Retro Rumble 2016

January 26, 2016 by stopXwhispering

This weekend I had the first Retro Rumble game night and competition of 2016. I’m really happy that so many people could join! A total of 22 guys and gals were competing, and a few more were there spectating ^_^ It was a blast, and even though there were so many people competing everything went extremely smoothly!

Retro Rumble 2016

All of the 22 contestants got to compete in 6 games. The games that were played were:
Psycho Chaser for PC Engine, first stage, 1 life and best score.
Race for Philips Videopac, 2 minutes score attack.
Sonic 2 for Sega Mega Drive, first stage, speedrun, best time.
Phoenix for Atari 2600, 1 life, best score.
Daiku no Gensan for Famicom, first stage, one life, best score.
Sachen Tetris for NES, level 9, 30 lines, best score.

When all the games were played one team had the highest score and won the A-Team price! Congrats NinjaBrite, Matt8Bit & Slurpas!

The A-Team at Retro Rumble 2016

Matt8Bit from the A-Team at Retro Rumble 2016

Before the semi-finals we stopped for a retro gaming quiz that I put togehter ^_^ Some of the questions were a bit difficult on purpose but a majority of the questions had 4 options for answers :) The quiz master was KRS ^_^

Retro Rumble Quiz contestants

Wobbly, KRS, TekkenCarr and Slurpas made it to the semi-finals! They got to compete in three games. First up was Horace Goes Skiing for ZX Spectrum, where they had one pair of skis to get as high of a score as possible. Next up was Sugoi no Hebereke and VS Collection on the Super Famicom. It was a good fight!

Semi-finals at Retro Rumble 2016

VS Collection in the semi-finals at Retro Rumble 2016

Semi-finals at Retro Rumble 2016

Slurpas and TekkenCarr came out victorious and made it to the finals where they competed in Twinkle Star Sprites on Neo Geo MVS arcade, Joy Mecha Fight on Famicom and finally Pong on my new Ajax TV Game system ^_^ It was an even fight but the Pong match settled the score and Slurpas became our 2016 Retro Rumble Champion! Congraturation A Winner Is You!! XD

Finals at Retro Rumble 2016

Slurpas – Retro Rumble 2016 Champion!

Once the competition was finished we continued gaming all night long ^__^ So much fun! Thanks to everyone who attended! <3

Now here’s some more pics from the evening :D

Highscore competition in Race for Philips Videopac

I’m on Jon & Ted’s Excellent Gamecast! :D

January 22, 2016 by stopXwhispering

Jon & Ted have an excellent gaming podcast, and they invited me to talk about retro game collecting, but we ended up talking about a bunch of other things as well XD Like beer, IKEA, prison and virtual reality ^_^

Jon & Ted’s Excellent Gamecast has an awesome Boss Battle in each episode, I got to fight Dr. Wily!! XD Make sure to listen to the podcast and see if I manage to beat him ;D

The podcast can be found here >>

Thanks for having me on guys! It was a lot of fun :D

Commodore 64 collection all scanned!

January 6, 2016 by stopXwhispering

I’ve finally finished another library of games! Because of the hilarious and sometimes really pretty cover arts of the C64 cassettes I’ve focused on finishing this one first :) I’ve scanned every Commodore 64 game I have, a total of 144 games, well almost, when I just now finished I saw that I had missed about 10 games that probably had wondered off somewhere in the game room when I was scanning, but I’ll take care of those soon ;D

So check out all of the amazing cover arts of the C64 games I have here >>

Meanwhile, I would like to point out a few ones here that I am particularly fond of for various reasons ^_^Let’s start with Barbarian II!

I mean, just look at that actor they put in front of a camera! I don’t know if that look says “I will KILL you!” or “This is not what I had in mind…” XD

Trantor The Last Storm Trooper! Seriously?! Storm Trooper?! There were so many games back then that did everything to relate to Star Wars because it was popular.. but this guy is DEFINITELY no Storm Trooper! XD Here’s some other examples of “wannabe-Star-Wars-games”:

Star Paws – hahaha PAWS! XD

Death Star! Seriously?! This scene is strangely familiar..

Star Paws and Death Star!!!

You just gotta love everything from Llamasoft and Jeff Minter! XD Revenge of the Mutant Camels actually entails everything you see on the cover in the actual game!

