Retro Gamer

Top 5 Games Charts: February 2000

April 18, 2017 By ausretrogamer

As the second month of the new millennium rolled around, we realised that the doomsday Y2K bug was a furphy and we pumped up the volume to All Saints‘ ‘Pure Shores’!

By February 2000 the PlayStation was showing its age, but it was still host to many great games – hello Crash Team Racing! If you were in the Nintendo or Sega camps, February 2000 was a good one, as their respective consoles, the Nintendo 64 and Dreamcast, were definitely not short of ace games.

So let’s put on some Christina Aguilera and take a look back at what games made the top 5 charts on the PlayStation, Nintendo 64 and Dreamcast in February 2000. See any you like?

	1) Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation (Eidos)
	2) FIFA 2000 (EA)
	3) Crash Team Racing (Sony)
	4) Tomorrow Never Dies (EA)
	5) This Is Football (Sony)

	1) Donkey Kong 64 (Nintendo)
	2) WWF Wrestlemania 2000 (THQ)
	3) Super Smash Bros. (Nintendo)
	4) Rainbow Six (Take 2)
	5) Rayman 2 (Ubisoft)

	1) Virtua Striker 2 (Sega)
	2) Shadowman (Acclaim)
	3) SoulCalibur (Namco)
	4) Jimmy White’s 2: Cueball (Virgin)
	5) UEFA Striker (Infogrames)

SKYCURSER Is Coming Soon To Shoot Up Your Arcade

April 17, 2017 By ausretrogamer

Who says that the arcade is dead? If you are sick of seeing redemption machines at your local amusement centre, then perhaps the new horizontal shoot’em up, SKYCURSER will draw you back for some good old fashion blasting!

Griffin Aerotech’s SKYCURSER takes players through some gorgeously drawn worlds in which they must battle mutant hordes to save the planet. SKYCURSER has a total of four missions with a reward scoring system that keeps things quite competitive.

The game runs on a platform called Airframe and its creators have also promised free game updates. A year ago, the Griffin Aerotech team expressed hopes that the open-source nature of Airframe would attract other independent designers to create games for arcade cabinets and controls. This means that operators could potentially swap several games on the same Airframe using only a USB stick, which brings back memories of swapping those good old Neo Geo MVS cartridges.

There’s a Pro (USD$700) and Deluxe (USD$1,200) version of the kitted game, each coming with necessary software and hardware while the Deluxe has additional conversion art. The game is also available in a dedicated arcade cabinet ready to hit the floor (USD$3,499). Conversion kits are expected to ship by June 2017. For information on purchasing the game in a dedicated cabinet, click here.

The arcade industry needs more of these good old fashioned arcade games, like SKYCURSER, to draw back the 80s and 90s kids (now adults) into arcade centres for them to have fun while introducing their own children to the kind of games they played at their age many moons ago.

image source: Griffin Aerotech

Coolate Vectrex 3D Printed LED-Lit Controller

April 3, 2017 By ausretrogamer

We’ve been on a Vectrex kick lately, from having a beautiful boxed system donated to us, to the cool custom controller overlay to pimp out our older and tired looking Vectrex controllers. We adore the retro gaming splendour that is the Vectrex!

While we are on this vector kick, we’ve found out that there is a smart cookie out there that has used their 3D printing skills in fabricating a Vectrex controller, decked out in great colours and LED-lit analogue sticks! It’s a bit rough around the edges, but it’s still damn cool.

PLEASE TAKE OUR MONEY!

source: eBay

source: Coolate

WIN: Atari Flashback 7 Classic Gaming Consoles

February 15, 2017 By ausretrogamer

Attention peeps: We are giving away 2 x ATARI FLASHBACK® 7 CLASSIC GAMING CONSOLES!

Yep, you read that right, our good friends at Five Star Games have provided us two brand new Atari Flashback® 7 classic gaming consoles to giveaway to our awesome audience!

For your chance to win, head over to our Facebook giveaway and post your most retro gaming related photo in the comments section!

So what are you waiting for, go and snap your most retro gaming related pic and enter the giveaway for your chance to snag a cool console!

