Café på Bit & Retro Gaming in Skellefteå

April 29, 2015 by stopXwhispering

This weekend I visited a dear friend way up north in Sweden :) I brought an NES so we could try out some adventure games and also play my latest Tetris acquisition, Tengen Tetris, since my friend loves Tetris! ^_^ We had loads of fun with the co-op mode of Tengen Tetris, and also played a bunch of other games, like Xexyz!

Xexyz is an awesome adventure game that merges platforming action with sidescrolling shooting ^_^ It’s also really pretty and colorful, and you get to see fairies in bath tubs! haha ^_^

Another game that we played was Wurm: Journey to the Center of the Earth which is also really cool :) It is also a merge of platformer/shmup, but it also has a strategic boss battle element :) This dinosaur was really annoying >_<

We also played Zen: intergalactic ninja! This game is hard!! But I love how they’re making it all about environmental friendliness haha ^_^ Every stage is about fighting pollution in some way, and in the bonus stages you recycle trash! LOL! I’ve never encountered such an environmentally aware Ninja ;D

Last game we played was Karnov, and we got stuck on the 5th stage with the dinosaur boss that appears a second time >_< The game was a bit glitchy, we got stuck sometimes inside walls and had to wait for the timer to run out and kill us, lol…

On Saturday we went into town and visited the GAME store. They had quite a lot of retro games, apart from three big glass cabinets by the entrance they also had more shelves around the counter :D I picked up quite a lot of games here ;D

At the end of they day we visited a really awesome place called Café på Bit! It’s a café/arcade! Mainly focusing on console gaming but they also had some pinball machines and an arcade machine with Pixelbot Arena (a game produced by a local talent) :)

Apart from all the setups, CRT’s and consoles, they also had a whole wall of games you could choose to play! :D They had the entire NES library that was released in Scandinavia ^_^ And some games were even for sale! I picked up a few great ones ;D I’ll tell you all about them in my next post ^_^

We spent 4 hours there, all three of us were playing the same game, the only game I was interested in playing since I knew I couldn’t play it at home: Battle Kid: Fortress of Peril! I’ve seen the game maybe once before, and I know it’s a new game released for the NES (in 2006 I think) made by one guy. It was extremely difficult! You just had to memorize every step! We were competing on who would finish it first, after four hours none of us were even close to finishing it haha ^_^ I made it the furthest though, to boss no. 2…

Café på Bit was really cosy, too bad it’s so far away from me :( Probably around a 15 hour drive! I recommend anyone visiting the north of Sweden to check it out though! ^___^

I’ll get right on writing my next post about my pickups! I came home with almost 20 games! :D

Atari Tetris Arcade from 1988!

April 13, 2015 by stopXwhispering

I got my first arcade cabinet! And it’s a classic! :D Also one of my favorite games ^_^ I have over 20 different Tetris games for various systems, and up until now my favorite has been Tetris BPS for the Famicom, but now I think my ‘new’ Atari Tetris arcade is my favorite! :D I might be biased, because it’s just so big and pretty and my highscores stay on there, but it’s definitely a great Tetris game!

The cabinet is in good condition. The control panel, the top light and the screen is in very good condition! But I will have to do some work on the sides to restore it to it’s former glory, it’s gotten a bit chipped around the edges. Nothing some wood filler and paint can’t fix ^_^ I haven’t moved it into my game room yet, I’m waiting to finish restoring it first.

The game is divided into missions, compared to regular Tetris which is usually just endless. The missions are to clear certain amount of lines, and the stages get harder by adding obstacles (bricks) in your path. You can play two people against each other and race to see who finished the lines first! :D

There’s also three different difficulty settings you can set it to. Easy, medium or hard. I’m slowly taking over all the previous highscores on the machine ^____^ Thankfully I can open the coin holder so I can re-use my quarters ;D

This Tetris cabinet was developed by Atari and released in the arcades back in 1988. This version of Tetris was later ported and released by Tengen for the NES in 1989. That’s one of the few Tetris games I actually don’t have yet :( But now I have the original version of it anyway ;D ……. writing about this here just made me go to eBay and pick myself up a copy of Tengen Tetris for the NES.. so I will have it soon ^___^

There was a lot of controversy around the Tengen version for the NES, after some legal disputes about publishing rights Nintendo won the publishing rights and Tengen had to recall their game from stores and destroy remaining inventory. There’s apparently less than 100,000 copies of the game in existence! I can’t wait to try the Tengen version out as well!

