Retro Gaming Australia

The lack of retro updates throughout August left us a bit high and dry in terms of content, so the site looks like it’s a bit dead. I assure you it isn’t. I’ve been a bit preoccupied again as the CPA study season (my last one, yay) is starting up again, but fresh content will be on it’s way soon.

As far as behind the scenes news goes, there’s only one big thing happening – we’re moving. Technically, RGA’s home is on a server somewhere in California, but the site is run from Toowoomba, Queensland. However, later this month, the missus and I will be packing up the car and heading to Melbourne. Being based in civilisation might even mean promotional activities and meet ups in the near future. Hurrah!

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Today sees the launch of Retro Gaming Australia’s first major new feature: the Australian Mag Scores list. The list currently contains over 4,000 review scores awarded by popular Australian computer and video games magazines such as Megazone, Hyper, PC Powerplay, N64 Gamer and the Official PlayStation Magazines.

In the Australian Mag Scores list you can search for the review scores for your favourite games, or witness infamous faux pas from our friends in the gaming press. Did you know Hyper gave the illustrious Alien Soldier a mere 50? Or that Shaq Fu scored a respectable 77? What about the ridiculous 101% awarded to Perfect Dark in N64 Gamer? You’ll find it all in here.

The Mag Scores list is currently in an alpha state, but fully browsable. Specific entries can be found using the search function of your browser. For answers to common questions about the list, please click the more link. Read more…

Site Mag scores, Retro Gaming Australia

As I said in yesterday’s Retro Reading update, I have started producing some Let’s Play videos, mainly for a bit of fun, but also to showcase the occasional Australian-developed or targeted game. The first Let’s Play video on RGA is for International Cricket on the NES.

Part 1

Part 2

If you have any suggestions for improving the videos, please leave a comment. I am aware that I sound dull and the videos have interlacing issues

Let's Play Let's Play

RGA’s latest secret project is in heavy development. Not announcing what it is at the moment due to the potential embarassment of not finishing yet another project, but needless to say, you should all really enjoy it when it does launch, which I am expecting to be late Q4 2010 or Q1 2011. In amongst the work on that project, I’ve started planning out some site rehauling, including unified logins for the boards and the comments section on the blog, new banners and headers for the blog and forum, and some new content.

The first bit of new content is a series of Let’s Play videos. Let’s Play videos are a concept that mostly developed on SomethingAwful – people record playthroughts of games and commentate over them – either in a funny (usually failing to be funny) or informative manner. You’ll see the first one, International Cricket for the NES on the site today, but it’s already on Youtube if you’re keen. I’m not intending to solely cover Australian-oriented and/or developed games, but there’s little information on the Internet about these games, so it helps draw people in. I’ve never seen anyone do an LP on a sports game before either – I guess because there’s technically no story to follow, but you could probably do a good series for a season or franchise mode. I also must apologise in advance for my dull commentary – I hope that will improve with time and practice.
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The Classic Gaming Expo 2010 is on right now – hopefully someone will have a nice report on the show that I can link you to in the future. Seems like they had a pretty good show lined up this year too.
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The Tetris World Championships are happening on August 8 in Los Angeles. The event is being organised by former Nintendo World Championships winner Robin Mihara. A documentary film about the championships called The Tetris Masters: Ecstasy of Order is in production.
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Phantasy Star text adventure translations released at MIJET
Sega released a load of Phantasy Star games that never made it to the West, including these two Game Gear games, which have now been translated to English. Joy.
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Retrospective: Duck Tales at Eurogamer Retro
Duck Tales is one of my favourite NES games, and the folks over at Eurogamer Retro have a bit of a spiel on it. Of course, we can’t have a mention of Duck Tales without linking to the awesome Moon level theme music.
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Retrospective: Mario Golf: Advance Tour at Eurogamer Retro
The portable versions of Mario sports titles are, in a matter of speaking, bloody brilliant. This article is not particularly good compared with other EG retro offerings, but it tells you what you need to know about the game.
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Spinny and Spike (MD), Prince of Persia: Two Thrones Beta (PS2/XB/GCN), ClayFighter Beta (SNES), The Lawnmower Man Beta (SNES/MD), Spyral Saga (PSX), Timmy Time (32X), Ultra Copter Tech Demo (N64), Guilty Gear Beta (PSX), Full Throttle 2: Payback (PC/PS2), Virus (PSX), Area 51 (PS2/Xbox), Hell’s Deep (PC/PS2), Terminus (SS/PSX/PC) at Unseen64
The Unseen64 crew have a mass of updates for the last fortnight, but they’re taking August off to enjoy part of Summer. Interesting to see that there was a direct sequel to the Area 51 arcade game in development that was not the FPS we ended up getting.
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Virtual Console Update: Aero the Acrobat (SNES)
Another mediocre game that, like many Sunsoft releases, punches above its weight on eBay.
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Retro Reading Retro Reading

