Retro Gaming Australia

How about a hardware ad for a change?

The Amiga CD32 was Commodore’s second attempt at making a home console out of its computer systems. The machine launched in the UK and Australia in late 1993 to a reasonably good reception. Unfortunately, it was too little too late for the company, as years of heavy losses and mismanagement sunk the company before it could launch the CD32 in the United States.

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How about something a little different

Kwirk was a maze/puzzle game released by Acclaim for the Game Boy when the console was in its infancy. As a result, the game became something of a hit – enough to prompt Acclaim to use the character in a cartoon called The Power Team (and later Acclaim Masters), which was basically a knock off of Captain N: The Game Master, but only featuring characters that appeared in Acclaim video games. Freaky.

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My bunghole speaks loud!

Beavis and Butthead in Virtual Stupidity has the dubious honour of being the only good Beavis and Butthead game. It’s a point ‘n’ click adventure game with a few amusing mini-games. Bizarrely, the game was ported to the PlayStation, but only released in Japan.

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Today marks 20 years since Sonic the Hedgehog was released.

Sonic the Hedgehog was the game which changed Sega’s fortunes in America. The bold decision to package the machine’s killer app with the console led to unprecedented sales and a massive market share. This ad comes from the UK – if you look closely, you will see that Sega distribution was still being handled by Virgin Mastertronic at this time.

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Another one of those super expensive Saturn games.

Panzer Dragoon Saga has developed a reputation for being one of the best games that few people have played, thanks in large to the hopelessness of the market situation of the Sega Saturn when the game was released. This ad comes from North America, where as few as 10,000 copies of the game exist. The game was actually a big success in Japan, but you kind of need to know Japanese to take advantage of its availability.

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Sorry for the lateness of today’s post.

Cubivore was developed by Saru Brunei and Intelligent Systems for the Nintendo GameCube in 2002. Nintendo published the title in Japan, but decided not to localise it. In an uncharacteristic move, they licensed the game to Atlus, who published the game in North America. The game is somewhat difficult to find due to a small print run, and can command a premium price.

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Naughty Dog’s final PlayStation platforming effort.

Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped was released for the PlayStation in 1998. It was the most critically successful game in the series, but it was the last time that series creator Naughty Dog would work with the character in a platforming game. After this, Universal Interactive took the game to Traveller’s Tales, then to Radical Entertainment, but could never replicate the success. This ad is for the US release of the game.

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Pizza time!

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time is a port of the second arcade game to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. It retains the numbering from the NES series, though the third game, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: The Manhattan Project, was only released in America. This ad originates from the UK, where the Ninja Turtles were called the Hero Turtles due to parental concerns about the level of violence implied by the word “ninja”.

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The game that turned the tides of the 16-bit conflict.

Donkey Kong Country was the ape’s first home console outing in almost a decade. The game boasted graphics at a quality unseen at that point in time, thanks largely to Rare’s Advanced Computer Modelling technique, whereby characters were rendered as 3D models and converted into sprites. It is still the most successful western developed game released in Japan, having sold over 2 million copies there, and about 8 million total worldwide. This ad is for the UK release of the game.

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The game that started it all

Mega Man was released by Capcom in North America in 1987 and by Mattel Europe/Australia in 1988. The character has gone on to star in more than 50 games over 8 different series. This ad is for the US version of the first game of the series, which is often highlighted as an example of terrible box art.

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