Sometimes it’s difficult to parse every piece of retro gaming related news that flies through one’s news feed every week. We here at Retrospekt pride ourtself on producing up-to-date classic gaming related content, but until we annex the entire retro gaming world ;) we feel it’s our duty to record and share all the nostalgic gaming news that we uncover. For the sake of brevity and information dissemination, we’ll be providing a semi-regular curated list of the best retro news that passes our desks. We won’t necessarily make comment nor pass judgement on the news in our roundups, that can be better served in articles, reviews, interviews, opinion pieces, podcasts and videos. Instead, our roundups are intended for sharing of news and promoting thought and discussion within the classic gaming appreciating community.
And what a few weeks it has been. I personally can’t remember this much retro news crossing our way over such a short time ever! Here we go…
- As reported by the Daily Dot, Amazon has launched its new Retro Zone portal. In a stroke of marketing genius which taps into the current wave of the love of all things retro-gaming, the Retro Zone is a hub for purchasing anything related to classic games. In a move that is bound to be dangerous for many peoples’ wallets, mine included, Amazon has provided a central location for retro games, systems, clothing, figures, books, and more. Ouch, my credit card.
- One of the commonly reported failings of the variety of AtGames Sega clones has long been the audio inaccuracies that plague the range. SEGA Nerds reports that two fans have managed to solve the decade old problem by modifying a file on the TecToy Genesis SD card. Check out the evidence in the video below and click through this link to see how it works and how to install it.
- Nogalious is a retro-styled puzzle platformer currently being crowd-funded on Kickstarter. It is aimed to for release on a dizzying array of platforms both current and retro: Windows, MacOS, Linux, PS Vita, Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo Switch, Commodore 64, MSX, ZX Spectrum, and Amstrad CPC. There’s a wide range of reward tiers from the very affordable to a fantastic looking Super Collector’s Box Reward for an eye-watering 200€. Currently the campaign has quite a way to go to meet its goal within the next two and a half weeks, and we all hope it gets up…feel free to share this post to help it along.
- Talking about crowd-funding, Eight Bit Magazine issue #5 was fully funded a few days ago. There are a number of reward tiers and if you’re like me and have missed the great previous editions (including a few articles written by Paul) you can grab issues one to five for a very reasonable 26€, and a twelve issue subscription for 66€.
- A new Atari 2600 game, imaginatively titled Give Me My Pancake, was released last week. Modelled on Game & Watch style games, this release is free to download, but can also be purchased as a DIY kit, and also as a version with your own customised message coded into the game.
- Following on from last week’s news about the Replicade Atari Centipede 1:6 scale arcade machine is the news that a replica Tempest cabinet will also be released (with a tiny spinner!). The urge to purchase is increasing…
- “DOOM is Bonkers These Days” proclaimed Kotaku upon the release of the beta of Brutal Doom v21. Play as a tank, use more insane weapons, and generally have the DOOM vibe amped up even more. Check the video below (language warning)…we tend to agree with Kotaku’s assessment.
- Analogue are taking pre-orders for their cheapest FPGA console yet, the Super NT, for ‘just’ $190 US. Previously known for the aluminium-clad premium NT and NT mini, the Super NT uses FPGA core simulation not emulation to allow the device to play SNES cartridges flawlessly as explained in this Polygon article, but with the added benefit of HDMI output. Coming in four colour schemes and including an SD slot, time will tell if this new device gets similar FPGA core (unofficial) updates to those that allow the NT mini to simulate many old consoles.
- Here’s a fascinating essay about Joyce Weisbecker who was one of, if not the first, female game programmers. Previously undocumented, Weisbecker programmed for the RCA Studio II, a little known console from the mid 1970s. Possibly the first ever contracted game programmer, this essay is well worth a read as it delves into the limitations and challenges of creating games on such rudimentary hardware that were faced by the world’s first documented indie game developer.
- Do you have a hankering for a cocktail arcade machine but no space or a decor that won’t suit? Does your house have high end a sense of style and you a matching deep wallet? Look no further than UK furniture designer Surface Tension, who have created the Nucleus Arcade Coffee Table. A hidden drawer hides a full two player arcade panel (with trackball and spinner), there’s a Shuttle PC that runs over one hundred included games, a 32″ LCD display, and beautiful styling accompany a credit card battering $4000 US price tag. Check out this article on Maxim for more photos and details.
- IGN have compiled a video that looks at every Star Wars video game ever released (albeit some only rate the most fleeting of mentions). Ahhh, memories. How many do you own? Me personally, almost all of them, but there’s no accounting for taste…
- Check out these awesome shadow-box artworks available at the Etsy shop GlitchArtwork. With over thirty designs available there’s sure to be one that suits your taste and sense of nostalgia. I suspect there’ll be more than one in many cases! Thanks to our friends at Ausretrogamer for the find.
