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Supersized Classic Arcade Games

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By: D.C. Cutler, U.S.A.

Recently, I walked through a very crowded arcade/restaurant and noticed that all the large, supersized arcade games were classics, like Pac-man, Galaga and Space Invaders. They’re large, they’re loud, and, with the large groups around them, they’re popular.

Playing Galaga on a 10-foot high screen gave me a new appreciation for the 1981 game. I never got to play Galaga in an arcade but playing the fixed shooter game on such a large scale was slightly thrilling. It really was something for the senses. My hand-eye coordination was sharp enough to reach several levels. When you’re playing on such a big screen, the enemy ship’s formations are easier to predict; however, it’s still difficult to get set and aim with some accuracy.

When you’re playing a supersized classic, a crowd seems to gather around you as you reach higher levels. That was fun with Galaga, but not so much with the large Pac-Man. For some reason, for me, playing Pac-Man on an enormous screen was difficult. Maybe because I’m so used to playing the iconic game on a small screen. It was sort of intimidating seeing the assorted colored ghosts that large.

I didn’t play Pac-Man for very long. My loses were a little embarrassing. With the games being supersized, for everyone in the arcade to see, it’s humiliating when you perform poorly.

They should supersize more classic games like Donkey Kong and Double Dragon. The enormous Alien game, where you try to kill as many of the xenomorphs and facehuggers as possible, was a blast as well. They had a large Mario Kart game, but with the huge throng gathered around it, I didn’t even attempt to play it.

Playing something vintage in a new, unique way is really exhilarating. And it’s cool to see that the old games enlarged are as prevalent as ever.

image sources: Bandai Namco Amusements, National Event Pros & 8-Bit Central via Pinterest

 

C64 Barbarian – Masters Of The Universe Edition

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We got quite giddy when we came across John Henderson’s tweet depicting his bitmap creation of Palace Software’s Barbarian: The Ultimate Warrior as C64 Barbarian He-Man Edition.

To say we hope this coding continues to fully recreate the ultimate slash’em up game on the C64, is an understatement! I have the POWER!

[image and story source: John Henderson via Twitter]

 

Mortal Kombat VS. Street Fighter

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The ultimate 2D Fighting game showdown: Mortal Kombat VS. Street Fighter!

This is it peeps, choose your side, either Capcom’s venerable Street Fighter or the gore-fest from Midway Games (now Warner Bros.), Mortal Kombat. Chun Li versus Kitana, Ryu taking on Raiden, Blanka versus Jax – which franchise will deliver the final fatality? Finish him!


source: Untitled Animation via Facebook

 

My Arcade: Micro Player Review – 6 Inch Collectable Retro Arcade Machines

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My Arcade’s motto, ‘Retro Gaming For A New Generation‘ is pretty much spot on when we think about their product range, like their Micro Player Mini Arcade Machines. We managed to get our hands on two of the My Arcade Micro Players, Bad Dudes (aka: DragonNinja) and Rolling Thunder, which we gave a good old fashioned thrashing.

Let’s first talk about the physical attributes of these cute little machines and their features. The packaging is so great that we decided to keep the units in them when not in use. The game’s story on the side of the packaging is clever too. Once you bust these open, you’ll find the Micro Player and a user manual (remember those!) inside. The Rolling Thunder Micro Player came with an added poster featuring the Micro Player machines range, which harks back to when we used to get posters with our games – a neat touch that we wish that the Bad Dudes unit also came with this inside.

The Micro Players themselves resemble their arcade counterparts, from their cabinet profile down to the artwork on the sides and control panel. Bad Dudes pips Rolling Thunder here with the bezel artwork and Data East logo on top of the unit. The detachable joystick on the D-Pad, the two fire buttons and the Reset and Start buttons are identical on all Micro Players, which ensures a consistent look, feel and play across the range. Speaking of the control panel, we found that we preferred to play Bad Dudes with the D-Pad (sans joystick), however, Rolling Thunder felt better to control with the joystick in place. The best part is that you have options for your control preference that suits your play style. A word of warning, if you like to play without the joystick, you better put it in a safe place, as they can easily get misplaced. The buttons are standard fare and feel responsive enough when playing either game, but they are on the small side, so if you have large or fat fingers, you may struggle a bit. Powering on the Micro Players is as easy as pushing in the coin slot door, which lights up when on – another cool feature which get our tick of approval. On the back of the machines you’ll find volume control buttons, a 3.5mm headphone jack, a battery compartment (for 4 x AA batteries) and a Micro-USB port for powering these little beasts.

