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Retro Gamer

Create Your Own Miniature Arcade and Pinball Parlour

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UPDATE: 33 Games is no longer available via Etsy (as at May 1 2018)

If you don’t have the space or can’t afford a row of classic arcade and pinball machines at your place, then 33 Games may have the next best thing – miniature 1/12th scale arcade and pinball replica machines!

Standing 6 inches tall and mostly made of wood and plastic, these mini arcade machines and pinball tables are an absolute meticulous work of art by Alan Friggens of 33 Games. The range is quite extensive for both arcade and pinball machines – all the greats are there, from Robotron, Galaga and Final Fight, to Bally, Gottlieb, Williams, Data East, Stern and Jersey Jack Pinball machines! We just wish Alan made JJP’s Dialed In mini pinball machine (hint! hint!).

33 Games offers these scale miniature machines as a single buy (pinball $36.82 / arcade $27.61) or in a special ‘pick any 3’ for $92.08 for 3 mini pinball tables or $73.66 for 3 mini arcade machines of your choice. Oh yeah, the pinball machines also have a LED lighting option which adds custom fitted LED lighting under the playfield and behind the backglass to really make them pop!

Which 33 Games mini arcade and/or pinball machines would you get? Jump on Twitter or Facebook to let us know!

image source: 33 Games via Etsy

 

Best Atari Jaguar Games

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If we had a dollar for every time we have been asked to list our favourite Atari Jaguar games, well, we’d be able to buy a few Snickers bars. Jesting aside, you can stop Googling for the ‘best atari jaguar games‘ as we present to you, the definitive list (in no particular order) of the best Atari Jaguar games of all time*

*List may change when another awesome Jag homebrew title is released!

Before you get all, “But where the hell is AVP?”, relax, it’s a great game, so it makes the honorary list:

  • Total Carnage
  • Defender 2000
  • Alice’s Mom’s Rescue
  • Hyper Force
  • Rebooteroids
  • Super Burnout
  • Alien Vs Predator

So there you have it. What do you reckon, agree or disagree? What are your fave Atari Jaguar games?

PS: If you want to have a robust discussion about our choices, hit us up on Twitter or Facebook.

 

Everything Retro Is Hot At CES 2018

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If you were in Vegas last week for the 2018 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) you would have been forgiven for thinking that it was the 1990s!

It definitely looks like companies are finally tweaking to the fact that retro gaming is big business. From Hyperkin announcing the mighty Ultra Game Boy to Retro-Bit announcing their partnership with Sega, it looks like 2018 is going to be a big year for retro gamers and their credit cards!

Here are our hot retrogaming picks from CES 2018:

Hyperkin Ultra Game Boy in an aluminium case will turn heads for sure!
image source: Gizmodo

Retro-bit did a mic drop by announcing that they had signed a licensing agreement with Sega to produce accessories for Sega’s Mega Drive, Saturn and Dreamcast gaming consoles! They even showed off games for the NES and SNES! These guys were on fire in Vegas!

Retro-Bit’s Sega Dreamcast Bluetooth Controller, Receiver and TV connectivity cables

Retro-Bit’s Sega Saturn controllers!

Retro-Bit’s Sega Mega Drive / Genesis Bluetooth Controllers

Retro-Bit’s Games for the NES (Holy Diver) and SNES (R-Type Returns CE)

source: Retro-Bit on Twitter

(Atari) Table Pong – If you weren’t lucky enough to snag this via its super early-bird Kickstarter price, then you will be paying three times more for it now!

source: Alex Kidman via Finder

 

Ausretrogamer is Six Years Old

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Ausretrogamer launched six years ago today! We’re not doing a whole lot to celebrate, unless eating cupcakes and doughnuts counts as a celebration – but we didn’t want to let the day pass without some sort of acknowledgement. It would be an understatement to say that the retro gaming scene is a tad different today than when we launched in January 2012. Back then there was no NES or SNES Classic Minis nor was there a PAX event in Australia.

The retro gaming community has grown in leaps and bounds with its momentum showing no slowdown – long may it continue to be this way. In fact, if we can blow our own horn for a moment, we’ve set new traffic records on ausretrogamer in 2017 – and we have all of you awesome peeps to thank for that!

