Retro Gaming

The Retro Gaming Vault – April 2021

April 30, 2021 By ausretrogamer

We are excited to start a new monthly feature, which we hope becomes a regular on ausretrogamer.com.

So what’s this newfangled feature we are so excited about? Well, as the title suggests, we’ll be delving deep into our photo vault full of retro gaming photos from years gone by. The aim is to give you all a dose of nostalgia and hopefully connect with new audience members.

For this very first edition, we dug through thousands of our images from the last dozen years and came up with a swag of nostalgia inducing photos; from the best joystick ever made, board games based on classic arcade titles, to our Commodore 64 smart watches and playing classic games on our Game Boy Micro – it’s all easy money 😉

Enjoy!

Original image copyright: ausretrogamer

EVERCADE Retro Games Console – Review

April 28, 2021 By ausretrogamer

Product: EVERCADE Premium Pack – handheld + 3 classic gaming collections (37 titles)
Price: AU$159.95
Store: PixelCrib

A couple of years ago, we were quite excited to tell you all about a mysterious new handheld console that was like no other – the EVERCADE!

The EVERCADE handheld system was touted to be able to play multi-game retro games on physical cartridges from leading games publishers and console platforms. Since this news broke in early 2019, the EVERCADE has gone on to become quite popular since its release, garnering fanfare and glowing reviews from reputable online media outlets. Now it was our turn to take the EVERCADE for a spin and tell you what we think! First and foremost, some good news for our Australian readers, the EVERCADE is now locally stocked at PixelCrib!

PROS	CONS
+ Officially licensed games on cartridges + Priced competitively + Expanding library of game carts + Collectability + Build quality	– Arcade games (so far) are console ports – Wait is too long for new cartridge releases – Screen needs to be angled at times in poorly lit areas – Wish it came in black

Upon opening the package and holding the unit, our first impression of the intriguing EVERCADE was that it looked and felt like a much more expensive handheld – not quite like the Nintendo Switch, but that system commands a much steeper price. For the introductory price (AU$159.95), the EVERCADE Premium Pack definitely packs quite a lot; great build quality and three gaming cart compilations included to get you playing right away!

The EVERCADE Premium Pack is exceptional value

From a physical perspective, the D-pad and four face buttons feel great – with the buttons spaced well apart with no lag. We didn’t experience any hand fatigue or cramping while playing on the EVERCADE, so the experience was quite positive. The shoulder buttons weren’t used in any of the games we played, so we can’t really comment how well they fair with extensive gameplay – they definitely felt good when pressed, with a satisfying tactile click.

No handheld is complete without a good screen, and the EVERCADE’s 4.3″ display is no exception, with bright vivid video. However, we did find that we had to angle it at times when playing in a darker or a poorly lit room, but this small niggle was improved somewhat by bumping up the screen brightness to maximum. Oh yeah, the other screen option is the aspect ratio, with the EVERCADE providing both 4:3 (traditional ‘square’) 16:9 (scaled widescreen) – we found both screen ratios to be playable, with no discernible stretching when going from square to full-widescreen, so choose what best suits you.

The cartridges slot in from the top, behind the unit, with their top rounded shape completing the look of the EVERCADE. There is something quite satisfying when inserting and clicking in a cartridge. The EVERCADE’s volume buttons, 3.5mm headphone jack and mini-USB port are on the bottom, which are all well within reach. The top of the unit has the slide on/off switch, cartridge slot, shoulder buttons and mini-HDMI which allows for connectivity to a new TV with up-scaled graphics to HD (720p), making the old school games look pretty good on any new big screen TV. Obviously Full HD or higher would’ve been even better.

Specs

CPU: 1.2GHz Cortex-A7
Display: Horizontal 4.3-inch LCD screen, 480 x 272 pixels
Power: 2,000-mAh rechargeable battery
Ports: 1 x mini-HDMI out, 1 x 3.5mm headphone jack, 1 x micro-USB (charging)
Media: cartridges

Once you insert the game cart and turn on the unit, the interface is quite easy to use and follow. Games are started by pressing the start button and then within the game, you have the in-game menu which allows the user to load (a saved game) or save your current game, change the aspect ratio, language or quit the current game. The save game is a welcome feature, as it gives you the ability to see more of those harder retro classics without the need to restart from the beginning – it doesn’t feel like cheating. You can keep playing for up to 4 – 5 hours on the EVERCADE before it needs recharging – we just we wish it lasted longer. But hey, you can play and charge if you want to keep going!

