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‘Fantastic Four’ on PS1

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By: D.C. Cutler, U.S.A.

“Fantastic Four” for the original PlayStation was a blast to play. For 1997, the gameplay graphics were superior to other video games at that time. It was a routine beating up numerous bad guys in side-scrolling stages game, similarly to the “Double Dragon” series and “Ninja Gaiden.” Having Human Torch leading the way and having The Thing cover the rear was always thrilling. Human Torch was a menace with fiery punches. I liked how Sue Storm could bring down the blue lightning when the fighting got extremely intense. Force Power was something I always used when a huge number of foes approached the team.

One complaint about the Acclaim Entertainment game is that the stages seemed too long. The Fantastic Four had to cover a lot of terrain before they got through a rigorous stage. The attack of the Molemen was a fun part of the game, but the time it took to defeat them was taxing. The payoff was lengthy. The payoff was a short fight with The Incredible Hulk.

The final stage: “Is the World Doomed?” was the best part of the game. I always thought that Dr. Doom welding a rocket launcher at the end was a little unfair. Dr. Doom looked great.

source: supplied

I’m excited for the new “The Fantastic Four: First Steps,” but the trailers have been underwhelming to me. The films starring Chris Evans and Jessica Alba have a quirky, fun quality to them, but they’re in no way good comic book movies. In the second one, “Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer,” released in 2007, it’s like they didn’t know what to do with the Silver Surfer. Hopefully the new Marvel film doesn’t make the same mistake.

I’m a huge fan of Vanessa Kirby. She was terrific in “Hobbs and Shaw” and a small, great film called “Pieces of a Woman.” I think she’ll be a wonderful Sue Storm. Her fight scenes in “Hobbs and Shaw” were some of my favourite parts of that fun action movie. And she was nominated for a Best Actress Oscar for her performance in “Pieces of a Woman.” And I think everyone likes Pedro Pascal. I’m not sure if Joseph Quinn can pull off Human Torch, but he gave two standout turns in last years’ “A Quiet Place: Day One” and “Gladiator 2.”

Review: Irem Collection Volume 3 (Xbox) – Blast from the Pixelated Past

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If you’re a fan of side-scrolling shoot ‘em ups and wild retro weirdness, Irem Collection Volume 3 from ININ Games is like opening a time capsule filled with pixelated power-ups, dragons, and the kind of creative enemy design only the ’80s and ’90s could conjure. This lovingly compiled collection brings together three of Irem’s most eccentric and thrilling shooters: Mr. Heli/Battle Chopper, Mystic Riders, and Dragon Breed. And trust me—you’re in for a ride that’s as bizarre as it is brilliant.

🚁 Mr. Heli / Battle Chopper (Arcade & PC Engine)

This quirky little helicopter with eyes and a face is anything but cute when it comes to dishing out destruction. In Mr. Heli, you’re piloting a plucky chopper through caves, industrial complexes, and molten hellscapes, blasting enemies while navigating tight spaces and gravity-defying jumps.

The PC Engine version is a neat inclusion—it’s a faithful port with slightly different sprite work and some charming 16-bit flair. Whether you’re nostalgic for the arcade or curious about the console iteration, it’s great to have both.

🧙‍♂️ Mystic Riders (Arcade)

Mystic Riders is what happens when you mix magic carpets, flying broomsticks, and enough glittery magic spells to make Hogwarts jealous. This co-op horizontal shmup is the most whimsical of the bunch—two wizard kids take to the skies to take down fantastical foes in a world that feels like a mashup of anime and high fantasy fever dreams.

The local 2-player co-op here is where it shines. There’s something inherently joyful about launching fireballs and dodging oversized haunted pumpkins with a friend at your side.

🐉 Dragon Breed (Arcade)

Now this is the heavy-hitter. You’re not just piloting a ship—you’re riding a freaking giant golden dragon across a dystopian sci-fi landscape. The gameplay twist? Your dragon is invincible, acting like a moving shield as you rain laser death upon alien hordes. It’s smart, strategic, and the kind of game that sticks with you.

With its epic boss fights, moody soundtrack, and layers of attack options, Dragon Breed is arguably the crown jewel of this collection.

