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The Retro Gaming Vault – May 2021

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Our first retro gaming vault feature proved successful, so we thought we’d keep things going!

For this month’s images, we delved further into our vault and dug up some cool and peculiar photos of items we have in our collection and from gaming parties we have attended and ComLynxed with our friends!

We hope you keep enjoying these blasts from the past!

Will always love the PC-Engine HuCards – they are so cute and packed with awesome gaming!

Keeping our N64 in tip top shape!

Got to get our monthly C64 fix (especially some World Class Leaderboard)!

Llamatron 2112 on the Jag or…..

……Revenge of the Mutant Camels?

Love getting some action on the little Neo Geo Pocket Color

ComLynx parties are always the fun!

The Neo-Vec controller is pretty darn awesome to use on the Vectrex

The rare and obscure Noun. Tempest 3000 is just sublime!

Our favourite Commodore 64 in our collection. The Suncom Thumbstick is a brilliant little controller, especially on Wizard of Wor!

Original image copyright: ausretrogamer



Arcade1Up Attack From Mars Pinball – Review

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UPDATE 5-October-2021: Arcade1Up has released a firmware update to resolve the lag on the White Water game and a few other bugs which you can read about here. This review has been amended to account for this firmware update. 

  • Product: Arcade1Up Attack From Mars Pinball
  • Price: AU$1,199 to $1,400 (depending on retailer)
  • Official Australian retailers: Kogan, Arcade Gamer, The Gamesmen, Harvey Norman and JB Hi-Fi

We love playing our real pinball machines. Heck, we love pinball on any platform, including in the digital space. Where digital (aka: virtual) pinball has always fallen short is in the physical and mechanical feel that real pinball machines provide, but that gap has somewhat been bridged, with digital pinball machines being fitted with solenoids and haptic flippers to provide the player that real tactile pinball feeling. How good can these digital pinball machines be?

PROS

 CONS
+ Build quality is AMAZING! The Cabinet and Backbox are glorious – 720p is sacrilege in this day and age
+ Compact size makes it fit in all kinds of spaces – The lag in White Water makes it totally unplayable (this was fixed in the latest software code update!)
+ Packed with 10 of the greatest pinball machines of all time – No Internet connectivity / No way of updating with more tables (right now)
+ Haptic flippers for real flipper feedback – Price! The sweet spot would have been sub-$1,000 (AU). 
+ 4 x Solenoid modules for real ball feedback
+ A real working plunger

Arcade1Up needs no introduction, as their 3/4 arcade machines of iconic arcade games have proven to be quite popular with gamers and collectors the world over. When Arcade1Up announced at CES 2020 that they would partner with Zen Studios to create 3/4 size digital pinball machines, our interest was piqued big time. At the show they announced three pinball machines, Attack From Mars, Star Wars and Marvel, each packed with themed pinball games from Zen Studios’ Pinball FX platform. We naturally gravitated to the Attack From Mars pinball machine, not only due to owning the real one, but the fact that it came with 10 of the greatest pinball machines of all time – Attack from Mars, Fish Tales, The Getaway: Highspeed II, Junk Yard, Medieval Madness, White Water, Red & Ted’s Road Show, Hurricane, Tales of the Arabian Nights and No Good Gofers.

The beast arrives!

While suffering insomnia one evening, we did what anyone would – we hit the web for some late night shopping (beware of weekend night-time shopping! – Ed). When we stumbled upon the Arcade1Up pinball machines, we ended up procuring the Attack From Mars machine, which surprisingly arrived on our doorstep a mere 48 hours after the purchase! Upon delivery we were taken aback by the size of the box, we somehow visualised a 3/4 sized pinball machine to be smaller than 3/4 – crazy hey!

We noticed that the pinball machine and all of its parts to put it together were perfectly packed, minimising the chance of damage while in transit. Once we started taking things out of the box the first thing that struck us was the build quality – it totally blew our expectation, with the whole thing feeling and looking superb! From the cabinet to the backbox, artwork and buttons, to the polished steel lockdown bar, legs and side rails, this thing oozes quality and is almost as good as a real commercial pinball machine, minus the cost (relax, we said “almost”! – Ed). Putting the machine together was a cinch, but it helped having another person around to assist in lifting the cabinet as it’s not that light. While the machine was coming together, we were constantly wowed by how good it looked and how sturdy it felt – it was a good start!

