Australia's Retro Gaming and Pinball E-Zine
We knew there was a good use for emojis!
Our talented co-founder, Ms. Ausretrogamer has put emojis to good use by creating iconic artwork of pop culture geekiness, from Star Wars, Dr. Who, Donkey Kong, to The Simpsons, Bob’s Burgers, The Shining and Mortal Kombat to name just a few.
If you don’t want to miss Ms. Ausretrogamer’s geeky emoji artwork, follow her on Twitter.
Well, Thank Gawd It’s Friday, or better yet, #TGIF!
Friday always feels good as it is the end of the working week and knowing that the weekend shenanigans are nigh.
To make Friday flow even easier, we thought we’d go shopping for some cool retro gaming and general pop culture stuff that you may also be interested in. Oh yeah, if you are keen on any of the gear below, just click on the pic and it will take you to the relevant merchant/store – too easy, here we go!
If you missed out on attending Oz Comic-Con 2018 in Melbourne, we have you covered!
With our trusty cameras in tow (thanks Alan Ly!), we snapped quite a few photos (over 60 photos actually) to make you feel like you were there, from awesome cosplay, comic book creators, artists, vendors with tempting gear, to a Star Wars X-Wing waiting for you to enter its cockpit and some Doom shenanigans at Bethesda’s booth.
Scroll through and enjoy what was a pretty epic Oz Comic-Con 2018!
If you made it this far, please consider supporting us by shouting us a coffee so we can keep bringing you heaps more awesome content! Thank you.
We got excited with today being Friday (Ed: TGIF!), but we got even more excited when we realised it was the fourth day of May, Star Wars Day! So, May the 4th Be With You all!
To celebrate the day, we thought we’d curate a few awesome Star Wars stories we’ve published (just click on each pic!) which should get your lightsabers glowing!
Just a couple of weeks out from the release of Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi, Stern Pinball celebrates the 40th anniversary of the original film trilogy by giving us the making of their Star Wars Pinball machine!
Just in case you didn’t know, Star Wars Pinball was created by Stern Pinball’s all star development team including legendary game designer Steve Ritchie and Hall of Fame programmer Dwight Sullivan.
May the Force be with you all!
source: Stern Pinball via Facebook
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Ah Christmas 🎅, it’s only when we see these awesome geeky sweaters that we wish it was cold down here instead of the furnace-like warmth we endure every year (Ed: We’ll take a warm Xmas over a cold one any day of the year!).
So, which Christmas sweater will you don for this festive season – the superhero, the pop culture geek or the hardcore gamer?
image source: Merchoid
BOOM SHAKALAKA! Boss Fight Books latest collection Season 4: Creator Access Edition has conquered Kickstarter!
With the successful crowdfunding now finished, we can’t wait to read about Final Fantasy V, Shovel Knight, NBA Jam, Star Wars: KotOR and Postal. If you missed the Kickstarter, don’t worry, just keep an eye out on how to order this collection on the Boss Fight Books website.
These books are making us drool in anticipation, but it is Reyan Ali’s chronicling of Midway’s arcade hit NBA Jam, that we are most looking forward to reading. With inside information on the game’s creation and interviews with key development people and industry leaders, this tome will definitely be a slam dunk!
source: Boss Fight Books
Star Wars, the arcade video game may have just celebrated its 34th anniversary, but did you know how much it cost to make and what George Lucas thought of the game?
The Star Wars franchise has been going from strength to strength for 40 years and there is no sign of its star power going supernova. Atari may have waited a few years to make their awesome vector based coin-op game on the great franchise, but it was definitely worth the wait.
Released amid the American video games crash, Atari’s Star Wars (1983) was a godsend for operators and players alike. With its distinct sit-down cockpit and upright versions invading amusement centres, Atari’s Coin-Op division created a buffer from the wreckage of the industry around it. Starting out as Warp Speed, Atari’s Mike Hally quickly changed the game title to Star Wars once Atari secured the license – and the rest as they say, is history.
Looking at the Atari Star Wars bill of materials, it is unbelievable to fathom that the arcade unit cost was a mere USD$1,249 back in 1983, which is (approx.) USD$3,090 in today’s money, which is still damn cheap! The arcade version was given the seal of approval from Mr. Star Wars himself, George Lucas with a plaque that reads, “A special thanks for creating THE FORCE behind so much fun”. Once inside the cockpit, Lucas was smitten and the game went gangbusters, selling thousands of units, making Atari (or more accurately, Time Warner) a ton of money!
The FORCE will always be with Atari’s classic coin-op. Always!
Atari Star Wars – cockpit concept sketch (source: arcade blogger)
The bill of material! (source: atarigames.com)
Cockpit prototype (source: atarigames.com)
The finished product! She is (still) a beaut!
Atari execs watch in anticipation as George Lucas takes a test fly! He likes it! (source: video-game-ephemera)
George getting some game play pointers from Atari’s Don Osborne (source: arcade blogger)
Our preferred arcade flyer (via: the arcade flyer archive)
Ms ausretrogamer and I hit spa country in north western Victoria on a fine winter’s day a few weekends ago.
From the Daylesford Sunday Market to local vintage bazaars and The Amazing Mill Markets in Ballarat and Daylesford, we found vintage goodies that warmed our cockles.
By: D.C. Cutler, U.S.A.
Darth Vader is such a fascinating film character. He goes away for a while, and then he comes roaring back into our pop culture conscience, better than ever.
After the spectacularly imaginative ending to Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Vader is once again as popular as ever. There is something gratifying about seeing people of all ages wearing Darth Vader t-shirts again.
Like the original film trilogy, Super Nintendo’s The Empire Strikes Back, released in 1993, was the best of the Super Star Wars game series.
If you were a talented enough gamer to ultimately advance to Darth Vader, he was very difficult to defeat. That’s what made the game so good. Vader was a challenge, and battling him as Luke Skywalker was really a treat when I played the game as a kid.
Empire has the best lightsaber duel of the entire Star Wars film franchise. And I don’t care what anyone says, the Empire duel between Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader in Empire is more dramatic and thrilling than their final duel in Return of the Jedi. Just because it’s the coda of the original trilogy doesn’t make it the best lightsaber battle; satisfying, yes, but not on par with the duel that leads to Cloud City’s central air shaft.
image source: Pinterest
The lightsaber battle in the game is very similar to the one at the end of the 1980 film. However, Vader is a lot taller than Luke in the game; he’s almost giant-like compared to the young Jedi. As a child gamer, I found Vader’s height to be a little intimidating.
I spent many entertaining hours fighting Vader; to a point where I would keep track of how long it would take me to defeat him…if I defeated him. Vader’s not messing around at the end of the game. My friends and I called it “The Vader Challenge.” It was an ideal way to reenact the battle at the end of one of my favourite films.
The rest of the game action is enjoyable, but nothing is as testing and exceptional as the duel with Vader. Battling the AT-AT Walkers on the planet Hoth is really fun as well. The graphics are exceptional and the degree of difficulty adds a layer that makes this a game young Star Wars fans should try playing if they can find a Super NES copy.
It’ll stress you out a few times, but “The Vader Challenge” at the end is worth the anxiety.