🎮 Quality of Life Upgrades

ININ Games didn’t just dump ROMs and call it a day—there are some thoughtful enhancements here:

  • Quick Save/Load and a built-in rewind system let you recover from boneheaded mistakes or rewind to finesse your dodging skills.

  • Customisable controls, including rapid-fire assignments, make a huge difference for comfort and performance.

  • Display filters recreate the glow and scanlines of old-school arcade monitors, or keep it clean with sharp pixels—it’s your choice.

  • Worldwide leaderboards add a modern challenge for competitive score-chasers.

🕹️ Final Thoughts

Irem Collection Volume 3 is a joyous blast of arcade nostalgia. Whether you’re chasing high scores, revisiting forgotten favourites, or discovering them for the first time, these games hold up remarkably well. The mix of fantasy and sci-fi, wacky enemy designs, and tight shoot ‘em up mechanics showcase why Irem was a kingpin of the genre.

And let’s be honest—riding a fire-breathing dragon while blasting biomechanical nightmares just never gets old.

Score: 7.5/10 – Pure retro arcade magic, lovingly preserved and enhanced for the modern couch warrior.

PixelCrib Giveaway – Win a Nintendo Switch 2 + Mario Kart World Bundle!

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If you’ve been dreaming of getting your hands on the next generation of Nintendo magic, now’s your chance—PixelCrib is making July very exciting for Aussie retro and modern gamers alike!

To celebrate their amazing community, PixelCrib is running an exclusive giveaway for Australian customers throughout July 2025. And the prize? Oh, just a little something called the Nintendo Switch 2 + Mario Kart World Bundle! 🏎️💨

🎮 What You Could Win

The highly anticipated Nintendo Switch 2 paired with Mario Kart World—a combo that promises countless hours of fun whether you’re gaming solo, with mates, or going head-to-head online. If you’re a Nintendo fan, this is the holy grail.

🛒 How to Enter

Getting in on this giveaway is as simple as placing an order:

  • 📅 Order any in-stock item between July 1 and July 31, 2025

  • 🛍️ Purchase online via PixelCrib’s website or in person at their store

  • ✅ Each eligible order = one entry (the more orders, the more entries!)

  • 🚫 Pre-order items are not eligible

  • 🌏 Entry is open to Australian residents only

No forms to fill out. No codes to enter. Just shop and you’re in!

🎯 Winner Announcement

  • 🗓️ The draw takes place on Monday, August 4th, 2025

  • 📧 The lucky winner will be contacted via email and/or phone (don’t forget to check your spam folder!)

Full terms and conditions will be available on the PixelCrib website closer to the draw date.

So whether you’re adding to your retro setup, grabbing that gaming book you’ve had your eye on, or just browsing for gaming (and all other matter of pop culture geekery) goodness—now’s the perfect time to make a purchase.

Big shoutout to PixelCrib for continuing to support the local gaming scene with awesome giveaways like this. Best of luck, and may the odds (and red shells) be ever in your favour! 🍄

Let us know if you enter—or better yet, if you win! 👀

🎬 Rewind Time at Video Land! 🎞️

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🎬 Step Into a Time Machine: Callum Preston’s ‘Video Land’ at Melbourne’s Immigration Museum!

Hey retro enthusiasts! If you’ve ever longed for the days of VHS tapes, neon signs, and the thrill of choosing the perfect Friday night flick, Callum Preston’s ‘Video Land’ is your dream come true. Nestled within the Immigration Museum’s ‘Joy’ exhibition, this immersive installation is a heartfelt homage to the iconic video stores of the 1990s

🛋️ A Nostalgic Dive into the 90s

‘Video Land’ isn’t just an art piece; it’s a full-scale replica of a 90s video rental store, complete with aisles of VHS tapes, genre-labelled shelves, and even a retro counter where you can pick up a mock membership card that’s delightfully oversized and utterly useless—just like the real thing! Every detail, from the intentionally imperfect lighting (think fake dead bugs in the fixtures) to the custom-designed busy carpet, it has all been meticulously crafted to transport you back in time.


source: Museums Victoria

🎞️ More Than Just a Pretty Façade

Beyond the visual nostalgia, ‘Video Land’ features a selection of VHS tapes from Preston’s personal collection, including gems like ‘Junior’, ‘Brewster’s Millions’, and ‘Grease’. There’s even a TV playing vintage-style commercials and anti-piracy ads created by Preston himself, adding layers of authenticity to the experience.

