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Ooh la la, this MegaSD FPGA Cartridge Is Just Mind-Blowing!

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Let’s start with WOW! How damn WOW is this MegaSD FPGA cartridge from Terraonion?!

Before we tell you what this mega cart can do, we thought we’d let you all know that it isn’t cheap (€232.00 / ~AU$380.00 exc shipping), but then again, there is a lot of cool technology jam-packed into this cart!

So, what can this cart do? Actually, the better question would be, what can’t it do? The simple answer is, it can do everything, bar making you a nice cup of coffee. Check out some of the mouth watering specs and features, and then make your decision to pull the trigger on one or not…..

This is the world’s First Mega-CD/Sega CD FPGA Optical Disc Emulator! Please try not to drool when reading the specs/features:

• Plays both ISOS (bin+cue) and ROMS

• RAM based cartridge for instant boot

• Compatible with all original and region free patched Mega-CD / Sega CD bios

• Supports Mega Drive / Genesis, Sega CD / Mega-CD, Nomad, Master System and 32X games (requires 32X add-on)

• Fully compatible with Analogue Mega Sg!

• Easy to use interface for navigating your collection with screenshots, genre, year and description

• Save State support for Mega Drive and Genesis Cartridge games (8 slots)

• Built in cheat engine for Mega Drive and Genesis cartridge games

• Emulates all different Genesis / Mega Drive / Master System / 32x cartridge mappers.

• Stores all different Genesis / Mega Drive / Master System / 32x cartridge saves into MicroSD card.

• Per game Mega-CD / Sega CD Backup RAM and Cartridge RAM stored into microSD card

• Master System FM Core

• In-Game menu for fast reboot and swapping games (Genesis / Mega Drive and Mega-CD / Sega CD)

image source: Terraonion

Oh yeah, this awesome bit of kit starts shipping in the first week of August 2019 by a strict purchase order system, so act fast! The other morsel you should be aware of is that shipping times will depend on their sales volumes! We are champing at the bit for this mega cart!

 

 

Lego Sonic Mania – Green Hill Zone: Vote Now

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Whoa, on the back of the cool Lego Sega Classic Arcade Machines idea we shared with you last week comes the Lego Ideas based on Sonic The Hedgehog!

Titled Sonic Mania – Green Hill Zone, you can show your support for this set on the Lego Ideas site right now!

This Lego Ideas set includes:

  • “Classic” Sonic the Hedgehog minifigure, with additional “running blur” build
  • Dr Eggman, Motobug and three Flickies as brick-built figures
  • Green Hill Zone “Spring & Palm Tree” and “Loop & Extra Life” modules
  • Egg Robot mech
  • Phantom Ruby and Ring accessories
  • 612 pieces, with 11 new prints (excluding minifigure).

If you still need convincing to support this awesome Lego set idea, here are a few play features to tickle your fancy:

  • Connect the Green Hill Zone modules together to design your own set pieces, mimicking the power of the Phantom Ruby warping the world!
  • Use the “Spring & Palm Tree” module to launch Sonic and his Flicky friends into the air, using the Technic lever to move the spring!
  • Use the Sonic the Hedgehog minifigure to run through the environment, collecting the ring and Extra Life (representing this being Sonic’s second try after his virtual journey through LEGO Dimensions!)
  • Dr Eggman can sit inside the Egg Robot mech, which can pose with its articulated arms and legs.
  • Use the handle on the end of the Egg Robot’s arms to extend its hands and use the drill attack on its enemies!
  • The Motobug can catch Sonic by surprise, making him lose his ring!
  • Have Sonic and Eggman fight for the Phantom Ruby!

image source: Lego Ideas – Sonic Mania

 

Rebooting The Atari Jaguar

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It is wonderful receiving gifts, but it is even more so when they are awesome cartridge-based Atari Jaguar video games!

The very generous Lawrence Staveley (aka: CJ Reboot) of Reboot Games sent us two cartridge games, Cyrano Jones’ Downfall Plus and Bubble Bobble Arcade to make our Jaguar purr. To top of these amazing carts, they both light up when the Jag is powered on!

The Atari Jaguar development and homebrew scene keeps thriving, and it is because of dedicated folks like Reboot that ensure we have fresh content to play on the 26 year old 64-bit cat. Long may it continue!

Oh yeah, both games are great, making them very hard to put down. Speaking of which, we reckon it is time we get out of here and sneak in a few more games 😉

Thanks again to CJ Reboot for these generous Atari Jaguar gaming gifts – we were, and still are totally blown away!

 

The Official Space Invaders Board Game

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We have said this a few times now, we are very very choosy what we back (and promote) on Kickstarter– so take note!

