Retro Gaming

Pioneer LaserActive: One Machine. Infinite Possibilities

September 6, 2016 By ausretrogamer

Pioneer’s CLD-A100 LaserActive player will go down in video games history as one of the most ill-conceived pieces of technology, the priciest and biggest (in size and weight) gaming device of all time. With dimensions that could fit 4 x Sega Mega Drives in the same footprint and weighing in at several kilos, this behemoth was huge to say the least. To match its hefty size, the LaserActive came in at a whopping pricetag of $1,000USD (and this was in 1993!)! Only someone with Trump’s bank balance would even contemplate splurging on this Pioneer bling.

Make sure the cart label is facing down!

The LaserActive was an attempt to converge the latest and hottest electronic technologies (at the time) into the one set-top device! The unit was a Laserdisc player primarily, enabling its owner the luxury of watching movies – laserdiscs weren’t cheap either! The device could also play audio compact discs, karaoke and video games based on Sega’s Genesis/Mega Drive/MegaCD and NEC’s PC-Engine systems via add-on expansion modules called PACs. Once you invested in the CLD-A100, you had to seek a further bank overdraft to purchase the PACs to enable you to enjoy some karaoke and play your 16-bit (Sega and/or NEC) games. These PACs were $600USD each, so all up, the machine and it’s karaoke, Sega and NEC PACs would set you back $2,800USD! Mind you, there were also PACs to allow the LaserActive player to connect to a computer (MAC / MS-DOS or NEC PC98) and 3D Glasses too. Which ever way you looked at it, the Pioneer LaserActive made the Neo Geo AES and its games seem like pocket-change!

Get your vocal chords ready! Just slot the PAC-K1 in your LaserActive player!

Ready your HuCards!

We are assuming that Pioneer wanted to join the converged device market and get a jump on their competition like the 3DO, Philips’ CD-i , Memorex VIS and Commodore’s aging Amiga-in-a-box, the CDTV. Hindsight is always 20/20 when looking at failed technologies, and we bet Pioneer wishes that it never even entertained the idea of the LaserActive!

So why were we drawn to this albatross of the video games market? Just like anything that was deemed bad (remember the Power Glove?), we were intrigued to find out for ourselves how terrible this device was. Having the Pioneer CLD-A100 LaserActive in our collection, we have found that we use it mainly to play our Sega Genesis (NTSC-A) games and a few laser-disc movies we had lying around from the early 90s. Apart from that, can we recommend the machine that promised: One Machine. Infinite Possibilities? Absolutely not! Nice try Pioneer!

3D Glasses! You better have strong neck muscles!

Turn it on!

Pioneer LaserActive Is… Too much bling!
image source: mondocoolmedia

Shotgun: 4-Player Death Match On Your C64

August 30, 2016 By ausretrogamer

What’s better than playing a death match with a friend in the same room? Playing a 4-player death match with your closest mates in the same room on your venerable Commodore 64!

Forget Goldeneye 007 on the N64, we give you Dr Wuro Industries’ Shotgun! This fast-paced death match game is available to download for free or you can grab the awesome boxed version (€16.90 + shipping) which comes in a plastic box with a flip-cover (which can be turned around to showcase the different covers), a 5.25″ floppy disk and a printed manual! The boxed version also comes with three additional extras – everyone loves surprises!

So grab the Protovision 4-player interface, plug in four joysticks, invite three of your closest friends and load Shotgun for some death match shenanigans on your C64 – let the rage begin!

image source: Dr Wuro Industries

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!

Follow Wolfsbora on Twitter and Steam.

Ludiphilia: A Podcast About Play, People, And Things

August 19, 2016 By ausretrogamer

After doing a number of podcast interviews, it was quite refreshing to have been invited on Richard Moss’ Ludiphilia podcast. Ludiphilia weaves the subject matter into a fascinating, heartwarming and a compelling story about play, the people and all other things in-between!