Was intending to go back to weekly updates, but it didn’t quite work out due to a lack of content – I personally prefer one large update to a couple of small ones. I’ve spent the last two weeks working on a pair of big projects for RGA. They’re not going to be ready for months, so I’m going to refrain from talking about them more in case it doesn’t work out. I’d really like to get a better design for the site too, as I hate this WordPress skin at least 10x more than you.
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Retrogaming Times Monthly July 2010 at Retrogaming Times
More monthly newsletter fun.
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The History of Korean Games at Hardcore Gaming 101
A little something different from our friends at HG101 this month – an in-depth look into the history of games developed in Korea.
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The History of Fan Translation at Hardcore Gaming 101
HG101′s also got a look at the history of fan translation projects. Keep in mind that this is a reprint of a Retro Gamer article, so you may have read part of it before if you’re an RG reader.
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Myst series, Front Mission series, Mercenary Force, , Hell: A Cyberpunk Thriller and Starship Titanic at Hardcore Gaming 101
HG101 has also put together their usual selection of monthly game articles. This month, some game articles have received some much needed updates, while other obscure PC adventure games are remembered, like the Hell, which starred the late Dennis Hopper as the Devil.
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Sonic 2 XL at Sonic Stadium
I don’t normally post links to rom hacks, but this one is pretty funny, and extraordinarily well-executed. Sonic 2 XL replaces Sonic’s standard rings with onion rings – as you collect rings, he gets fatter. Collect too many and he stops from exhaustion and dies. Really nice new sprites and adjusted physics to match.
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Roman Bloodsport (Xbox), Outrun 2 Beta (Arcade), Split Realities (PSX/SS), Bug Busters: The Exterminators (MCD), Kasumi Ninja Beta (JAG), Sonic Battle Beta (GBA), Street Fighter II Concept (Arcade), Hirelings (PC/PS2), Brett Hull Hockey (JAG), Citizen X (MCD), Ultimate Brain Games (JAG), Primal Rage 2 (Arcade), Tarzan (SNES), Tekken “Rave War” Beta (Arcade), Super Burn Out (JAG), Savage Heroes (MD), Jack Nicklaus Cyber Golf (JAGCD), The Big One (PS2), Rayman (SNES), King of Fighters 99 Beta (Arcade), Screwballs Superleague (NES), Super Mario Land 2 Beta (GB), Titan Warriors (NES) and Thunder in Paradise (SNES) at Unseen64
Another big month at Unseen64, pretty heavy on the Jaguar stuff if that tickles your fancy. I thought the Melbourne House PS2 game sounded pretty cool, though – shame Atari/Infogrames really mismanaged that studio.
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Looking Back on Acclaim with Greg Fischbach at 1UP Retro
1UP tracked down former Acclaim founder Greg Fischbach to have a chat about the company’s glory days and eventual demise.
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Mario Figure Alternatives from the Past at 1UP Retro
The 1UP crew also took a look at some obscure old Mario figures in “celebration” of the Mario crew statuette sent to NOA Club Nintendo platinum members.
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The Rarest and Most Valuable Turbografix/PC Engine Games at Racketboy
Racketboy has done another roundup of rare and expensive games, this time for the PC Engine. Most PCE fans will probably know what to expect, but if you’re new to the machine, it’s a good read.
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Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge Retrospective at Eurogamer Retro
The special edition of Monkey Island 2 with (horrible) tarted up graphics and (not horrible) voice work was released on XBLA, PSN and Steam recently, so Eurogamer went back and looked at the original. As you do.
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Nintendoage June Newsletter at Nintendo Age (reg required)
More monthly newsletter fun from the NA crew.
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Recent Virtual Console releases: Ufouria: The Saga (NES, 500 points), Shadow of the Ninja (NES, 600 points)
Two quality new releases for the VC – hopefully this will cause a major drop in the price of a copy of Ufouria.
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Retro Reading Retro Reading