As eluded earlier, the Premium Pack comes with three cartridges; Namco Museum Collection 1 (11 games), Interplay Collection 1 (6 games) and the Atari Collection 1 (20 games). With 37 games to select from, you’ll definitely be kept busy right off the bat. We were quite chuffed to see that Blaze Entertainment secured the first ever western localisation of Mappy Kids on the Namco Museum Collection 1. There are now some 18 cartridges you can either buy or pre-order for the EVERCADE, so there is something for everyone! For the record, we can’t wait to grab the Atari Lynx and Data East Collections for now, as they are packed with games we know and love. The newly announced Codemasters Collection will be a winner too (released later in 2021).

With a number of well known publishers onboard, the EVERCADE isn’t short on game carts, with many more to come. Add the newly announced EVERCADE VS console into the mix and an ever-growing user base, and all of a sudden the value proposition for the EVERCADE becomes quite attractive. In the world of digital downloads, it is great to have a system that you can buy official physical game carts, with their cool game boxes and actual colour manuals – remember those?! The collector in us is quite giddy and satisfied with the collectable elements that the EVERCADE provides.

Verdict

The EVERCADE may not be for everyone, but its secret is in the use of officially licensed games released on physical media. With this key differentiation, we feel that the EVERCADE sits on its own in a category full of emulation-capable handhelds with not-so-official licensed games. With an enticing price point for the unit and games, the EVERCADE provides great value. If you haven’t done so, check out the EVERCADE and its growing library of games and then decide if it is for you – we bet you’ll be pleasantly surprised!

Disclosure: EVERCADE Retro Games Handheld System was provided by PixelCrib for this review.

Recalbox 7.2 – The Awesome New Update!

April 23, 2021 By ausretrogamer

Recalbox 7.2 – released on April 23 at 9pm (GMT+2)!

Hey peeps, here is some awesome news that the Recalbox folks have shared with us – this Friday, April 23rd, at 9:00pm (GMT+2), they will finally launch their long awaited 7.2 update, packed with heaps of new features, new systems, functionalities and optimisations!

source: Recalbox via YouTube

To recap what is new and improved in Recalbox 7.2, which there are many, we thought we’d share the major highlights right here:

MAJOR NEW FEATURES:

Light-Gun Games!

Play more than 250 lightgun games on many different systems (Arcade, Megadrive/MegaCD, Dreamcast, and Playstation to name just a few), no configuration needed! Now gathered under a new “LightGun” virtual system.

Better 3D performance on Raspberry Pi 4!

The team has optimised Recalbox, allowing almost all N64, Dreamcast, Naomi & Atomiswave games to run at full speed on Raspberry Pi 4!

Overclock the Raspberry Pi 4!

And for even more performance, we’ve tested and chosen 4 optimal overclock settings on the Raspberry Pi 4. Overclocking your Pi will increase the frame-rate on CPU and GPU intensive games.

Improved PSX/N64/PSP performance on ODROID-GO Advance/Super

Play almost all PSX, N64, and PSP games at full speed on both ODROID-GO Advance & ODROID-GO Super!

NEW FEATURES:

New systems!

5 new supported systems are added to the nearly 120 systems already supported in Recalbox:

Watara Supervision: This cheap Game Boy clone was manufactured by Watara in 1992. It was later licensed to several third-parties, and released under many different names. 69 games have been officially released.
PICO-8: A virtual console similar to the TIC-80 with over 4000 games available, largely popularised by the incredible success of “Celeste”, the famous platformer initially developed by Noel Berry and Maddy Thorson on Pico-8 in 2015, before being released on all modern platforms in 2018!
Pocket Challenge V2: A Japanese handheld console that specialises in educational games.
Elektronika BK: BK (БК), Russian abbreviation for “бытовой компьютер” – “home computer” is a series of Soviet 16-bit home computers, developed under the brand Electronika by NPO Scientific Center. Elektronika BK was the only “official” Soviet home computer. The BK-0010/BK-0011 and Terak 8510/A were manufactured from 1984 to 1993 and sold at the price of 650 Rubles, which was… almost 4 months of average salary!
EPOCH SuperCassette Vision: The 2nd generation EPOCH console released in 1984 and counting a total of 30 officially released games and 3 unreleased. The porting of this Japanese emulator to Libretro is a Recalbox exclusive!

