Retro Gathering 2015!

This weekend I visited Retro Gathering in Västerås (Sweden), I was there for the first time last year, but this convention has been running yearly since 2006! I came home with quite a lot of loot last year, and this year wasn’t far behind ^_^

I bought 62 games, and traded another 400+ games with friends! So I came home with lots of games.. most of the traded ones were newer games though so I’ll just cover my retro acquisitions on here ;D First up is the Philips Videopac Computer G7000 with 8 games that I traded with Anton for a bunch of Famicom doubles I brought for him :) I also found one Videopac game at the convention, this one was a newly made homebrew game for the system, the packaging was just splendid though, fits right in with the originals ^_^ Can you spot which one it is? ;D

Another system that I bought at the convention was an Arcadia 2001, or at least one of it’s clones. Never heard of this one before, but it didn’t last very long, it was discontinued after only 18 months. The reason I bought it was that it came with almost all the games released for the system! :D The games come in paper boxes, which were surprisingly well kept! Inside there’s a manual and overlays for the controllers and the game cartridge is latched in a whole in the box. This is extremely frustrating since the cartridge tends to move around underneath the opening so it’s hard to get it out of there without ripping the paper around it >_< This makes me even more surprised though that the previous owners haven’t already torn the boxes apart! XD

BTW I think it’s hilarious when companies back in the day lacked the licenses for certain popular titles and had to come up with “alternative” names for clones ;D Nibblemen!!! Hahaha!

I also got my second Sinclair ZX Spectrum that I had bought previously, but got delivered on the convention ^_^ The 48k model is so cute!!!!!!!! :D

Sinclair ZX Spectrum 48K

There were more japanese games popping up at this convention than what I have seen before in recent years here in Sweden. I think it’s nice that people are becoming aware of all the amazing things you can find from over there ^_^ Unfortunately when demand rises the prices also go up >_< There were no Famicom games that I didn’t already have though, but I did find 5 Super Famicom games and a Famicom pirate that was just cheap :)

Super Famicom games

Famicom pirate

It’s always nice to pick up some C64 games as well, they are usually pretty cheap and the artworks on these old cassettes are just amazing! :D I always buy games that look fun, have a funny title or just incredible or funny artwork ^_^

I also found some Atari 2600 games, two turned out to be unopened and I’m torn whether to break them open or not >_< I wanna play them!!

Atari 2600 games

Apart from all this I found a few other titles for various systems, like Batman Forever on Sega Mega Drive, Wolfenstein 3D for the Atari Jaguar and two Amiga 500 games, Pinkie and Capone ^_^ These last two looked like fun games when looking at the screenshots on the back :) Unfortunately my Amiga 500 has gotten a green screen so I can’t try them out right now :/ Have to get it fixed or find a new one first…

This year on Retro Gathering there were even more sellers than last year and loads of old systems setup to play ^_^ They held competitions in Super Bomberman 2 for the SNES, Super Skidmarks on the Amiga and Car Race ][ for Commodore PET. This last one in honor of the late CEO of Nintendo, Satoru Iwata, who programmed that game back in the day. They also hosted the annual Swedish Championships of Pong, and I participated this year as well! I made it one step further than last year, so just a few more years and I might win! ;D hahaha or not.. I’ve began searching for an Atari Pong console so I can do some serious practicing though ^_^ They’re unfortunately hard to come by :/

This is one of my favorite retro gaming conventions in Sweden, the atmosphere is just so friendly and you can find so much more than just Nintendo and Sega stuff! ^_^ It’s just a shame it’s so far away from where I live :/ I will still come back next year though ;D

For more pictures from Retro Gathering, check out Geeky Gals :)

