The Pop-Culture E-Zine
You know the deal by now – go watch the award-winning Still Standing documentary, it will be the best 74 minutes of your day!
Now, the other bonus featurette made available by Brad Gilbertson (Creator/Director of Still Standing) is of the truly mind-blowing 1UP ARCADE in Brisbane, Australia’s LARGEST retro arcade. Let 1UP Arcade owner, Stephen Holmes, take you on an insightful and intoxicating trip back in time.
source: BGVC Films on YouTube
We know this is now old news (over 5 years ago), but for those that missed Aaron Norton’s (aka: NintendoTwizer) Nintendo collection, check it out!
Unfortunately (or fortunately for) Aaron, he sold it all for US$164,000 (approx. AU$250,000), which some say is a pittance, considering the complete collections of NES, SNES, N64, Game Boy and GameCube games!
Anyway, we are glad that Aaron did one last tour of his collection before it was sold – WARNING: You may drool!
source: Aaron Norton on YouTube
As a kid, I loved looking through sales catalogues. I’d scour the toy, and of course the video games pages.
I came across this old Norman Ross (retailer from back in the day) from August 1982, and I must say, the prices (in AUD$) for some of these goods are astronomical! Anyway, instead of getting bogged down in factoring in inflation and figuring out the prices in today’s money, let’s just enjoy the nostalgia 😉
image source: supplied
Experience the excitement of a real-life Pac-Man maze as you elude colorful ghosts and snatch up fruit! This March (2024), The District Docklands in Melbourne will host an incredible Pac-Man Escape Room Maze. This immersive pop-up event, officially endorsed by Pac-Man, will immerse you in an escape room adventure within a massive maze.
Prepare to outmaneuver ghosts, gather your favorite fruits (bonus points if you can devour all five), and tackle puzzles along the way. Each participant has only three lives, and if caught by one of the four ghosts, a life is lost. You can embark on this adventure solo or with a team of up to 10 people – the choice is yours. The first person to collect all the fruit and conquer the puzzles will earn the title of the ultimate Pac-Man Player!
Additionally, the venue will feature Pac-Man video games for you to enjoy once you’ve completed the maze. Melbourne’s up-and-coming DJs will be spinning ’80s tunes during the session and at the pixelated bar, providing the perfect opportunity to relax and grab a refreshing beverage after your thrilling adventure
Developed by Imagine Software and published by Pixel Games UK, this 1989 classic returns with over 140 levels to put your mind (and your fingers) to the test — available for the first time on Nintendo Switch via the Nintendo eShop.
In ‘Chip’s Challenge’, players take on the role of Chip — a puzzle obsessive who desperately wants to join Melinda the Mental Marvel’s computer club. His initiation takes the form of a series of increasingly difficult puzzles. To succeed Chip slide blocks, dodge hazards and collect the computer chips to pass each level. Are you up to the Challenge?
‘Chip’s Challenge’ for Nintendo Switch allows players to play this classic puzzle game with many modern features, including:
● Display filters, including an 80s-style CRT filter; and
● Suspend points – save and restore up to 4 suspend points per game
image source: Pixel Games UK
By: D.C. Cutler, U.S.A.
When I was a kid, I really enjoyed playing “Darkman” on my Nintendo Game Boy. I saw the Sam Raimi film in a theater, and when I saw that Game Boy was coming out with a game based on the movie, I had to have it.
The gameplay of “Darkman” on Game Boy was basically “Double Dragon” and “Double Dragon 2.” It was a simple multi-level game where you had to accomplish a different mission in each stage. In a lot of ways, “Darkman” was fun to me because I loved playing “Double Dragon.” The game does import many of the 1990 film’s highlights. The Raimi film was not a huge financial success, but now it has a bit of a cult following on physical media and streaming.
When teachers weren’t snatching my Game Boy out of my hands, I played the game at school. I would play “Darkman” on the school bus home. Sometimes, when I was really into the game, I would miss my stop. “Darkman” was one of my favorite games to play on my Game Boy. And there were a lot of film adaptations on Game Boy. Around that time, I also liked playing the “Hudson Hawk” film adaptation on my Game Boy.