For those that like their feature specifications in bullet-point form, here you go:

  • 6 inch arcade machine
  • 2.75″ full colour screen
  • Removable joystick
  • Volume control
  • 3.5mm headphone jack
  • Powered either by 4 x AA batteries or Micro-USB

The burning question on everyone’s lips is, how do they play? If you are expecting the arcade versions of the games, then you may be disappointed.  But before you start moaning and groaning, we can tell you that these are NES versions of their arcade counterpart, which isn’t a bad thing. Out of the two Micro Player’s, we definitely preferred playing Rolling Thunder, as the NES conversion was brilliant, translated perfectly on its corresponding Micro Player. As for Bad Dudes, since it is the NES version, you can’t play co-op, which is fine, as the Micro Player only has a single-player control deck. The emulation is true to their source, ensuring that the games play pretty much identical to the NES versions. We did note that Rolling Thunder boots up almost immediately to its title screen, whereas Bad Dudes took a few seconds. This isn’t a negative, it was just noticeable to us when turning on these machines side by side. The screen is bright (there is no brightness or contrast control), so you will have no issues seeing what is going on. Being on the small side, the screen does feel a tad cramped when there is lots action going on, especially on games like Bad Dudes.

So how do you decide which Micro Players to get, if any? Well, if you liked these games on the NES, then you will definitely love playing them on the Micro Players. Out of the two we got to play, we found ourselves going back to Rolling Thunder over and over again, not because we are crappy players (the game is tough as nails!), but the fact that the game is based on a wonderful conversion which was quite faithful to its arcade big brother. Let’s also not forget that these Micro Players are so darn cute and cool, they would be perfect for displaying in your games room or office.

With the Festive Season fast approaching, these would make a great gift for either yourself or that good friend of yours that is into retro gaming.

The My Arcade Micro Player Mini Arcade Machines range is available via Amazon (and reputable bricks and mortal stores, like JB Hi-Fi):

Disclosure: The Rolling Thunder and Bad Dudes My Arcade Micro Player machines were kindly provided by Turn Left Distribution for this review.

 

Still Drooling Over the Commodore HX-64

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Um, just in case you missed this or want to see it again and drool some more, check out Technical Designer extraordinaire Cem Tezcan’s Commodore HX-64 – a handheld version of the greatest 8-bit computer of all time!

The level of detail is in insanely cool, from the plastic, colour, keys, screen, ports to the ever so damn cool mini cassettes used to load programs! Forget the C65 or the SX-64, this is the ultimate Commodore 64 based dream machine. WOW!

source: Cem Tezcan via ArtStation

 

Retro-Bit Sega Mega Drive 6-Button Arcade Pad – Review

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One of the most difficult challenges a retro game player will face is finding decent controllers. As hardware ages and starts to wear out, it can get harder and harder to find that one perfect controller or even a handful of decent ones (10 player Bomberman anyone?). Personally I have received bags of controllers and joysticks, only to find that the majority of them are brittle, weak or unresponsive. Sometimes 3-4 bad controllers can only be turned into 1 good controller and sometimes not even that! 

Thankfully there is a vast array of people attempting to keep us all playing those games we love, especially the team over at Retro-Bit. Having teamed up with SEGA themselves to recreate some of the most iconic and best (in my opinion) retro controllers around, Retro-Bit brings us both the Mega Drive (Genesis) and Saturn controllers. Available in both classic black or clear variants with original hardware connectors or USB so you can play on a wide range of devices, including the Sega Mega Drive Mini!

Having spent a lot of time recently playing on the original Mega Drive and noticing that my controllers were getting a little worse for wear, I opted for the classic connector in Crystal blue.

