The quintessential 90’s bedroom. Watch the video and put your hand up if you knew someone that had the same setup back in the day. Perhaps your bedroom was like this one ! Be prepared to reminisce and laugh.
Retro Gaming
Event: Play Expo 2012
UK gamers, get ready for the gaming event of 2012 !
Did I hear you say “what gaming event?” ?
Well, if you get your head out of the sand, you might just find out. Read on………..
Play Expo, formerly Replay Expo, will take place on the 13th and 14th October 2012 at EventCity, next to the Trafford Centre, Manchester.
Play Expo will comprise four unique events:
• re.play – retro consoles/computers with freeplay arcade & pinball too!
• now.play – latest releases for Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, PC and handheld
• pro.play – eSports event featuring pro gaming tournaments
• cos.play – costume role play including masquerades, talks and anime.
What are you waiting for – get your tix now !
Bomb Jack: Arcade
Good old Bomb Jack. Could he have been the first ever bomb disposal expert in video gaming ? Perhaps he was. It doesn’t really matter, does it.
Released in 1984, our little hero garnered a cult following. He may have worn red spandex, but that didn’t stop us from pumping coins into his machine.
The premise of the game is pretty straight forward – collect all the bombs to complete a screen. Only one bomb at a time has a lit fuse. If you collect 20 or more of these lit bombs on a level, you get a bonus.
It’s not all easy going for Jack, he has to avoid various monsters and aliens that chase him around the screen. However, if you collect the powerball when it appears, it freezes the baddies for a short period of time, during which, you can kill them simply by touching them. There are other items to be picked up that give you additional bonus points or extra credits.
The game starts to repeat after Level 18. However, you will be too busy darting around the screen, collecting bombs to notice. Bomb Jack is one of those old games that invoke memories of playing it at the corner shop or fish’n chips store across your school. I know, it does for me. Most of my pocket money went into playing this game. It kept me out of trouble, which is always a good thing.
| Graphics | It was 1984, so what do you expect ! |
72% |
| Sound | As above ! |
70% |
| Playability | Another typical arcade game from the early / mid 80’s – dart around the screen, collect stuff and avoid the baddies. Damn that’s a lot of fun |
85% |
| Lastability | Well, the levels repeat after level 18, but who cares, this game oozes nostalgia. It is a great “pick up and play for 10 minutes” kind of game – which is perfect for us time-poor gamers |
85% |
| Overall | This will not be the first game that comes to mind from the 80’s arcade era. But, if you do come across it, play it. It has the perfect mix of platform and puzzle fun. I guarantee it will put a smile on your dial. |
85% |
Manufacturer: Tehkan
Year: 1984
Genre: Single screen platform
Number of Simultaneous Players: 1
Maximum number of Players: 2
Gameplay: Alternating
Control Panel Layout: Single Player
Joystick: 8-way
Buttons: 1 [jump]
Sound: Amplified Mono (single channel)
Game Masters: The Exhibition
“How would you like to to play Yu Suzuki’s full-body 1980s arcade games, including Out Run; take a dance challenge in Alex Rigopulous and Eran Egozy’s Dance Central 2; test yourself in a four-player version of Firemint’s Real Racing 2; and be immersed in a 3D display of Tetsuya Mizuguchi’s Child of Eden” – Sounds like a dream come true !
Gamers rejoice ! Game Masters is coming to town. The highly interactive videogame exhibition will be at ACMI (the Australian Centre for the Moving Image) from 28 June till 28 October 2012.
As part of this exhibition, there will be a showcase of work from local and international videogame designers, with over 125 playable games (woohoo !) from the arcade era through to the latest consoles, PC and mobile gaming platforms.
Hold onto your hats, the list of games from world renowned game designers (from the pioneers to the contemporaries) reads like a who’s who of the videogaming industry.
Hit the Game Masters site for further event program details.
ausretrogamer will bring you live twitter feeds from the Game Masters exhibition. Get following now !
Event Details:
Event: Game Masters, The Exhibition
Venue: ACMI, Federation Square, Melbourne
Date(s): 28 June – 28 October 2012
Ticketing: Event ticketing details
Full($22.00), Concession($17.50),
Child (Aged 4-15)($11.00),
Family (2 Adults & 3 Children)($60.00)
3 Session Pass Full($55.00)
3 Session Pass Concession($45.00)
Group (15 or more people)($18.50)
Group (50 or more people)($16.50)
Event trailer: Go here
ZX Spectrum: Happy 30th Birthday
April 23, 1982: Sir Clive Sinclair gave the world, the ZX Spectrum. This 8-bit wonder took the UK by storm. It proved so popular that it was in production till 1992. It celebrates its 30th birthday today. So, to you, the ZX Speccy, we wish you a happy 30th birthday. May you celebrate many more to come !