Retrospelsmässan 2015

This weekend was awesome!! I left on friday with my Geeky Gals to Gothenburg and met up with a bunch of friends and new acquaintances in the retro gaming community :)

geekygals-roadtrip-to-rsm

On saturday morning we went to Retrospelsmässan! Sweden’s largest yearly retro gaming convention! This year I had a press pass so I could enter beforehand and get some nice pictures of everything they had set up ^_^ They had used a larger portion of the facility this year, more tables with things for sale, a whole corner for indie games, a live podcast being streamed, a bigger area for retro gaming with 60-70 consoles and old computers setup for people to try out and arcades, pinball machines, collections and art on display. There’s just so much going on at RSM! :D

rsm-2015-visitors

First let’s talk about the gaming experience at RSM! There were a couple of indie developers showcasing their new games. I tried out Alwa’s Awakening which was inspired by the NES. Very cute and the graphics were beautifully made, controlling the character was a bit slow though, I prefer faster platforming games such as mario, this one was slower than Megaman.. They had some nice elements in it though, you could spawn a brick or a bubble to make you reach certain places or get past obstacles. It was just a demo though, I got through it without dying, they promised to make it harder by the time it gets released ;D Hopefully we’ll see it released on Wii U soon, I’m also hoping for an Xbox One release, they would look into that ^_^

rsm-2015-alwas-awakening-game  rsm-2015-alwasawakening

I also tried out a game called 1993 Space Machine! This game felt more like a finished product and it was a lot of fun! A horizontal sidescrolling shooter which looked kind of futuristic but still felt old school ^_^ That’s probably because it was actually MADE back in 1993! But isn’t released until now. It was difficult! They also had a keyboardist integrating music live into the game, this was a really cool thing to experience :D I doubt that they’ll ship the game with a dude that plays keyboard with it though ;D haha! They’re looking at releasing the game on Steam and Xbox One! :D So yay!!

rsm-2015-1993-space-machine-gameplay2  rsm-2015-1993-space-machine-music
rsm-2015-1993-space-machine-game-over

There were two other indie games showcasing, I did however not get the chance to try them out. They looked cool though ^_^ They were called The Aquatic Adventure of the Last Human (brilliant name ;D) and else.heartbreak.

rsm-2015-the-aquatic-adventures-of-the-last-human  rsm-2015-else-heartbreak

During the whole day they had retro gaming competitions and speedruns going on at Retrospelsmässan. We we’re so occupied with everything that we completely missed the Bomberman tournament, and when we tried to sign up for Super Mario it was too late >_< I did however compete in Asteroids on Arcade and guess what?!? I came in second place!! :D :D

rsm-2015-smb-competition  rsm-2015-playing-asteroids
rsm-2015-asteroids-cabinet
rsm-2015-asteroids-competition

There were so many consoles and systems to be played all over RSM! It’s almost overwhelming :D Just look at all these beauties!

rsm-2015-demoroom

The first one here I’ve never even seen! Adonbolagen AB is apparently a Swedish company and in the bottom it says Aleph, it’s so retro!! :D

rsm-2015-aleph-adonbolaget

I really want an Amiga CD32 myself!! The controllers are just so cool ^__^
rsm-2015-amiga-cd32

This cabinet is just so cute! Comic Game! haha ^_^
rsm-2015-arcade-comic-game

I love how colorful the cartridges are for this Arcadia 2001 console! :D Never heard of this one before either ^_^
rsm-2015-arcadia-2001

This one’s also weird-looking :D It’s called a Bondwell, never even heard of! ^__^
rsm-2015-bondwell

Here’s a display stand for Coleco Vision! So awesomely cool! ^__^
rsm-2015-Coleco-Vision

This one looks so futuristic! :D Love it ^__^ Commodore CBM Model 8032
rsm-2015-commodore-cbm

This Pong Hockey machine is the prettiest pong machine I’ve ever seen! Bright red and beautiful! ^__^ WANT!!!
rsm-2015-hockey-pong

I really want a Mattel Intellivision! I have had games for it almost since I began collecting, but never had the hardware to play it on >_<
rsm-2015-intellivision

I really need an MSX as well, one that can play the only Castlevania game I’m missing, the MSX one ;D 
rsm-2015-msx

And what the hell is a PCFX?! Apparently it’s made by NEC, the people who made the PC Engine!! :D I’m intrigued ^__^
rsm-2015-nec-pc-fx

I don’t know what the hell this one is, but damn it’s cool! I love retro things that are brown, orange or yellow, even better when all the colors are combined ;D haha (edit: I found out that it’s an Atari 400!)
rsm-2015-retro-console

I need this Sega SG-1000 as well! It’s so cute ^__^
rsm-2015-sega-sg1000

I was on the lookout all day for a ZX Spectrum but couldn’t find one, except for this demo one. I really want the black one with a tiny rainbow in the corner, it’s so cuuute ^^ 
rsm-2015-sinclair-zx-spectrum

