Retro Gaming Australia

Castlevania: The New Generation (Bloodlines for our North American friends, and Vampire Killer in its Japanese incarnation) was the first game in the franchise to be released on a Sega format. It saw the legendary Vampire Killer whip passed to a new, non-Belmont character, John Morris. Morris is joined by Eric Lecarde, whose girlfriend was transformed into a vampire when Dracula’s niece, Elizabeth Bartley, attempted to revive her uncle. The two join forces to destroy Dracula (yet again).

A couple of years ago, a Kickstarter campaign was run to produce a documentary series focused on the subject of competitive Super Smash Bros. Melee play, entitled The Smash Brothers. Said campaign was successful, and production on the series began in earnest.

Today, the producers behind the series have released the nine part documentary onto YouTube for your viewing pleasure. The series covers the background of the game and the rise of the competitive scene, explains some of the advanced techniques competitors employ while fighting, and follows the exploits of a number of big names in competitive Super Smash Bros. Melee play.

You can watch the series below.

May well be the worst week for auctions since I’ve been doing this.

Ufouria, HES Maxi-15 Pak, Pyramid, Snake Rattle n Roll (NES) – 0 feedback seller, exercise caution

Digimon World (PlayStation)

Donkey Kong Jr (Colecovision)

Zaxxon (Colecovision)

Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island (SNES)

Donkey Kong 64 is a divisive game. Some, like myself, feel that the game was a pretty solid platformer. Others feel that the game is the pinnacle of the absurd collect-a-thon that apparently plagued the 32/64-bit console era. No matter your stance, you’ll probably agree that the DK Rap was a bad idea.

Pix’n Love Publishing has set a rather high standard with their first two English books – the History of Nintendo series, so when I found out they were preparing a book on the history of Sonic the Hedgehog, I was pretty damn excited. That excitement increased further when it was revealed that Sega had endorsed the book.

The History of Sonic the Hedgehog promises an in-depth look at Sega’s most famous character and all of the games he has featured in, with plenty of choice pieces of concept art, colour pictures and factoids you may not know. (continue reading…)

We’ve been so spoiled by good Batman games in recent times that we tend to forget that pre-Arkham Asylum Batman games were largely terrible. Among the worst would be Batman & Robin for the PlayStation, based on the rather awful film of the same name. Another quality Acclaim product.

Tommo is not taking the public announcement from SNK of the cancellation of their Neo Geo licensing agreement lightly. In fact, they’re not going to stop selling the system, games and peripherals, insisting that the licensing agreement is still valid and in effect until 2016.

In a statement issued today, Tommo CEO Jonathan Wan stated “We’re continuing to sell NEOGEO X products, including the NEOGEO X GOLD System, Arcade Stick, MEGA PACK Volume 1 and Classics Volumes 1-5. The license agreement which allows Tommo to sell and market these products remains in effect.”

You can read the full statement here.

Not a particularly stunning week, but some decent system + games bundles around.

SNES w/ Super International Cricket, Super Bomberman, Donkey Kong Country 1 & 3

Sega SF-7000 Control Station – this is a floppy disk controller for the SC-3000, don’t think I’ve seen one listed in 3 years.

NES Toploader w/ Mario/Tetris/World Cup, Super Mario Bros. 2, Kirby's Adventure, and HES Maxi 15 Pack

Grape Purple Nintendo 64 w/ unboxed Fire Orange Nintendo 64

Shenmue and Shenmue II (Dreamcast)

Game Boy Advance Pokemon Emerald Bundle Pak

Sacrifice (PC Big Box)

NES w/ 37 boxed games – Melbourne area pickup only

Super Nintendo Bundle – 5 Game Pak (Super Mario All Stars + Super Mario World)

In a rather surprising and brutal move, SNK has publicly announced the termination of its licensing agreement with Tommo. Tommo has been responsible for the manufacture and distribution of the Neo Geo X console, which was officially licensed by SNK and included many classic Neo Geo games, either built in or in retail bundles.

The statement issued by SNK reads:

To whom it may concern:

Please be informed that the License and Distribution Agreement between TOMMO Inc. and our company is terminated as of October 2nd, 2013.
The Licensed Products set forth in the agreement are as follows;

Terminated Licensed Products:
– NEOGEO X GOLD Limited Edition
– NEOGEO X MEGA PACK VOLUME 1
– NEOGEO X Classics Vol. 1
– NEOGEO X Classics Vol. 2
– NEOGEO X Classics Vol. 3
– NEOGEO X Classics Vol. 4
– NEOGEO X Classics Vol. 5

Upon termination of the License and Distribution Agreement, SNK has demanded that TOMMO Inc. immediately cease any and all manufacturing, distribution, marketing & promotion and selling of the Licensed Products.

In addition, SNK has demanded TOMMO immediately cease all sales of the “SNK NEOGEO X Arcade Stick” product being sold separately from the NEOGEO X GOLD Plug and Play Console, and remove the “SNK NEOGEO X Arcade Stick” product from store shelves and online retailers. In order to protect our intellectual property rights such as “NEOGEO” and “SNK”, decisive measures will be taken against all unapproved NEOGEO X products not subject to the License Agreement.

Regarding customer support for any/all of the Licensed Products, please contact the retail store / online retailer from which the product(s) were purchased.
Thank you for your understanding and cooperation,

SNK PLAYMORE USA CORPORATION

That sounds like a cancellation with prejudice, no? Maybe someone from SNK actually tried using one.

I don’t think there was anyone out there who had a PC in the mid 1990s who didn’t own some form of shareware compilation CD. Most likely nestled on that CD would have been Jazz Jackrabbit, arguably one of the finer platformers on the PC.