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Galencia on Steam!

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The 2017 C64 GOTY, Galencia is now on Steam! So for those that missed out on Jason Aldred’s brilliant shmup on the C64, you are in luck, just head to Steam and buy it immediately!

If you are asking yourself, what is Galencia, then let us enlighten you – Galencia is a tribute to the great ‘stars and space’ shooters from the 1980’s, a love letter to Galaga and similar games from the golden age of arcade games.

Thanks to the awesome Jason Aldred, we have 5 x Galencia Steam keys to giveaway! All you have to do is tell us what your fave shoot’em up is on Twitter or Facebook (you must follow us and/or Like our page to be in the running).

The Galencia Steam keys giveaway will close at 4:00pm on July 31 (Australia Eastern Standard Time). Giveaway winners will be announced on August 1! So go on, what are you waiting for, hit Twitter and Facebook!

The lowdown:

Oh yeah, Galencia on Steam is enjoying a 40% launch discount, so go and get pew, pew, pewing!

PS: Jason has informed us that there is a sequel in the works, Galencia: Khaos Sphere that you can back right now on Indiegogo!

 

One Hour of 1980s Video Game Commercials

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Enjoy a trip down memory lane with Dave Freeman’s hour long compilation of 1980s video game commercials from the Video Game Commercial Archive that was released on DVD in 2007.

This video is jam packed with so much nostalgia, it will make you giddy!


source: Dave Freeman

 

A Dolphin’s Tale: The Story of Nintendo’s GameCube

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Stop what you are doing right now! Grab yourself a bite and a coffee, settle into your most comfy chair and read this tale, the very detailed tale of Nintendo’s GameCube.

A long time ago, in a gal…. Oh wait, wrong story! This story is long and detailed, so make sure you give yourself a lot of time to read every word, as it is well damn worth it. The retro gaming history buffs will absolutely love this, from the delay of the GameCube launch, designing the GCN, motion controls with Gyro-Pods and the pressure to create the perfect controller, to cultivating relationships with third-party developers and publishers, the decline of the GameCube and the end of their longtime partnership with Rare, this story has everything, warts and all!

Are you comfortable yet? If you are, settle in and enjoy Emily Rogers’ story of Nintendo’s GameCube.

image source: Dromble.com

 

Ultra Space Battle Brawl: It’s Bang Bead For Your Switch!

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If you are craving for some Pong, Windjammers or Bang Bead action for your Nintendo Switch, then keep reading! Hang on, Bang what? Ahhhh, if you don’t know, that’s fine, this game plays it a similar way…

So what do you get when you sprinkle some Pong on steroids, a dose of fighting elements, Japanese 80s aesthetic, some cool Indonesian urban house music and a hefty pinch of Windjammers and Bang Bead for good measure? You get Ultra Space Battle Brawl, that’s what!

For those of you that haven’t played Atari’s Pong or Bang Bead and Windjammers on the Neo Geo, Ultra Space Battle Brawl is a fun competitive game fit for settling disputes, be it with your friends and family or rivals, this couch party game has the essence of a flying fighting game melded onto a single screen that is easy to pick up and play but hard to master.

The game provides a choice of ten protagonists, each with their own unique “Ultra” and quirky skills that can easily turn the tide in the heat of battle. Story mode sees you battling through a number of rivals that will determine your fate in the Intergalactic Society, that is if you manage to beat them all. For those that prefer a party game (of up to 4 players), the ‘Versus’ mode is for you. Versus provides the freedom to set the number of rounds and battle modes, be it 1 vs 1, 2 vs 2, 1 vs 2 or 2 vs 1. Once your character is chosen you are thrown into a battle where the premise sees you smacking the puck towards your opponents end attempting to smash their glass gem while also defending your end. If you manage to win the necessary rounds, you move onto the next (even tougher) opponent.

Sounds simple enough? Um not really, as this game will see your rage meter go through the roof when you battle tougher opponents that require lightning fast reflexes and dexterity to have a chance at beating them. This game does shine when played against other humans, where you rib each other or give high fives when battling on the same side.

The background story to how this game came about is quite cool too – Ultra Space Battle Brawl was first born out of a Mojiken Camp, an internal team building program. During this program the whole Mojiken Studio crew had to build a prototype based on proven products and fresh concepts. From all the prototypes they came up with, it was Mojiken Studio’s co-founder Eka Pramudita’s Ultra Space Battle Brawl that came out on top.

If you also want to come out on top and can’t wait for Windjammers, then you should grab this game for your Nintendo Switch, stat!

Title: Ultra Space Battle Brawl
Developer: Mojiken Studio
Publisher: Toge Productions
Price: USD$14.99

image source: Toge Productions

 

Old School Gaming is Back On Your SNES and Super Famicom!

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There is no stopping the retro gaming renaissance!

If you still have your Super Famicom or Super Nintendo (SNES) handy, then you’ll be happy to know that there are games being re-released on Nintendo’s 16-bit powerhouse!

First cab off the retro gaming rank is the side-scrolling beat’em up, Super Double Dragon / Return of Double Dragon. This exclusive title is available in Japanese (Super Famicom) and English/US (SNES).

This legendary series follows the young twin brothers Billy and Jimmy Lee, who run a martial arts dojo. Their friend Marian disappears, so we reckon you know the rest of that story of what they need to do to save her.

The player controls either of the (suped-up) Lee brothers. There are seven stages including a strewn of extra stages so your fighting reflexes will need to be sharp. Don’t fret, as your fighters have 30 special moves with power gauges to engage in powerful techniques. Oh yeah, if fighting cleanly doesn’t work, then you can throw items such as barrels, stones, knives, bombs, and boomerangs – woohoo, we love dirty fighting!

If you want some action for your Super Famicom / SNES and you are ready to rescue Marian, go ahead and pre-order Return Of Double Dragon!

Pre-Order Links:

  • Super Famicom – Return Of Double Dragon (Expected to ship: Jul 19, 2018)
  • SNES – Return Of Double Dragon (Expected to ship: Aug 21, 2018)

image source: Play Asia

 

Man Walks into a Bar and Sees a Pac-Man Machine

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Source: Steve Ringman/The Chronicle 1981

By: D.C. Cutler, U.S.A.

I recently walked into a hipster bar that I had never been in before. I immediately felt slightly old. Everyone there was in their early twenties; some of them didn’t look old enough to order a beer. As I made my way past the bustling, long bar, I noticed something in the back corner of the place that I hadn’t seen in a longtime.

A large group of twentysomethings were gathered around an original Pac-Man arcade machine. I hadn’t seen a Pac-Man machine since I was a little kid. It was a smack of nostalgia in a place I didn’t expect it.

Like the Rubik’s Cube or the DeLorean DMC-12, Pac-Man is an 80s icon. Seeing a vintage machine with a group of Millennials playing it, made me curious. I sat at a small booth near the Pac-Man machine and watched the young group feed the machine quarters. They were having such a blast trying to see who could reach the highest score with one quarter.

source: ausretrogamer

After a few craft beers, I wanted to try my hand at Pac-Man; but they had taken over the machine. It was entertaining watching them shriek and groan when they got devoured by a ghost. It may’ve been the first time any of them had ever played the arcade version of Pac-Man, but I still wanted my turn.

Pac-Man brings people together. From the time the game was released in arcades in October 1980, Pac-Man has been a unifier that you could play with friends. Pac-Man is cross-generational. It seems simple at first, but as you keep playing, the difficulty of each stage keeps you addicted to clear the maze.

When Pac-Man was released in 1980, movie theatre owners and movie moguls were worried that the game would hurt the film industry. Pac-Man was taking money away from Paramount and 20th Century Fox. Pac-Man’s enormous popularity was short-lived, but at its height, movie studio executives had to be worried about how long they would be competing with the bright yellow machines.

I never got to play the Pac-Man machine in that bar that night, but I enjoyed watching the twentysomethings play a game that this October will turn 38-years-old. Will there ever be another Pac-Man? I doubt it.

source: ausretrogamer

 

Highest-Grossing Arcade Machines of All Time

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Let’s reflect and gloat for one second – it was great to be alive during the Golden Age of Arcade video games and experience arcade joints first-hand; from the clean franchised ones to the decrepit dark and scary independent ones – we loved them all.

