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Space Invaders 40th Anniversary Silver Coin

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Special occasions like anniversaries usually come about a few times in a lifetime, so what better way to commemorate and remember a special anniversary than a beautiful and awesome memento to mark the occasion!

There were a few arcade games that came before it, but in 1978 Taito’s Space Invaders single-handedly propelled arcade games into mainstream popular culture and helped kick off the golden age of arcade video games.

When Tomohiro Nishikado created Space Invaders we bet he wouldn’t have thought that it would become such a global hit. With its legacy well and truly cemented in arcade video gaming lore, we wonder then what Mr Nishikado-san would make of New Zealand Mint’s commemorative Space Invaders 40th Anniversary 1oz Silver Coin? If we were to guess, he would be most impressed, just like we were.

The first thing that struck us when opening the package was the beautifully recreated (to scale) Space Invaders arcade cabinet. The base of the cabinet carries the numbered (out of 3,000 units) Certificate of Authenticity. The precious cargo is housed inside the arcade cabinet, which can be opened by lifting the cabinet off its base to reveal the gorgeous 1oz silver coin, cushioned in black felt.

Removing the coin we were impressed with its size – it is bigger than we imagined! On one side of the coin you will find Space Invaders engraved on a proof background and lenticular printed coloured aliens that move as the coin is rotated at different angles. The other side of the coin has Queen Lizzie (just like on all of our Australian and NZ legal tender). Holding the coin feels special as it connects us via nostalgia for the video game that kickstarted the arcade scene in the late 70s.

Rotate the coin to move the aliens, just like in the actual game!
 image source: NZ Mint

If you do want this beautiful and officially licensed limited edition memento to commemorate one of the greatest arcade games, then you may want to act fast, as there are only 3,000 coins available worldwide! This coin is a great investment for any gaming fan. Long live Space Invaders!

Specifications:

  • Metal: 999 Fine Silver
  • Finish: Proof / Lenticular
  • Weight: 1 TROY OZ
  • Nominal Diameter: 40mm
  • Edge: Milled
  • Denomination: $2
  • Country of Issue: Niue
  • Year of Issue: 2018
  • Mintage: 3,000 only

Disclaimer: NZ Mint kindly provided the Space Invaders 40th Anniversary silver coin for this article.

 

Nintendo Switch Review: Tengai

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Whoa, Zerodiv are absolutely on fire! Their latest Psikyo shoot’em up conversion, Tengai (aka: Sengoku Blade: Sengoku Ace Episode II) is brutally hard and oh so damn satisfying all rolled into one. If you are into superb mid-90s shmups, then you can never have enough shmups in your Switch line-up.

Tengai is a brilliant mix of horizontal shmup action (there is lots to shoot here which quenches the shmup thirst) with the flexibility to tweak difficulty levels, and trust us, you’ll be setting it to monkey mode in no time! Once you pick your character from a roster that consists of a Monk (Tengai) that shoots beads, a Ninja Warrior (Sho) that throws blades, a female Ninja (Junis) who uses her knives and shurikens, Katana that uses lasers, and the shrine maiden (Miko), who uses ofuda cards, then it is time to hit the skies over medieval Japan and dispense some justice. Each character of course has their own power-ups, which are pretty zany, from Tengai’s hawk, Sho’s mirrors, Junis’ mongoose, to Katana’s magical spear and Miko’s water spirit, these souped up powers should be used sparingly to clear the screen of all evil-doers.

The level design is linear till you come to level 5 where you face off against every previous mid-boss one after another. If you manage to get past these mid-bosses a branching path is presented prior to reaching the final boss for that epic final battle. By this stage you may be patting yourself on the back, but that would be premature as this end showdown is a timed affair, so if you do poorly, you will get your character’s ‘bad ending’ instead of a complete victory.

The gameplay also has a number of nuances like contacting enemies won’t cost you a life. Instead, your character’s firepower is downgraded, which makes progress tricky. So the object is to dodge and weave past all of the yellow/orange bullets that regularly fill the screen. Thankfully, Tengai doesn’t feel like a full-on bullet hell shooter, but there is certainly a lot going on all around the screen. If you think you will get some rest during play to enjoy the scenery, then think again! This game is full on – in a good way.