- At a Nintendo financial briefing on October 31 the company announced that the NES Mini would be re-entering production in 2018. This announcement was to the surprise of exactly zero people, in part because of the ongoing demand for the device, but also because the NES Mini uses exactly the same hardware as the SNES Classic. In other news from the briefing, Nintendo announced that they have already sold 2 million SNES Classic consoles, again shocking no-one that the demand for officially licensed retro consoles remains high.
- The Commodore 65 was an unreleased computer from the early 1990s featuring 256-color graphics, a 3.54 MHz processor and a maximum of 8 MB of RAM. Unless you have extremely deep pockets, it’s unlikely to ever reach the average punter’s hands. Enter Hi65: a high-level Commodore 65 emulator. Check it out and experience this rarely seen powerhouse (for its time of course).
- Indie Retro News have a preview and video for an upcoming conversion of Ghosts ‘N Ghouls (aka Daimakaimura) for the Atari STE. Although obviously very early, it already looks smooth and colourful. The enhanced version of the 16-bit Atari ST didn’t get too many exclusives that took advantage of its extra features (extra colour, sampled sound, smoother scrolling), so this is one we’ll be keeping an eye on. This link has a download of the game, where to my surprise the readme file indicates that it actually uses data from the arcade ROMs (not included of course)…wow!
- Also from Indie Retro News is information about the Commodore 64 port of Cookie, a game previously seen on the Spectrum. This single screen shoot-em-up, originally from Ultimate Play the Game, has been ported from scratch and best of all it’s free to download and play.
- Just wrapped up and successfully funded on Kickstarter is Project Hubbard, a two-in-one project with numerous CDs of Rob Hubbard’s classic gaming music as well as a 300 page book celebrating his life, music, technology, and impact. As is standard with this sort of project, there’s a wide range of supporter tiers including digital downloads, mugs, the hardback book, CDs, vinyl, and cartridges. Even though the Kickstarter has ended, never fear, the various packages can also be pre-ordered from C64audio.com.
- Who doesn’t love a bit of Netflix’s Stranger Things? Who’s already lapped up all of season two already? The pitch perfect rendition of the 1980s aesthetic resonates not just with those who were there, but also those who missed it the first time around. That said, no-one ever got that far in Dragon’s Lair in the arcade…no-one! There’s two pieces of relevant Stranger Things news this week that are in keeping with the series’ look and feel. Firstly, a completely free and appropriately pixelated action adventure game based on the series was recently released for iOS and Android. This 16-bit-esque title is really well thought out and designed, and pleasingly has no in-app purchases. It’s well worth a few hours of your time. Secondly, the video below from Vox focuses on the production of the series’ distinctively 80s opening credits. It’s a fascinating watch about the care and thought behind the design process behind something that might otherwise have been something inconsequential.
- CD32 Covers have just announced another CD compilation of Amiga games (completely unofficial we must point out). This time it’s all the Amiga games released by New Zealand’s Vision Software. The compilation can be downloaded from the English Amiga Boards FTP site.
- If this isn’t the best family Halloween costume ever I don’t know what is! The background story behind this can be found at Kotaku.
- These 1980s tees are amongst some of the most authentically recreated retro gaming apparel we’ve ever come across. Which ones are your favourites?
- Celebrating the tenth anniversary of Portal, Mondo are releasing the soundtrack on vinyl. In exchange for $30US you’ll receive a 180 gram grey and white record with a ‘magic wallet’ style cover (see it in action in the cute animated GIF below). Unfortunately the orange and blue version will be limited to 1000 copies for those who attend MondoCon in Texas this weekend. You can read more about the release at Mashable.
- It goes without saying that there’s a lot of retro gaming knowledge amongst the Retrospekt crew…and we all like to talk about it! Every Friday at 4:30PM and Saturday at 10:30AM (Adelaide time) on whippetradio.com you can hear Paul’s radio show. This week for example, he chatted about SNES classics, gaming trivia, previewed Mike’s gaming haikus, and much more. Hack The Dino, a fortnightly podcast with Ben from Retrospekt as one of the co-hosts, had Will on last weeks episode, talking about Retrospekt, arguing about what constitutes a 10/10 game, and partaking in the hit video game musical quiz DAN VS THE WORLD! You can check out the episode here.
- Finally, if you’ve made it this far you deserve not one but two musical treats. Here’s the Super Mario Bros theme played on two different devices. Which is your favourite?
