AUSRETROGAMER

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WIN: Atari Flashback 7 Classic Gaming Consoles

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Attention peeps: We are giving away 2 x ATARI FLASHBACK® 7 CLASSIC GAMING CONSOLES!

Yep, you read that right, our good friends at Five Star Games have provided us two brand new Atari Flashback® 7 classic gaming consoles to giveaway to our awesome audience!

For your chance to win, head over to our Facebook giveaway and post your most retro gaming related photo in the comments section!

So what are you waiting for, go and snap your most retro gaming related pic and enter the giveaway for your chance to snag a cool console!

If you don’t know what the Atari Flashback® 7 classic game console is, then here is what you need to know:

The console features 101 built-in Atari 2600 games. These games include Frogger and Space Invaders™, along with all-time Atari 2600 classics like Asteroids®, Centipede™, Jungle Hunt, Missile Command®, and Pong, among many more. The console includes two wireless controllers, styled like the Atari 2600 originals, and two legacy (DB9) controller ports for optional wired joysticks or paddles for that nostalgic hit!

image source: Five Star Games

 

Timezone Plans Expansion: Bringing Back The Arcade Parlour

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Pew pew, remember chucking coins in arcade machines and having a blast at your local Timezone? We do. Then came the PlayStation and Xbox era, and everyone decided to get their gaming entertainment at home.

Well, time has come where people are again seeking gaming entertainment outside of the home. With this demand, Timezone’s announcement that they will be expanding their amusement centre network in Australia is absolutely perfect timing.

We have always loved visiting Timezone centres around Melbourne and also on the Gold Coast, so this expansion news is great for all those seeking some great child and adult-friendly gaming entertainment. It’s going to feel like the ’80s and ’90s once again. Go Timezone!

Jump in one of the Ferraris!

Yours truly enjoying some After Burner Climax!

Yahoo! Mario Kart 2!

Let’s get shoot’n

Oh man, can’t wait for some head-to-head Daytona USA action!

We love flippin’ at Timezone!

images by: Alex Boz and Ms. Ausretrogamer

 

Movieland Arcade: A Hit Of Nostalgia In Vancouver

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Ah Vancouver, the city of many cruise ships and retirees boarding these massive vessels! This post has been a long time coming, but that’s because we’ve been distracted – till now!

Continuing on with cool places we visited while on our North American trip (like the Seattle Pinball Museum, Toy Shack and A Gamer’s Paradise in Vegas), the city of Vancouver delivered its own piece of gaming nostalgia via the Movieland Arcade!

There are some amusement centres that are stuck in a bygone era, a period of time when arcade parlours in the 80s were lined with machines, both of the arcade and pinball kind, checkered linoleum flooring, cheeky signage, an attendants booth for exchanging your notes for coins and of course, the smell. Well, it is safe to say that Movieland Arcade encapsulates this 80s era perfectly.

Situated at the hipster end of Granville Street in central Vancouver, Movieland Arcade cannot be missed – its distinct red tile facade enticing you to go in and experience some real gaming nostalgia. With pinball tables and arcade machines ranging from the 70s to the late 90s, you better exchange your notes for a shed-load of coins as you will want to play them all!

Movieland Arcade reminded us of the arcade joints we used to frequent in the 80s on Swanston Street and Russell Street in the centre of Melbourne. Unlike those arcade joints going the way of the dodo, Vancouver can count itself lucky with a place like the Movieland Arcade.

Whoa, we spot Movieland Arcade across the road!

You definitely can’t miss the distinct facade of this majestic arcade parlour

We better grab some more coins!

Here we go! Hmm, pinball or straight to the arcade machines?

We shall start from the left and work our way to the right..

You have to go slow when you are in here! Too many awesome distractions!

We can’t go past some Neo Geo action

Killer Instinct is next!

Whoa man, haven’t seen a Gauntlet Legends machine in almost 20 years!

Some single racing action on Daytona USA!

Inserting coins now!

Nothing beats some 8P head-to-head racing!

We spy Medieval Madness! Time to destroy some castle!

Needing some gun action, which Area 51 will satisfy

We enjoy gunning down zombies!

Hmm, not sure if these ‘movies’ and that ‘theatre’ are appropriate, but…

OMG, Raiden Fighters! There go all of our coins!

Our shmup senses have gone into overdrive! Get us some more coins!

We spent our last few coins on some Playboy action *wink*

Darn it, the booth attendant must’ve had a toilet break. We’ll be back.

It’s-A-Me, Charles Martinet! Let’s-A-Go!

