIC — and I smelled great doing it.”

🧴 More Than Just a Scent — It’s a Collectible

Each 100ml bottle comes in packaging that nods to the iconic design of its namesake computer. These aren’t just fragrances — they’re wearable collectibles for the retro gaming elite. Whether you’re heading to a gaming expo or just want to smell like your favourite 8-bit machine, this collection has you covered.

And let’s be honest — they really missed a trick not bottling that hot C64 PSU smell. Imagine a cologne called “Thermal Drift” — notes of melting plastic, ozone, and the faint whiff of a CRT monitor warming up. Eau de nostalgia!

🎁 Pre-Order Now for Christmas 2025

The Retro Gaming Fragrance Collection is available for pre-order now via AUK Direct. Whether you’re buying for a retro gaming fanatic or just want to spice up your shelf with something truly unique, this is one gift that’ll raise eyebrows — and maybe a few pulses.

 

An Amazing Retro Gaming Donation

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When we first started ausretrogamer over a decade ago we never imagined that our little corner of nostalgia would capture the attention of people around Australia and around the world.

Over the years we have had readers contacting us to donate their wares, usually due to our genuine love of retro gaming and the preservation of classic games and consoles, plus no one wants to send stuff to landfill – it’s a win win!

A few weeks ago we were contacted by Mike, an avid reader of our site, who asked if we would be interested in his donation of classic consoles, computers and games. Mike sent us a photo of some of his goodies, and we must say, our eyes lit up at the vastness of the collection he was going to donate.

We finally met up with Mike late last week and the big surprise was that he had way more amazing stuff to donate than what was in the initial photos. We were pleasantly surprised and found it totally humbling that someone would generously give away their items to be preserved and enjoyed – which we will! The best part of this donation was meeting Mike and having a great conversation about games, systems and life in general – which is totally priceless.

We haven’t gone through all of the items Mike donated to ausretrogamer, but we thought we would share some photos of this amazing collection – scroll slowly to take in all the nostalgia!

Many thanks to Mike for his generosity, these will be cherished.

all images owned by & copyright of ausretrogamer



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.



Yo Commodore 64 Fans, Reset64 Issue 13 is OUT NOW!

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Are you keeping up with the Commodore? If you aren’t, then you will with the release of the latest edition of Reset64 Issue 13!

Reset64’s Ed, Kev, and the rest of the crew have been working pretty hard on this issue to make it very special. As for our Ed, Alex Boz, he is still going around the office telling all and sundry how proud he is to still be part of the Reset64 team!

What are you waiting for, go and grab the Reset64 issue #13 PDF now – it is free (or pay what you want/can afford). Choo Choo!

 

Commodore PET Programs To Run In Your Browser

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If you have aged like a fine wine, you’ll remember Commodore’s PET (Personal Electronic Transactor) line of home/personal computers produced in 1977 by Commodore International.

For those of you longing for some Commodore PET computer action, here’s 340 (at the time of publication) Commodore PET programs that you can run in your browser!

 

Type-In Listings for your Commodore 64 – It’s So Old School!

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If you want to truly get back to the mid 80s by typing in your BASIC programs into the Commodore 64, then you are in luck!

Roman Werner (aka: King Roman) has created a couple of type-in games for the C64, so get your fingers ready. You will be kept quite busy as you peck at the keyboard, typing in the BASIC listing for Yahtzee and Black Jack.

Oh yeah, you could cheat by copy and pasting the listings from their respective PDF documents, but that would be cheating! If you really want it to be like the 80s, then type away and be very careful where you put those pokes 😉

image source: King Roman

 

Complete Amiga Sales History from Commodore in Germany

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On the back of having world-breaking sales records with their Commodore 64, looks like Commodore didn’t do too shabbily with their Amiga line of computers.

Thanks to the folks at distrita, we can now check out the complete Amiga units sold history for Commodore in Germany!

• Amiga 500: 1,160,500 (Includes Amiga 500+ sales of 79,500)
• Amiga 600: 193,000
• Amiga 2000: 124,500
• Amiga 1200: 95,500
• Amiga 1000: 30,500
• Amiga CD32: 25,000
• Amiga CDTV: 25,800
• Amiga 3000: 14,380 (Includes Amiga 3000T sales)
• Amiga 4000: 11,300 (Includes Amiga 4000 030 sales)

Going by these units sold numbers, the total Amiga computers sold in Germany was 1,759,980 – not bad at all.

