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Johnny Turbo’s Arcade: A Nostalgic Triple Treat

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The arcade manufacturing business as we knew it in the 80s and 90s might be a wasteland strewn with heavy hitters like Data East, but we are lucky that they aren’t totally forgotten.

Leading the revival of past classic arcade games is publisher FTEGames under their Johnny Turbo’s Arcade banner. We miss Data East quite a lot, their arcade and pinball output was nothing short of awesome and prolific, with their games proving popular with punters and always drawing a crowd.

For all of us with new consoles that are yearning for some Data East arcade gaming nostalgia, Johnny Turbo’s Arcade has delivered in spades! Starting with the classic side-scrolling beat’em up, Bad Dudes vs DragonNinja, the tough as nails platformer, Caveman Ninja (aka: Joe & Mac) and the run and gun Sly Spy, we were in for quite a trip down memory lane on our Nintendo Switch.

Johnny Turbo’s Arcade: Bad Dudes Vs DragonNinja (Nintendo Switch eShop)

Are you a bad enough dude? Of course you are! Smash some Ninjas to save President Ronnie and then have burgers and coke as your reward in this brilliant conversion of Bad Dudes vs DragonNinja. This 80s horizontal scrolling beat’em up will satisfy your fighting nostalgic nerve in abundance. Now go and save the Prez!

Johnny Turbo’s Arcade: Caveman Ninja (Nintendo Switch eShop)

Forget Mario and definitely forget Sonic, as they weren’t around in prehistoric days. Grab your club and get ready to go on a wild, prehistoric adventure with the Cavemen Ninjas – Joe & Mac! Help Joe and Mac fight against enemy cavemen and dinosaurs using prehistoric weapons. Battle your way through numerous prehistoric levels using weapons such as boomerangs, bones, fire, flints, electricity, stone wheels, and clubs. There is no Princess in a castle to be rescued, only kidnapped “Cave Babes”. This is one tough platformer, so co-op play is recommended!

Johnny Turbo’s Arcade: Sly Spy (Nintendo Switch eShop)

We have always wanted to be like James Bond – the awesome contraptions, gadgets, weapons and exotic locations had us hooked. Sly Spy satisfies our secret agent appetite, with contraptions like jet-packs to get around and golden gun weaponry to dispatch baddies to become a hero by saving the world from Evil. The premise of this game is pretty straight forward, you must protect the U.S. from a nuclear missile attack from the terrorist organisation CWD (Council for World Domination). This classic is arcade perfect on the Switch! Just like the other arcade games, it is tough as heck, so the challenge will keep you coming back.

Developer Flying Tiger Entertainment should be commended for their arcade perfect ports of these games on the Switch. There are plenty of tweaks for each title which will keep both retro gamers and contemporary players happy. Oh yeah, the level of detail is nothing short of awesome, our favourite being the curvature of the screen, just like on the old arcade monitors – a great nostalgic touch!

These classic Data East games are lovingly converted by the Flying Tiger Entertaining / Johnny Turbo’s Arcade team and are the perfect trifecta of nostalgic hits for your Nintendo Switch. Being perfect arcade conversions, these are just as difficult as their arcade counterparts, but trust us, that is a good thing – BUY THEM NOW!

 

Johnny Turbo’s Arcade: Welcome to the world of Nitro Ball!

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Engage in the deadliest game show with Johnny Turbo’s Arcade: Nitro Ball! 

Flying Tiger Entertainment’s Johnny Turbo’s Arcade: Nitro Ball (aka: Gun Ball), is the exciting arena-style shooter by Data East™ that was originally released in 1992.

Nitro Ball features Gary, an Ex-Navy Sergeant and Harry, an Ex-Police Officer who battle their way through a futuristic game show that takes place on vertical pinball worlds. In fact, each arena includes bumpers, buffers, rails and even pinball holes.

There are five different stages with unique enemies and bosses including: Strange Football, Combat Field, Ghost Town, Aliens World and Space Station. Each stage also features a short challenge to destroy a certain number of enemies in a given amount of time.

While the main goal is to annihilate as many goons as possible, players also rack up points to win various items. Nitro Ball is a fast and furious action-packed game filled with dangerous weapons, power-ups and bosses that make gameplay fun and exciting, especially with friends.

Nitro Ball is zooming to the Nintendo Switch™ eShop in North America on August 16, 2018. Pre-orders (in North America) are available right now. Oh yeah, it is coming soon to selected European territories too – so stay tuned!

Features:

  • Play single player or simultaneously with one or two friends
  • Shoot enemies into holes for extra points and prizes
  • Collect various power-ups; one even turns players into a pinball!
  • Complete secret objectives on each stage for added bonuses
  • Vertical play mode is supported for the Real Arcade Feel

image source: Flying Tiger Entertainment

 

Nintendork Gets Nostalgic At Hersheypark

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By: Nintendork

It’s one of those things you never thought about when growing up – that these huge and heavy arcade machines would one day disappear and the amusement centres housing them would become extinct.

