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Nintendo’s ‘Top Gun’: Landing Trouble

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By: D.C. Cutler, U.S.A.

Only a few more days until I watch “Top Gun: Maverick” in an IMAX theatre, and I’m so excited to finally see it. I’ve been wanting to watch the Tom Cruise sequel since I saw the trailer almost two years ago.

I have a lot of fond memories of playing the 1987 Nintendo game “Top Gun.” When I was little, I loved the movie, so I asked for the flight simulation game on my birthday. My father played the game more than I did when I first got it. He enjoyed showing me how many times he could effortlessly land his F-14 fighter plane on the U.S. aircraft carrier. I had a difficult time landing my F-14 at first. I couldn’t get the timing and steadiness right as I approached the aircraft carrier.

When I would hear one of the film’s iconic songs, like “Take My Breath Away” or “Danger Zone,” I would get anxious and frustrated. The songs made me think about my inability to land my jet on the large carrier.

Coming into land

Then my brother started playing “Top Gun” when I wasn’t playing it. He landed on the aircraft carrier with no problem within about three tries. It floored me. I thought, how was I so bad at landing? I kept trying, and I kept crashing like an amateur. I even started to wonder if I was playing on a harder mode than my family. Or that my brother and father had some sort of cheat code that they found somewhere or through someone they knew.

All my gamer friends at school would make fun of me because I was unable to land my F-14 on the aircraft carrier. I would come home from school or baseball practice and try to land, again and again. I got so discouraged; I didn’t play “Top Gun” for a week. I just let the game cartridge sit in the corner of my room, on my dresser. It was basically my way of ignoring the game.

Landed!

Then, one weekend morning, I got up early and I slide “Top Gun” into my NES. I took a few deep breaths and anxiously played the game until I got to the aircraft carrier. I kept my controller steady, and I kept hitting all the right buttons. If I could’ve nervously started biting my fingernails, I would have, but my hands were busy. My F-14 steadied out and I landed like it was a piece of cake. I called my friends and told them, waking most of them up from a deep sleep.

After I successfully landed my jet on the aircraft carrier, it became rather simple. The trick: I wasn’t thinking about failure so much.

image source: mobygames



Tesla Coils Performing The 8-Bit Super Mario Bros. Theme

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Nikola Tesla was one clever cookie – imagine what he could’ve come up with if he was still around? Well, we would guess that he would use his namesake coils to perform an 8-bit cover of the Super Mario Bros. theme.

Watch out for the sparks!


source: Franzoli Electronics



PICOmputer ZX: Raspberry Pi PICO Powered Pocket ZX Spectrum

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Need a(nother) new project in your life? If you do, then check out Peter Misenko’s (aka: bobricious’) super cute PICOmputer ZX – Pocket ZX Spectrum on Hackaday, powered by a Raspberry Pi PICO!

This is an ongoing project, so expect more details and instructions on Hackaday. Also follow bobricious’ GitHub here.

image source: Hackaday



The Tabletop Retro Gaming Royal Rumble

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There is no doubt that we are still in the honeymoon period with our gorgeous Taito EGRET II mini tabletop arcade, but there are a few seasoned classics that could easily knock it off its perch!

Of course the Sega Astro City mini is another beautiful little arcade in the mould of the EGRET, just a tad smaller in stature and without a number of bells and whistles that its bigger brother enjoys.

The arcade mini contenders face-off!

Going toe to toe!

Then there are the tabeltop  heavyweights that have withstood the test of time, Grandstand’s seminal Astro Wars (1981) and Nintendo’s Game & Watch tabletops from 1983. We would’ve added the Vectrex too, but we thought otherwise 😉

Now don’t get us started about superior graphics and sounds on the Sega and Taito arcade minis, that is a given, however there is something quite charming about VFD (Vacuum Fluorescent Display) displays and simple pew pew pew sound effects – they never get old!