Not to forget Voidrunner, also from Llamasoft, with a llama and a sheep in space suits! Brilliant :D

Hysteria.. yeah, that’s exactly what the cover screams! It’s hysterical! ^_^

Monkey Magic… are those supposed to be monkeys?? I love how one of them is just biting his thigh and he doesn’t even seem to care! XD

That’s EXACTLY how I pictured a Space Hunter….

OK, this is Star Wars.. real Star Wars… you can see that it’s R2-D2 and C-3PO in the picture.. but what are those other two generic 80’s futuristic disco people doing in the background?! I do NOT remember those two from the movies…

Strider 2! I love how everything had to be so over the top on the covers back in the day! He’s got a pony tail like Van Damme, a sword on his back, a laser gun in his hand while he’s flexing his other arm and jump-kicking some poor robot!! XD

In one of my Tetris games for C64 there was this little form you could send in to win a special 4 day holiday for 2 people in Moscow!! “Tetris – the first word from Russia” hahaha XD

The Halls of the Things… What things?!?!? Either they couldn’t figure out what they programmed was supposed to look like… or it’s a way to intrigue you to buy it, just to figure out what those damn “Things” actually are… I guess we will never know..

To check out all the scans of my Commodore 64 games, go to the Commodore 64 Collection ^_^ Also accessible from the menus :D

Ajax TV Game – a super sleek pong console

January 4, 2016 by stopXwhispering

I’ve been on the look out for Pong machines recently, mainly to train my skills before the yearly Swedish Championships of Pong that takes place each year at Retrogathering ^_^ I’ve been attempting to compete since 2014, but haven’t had anything to train on except my Philips Odyssey 2001, which has a quite different feeling than the original Atari Pong console. While scouting for an Atari Pong, like the ones they use in the competition I stumbled upon this beauty on eBay! It was so cheap and yet beautiful that I couldn’t help but buy it ^_^

I’ve never heard of the Ajax TV Games before, it’s from the UK, or at least that’s where I bought it from. It was complete, the box is a bit tattered but the console is in excellent condition! Shining white! It’s also so stylish and well designed! It can run on batteries or a power adaptor (which wasn’t included), and all the outputs for antenna and other chords plus the battery container is hidden behind a sleek compartment where you could also store the controllers, because they’re so tiny! Just look at this beauty ^_^

“Most exciting…fascinating home video games ever built
for your family.”

Ajax TV Games TG-621 in box

Ajax TV Games console box side

Ajax TV Games system box side

Ajax TV Game system

Ajax TV game chord compartment

Ajax TV Game with controllers

Ajax TV Game controller

The controllers really are tiny, one of the controllers is a liiiittle bit slower to turn than the other, but they both work fine. I tried it out for the first time today :)

The machine itself has loads of settings! You can turn the sound on and off, it comes straight from the system and is basically just beeps for when the ball hits the paddle. You can change angles between +-20°/40° or just +-20°, I guess this is how the ball will fly when it hits the edge of a paddle. There’s also two different speeds, H and L, High and Low I guess. You can choose between Auto serve or Manual and you can also set the bat size (the size of the paddle) between L and S, Large and Small.

Apart from this there’s 4 various game modes to choose from, Tennis, Hockey, Handball or Practice mode :)

This sucker takes no less than 6 C batteries to play!!!! Hahaha ^_^ I need to get an adaptor…

When I first tried finding the channel I had trouble. Two of my TVs refused to find it. The second one scrolled through a tuning that looked perfect, but refused to stop there, if I forced it to stop there it went bad again.. and whenever it did stop everything on the screen was warped like I was seeing double.. Eventually I got it working on the third TV though, luckily I have many TVs ;D

Here are the four variations of Pong that can be played on the Ajax TV Game :) I find Tennis to be the most fun one. Handball was kind of different though, I’ve never seen it before on a Pong machine. You take turns on hitting the ball, it gets a bit confusing to see which one is you or who’s turn it is. If the wrong paddle tries to hit it the ball just goes straight through. I would call this squash.. not handball.. XD

I didn’t have anyone to battle with so it was my left hand VS my right hand! (I’m right handed), but I recorded some gameplay of the Ajax TV Game, the first video is a game of Tennis on slow setting, and I was amazed at which hand came out victorious! It was hard focusing on turning the wheel in mirrored ways since I had it in two different hands XD The second video is of first Tennis on high speed and then some Hockey and Handball so anyone who’s interested can see how those look as well :) It was extremely difficult just controlling the paddle with one thumb!