I always thought that arcade machines would be here to stay and that they would remain popular as ever with everyone. How wrong was I? Luckily for me, Hersheypark in Hershey, Pennsylvania is the big exception. Hersheypark could have gotten rid of their old arcade cabinets long ago but they decided to keep them and maintain them in working order. I love having my physical console games from when I was little and in this instance it is great to see these big arcade games remaining exactly the same as when I was a child, making them that extra bit special. To know that I put quarters in their Double Dragon machine when I was 12 and am playing the exact same game right now and doing the same thing beating up baddies means the world to me.

Hersheypark is the perfect destination for a hit of gaming nostalgia. Enjoy the pics!

 

Sonic Mania Plus – Nintendo Switch Review

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Imagine it’s 1992 and someone said to you, “Sonic The Hedgehog will end up on a Nintendo console and it will kick ass”. Your immediate reaction would have been a hefty scoff followed up with telling the peep espousing such absurdity to seek medical advice!

Well, it’s 2018 and Sega’s blue mascot has appeared on many a Nintendo systems, some hits and some misses. Thankfully, Sonic Mania Plus has hit the bulls-eye on the the Nintendo Switch. Seriously, this game is something else – it feels, dare we say, at home on the Switch.

In a nutshell, Sonic Mania Plus is a greatest hits collection and a love-letter to the original Sonic games with a healthy dose of remixed action coupled with new experiences to hook you right in. The game, for the most part, has you playing levels from the originals that have been revamped with additional routes and fun new bosses and twists. Make no bones about it, this package goes right for the player’s sense of 16-bit platforming nostalgia, which there is plenty.

The visuals are nothing short of gorgeous running at a solid 60 fps (docked at 1080p or 720p in handheld mode). Coupled with the visuals is the awesomely cool and funky soundtrack by Tee Lopes. Of course a good looking and funky sounding game doesn’t get too far if its controls aren’t up to standard. Luckily the development team rounded out the package with tight and responsive controls, with the weighting of jumps and game tempo being nigh on perfect. To be honest, we are running out of superlatives to use for this game. The whole package comes together so well that you get an immediate sense of satisfaction as soon as you press play – it is that damn good!

So what’s with the Plus you ask? Well, a few things. For starters, this release introduces two new playable characters, Mighty the Armadillo and Ray the Flying Squirrel. Both characters have their own unique talents which make them play differently from the rest of the characters. Plus also provides not two, but four-player simultaneous racing action through the campaign levels, splitting the TV into quadrants, a la Mari Kart 64 style.

Oh yeah, the physical Sonic Mania Plus edition also comes with a 32-page art book. The emphasis on this companion piece is on the production artwork – very cool indeed. Another pretty cool surprise is the reversible cover that looks like a late-era Mega Drive game. We had to reverse our cover immediately to give us that 16-bit feels.

If you have been holding onto your Sega Mega Drive to just play Sonic The Hedgehog games, the good news is you can now either pack it away or get rid of it! Sonic’s new home is on the Nintendo Switch, and it’s brilliant.

We don’t usually provide scores for our reviews, but if we did, this would be a solid gold 9.99/10! Sonic Mania Plus on the Nintendo Switch should be an insta-buy!

Buy Sonic Mania Plus here.

Disclosure: Sonic Mania Plus [Nintendo Switch] was kindly provided by Five Star Games for this review.

 

R-Type III and Super R-Type Return with the Ultimate Collector’s Package

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Since we are on an R-Type kick (Ed: check out yesterday’s story), we thought we might as well continue rolling with more (great) news relating to this venerable shoot’em up.

Retro-Bit® is set to package two of the most iconic and critically-acclaimed IREM® shoot ’em ups together in one 16-bit cartridge for the first time this month (August) with the release of R-Type®III and Super R-Type® Collector’s Edition.

First released in 1991 alongside the Super Nintendo Entertainment System®, Super R-Type® was hailed as “easily the best Super NES® shooter on the market” by Electronic Gaming Monthly (September, 1991) and “an outstanding piece of work” by GamePro (November, 1991). It sees the formidable R-9 once again go up against the evil Bydo Empire in seven intense stages inspired by the 1989 arcade game R-Type II®.

Three years after the series’ explosive Super NES® debut, the Bydo Empire returned in R-Type III®: The Third Lightning. Named “the best shoot ’em up to appear in a long time” by SNES® Force (March, 1994), the popular action game puts players in control of the most powerful and versatile R-series vessel yet — the R-90 Ragnarok. Equipped with Round, Shadow, and Cyclone Forces of power, as well as the ability to warp between dimensions, R-Type III was an epic fight for Earth’s survival.

Bundled together for the first time ever, R-Type III and Super R-Type Collector’s Edition will include a 16-bit cartridge that can be played on the Super NES®, Super Famicom and select Retro-Bit® consoles. The exclusive hard embossed collector’s box will come loaded with a full-colour instruction manual featuring original artwork, R-Type branded notebook, exclusive sticker collection and an individually numbered certificate of authenticity, along with art prints by the world-renowned artist Paul “OtaKing” Johnson from his R-Type fan-inspired anime collection. Retro-Bit has also collaborated with FiGPiN® to create a limited edition R-Type pin set.