We have to give credit to Richard for doing an amazing job in the scripting, editing and the narrative of this podcast – we were blown away by the final result. Take a listen *smiley*

Vans X Nintendo: Powered Up Streetwear

August 18, 2016 By ausretrogamer

It is great being on holiday – nothing beats being relaxed and away from your every day concerns! On our recent trip to Queensland’s Gold Coast, where it is beautiful one day and perfect the next, we happen to stumble across the Vans store at the Pacific Fair Shopping Centre. To our surprise, the store featured a complete Vans X Nintendo range by having an eye catching display at the front of their store.

We obviously didn’t need much coaxing to enter the Vans store once the exclusive 8-bit Nintendo graphics inspired gear caught our attention. The Vans X Nintendo range includes all of your fave Nintendo characters in an assortment of streetwear; from shoes, trucker’s hats, backpacks, to ties, socks, t-shirts and long-sleeve sweaters! Oh yeah, there are sizes for the little ones too!

So get “Off The Wall” and check out what we found at the Vans store on the Gold Coast…

Vans Gold Coast! What do we have here then…..

Woohoo, the Vans X Nintendo Collection is ranged!

So much to see and touch! What do we look at first?

Cool runners (that’s sneakers for our American friends)

Oo’er, we REALLY like these NES inspired runners!

GAME OVER? Never!

Tough choice: Donkey Kong or Duck Hunt…..

Mario and Luigi’s personal parking spots!

CIB – complete in box! Gotta try some!

The level of detail is phenomenal!

Gonna keep this!

Whoa, the kids can don their Vans X Nintendo gear too!

Vans X Nintendo is where the heart is…

We didn’t walk away empty handed *wink*

We had to get the cool NES runners!

Oh yes, the collectable pins given away were a great surprise!

It’s never GAME OVER!

Brisbane Retro Hunting: Gametraders

August 17, 2016 By ausretrogamer

Gametraders stores may have gone the way of the dodo bird in metropolitan Melbourne, but they are still going strong in the suburbs of Brisbane!

Hitting the Gametraders store at Westfield Chermside Shopping Centre brought back memories of how we used to enjoy hunting for retro gaming gear at the Highpoint store, which sadly closed a few months ago.

So what did we find at Gametraders Chermside? Take a peek down below. *winks*

Let’s get hunting!

What do we have here then?

The Perfect Mega Drive Street Fighter II weapon: The Honey Bee SF-3

We spy more Nintendo controllers and Game Boy games!

Oo’er, Mega Drive and Master System games!

We want this game!

Nintendoooooooooooo!

Atari Lynx gear amongst the NES and SNES juggernaut!

Look up, you never know what you’ll see!

Pac-Man Championship Edition 2 Is Coming!

August 15, 2016 By ausretrogamer

Pac-Man fever strikes back! Mark September 13 in your diary, as this will be the day that the yellow dot chomper digitally hits Steam®, the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One!

Taking cues from its past games in the series, Pac-Man Championship Edition 2 features new eye-popping 3D graphics and funky visuals where players will be chomping and chasing ghosts through mazes to a whole new level of addictive fun gameplay!

Players will experience brand-new ways of playing Pac-Man with numerous new features such as the Time Attack and Adventure modes. Gather as many points as possible by herding ghosts into ghost trains in a specified time thanks to the Chain Eating feature, chase fast fleeing fruits, fight big bad bosses, experience ridiculous remixed rules and much more! Get your fast twitch skills ready, as Pac-Man fever will take its hold on you!

source: Bandai Namco Enterntainment Europe

End Game: The Different Goals In OutRun

August 6, 2016 By ausretrogamer

Ah, OutRun! It was the first street racing arcade game where you drove a Ferrari Testarossa at breakneck speeds with a female passenger in tow, feeling the wind in your hair as you raced to your next checkpoint area to progress further in the game. It was as simple as that, thank you Mr. Yu Suzuki.