The Ajax TV game system is a great addition to the collection! So pretty and works like a charm! Now I just need to find myself the original Pong console! ^_^

Stepping up my Sega game! Alien Soldier and more! :D

January 3, 2016 by stopXwhispering

I’ve had a lot of focus on Japanese games and systems lately, mainly Famicom, Super Famicom and PC Engine. This means I haven’t bought as much for Sega Mega Drive or Master System, except for the occasional Japanese Mega Drive title, but not to long ago my friend likilato started selling some retro games, and not just any retro games, basically some of the more sought after expensive titles out there that you don’t see every day! And I of course couldn’t refuse buying everything I didn’t already have more or less >_< So here goes, this is what I picked up for the Sega Mega Drive and the Sega Master System:

Alien Soldier – Sega Mega Drive

The Adventures of Batman & Robin – Sega Mega Drive

SeaQuest DSV- Sega Mega Drive

Wonder Boy in Monster World – Sega Mega Drive

Darius II – Sega Mega Drive

Mega Turrican – Sega Mega Drive

Wolverine Adamantium Rage – Sega Mega Drive

Addams Family Values – Sega Mega Drive

Justice League Task Force – Sega Mega Drive

Master of Weapon – Sega Mega Drive

Steel Empire – Sega Mega Drive

Task Force Harrier EX – Sega Mega Drive

Aero the Acro-bat – Sega Mega Drive

Aero the Acro-bat 2 – Sega Mega Drive

Slap Fight – Sega Mega Drive

Let’s start with all the Sega Mega Drive games that I’ve tried out:

Alien Soldier – this is a sidescrolling action platform game which is brilliant! I started by checking the options, and you had two choices, Super Easy or Super Hard! Hahaha! Both settings are quite difficult though.. The controls are super fluent, and I’m definitely gonna spend some more time with this game to see how far I can get :)

The Adventures of Batman & Robin – This game didn’t work at first, I had to buy one of those screwdrivers for Sega cartridges and once I opened it up and cleaned it some more I finally got it working properly :D It looks amazing, the music is cool and the gameplay is fun, until it gets repetitive.. The stages are really long and you’re just sidescrolling through the same scenery over and over again with the same enemies in slightly different numbers from various directions.. It’s still fun for a while though, but it’s gonna take patience and time to beat..

Slap Fight – This was one of the more expensive titles, and it’s from Japan. It looks like a pumped up version of Xevious o_O It’s a vertical shmup, catchy soundtrack, powerups and stuff you’d expect from a 16-bit shmup. Don’t know why it’s so expensive though, maybe because it’s rare?

Wonder Boy in Monster World – This Monster Boy game is extremely inferior to other titles in the series, boring and sooo slooooow… o_O Of course the graphics are cute and colorful, but that doesn’t matter if the gameplay is boring.. IMO

Darius II – A fun horizontal shmup with loads of power ups and you get to pick which way you want to go through the stages, I think it makes it less repetitive when you can have different outcomes each time you advance if you pick different routes :) This is also a Japanese release.

Mega Turrican – When I first encountered the Turrican games it was Super Turrican on the NES, and this game blew my mind! Then I bought the Turrican game for Mega Drive which sucked in comparison :( This one however was definitely better, much nicer graphics, faster movement, smoother controls, better music, but the 8-bit Super Turrican game is still my favorite ;)

Wolverine Adamantium Rage – This is a sidescrolling action game that looked stunning at first sight, the graphics are really rad, but the controls are so stiff it’s just a pain in the ass to steer wolverine around >_>

Addams Family Values – In this game you play as Fester and it’s a top down adventure game. Not my type of game and I got stuck pretty early on in the game :/

Justice League Task Force – This is a fighting game with all the Justice League characters. I played a bit of the campaign, I played as Batman ^_^ It was fun for a while, but I’m not that into fighting games either, so I can’t really tell if it’s a good one or not. The graphics were ok though :)

Master of Weapon – Another Japanese vertical shmup, fast paced and pretty cool :) It’s got a field of depth and you can drop bombs on stuff below.

Steel Empire – This is a sidescrolling horizontal shmup from Japan, the setting feels a bit steampunk :) The soundtrack is good and the controls are nice. You can shoot both in front of you or behind you. A well made game ^_^

Task Force Harrier EX – Also a vertical shmup from Japan, detailed graphics and futuristic setting. It’s very very grey in the beginning, but gets more colours later on.