If you don’t know what the Atari Flashback® 7 classic game console is, then here is what you need to know:

The console features 101 built-in Atari 2600 games. These games include Frogger and Space Invaders™, along with all-time Atari 2600 classics like Asteroids®, Centipede™, Jungle Hunt, Missile Command®, and Pong, among many more. The console includes two wireless controllers, styled like the Atari 2600 originals, and two legacy (DB9) controller ports for optional wired joysticks or paddles for that nostalgic hit!

image source: Five Star Games

Movieland Arcade: A Hit Of Nostalgia In Vancouver

February 2, 2017 By ausretrogamer

Ah Vancouver, the city of many cruise ships and retirees boarding these massive vessels! This post has been a long time coming, but that’s because we’ve been distracted – till now!

Continuing on with cool places we visited while on our North American trip (like the Seattle Pinball Museum, Toy Shack and A Gamer’s Paradise in Vegas), the city of Vancouver delivered its own piece of gaming nostalgia via the Movieland Arcade!

There are some amusement centres that are stuck in a bygone era, a period of time when arcade parlours in the 80s were lined with machines, both of the arcade and pinball kind, checkered linoleum flooring, cheeky signage, an attendants booth for exchanging your notes for coins and of course, the smell. Well, it is safe to say that Movieland Arcade encapsulates this 80s era perfectly.

Situated at the hipster end of Granville Street in central Vancouver, Movieland Arcade cannot be missed – its distinct red tile facade enticing you to go in and experience some real gaming nostalgia. With pinball tables and arcade machines ranging from the 70s to the late 90s, you better exchange your notes for a shed-load of coins as you will want to play them all!

Movieland Arcade reminded us of the arcade joints we used to frequent in the 80s on Swanston Street and Russell Street in the centre of Melbourne. Unlike those arcade joints going the way of the dodo, Vancouver can count itself lucky with a place like the Movieland Arcade.

Whoa, we spot Movieland Arcade across the road!

You definitely can’t miss the distinct facade of this majestic arcade parlour

We better grab some more coins!

Here we go! Hmm, pinball or straight to the arcade machines?

We shall start from the left and work our way to the right..

You have to go slow when you are in here! Too many awesome distractions!

We can’t go past some Neo Geo action

Killer Instinct is next!

Whoa man, haven’t seen a Gauntlet Legends machine in almost 20 years!

Some single racing action on Daytona USA!

Inserting coins now!

Nothing beats some 8P head-to-head racing!

We spy Medieval Madness! Time to destroy some castle!

Needing some gun action, which Area 51 will satisfy

We enjoy gunning down zombies!

Hmm, not sure if these ‘movies’ and that ‘theatre’ are appropriate, but…

OMG, Raiden Fighters! There go all of our coins!

Our shmup senses have gone into overdrive! Get us some more coins!

We spent our last few coins on some Playboy action *wink*

Darn it, the booth attendant must’ve had a toilet break. We’ll be back.

It’s-A-Me, Charles Martinet! Let’s-A-Go!

January 30, 2017 By ausretrogamer

Mamma mia! Surely by now you should all know the great Charles Martinet. For those of you that don’t recognise him or the name, we bet you’ve definitely heard him.

Charles is the voice of our favourite video game plumber, Mario! He has voiced Mario since 1995 but that’s not the only Nintendo character he has lent his vocal chords too, he also voices, Baby Mario, Luigi, Baby Luigi, Wario, Waluigi and Toadsworth. Yahoo!

source: Great Big Story

Thrill Of The Chase: Neo Geo Pocket Color Hanshin Tigers

January 14, 2017 By ausretrogamer

It’s a new year and what a better way to start it than to hunt down a Neo·Geo rarity!

SNK’s 16-bit handheld, the Neo·Geo Pocket Color (NGPC) came in a number of colours, but it’s the special limited edition Hanshin Tigers version that is its most prized of the NGPC lineup. Inspired by the Japanese baseball team, there were only 5000 units produced, making it the rarer NGPC handheld.

2017 has definitely started with a bang at ausretrogamer as we bag our first thrill of the chase for the year. What else will we go hunting for in 2017? Only time will tell…

If only we were Richmond Tigers fans!

The Hanshin Tigers NGPC looks great from any angle

The NGPC’s home, an official SNK case to store the handheld and some games

No system is complete without games!

The Hanshin Tigers NGPC frolicking!

Bit of KoF action!

Let’s get button mashin’!

