The team at Blue Wizard Digital(Slayaway Camp, Friday The 13th Killer Puzzle among many others) is at it again. This time, the classic game PONG gets the treatment and as you can see, well, if you’re a fan of vintage PONG or even PONG-curious. you’ll see even better that the vintage game has taken on a whole new life. Hmmmm, every time I type the word PONG, there’s a weird sound effect. Hear that? I should go put some music on or something.
I’ll keep this preview as short as can be because I need to go play this and review it, but if you got a grin going at that video, you’re on board the hype train and I’b about to come by and collect your ticket. The nice thing here is the game is a mere two bucks on Steam, but until March 10, it’s 34% off, so even the cheapest-minded cheapskate can buy and play this. Not that I think you’re all cheapskates mind you – budgeting correctly is important in this day and age, correct?
Remember kids, when you retro-trip, wear proper headgear. Falling too hard can be a hazard to your gaming skills. Or something like that.
Remember that C64 Mini post from a few months back? Well, the system is now available and it’s got a fair enough price point ($79.99 US) to recommend if your tastes roll towards the old school and you don’t mind a few quirks from the old days of gaming. There are a bunch of these mini-consoles out already or coming out this year and next thanks to Nintendo’s success with its shrunk-down NES and SNES systems, so we’ll see how well each does among gamers, collectors and anyone just looking for a simple to get into gift for that special someone.
Yeah, yeah, the emulation only crowd is chuckling away at these to some extent as they cut themselves a nice slice of Raspberry Pi. But if people who just want a fuss-free gift or just aren’t tech savvy enough to grab some sort of emulation device and swipe ROMs off the internet with relish, I say let them spend their money as they please especially if it makes them happy.
EDIT: Ah, I see one issue I’d read about elsewhere has been addressed. This is a good thimg:
Yeah, yeah, I know some of you are ogling these images and video in this post with a raised eyebrow, but hear me out. Sure, ethical issues aside, you can emulate away or go fiddle with a Raspberry Pi or some other device to run Commodore 64 games these days. But for those folks who aren’t tech savvy or just want a simpler means of playing those classics, the C64 Mini (set for a North American launch on October 9) will be right up their alley provided the price point is perfect and the console plays well enough for anyone interested to snap it up.
Now you can play a bunch of C64 classics and have your kids looking truly perplexed because they only recall Nintendo as “inventing video games” as I overheard recently. Yeesh.
Anyway, for an off the shelf console, the C64 Mini is pretty loaded, I’d say (but you’ll have to read below the jump to find out what’s in the box):
So, yeah. This thing’s getting bought before that NES Classic Mini for sure. Over three times as many games AND SD card support for the same low $59.99 price point? Yeah, that’s a sale and SHOULD be to any gamer no matter how loyal they are to the house that Mario built. Check out the new and complete list of games below:
Yep, SOLD. Or sold out well before the holidays, I bet.
I’d write more, but I’m still wiped out from jury duty an even though I had today off, I woke up with a nasty scratchy throat and a cough that’s not gotten much better despite most of the day spent resting and treating. Damn courthouses are just as bad as conventions for catching buds, I say. Yuck. Okay, off to bed for me, as I need to drag myself back down to the halls of justice for what I hope is the final day of service. Good night, now!
I’ve said this before, but after seeing this (too) brief teaser for the upcoming Retro-Bit Generations game console, I’ll say it again. While Nintendo clearly has brand recognition, a years longer and extremely loyal fan base, and an instant smash hit with its upcoming NES Classic Mini, the Retro-Bit may be a better fit for gamers looking to play more classic games, period.
Pre-orders are open and for that same MSRP, you get a more flexible system and over 60 more games including arcade, 8 and 16-bit classics. If the build quality and controllers on this are tight, I’ll be grabbing one of these first and going for that Mini once the frenzy over nostalgia beating sheer value dies down. These days, it just makes sense to go with value first. Well, at least in my book.
While Nintendo isn’t quaking in their boots at all (this morning’s 3DS Direct was pretty magnificent), the fine folks at Retro-Bit.com have released the not quite final list of NES and SNES games appearing on their upcoming Retro-Bit Generations console and it’s a doozy:
Bring the power and entertainment of an arcade to your living room with the Retro-Bit Generations – Plug and Play console. Since 2007, Retro-Bit® has been at the forefront of the retro gaming world, introducing innovative and exciting platforms to re-experience a treasured vintage gaming era. Continuing with that tradition, Retro-Bit Generations is packed with titles from world-renowned pioneer videogame developers.
Revisit and replay these classics on your own or with a friend with two retro-style six button controllers, for an authentic retro re-experience. Designed with a sleek user-friendly interface and an HDMI port, Retro-Bit Generations brings a new look for the old school gamer and delivers fun for all ages!