Aero the Acrobat 1 & 2 – These two are sidescrolling platform games. Cute graphics and you’re an acrobatic bat.. I thought they were pretty mediocre compared to all the awesome platform games out there with cooler characters.. Like Zero the Kamikaze Squirrel, Marsipulami, Earthworm Jim, Ristar, Sonic, James Pond, Battletoads, Mr. Nutz, Rocket Knight, Toki just to name a few!! ;D

SeaQuest DSV – This game was awful! Haha ^_^ You play as some sort of futuristic submarine that’s supposed to take out other ships under the sea, and the controls are just awful…

Alf – Sega Master System

Asterix & The Great Rescue – Sega Master System

Power Strike II – Sega Master System

James Buster Douglas Knockout Boxing – Sega Master System

Streets of Rage II – Sega Master System

T2 Terminator 2 Judgement Day – Sega Master System

Wonderboy in Monster Land – Sega Master System

Out Run 3-D – Sega Master System

Home Alone – Sega Master System

Cheese Cat-Astrophe – Sega Master System

Championship Hockey – Sega Master System

Buggy Run – Sega Master System

Alf – I’ve been searching for this game for quite some time, mainly because of the cool cover, and because I used to love the show when I was younger :) Playing the game wasn’t as fun as I had expected though :/

Asterix & The Great Rescue – This was a fun sidescrolling platformer, much like the other Asterix games, felt a bit more polished than the first Asterix game on Master System though :)

Power Strike II – Vertical shmup with really awesome soundtrack and a cool back story ^_^ You can select various weapons at the start which is quite unusual for 8-bit shmups. It’s fast paced, colourful and has nice graphics!

James Buster Douglas Knockout Boxing – It’s a boxing game.. I bought it because I didn’t have it, and apparently it’s rarely seen for the Master System.. Quite detailed for an 8-bit boxing game, but I didn’t play it for long.

Streets of Rage II – A lesser version of the Streets of Rage II for Sega Mega Drive. This series really does shine in 16-bit, not as much in 8-bits unfortunately :/ Still a decent game though.

T2 Terminator 2 Judgement Day – A sidescrolling action game. I think you’re supposed to be the Terminator, but you don’t really look like him. I think AVGN made a review of this game a while back, together with all the other Terminator games. Decent, but repetitive.

Wonder Boy in Monster World – This Wonder Boy title however is much more fast paced than the Mega Drive game I bought, and more of a challenge. It’s a really fun platforming adventure game :)

Out Run 3-D – This is the second 3D game I got for the Master System, this forced me to invest in a pair of those Sega Master System 3D glasses because trying to play the game without them makes you think you’re having an epileptic attack or that the game is suffering from Parkinsons >_<

Home Alone – I couldn’t make it past the first screen XD It’s some sort of re-enactment of the movie, but I didn’t know what to do or where to go.. sucky!!

Cheese Cat-Astrophe – This game kept me entertained for a while, it’s a sidescrolling platform game starring the Looney Toons character Speedy Gonzales. He’s definitely speedy, not Sonic-speedy but speedy none the less, you easily run past and miss the objective XD The graphics are a bit dull though. A lot of brown and yellow and not very detailed backgrounds, just a lot of repetitive single coloured areas.

Championship Hockey – It’s hockey, and I hate sports.. This was also an unusual one though, so I bought it.. Hoping that my fiancée would enjoy it, but he hasn’t tried it yet.. :(

Buggy Run – A top-view racing game that kind of reminds me of micro machines. It was okay, but I’d much rather play RC Pro AM which is way more fluent ;D

That was all the Sega games I bought from likilato, he was kind enough to throw in a few extras! ^_^ I got 9 cassette games for Commodore 64. These were Vigilante, Star Paws, Slap Fight (which I bought for Mega Drive, haven’t had time to compare them yet though), Sky Runner, Silent Service, Hunchback II Quasimodo’s Revenge, Karnov, Bionic Commando and Vengeance. Star Paws looked completely awesome and is such a fun pun on Star Wars! XD It was not as fun playing as I had hoped though, you’re basically just a dog running around on a planet in space chasing birds.. I love the cover art for Karnov and Vengeance as well, they look badass! :D

I also got 2 Amiga 500 games, Ivanhoe and Keef the Thief. Ghouls’n’Ghosts was for another system that I don’t have.. don’t remember which one right now, and Tangled Tales was for the C64 floppy disks, and I don’t have a disk reader for my Commodore 64.. yet ;D