Assembling the machine was a breeze

The QA department checking our progress

Being impressed with the physical aspects of the machine was one thing, but how did it fare once the rubber hit the road, or should we say, once we turned it on – would it play as good as it looked? The quick answer is yes, but – there is always a but! Once we fired up the machine, we instantly loved the lit up backbox – it just makes the artwork pop! On the playfield screen, the interface felt familiar as it uses Zen Studios’ Pinball FX software platform. The button layout for interacting with the machine was intuitive, with the flippers acting as the selector (left, right, up or down) and the start/launch button (under the plunger) as the selection confirmation. On the front of the cabinet there are two rocker-type switches, one for turning on the machine and the other to control the volume – we preferred to set the volume via the software settings. Below these two switches are the settings and table guide buttons. The settings allow for the usual stuff, from adjusting the audio and video, to the pinball machine specific settings for the solenoids and plunger calibration. For the record, we left our machine settings stock, which worked perfectly fine for us.

Once the language is selected, the machine presents the 10 pinball machines to choose from. As mentioned earlier, we were quite chuffed to see that most of the classic Williams pinball tables were on this model. Barring the unplayable White Water due to excessive flipper lag and jerky motion, the rest of the pinball tables played pretty darn well, just like they do on any system that has Zen Studios’ Pinball FX.

We love playing digital pinball on any device!

With the screen being 23.8″, the first thing that ran through our minds was that it was too small. However, after playing a few games, we realised that the screen size was admirable and found that it did not detract from playing pinball. Our eyes adjusted and really didn’t know the difference in screen size – it’s as if someone played a Jedi mind trick on us! The best analogy we could come up with regarding screen size is that it’s like telling someone how great your 65” TV is and they are completely satisfied and don’t see the difference 3 minutes into watching the same stuff on a smaller, 55” inch TV – all being near the same in the minds eye. One thing that is unforgivable is the use of HD (720p) instead of Full HD (1080p) – it just makes the visuals not as sharp and looking a bit dated for this day and age where we expect 4K+ visuals! Hopefully this can be resolved with an update from Arcade1Up. And while they are at it, we hope they fix the lag on White Water too this has now been fixed with the latest firmware update!

There was quite a lot of discussion on social media regarding the black plastic bezel around the screen due to its thickness. When you stand over the machine while it is turned off, the bezel does detract from the visual aspect of the machine, however, once it’s turned on, the bezel, coupled with the screen set under it, creates a depth of field to the playfield screen which adds to the realism of playing pinball. Another neat touch in the video department on this machine are the different colours represented for each of the 4 players on the DMD (the small screen in the backbox), so there will never be any confusion whose turn it is or who wins!

We couldn’t really fault anything in the audio department on this little beauty. The dual speakers pump out great tunes and sound effects which immerse you further into your pinball playing pleasure. With the addition of the solenoids giving the player physical feedback plus the well integrated sound effects pumping through the speakers, you definitely get a sense of playing a pinball game just as you do from playing the real thing. Oh yeah, you’ll find that on maximum volume this thing can really get the heart rate going and possibly have your neighbours calling in to see what the heck is going on!

VERDICT:

We’ve been playing digital / virtual pinball games since the days of Video Pinball on the Atari 2600, and the one thing we used to always wish for over the decades was a way to play these games in a physical pinball cabinet format, just like the real deal. What we can say is that as an off the shelf consumer product, Arcade1Up have delivered on our wish, and even more so with the firmware update even if it’s not 100% perfect. If you want to play the awesome Zen Studios produced pinball games, then there is no better way than playing them on an Arcade1Up pinball machine.

Build quality is top stuff!

Looking good from any angle!

Interface instructions – quite easy really!

Settings galore!

Front of the cabinet – the control deck of the Arcade1Up pinball machine

Love how the angled bezel creates the depth of field!

Can’t wait to get flippin’

Let’s get these pesky Martians!