We have wasted too many batteries to count playing Astro Wars, Mario’s Cement Factory and Donkey Kong Jr., which we still keep coming back to till this day – that’s 4 decades, and counting! Let’s see if we will be saying the same about the new arcade minis from Sega and Taito in the 2060s.

Let the Tabletop Royal Rumble begin!

For now, the EGRET II mini with the trackball & paddle controller is consuming our gaming time!



Super Mario World – Speedrun Record

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image source: FURiOUS via Twitter

Super Mario World has been in our top 5 all-time favourite games for 3 decades – it is that good!

Now we recall playing SMW for hours and hours on end (we still do!), so you can imagine our jaw-dropping to the floor when we saw Brazilian gamer, Matheus Furtado (aka: FURiOUS) setting a new Super Mario World (0 Exit) speedrun record by completing it in 41.022 seconds!

Check it out!

PS: If you want to watch this speedrun effort on Twitch with all the beautiful SMW music and sound effects, go here.



Taito EGRET II Mini Arcade – It’s So Awesome

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When the Taito Egret II Mini was announced in 2021, our collective jaws dropped at this cute and awesome little arcade unit. The Egret II was packed with Taito’s greatest arcade hits, which was a good start. But that wasn’t all! To differentiate itself from the Sega Astro City Mini and any other mini arcade unit on the market, Taito’s offering had a rotating screen (just like its big brother), so you could play games in either TATE (portrait) or landscape (horizontal) orientation – how clever and awesome is that?!

You turn me on!

The games menu is quite intuitive. The orientation of the game is also depicted, which is a great feature

The downside to all this great news was that the Egret II Mini was only going to be available to a limited set of countries for pre-orders. But, we managed to get our hands on the Taito Egret II Mini, and we must say, this thing is so cool and oozes quality – everything looks and feels top notch! The rotating screen is something to behold and feels industrial grade, which is a relief. The other great feature is the ability to switch and lock the joystick in 4-way mode or the usual 8-way – this makes a big difference for games that only have four directions of play!

8-Way or 4-Way – another neat feature!

Taito’s Egret II Mini comes pre-installed with 40 games (see list below), from platformers, shoot’em ups to puzzle, beat’em ups and fighting games to keep you entertained. There are bound to be games you like in Taito’s stable of arcade hits that come with this mini arcade unit. We absolutely love Bubble Bobble, Tatsujin (aka: Truxton), Elevator Action Returns, Rastan Saga and The New Zealand Story to name just a few.

Horizontal? No way!

You spin me right ’round, baby, right ’round

Vertical – that’s much better!

Taito Egret II mini vs Sega Astro City mini: Both are darn cute & awesome!

An essential purchase with the Egret II Mini is the paddle and trackball games expansion set, which incudes the aforementioned paddle and trackball controller and an additional 10 games on an SD card! Speaking of which, we can’t wait to see what the clever modders out there will do with the SD card slot on the Egret II.

It is still early days playing on our Egret II Mini, but so far during this honeymoon period, we love it. This mini arcade unit is packed with great games and feels pretty good to play on. Let’s be honest, this thing is great, but its price does cause a wince. The standard Egret II mini is approx. AU$280 and above (depending on the exchange rate) and that is without shipping. If you want the limited edition (blue joystick top and blue fire buttons), then you pretty much double the price of the standard unit, but we reckon save your dollars and stick with the standard if you really got to have the Taito Egret II mini.

For anyone in Australia looking to get the Taito EGRET II Mini, check them out on Play Asia!

We love the little extras we got with our Taito EGRET II mini

Egret II specs and features:

  • 40 pre-installed games, including arcade classics
  • Special in-game features like: Save states, adjustable lives and rapid-fire
  • 5-inch 4:3 rotating monitor (1024×768 resolution) for horizontal and vertical alignment and an optimal adaptation to the selected game
  • 6-button arcade layout and joystick that is individually adjustable for each game – easily switch from 8 directions to 4 directions
  • HDMI output to also play the games on newer TVs
  • SD card slot to add more games
  • Own integrated sound through stereo speakers
  • Two USB Type-A controller ports for the additional, optional EGRET II mini controllers
  •  Power Source: Above 5V/2.4A (12W)

Games:

image source: ININ Games



Star Wars Episode 1: Racer

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By: D.C. Cutler, U.S.A.