🎉 Part of the ‘Joy’ Exhibition

‘Video Land’ is one of several installations in the ‘Joy’ exhibition, where Victorian-based artists explore the concept of joy through various mediums. From interactive art to vibrant murals, the exhibition offers a diverse range of experiences designed to uplift and inspire.

📅 Don’t Miss Out!

This nostalgic journey is open until August 29, 2025, at the Immigration Museum in Melbourne. Whether you’re a retro everything aficionado, a film buff, or just someone looking to relive the magic of the 90s, ‘Video Land’ is a must-visit.

🎟️ Plan Your Visit

  • Location: Immigration Museum, Melbourne CBD

  • Dates: Now until August 29, 2025

  • Tickets: Included with museum entry ($15 for adults; free for children and members) – go here.

So grab your (imaginary) membership card, rewind your favourite memories, and step into ‘Video Land’—where the past is always ready to play!

Long Live The LAN Party!

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Re-live your LAN Party Glory

Remember the hum of CRTs, the screech of dial-up, and the sacred ritual of dragging your entire desktop to a mate’s place for a night of epic fragging?

ACMI is celebrating the glory days of multiplayer gaming in their upcoming Game Worlds exhibition — and they want YOU to be part of it.

💾 Dig up those LAN party pics — the mess of Ethernet cables, the snack-fuelled chaos, the Windows 98 loading screens — and send them in. Your photo could be featured on the walls of ACMI, forever commemorating your place in gaming history.

📸 Email your photos to: [email protected]
🗓 Exhibition opens September 2025

Let’s honour the golden age of connection — before online matchmaking, there was a mate’s garage, a switchboard, and a shared love of the grind.

Bonus trivia: ACMI’s own CEO, Seb Chan, got his start wrangling LANs and playing HEXEN. We’ve all come a long way — now it’s your turn to be featured.

image source: ACMI

Sega Has Got Us Reconsidering Prize Machines… Seriously!

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We’ll be honest—prize and redemption machines usually aren’t our thing. But Sega’s latest announcement? Yeah, it’s making us rethink that stance… hard.

Coming in hot for 2025, Sega Prize International has revealed a new range of lifestyle electronics that are set to shake up the prize game. We’re talking about tech that’s actually cool and useful—no cheap plastic toys here!

Here’s what’s got us hyped:

🟣 Tiny Snap – This adorable thermal printing camera was a crowd favourite at the EAG Expo earlier this year. It’s compact, it’s fun, and it prints your pics on the spot with a nostalgic retro twist. Think Polaroid vibes, but modern and mini.

🌀 Track 360 – Influencers, streamers, or just selfie pros, this one’s for you. This phone holder tracks your face with 360° motion and responds to hand gestures to pause or resume tracking. No more awkward fumbling mid-recording!

💍 Smart Ring – The fitness companion that fits on your finger. With a heart rate monitor, step counter, sleep tracker, and even a blood oxygen monitor, it packs a ton of tech into a tiny, stylish package.

⌚ Smart Watch – All the essential features you’d expect: heart rate, sleep tracking, steps, distance, message notifications, weather updates, and even on-the-go music control. It syncs with your phone for seamless daily use.

Trevor Clarke, head of Sega Amusements International’s merch division, put it best:

“We are incredibly excited to offer operators our new range of electronic items as an alternative option for their prize machines and redemption counters.”

Well Trevor, mission accomplished. We might just find ourselves at the local Timezone or FEC, feverishly feeding tokens into a claw machine just for a shot at these Sega goodies.

For those keeping score, it’s:

Redemption machines: 1
Us: 0 (but with a Tiny Snap camera, so at least we’ll look cool losing).

image source: Sega Arcade

Retro Classics Added to Xbox Game Pass

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Retro Classics Hits Game Pass – Over 50 Activision Favourites from the ’80s and ’90s Are Back!

If you’ve ever wanted to relive the glory days of gaming—when pixelated action ruled and joysticks (with one button) were king—then you’re in for a serious nostalgia hit. Xbox and Antstream Arcade have teamed up to drop something very special for retro fans: Retro Classics, a brand-new collection of 50+ classic Activision games from the 1980s and 1990s, now playable via Xbox Game Pass!