Space Invaders is one of those iconic video games that transcends generations. It is the game that keeps on giving. Having celebrated it’s 40th anniversary last year, this time around we are set to get an official Space Invaders Board Game!


source: 612 Games

We are so pumped for this Kickstarter and can’t wait to defend against the invaders on a physical board! For more info, head to the Space Invaders Board Game Kickstarter page to check out what you can get with your pledge. The campaign has already blown way past its target goal, so this is happening! Pew pew pew!

image source: Space Invaders Board Game via Kickstarter

[source story: technabob]

 

Playing Tetris on a Flip-Dot Display

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Tetris has always been a killer title for millions of gamers around the world. If you had a Game Boy, then we bet that you have played Tetris. Now, imagine playing Tetris on a mechanical display instead of digital. That’s hard to imagine, right?

Well, looks like Sinowin does imagine such things! Sinowin took a small computer, added a joystick and connected these to an old-school elongated flip-dot display, you know, like the ones that show the departure and arrival times at airports. No matter the platform, Tetris still remains a killer game, even on a flip-dot display. This is so damn cool!


source: sinowin

[story source: technabob.com]

 

Droolworthy Gaming Collection

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Just when we thought we had seen a lot of amazing gaming collections, GameByte hits us between the eyes with Thijs Bastiaens’ (aka: Tiny Collector) droolworthy collection!

Don’t mind our jaw hitting the floor and please have your bib ready before you press play! You’ve been warned!


source: GameByte

 

Evercade – It’s Coming!

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A new console has been announced and it looks very intriguing!

The Evercade is a brand new handheld console with unique multi-game retro cartridges from leading games publishers and console platforms. The first publisher to jump onboard, Atari, will be bringing 20 of their classic game carts from their 2600 and 7800 back catalogue. We are are eagerly awaiting news on future publishers.

Little is known at this stage about the Evercade, but the few bits and pieces of information has definitely piqued our interest, like:

  • An ever expanding library of games
  • Officially licensed content
  • No internet connection required
  • Collectable elements (unleash the trophy hunter inside of you!)
  • Save game progress; and
  • Connect to your TV via HDMI (sounds good to us)

The Evercade is one retro playing console we will keep an eye on and let you know more details as they come to hand.

 

Sega Mega Drive Mini: To be this good takes AGES, To be this good takes SEGA

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Just in case you have been in a cave without any outside contact, get your diary out now and mark September 19, 2019 as the date that the beautiful Sega Mega Drive Mini will be released in the wild to go toe-to-toe with its old foe, the SNES Classic Mini! Oh yeah, this ain’t no Flashback system!

We were amazed to find the following letter, with love, from SEGA:

My Old Friend,

I know it’s been a while. Time moves forward, yet not a day goes by that you’re not on my mind. I, the popular, star-console, you, the shy, unassuming kid, but we found common ground when we played Ecco the Dolphin together. You were so fast, racing through the Green Hill Zone with my pal, Sonic!

You sure knew how to play. The way that CRT hue hit your glazed over face as you spent another hour playing Castlevania: Bloodlines…We both knew things would change and that we’d move on to other great things, but lately, I’ve been thinking about spending time together once more. We didn’t do what we were told, but we made a good team.

I look a bit different now. I’m much smaller. I’m packing 40 games inside my sleek, molded shell, and more blast processing power than ever before.

We lived fast and dangerously, together, playing the games some of the adults weren’t too keen on (but you had the cool parents). We had the games your friends wanted to play, a whole stack of them. Shining Force, Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine, and Earthworm Jim, to name a few.

Sure. there were other distractions (remember pogs?). I was never jealous though because we still had Altered Beast and Gunstar Heroes.

I will try to write more regularly. I hear there is this friendly meeting space called “social media” now where I can share more.

I hope to hear from you soon.

With love,

SEGA Mega Drive Mini @-}–

Wow. We’ve never seen the SEGA Mega Drive Mini express itself like that before. If you’d like to write back, here is some information you may find useful when crafting your reply 😉

When: September 19, 2019

What: Miniature Sega Mega Drive console which will be plug-and-play ready with 40 classic games built-in! Oh yeah, the controllers will have 3 fire-buttons, not 6 (Ed: Oh well, it’s better than nothing)

Price: AU$139.00 / US$79.99 (Pre-orders via JB Hi-Fi or Play-Asia)

Announced titles (and more to come!):

  • Sonic the Hedgehog​
  • Ecco the Dolphin
  • Castlevania: Bloodlines
  • Space Harrier 2
  • Shining Force
  • Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine
  • Earthworm Jim
  • Comix Zone
  • Altered Beast
  • Gunstar Heroes

So there you have it. Are you excited? Of course you are! Let us know on Twitter or Facebook which other titles you would like to see make the list of 40 legendary games.