I love all puzzle games, especially Tetris! The objectives of this arcade Tetris game are fun and the music is great! It’s also very special to play on an arcade cabinet instead of through a console.. I think I might be hooked… already scouting for an SNK cab for my Neo Geo MVS games ;D

I will take some more pictures of my Atari Tetris arcade once I’ve fixed it up :)

Zoids Densetsu for Game Boy

April 5, 2015 by stopXwhispering

I recently got Zoids Densetsu for the Game Boy. I didn’t think much of the few Zoids-games I’ve played for the Famicom, but this one got recommended to me, so I thought I’d give it a try ^_^

It’s amazing! A side-scrolling shooter where you play as various “Zoids” (giant robots), dodging blocks and vulcanos and killing enemies! The music is also extremely catchy! I spent quite a lot of time with it in the couch last night, and I managed to get past the first boss and make it to the third stage. The difficulty increases fast though, and I haven’t gotten past all those erupting volcanos on stage 3 yet >_< This is definitely a challenge I will re-visit and try to beat! :)

You can check out some of the gameplay that I recorded here:

This week I also got a few other games in the mail. They were all NES games, Challenge of the Dragon, Super Turrican, and two pirated games with 32 in 1 and 40 in 1 ^_^ Challenge of the Dragon was a really shitty game! But the box looks awesome ;D

Retro Market at Pixel K.A.F.E!

March 29, 2015 by stopXwhispering

Yesterday was the second time I visited Pixel K.A.F.E. in Malmö! This time it twas mainly because they were hosting a Retro Market there, selling off games and consoles and other nerdy things! Unfortunately it’s not going too well for Pixel, but I hope the contributions and sales today will have some effect and make it turn around! Because it’s an awesome place! :)

There were so many things for sale! Both Nintendo and Sega games, both PAL, NTSC and Japanese! Even Neo Geo games!!! Both AES and MVS, right next to the My Little Ponys ^__^ There were Vintage Toys, consoles, even arcades! And also something I really wanted, but it was too heavy for me to carry home on the train >_< Namely a custom built arcade controller for the Playstation 2 to be used with Pop ‘n Music!! So pretty ^__^

Apart from this, the owner showed me around arcade town! I even got to see the insides of a Blast City cabinet! :D So cool! The key to the cabinet had “SEGA” written on it ^_^ It’s all about the details ;D

So this is what i scored! First up is a bunch of Neo Geo MVS cartridges!! :D :D I’m totally excited about these! And NONE OF THEM are fighting games :D I’ve bought a converter for my AES so that it can play MVS cartridges as well. This is mainly because the collecting will become more feasible and cheaper! I will buy shockboxes for these carts, then they will blend in with the rest of the AES games on the shelf ^_^ The games I got was Spin Master, which is a really cool platforming game, Puzzle Bobble, Puzzle de Pon and League Bowling ^__^ I’m eagerly awaiting my converter to arrive so I can play these!!!

One of the cartridges is transparent, the others are black.

Apart from this I also found some Sega Mega Drive games. These were The Tennis Tournament Grand Slam, RoboCop 3 and NHL 95. The last two lacked a manual, but Grand Slam was complete.