Splatterhouse: The Complete History

November 1, 2016 By ausretrogamer

Halloween may be over for another year, but that didn’t stop Daniel Ibbertson (Slopes Games Room) grabbing the Terror Mask and entering the West Mansion for a look at the complete history of everyone’s favourite slash’em up, Splatterhouse.

Daniel’s video looks at every single game in the franchise, Namco’s struggle against Nintendo and every movie reference found in the series so far. Go and grab some popcorn, leave the light on, and press play now!

source: Slopes Games Room

Double Dragon: The Complete History

October 16, 2016 By ausretrogamer

If you have been following our exploits here or on social media, you’ll know that we are massive fans of Technos‘ brilliant 1987 beat’em up arcade game, Double Dragon.

What’s there not to like, two brothers, Billy and Jimmy Lee, set out to rescue Billy’s girl, Marian, from the Black Warriors gang by kicking ten-shades out of every baddie that gets in their way! This co-op game also gave the player the opportunity to grab strewn items, like a whip or baseball bat (among others) to easily dispose of the Black Warriors members.

We could go on and on about this awesome game, but we thought we’d spare you and bring your attention to Double Dragon: The Complete History by Slopes Game Room’s Daniel Ibbertson. Insert coin and enjoy!

Ah, many a coin were pumped into this machine

Double Dragon was converted on myriad of home systems. Let’s not talk about the C64 version *grumble*

The NES conversion was one of the better ones

Even the Atari 2600 conversion was better than the C64 debacle!
source: Slopes Game Room

Wolfsbora’s Tour Of Shenmue – Part 1

August 26, 2016 By Wolfsbora

Why is Ryo always asking the wrong questions? That is what I am internally mulling over as I try my hand at Shenmue for the very first time. An epic ‘open-world action-adventure’ game (according to its Wikipedia page), it is also considered an RPG that was developed for the long deceased, but ultimately timeless Sega Dreamcast. Shenmue stars Ryo Hazuki, a teen who looks more like a 30-something man who jumped straight out of Virtua Fighter and onto the streets of Japan. There appears, however, to be a reason for that. The creator of the game, Yu Suzuki, originally intended for the Shenmue series to exist in the same world as Virtua Fighter, but then decided to drop the connection. Still, they could have tried a bit harder to make him look more like a pubescent, acne-riddled teen and less like a haggard, street-fighter who always looks like he is waking up from a Scotch-induced bender. As for what brings the advanced-in-age-looking protagonist to the beginning of the game, Ryo is seeking revenge for the murder of his father. As you proceed through the quest, you fill in a notebook with clues which you must follow to continue on with the story. There is also quite a diverse collection of items that you can buy, receive, and earn, but I haven’t quite figured out what I’m doing literally with any of them.

Man-child seeking fight

Can’t find a fight? That’s fine, Ryo will just fight himself

Regardless of the main character’s appearance, the game definitely looks and “feels” amazing, especially considering its age. Shenmue has the appearance of an early Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 game, which is saying something, considering the game came out in 1999, six years before either of those systems came onto the market.

By this point, you’ve either forgotten about my initial question, or you’ve been frustratingly clenching your teeth and demanding some serious answers because you’re a very serious person (it says so on your resume). But here it is: why does Ryo ask the wrong question in almost every scenario where there will be dialogue between you and another person? Well, I don’t know. This is my only gripe with Shenmue up to this point in the game. I wish that they had decided to give you dialogue options because not only is he asking the wrong questions, he’s usually rambling on about things that have nothing to do with the story, let alone the fact that the responding dialogue typically makes even less sense. Here’s hoping that the dialogue starts to fix itself!

Tom has no idea what is going on, but he has some amazing dance moves and delicious hot dogs

Finally, within the first couple of hours or so, I find that Shenmue is more adventure than action. You spend most of your time wandering Dobuita street, fists always clenched, asking people silly questions and getting even sillier answers. I have, so far, been involved in one quick time fight, in which you press the correct corresponding button to the label on the screen. Yet, I’m somehow still enjoying the game thanks to the ability to explore the graphically pleasing city. I think I’ll stick around for a while.

Where can I find a fight?!

That is all for Part 1 as I, Wolfie, take you on an adventure through this retroland called Shenmue. Stay tuned for Part 2 as I get further into the story. Thanks for reading!

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Wolfsbora
U.S.A. based arcade cabinet & retro game collector. Lover of all (good) games and the people that play them!