The backbox does pop once the machine is switched on!

Another fave table of ours

Oh how we wish they used 1080p to sharpen the look on these games!

Lil austretrogamer loves a bit of flipper action! The kids seem to love this machine.

It looks just as good turned off!

For the record, nothing beats playing our real pinball machines, but the Arcade1Up is still darn cool!



Documentary: The Making of GoldenEye 007 (N64)

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Back in 2017 there was a crowdfunded project titled Golden Era which was going to tell the story of the making of GoldenEye 007 on the N64. The project didn’t reach it’s funding goal, but thankfully onaretrotrip stepped in to offer all of us a a glimpse into the game that revolutionised first-person shooters (FPS) and defined the Nintendo 64.

So kick back and enjoy the making of one of the all-time best N64 games!


source: onaretrotip

 



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

 


EVERCADE Retro Games Console – Review

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Evercade review
  • Product: EVERCADE Premium Pack – handheld + 3 classic gaming collections (37 titles)
  • Price: AU$159.95
  • Store: PixelCrib

A couple of years ago, we were quite excited to tell you all about a mysterious new handheld console that was like no other – the EVERCADE!

The EVERCADE handheld system was touted to be able to play multi-game retro games on physical cartridges from leading games publishers and console platforms. Since this news broke in early 2019, the EVERCADE has gone on to become quite popular since its release, garnering fanfare and glowing reviews from reputable online media outlets. Now it was our turn to take the EVERCADE for a spin and tell you what we think! First and foremost, some good news for our Australian readers, the EVERCADE is now locally stocked at PixelCrib!

PROS

 CONS
+ Officially licensed games on cartridges
+ Priced competitively
+ Expanding library of game carts
+ Collectability
+ Build quality		 – Arcade games (so far) are console ports
– Wait is too long for new cartridge releases
– Screen needs to be angled at times in poorly lit areas
 – Wish it came in black

Upon opening the package and holding the unit, our first impression of the intriguing EVERCADE was that it looked and felt like a much more expensive handheld – not quite like the Nintendo Switch, but that system commands a much steeper price. For the introductory price (AU$159.95), the EVERCADE Premium Pack definitely packs quite a lot; great build quality and three gaming cart compilations included to get you playing right away!

The EVERCADE Premium Pack is exceptional value

From a physical perspective, the D-pad and four face buttons feel great – with the buttons spaced well apart with no lag. We didn’t experience any hand fatigue or cramping while playing on the EVERCADE, so the experience was quite positive. The shoulder buttons weren’t used in any of the games we played, so we can’t really comment how well they fair with extensive gameplay – they definitely felt good when pressed, with a satisfying tactile click.



No handheld is complete without a good screen, and the EVERCADE’s 4.3″ display is no exception, with bright vivid video. However, we did find that we had to angle it at times when playing in a darker or a poorly lit room, but this small niggle was improved somewhat by bumping up the screen brightness to maximum. Oh yeah, the other screen option is the aspect ratio, with the EVERCADE providing both 4:3 (traditional ‘square’) 16:9 (scaled widescreen) – we found both screen ratios to be playable, with no discernible stretching when going from square to full-widescreen, so choose what best suits you.

The cartridges slot in from the top, behind the unit, with their top rounded shape completing the look of the EVERCADE. There is something quite satisfying when inserting and clicking in a cartridge. The EVERCADE’s volume buttons, 3.5mm headphone jack and mini-USB port are on the bottom, which are all well within reach. The top of the unit has the slide on/off switch, cartridge slot, shoulder buttons and mini-HDMI which allows for connectivity to a new TV with up-scaled graphics to HD (720p), making the old school games look pretty good on any new big screen TV. Obviously Full HD or higher would’ve been even better.