OutRun’s simplicity was its biggest drawcard – the flash red car, gorgeous woman, awesome graphics (especially the crashes!), great European tracks (with uphill and downhill gradients!), brilliant music (oh that Magic Sound Shower tune!) and the choice of path to take when confronted with a fork in the road!

It was this choice of which road you took in OutRun which ultimately lead you to five very different goals (endings), some more humorous than others. For those of you that weren’t aware or had not seen all of OutRun’s different endings, here they are for your pleasure! Don’t forget to lock the Testarossa!

Choose your course – it’s as easy as a, b, c, d or e!

Course: Vineyard (a)
End Goal: No wine here for the easy winner. After the driver is hoisted aloft by the crowd, they then get distracted by a bikini clad lady and drop the driver to the bitumen. That’s gotta hurt!

Course: Death Valley (b)
End Goal: How apt is the name of this route as your Testarossa literally falls apart the second the winning line is crossed. Instead of celebrating, your driver will need to wait for a while for the Ferrari roadside assist van to rock up.

Course: Desolation Hill (c)
End Goal: What could be the winning prize here? Perhaps the camels to take the driver back to civilisation as the Ferrari has ran out of fuel? Hang on, what will the driver wish for when rubbing that lamp? Oh, a harem!

Course: Autobahn (d)
End Goal: As the crowd gathers to see the driver receive the big gold trophy, he gets embarrassingly bypassed by the presenter, with the trophy being handed to his female passenger! ZING!

Course: Lakeside (e)
End Goal: As the driver screeches past this most difficult of all goals, he is finally rewarded for his most excellent driving skills! Now he is ready to party!

image source: The Video Game Museum

Las Vegas Shenanigans: The Fun Dungeon At Excalibur

July 29, 2016 By ausretrogamer

In this last of our Las Vegas Shenanigans feature series, we hit the Fun Dungeon at the Excalibur Hotel and Casino! If you thought that The Big Apple Coaster & Arcade looked awesome, wait till you see how much fun we had at the Fun Dungeon! Well, what are you waiting for, take a look down below! Viva Las Vegas!

The upside down Atari sign is pointing down! Let’s go!

Oh no, not this guy! Nah, we don’t wanna know our fortunes!

Ello, ello, ello, what do we have here then……Golden Oldies!

Right-io, let’s fight then!

Woohoo, silver-ball action!

Where to go next? Aha, perhaps to a galaxy far, far away?

The menacing T-Rex looks enticing!

What’s this red bubble thing then……..

Should we challenge this dude? Nah, we don’t wanna embarrass him 😉

Oh man, so many choices – to fight or go off-road driving?

No punching on this ice skating rink!

Big rig drivin coming up!

Ms ausretrogamer tries her hand at flying! Land that plane!

Some snow action too!

Rushing off to San Fran, baby!

Love being a (crazy) taxi driver!

Shoot! Dodge!

Where play saves the day? Indeed it does!

Found another Atari arcade machine in the desert!

Batwoman, oops, we mean Ms ausretrogamer shows Batman how it’s done!

All this play has made us work up a massive hunger (and thirst)!

Las Vegas Shenanigans: The Big Apple Coaster & Arcade

July 26, 2016 By ausretrogamer

What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas. Pfft, if that were the case then we would not have told you about our exploits at Toy Shack and A Gamer’s Paradise while in Sin City. What we haven’t told you about (yet), is our arcade and pinball shenanigans at the resort casinos, like the The Big Apple Coaster & Arcade in New York New York.

Rather than write about this experience infinitum, we’ll let our photos tell the story. What we will say is that The Big Apple Coaster & Arcade is damn awesome! It has that Coney Island (seaside) amusement feel, which makes the experience even more authentic. To top it off, there is a roller coaster whizzing around on the top of the resort for that ultimate adrenaline rush! Enjoy the ride!

All stairs lead to The Big Apple Coaster & Arcade at New York New York!