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Mamma mia! Surely by now you should all know the great Charles Martinet. For those of you that don’t recognise him or the name, we bet you’ve definitely heard him.

Charles is the voice of our favourite video game plumber, Mario! He has voiced Mario since 1995 but that’s not the only Nintendo character he has lent his vocal chords too, he also voices, Baby Mario, Luigi, Baby Luigi, Wario, Waluigi and Toadsworth. Yahoo!


source: Great Big Story

The SainT Of Retro HQ

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After the success of his awesome Atari Lynx SD cartridge, SainT from Retro HQ is back with some new projects for our old hardware. Let the drooling begin!

The self professed geek, hardware hacker and seeker of knowledge is currently working on the Neo Geo Pocket SD and Atari Jaguar SD carts. To say we are excited about these new SD carts would be a massive understatement! We are in constant touch with SainT and will be bringing you updates on the progress of these highly anticipated cartridges!


source: Retro HQ

Thrill Of The Chase: Neo Geo Pocket Color Hanshin Tigers

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It’s a new year and what a better way to start it than to hunt down a Neo·Geo rarity!

SNK’s 16-bit handheld, the Neo·Geo Pocket Color (NGPC) came in a number of colours, but it’s the special limited edition Hanshin Tigers version that is its most prized of the NGPC lineup. Inspired by the Japanese baseball team, there were only 5000 units produced, making it the rarer NGPC handheld.

2017 has definitely started with a bang at ausretrogamer as we bag our first thrill of the chase for the year. What else will we go hunting for in 2017? Only time will tell…

If only we were Richmond Tigers fans!

The Hanshin Tigers NGPC looks great from any angle

The NGPC’s home, an official SNK case to store the handheld and some games

No system is complete without games!

The Hanshin Tigers NGPC frolicking!

Bit of KoF action!

Let’s get button mashin’!

Ausretrogamer 2016 Highlights

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As another year draws to a close, one can’t help but to reflect on the year gone by. With a record number of visitors hitting the site, we had a heap of highlights in 2016, so dwindling them down to a handful proved to be harder than we thought. Are you ready? Here we go!

We started the year by learning how pinball machines work and how to troubleshoot general problems – a course that was well worth doing!

Getting the grand tour of ZAX Amusements and getting to play the newly released (at the time) Ghostbusters Pro pinball machine was a double highlight!

What better way to spend your birthday than having the awesome Ms. ausretrogamer organising a birthday mystery tour involving escape rooms, USA foods, retrogaming hunting at vintage markets, arcade action and a drive-in movie!

It is always a wonderful surprise when you go on a holiday and find a market that has retrogaming goodies! Carrara Markets delivered the thrill of the hunt buzz we were looking for!

After the birthday mystery tour, it was only fair to repay Ms. ausretrogamer in kind, by surprising her with The Walking Dead Pro pinball machine for her birthday. The look on her face was priceless!

When Marcus Sezonov extended us an invite to his Rosstown Retro Pinball Arcade tournament, we definitely could not pass up the opportunity. With a fantastic pinball collection comprising of classic machines from a variety of manufacturers from around the world, we could not stop flipping the silverball. Oh yeah, Marcus also had an original Japanese Space Invaders cocktail table to satisfy our arcade urge.

Being part of Australia’s biggest gaming event is a privilege. For PAX Aus 2016, our Classic Gaming Area was even bigger and better – more arcade and pinball machines, old school computers and consoles, handhelds from yesteryear and for the first time, a classic gaming museum!

Another PAX Aus 2016 highlight was participating in Seamus Byrne’s Geek Trash or Treasure? Finding Collectibles with Real Value panel in the Gamespot Theatre! We can now say that we popped our public speaking cherry.

Last but not least, meeting Jack Guarnieri at the recent exclusive Melbourne Jersey Jack Pinball event was a huge highlight and one we will not forget in a hurry! Oh yeah, playing the Pat Lawlor designed, Dialed In, was pretty great too!

We can’t wait to see what awesomeness 2017 brings us all! We’ll take this opportunity to thank you for your patronage and hope that you’ll come and visit us again in 2017.

Happy New Year to everyone – we hope it is a happy, healthy, successful and fun one!

 

Most Expensive Classic Video Game Item Sold In Australia

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There was something quite rare and exotic that sold on eBay Australia this week. The auction started at $500AUD, but once word got out in the gaming community (especially amongst the retro gaming collectors!), a bidding war erupted!