Poor RGA got ignored while I had a guest-editing stint over at GamePron that covered the nutso E3 week and a couple of days after. Now that’s all done with, I can get back to retro fun.

Retrogaming Times Monthly June 2010 issue at Retrogaming Times
Latest issue of the long-running newsletter is out, majority of the issue appears to be Pac-Man related articles in celebration of the character’s 30th anniversary.
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Atari 2600 pause kit now available at AtariAge
Fancy the ability to pause your VCS? For $US20 (plus shipping) and a bit of soldering fun, you can. Alternatively, if you’re totally incompetent with tools like me, you can send it to them to for installation for $US25 (plus shipping).
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Jackie Chan video games, Aquales, Laura Bow Mysteries, Mission Critical at Hardcore Gaming 101
HG101′s June update has a particularly good article on Jackie Chan’s numerous video games. The rest is more PC adventure game stuff, which seems to have dominated their coverage lately.
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The Life and Times of Jeremy Blaustein at Hardcore Gaming 101
Jeremy Blaustein is one of those pioneers in game translation, becoming a name amongst gaming fans for going above and beyond the call of duty in his translations. His credits include Snatcher, Metal Gear Solid, Suikoden II, Valkyrie Profile, Silent Hill 2, Shenmue, Dragon Warrior VII, Shadow Hearts and Dark Cloud 2/Dark Chronicle. This interview discusses Blaustein’s career, from humble beginnings to running his own companies.
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Opposite Lock/Wrecking Crew Beta (SS/PSX), God of War II Beta (PS2), Marble Man: Marble Madness 2 (Arcade), Chrono Cross Beta (PSX), Phase Zero (Jag), Popeye (MD), Guardians: Agents of Justice (PC), Test Drive Cycles (PSX), Banjo Pilot Beta (GBA), Mega Man 8 Beta (SS/PSX), Alien vs. Predator: Nightmare on Ryushi (PC), Chuck Yeager’s Fighter Combat (NES), I:5 (PS2), Extreme Wakeboarding (PS2), Burning Fists (MCD), Converse Hardcore Hoops (MD/SNES/SS/PSX), Airs Adventure (SS), Silent Space (Xbox/PS2/PC), SimCopter 64 (N64DD), Gumshoe (Xbox/PC) and Zombie High (MD) at Unseen64
Miss a couple of weeks and these Unseen64 entries pile up – all the more reason why you should visit their site regularly. Nothing particularly grand this month, but it’s always nice when someone unearths more cancelled N64DD stuff.
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Interview: Grant Kirkhope at Unseen64
Legendary Rareware musician Grant Kirkhope was interviewed by Unseen64 earlier in the month. They try to drill him for information about cancelled Rare games.
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EGM’s first screenshots of Sonic the Hedgehog at 1UP Retro
1UP seems to be spending all of its updates on Spectrum games, which I tend to prefer not to cover on RGA (since the Spectrum gets so much coverage elsewhere), but they broke their coverage of three colour games to post some screens from the first reveal of Sonic the Hedgehog from a 1990 issue of EGM.
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Games and Franchises that defined the Fighting genre at Racketboy
Racketboy contributor Ack has put together a list of the games he believes defined the fighting genre – you should be able to guess most of them before reading the article.
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Armed & Dangerous Retrospective at Eurogamer Retro
Eurogamer’s John Walker has written up a piece on the riotously funny but largely overlooked Planet Moon shooter Armed & Dangerous. Landsharks for all!
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This week’s Virtual Console release: Mario Tennis (N64)
One of the finest multiplayer games for the Nintendo 64 is now available on the Wii for 1000 Nintendo Points. Beats the $50+ you’d have to shell out for a cart-only copy on eBay, and arguably better than Mario Power Tennis.
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Retro Reading Retro Reading

Konami was renowned for two particular licensed brawlers in the early 90s: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1989) and The Simpsons (1991). These were not the only two the company produced, however. Popular French comic book series Asterix was given the arcade game in 1992.