Yep, you read that right—whether you cut your teeth on Kaboom!, Pitfall!, Commando, Grand Prix, or even the mighty MechWarrior 2: 31st Century Combat, these beloved blasts from the past are back and ready to play on modern devices.

Game Preservation, the Fun Way

This launch isn’t just about a stroll down memory lane—it’s part of Xbox’s bigger mission around game preservation and backwards compatibility. It’s a great example of how the classics can still shine today, especially with a modern twist (like cloud gaming, achievements, and save states—more on that in a sec).

image source: Xbox

Where and How to Play

The best part? You can enjoy Retro Classics anywhere Game Pass goes. That means:

  • On your Xbox console

  • Using the Xbox app on PC

  • Streaming via cloud gaming on supported LG and Samsung Smart TVs, Amazon Fire TV devices, and even Meta Quest VR headsets

All you need to do is fire up your Game Pass dashboard, search for Retro Classics, install it, and boom—you’re back in the arcade.

New Features for Old Favourites

Retro Classics isn’t just about emulation—it’s about enhancing the experience. Players can now:

  • Save and reload progress, a first for many of these vintage games

  • Take on friends, rivals, or global leaderboards with built-in challenges

  • Chase down brand-new achievements designed just for this collection

So whether you’re a seasoned retro warrior or a curious newcomer ready to explore gaming’s golden era, Retro Classics is a must-try.

 

New Trailer for Atari’s Missile Command Delta

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A Reimagined Classic?

According to the new Atari (they aren’t the Atari I used to know and love in the late 70s / early 80s), Missile Command Delta is launching on July 8th!

Apparently, the premise is that you and your friends are trapped in a mysterious bunker and you must find your way out by solving terminals, explore the twisting environments, and uncover the real story!

Hmm, being huge Missile Command fans, our interests were piqued, however, watching the trailer, it looks like this new game is Missile Command in name only :-/


source: Atari Interactive, Inc

Snake? Snaaaaake?! On the SEGA Mega Drive?!

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🎮 Snake? Snaaaaake?! On the SEGA Mega Drive?! 🐍💥

Yes, you read that right. Thanks to the incredible work of coder h0ffman, the original Metal Gear has stealth-crawled its way onto the SEGA Mega Drive / Genesis, complete with retro flair, chiptune goodness, and a love letter’s worth of polish.

Originally a 1987 MSX2 title from the mind of Hideo Kojima, Metal Gear kickstarted a legendary stealth-action franchise. But while NES players got a… creative reinterpretation of the game, the true MSX2 version never graced a Sega console—until now.

🔧 Enter h0ffman, a coding wizard who reverse-engineered the original game and painstakingly rebuilt it from the ground up to run natively on Mega Drive hardware. We’re talking full sound and music via the YM2612 chip, buttery-smooth scrolling, and pixel-perfect visuals that feel right at home on a CRT.

image source: h0ffman via BlueSky

💾 You can:

  • Download the ROM (here) and play it on real hardware or an emulator

  • Check out the development blog (here) for juicy technical insights

  • Support the project (and future ports?!) through his itch.io

This isn’t just a port—it’s a what-if alternate reality where Metal Gear launched on Sega’s 16-bit beast back in the day. And honestly? It slaps.

So fire up your EverDrive or emulator of choice and get ready to infiltrate Outer Heaven, Mega Drive-style. Just remember: this is a sneaking mission. 🕵️‍♂️

Game Over Sale: 1UP Arcade’s Final Week!

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Following on from our previous post about Brisbane’s 1UP Arcade closing down this week (to the public), they have listed for sale quite a few of their arcade machines, with quite a few that are highly sought after! If only we were closer, we would have loved to have grabbed some of the below listed machines!

If you are keen on grabbing an arcade machine (or two), head on to 1UP Arcade to inspect (and buy) these machines. Just be sure to get there this week/weekend – their opening hours are:

  • Thu: 12-8pm
  • Friday: 12-10pm
  • Saturday: 10am-10pm
  • Sunday: 12-8pm

Oh yeah, 1UP Arcade is also hosting a GAME OVER event with delicious burgers and fries been served up by the FOOD BABY FOOD TRUCK!

PS: Love seeing MCA arcade joysticks being used – nothing beats them!

image source: 1UP Arcade via Facebook