Features
Packed with popular retro games from world-renowned developers
2 USB Retro-style six button controllers
HDMI and AV Outputs
SD card slot to save and transfer game progress (SD card not included)
Sleek compact design
Intuitive user interface
Internal game save feature – Save your progress anywhere, any time!
Remember, this thing is supposed to retail for $59.99… and that games list isn’t even complete. If the RBG works as advertised and the controllers are solid, that already pre-sold out NES Classic mini may have a bit of competition. We’ll see, of course.
If you’re a huge enough fan of the Atari Lynx but missed out on its first original boxed (online) retail game in years, well guess what? ZAKU is back! Super Fighter Team has heard the pleas from Lynx collectors worldwide and is reissuing the instant classic for a final time in a 400 copy run.
Just go click on that link above and get that wallet out. Or you can read my old review as you click on that link to BUY THE GAME. Whatever you’re going to do, you better do it FAST, as this is guaranteed to sell out ridiculously quickly.
Remember that big news about the Nintendo-produced NES Classic Edition coming in November? Well, say hello to some actual competition. Gaming accessory manufacturer/distributor/sourcing agent Innex Inc. is planning to distribute a rather and looking quite essential cool mini console of its own called Retro-Bit Generations this year for the same $59.99 price point as Nintendo’s system, but with a much larger on board games lineup (100 titles!), two controllers, and a VERY handy SD card slot.
Check out the details below the jump. I’d never heard of Innex before today, but they just cracked my radar screen with this news. Click away here to check out their other Retro-Bit consoles. Thanks, Mika!
Yeah, yeah… I a bit late in picking this awesome deal up (it was released on August 6), but the RPG Trifecta Pack is all mine and I just saved a few hundred bucks in the process by not tracking down the out of production cart versions. Granted, the collector in me still wants to shell out for the two Genesis RPGs I’m missing from Super Fighter Team (I already have one of the few hundred copies of Star Odyssey here in the library), but this set will most certainly do.
Amusingly enough, if you happen to be the owner of a creaky PC from the last century, guess what? All of the games will actually run on any system with the following operating systems: Windows 8, 7, Vista, XP, ME, and 98SE (which is amazing but not unexpected, given emulation works well on any modern PC). Mac users? Well, you’ll need Mac OS X 10.5 and above. I don’t own a Mac, so I have no clue if that’s good, bad or ugly, but if you’re jumping up and down at home or the office, it’s all good. OK, I need to shut up and get downloading. Well, it’s only a 4MB file, so it’ll be quick, even on a crappy dial-up connection. Of course, I won’t get to PLAY any of these three until I whittle down my backlog here, so I guess this is an early holiday gift for myself – whee!
A quickie description of Corundum Games’ first titleInvasodado- The Cube Invaders would probably go something like this: Space Invaders marries a Match 3 puzzle game and like any couple, a good fight breaks out as the two halves battle it out over their differences. Of course, a winner is YOU thanks to the mix working so well. Anyway, this free open source download is a mighty fine way to kill a few too many hours and also wish for perfectly working time travel. Could you imagine the millions this tiny NYC (Go, hometown!) developer would have made back in the late 70’s and early 80’s if this one was an Atari cartridge? Or hell, what the size of the pile of loot they’d be sitting on if this was a NES and/or Game Boy pack-in?
Yeah, Invasodado has that deceptively simple retro thing working for it BIG time. It’s really easy to play but of course, you get that side order of tough to master as any classic game should be. The visual familiarity brings an instant smile and makes wanting to try a few waves a total no-brainer. As in Space Invaders, blast down those pesky invaders before they reach your base ship at the bottom of the screen and you’re halfway there. However, you’ll also need to pay attention to the colors of the aliens you shoot so you can match and take out the colored blocks stacking up before they reach the top of the screen. You can also clear a column of colors by shooting down a special target that drifts across the screen at random intervals (a good thing if those blocks are stacking up too high).
You can play for a few minutes and get your fix in, but I’m betting a few of you who really appreciate this style of visual and vintage gaming bliss will be hooked in for wave after wave (which should make for some bizarre dreams later on, I’d bet). Anyway, let’s keep this short because you have a game to download (yes, it’s FREE!). I’d actually love to see this get enough of an audience so it can be ported over to the 3DS and Vita at some point (which will hopefully make Corundum some money), but I guess we’ll see what happens in the future. Hey, if anything, the game will prepare a whole new generation for alien defense tactics (er, provided those particular space invaders move in predictable back and forth patterns and come in bright colors making them easy to shoot down and those cubes they transform into or drop don’t hurt if they fall on your head). Anyway, stop reading this and go download already!
"DESTROY ALL FANBOYS!" 