Oh yeah, we loved the games too, from coin dropping in Galaga, Bomb Jack, Pac-Man, Tron, Double Dragon, DragonNinja to Sega’s beasts like Space Harrier, Super Hang-On, OutRun, After Burner and Thunder Blade – we spent up big and loved every single second of it.


The 1990s started with us hammering coins into Atari’s Pit-Fighter, Capcom’s Final Fight and Street Fighter II. However, it was Sega’s Daytona USA that emptied our piggy bank of coins – we just could not get enough of it.

source: The Arcade Flyer Archive

Looking at the top 10 highest grossing arcade games (below), we can tell you that we played them all during their heyday and understand why the dot munching Pac-Man is perched right up top – the game was a breath of fresh air (for its time), as it wasn’t a derivative of the then plethora of space shoot’em ups. Pac-Man was truly a revolutionary title which had universal appeal, both male and female gamers loved chasing Inky, Blinky, Pinky and Clyde.

source: A-1 Arcade Gaming

So what of Atari’s Pong then? Well, the 1972 game did very well for Atari, they sold somewhere between 8,500 to 19,000 units (1972 to 1973) grossing them around $11Million US dollars – not bad for 1973!

The revenues generated were quite staggering, reaffirming the Golden Age of Arcade video games period as the most prosperous of them all, with Street Fighter II, Mortal Kombat and NBA Jam flying the flag for the 1990s.

Source: Wikipedia, USGamer and Goliath

Thrill Of The Chase: Retro Games Hunting In Brisbane

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The Thrill Of The Chase feels great doesn’t it? That buzz you get never gets old!

A little while ago, we went retro games and vintage hunting in Queensland’s capital, Brisbane, aka: BrisVegas! So what did we find? Well, we found the Woolloongabba Antique Centre & Cafe before it moved and became the Camp Hill Antique Centre.

Luckily Ms Ausretrogamer was on the case (she found this place!), as she dug up and found a heap of gems I would have missed. Rather banging on about it all, we’ll let the photos do the talking. Enjoy!

If you intend on using any of the photos within this feature, please credit them back to this article – thank you.

 

King Of The World: SNK’s NEOGEO Mini Revealed

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The worst kept secret in gaming has finally been confirmed!

The NEOGEO mini, the video game console that celebrates the 40th Anniversary of SNK’s brand has been revealed!The system will include 40 legendary and awesome NEOGEO titles!

The NEOGEO mini is a video game console, which will include 40 nostalgic titles from the NEOGEO system, which made its debut in 1990.

Rest of the world NEOGEO mini version

The NEOGEO mini will feature a 3.5 inch display, meaning the games can be enjoyed without the need to connect it to a TV or monitor! The size of the NEOGEO mini means it fits perfectly in the palm of your hand – just like the Atari Lynx does *wink*

The NEOGEO mini will be available in two different designs, one for the Asian market and the other one for overseas markets. With its design in black, white and red, the Japanese version of the NEOGEO mini will faithfully reproduce the original NEOGEO arcade cabinets that were introduced in Japan in 1990. The overseas version will be a simple and modern design in black, white and blue.

The Japanese NEOGEO mini version

SNK hasn’t released any more details, so we are keeping our peepers peeled to find out when these will be released and the confirmed games list!

So what do you think? We actually love the look of both units. Which one do you like?

PRODUCT DETAILS:
■ Product name: NEOGEO mini
■ Number of titles: 40 titles
■ Display size: 3.5 inch
■ Size and weight: W135mm x D108mm x H162mm / 600g
■ Accessories: Power supply cable (AC adaptor will not be included)
■ Connections: HDMI terminal (Input for TV monitor), headphone terminal, 2 external controller terminals

source: SNK via Facebook

 

Retro Handheld: Burger King Game Boy Color

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This is an old one, but we thought it was still worth repeating, in case you missed it the first time around.

If you were lucky enough to have had a meal at Burger King in 2000, you may have been handed a plastic replica of the Game Boy Color which had analogue games built in.

Fast forward a decade and a half and that cute little Burger King Game Boy Colour toy with its analogue games has been DIY hacked with a Raspberry Pi Zero stuffed inside, morphing it into an awesomely cool and working Game Boy Colour emulator! Wish we were this clever.

[original story and images via Technobob]