The Pop-Culture E-Zine
Halloween may be over for another year, but that didn’t stop Daniel Ibbertson (Slopes Games Room) grabbing the Terror Mask and entering the West Mansion for a look at the complete history of everyone’s favourite slash’em up, Splatterhouse.
Daniel’s video looks at every single game in the franchise, Namco’s struggle against Nintendo and every movie reference found in the series so far. Go and grab some popcorn, leave the light on, and press play now!
source: Slopes Games Room
Pinball is such a great social game. Don’t get us wrong, it is fun to play on your own, but in a gathering, it takes it to a new level. By attending pinball events, we have met a lot of great folks, just like Marcus Sezonov. When Marcus extended us an invite to his Rosstown Retro Pinball Arcade tournament, we definitely could not pass up the opportunity. As you’ll see in the below photos, Marcus has a fantastic pinball collection comprising of classic machines from a variety of manufacturers from around the world – we still can’t stop thinking about Zaccaria’s Robot machine!
So on a warm Sunday afternoon, we and our fellow pinball guests arrived at Marcus’ private residence for some good old fashioned pinball action and a backyard barbie – perfect! As Marcus was flipping chicken sausages on the BBQ, we thought it was a great chance to ask him a few hard hitting questions about his love of pinball and gaming in general.
Our awesome host, Marcus, flips a mean chicken sausage!
AUSRETROGAMER [ARG]: What is your earliest memory of playing pinball?
Marcus Sezonov [MS]: I am pretty sure it was the late seventies in a fish and chip shop on a Sunday evening. I played doubles with my dad and I remember watching him and I was just amazed at his skill. I was hooked immediately and just wanted to play as good as him.
ARG: What is it about playing pinball that draws you to it?
MS: That there is real skill to playing a pinball machine and the wonderful artwork. Back in the 70s and 80s I did like video games but on some you could learn their repeated movements to win. Pinball was never the same game twice. I also like the fact that you are controlling a real moving part.
ARG: How did you get started in collecting pinball machines?
MS: I like art, I like games and I love the 70s and 80s – pinball machines are something that fit all of that and are obtainable and still work. It all started with one old electro-mechanical machine just to put in the corner of the lounge room to look at – of course one gets a little boring so you need two . . .
ARG: You have a beautiful collection of classic pinball machines, what drew you to these older tables?
MS: It really is the artwork. The detail in the hand drawn artwork really is stunning – no photos on these machines. I also like the fact that they are difficult to collect and get working. I always wonder how many are really left. For example, there was only 1,600 Centigrade-37 made back in 1977!
ARG: This question would be like asking to pick your favourite child, but we have to ask, do you have a favourite machine from your collection?
MS: I suppose I would have to answer that by thinking about if I had to keep only one, which would it be. I think Centaur II. It has really incredible artwork that looks like a big tattoo. There is a half man half motorbike who is holding a big axe with a girl on the back on the backglass – it really stands out. Scary echo speech that actually taunts you if you miss a shot like ‘Bad move human’ or ‘slow aren’t you?’ and up to 5 ball multiball! This game came out in 1981, but was so popular they made another 1500 special editions in 1983, which is the one I have. One of its special features was its red display – it made it look a little devilish!
ARG: How do you go about picking a machine to add to your collection? Is it a long process (to find it)?
MS: I started off looking at the top 300 list for games pre-1984, then check out the theme and artwork, then read all of the reviews about gameplay. I have also been travelling to a few pinball festivals such as the Newcastle Pinfest and the Australian Pinball Expo in Penrith from a couple of years ago. I used the opportunity to play and decide on a machine I might like to add to my collection. Armed with all of that, I generally start searching eBay – and wait.
Once I had 10 and I could only fit 5 more in, I wanted to ensure a well balanced collection – so a good distribution of eras, art, design and gameplay. I thought the best way to do that was to get hold of different companies machines from around the world. So I focused on getting a Playmatic from Spain, A Zaccaria from Italy and a rare Atari. I also wanted a very rare classic woodrail from the 50’s. I am pretty determined when there is one I want to add to the collection. I had chosen Robot as the one Zaccaria machine I would get. I watched eBay every day for 3 years waiting for it to come up.
There was a 1980 Stern Flight 2000 pinball that a guy in Sydney had 3 of – I bid on the first two and lost. When he put his third one up I was determined to get it no matter what – I would bet 1 million dollars if I had to (not really quite that much!). When I sat down that night to bid, it was gone! I called him and he said he took it off eBay and sold it to a friend! That was the one (or 3) that got away!
ARG: Are there any other machines you have your eye on to add to your collection, or is that a secret?
MS: There is always another one I want, but unfortunately I am confined by space. I can only fit 15 machine at the very most. I just bought my last one after I missed out on Flight 2000. I was looking again for something different. I found a 1983 Bally Vector. It has a ‘flip speed’ calculator. It calculates the speed of the ball up along a top ramp. In fact Vector is being fixed up at the moment and I am not quite sure how everything is going to fit – I think it could be a struggle to even open the door once it is in!
ARG: The cabin idea to house your machine collection is brilliant – how did that come about?
MS: Well . . . When I first met my now wife, I lived in a little unit and I had 4 machines. There was one in each bedroom, kitchen and lounge. When we moved into a house the four were lined up along the back of the lounge room. As she was not into pinball as much as I was, she said she would like them out of the house (although I had identified many little corners they could fit nicely – she didn’t quite agree). I moved three up into the little rickety shed at the back but one had to stay in the house. But then the rule of no pinballs in the house was mentioned and she suggested I build a proper shed in the back to house them. I built a really nice cabin for them.Based on the fact it was only meant to comfortably house 4 and now I have squeezed 15, I am quite happy with it. Although of course I do wish I had made it larger. And it would have been bigger if the wife had let me dig up her lemon tree and move it!
So yes, the cabin works really well as it is away from the house right up against the back fence. So the wife is pretty happy, but the neighbours aren’t!
ARG: You also run the Rosstown Retro Pinball Arcade tournament – tell us how this all started?
MS: Almost all of the pinball tournaments are on the newer pinball machines, so there is definitely a gap there for it. To be a good pinball player, you have to be good on all eras of machine, not just the new. I really want others to see and experience just how amazing these pieces of history are to play, so a tournament that is open to anyone is the best way. I did have to limit the numbers though. I intend to run an IFPA endorsed tournament once a year. Last year was the first one and I even got t-shirts made up specially for the occasion. I do have tournament ideas for next year to get more people playing – so look out for that.
ARG: Other than pinball, do you play video games? If so, do you have any favourite systems / games?
MS: I have played video games all my life. It all started with the Atari 2600. I sold that to buy a C-64 computer. I had all the accessories, 1000s of games, joysticks etc. I recently found the big bag I put it all in back in 1986 when I packed it up – and sold it on eBay. I advertised it as a time capsule – it really was! I then got a Game Boy and Game Boy Advance SP, PS1, PS2 and now, a PS3. I also have a PSP which is great when travelling. I bought the XBox 360 a few years ago for one game – Fruit Ninja. I couldn’t get enough of it when I first saw it at a games expo. Swinging your arms about like a ninja rather than using a controller was such a great idea.
Ms ausretrogamer and I would like to thank Marcus and his family for their hospitality and for hosting a great day at the Rosstown Retro Pinball Arcade.
Attention to detail – Marcus has all the details of his 15 pinball machines on the back of his tee!
It’s on like Donkey Kong!
Love the beautiful and vibrant artwork on Gottlieb’s Circus
Pete The Chef hits up Last Lap!
Last Lap is beautiful to look at and equally beautiful to play
Checking the score!
Yours truly mesmerised by the Electro-mechanical, Grand Slam!
The tapered backbox oozes timeless beauty
The Grand Slam baseball playfield may look simple, but it’s wickedly difficult & addictive
Skooota gets flippin’ on Fathom!
Bally’s Fathom is a magnificent pinball specimen
A closer look at that awesome Fathom backbox artwork
Wonder which game this is from?
Of course, it’s Playboy!
It takes steel balls to play pinball!
Pinball works up a thirst!
Can’t go wrong with 5c gumballs. Then we’ll play some Space Invaders
A top read!
We are not alone!
Paragon
Xenon
Don’t look into her eyes!
Are you a straight shooter?
Marcus hits 37 degrees centigrade!
Slaying Paragon
Daniel ‘LEX’ Luth is next to slay Paragon
Keeping an eye on the opposition scores
Pop’n jet bumpers!
The dynamic duo!
Even the drop targets are a work of art
Keep flipp’n
5K when lit!
Astounding level of detail on the playfield
No coins required
Triple-treat
The Rosstown Retro Pinball Arcade still kick’n it!
A satisfying smile
Hold on to your hats! Numskull have just launched their range of retro merchandise based on one of our favourite wooden 70s consoles – the Atari 2600! Go retro stylin’ down memory lane with your iconic Atari socks, wallet, keyring and jumper – your street cred will be 1UP’ed in no time!