Watch a gameplay sample of the first level of Asterix in the video below.

Asterix captures the essence of the comic book, not only in its visual style but also its core theme. Players take Asterix the Gaul or his brother-in-arms and best friend Obelix through a series of seven levels where they fight against the oppression of the Roman Empire. Romans can be dispatched with a variety of attacks, ranging from the standard punches (greatly powered up from the Gauls’ magic potion) through to more humorous and humilating slaps to the face and ragdoll tossing.

The game plays out much the same way as other Konami brawlers, with one attack button and one jump button which can be combined to access more attacking moves. By holding the attack button down for a short burst, players can use their super punch attack, which delivers a great deal more damage. Asterix and Obelix are of relatively even power in the game, which is the only notable deviation from the source material. Gameplay is occasionally shaken up with a tough boss fight or bonus stage, one of which is a chariot race at the end of the first level. Asterix‘s visuals are of a high standard, with excellent pixel art and animation consistent with many of the best arcade brawlers of the era. It’s a great all-round package.

While Asterix is highly popular in continental Europe, he is still relatively obscure in America and other Western nations, meaning that this game did not receive the same widespread distribution as other Konami brawlers. Though numerous Asterix games were released for home consoles, this one did not, as Sega held the home console rights to Asterix for a number of years around the time of this game’s release.

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Forgotten Games, RGA TV 1992, Arcade, Asterix, Forgotten Games, Konami, RGA TV

With new projects in progress all over the place, I admittedly haven’t been keeping up with the latest retro news – for that I apologise. We’ll try to get back to weekly Retro Readings again soon, but in the mean time, this double edition will have to do.

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Interview: Frank Trzcinski at Sega-16

You may remember a couple of E3s ago that Sega announced they were reviving Vectorman for the PlayStation 2. It was an announcement seemingly out of the blue, but the project appeared to be troubled early, and ended up on the chopping block quite quickly. Lead production designer Frank Trzcinksi sheds some light on the development of the game in this interview.

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Sonic Heroes Beta (GCN/PS2/Xbox), Phantom Dust Beta (Xbox), Virtua Boy Tech demos featuring Virtual Boy Mario Land (VB), Devilman Beta (NES), Rip Squad (Arcade), Banjo-Kazooie: Grunty’s Revenge (GBA), Tarantula (PSX/SAT/PC), Gex Beta (3DO/PSX/SAT), Vette: San Francisco Thrills (PSX), Zone of the Enders: The Second Runner Beta (PS2), Fear Factor Unleashed (PS2/Xbox), Video Kid (SNES), Halloween Capsule (MD), Kyle Petty’s No Fear Racing (N64), Trigun: The Planet Gunsmoke (PS2), Offensive (PSX/SAT), Conker’s Bad Fur Day Beta (N64) and Melty Blood: Actress Again Beta (PS2/Arcade) at Unseen64

A solid fortnight’s worth of reading from Unseen64. I always die a little inside when I am reminded of the cancellation of the Trigun game for PS2. It’s a shame Virtual Boy Mario Land never came out – might have helped the system live a little longer. The Conker’s Bad Fur Day beta information is quite interesting – I wonder if anyone will ever snag the elusive Twelve Tales beta?

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Adam West, Video game journalist at 1Up Retro

Frank Cifaldi over at 1Up dug up this little piece Adam West wrote about video games in the July 1983 issue of Videogaming and Computergaming Illustrated magazine. It’s quite a refreshing view too, especially given that Mr West would have been in his 50s at the time.

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Super Nintendo Light Gun games and First Person Shooters at Racketboy

Contributor Ack presents a guide to the SNES’s limited range of light gun and FPS games. There’s a few more of the former than I had realised. A good starting point if you’re looking to find out more, but like most Racketboy articles, you’ll have to continue researching to get the full picture.