Dual JoyCon support (Nintendo Switch controllers)

Recalbox now supports both left and right JoyCons! In addition, you can use both JoyCons as a single combined controller!

Bluetooth Audio

Connect your Bluetooth headphones or speakers! (just pair them like you would a controller, for now).

New cores

3 new emulators are also available, depending on your hardware:

Libretro NeoCD added as NeoGeoCD core: loads CDs so much faster!
Libretro DOSBOX Pure: Don’t struggle with complicated DOS setups anymore! These games
have never been more plug & play!
Libretro-craft: A Minecraft clone available on x86 & x64 platforms only.

Hide pre-installed games

Pre-installed games are no longer copied into the user share. They stay on the system and can be hidden/shown using an option from the settings menu.

IMPROVEMENTS:

Main menu

The main menus have all been rewritten. They’re now faster, consume less memory, and are more intuitive. The most useful options have been moved so they’re faster to access. Reboots can now be delayed. This way, you can configure everything you need to before having to restart.

New options have been added:

Swap A & B buttons: change the way you validate and cancel actions.
Factory reset: reset all configurations (only keeps your games, saves, and scraped data)

Sound

In-game video sound/music is now available! You can choose between the following sound mode:

Background music only (EmulationStation music)
Video sound only (scraped videos)
Background music AND video sound mixed
Background music OR video sound (when playing videos in the new Gameclip screensaver)

Internal Scraper

The internal scraper has been greatly enhanced:

Improved menus. Now more intuitive, less clicks required to get things done.
Better region priority management: get better metadata for your region.
Ignore file referenced from .cue/.m3u and other multi-file roms: no more scraping the same
game twice!

System

Check image integrity when updating Recalbox
Added a new Reset to Factory Settings option to reset all Recalbox & emulator settings
without losing any user data: games, saves, screenshots, music, etc.

Emulators

Many emulators have been updated and/or reconfigured for new features, or to achieve better performance.

Dolphin updated to version 5.0-13178.
Stella (A2600) updated to fix lots of bugs (eg: Pitfall II)
Supermodel updated to version 839
UAE updated to support CHD
Np2Kai (PC98) updated to fix several issues
Odyssey² updated to add Europeans/French models (new RetroArch options)
Mupen64plus-next updated for better compatibility and performance! This core is now available on almost all platforms and performs very well!
FBNeo updated to support latest game additions
Libretro Duckstation is now available on all platforms!
Beetle-Saturn updated to improve compatibility (PC only)
Amiberry updated to version 3.3 for better performance & new options
Libetro-Parallel-n64 updated and fixed on almost all boards (except low-end PIs)
VIC20 is now shown as its own system, instead of only being available under C64
Videopac+ is now available as its own system, instead of being available as Odyssey² sub-model
Libretro MAME has been optimised to run full-speed on low-end PCs.
ScummVM updated to v2.3.0 and merged with ResidualVM

BUG FIXES:

Lots of bug fixes, as usual:

Fixed the ODROID-GO Advance v1 controller
Fixed the 8bitdo NES30 Pro rev1 controller mapping
Fixed missing BIOS MD5 & other minor errors in BIOS database
Removed useless BIOS files (PalmOS)
Fixed the Retroarch shortcut on ODROID-GO Advance
Fixed shaders on ODROID-GO Advance
Fixed lost support of open and WPA-PSK-SHA256 WiFi keys
Correction a fan problem with the NESPi 4 Case

TECHNICAL FEATURES:

Buildroot

Buildroot has been bumped to version 2020.11.

Kernels

Linux kernels have been bumped to:

5.4 for the ODROID XU4
5.8 for both x86 and x64
5.10 for all Raspberry Pis
Both ODROID-GO Advance & GO Super use a special Rockchip 4.4 kernel.

PulseAudio

We’ve moved from a purse ALSA audio backend to PulseAudio! Recalbox now supports more audio devices — and even Bluetooth audio!

image source: Recalbox

There you go peeps, to say we can’t wait for Recalbox 7.2 would be a massive understatement!

BBC Archives: At home with the Codemasters – 1988

April 19, 2021 By ausretrogamer

The BBC Archive is rich with gaming related content from the 80s! We wanted to share this particular video of the Darling family, better known as Codemasters, enjoying their dizzy-ing success in the video games industry. Ah, those were the times.

This originally aired on the BBC’s Breakfast Time segment on August 2, 1988!

source: BBC Archive

Rare Atari Lynx Handy Development System Documentation

April 15, 2021 By ausretrogamer

It’s amazing what you find when trawling eBay late at night!