The sprite art in this game is damn gorgeous and the parallax scrolling is oh-so-ever-smooth, meaning that your eyes will thank you for the visual extravaganza! Complementing the visuals is the cool and distinctly oriental soundtrack which completes the atmosphere of the game.

We do sound like a broken record when it comes to games from Zerodiv, but this shoot’em up seriously deserves to be at the top of your Switch library – it’s shmuptastic!

image source: Tengai – Nintendo eShop

Disclaimer: Tengai was kindly provided by Zerodiv for this review.

 

Skynet Can Now Play Galaga!

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We all know the doom and gloom that Skynet brought us in the Terminator movies, but what would happen if you used artificial intelligence for good by playing one of the greatest vertical shmups of all time? Well, high score tables may end up all having the initials AI on them.

So how does the Learnfun and Playfun AI built by Tom Murphy VII go at playing Galaga? You’ll have to watch the video to study its moves and find out the surprise ending 😉

PS: If you wanna learn how to use the Learnfun and Playfun AI system, check it out here.


source: Jordan Rathbone

[via Technobob]

Zero Gunner 2- Omnidirectional Mayhem On The Nintendo Switch

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Zerodiv are on a roll with their Psikyo arcade conversions for the Switch. Their last effort, Gunbird proved so popular in the ausretrogamer office, we had to ban it during work hours! And it looks like Zero Gunner 2- is no exception to this rule – it is another classic shoot’em up that we will have to limit play time so work can be done around here.

Zero Gunner 2- (ZG2-) is a mouth-watering shmup that tests your flight and shooting mettle with a twist. What twist are we referring to? Well, ZG2- bucks the trend of being either a vertical or horizontal shooter by being best described as an omnidirectional shmup! This may put some noses out of joint with shmup traditionalists, but once you get the hang of it, it is damn cool. We found that this game suits the Switch’s handheld or tabletop mode perfectly. Actually, the game is awesome to play on a big widesceen TV too, but don’t expect the graphics to blow you away – they are functional, but you have to remember that this was a turn of the century shoot’em up that has now been spruced up for 2018.

Zero Gunner 2-’s gameplay is fast and furious. Since it is an omnidirectional shmup, enemies fly out from all over the screen at a rapid pace which ramps up the challenge considerably. Thankfully, you can decrease the difficulty to child-like, which we did. The control mechanic may also throw players off as you change directions you must also change direction of your firing. Unlike a twin-stick shooter, in ZG2- you must use the Y or A buttons to adjust your facing / firing direction, which can be disorienting until you get used to it. Having said that, the ZG2- control mechanic of changing your facing and firing direction is the hook, a point of difference for this game if you will. To survive and get further in this game, you must get to grips with changing directions quickly to dispatch all enemies coming at you. Some may think this as a gimmick, but we say it is a cool feature that sets Zero Gunner 2- apart from your traditional shooters.

Just like other shooters, you get a choice of gunships (three to be exact) which have standard auto-fire shots that are complimented by a special attack-shot which packs some punch! Your chosen gunship’s firepower can also be upgraded by collecting P-lettered tetrahedrons (P for Power!) which greatly help in dispatching enemies than the puny single-shot, thus ensuring steady progress.

The longevity of this game, which has 7 stages, is dictated by what you want out of it. If you want to play through each difficulty level (Very Hard is insane!) or if you are into chasing high scores or you just love having a blast with a mate in two player co-op mode, then this game is for you! If none of these interest you, look elsewhere, for everyone else starved of old school shmup action, GET TO DA CHOPPA NOW!

Price: AUD $9.99 – Nintendo Australia eShop
Available: January 25 2018

image source: Nintendo

Zero Gunner 2- was kindly provided by Zerodiv for this review.

 

Gunbird Review on Nintendo Switch: It’s Shmup-tastic!

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If you are a long time shoot’em up fan, there is no doubt you would have come across Gunbird on other platforms (or in the arcade). If you have fond memories of Psikyo’s beautiful vertical shmup and are now in possession of a Nintendo Switch, we reckon it is time you reacquainted yourself with Gunbird.