First impressions are overwhelmingly positive, the controller feels very solid and well built. Exactly like you would expect an original genuine pad to feel. Buttons feel beautifully responsive and the D-pad is tactile with no ghosting evident. There is some beautiful movement to the roll on the D-pad that you only get on a fresh new Mega Drive controller. As an added bonus, the cord length is almost twice as long as the original!

In fact, if it wasn’t for my personal colour choice (I’m a sucker for crystal plastics) and the Retro-Bit logo, it looks and feels identical to a genuine 6 button SEGA arcade pad from 1993. What higher praise could one ask for?

Retro-Bit has also announced a 2.4Ghz model, packed with an original and USB connector dongle, or Bluetooth only wireless version for every colour variant due around November 2019. I know I am excited to get my hands on the wireless Saturn controller for use with the Saturn and Nintendo Switch, stay tuned!

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Mat Panek, Chief Reporter
Retromancer – Collector, repairer & fan of retro games & tech. Atari to Amiga, Nintendo to Sega! LD, Zip, Beta and a proud dad! One half of the TiredParents on Twitch.

Follow Mat on Twitter and Twitch

 

 

 

 

 

Review: Sega Mega Drive Mini – Welcome to the Next Level!

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Casting our mind back to November 1990, we recall walking into our local family run Home and Entertainment Centre with our hard earned money (from pushing trolleys at our part-time job) to be faced with a dilemma of what new gaming console to buy for the new decade. This decision wasn’t taken lightly, as we had been 8 and 16-bit computer gamers till that point. We remember paying $399.99 for the Sega Mega Drive (Altered Beast pack-in) that day and another $100 for Golden Axe. Let’s just say that it was the best decision we ever made. We instantly fell in love with Sega’s 16-Bit console and that love affair is still as strong as ever.

Fast forward to the present day and the excitement of bringing home a mini version of Sega’s venerable console feels just the same as it did almost 29 years ago! Cracking open the box, we found a super cute shrunken Mega Drive Mini console, about 55% the size of the original Model 1 Mega Drive, two 3-button USB controllers, one HDMI cable and one USB to Micro-B power cable.

Being a genuine made Sega product, everything feels high quality. You can tell that Sega took a lot of care and poured their heart and souls into crafting this sleek and miniaturised Mega Drive. We love the attention to detail, like the cartridge flaps retracting, but obviously they are there for aesthetics, so you can put away your game carts. The headphone volume slider feels the same, albeit on a smaller scale, as do the reset button and on/off switch – it all feels very familiar, which is a good thing. The 3-button controllers are identical to the ones we had in 1990, except these are USB, not D-Pin connected. On that front, it would have been great if Sega had included 6-button controllers so that we could play games like Street Fighter II right out of the box. But don’t dwell on this, as you can use the Retro-Bit® 6-button controllers on this Mini.

Once the Mega Drive Mini was fired up, we were keen to start playing one of the 42 pre-loaded games (full list of games further down). The menu we were presented with was quite easy to navigate, with an awesome catchy tune created on the YM2612 sound chip by legendary composer Yuzo Koshiro (Streets of Rage and Beyond Oasis). Knowing that the pre-loaded titles from both first-party and third-party development teams were all handled by the premier developer, M2 (SEGA AGES and SEGA 3D Classics Collection), a team renowned for high attention to detail and accuracy, we knew the games ported to the Mega Drive Mini were in good hands – the M2 team should be commended for their brilliant effort. Oh yeah, both Tetris and Darius make it in the overall games list, which means the Mega Drive Mini is the only console where you’ll be able to play these two newly published Mega Drive games – how cool is that?!

Just like in 1990, the first game we fired up was Golden Axe. The hit of nostalgia was purely intoxicating. Our muscle memory didn’t let us down, so playing the game was just as fun as it was back then. However, unlike back then, we could now save our game at any point to come back to it later – so no more pesky pausing for 24 hours and running a high power bill. The game playing experience felt authentic, even if playing on a modern television. Having said that, there are settings available to change the aspect ratio (4:3 or 16:9) and for those of you that want the same visual experience from three decades ago, there is a CRT filter, which adds scan lines and adjusts the colour of the display to emulate the look and feel of a CRT television (see photos of this further below) – it’s pure magic.