In the fifth episode of “The Book of Boba Fett,” it was thrilling seeing The Mandalorian flying his newly constructed Naboo N-1 Starfighter through the very same canyons on Tatooine that young Anakin Skywalker raced through in “Episode 1: The Phantom Menace.”

That night, after watching the excellent episode, I broke out my Nintendo 64 and started to play one of my favourite racing video games “Star Wars Episode 1: Racer.” Twenty-three years later, the LucasArts game is still visually impressive. After seeing “The Phantom Menace,” I played “Racer” constantly after school, trying to break my previous lap records with every session. The more I played the game, the better my racing reflexes developed over time. At first, I would often crash and get frustrated. However, it didn’t take long before I’d pick up my Nintendo 64 controller, rally, and start another race.

image source: N64Today

I enjoyed racing on the various tracks on the ice planet. Was it Hoth? It could’ve been. I like thinking that it was, seeing that “Empire Strikes Back” is my favourite Star Wars film. I never played much multiplayer. I never liked the two-player split screen mode. My friends enjoyed playing the two-player mode, but my eyes could never adjust to the split screen for some strange reason. I couldn’t concentrate as well with the split screen. My controller skills were sloppy in that mode.

The boost function that you could activate when another podracer is closing in was a fun option. If you used it for too long your engine would suddenly explode. You had to keep an eye on your racer’s temperature.

The smack talk between podracers adds a humorous, competitive touch to the 1999 game. Jake Lloyd, the actor who portrayed Anakin Skywalker, provided voice-over for his character in the game. I never liked the two-headed commentators of the podrace in “The Phantom Menace.” They seem like they don’t belong in the Star Wars universe. They added some humour to the film, but I wish they would’ve been left out of the game.

Its, or there, name was Fodesinbeed Annodue. And I’m sure there’s a toy of them out there somewhere. I’m glad we didn’t see them thirty years older in “The Book of Boba Fett.”



SEGA Genesis Interactive Plush Console

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Sega Does What Nintendon’t!

Another nostalgia inducing product from Kidrobot for those Sega 16-bit and Sonic fans! Kick it oldschool with this cool retro plush! The beloved classic SEGA Genesis (we prefer, Mega Drive!) gaming console gets a plush makeover with interactive elements.

This Genesis/Mega Drive console is a 12″ / 30cm plush which includes a plug-in plush Sonic game cartridge and an original 3-button type plug-in plush controller.

image source: Kidrobot



Blast From The Past: A Video Of A 1980s Arcade

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What an absolute blast from the past this is! We absolutely love raw VHS video footage, especially the kind from the early 1980s!

We commend the Bally’s Aladdin’s Castle employee that had the foresight to film inside the arcade centre, filled with absolute classic arcade and pinball machines, that one day this video would be cherished by a generation (or two) of gamers across the globe! This is what a throwback Thursday should be like every week.

Sit back and enjoy this 15 minute trip down nostalgia lane…..


source: Jon Exidy Jamshid



Williams Defender Source Code Posted To Github

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Fancy checking out some assembly code of a classic arcade game from 42 years ago?

Thanks to Rob Hogan, you can now check out Eugene Jarvis’ (and his fellow Williams programmers’) assembly code from one of the most successful arcade titles from the golden age of the arcades, Defender!

Oh how we wish we had the necessary skills to comb through the code to find Easter eggs and amusing comments, as we are quite sure Eugene and co. would have inserted in this tough 1980 scrolling blaster!

If you do find some surprises in the code from ‘Dr J’ (aka: Eugene Jarvis), please let us all know either via Twitter or Facebook!

PS: This Defender code is for the ‘Red Label’ version of the game, which was one of four versions (the others being: White, Blue and Green) that were distributed to arcades.