Let’s start by saying that Zerodiv have done an absolute corker of a conversion on the Switch. Not only can you play Gunbird in landscape form, you can also turn your Switch 90 degrees and play it like it should be, in portrait /vertical goodness. If the label Psikyo sounds familiar, it may be due to their pedigree in games, one example being Aero Fighters 2 (Sonic Wings 2), which we absolutely love. Lucky for us (and you too!), Gunbird hits the shmup sweet spot by being up there with the aforementioned beauty.

The premise of the game doesn’t really matter, but for those that want the back story, Gunbird provides 5 protagonists, each one with their own special chosen craft. The story plays out in between levels and before boss fights, telling a tale of how the protagonists are trying to collect pieces of the Magic Mirror of Atra to make their wish. The antagonists are a group called The Trump, yep, you read that right, The Trump, who are lead by the fearless female, Rogue.

Just like all great vertical shoot’em ups, Gunbird has a plethora of power-ups to pick up to bling out your artillery to ridiculous levels and also bombs, which are in limited supply, so they should be saved for the awesome boss fights!

Gunbird can be played in single player or with a friend in co-op mode – which amps up the playability! The cut-scenes between stages are quite funny and add to the charm of this exquisite shmup.

Gunbird ticks all the right boxes for a shoot’em up and we are glad that it’s not one of those full-on bullet-hell type games, although you can dial up the difficulty for it to be one. This game caters for all skill levels, from monkey (yep, apparently monkeys  can’t play as well as a child) to rage-inducing hardness.

In conclusion, if you are into shoot’em ups, then Gunbird should be an instant buy. At AUD$9.99, it really is great value. Gunbird is an absolute 10/10 blast that should be in your Switch games library right now!

Gunbird was kindly provided by Zerodiv for this review.

SKYCURSER Is Coming Soon To Shoot Up Your Arcade

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Who says that the arcade is dead? If you are sick of seeing redemption machines at your local amusement centre, then perhaps the new horizontal shoot’em up, SKYCURSER will draw you back for some good old fashion blasting!

Griffin Aerotech’s SKYCURSER takes players through some gorgeously drawn worlds in which they must battle mutant hordes to save the planet. SKYCURSER has a total of four missions with a reward scoring system that keeps things quite competitive.

The game runs on a platform called Airframe and its creators have also promised free game updates. A year ago, the Griffin Aerotech team expressed hopes that the open-source nature of Airframe would attract other independent designers to create games for arcade cabinets and controls. This means that operators could potentially swap several games on the same Airframe using only a USB stick, which brings back memories of swapping those good old Neo Geo MVS cartridges.

There’s a Pro (USD$700) and Deluxe (USD$1,200) version of the kitted game, each coming with necessary software and hardware while the Deluxe has additional conversion art. The game is also available in a dedicated arcade cabinet ready to hit the floor (USD$3,499). Conversion kits are expected to ship by June 2017. For information on purchasing the game in a dedicated cabinet, click here.

The arcade industry needs more of these good old fashioned arcade games, like SKYCURSER, to draw back the 80s and 90s kids (now adults) into arcade centres for them to have fun while introducing their own children to the kind of games they played at their age many moons ago.

image source: Griffin Aerotech

 

Retro Rich: R-Type High Score Record Holder

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RetroRich_Rtype_HDRIf it’s one thing we know about Richard Evans (aka: Retro Rich), he is one dedicated gamer! We have been keeping an eye on Rich’s high score record attempts on Twin Galaxies, and we can now reveal that Rich has achieved (yet again!) another high score record, this time it’s on the awesome Irem shoot’em up, R-Type.

With a swag of Twin Galaxies high score records to his name, we thought we’d chat to Rich while he takes a breather from his next record attempt and ask how he found the R-Type arcade game and what was his regime to becoming a high score record holder on this great shmup. Strap yourself in and enjoy your R-9 flight!