Lovingly crafted from the ground up, the sleek and miniature SEGA Mega Drive Mini is for all retro gamers, especially those that have fond memories playing the original 16-bit console back in the day. Sega have truly delivered a high-quality, plug-and-play, collectable version of their awesome console. As their famous slogan once said, and it still rings true now, “To be this good takes AGES, To be this good takes SEGA.”

If you want to see the Sega Mega Drive Mini in the flesh, we will have it available in our Classic Gaming area at PAX Aus 2019. The Sega Mega Drive Mini will be released on September 19 at a retail price of AU$139.95.

The Mega Drive Mini 42 pre-loaded titles:

1. Sonic the Hedgehog
2. Ecco the Dolphin
3. Castlevania: The New Generation
4. Space Harrier 2
5. Shining Force
6. Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine
7. ToeJam & Earl
8. Comix Zone
9. Altered Beast
10. Gunstar Heroes
11. Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse
12. World of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck
13. Thunder Force III
14. Super Fantasy Zone
15. Shinobi III
16. Streets of Rage 2
17. Earthworm Jim
18. Sonic the Hedgehog 2
19. Probotector
20. Landstalker
21. Mega Man®: The Wily Wars
22. Street Fighter II’®: Special Champion Edition
23. Ghouls ‘n Ghosts®
24. Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle
25. The Story of Thor
26. Golden Axe
27. Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Millennium
28. Sonic the Hedgehog Spinball
29. Vectorman
30. Wonder Boy in Monster World
31. Tetris®
32. Darius
33. Road Rash II
34. Strider
35. Virtua Fighter 2
36. Alisia Dragoon
37. Kid Chameleon
38. Monster World IV
39. Eternal Champions
40. Columns
41. Dynamite Headdy
42. Light Crusader

Disclosure: The Sega Mega Drive Mini was kindly provided by Five Star Games for this review.

The Rare Nintendo M82 Display Kiosk Could Be Yours!

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This Nintendo (NES) M-82 store display kiosk on eBay is rare as rocking horse poop, hence the hefty price!

For those that never saw one in the flesh, the Nintendo M82 was a demo kiosk to showcase the NES and its games. The kiosk held 12 games and was used to let people play the latest games in store before they made a purchasing decision. The kiosk also had functionality to time limit play to ensure everyone got a chance to play some 8-bit console awesomeness.

Now, where did we leave that $51,000……

source: eBay

 

Attack From Mars in Mechanical Lego Style

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Yes, another pinball related post. Ohhhh c’mon, it’s not that bad, we promise you’ll enjoy this one too!

As we are (a tad) obsessed with pinball, when we found out that pinball and LEGO go really well together, we had to let you know what we had found. If you are a talented and mechanically minded LEGO creator, like Teun de Wijs (aka: YouTuber TonyFlow76), you build a fully kinetic depiction of a pinball player flipping one of the greatest machines of all time, Attack From Mars!

For those that want to delve under the covers, Teun states that he used a few new techniques to build this awesomeness:

  • a cam wheel for the head movement,
  • a 9V Power Functions motor as a generator for four sets of blinking lights, three of which are mechanically activated by switches, and
  • three spring-action lift-arms for the “bumping” motion.

Hopefully Teun submits this to LEGO Ideas – we’d vote the heck out of it. Anyway, all we can say is, press play and return to battle soldier!

 


source: TonyFlow76

Sugarfina Is Releasing Your Fave Retro Nintendo Characters In Candy Form!

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As someone that has a massive sweet tooth and is a sucker for nostalgia, when I found out that the luxury candy store, Sugarfina was releasing my favourite Nintendo characters in candy form (the Super Mario Bros. x Sugarfina collection), I definitely got that sugar rush that made me all woozy and very excited!

Sugarfina announced this yummy retro-inspired collection at last week’s San Diego Comic Con, with the collection being available online and Sugarfina stores on Monday, July 22 (US time).

We hope Sugarfina ships to Australia! 😉

[story and image source: Bustle]