Rest assured that this official Atari collection is guaranteed to impress any gamer, with the embossed detailing on the wallets and the super-precise detail of the key rings. We are even partial to the awesomely cool Atari Christmas jumper! I think we have our Christmas list sorted now.
Look boss this Christmas
Keep your cash and cards safe in this 6-switch woody
Pull up your socks!
Keys will be stylin’
Take control of your keys!
source: Numskull
Get your nostalgic senses ready, as the PAX Aus Classic Gaming area is back, bigger and better for 2016! We say this every year, but this year is no exception – there will be games that will take you back to your younger years, and you never know, you may discover golden oldies that you may have not known or had forgotten about.
With systems like the Commodore 64, Sega Master System, Sega Dreamcast and the NEC PC-Engine (to name just a few) to tickle your retro gaming fancy, your only problem will be, what to to play first!
If you want a trip down memory lane while at PAX Aus 2016, then make sure you come on over to the Classic Gaming area!
One fire button is all you need to play on the Commodore 64!
Anyone up for some Alex Kidd action?
Shoot’em up action on the Engine that could!
Let’s go make some crazy money!
The PAX Aus Classic Gaming area is proudly brought to you by: ausretrogamer, Bartronica, Bayside Pinball Club, PinballScore, Pinmem, Retro Domination, Weird and Retro and Zax Amusements.
If you have been following our exploits here or on social media, you’ll know that we are massive fans of Technos‘ brilliant 1987 beat’em up arcade game, Double Dragon.
What’s there not to like, two brothers, Billy and Jimmy Lee, set out to rescue Billy’s girl, Marian, from the Black Warriors gang by kicking ten-shades out of every baddie that gets in their way! This co-op game also gave the player the opportunity to grab strewn items, like a whip or baseball bat (among others) to easily dispose of the Black Warriors members.
We could go on and on about this awesome game, but we thought we’d spare you and bring your attention to Double Dragon: The Complete History by Slopes Game Room’s Daniel Ibbertson. Insert coin and enjoy!
Ah, many a coin were pumped into this machine
Double Dragon was converted on myriad of home systems. Let’s not talk about the C64 version *grumble*
The NES conversion was one of the better ones
Even the Atari 2600 conversion was better than the C64 debacle!
source: Slopes Game Room
Pinball Expo 2016 is almost upon us! the 32nd Pinball Expo will take place from October 12 to 16 at the Westin Chicago North Shore Hotel in Wheeling, Illinois. The expo will be jam-packed with new pinball machine reveals. Being the biggest Pinball Expo to date, expect the major pinball industry players to showcase their latest (and future) wares.
Here is what you can expect from the big boys (if you are one of the lucky attendees):
The newest kid on the pinball block will showcase their first game, Houdini Master Mystery.
The diverse Dutch group of pinball maestros will have their much anticipated The Big Lebowski machine on display.
The UK pinball manufacturer will finally reveal Alien.
The crew that brought us the brilliant The Wizard Of Oz and The Hobbit machines have been busy tinkering on their much anticipated 3rd machine, designed by the veteran pinball designer, Pat Lawlor.
The company behind the P3 Pinball Platform will show their latest version of the Lexy Lighspeed machine. They will also have the mini games from the Texas Pinball Festival from earlier in the year.
Planetary Pinball / Chicago Gaming:
With their extremely popular Medieval Madness Remake still high in demand, the Californian based company is teaming up with Chicago Gaming yet again for their second title! All be revealed at Pinball Expo.
The Wisconsin pinball makers will be busy showing their Rob Zombie Spookshow International, Domino’s Spectacular Pinball Adventure and possibly news on future titles!
Stern Pinball Inc:
Last but not least, the biggest pinball manufacturer of them all, Stern Pinball, will be revealing their Batman 66 machine. This will be Stern’s first game utilising a full colour LCD replacing the dot-matrix display. The game will feature a second smaller LCD on the playfield as well. The Batman 66 design team will be headed by George Gomez, with Lyman Sheats taking care of programming and artwork featuring Christopher Franchi’s impressions. The game will borrow heavily from the Batman The Dark Knight (2008) playfield, including the crane, but the left side of the playfield will be totally redesigned.
The other Stern pinball machine to be featured at Pinball Expo will be the Pabst “Can Crusher”.
image source: multiple – supplied
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
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
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.
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*