AUSRETROGAMER [ARG]: Hey Rich, we heard that you got yourself the brilliant horizontal shoot’em up R-Type – why that game and what is it about R-Type that made you hunt it down?
Retro Rich [RR]: My first console was the Sega Master System, and one of the first games I got for it was R-Type. I remember playing it a lot even though I found it extremely difficult. I loved the gameplay and music. I know now that it was a pretty good conversion from the arcade game considering the technical limitations of the Master System. I really wasn’t very good at it! I think I only ever made it to Stage 4 back in those days. Once I got back into gaming and then into arcade collecting, I realised that I may be able to actually own the original R-Type arcade game – so my hunt began on the forums to see if I could get one.

ARG: How hard was it to find and then buy the game?
RR: Once I started looking on the forums, I discovered that the arcade board came in two main types. Quite often, the Irem golf game Major Title was converted to an R-Type by making numerous modifications to the circuit board and replacing the ROMs. There is even a way to make the same board run both R-Type and R-Type 2 with a selector – which is pretty cool! These boards are quite common and can go for quite a bit of money. However, I wasn’t interested in playing the second instalment and there was something alluring about owning the original Irem R-Type board rather than the conversion, so my search continued.

I posted in the wanted section of the UKvac forum and waited. After a week or two I was contacted by a collector who lives North-West of Birmingham, a good 3 hours drive from my place in the South-East of the UK. The seller had an original R-Type board in a Video Wizard JAMMA cab which he had thought about selling for the right price. He also had an R-Type marquee made for the cab which looked super cool! We negotiated a bit and settled on a price for the complete cabinet. I hired a van through a friend and set off that weekend to pick it up! I also decided to buy an original Sega Shinobi arcade board from him which I also picked up.

It took me a whole day driving and I called in a few favours, but it was well worth it! I was pretty lucky really. I got it for a really good price. The arcade board itself goes for a lot of money, and since I got this one I’ve seen them go for substantially more so I got a fantastic deal. The Video Wizard cabinet is really well made too, and he’d just had the monitor serviced so the picture is really good.

RType1

ARG: You have been busy lately breaking the Twin Galaxies high-score record for R-Type (Congratulations!) – how does one go about doing this? What was your regime?
RR: I was able to get to stage 4 on one life, but I knew I needed to do much better. R-Type, like a lot of games, has very little random elements to it. The stages behave the same, the enemies appear in the same place on the stages every time. The things which change are their rate and speed of fire as the game reacts to how well you’re doing and responds with faster enemy bullets, which makes it more difficult the better you are playing. However, learning the enemy patterns is the key to this game. Knowing where to be on the screen to destroy the enemies quickly and maximise your points while avoiding obstacles and other enemies, is what I began to learn.

I started studying other gameplay videos on YouTube to get tips. During this, I realised I’d managed to learn quite a few of the techniques myself at different points in the game, but I learned quite a few more by watching these videos. I point press quite a bit on the earlier stages in order to maximise my score.

I realised that learning to play the later stages on the arcade hardware was very time consuming. I found that I could easily do the earlier stages, but I had to do them all over again each time in order to practice a few minutes of the later ones. This was slowing my progress significantly, so I turned to MAME. I installed MAME and the R-Type ROM’s and bought myself an arcade stick. I was then able to use the save state feature within MAME to play to stage 4, save the state and then play stage 5 over and over to learn the patterns. Once I’d mastered stage 5, I did the same with stage 6. I played it so many times, learning the best way to get through the stages while maximising my points. Stage 6 is a good example of this, since the yellow enemies on this stage are worth 1000 points each, so it’s worth trying to destroy as many as possible rather than simply avoiding them.

To answer the other part of your question, I practised for 3 to 4 hours per night several nights a week around my other commitments.

RType2

ARG: How long did it take to get to a point where you were happy with your score?
RR: I got R-Type in January 2016, so I have been practising since then! However, I’ve only been seriously going at it for the last month or two. Once I started using MAME my score improved by leaps and bounds. I won’t go into the details of my point pressing (the video is on Twin Galaxies for those interested), but I died strategically at certain points to play certain parts of the game over and over until down to one life. I then continued to play through further stages on that remaining life. This meant that there was little room for error. I lost count of the times I played for 20 minutes or more on the arcade game, only to have to start over again. That was very frustrating!

Currently I am able to play the game to stage 7 on one life.

