David Kudrev
Written by David Kudrev
Every 3 or so months, Adelaide gets embraced with one event which no other event in this town can compare to, oh wait, maybe because it’s the premier event for cocktails, chiptunes, retro video gaming, and competitions all under the one roof. Enter Ultracade. Note that I’m writing this report just as I got home from the event, and still buzzing on the cocktails drenched with lush energy drinks and themed names for said concoctions.
So this Ultracade Live in particular, is quite a special one. I’d say a large percentage of us retro-gamers would have had at least one SEGA console in their childhood, it’s not like they made many consoles or anything… Ultracade Live is situated at the cosy, intimate and classy cocktail lounge La Boheme (Grote St, opposite Coles), the perfect setting for a perfect Thursday evening of visual, audible, and drinkable geekdom.
Every event offers themed cocktails for the night, since this is a SEGA one, the two up for grabs were:
Sonic Speed, and
Egg Man.
So of course, what is a retro-games night at a cocktail lounge without music? None other than the talented DJ Tr!p providing music for the event, consisted a lot of classic SEGA tunes (amongst some very well-selected chiptunes as well) later into the night, accompanying with some energetic trip hop beats prior to get the mood going.
Okay lets get to the games! We had a plethora of Mega Drive, Dreamcast, Saturn and Master System classics laid out, for the drunk geeks (including myself) to grab and compete/vent with. I took a punt at Columns, and failed.
With other major tournaments on, like Daytona’s fastest lap,
and the super secret Street Fighter tournament which was then exposed publicly on the big screen nearing the end of the night. That tournament was hosted by the ever-so-cool folk from Game Dork fashion. If you haven’t checked their apparel out yet, then do yourselves a bloody favour and hit their Facebook fanpage!
With everyone in high spirits having an amazing time, many even made the effort to dress up as favourite characters!
This is exactly what Adelaide needs! An event for those who appreciate the social aspects of gaming, to have a drink, a laugh, a yarn, and to simply run amok be it with a controller, or around the venue with mates. Once again everyone who was involved with the event deserve a HUUUUGE pat on the back for presenting a great Ultracade. Here’s to the many more to come ahead of us, Adelaide loves you for it!
Oh I forgot to mention, I took some trial recordings of the event with the Qik service. So for those who did miss it, we tested out the service and worked pretty well, here’s one of a few raw candid shots taken from the night. The rest can be viewed at qik.com/retrospekt, but for now.. Footage: