retrogaming

Celebrating the Sega Mega Drive

October 29, 2015 By ausretrogamer

Sega’s 16-bit beast may have arrived on our shores late in 1990, but on this day (October 29) in 1988, Japan got a taste of the future with the release of the Mega Drive. A leap from the Master System, the Mega Drive brought home (almost perfect) arcade conversions, especially those from Sega’s own arcade stable.

While most of the western world was still in the micro computing craze with their C64s, Amigas and Atari STs, Sega stamped their authority with their latest, and as history would record it, their most successful console ever. The Mega Drive was the catalyst for converting a generation of micro computing enthusiasts into console gamers, I should know, I was one of them. My transition from 8-bit (C64) and 16-bit (Atari ST) computing was quite stark – as soon as I got my Mega Drive and whacked in the pack-in Altered Beast game, I honestly thought I had an arcade in my bedroom. Once I played Golden Axe, I was smitten with the machine. Alas, from that day forward (well, for the duration of the 90s) my micro computers were relegated to the back of the wardrobe because there was a new gaming system in town, and its name was Mega Drive!

What were your earliest memories of Sega’s 16-bit beauty? Hit us up on Twitter or Facebook and join in the conversation.

Pinball Frenzy At PAXAus

October 22, 2015 By ausretrogamer

Who said that pinball was dead? Well, it may have taken a back seat a decade and a half ago, but boy, has pinball come back in a big way. There has been a resurgence of flipping the silver ball with companies like Stern Pinball making contemporary tables based on the hottest bands and pop culture franchises on the planet, from AC/DC, Metallica, KISS, to Iron Man, The Walking Dead, Star Trek and WWE Wrestlemania, there surely is no shortage of great pinball machines to tilt and bump on.

Since pinball has once again become cool (Ed: it never lost its cool!), it was a no brainer to start thinking about including pinball machines in the PAX Aus Classic Gaming area. After meeting Scott Kellett at Supanova earlier this year, we had a brief chat and that is when Scott mentioned how cool it would be to have pinball machines at PAXAus. A few discussions later, Scott’s idea was given the greenlight to pursue having pinball machines in the Classic Gaming area. Through sheer determination and dedication, Scott has round up the big names from the pinball community (Bayside Pinball Club, PinMem and AMD) to deliver us an array of amazing pinball tables (Ed: there will be 10 pinball tables!) for all of you to enjoy and compete on. In a major pinball coup, Scott has arranged to have the first Game of Thrones pinball table available for play in Australia at PAXAus 2015 – even more reason to see you all at PAXAus 2015!

For those with a competitive streak, the ‘PAXAus 2015 IFPA Pinball Tournament’ (proudly brought to you by AMD) will be on Saturday, October 31 – more details here. There will be great prizes on offer, including showbags full of Stern goodies and an awesome Game Of Thrones backboard translite! Get your flippin fingers ready for some pinball frenzy at PAXAus 2015.

Event: PAX Aus 2015
Date: Oct 30 – Nov 1, 2015
Where: Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre (MCEC)
Tournaments: PAXAus 2015 Classic Gaming Tournaments

image source: Amusement Machine Distributors (AMD)

Press Play On Tape: GenreBusters

October 16, 2015 By ausretrogamer

The Press Play on Tape (PPOT) lads are back again, and this time they have taken one prisoner, Mr Mark Cassar from Retro Domination and +3 To Geekdom fame! Mark gives an insight into his gaming past, while Alex Boz goes gaga over Mark’s love of arcade games and loathsomeness for Zelda. The PPOT crew and their special guest discuss their favourite gaming genres on 8 and 16-bit systems, with Daz delighting all with genre-busting games you may have not heard of or played before.

As per usual, the publisher of choice segment was another animated discussion, this time, the honour of choosing the publisher was given to Mark – no, it wasn’t Capcom, Mark chose the hit maker, System 3. With lots of games to choose from, there was no shortage of classics on offer, with IK+ and Last Ninja (among many others) getting the bulk of the votes. So rewind the tape, press play and kick back to another classic PPOT podcast!