We at ausretrogamer are not planning on stopping anytime soon. Your enthusiasm and excitement for retro gaming and its limitless possibilities is what keeps us motivated to keep on going. Who knows what the next six years will bring, but rest assured, we will keep doing what we do as long as you keep reading and engaging with us on social media. Thanks heaps!

 

The Incredible Arcade Warehouse in Japan

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Oh My Gosh! Micah Moore, the cool peep that explores the strange and wonderful as part of his Legend of Micah Facebook page has done exactly that – explored the strange, wonderful and incredible arcade in Kawasaki, Japan, modelled after the Kowloon Walled City – an infamous slum in Hong Kong. The Amusement Game Park Kawasaki (Anata No) Warehouse has narrow alleys, flickering lights and the sounds of an underground marketplace that create a maze filled with 80’s and 90’s arcade games.

Taishiro Hoshino, an art designer for kabuki theatre, painstakingly reproduced signs and posters from the real Kowloon Walled City, which was demolished in the early 90’s. This arcade is going on the bucket list immediately!

Big thanks to Skooota for letting us know about this one!


source: Legend of Micah – Facebook

 

Get A Hit of Nostalgia With The Retro Pocket Arcade

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Have you had enough of the huge prices that Nintendo’s Game & Watch games demand? Well, you are in luck, as JB Hi-Fi have the exclusive Retro Pocket Arcade handheld going for $24.95!

This fun on the go mini handheld arcade sports a colour 1.8″ LCD and comes packed with 150+ games – take that Game & Watch! The little pocket rocket is powered by 3 x AAA batteries so you can game on the go for hours.



We know what you are thinking – what games are on it and how does it play? Well, if you like Game & Watch games, then you’ll love the incarnations on this little beast. Games like Parachute are on there (it’s actually called Parachute!) – save the parachuting kamikazes by catching them with your boat. We’d be here all day if we went through the entire list of games, but rest assured there are games on the Retro Pocket Arcade to please everyone (take a peek at some in the pic below).

The LCD is nice and bright, making viewing better and easier on your eyes. The D-pad is replaced with four buttons, but that isn’t a bad thing, as it’s reminiscent of the older Game & Watch games that predate Gunpei Yokoi’s wonderful directional pad. The buttons all feel easy on the finger without any lag, but they would have been even better if they were convex instead of being flat. At $24.95, this little beast comes highly recommended if you can’t be stuffed chasing the elusive and expensive Game & Watch games by Nintendo.

With Christmas around the corner, this is a great stocking stuffer for the retro gamer. JB, you’ve done it again!



* The Flea Market Retro Pocket Arcade handheld was supplied by JB Hi-Fi for this article.



Play Your Fave Retro Gaming Systems in Your Web Browser

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Virtual Consoles – a recently launched website makes it possible to play legendary computers and consoles like the Apple II, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum and Super Nintendo (to name a few) right in your web browser.

The Virtual Consoles website offers its services free of charge: you can play on 9 old school gaming systems without installing any add-ons or plug-ins. Now that is pretty damn cool!

With the revival of retro gaming and the ever escalating costs, this site has come at the right time. “The site generally uses open-source development, so the use of emulators is completely free of charge. An up-to-date browser and an average desktop computer is all that is needed, although most of the retro computers offer good experience on tablets, as well”, says Kornel Kolma, founder of virtualconsoles.com.

Play with Spacewar! from 1962
Currently there are 9 online emulators available on the site: Apple II, Atari 2600, NES , Super NES. DOS, Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum. There are also some curiosities to be found in the collection, like the CHIP-8 interpreter which ran on microcomputers of the 1970s, and the DEC PDP-1, which was introduced in 1959 – making it possible to play the original Spacewar! game online.

“We only attached games to the emulated computers and consoles if they were freeware games or had gotten approval from the copyright owner. For most of the emulators we made it possible to upload games from existing collections. Our long-term goal is to come to an agreement with copyright owners of old games and make these games available in a retro gaming online store”, says Kornel Kolma. Kornel also added, “The short-term plan of Virtual Consoles is to launch additional emulators which will run in your web browser”.

With Virtual Consoles, the game is definitely not over!


 

The Incredible Hulk: Smashed It On The Sega Game Gear

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By: D.C. Cutler, U.S.A.