Now, there are no limits with the Sega Mega Drive Mini!

image source: Sega Mega Drive Mini

 

Happy April Fools’ Day

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You got to love April Fools’ Day tricksters. The more elaborate the April Fools joke (or trick), the better.

One games publisher that loved staging elaborate April Fools’ Day jokes on unsuspecting fans was Irem. While in business, Irem always had a joke or two up their sleeve come April 1.

They would create websites that were usually dedicated to promoting something that tended to poke fun at themselves and their own games, like the three “real life” models of the R-Type R-9 unit you could choose to purchase, or their new Irem Zoo, and our absolute favourite, their EXIDNA XAVY console, which was touted as the ultimate games machine that housed a self-propelled folding controller!

Irem had a lot of us gamers going with their elaborate jokes till we realised it was a ruse and in good fun. Here are a few listings of Irem’s sites that had us fooled over the years:

image source: Irem – via wayback machine

 

 

exA-Arcadia – The New Arcade Kit System

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They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Eric Chung, President and CEO of exA-Arcadia (EXA) has declared in his recent interview with Shmup’Em-All that their new arcade conversion kit system, exA-Arcadia, will be this generations’ NEOGEO. With a pedigree of SNK’s NEOGEO MVS arcade system, exA-Arcadia has some big shoes to fill. Eric’s statement does indeed seem bold, but he is confident that their innovative kit system will revolutionise and revitalise arcade gaming for developers and operators alike, giving them an easy to use system (to develop games) at a cost effective price point.

The exA-Arcadia System with four game cartridges as shown at JAEPO 2019
source: eXa-Arcadia via Twitter

So what does exA-Arcadia bring to the table for the operator? As already stated, this is an arcade conversion kit system, just like the NEOGEO MVS was back in the 90s, so its main aim for operators is to provide modern arcade content at a budget friendly price. This is all achieved by its clever hardware design, based on a secure Windows PC platform, which is more powerful than the PlayStation 4 Pro and Xbox One X consoles, which can hold up to four games (delivered in cartridge format about the size of the old CPS3 cartridges). The best part is that exA-Arcadia is JAMMA and JVS (JAMMA Video Standard) compatible, allowing it to be used inside almost any existing operable arcade cabinets. It is also compatible with both 16:9 LCD and traditional 4:3 CRT monitors. exA-Arcadia claims that their vertically oriented games can be played in horizontal mode, so operators don’t need more vertically oriented monitors in all of their cabinets to play EXA format games.

exA-Arcadia stand with sample games at JAEPO 2019
source: exA-Arcadia via Twitter

The attraction of exA-Arcadia is realised even further (for operators), as once the system is purchased, it is fully owned by the operator, meaning that there is no requirement for internet connectivity to access gaming content, nor is there a need to share revenue with the manufacturer or distributor – more money left in the pocket of the operator. For operators that want to offer their customers an online experience, exA-Arcadia has a feature that integrates with streaming services like Twitch. Together with a smartphone app and card system, the exA-Arcadia’s feature set can provide operators a deeper insight into their customer interactions, which helps in building loyalty and decision making on what is popular, ensuring that customers keep coming back.

With its Windows PC based architecture, the EXA system is open to both traditional (big name) developers as well as the smaller independent ones. The initial release of ten games that were showcased at California Extreme (CAX) and Stunfest in late 2018, clearly shows that the current focus is on shoot’em up (shmups) games, however there are currently fifty games in the development pipeline that represent a variety of gaming genres, like fighting, sports, classic retro style platformers and four player games to balance out the EXA line-up.

Visitors enjoying the exA-Arcadia offerings at CAX 2018

exA-Arcadia presence at California Extreme (CAX 2018)
source: Tanoshimasu via Twitter

Eric Chung is confident that their exA-Arcadia platform can overcome stiff competition from systems provided by the giants in the industry, namely Sega’s ALL.NET and Taito’s NESiCAxLive. Eric claims that exA-Arcadia’s attraction is its lower entry cost (prices have yet to be confirmed as at writing of this article) and the fact that they will not force revenue sharing on coin drops. The overall cost will most likely be even lower than the others (Sega and Taito) as there is no equipment required, like network routers and servers, and no monthly fee to access the manufacturer’s network.

There is no doubt that exA-Arcadia has captured the attention of the amusement industry and developers alike. We will definitely be keeping a close eye on developments, as the potential of what it promises will surely result in shaking things up in the industry.

Aka To Blue Type-R at Stunfest
source: Shmup’Em-All via Twitter

*This feature first appeared in the February 2019 issue of the NAMOA ‘The Collector’ trade magazine.