I also found some Super Nintendo games and a Super Famicom game. Even though this NTSC version of Final Fight was in pretty bad shape and lacked a manual I still had to get it, because that boxart is amazing!! I fell in love with it ^_^ I also found Final Fight for SFC, so I got that one too. It’s really fun to just see the differences in the artwork between the North American version and the Japanese :D Apart from these two I also found a really nice version of Tetris Attack!! I didn’t have Tetris Attack previously, but I have Panel de Pon, which is basically the same game, they just switched out the characters ^_^

I couldn’t help but look at all those amazing vintage toys that were there as well ^_^ They are just so charming! :D I ended up buying four figures for Pepparkaksninja that he wanted. He collects vintage toys, takes cool pictures of them and makes even cooler videos (check out his amazing collection here!). I also got a little something for myself that I think will fit perfectly in the game room! :D

When you move his arm the ghosts appear in his mouth!! :D Pac-Man <3

Pixel K.A.F.E. in Malmö!

March 29, 2015 by stopXwhispering

I visited Pixel K.A.F.E. for the first time on the day of the Sci-Fi World convention in Malmö last month. I’ve been wanting to visit it for quite some time, but it’s a bit far away for me so I haven’t been able to.. but it was just as good as I had imagined! If not better! :D Pixel K.A.F.E. is a restaurant / arcade where you can eat, have a coffee, play pinball, play arcades games, board games or even old retro games! The entire place is also decorated with wonderful retro gaming nostalgia :D …. and Darth Vader!

My favorite part is all the original arcade cabinets! Especially the Atari Tetris arcade :D (sooo pretty and I loooove Tetris!) There are no other places around here in Sweden where you can find arcade cabinets like this and just play ^_^ Pixel K.A.F.E also. has a wide variety of arcades! There’s the retro games, the blast city cabs, the beautiful Mega cabinet, the Time Crisis cabinet with guns and also racing :) It almost feels like I’m back in the 80’s and 90’s!

There’s not only arcades, but also a whole room filled with six different pinball machines! :D I tried some of them out and came to the conclusion that I’m not particularly good at pinball ;D I prefer video games ^__^

There are also old games and consoles on display all over the place! They’ve got an amazing Game & Watch collection and a bunch of other cool things to look at! Some stuff that I’ve never even seen! ;D

Apart from arcades you can also pick games you want to play on the TV’s, there’s 4 of them set up around the place with couches, it’s really cozy ^_^ Or you could go battle your friends in some classic pong games on the Odyssey 2001 :D

Apart from all of this awesomeness they also serve THE BEST BURGER I HAVE EVER EATEN!! Seriously! I am being serious ^__^ I’m a vegetarian and they’ve got both meat, vegetarian and vegan food, and they’re burgers are to die for! ^_^ If you’re ever around Malmö in Sweden you have GOT TO check this place out :D

Star Fox for Super Famicom

March 28, 2015 by stopXwhispering

I’ve actually never played this game before, since I didn’t grow up having games of my own I just never encountered it. I’ve heard a lot of people through the years praising it though so I finally went ahead and bought it! Star Fox is what it’s called in Japan. This popular series has also gone by the name of Starwing and Lylat Wars, mainly in Europe.

A lot of people are probably gonna hate me now, but I don’t really care, everyone is entitled to their own opinion! ;D

I didn’t like it.. It might be because I don’t have any nostalgic memories when playing it. I bet it was all amazing and such when it came out, but it hasn’t’ aged well in that case. The controls were a bit stiff and I found it hard to aim and hit the targets.. I did give it a good hour or so before quitting.

I also tried several different routes you could choose from, and reached a couple of different bosses, all but one of which I couldn’t beat..

I have to admit that the graphics are unique for the SNES and the polygon shapes are somewhat charming, but this type of shooter (rail shooter) just isn’t my type of shmup. I prefer sidescrolling shooters, horizontal or vertical or fixed shooters like space invaders :) Bullet hell shooters are also quite fun ^_^

I will put this in my shelf, to await that nostalgic friend that will visit me and ask for it. Then I will gladly pull it out, let them play it for all the hours they want while I watch and in my mind being glad that I don’t have to play it again ;D