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Survival Horror 101 at Racketboy

Ack presents a beginner’s guide to the survival horror genre. Once again, a good starting point, but if you’re looking for a thorough history of the genre, look elsewhere. The article barely touches the more significant games in the genre, mostly name-dropping the big titles, though there is a nice list of the things that make a good survival horror game.

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Zone of the Enders 2 Retrospective at Eurogamer Retro

While it pushes the boundaries of what many would consider to be “retro” at this point in time, ZOE2 is arguably one of the best games on the PlayStation 2, so you should check out this article to find out why you need this game.

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Fahrenheit Retrospective at Eurogamer Retro

Eurogamer takes a look at Quantic Dream’s last gaming outing, doing a rather good job of mocking the title’s late gaming insane streak.

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SSX 3 Retrospective at Eurogamer Retro

Few will look on the “evil empire” era of Electronic Arts with fondness, but the odd good game did come out of the mega-publisher in the earlier half of this decade. SSX 3 was one such title.

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Nintendo Age May e-Zine at Nintendo Age (Registration requried)

This month’s Nintendo Age e-Zine has a particularly good in-depth look at what constitutes a sealed PAL NES game, which is a must-read if you’re into the whole sealed collecting thing. I guarantee that it will surprise you (guarantee not valid – RGA Legal).

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Dr Franken Reproduction now available at The NES Dump (via NES World)

Dr. Franken was a fairly decent Game Boy title which was meant to also come out on the NES (I understand the game was almost complete), but never did. For $US50, you can now buy a reproduction version of the game, complete with box, dust cover, manual and a protective slick.

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Recent Virtual Console Releases: Kirby’s Fun Pak (SNES) for 800 points

I just played through Kirby’s Fun Pak last week – it’s really quite good. Certainly one of the better Kirby outings.

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Retro Reading Retro Reading

When many of us think about Konami, we think about games such as Contra, Metal Gear and Castlevania – games which are still the company’s bread and butter in the present day. Konami is a company with a rich history, but many games they’ve produced have simply been forgotten over time. Over the next couple of weeks, we’ll be unearthing some of these titles in a new article series called Forgotten Games.

The first game we’ll look at is Combat School, a 1987 release which combines the button mashing fun of Track & Field with basic military training. Take a look at the video below to watch RGA play the opening level of the game.

Combat School pits two recruits, Nick and Joe against each other in a series of basic military training exercises such as the obstacle course, target shooting and a canoe race. Competing each event in the alloted time and you’ll progress to the next – the better you perform, the more extra time you’ll be awarded for the next event. Players will get to fight each other in hand-to-hand combat after completing the arm wrestling event (when playing alone, you will fight the instructor). Most games follow the button mashing control system established in Track & Field, so players will find that the game has little depth. However, the theme of the game is obscure enough to keep you coming back for more.

Should you defeat the instructor, Combat School will veer off on a weird tangent where you take on your first mission, which involves rescuing a bunch of VIPs from a terrorist attack. Unfortunately, the game proves less than competent in this area, with shoddy gameplay mechanics, poor collision detection and wretched controls. It’s pretty difficult to make it this far into the game, so many of you will be spared this bit.

Unlike most Konami games of the era, Combat School did not receive a port to the NES, which is probably the main reason why it has been forgotten. It did make to homes on various computer formats (Commodore 64, DOS, Amstrad CPC, and ZX Spectrum), but these ports are largely terrible.
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Forgotten Games, RGA TV 1987, Arcade, Combat School, Forgotten Games, Konami, RGA TV

Everybody digs the whole social media thing, so Retro Gaming Australia is getting in on the act. Today we’ve registered a YouTube channel, so you can watch me failing miserably at a range of classic video games. We’ve also got in on the Twitter thing, so I can annoy you in 140 characters or less to watch videos of me failing miserably at a range of classic video games.

YouTube: Retro Gaming Australia
Twitter: RetroGamingAus

Now let’s see if all of these feeds play nicely.

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