During one of our insomnia induced evenings, we stumbled upon a rare piece of history, a listing for an Atari Lynx / Epyx Handy Specifications, Development System and Schematics document from the late 80s! Looking at the listing, it seems that this folder belonged to or came from Atari Corporation Executive Producer, Richard (Rich) Robbins, who was responsible for developing and managing products for the Atari Lynx.

We see a lot of eBay listings that purport to be rare, but this one definitely deserves that moniker, even if it is a pricey bit of history!

As with any eBay listing, they do disappear after a while, so we thought we would preserve this listing by saving the images here for posterity (click on each image to see them in their full glory).

PS: If you procure this rarity, please let us know (privately or via social media)!

source: eBay

The Mini Vectrex VideoSystem

April 13, 2021 By ausretrogamer

We know this is OLD news, but who doesn’t like seeing this again?

Back in late 2018, the National Videogame Museum (NVM) in Texas (USA) tracked down the much rumoured Mini Vectrex VideoSystem. Once it was found that this was a working system, the NVM secured it as part of their Vectrex archive, ensuring all could see this lost treasure on display!

GCE designed and developed the Mini Vectrex just after being purchased by Milton Bradley in 1983. The mini system was to offer a slim alternative, much like contemporary mini console revisions of video games systems from the past. Now imagine if this actually made it to retail stores……….

We definitely could never get sick of watching the Mini Vectrex in action!

source: National Videogame Museum

19th Century Nintendo Office Recreated by Fan To Store His Collection

April 9, 2021 By ausretrogamer

This is what we call fan dedication! Actually, French Nintendo collector, Fabrice Heilig is what we would call a dedicated SUPERFAN!

Not only does Fabrice have an extensive collection of all things Nintendo, he has gone the extra (massive) step to recreate Nintendo’s 19th century Kyoto office in his backyard. Fabrice has created what all collectors yearn for – extra space (to house his collection), which he has done in style and in keeping with his love of all things Nintendo.

We must say, the result is incredible! Fabrice has faithfully recreated the iconic Nintendo building, with a tasteful fit-out to match the traditional Japanese style. If he wanted to charge for visits, we’d be his first customer!

Read more about the process of recreating this amazing building (with a ton more pics!) at Before Mario. This is amazing stuff.

Let the planning begin!

Foundation done and now the framework!

Laying the traditional Japanese roof tiles!

The level of detail is unbelievable – bravo Fabrice!

Now, to re-home the massive Nintendo Collection!

The finished product – WOW!
image source: Before Mario

AtGames’ 10 Things You Didn’t Know About the History of Arcade Games

April 1, 2021 By Guest Contributor

Who doesn’t like a bit of trivia? Right, if you put your hand up, you can excuse yourself right now! For those hanging around, check out some cool trivia submitted to us by the folks at AtGames Gaming!

Anyone born in the 90s or earlier probably remembers – or has at least seen – an arcade machine. These cabinets, often built from wood with a CRT screen, joystick and buttons, were coin-operated machines usually created to play a single game. Pinball machines were the first to introduce the concept in the 1930s, whereas classic arcades with video games started making their presence known in the early 70s.

The late 70s and early 80s were the huge breakthrough, with classics like Space Invaders, Missile Command and Pac Man making arcades a hot commodity in fast-food restaurants, as well as college dorms. While the 80s started introducing home consoles in a big way – Atari 2600 and the Nintendo Entertainment System being two of the major players – arcades started to slowly decline in popularity as console games provided an easier way to enjoy arcade-style action at home. By the mid-90s, arcades were mostly a special interest niche, and, today there is a huge surge in retro-nostalgia where avid gamers can get systems that not only play their beloved arcade memories perfectly, like the AtGames Legends Gamer Pro – but a real, full size, multi-game arcade cabinet of their own, like the AtGames Legends Ultimate, with 300 games built in and the possibility to easily add more!

Here are ten, little known facts and trivia, about some classic arcade games:

1. Missile Command was among the first group of major arcade hits in the US. It even got its own mod-kits, created by students who were fans from MIT.

2. Pong (1972) was the first successful arcade game brought into American homes through Atari’s Home Pong console, released through Sears in 1975.