“R-Type is back with the limited edition collector’s package gamers have been asking for,” explains Ron Pang, Vice President of Marketing and Sales at Innex Inc. “We’re taking two of IREM’s most iconic 16-bit shooters and offering fans the ultimate collection of exclusives, high-quality content and value at an attractive price. R-Type III & Super R-Type Collector’s Edition and Holy Diver are just the first of many possible exclusive releases from Retro-Bit® Publishing.

“Shoot ’em up fans looking to take the fight to the Bydo Empire will need to act fast, as production will be limited to only 2,900 units in North America and 2,800 in Europe. The first one-thousand units in each region will come with an exclusive Galactic Blue cartridge. R-Type III and Super R-Type Collector’s Edition is currently available for pre-order and will retail for USD$59.99 when it begins shipping in late August.

More information can be found at Retro-Bit.com/r-type.

We may have to get in touch with Retro-Bit to see if we could have this cartridge in time for PAX Aus 2018!

source: Retro-Bit

 

R-Type Villain Dobkeratops to be Immortalised by Figma

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One of the most iconic horizontal shoot’em ups from the 80s, Irem’s R-Type will have it’s  infamous boss Dobkeratops immortalised in a poseable Figma model!

There is no release date or pricing about this unpainted bit of drool-worthiness. To say we will be keeping a close eye on this would be a gross understatement. Pew, pew, pew, we can’t wait!

image source: nlab.itmedia.com.jp

 

Galencia on Steam!

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The 2017 C64 GOTY, Galencia is now on Steam! So for those that missed out on Jason Aldred’s brilliant shmup on the C64, you are in luck, just head to Steam and buy it immediately!

If you are asking yourself, what is Galencia, then let us enlighten you – Galencia is a tribute to the great ‘stars and space’ shooters from the 1980’s, a love letter to Galaga and similar games from the golden age of arcade games.

Thanks to the awesome Jason Aldred, we have 5 x Galencia Steam keys to giveaway! All you have to do is tell us what your fave shoot’em up is on Twitter or Facebook (you must follow us and/or Like our page to be in the running).

The Galencia Steam keys giveaway will close at 4:00pm on July 31 (Australia Eastern Standard Time). Giveaway winners will be announced on August 1! So go on, what are you waiting for, hit Twitter and Facebook!

The lowdown:

Oh yeah, Galencia on Steam is enjoying a 40% launch discount, so go and get pew, pew, pewing!

PS: Jason has informed us that there is a sequel in the works, Galencia: Khaos Sphere that you can back right now on Indiegogo!

 

Retrospective: Weird And Retro Kombat at Timezone

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Who remembers Timezone?

Timzone was the place that first blew my mind with Mortal Kombat. It was a Sunday morning last century (crap I’m old!) when we walked into Timezone in the Capitol Centre (now called Dandenong Plaza) to see a group crowded around an arcade machine. That was the day I got instantly hooked on the digitised fighter that was the original Mortal Kombat.

As we watched the bloody challenge to completion, we were treated with a Sub-Zero Fatality! My mind was instantly blown. That led to a lot of coins fed into that machine until my fave fighter of all time arrived some time later: Mortal Kombat II – and the rest, as they say, is history.

Here I have two of the super rare Mortal Kombat II Collector Kards that I got from Timezone in Dandenong back in the day, along with a super-kool TZM (Timezone Magazine) issue No.8 (May 1994) that was kindly gifted to me by Aaron ‘blahjedi’ Clement at PAX Aus 2017.

Anyone else remember these?

– Serblander / Weird and Retro

source: Weird and Retro via Facebook

 

One Hour of 1980s Video Game Commercials

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Enjoy a trip down memory lane with Dave Freeman’s hour long compilation of 1980s video game commercials from the Video Game Commercial Archive that was released on DVD in 2007.

This video is jam packed with so much nostalgia, it will make you giddy!


source: Dave Freeman

 

A Dolphin’s Tale: The Story of Nintendo’s GameCube

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Stop what you are doing right now! Grab yourself a bite and a coffee, settle into your most comfy chair and read this tale, the very detailed tale of Nintendo’s GameCube.

A long time ago, in a gal…. Oh wait, wrong story! This story is long and detailed, so make sure you give yourself a lot of time to read every word, as it is well damn worth it. The retro gaming history buffs will absolutely love this, from the delay of the GameCube launch, designing the GCN, motion controls with Gyro-Pods and the pressure to create the perfect controller, to cultivating relationships with third-party developers and publishers, the decline of the GameCube and the end of their longtime partnership with Rare, this story has everything, warts and all!

Are you comfortable yet? If you are, settle in and enjoy Emily Rogers’ story of Nintendo’s GameCube.

image source: Dromble.com