PRESS PLAY ON TAPE podcasts are available on iTunes and Podbean.

Kickstarted: An Illustrated History of Game Controllers

October 14, 2015 By ausretrogamer

Now here is a Kickstarter campaign we can get excited about! Player One Books is planning on releasing three volumes in the illustrated History of Game Controllers series, kicking off with volume 1 (which is currently on Kickstarter!).

The books will detail the history of joysticks and game controllers beginning with 1972’s Magnavox Odyssey controller, through to the joystick boom of the early ’80s and the emergence of game pads as the dominant force by the late ’80s. The book will feature photographs, detailed descriptions, reviews and technical information on over 120 different joysticks and game controllers released between 1972 and 1989.

If this is your kind of thing (Ed: it sure is!), then hit the Player One: An Illustrated History of Game Controllers Vol.1 Kickstarter now and pledge to make this happen!

source: Player One: An Illustrated History of Game Controllers Vol.1

Retro Gaming Anniversary: Nintendo 64

September 29, 2015 By ausretrogamer

image source: IGN AU

On this day [September 29] in 1996, those lucky North Americans got the latest (and last) cartridge based system from Nintendo – the sublime Nintendo 64! I say lucky, because we had to wait till the following year (March 1, 1997) to get our hands on Nintendo’s 64-bit beast. But spare a thought for gamers in Brazil, they had to wait till December 1997 to play Super Mario 64 on the N64!

The Nintendo 64 console seemed to polarise gamers – from the use of cartridges (Ed: CD-ROM was huge at this point in history), to the three-pronged controller. To be honest, we loved the fact that the system was cart based, and we absolutely love (and still do) that controller. It was typical of Nintendo to go against the grain and do their own thing.

There were heaps of stand out games on the system, but the early ones are still seared in my memory, from Super Mario 64, Wave Race 64, Turok: Dinosaur Hunter, Blast Corps and of courses, Mario Kart 64, to GoldenEye 007 and International Superstar Soccer 64, we had a blast on the grey beast.

Considering we still love playing on the N64, it is a great testament to Nintendo for building such an awesome system for all of us to enjoy. What are your favourite memories of the N64? Hit us up on Twitter or Facebook to let us all know!

On The Road To EB Games Expo 2015

September 28, 2015 By ausretrogamer

image source: techradar

This time of year is always the best! The weather starts warming up, trees start blossoming, the major sporting codes play their respective finals and the biggest gaming event hits Sydney – it is, EB Games Expo 2015 time!

For the first time ever, ausretrogamer will be attending EB Games Expo 2015, assisting the Weird and Retro (WaR) crew in the Retro Central Park area. As you may (or may not) have known, Weird and Retro have been running the Retro Central Park area (formerly known as the Retro Gamer Garden) within the Freeplay City attraction at EB Games Expo for the last two years.

After hearing about all of the fun the WaR team has had at previous EB Games Expo events, we knew we wanted to be part of the action. We begged and groveled till they relented and allowed us to hit the road with them to Sydney (Ed: Um, this may not have been how it went down!).

To say we are looking forward to EB Games Expo 2015 would be a great understatement – we can’t wait! It will be great to travel with awesome friends and experience this event first hand. If you are attending, please come by the Retro Central Park area and get a hit of nostalgia by playing some old classics, or come by to check out the Interactive History Museum – you’ll have a ball! Hope to see you there!

The essentials are packed!

Details:
Event: EB Games Expo 2015
When: October 2 – 4, 2015
Where: Sydney Showground, Sydney Olympic Park

Flippin Fun at the Seattle Pinball Museum

September 21, 2015 By ausretrogamer

I got to hand it to Ms. ausretrogamer, her research skills and effort to find fun (gaming related) venues in cities we visited on our North American trip, was second to none. I knew Seattle was going to be a cool city to visit, but we were totally blown away by how much there was to do and see. Rather than cram everything in one article, we thought we would start with the highlight, the Seattle Pinball Museum!

