Retro Gaming Australia

Super International Cricket was the long-awaited follow up to International Cricket, one of the most popular NES games in Australia. It came out as part of a relative resurgence in interest in the SNES in Australia, which was led by games like Donkey Kong Country and Killer Instinct. One of the game’s unique features is an appeal button, which lets you appeal incessantly to the umpires.

Today, May 17, marks the 10 year anniversary of the release of the Nintendo GameCube in Australia.

The Australian launch took place some eight months after the Japanese launch, much to the chagrin of local Nintendo fans. In fact, Nintendo Australia didn’t even have a planned launch date until some three months after the American launch.

The successor to the Nintendo 64, the GameCube had strong pre-release buzz in Australia, helped along by a nice pre-launch price drop from $AU399 to $329. It had a varied launch lineup, although it was the first Nintendo home console to launch without a Mario game. (continue reading…)

Everybody’s favourite pink blob turned 20 today, so we’ve rolled out a classic Kirby ad in celebration. Kirby’s Avalanche and Kirby’s Dream Course are just two of a multitude of Kirby spin-offs, but they’re still fantastic games. Heck, Avalanche (or Ghost Trap) is just a reskinned version of Puyo Puyo, developed by Compile.

Killer Instinct was one of the most stunning looking arcade games upon release in 1994, and the fact Rare managed to get it running on the SNES is a testament to the skill of the company at that stage. It’s a shame the underlying game just isn’t that good – though it’s way better than its sequel.

A couple of months ago, we wrote a review of The History of Nintendo Vol. One – 1889-1980 – and we loved it. That book is the best researched and fleshed out investigation of Nintendo’s pre video game history available.

So you can imagine that we were feverishly anticipating the release of the other books in the series. The History of Nintendo Vol. Two – The Game & Watch Games, has just been released in English by Pix’n Love Publishing, and it’s damn good, too.

The second book picks up where the first left off by venturing into the development of the Game & Watch. The book is split into four segments, the first chapter details the development of the Game & Watch technology, the games and its impact on the market, the second is a detailed breakdown of every Game & Watch game (of which there were more than 50) and variant ever released, the third is an examination of clones and variants inspired by the Game & Watch, while the last segment focuses on post-Game & Watch LCD games released by Nintendo. (continue reading…)

If you didn’t already know, April 27 marks 20 years since Kirby made his debut on the Game Boy in Japan with the release of Hoshi no Kirby, better known to us as Kirby’s Dream Land.

Yesterday at the Nintendo Direct briefing, the company detailed their plans for the event which will involve the release of 3D Classics: Kirby’s Adventure for the 3DS and an as-yet undetailed anniversary collection disc for the Wii, not unlike the 25th Anniversary release of Super Mario All Stars.

No dates have been set, but suffice to say that if you enjoy Kirby games (which you should) then this will be a good year.

Last week, news broke that Nintendo had acquired the “supermario4.com” domain name and speculation as to meaning ensued. Shigeru Miyamoto, in an interview with Korean website Betanews overnight, has confirmed that Super Mario 4 is currently in development.

No details about the upcoming title were released, save for the announcement of its existence. It is unknown whether Super Mario 4 is the 2D Mario game for the Nintendo 3DS that was promised last year or the Wii U Super Mario title (to be shown at E3 this year). Perhaps it is something new entirely?

With Super Mario Bros. 4 deemed already in existence by many (referring to Super Mario World – subtitled Super Mario Bros. 4 in Japan), we are curious as to how this new Super Mario 4 will eventuate and keen to hear the choice of name/codename explained. Super Mario 3D Land has Super Mario Bros. 3 at its core, maybe this Super Mario 4 will have a similar relationship with Super Mario World. Only time, and Nintendo, will tell.

Miyamoto stated that more details would be revealed soon.

In a recent interview with Edge, Shigeru Miyamoto has once again expressed interest in reviving the Super Nintendo classic The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past.

Last year, Miyamoto stated A Link to the Past (which he produced) was the game he would most like to see remade for the Nintendo 3DS. Miyamoto confirmed that while he would still like to see an enhanced 3D port or remake of the original game, he would be much more interested in creating a new game perhaps “based on, or starting from, A Link to the Past.” Miyamoto went on to say “I think it’s important to bring some really new software.”

“To be very honest and open, it really depends on the directors that have time at the moment as well,” he said. “Some directors, I can give them the title and I know they will do something great with it. Other directors I’m not so 100 per cent confident [in], so they’re the ones I’d rather take a more remake approach to the title.“

A Link to the Past is my personal favourite of the Legend of Zelda series (hence the site banner) and I would truly love to see the title revisited, preferably by way of a new game. However, it would appear that such a game will not come into existence until Miyamoto can entrust the title to the right game director. That’s A-OK with me; I’ll happily continue to wait with bated breath.

Nintendo of America has registered the “supermario4.com” domain, but what does it mean?

Earlier in the year, Nintendo’s president Satoru Iwata announced they were working on a new 2D Mario game for the Nintendo 3DS. Could it be that this promised 2D Mario adventure is going to be Super Mario 4?

Many would argue that Super Mario 4 already exists, as Super Mario World was subtitled “Super Mario Bros. 4” in Japan. Perhaps the lack of such a subtitle for the western release of Super Mario World leaves Super Mario 4 wide open for use by Nintendo of America. This wouldn’t be the first time that audiences outside of Japan received a Super Mario Bros. game of a differing name, with the Japanese release of Super Mario Bros. 2 being known as Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels and the western release of Super Mario Bros. 2 (the redeveloped Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic) being titled Super Mario USA in Japan.

However, the recent domain registration might not relate to any currently planned project and may simply be Nintendo purchasing domain names to prevent others from using them.

Discovered by an IGN reader, the supermario4.com domain name was registered in April of this year but has apparently been in existence since 2007. Visiting the URL reveals no clues as to it’s meaning, it simply redirects to Nintendo’s country selector page.

So, now we play the waiting game.

20 years ago today, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System launched in the United Kingdom. The SNES was a lot more popular with gamers in the UK, taking a much bigger chunk of the market than its predecessor. Though the battle was hard fought, Sega still claimed victory in the 16-bit era in the UK.

Gamers from Old Blighty had to wait some 18 months from the Japanese launch for the SNES to hit their shores. Imagine the furore if that were to happen today (especially from us Australians, who had to wait another 3 months on top of that).

UK developers had quite a bit of influence on the SNES’s lifespan – the Super FX chip was developed at Argonaut and the company teamed up with Nintendo to develop Starwing and Stunt Race FX. Rare became a driving force behind Nintendo’s first party efforts following the release of Donkey Kong Country. DMA Design (now Rockstar North) became part of Nintendo’s “dream team” of Nintendo 64 developers following the excellent Unirally.

We recommend that you read a couple of issues of Super Play, the best UK SNES magazine in celebration.