Specs

  • CPU: 1.2GHz Cortex-A7
  • Display: Horizontal 4.3-inch LCD screen, 480 x 272 pixels
  • Power: 2,000-mAh rechargeable battery
  • Ports: 1 x mini-HDMI out, 1 x 3.5mm headphone jack, 1 x micro-USB (charging)
  • Media: cartridges

Once you insert the game cart and turn on the unit, the interface is quite easy to use and follow. Games are started by pressing the start button and then within the game, you have the in-game menu which allows the user to load (a saved game) or save your current game, change the aspect ratio, language or quit the current game. The save game is a welcome feature, as it gives you the ability to see more of those harder retro classics without the need to restart from the beginning – it doesn’t feel like cheating. You can keep playing for up to 4 – 5 hours on the EVERCADE before it needs recharging – we just we wish it lasted longer.  But hey, you can play and charge if you want to keep going!

As eluded earlier, the Premium Pack comes with three cartridges; Namco Museum Collection 1 (11 games), Interplay Collection 1 (6 games) and the Atari Collection 1 (20 games). With 37 games to select from, you’ll definitely be kept busy right off the bat. We were quite chuffed to see that Blaze Entertainment secured the first ever western localisation of Mappy Kids on the Namco Museum Collection 1. There are now some 18 cartridges you can either buy or pre-order for the EVERCADE, so there is something for everyone! For the record, we can’t wait to grab the Atari Lynx and Data East Collections for now, as they are packed with games we know and love. The newly announced Codemasters Collection will be a winner too (released later in 2021).

With a number of well known publishers onboard, the EVERCADE isn’t short on game carts, with many more to come. Add the newly announced EVERCADE VS console into the mix and an ever-growing user base, and all of a sudden the value proposition for the EVERCADE becomes quite attractive. In the world of digital downloads, it is great to have a system that you can buy official physical game carts, with their cool game boxes and actual colour manuals – remember those?! The collector in us is quite giddy and satisfied with the collectable elements that the EVERCADE provides.

Verdict

The EVERCADE may not be for everyone, but its secret is in the use of officially licensed games released on physical media. With this key differentiation, we feel that the EVERCADE sits on its own in a category full of emulation-capable handhelds with not-so-official licensed games. With an enticing price point for the unit and games, the EVERCADE provides great value. If you haven’t done so, check out the EVERCADE and its growing library of games and then decide if it is for you – we bet you’ll be pleasantly surprised!

 

 

Disclosure: EVERCADE Retro Games Handheld System was provided by PixelCrib for this review.



BBC Archives: At home with the Codemasters – 1988

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The BBC Archive is rich with gaming related content from the 80s! We wanted to share this particular video of the Darling family, better known as Codemasters, enjoying their dizzy-ing success in the video games industry. Ah, those were the times.

This originally aired on the BBC’s Breakfast Time segment on August 2, 1988!


source: BBC Archive

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

 

AtGames’ 10 Things You Didn’t Know About the History of Arcade Games

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AtGames Legends Ultimate

Who doesn’t like a bit of trivia? Right, if you put your hand up, you can excuse yourself right now! For those hanging around, check out some cool trivia submitted to us by the folks at AtGames Gaming!

Anyone born in the 90s or earlier probably remembers – or has at least seen – an arcade machine. These cabinets, often built from wood with a CRT screen, joystick and buttons, were coin-operated machines usually created to play a single game. Pinball machines were the first to introduce the concept in the 1930s, whereas classic arcades with video games started making their presence known in the early 70s.

The late 70s and early 80s were the huge breakthrough, with classics like Space Invaders, Missile Command and Pac Man making arcades a hot commodity in fast-food restaurants, as well as college dorms. While the 80s started introducing home consoles in a big way – Atari 2600 and the Nintendo Entertainment System being two of the major players – arcades started to slowly decline in popularity as console games provided an easier way to enjoy arcade-style action at home. By the mid-90s, arcades were mostly a special interest niche, and, today there is a huge surge in retro-nostalgia where avid gamers can get systems that not only play their beloved arcade memories perfectly, like the AtGames Legends Gamer Pro – but a real, full size, multi-game arcade cabinet of their own, like the AtGames Legends Ultimate, with 300 games built in and the possibility to easily add more!

Here are ten, little known facts and trivia, about some classic arcade games:

1. Missile Command was among the first group of major arcade hits in the US. It even got its own mod-kits, created by students who were fans from MIT.

2. Pong (1972) was the first successful arcade game brought into American homes through Atari’s Home Pong console, released through Sears in 1975.

3. While the AtGames Legends Ultimate is an arcade machine with more than 300 different games built-in, the original arcade machines and home Pong consoles only played one type of game at a time. The first home video game system to accept interchangeable cartridges was co-created by pioneering African-American engineer Jerry Lawson in 1976. The system was originally called the Fairchild Video Entertainment System (VES), and later the Fairchild Channel F (short for “Fun”). It was, however, soon eclipsed after the third ever programmable video game console, the Atari Video Computer System (VCS, or 2600), was released less than a year later.

4. The inventor of Tetris, Alexey Pajitnov, didn’t get any money from his game until about 10 years after its initial release. He was a Soviet computer scientist and the USSR took all the money he would have gotten.

5. Centipede was one of the first games to become popular with female players. This may be because of the fact that Dona Bailey – who was involved in its development – was one of Atari’s few, female employees at the time.

6. 64th Street – A Detective Story (1991) was a popular beat’em-up in the arcades, published by Jaleco. This two-player revenge story built on the classic beat’em-up legacy from the 80’s like Double Dragon (1987).

7. Asteroids displaced Space Invaders in popularity in the United States and became Atari’s best-selling arcade game of all time, with over 70,000 units sold.

Boogie Wingsimage: Boogie Wings (1992) by Data East

8. Data East’s Boogie Wings – known as The Great Ragtime Show in Japan – was pretty obscure when originally released as an arcade game in 1992. Over time the beautiful shoot’em-up has become a fan-favourite and dark horse classic, often praised and well-talked about in retro-gaming communities for its originality and variety in gameplay.

9. Joe and Mac: Caveman Ninja was such a popular platformer in the arcades that it was later converted to no less than eight different console and computer formats, the latest one being the Nintendo Switch. Not bad for a 30+ year old gaming classic!

10. One of the games revered by arcade-buffs is Zoo Keeper, TAITO’s 1982 classic and one of the first of three arcade games ever released for the American market by the company. The              player needs to contain escaping animals from the zoo that have captured the protagonist Zeke’s girlfriend, Zelda (Ed: say what?!)!. This is done by running around the compound, planning your moves. But did you know the game was originally named King Crab?

Well there you have it peeps. What did you think? Some stuff is pretty well known, but there were a couple of things in the list that we weren’t aware of, so we’ve learned something new today!

Visiting The Gamesmen Retro Game Museum

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We are reminiscing about the time we were invited by the Weird and Retro crew to join them in Sydney for the 2015 EB Expo – it was such an amazing experience!

Before the EB Expo shenanigans, we took time out to visit The Gamesmen in Penshurst (NSW), to check out their awesome (Retro) Game Museum.

The Gamesmen has been an Australian game store icon for almost 40 years and it is still going strong. Back in the day, we used to love receiving their catalogues which we would pore over each page, drooling at the latest gaming systems and games – we just wish we had kept those catalogues! Oh yeah, luckily for us (and all of you), The Gamesmen folks have made electronic copies of their old catalogues, so go here now and enjoy some intoxicating nostalgia.

Anyway……… This pilgrimage was a long time coming and fulfilled our wish to go and check out the museum in person. We definitely weren’t disappointed and we were glad to have ticked this off our bucket list. The sixty plus photos we took below from the game museum does not do it any justice – to see it in person was amazing. However, the next best thing to going there was to share what we saw, and as you will see below, your nostalgic senses will not be disappointed.

There was no one favourite section, but the glassed cabinets were like a time machine looking back at our childhood, daydreaming about owning and playing the systems and games on display. The video games system timeline mural was another highlight, reflecting how far gaming has come. The Gamesmen Retro Game Museum had truly encapsulated our past, leaving a delectable mark on our 8-bit brain.

Make sure you scroll through each image slowly, as you do not want to miss anything!

Approaching the Mecca of Australian Video Gaming!

images remain the copyright of ausretrogamer

PS: Special thank you to the Weird and Retro team for inviting us to be part of their WaRrior crew for the 2015 EB Expo and for a memorable road trip!

 

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