My love for the comic book character The Incredible Hulk started with my Sega Game Gear. As a kid, when I got a Game Gear, I played The Incredible Hulk game on the console all the time. I played it on the school bus; late at night when my parents thought I was sleeping; and when I should’ve been working on homework. I couldn’t get enough of the side-scrolling action game.

The Sega Game Gear gets a bad rap, but the small console had several great games. When all of my friends had Nintendo Game Boys, I was playing my Game Gear. I always thought the graphics were sharper on the Game Gear than the Game Boy. The game play looked similar to the actual Sega Genesis game.

Playing The Incredible Hulk everyday made me a fan of the green superhero. I started collecting the comic book because of the Game Gear game. My collection began with a few comics, but as my love for the character grew, a few comics became a hundred in about a year. I’ve always been fascinated by how Dr. Bruce Banner can morph into The Hulk and his dilemma with controlling it. Is it a gift or a curse? Both Banner and The Hulk have many layers as characters. When I was a kid, I connected to both characters.

I was bullied in grade school. Perhaps a part of me wished I could change like Dr. Banner could when he got angry. I played the game before school because my Game Gear was a pleasant distraction before the sometimes harsh school day began.

The Incredible Hulk was a simple side-scrolling game, but those were my favourite games when I was young. I never used the cheat codes, because I enjoyed the challenge of progressing through every level. And I took pleasure in being The Hulk and causing as much destruction as possible.

The Hulk game and my Game Gear were a nice escape at a time when I needed it. Sega may have not sold as many Game Gears as they had hoped, but I cherished mine, and found it far superior to the Nintendo Game Boy.

image source: Game Oldies

 

PinBox 3000: Making Of A Pinball Designer

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We bought the PinBox 3000 for our little one to be creative and have some fun. By creating her own pinball machine this may be the making of a future pinball designer – no pressure of course!

We can’t wait to see what our little one will come up with. We reckon Steve Ritchie and John Borg better watch out!

PS: We will report on her pinball table creations once she is old enough and stops putting things in her mouth.

 

Review of the Official SNK Book – NEOGEO: A Visual History

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When you grab hold of a tome by Bitmap Books you immediately feel its quality in your hands. Like every other Bitmap Books publication, the high standard in aesthetics extends to great content within.

We found that with each page turn of the NEO-GEO: A Visual History book our pupils were dilating in joy at the eye popping and gorgeous visuals (the photography and artwork throughout this book is simply sublime) and the content on each page, like the rare interviews with key SNK staff (Yasuyuki Oda, Tatsuhiko Kanaoka and Hideki Asanaka) and the brilliant master games list for NEO-GEO, among other great content, simply elevates the book to bible status.

It is easy to see that the NEO-GEO: A Visual History book was a labour of love for its creators. The loving and painstaking detail that has gone into each of the 400 pages makes the reader stop and absorb it all before turning to the next eye popping page. With SNK’s official blessing, this is the one and only definitive English language book you will ever need based on the great NEO-GEO video game line, from the MVS, AES, CD to the Hyper 64 and NEO-GEO Pocket systems, and the aforementioned master games list. This book will be a permanent fixture on your coffee table for ease of access to great content and reference (oh yeah, and to show off its beauty to your friends).

If you are a NEO-GEO fan (or even if you are not!) or know of someone that is a NEO-GEO fan, this book is an absolute MUST GET! With Christmas around the corner, you can’t go wrong with this as a gift for yourself or for that SNK fan you know will appreciate this fantastic publication.

If you can only buy one video games related book this year, then let me make your decision quite easy, get NEO-GEO: A Visual History now!

NEO-GEO: A Visual History Collector’s Edition is available from:

  • Pixel Crib $109.99 AUD (free Australia-wide delivery)

What you get in the NEO-GEO: A Visual History Collector’s Edition:

  • The book comes protected in a full-colour heavy duty board slipcase
  • A set of 5 high quality A4 art prints protected within a card wallet
  • Comes with a 25mm black plated soft enamel pin badge
  • A sticker set comprising 2 A6 stickers of famous Neo-Geo logos

You better hurry, as the Collector’s Edition book is in limited quantity and will never be produced again!

The NEOGEO: A Visual History book (only) is available from:

Do yourself a favour and get this now. You won’t regret it!

NEOGEO: A Visual History was supplied for review by Bitmap Books and Pixel Crib