Here’s a Videopac 7200, looks pretty rad huh? ;D The cartridges have handles! So smart ^___^
rsm-2015-Videopac-7200

And here’s the Videopac G7000 ^__^ Now I’ve showed off the systems I found different and cool, they had all the regular ones as well of course, NES, SNES, SMD, SMS, Famicom, Atari etc…
rsm-2015-videopac-g7000

And here’s some of the arcades and pinball machines you could play ^__^
rsm-2015-pinball-machines
rsm-2015-arcades

Apart from all the gaming there were also shitloads of games, consoles and merchandise for sale! :D I found so many things that I wanted!! I was mainly on the hunt for an Atari Lynx and a ZX Spectrum though, but it’s really hard not to get sucked into buying everything else that shines in pretty bright colours ;D You could find games from the 70’s up to the early 2000’s. There were of course a lot of NES, SNES and N64, but you could also find Sega Master System and Mega Drive, and loads of old vintage stuff like Commodore and Amiga. Below is a system called Alice! So cute ^__^

rsm-2015-alice

Here’s some PC Engine games and Sega Saturn :D Yes, I bought some stuff here ;D
rsm-2015-games-2

Beautiful old game boxes for Luxor ^_^
rsm-2015-games-luxor

So many vintage consoles and still boxed!! :D Spoiler alert!!! I bought two of these ;D Guess which??
rsm-2015-games-retro-stuff

I looked at this old system, the handle on the left is to hold the console while steering with the right one, haha, the console IS the controller! :D awesome ^__^
rsm-2015-games-gakken-tv-boy

Here’s another colorful old Pong clone ^__^ Japan knows how to make things cute! 
rsm-2015-games-console-pong

This is one out five known copies of a boxed Luxor in Sweden! coooool ^^
rsm-2015-luxor-original-box

Bead art jewelry!
rsm-2015-merchandise

There were even Neo Geo games!! And yes, I came home with one ;D Not pictured though ^^
rsm-2015-neo-geo

You could find all kinds of systems boxed and pretty ^__^
rsm-2015-nes-boxed
rsm-2015-snes-boxed
rsm-2015-nes-games-sale

One of the developers behind Pier Solar was there to sell some re-printed copies :D 
rsm-2015-pier-solar

Amazing prints of retro gaming box arts ^^
rsm-2015-prints

So many games!!! *drool*
rsm-2015-retro-games-for-sale

This Samus lamp is puuurdyyy!!! <3 
rsm-2015-samus-lamp

KCL selling off his entire CiB NES collection ;D
rsm-2015-selling2

And more games… I don’t even feel like I had time to thoroughly check through all the tables! I think I even missed a few :(
rsm-2015-super-mario-sign

Pappas Pärlor was also in the house, selling his awesome retro gaming inspired perler bead artworks! :D
rsm-2015-pappasparlor5
rsm-2015-pappasparlor3
rsm-2015-pappasparlor2

All over the place you could spot cosplayers in amazing costumes inspired by games. Here are just a few of the ones I managed to catch on camera ^_^ You can check out more cosplay over at the Geeky Gals blog ^_^

rsm-2015-cosplay-geeky-gals-meet-predator
rsm-2015-cosplay-kirby-2
rsm-2015-cosplay-megaman-airman
rsm-2015-cosplay-predator-vs-game-&-watch-man
rsm-2015-cosplay-skullkid

There were also loads of things to just look at and admire ^__^ Like Love Hultén’s amazing crafts, his R-Kaid-R MAME mini cabinets and a full scale arcade cabinet that you even got to play on ^__^
rsm-2015-love-hulten-r-kaid
rsm-2015-love-hulten-arcade

And also loads of various collections of vintage games ^_^ Like handhelds, Swedish made retro games, Giana Sister, R-Type and lots of other things.
rsm-2015-handhelds
rsm-2015-swedish-games-2
rsm-2015-r-type-colleciton-2
rsm-2015-giana-sisters-retro
rsm-2015-giana

I’ll make a separate post with all my pickups from the convention, however it will take a couple of more days just to go through it all ;D Stay tuned!

rsm-2015-crowd