The Seattle Pinball Museum (SPM) is in the heart of Seattle’s Chinatown / International district (508 Maynard Ave S Seattle). Entry is $13USD for an adult ($18USD if you want to come and go), which gives you unlimited play on all the pinball and arcade machines inside the multi-storey entertainment centre. Once you pay your entry fee, you just hit start on any machine and go for your life (except The Wizard Of Oz machine)! We started proceedings on the world’s biggest pinball machine, Hercules! This thing was massive! Instead of a metallic sphere to knock around, Hercules uses a white billiard ball! The flippers were more like bats, and there was no way you could bump and tilt like you would on a normal table. I must say, it was an experience playing on Hercules, but my eyes quickly diverted to Fish Tales!

On the ground floor, the pinball tables were arranged from oldest to the latest offerings from Stern and Jersey Jack Pinball. There were no queues to wait (on the day we were there), so we jumped from one table to the next – experiencing everything from the early 70s right through to the current day machines.

Upstairs was a mix of pinball tables (Gorgar, The Flintstones, Taxi, Terminator 2, Space Invaders among others) and arcade machines straight out of the golden age era – Asteroids, Missile Command, Pacman and Galaga, just to name a few. It was great to see these machines once again, and it was even better seeing the new generation of kids enjoying these classics.

We had such a great time at the Seattle Pinball Museum, we totally lost track of time. Ms ausretrogamer had to tap me on the shoulder to let me know that we were the last ones inside and that the other machines were being turned off for the day. Luckily for me, Mike (from SPM) was cool enough to let me finish my game. Before we did leave, we bought a few souvenirs from the SPM, an awesome tee and a few pinball badges to remind us of the great time we had. If we lived in Seattle, I know where we would go every week!

At last, we arrive!

Entering the wonderful world of the Seattle Pinball Museum!

Even the wall art was awesome (and in theme) in this place!

The pinball wizards having some flippin fun

Whoa! The World’s largest pinball game! This thing was huge!

Yep, that’s a billiard ball to play on the largest pinball game on the planet!

Yours truly enjoying some Fish Tales! Haven’t played this in ages! So good!

The pinball tables were arranged from oldest to latest – Texan is the oldest at the Museum

Texan’s starting control deck – oh how beautiful

Oh wow, this Star Trek Enteprise Limited Edition table had to be seen to be believed (it was so sleek and gorgeous)

No matter where you turned, there were pinball tables begging to be played!

Best part of being here – trying pinball games I had never played before!

LoTR is now in my top 10 fave pinball tables of all time! That’s a big call!

Nice to look at, but a nightmare to play. Perhaps I needed more practice…

Ms. ausretrogamer was hooked on Scared Stiff

Woo hoo – top 4 high score on Theatre of Magic!

He shoots, he scores! Another classic Bally table!

This Indy machine brought back lots of fond memories.

Make it so, Number One. Two absolute classics side-by-side!

Let’s start shootin!

A signed Stern AC/DC Pro table! We loved the info on top of each pinball machine.

Found a couple of Pinball 2000 machines too.

Looking back at all the awesomeness.

Ah, The Wizard Of Oz – a table you must play at least once in your life!

The rise of the arcade machines……..

I wonder what wonderment we’ll find upstairs?

More awesome pinball machines upstairs, and……..

Golden Age arcade machines!

Baby Pac-Man – a hybrid arcade and pinball machine!

A different perspective of Baby Pac-Man

Oh wow, I had forgotten how hard Missile Command was at the arcade!

Aha, there she is! She is still beautiful, even after all these years…..

The new generation enjoying the old generation of arcade machines

Oh man, another absolute classic from the Golden Age!