Some interesting nuggets in these numbers include the fact that the shortest lived Amiga line, the Commodore (Amiga) CDTV sold more units than the Amiga CD32! Having both the CDTV and CD32, let’s just say that the CDTV still looks gorgeous on our desk. Oh yeah, the CDTV is also the only Amiga to have MIDI – sorry our beloved Atari STe 😉

story source: distrita

If you appreciate what we do, even if a little bit, please feel free to show your appreciation via the ausretrogamer virtual tip jar 🙂

 

Unboxing a NIB IBM PC 5170 AT Built in 1988

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This is so damn mind blowing!

Who the hell keeps something unopened that they bought 30 years ago? While we pick up fragments of our blown mind off the floor, check out Clint from Lazy Game Reviews unbox and setup a brand new, factory sealed IBM PC 5170 AT that was built in 1988.


source: Lazy Game Reviews

[source story: laughingsquid]

 

 

Ho, Ho, Ho, More Lemmings For Your Amiga

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AmigaJay from Amiga CD32 Alternate Covers proudly presents, the unofficial CD32 / CDTV / Amiga release, ‘More! Lemmings’. Containing 120 new never-before-seen levels on the Amiga, this game is fully playable via mouse, joypad and infrared remote (CDTV only) on the Amiga CD32 and CDTV. Oh yeah, there is also an ADF disk version for you Amiga computer owners too!

But wait, there is more! As it is the season for giving, AmigaJay is also offering his Lemmings – The Ports book, containing a whopping 300 pages about the different Lemmings ports – absolutely free! Looks like Christmas has come early for all you Amiga and Lemmings fans!

‘More! Lemmings’ now available for the Amiga CD32 and CDTV

While you are at it, grab AmigaJay’s FREE Lemmings – The Ports book!
source: Amiga CD32 Alternative Covers

 

Britsoft: An Oral History

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ROM_titleWhen it comes to books about video games or micro computing history, no one does it better than Read-Only Memory.

The creators of The Sensible Software 1986 – 1999, Mega Drive and the recently crowdfunded Bitmap Bros books) are publishing a book this August made up of interviews from the original From Bedrooms to Billions film. Ant and Nic Caulfield (creators of From Bedrooms to Billions) have given permission to Read-Only Memory to look through their film transcripts and then use them to construct a unique and awesome book. Nearly a year in the making, the clever layout oozes Read-Only Memory quality! It’s great to see such wonderful interview material find a home such as this and it does also include a new interview with Andrew Braybrook!

BritSoft_cover

Britsoft: An Oral History, a collective story of the early British games industry

Composed of interviews with thirty-five people who shaped the modern videogame, including David Braben (Elite), Peter Molyneux (Populous), Rob Hubbard (Commando) and Jeff Minter (Attack of the Mutant Camels), Britsoft: An Oral History documents the start of a new form of entertainment – created in bedrooms and living rooms on ZX Spectrums, Commodore 64s, Amigas and Atari STs.

Britsoft_5

Britsoft_4

The book is a companion piece to the 2014 documentary, From Bedrooms to Billions, and uses exclusive cuts from the hundreds of hours of interview footage to carve its original story. Through the voices of programmers, musicians, journalists and business people, it traces the making of games such as Dizzy, Elite, Paradroid and Kick Off; and birth of publishers, magazines and software houses, from Codemasters to Zzap!64.

Britsoft_2

Britsoft: An Oral History is edited by Alex Wiltshire, former editor of ‘videogame Bible’ Edge magazine, and its striking page layouts are designed by London-based studio Julia. It includes rarely-seen archive images, such as candid period photographs and magazine ads, which perfectly set the Britsoft scene. Pre-order your copy now!

Features
• Exclusive anecdotes and stories from 35 industry luminaries
• Brand new interviews with Andrew Braybrook (Uridium) and Sean Cooper (Syndicate) conducted specially for the book, plus new stories from Mike Montgomery, Julian Gollop and Jon Hare
• Archive photographs, adverts and ephemera
• 39 original illustrations of the cult hardware, consoles and home computers of the era

Specification
• Hardcover
• 160mm x 230mm
• 422 pages
• Lay-flat binding
• Multiple paper stocks
• 125,000 words

Britsoft_3

Britsoft_1

source: Read-Only Memory