RType3

ARG:  What is your plan going forward for R-Type (an even high score)?
RR: My plan now is to learn stage 7 of the game as it is extremely difficult. After that, I will learn stage 8. I’m giving myself a little break as I don’t want to burn out or get annoyed. One of the main things I’ve realised about trying to achieve high scores on games is that if you have a few bad games, stop playing. Come back to it another day, don’t keep going as you’ll only get annoyed and frustrated. It’s hard to walk away sometimes, but you have to really be strict with yourself as it doesn’t do you any good to continue when that happens.

My next personal goal is to complete the game on one credit. After that I intend to do it with one life. The game loops back to stage one again after the first completion, and then it goes all the way to stage 8 again. Once the second loop is complete, the game finishes which means there is a natural ending and therefore point pressing will start to play a major part to maximising the score.

I will begin working on this soon, as I want to keep up with the momentum I have. My current record score is not that high. I’ve seen videos of people achieving much higher scores on R-Type, both on original hardware and with MAME. They have simply not submitted their score to Twin Galaxies as I have. It’s a nice milestone to achieve the record, but I realise I still have a long way to go to become a truly great R-Type player.

RType4

ARG: Are you eyeing any other Twin Galaxies high score records you want to break or is that a secret?
RR: No secret at all *smiles* I think R-Type is going to keep me busy for some time yet, but after that I may start to learn Shinobi. I have a score on Twin Galaxies already, but it’s very low. Since I submitted that score, it raised awareness of the game and a guy called Jonathan Town has set a much higher score, which is great. I feel happy that I got him involved actually. It’s what competitive gaming is all about in my opinion. What’s the point in being the only score on the board and not trying to improve? Jonathan has given me loads of tips so I’m sure I can improve my score on Shinobi, although I’m not confident I will ever be as good as him. He is quite amazing at it!

I’m sure it’s only a matter of time before someone else submits a higher score for R-Type. I’ve raised awareness of that game too, since the previous record was set in 1997 by Jason Wilson. He may well come back to reclaim his title, or maybe someone else will have a go. That’s why I need to seriously up my game so I can set an even higher score and remain on top!

As we leave Rich to rest his hands and fingers, we can’t help it think that this will not be the last time we see his name up in lights.

RType5

 

C64 Sideways SEUCK Competition 2015

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SidewaysSEUCK_TitleAs September is traditionally known as Shmuptember, we thought we would let you budding C64 coders know about the latest Shoot’Em Up Construction Kit (SEUCK) competition, but this time, your shoot’em up game must be a horizontal (sideways) scroller to be eligible for entry. So, download the free Sideways Shoot’Em Up Construction Kit and get cracking, I mean, get coding! You never know, you could be a winner just like Ant Stiller (Abyssonaut) or Alf Yngve (Forgotten Forest)!

The best part about these competitions is that you, the gamer, can play the entered games (Ed: Woo hoo!), and then cast your vote on your favourite. We must admit, we are hooked on Alf Yngve’s Edge Of Time entry, which is the sequel to his highly acclaimed game, Double Or Nothing.

This competition is once again brought to you by the great Mr. Richard Bayliss of The New Dimension!

Competition Details
Competition: Sideways Scrolling SEUCK Compo
Submission dates: Now till 30th November 2015
Voting commences: 1st December till 30th December 2015
Prizes: To be announced/given in February 2016

 

Pastfinder: A Long Lost C64 Gem

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Why has it taken me almost 30 years to discover and play Pastfinder? I mean, I love shoot’em ups, so this game should have been on my radar back in the 1980s. Anyway, it is never too late to enjoy a great game, and let me say from the outset, Pastfinder is a beauty.

What’s there not to like, you are thrown thousands of years into the future on a baron planet with high radiation, you have an awesomely powerful spacecraft (called a Leeper) that is able to walk the landscape (the articulating legs look great!) and fly high to blast enemies and also drop-off supplies to the bases that desperately need them.

Pastfinder is a classic vertical shmup with a twist (think of Zaxxon, but in a vertical attribution instead of isometric) – the clever gameplay of flying and walking the landscape to avoid obstacles, together with tight controls, makes this an absolute blast! Yep, that pun was fully intended! Play this now on your C64, you won’t regret it!