By the numbers:
Launch Date: 23 April 1982
Launch Price: £125 (16KB), £175 (48KB)
Dimensions: 232x144x30mm
Weight: 552g
Processor: Zilog Z80A (running at 3.5MHz)
RAM: 16/48KB
ROM: 16KB
Onboard Language: Sinclair BASIC
Display: 32×24 characters, 256×192 pixels
Colours: Eight available (plus seven variations)
Sound: Internal speaker (buzzing)
Interesting key technical component: The ULA (Uncommitted Logic Array) chip, aka: the ‘glue chip’, combines the functions of several chips and controls the I/O functions.
Pit-Fighter: Digitised fighting mayhem
Back in 1990, Atari released Pit-Fighter – the first fighting game to include digitised fighting characters. This animation was created through a “bluescreen” process which was a major feat for the day. It was the precursor to Mortal Kombat..
Pit-Fighter has three fighters to choose from: Buzz, the ex-professional wrestler; Ty, the kick-boxing champion; and Kato, the third degree black-belt expert. Each fighter has their own fighting style, strengths, weaknesses and super moves.
The premise of the game is to take your fighter through 15 different fights, with grudge matches (bonus rounds) every three fights. You become champion once you defeat the Masked Warrior.
Pit-Fighter has some interesting twists amongst its gameplay. Firstly, it has sly spectators that get involved in your fights by knifing you. They lurk amongst the crowd, so watch out ! The game also has weapons and objects to use, like: barrels, crates, knives, spiked balls, oil drums, sticks, bar stools and even a motorcycle ! But, beware – these weapons and objects can also be used against you ! If things weren’t interesting enough, there are power pills in later stages that can temporarily make both your fighter and opponent more powerful and difficult to hurt and ultimately, defeat.
Pit-Fighter hasn’t really aged too well, but it does offer nostalgic value with its digitised fighters and interesting gameplay, with crowd involvement and outrageous weapons/objects to use. So, if you want to relive the daddy of digitised fighters, throw in a few coins into Pit-Fighter.
Manufacturer: Atari
Year: 1990
Genre: Fighting
Number of simultaneous players: 3
Maximum number of players: 3
Gameplay: Team
Joystick: 8-way
Buttons: 3 (Punch, Kick and Jump)
Sound: Amplified Mono (single channel)
PC-Engine: list of HuCard games
Following on from the Genealogy of the PC-Engine, the natural progression was to document the list of HuCard games released on this magnificent console.
The list of PC-Engine HuCard games is to assist would-be gamers with details of games released for the console and its TurboGrafx counterpart.
Genealogy of the PC-Engine
Welcome to the PC-Engine Family Tree
Have you tried to understand the NEC PC-Engine range of consoles and been totally confused or lost ? Don’t worry, you are not alone.
We have tapped our inner genealogist and have created the NEC PC-Engine Family Tree. The tree shows the lineage of native consoles, per region, and their media type.
Hopefully, this family tree makes things clearer and a tad easier to understand the NEC PC-Engine console range.
click above image to expand it to its full glory!
Note:
- The PC-Engine family tree does not include any add-ons that enhance the consoles. It also excludes the UK PAL TurboGrafx console released by Telegames.
- This NEC PC-Engine family tree only covers native NEC systems that play PC Engine/TurboGrafx-16 game formats.
Must watch video gaming documentaries
Seldom do video gamers get any mass produced video games related programs. But the few that have been made and released, should be added to any self respecting video gamers library. The three video games based documentaries that are a must watch are:
Tetris: From Russia with Love
Synopsis: Fortunes were made and lawsuits fought as Tetris swept the world in the 1980s and killed a million conversations. But 20 years after the creation of this technological phenomenon, its inventor Alexey Pajitnov is only just beginning to make any money.
Released: 2004
iMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0409371/
website: BBC Four
Chasing Ghosts: Beyond the Arcade
Synopsis: In 1982, at the dawn of the video-game age, the world’s giants of gaming gathered together in a now-legendary meeting at Iowa’s Twin Galaxies arcade. This documentary from director Lincoln Ruchti looks at the players then and now, offering an insightful and nostalgic look at the history of gaming fanaticism.
Released: 2007
iMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0479879/
website: http://www.chasingghoststhemovie.com/
The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters
Synopsis: The King of Kong follows the exploits of the two best Donkey Kong players in America, the cocky and current world record holder, Billy Mitchell, and the challanger, the ever gracious, Steve Wiebe.
Released: 2007
iMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0923752/
website: http://www.newline.com/properties/kingofkongtheafistfulofquarters.html
Street Fighter II: the 21 year old world champion
On March 8 1991, Capcom unleashed the Street Fighter II coin-op machine to the arcade world, starved of great 2D one-on-one fighting games. This was the sequel to beat all sequels. The original Street Fighter was released in 1987 with some fan fare, but its successor kick started the franchise and popularity of the 2D fighting genre. The rest, as they say, is history. [Read more…] about Street Fighter II: the 21 year old world champion