The view from above.

Finally, I get to play the real Gorgar instead of playing it on the iPad!

The view below still looks good.

What to play first? The Who’s Tommy Pinball Wizard or Taxi? Tough decision.

Another rock band inspired pinball table!

While we are here, we might as well have a go on The Flintstones.

More awesome wall art upstairs (wish we could have taken some home!).

Oh yeah baby, a bit of Stardust always goes down well.

Another one of my all-time fave tables – you better believe it!

Found you! I can never get enough of Monster Bash!

Just reading up on my fave table before we have to leave *sad face*

We couldn’t leave the Seattle Pinball Museum without some souvenirs and mementos! Hooray!

Venue: Seattle Pinball Museum
Address: 508 Maynard Ave S, Seattle, WA 98104
Hours of operation:
— 10 to 5 on Sunday | Monday | Wednesday
— 12 to 10 on Thursday | Friday | Saturday
— Closed on Tuesday

Retro VGS: Keeping It Retro

September 18, 2015 By ausretrogamer

When was the last time you truly got excited over a cartridge based console release? I know for myself, it was when the Nintendo 64 was announced – Super Mario 64 totally blew my mind, and that controller, oh man, I still love that controller (even though a lot of you don’t!). I just realised, that excitement for a new cart based console was almost two decades ago!

Well, start getting excited people (if you haven’t already), the Retro VGS console is generating a buzz in the gaming community like the systems we knew and loved in the 1990s. With the imminent Kickstarter campaign launch (it should launch any day / any minute now!), we can’t contain our excitement – this is the latest early bird pricing details we could find:

“The final early bird pricing of the RETRO VGS Kickstarter has been announced, and it appears to be starting at $299 for the standard black model, and $349 for the Kickstarter Exclusive colours. They’ve announced that the early bird will be limited to 500 units.

This indicates that the standard pricing for the system will be $349 for the standard black model, and $399 for the Kickstarter variants, which is in line with what we’ve been hearing from Mike Kennedy and the team over at RETRO VGS over the last couple of weeks.

With the recent pricing controversy, it’s nice to see that people will have a chance to grab the system at a lower price.”

As we know, Mike Kennedy and his team have been working tirelessly to ensure that the Retro VGS is a resounding success. The Retro VGS will truly be keeping it retro!

image source: RetroVGS

NOTE: Since publication, the Retro VGS crowdfunding campaign has kicked off on IndieGoGo – check it out now!

Press Play On Tape: Ultimate Chiptunes

September 17, 2015 By ausretrogamer

It’s that time of month when Daz and yours truly get together and wreak havoc on the PRESS PLAY ON TAPE podcast. This time around we chat about holidaying in North America and chiptunes – from hitting the Toy Shack in Vegas, the C64’s SID chip and the Spectrum’s Beeper, to the Atari POKEY and everything in between, we leave no chips unturned!

After last month’s debacle with the publisher of choice, I wasn’t going to make the same mistake twice. For this podcast, my choice was Microprose – the publisher of serious games. As per usual, we hit the social media boards to read out your favourite chiptunes and Microprose games. So settle in and turn up the volume. Enjoy!

PRESS PLAY ON TAPE podcasts are available on iTunes and Podbean.

Super Mario Bros. 30th Anniversary

September 13, 2015 By ausretrogamer

To help celebrate Super Mario Bros. 30th anniversary (released in Japan on 13 September 1985), Nintendo UK have paid homage to the Brooklyn plumber by creating a very cool website. The dedicated site has: an about and thank you page, an awesome history of all Super Mario games, a link to Super Mario Maker – the awesome new Wii U release, and finally, a 43 second Special Movie for the king of all video game character franchises.

Check out the site now and celebrate the Super Mario Bros. 30th Anniversary with Nintendo! Be sure to check back often for more announcements from the Big N!

Nintendo says Thank You to everyone for loving Super Mario!