The exotic item that everyone was falling over themselves was a very rare Japanese Bandai Vectrex store demonstration unit. This rarity ended up selling for $4,450AUD, making it the single most expensive classic video gaming item sold in Australia**. Considering these Bandai Vectrex demo units go for $7,000AUD+, the buyer got themselves a bargain!

If you are the buyer or if someone reading this knows the buyer, please get in touch with us! In case you were wondering about the seller, they are a Japanese antiques retailer from Ocean Grove in Victoria (Australia).

** excludes arcade and pinball machines!

Sold for $4,450! An Australian record for a classic video gaming item!

The description!

Standing tall and proud! The ‘legs’ were not part of the original demo unit

Taking a closer look

Oo’er Mine Storm!

The secured control deck – just in case the player made off with the controller!

¥54,800! That was mindbogglingly expensive for the early 80s (~$650AUD)

Oh that beautiful marquee!

source: eBay Australia

 

Ho, Ho, Ho, More Lemmings For Your Amiga

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AmigaJay from Amiga CD32 Alternate Covers proudly presents, the unofficial CD32 / CDTV / Amiga release, ‘More! Lemmings’. Containing 120 new never-before-seen levels on the Amiga, this game is fully playable via mouse, joypad and infrared remote (CDTV only) on the Amiga CD32 and CDTV. Oh yeah, there is also an ADF disk version for you Amiga computer owners too!

But wait, there is more! As it is the season for giving, AmigaJay is also offering his Lemmings – The Ports book, containing a whopping 300 pages about the different Lemmings ports – absolutely free! Looks like Christmas has come early for all you Amiga and Lemmings fans!

‘More! Lemmings’ now available for the Amiga CD32 and CDTV

While you are at it, grab AmigaJay’s FREE Lemmings – The Ports book!
source: Amiga CD32 Alternative Covers

 

RETRO.HK 2016: Hong Kong’s Retro Gaming Fair

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RETRO.HK, the Hong Kong event for retro video games, will hold its 2016 fair at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University School of Design – Jockey Club Innovation Tower. The free public event will open its doors on December 10th (Saturday) and 11th (Sunday) at the podium floor of the Innovation Tower, from 10am to 6pm.

“Following the very enthusiastic response to last year’s event in Central, we hope RETRO.HK 2016 will be even more playful and fruitful.” said Dixon Wu, founder and lead organizer. “This year there will be a lot more classic video games for visitors to play and try. We will exhibit close to a hundred video consoles from the 70’s up to the 90’s – three times more than last year, the majority coming from the private collection of Mr. Tik-Man Ma, owner of Perfect Denki. I believe some of the exhibits have never been in public, and I’m very excited about that; die-hard fans should definitely not miss it!”

RETRO.HK 2015 – check out all those beauties!

Even the Nintendo PlayStation made it RETRO.HK 2015!
via eastasiasoft

Tournaments of the Classics – RetroCup 2016

The RetroCup 2016 will also be held at the event. There will be 2 rounds of competition for classic versions of “Street Fighter” and “The King of Fighters”, selected by fans with an accumulated 2,500 likes and votes on the official RETRO.HK facebook page. Two other key highlights will be a speed run for the first level of “Super Mario Bros.” on the Nintendo Famicom, and a battle royal on the 10-player version of “Bomberman” for the Sega Saturn. All competitions will have commentaries and live broadcast by GameCC! There will heaps heaps of prizes for the champions!

Mysterious 2D-Fighting Game – 1st appearance in Hong Kong

Former developers of classic SNK Neo Geo game franchises such as “The King of Fighters”, “Art of Fighting” and “The Last Blade” have gotten together to form a new development team, giving birth to a brand-new 2D-fighting game for a beloved classic console – the Super Famicom / Super Nintendo. Hong Kong gamers can get their first hands-on experience exclusively at RETRO.HK 2016! Also developed by former team members of “The King of Fighters” game series, is another stylish 2D-fighting game “Yatagarasu: Attack on Cataclysm (八咫鴉)”. These two titles, together with other games developed by local Hong Kong developers, will all be available for visitors to try and play!

This year’s RETRO.HK will have the following areas:
– Free Play Zone: Play classic titles against your friends and other fellow gamers.
– RetroCup 2016: Win amazing prizes competing in popular classics from the 90’s.
– Exhibition Area: Look back at more than 40 years of video game history.
– Individual Exhibitors: Local gamers show off their products and collections.
– Local Game Showcase: A display of Hong Kong developed games & student work.

The Exhibition Area will remain open until December 18th (Sun) after the main weekend event!

source: RETRO.HK via Andrew Davidson