I watched “Darkman” several days ago; I hadn’t watched it in years. I had forgotten how hooky some of the action sequences were. I still had a good time watching it again, but I was surprised by how much slapstick humor was in it. The cast is spectacular. Liam Neeson and Francis McDormand are terrific in the film. They’re so young. Larry Drake is excellent as Robert Durant, the ruthless mobster who leaves Peyton Westlake (who becomes Darkman) for dead. He overacts a little, but he’s very threatening and he has a short fuse. The film feels more like an old 1950s horror film than a comic book movie. Liam Neeson’s make-up as Darkman is gruesome and fantastic. It’s so good it’s distracting during some of the more dramatic scenes. But most of his face is covered with rags throughout the film, giving off an “Invisible Man” vibe.
I wonder if any gaming studio has ever considered making a new “Darkman” game. Sam Raimi would probably have to give his blessing for that. It could be thrilling if it’s a single-player game with an interesting narrative and cool villains.
image source: gamefabrique.com
With yesterday’s news about their next console, the Analogue 3D (a Nintendo 64 FPGA system), Analogue is once again betting that its customers will jump on board and will remain silent while waiting for their future promised system to be delivered at some indeterminate date – and there in lies the rub! No longer can we be excited about an Analogue system we have no idea when it will arrive!
Considering we have been loyal customers of Analogue, we do have to speak out about the length of time it takes to fulfill orders and their almost non-existent (or seldom) updates as you wait months (or years) for your paid-in-full order to be fulfilled. We speak from experience where our Analogue Pocket took 11 months from ordering to actually receiving it. Worse still, we ordered the Pocket (3 x) cartridge adapters pack last October (2022) and we are still waiting and have no idea if and when we will receive it – maybe Christmas, if we are lucky?!
We love our Analogue Pocket, but the wait for it was waaaaay to long!
Some will argue that Analogue only states rough timelines, like “shipping in Q3” or “coming in 2024”, however the issue we have is the lack of communication leading up to the point when they decide to actually ship items. As a customer, the expectation is that the retailer/supplier will keep you informed with regular updates, even if the items are late (due to whatever reason), we just want to know what is going on! The worst thing a company can do is remain silent and leave their customers in the dark – which Analogue does very well, unfortunately.
So, if you are in the market to order the Analogue 3D N64 system, be prepared for a long wait with absolute radio silence. Proceed with caution!
PS: We admit their products are great, but come on Analogue, please lift up your comms game (pun fully intended)!
PPS: Analogue does offer the buyer to cancel their order and get a refund, so that’s one positive, we guess.
Unfortunately, our Pocket Cartridge Adapter Pack is yet arrive 🙁
image source: Analogue
It may have taken 11 months from ordering to receiving the Analogue Pocket, and let us tell you all, it has totally been worth the wait!
With multiple handhelds on the market that emulate classic systems from yesteryear, we honestly didn’t know what we were missing out on till the Analogue Pocket arrived! The FPGA (OpenFPGA) based system is like playing on the original hardware, and this is where the Pocket shines – rising well above the myriad of handhelds on the market which use software emulation to play our beloved old video games. Comparing FPGA to software emulation is like comparing a Formula 1 race car to a Totoya Camry racing at Monaco – both will get you to the finish line, but one will get you there far far quicker (and in style).
By now you would have worked out that we are fans of our new gadget from Analogue. Yeah, the wait was excruciating at times, but we are glad we hung in there, as this has now become our choice for handheld gaming. We were very impressed with the quality and premium feel of the Pocket (and it’s packaging), being on par with Apple Inc. – yep, it’s that good!
The Analogue Pocket looks and feels like a premium piece of electronics – which it is, but it’s components are what makes it impressive. The Pocket is designed around a 3.5”, 615 ppi, LCD, which is a first-in-class. With a 1600 x 1440 resolution, the Pocket has 10x the resolution of an original Game Boy. The display is even made from Gorilla® Glass, with pro level colour accuracy, dynamic range, and brightness. We’d argue that the Analogue Pocket is the best piece of handheld hardware to play video games, bar none.