3. While the AtGames Legends Ultimate is an arcade machine with more than 300 different games built-in, the original arcade machines and home Pong consoles only played one type of game at a time. The first home video game system to accept interchangeable cartridges was co-created by pioneering African-American engineer Jerry Lawson in 1976. The system was originally called the Fairchild Video Entertainment System (VES), and later the Fairchild Channel F (short for “Fun”). It was, however, soon eclipsed after the third ever programmable video game console, the Atari Video Computer System (VCS, or 2600), was released less than a year later.

4. The inventor of Tetris, Alexey Pajitnov, didn’t get any money from his game until about 10 years after its initial release. He was a Soviet computer scientist and the USSR took all the money he would have gotten.

5. Centipede was one of the first games to become popular with female players. This may be because of the fact that Dona Bailey – who was involved in its development – was one of Atari’s few, female employees at the time.

6. 64th Street – A Detective Story (1991) was a popular beat’em-up in the arcades, published by Jaleco. This two-player revenge story built on the classic beat’em-up legacy from the 80’s like Double Dragon (1987).

7. Asteroids displaced Space Invaders in popularity in the United States and became Atari’s best-selling arcade game of all time, with over 70,000 units sold.

image: Boogie Wings (1992) by Data East

8. Data East’s Boogie Wings – known as The Great Ragtime Show in Japan – was pretty obscure when originally released as an arcade game in 1992. Over time the beautiful shoot’em-up has become a fan-favourite and dark horse classic, often praised and well-talked about in retro-gaming communities for its originality and variety in gameplay.

9. Joe and Mac: Caveman Ninja was such a popular platformer in the arcades that it was later converted to no less than eight different console and computer formats, the latest one being the Nintendo Switch. Not bad for a 30+ year old gaming classic!

10. One of the games revered by arcade-buffs is Zoo Keeper, TAITO’s 1982 classic and one of the first of three arcade games ever released for the American market by the company. The player needs to contain escaping animals from the zoo that have captured the protagonist Zeke’s girlfriend, Zelda (Ed: say what?!)!. This is done by running around the compound, planning your moves. But did you know the game was originally named King Crab?

Well there you have it peeps. What did you think? Some stuff is pretty well known, but there were a couple of things in the list that we weren’t aware of, so we’ve learned something new today!

June is Atari Month!

March 29, 2021 By ausretrogamer

Attention our fellow Atarians (fans of the old Atari),

The month of June is fast approaching and you all know what that means – it’s #AtariMonth!

To celebrate 49 years of Atari, we are asking you to put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard and get writing about your affinity for this iconic brand.

This is your opportunity to let your writing juices flow! To get you started, check out Matt Lacey’s Atari story from the last time we ran #AtariMonth for Atari’s 42nd anniversary.

Once you are satisfied with your written masterpiece, just submit it to us here. The most entertaining submissions will be immortalised on ausretrogamer.com!

There is no word limit, so go for your life (just keep it clean)! Article submissions are opened from now till June 25 2021. That means you have (almost) 3 months for your submission, so get cracking you awesome Atarians!

NeoGeo Pocket Color Selection Vol.1 – Nintendo Switch

March 26, 2021 By ausretrogamer

First impressions of games is always difficult. There is the initial excitement phase of playing something new and the more obvious one, you just need more time to play the new game to fully experience it’s features (and shortcomings) before you can be in any position to pen some sort of subjective review.

Well, lucky for us, our first impression of playing SNK’s NeoGeo Pocket Color Selection Vol. 1 (NGPCS Vol.1) on the Switch is an overall positive one! To set the scene, we particularly played the two NeoGeo Pocket Color games, Metal Slug 1st Mission and Metal Slug 2nd Mission on both the real hardware and via the NGPCS Vol.1 on the Nintendo Switch.

Playing the Metal Slug games on the original hardware is great, especially using the clicky control stick on the NeoGeo Pocket Color handheld. However, playing it for any length of time without the unit being backlit is a chore on your eyes. The same games on the Switch retain their original blasting charm, beefed up with a plethora of additional features, modes and ways to play and of course, the Switch screen is just so easy on the eyes. The Switch is suitable for these kinds of games, especially in handheld mode, but it’s flexibility in the way you play just makes this very compelling.

Our first impressions of the Metal Slug 1st and 2nd Missions on the NeoGeo Pocket Color Selection Vol. 1 are very positive. You could go and look for a NeoGeo Pocket Color system and then hunt the the Metal Slug carts online, or you can save yourself the time and lots of $$ by grabbing this for your Switch!