PastFinder_TITLE

pastfinder_screen1

pastfinder_screen2image source: Lemon64

 

2015 C64 SEUCK Competition Winner

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SEUCK_TitleA few weeks ago there was a call to action for the game playing public to cast their votes for the C64 2015 Shoot’Em Up Construction Kit (SEUCK) Competition. Among the many talented candidates was our good friend, Anthony Stiller. Anthony’s entry, Abyssonaut, a horizontal scrolling shmup, was well received and deserved its entry in the competition.

Well, the votes have been counted and we can now proudly reveal the winner – drum roll please……. And the winner is, Abyssonaut (171 points) by Anthony Stiller!

SEUCK_2015_Results_tableTake a bow Anthony, this is a well deserved win and a great reward for all your hard yakka! As the Champagne starts flowing, we corner Anthony to ask him about the win:

AUSRETROGAMER [ARG]: Congratulations Anthony, and well done! Has the win sunk in?
Anthony Stiller [AS]: Thanks, Alex! Last night’s shock (Kev, the editor of Reset C64, gave me the heads up) has finally settled down a little. I was buzzing at 1am this morning after reading the results!

ARG: You beat some seasoned game creators, how does it feel to be crowned the winner for 2015?
AS: There were some really great entries this year and, while I was very happy with Abyssonaut and knew it was in with a good chance, I really wasn’t expecting first place. Alf Yngve, who’s been the reigning champion, is a lovely, talented guy and Gigablast was an excellent entry. Really, though, everyone who makes the time and effort to enter a solid game deserves to be commended.

ARG: What was your inspiration to make Abyssonaut?
AS: Great question! I was at a party and my eyes fell on the label of a bottle of Kraken spiced rum (true story!). Also, once I had decided to use Sideways SEUCK I was thinking of what the player sprite should look like. I wanted to see the player’s figure but I needed to work within the two frames of animation you get for the player sprite. So the player had to be riding a vehicle of some sort. I was almost immediately hit with the image of someone in SCUBA gear riding a seascooter into a seabase. I may have watched a few too many James Bond movies growing up. And the rest is history.

ARG: How long did it take to create Abyssonaut?
AS: About three months elapsed time and over 100 hours actual effort. That includes concept, design (I like the idea of using sketches for design work), testing, and a little marketing, but doesn’t factor in the time my playtesters put in.

ARG: What were some of the challenges creating the game?
AS: Like my previous SEUCK game, Sopwiths & Pterrordons (S&P), I really wanted to make a “proper” game – with gameplay flow, foreshadowing, and a subtle story built into the game itself. All that takes time and effort and lots of testing. I also wanted Abyssonaut to be on a grander scale than S&P. It has a far greater number of different enemies and the actual length of the game is more than twice that of S&P.

Finally, I wanted to ramp up the difficulty. S&P is quite easy. Level 1 of Abyssonaut is gentle but the curve ramps up dramatically in Level 2. There’s a proper end of level boss in Level 2 and at this stage I don’t think anyone’s reached it without cheating.

Oh, I also should add that getting all the animation right was a huge challenge. I need to stop using bio-organic creatures in my games!

ARG: Have you got any new SEUCK projects in the pipeline?
AS: Well, there’s a rumour that there’s going to be a Sideways SEUCK compo later this year and I’ve got this really interesting idea … ARG: Your secret is safe with us. It’s in the vault.

ARG: Just like any award ceremony, is there anyone you would like to thank?
AS: Oh, that’s a long list! First, thanks to Richard Bayliss. Not only does he run the competition, but he is also amazingly helpful and supportive. Stacey Borg, who is the best playtester ever! Cam, Rob, Raj and Kale, my brains trust. There are a whole lot more people out there in the retro scene whom I only know online and are always lifting me up! You know who you are! And, lastly, thanks to everyone who’s played Abyssonaut!

As we toast his achievement and clink Champagne glasses, we leave Anthony to enjoy his deserved win. For those of you that haven’t yet played Abyssonaut, what are you waiting for!