Retro Gaming Australia

Apologies for the long time between articles and the lack of notice. It had been three years since I had taken an exam and had to focus on something that wasn’t related to the video games industry, so the amount of study required was somewhat ludicrous by my own standards. With a month having past since the last Retro Reading column, there’s actually things to post about!

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ICOM MacVenture series, Codename: ICEMAN and Toonstruck at Hardcore Gaming 101

HG101’s last couple of updates have been fixated on classic PC adventure games, and this one is no different. Would be nice to see them update some of their other content this month – I tried reading through everything on the site recently, and a large number of entries are slowly but steadily becoming outdated.

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Interview: Matt Furniss at Sega 16

I’d never heard of Matt Furniss before reading this, but it turns out he was quite prolific in producing soundtracks for a number of British-developed games throughout the 90s. There’s some insight here into what it was like to work with the Mega Drive sound chip, and what makes for good game music.

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Top Rider at 1Up Retro

Sometimes non-arcade stick third party accessories aren’t just junk – they’re frightfully obscure as well. This one is some kind of mix between an inflatable punching bag and a set of handle bars designed for controlling a racing game of the same name.

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Remembering the Videogames Rating Council at 1Up Retro

Before the ESRB, Sega of America attempted to establish its own ratings system, largely as a response to the fact they were getting the lion’s share of the blame at the senate committee hearings. It was a simple system with three classes of ratings – GA, MA-13 and MA-17. It’s similar today, but what was once one rating for GA is now three – EC, E and E-10. Locally we’ve always had the same – G, PG, M, MA, though that may soon change.

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3DO Interactive Multiplayer 101: A Beginner’s Guide at Racketboy

Racketboy’s 101 articles are always a good place to start if you need to know more about a console. However, if you read them with pre-existing knowledge of a console, you might find his insights lacking or possibly even wrong.

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The Best Undiscovered 2D Fighting Games at Racketboy

Like most Racketboy articles, your mileage may vary on this one. If you’ve never looked into the Saturn or PSX importing scenes, you’ll probably find a wealth of new information on fighters you’d never heard of. If you have a JP Saturn or PSX, chances are the vast majority of these games will be known to you, and some of their merits may be debatable.

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Retrospective: Max Payne at Eurogamer Retro

Alan Wake is being released this week after some 6 years of hype, so Eurogamer’s taken the opportunity to revisit the game that put Remedy on the map (for most people – for me it was Death Rally).

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Final Fantasy Orb at GameSniped

This odd little competition prize from 1990 popped up recently, though like anything Final Fantasy, the seller wants an arm and a leg for it.

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The Ryo Hazuki Forklift Racer at Sega Memories

I am so goddamn jealous.

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A Crazy Taxi Toy at Sega Memories

Living in regional Queensland, I’m not privvy to the merchandise that comes out with most popular games, which is why I’m highly amused by this Crazy Taxi toy.

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Tiger’s R-Zone at Sega Memories

Hey, nothing could be worse than the Virtual Boy, right? WRONG!

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32 Xtreme (32X), Hell on Wheels (PS2/Xbox), Neo Geo Battle Coliseum Beta (ARC/PS2), Mech Arena (PC/Xbox), Untitled 2015 Shooter (circa 2004, PC/Xbox), Dragon Sword 64 (N64), Last Action Hero (MCD), Pulseman Beta (MD), Wild Justice (PS2/Xbox), Stackers (GCN/PC), Allegiance (3DO/SAT/PSX), MDK2 Beta (PC/DC), Campire (PS2/Xbox), Dragon Quest VIII Beta (PSX), Zero Tolerance Beta (MD), DNAction: The New Breed (SNES/MD), Mega Man X Command Mission Beta (PS2/GCN), Spellcraft (SNES), Cold Winter Beta (PS2), Sorcery (PSX), Rocketboy (SAT), Alien Breed: Conflict (PC/DC), The Fallen (PC/PSX), Kamikaze Comics (MCD), Jester (MD), Warhammer: Dark Crusaders (PC), Darkside (SAT), Star Fox Beta (SNES), Big Guns / Exodus (PSX), Shattered Nations (PC), Runebird (Xbox), Shell Shock (32X), Abraxas (PC), Nero Zero (Hasbro VR), Environmental Detective (MD/SNES), Crusader: No Pity Tech Demo, Flying Nightmares 2 (PC/PSX/SAT), Metal Head Beta (32X), Jet Ski Rage (32X), Joe the Wall (SNES), Lady Sia 3D (PS2/GC), Lady Sia 2 (GBA), Bean Ball Benny (MD), Fahrenheit Beta (PC/PS2/Xbox) at Unseen64

And here’s the downside of not updating for a month – catching up on sites that update daily. As you can see, Unseen64 has posted a ton of stuff recently, particularly in the way of cancelled 32X games and last-gen beta stuff.

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Last Month’s Virtual Console Releases: Mega Man 4 (NES, 500 Points), Indiana Jones’ Greatest Adventures (SNES, 800 Points), The King of Fighters 95 (Neo Geo, ? Points), Final Fantasy (NES, 500 Points) and Ghoul Patrol (SNES, 800 Points)

Nintendo appears to have taken to hiding the cost of games on their online VC catalogue again, so I’m without prices on most of these (I figure they’re mostly standard anyway). Wide range of titles over the last month – a number of key NES classics in particular.

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