But wait, there is more to this amazing piece of kit! Not only does this Analogue product play games, it’s for making music too! The Pocket has a digital audio workstation built in called Nanoloop. It’s a synthesizer and a sequencer. Designed for music creation and live performance. Shape, stretch and morph sounds. Capture music or play and sculpt live – you too can be a chiptune maestro! You can also connect the Pocket to your Mac, PC or other hardware with MIDI & Sync cables.
Remember how we said to wait as there is more? Well, there is more to this device, that’s what makes it impressive. If you like to tinker in game development, then you’d be pleased to know that you can bring your gaming ideas to reality with zero programming knowledge with GB Studio! GB Studio is an easy-to-use drag and drop retro game creator, allowing you to generate proprietary .pocket files and then run them off your SD card.
The Dock is a must-get accessory for the Analogue Pocket!
The pièce de résistance of the Pocket is that it’s designed for FPGA development. Analogue added a second dedicated FPGA just for developers to develop and port their own cores. With access to Analogue’s proprietary hardware and scalers, it opens up the platform for developers to create amazing feats on the system.
At the time of writing, there have been quite a few cores created specifically for the Pocket, from classic gaming consoles like the Atari 2600/7800 and the Odyssey 2, to the Master System, NES, SNES, Mega Drive and everything in between. Getting these cores and setting them up has never been easier – we used RetroDriven’s Pocket Updater to do all the fiddly stuff like finding the right cores, downloading and configuring them. If you are a masochist, you can go and find the individual cores and set them up, or you could make things easier for yourself by bookmarking the OpenFPGA Cores Inventory site.
Welcome to the family
Setting up the cores on the Pocket is a cinch with RetroDriven’s Pocket Updater tool
The flexibility, power and premium componentry is what sets the Analogue Pocket apart from other handheld systems. The fact that it is FPGA based is a total game changer – pun fully intended. With a thriving development community, we are starting to see what this machine is capable of. The future does look quite bright for the Pocket, and that’s us saying that while we await our PC-Engine, Neo Geo Pocket and Atari Lynx adapters to arrive! Coupled with the Dock, the Analogue Pocket is truly the best thing since sliced bread in the video gaming world.
Tech Specs – Pocket:
Tech Specs – Dock:
Geoff Crammond’s Stunt Car Racer (SCR) on the C64 was our most played car racing gaming (sorry Buggy Boy) back in the day. Surprisingly, it has held up quite well and is still a joy to play.
Hungarian developer, Gergely Patai, had reversed engineered this superb racing game on C64 and modified its physics to run at 50 FPS – yep, you read that right, 50 (freakin!) Frames Per Second! You can grab the SCR C64 50FPS version here.
To our astonishment, Gergely is now porting this marvel to the Commodore Plus/4! With plenty of limitations to work around, we are darn impressed with Gergely’s achievements and devleopment skills in squeezing SCR to play on the Plus/4. Not bad for two weeks worth of effort!
Gergerly notes the challenges he had porting SCR to the Plus/4:
The biggest limitation was RAM space. The original game doesn’t leave much of the C64’s memory untouched, and the Plus/4 has less accessible RAM while needing an extra 1K for colour information. For the time being, my solution was to remove load/save functionality and the ability to change key bindings, so I’d be able to get a working game and have some breathing room to shuffle things around. At the moment I have a bit over 2K memory left, so I should be able to restore some of the missing bits.
We can’t wait to see the finished product!
Let’s enter Nintendo’s magical realm, where imagination reigns supreme, and discover the incredible tale of Donkey Kong’s rise to the Amusement Industry Hall of Fame!
In 1981, two genius minds at Nintendo, Shigeru Miyamoto and Gunpei Yokoi, unleashed a game that set the arcade world ablaze! Donkey Kong stormed the scene, selling like crazy and becoming an instant sensation!
So, my fellow gamers and dreamers, let’s celebrate the timeless wonder of Donkey Kong. Let’s embrace the joy it has brought us and the endless possibilities it holds. It’s a testament to the power of imagination, proving that even a humble arcade game can withstand the test of time.
Donkey Kong’s legacy still lives on, and now forever enshrined in the Amusement Industry Hall of Fame. Congrats DK!
story source: RePlay Mag