l00t from Retrospelsfestivalen 2017!

September 16, 2017 by stopXwhispering

Even though I just spent a few hours at the retro game convention Retrospelsfestivalen this year, I still managed to pick up a couple of games for various systems ^_^

First of all, I’m super happy to have such good friends in the retro community that thinks of me when they find an unusual edition of Tetris :D Thanks Andreas for finding it for me ^_^ Retro Bit Bros had this Swedish Yapon rental edition of Tetris for the NES for sale and they put it aside for me :) It’s a beauty! A great addition to my Tetris collection ^_^

Tetris – NES Yapon rental case

Tetris – NES Yapon rental case back

At their table I also found two Sachen games that I’ve never encountered in the wild before. I had to get Little Red Hood and try it for myself. I’ve only seen a brief video of it from AVGN back in the day. It was even worse than I had expected XD Horrible game mechanics and I couldn’t even get past the first stage. I collected cash enough to buy all the things in the store but none of them did anything useful or permanent, and I found a key in one instance but I didn’t find anything to open with it.. so eventually I just gave up!

Little Red Hood – NES Sachen

Little Red Hood NES

Little Red Hood

Lucky Bingo was supposed to have some half-naked ladies in it I was told, but I couldn’t find any.. :( instead it was the most boring gameplay I’ve ever encountered! It’s basically just a digital slot machine, put in money, pull the lever, and push again to stop. Completely boring >_< Unfortunately I couldn’t get it running on my Retron 5 so I couldn’t record any gameplay..

NES Sachen games

Lucky Bingo – NES Sachen

Retro Bit Bros also had a few Atari 2600 games, and I had to get these two! Such amazing artwork on the covers :D Frostbite wasn’t very exciting, you just jumped back and forth over what I think was supposed to be ice-blocks in a river. Plaque Attack however was way better! You’re a toothpaste tube inside a mouth shooting at food and candy that try to attack the teeth! A fun shooter where you fight off hamburgers, french fries, hot dogs, ice cream and lots of other tooth-enemies XD

Frostbite – Atari 2600

Plaque Attack – Atari 2600

I picked up a newly made Game Boy game by a small Swedish developer crew called Team Lamp Oil. It’s a puzzle game with falling blocks containing rope and bombs which you have to get to match so that you can clear the board when the fire block appears :) It was fun!

Rope & Bombs – Game Boy

At the convention I found two Super Famicom games that looked like fun. I thought that Super Chinese World was a platformer because it looked like it on the back, but it had a lot of RPG-elements that I really despise >_< The actual battles though were platforming action, but it was soooo slooooow and the hit detection was really awful, so I do not recommend this title..

Super Chinese World – Super Famicom

Super Chinese World Super Famicom

Super Chinese World

The other Super Famicom game was Astro Go! Go! This was a racing game, kind of like F-Zero. I tried out two different characters and different tracks, but it was a bit difficult, and it probably would have been a lot more fun if it had a 2-player VS mode. Otherwise the graphics were nice, and the controls were sharp :)

Astro Go! Go! – Super Famicom

Astro Go! Go!

Astro Go! Go! – Super Famicom

I found a Sega Mega Drive game as well which has a really badass cover! Bloodshot is a first-person shooter kind of like Wolfenstein 3D but more futuristic. Compared to Wolfenstein on Super Famicom it’s a bit more difficult to steer since you don’t have the L and R buttons to sidestep on the Sega controller. But it works, and it’s ok in single player. It has a 2-player VS mode though that I’m eager to try out with a friend :)

Bloodshot – Sega Mega Drive

Bloodshot Sega Mega Drive

I got a boxing game called Heavyweight Champ for the Sega Master System. It was cheap and it was lame XD I’m probably gonna use it for the finals sometime on Retro Rumble though! It’s probably more fun in 2-player mode than versus the AI…

Heavyweight Champ – Sega Master System

Darius Plus for PC Engine was another purchase, I love the PC Engine and shmups ^_^ This wasn’t the best one in the series though.. but it was decent :) The thing I didn’t like was the power up system and that it was a bit slow for my taste.

Last but not least was Kokotoni Wilf, such a weird name! And an obscure cover.. I tried to get it running on my C64, but it didn’t want to finish loading.. I will give it another try some day, sometimes the old computer just doesn’t wanna play with you XD

Darius Plus – PC Engine

Kokotoni Wilf – C64

Retrospelsfestivalen 2017!

September 10, 2017 by stopXwhispering

Last weekend I visited Retrospelsfestivalen in Malmö. A retro gaming convention in the south of Sweden that is now running for the fourth year in a row. This year they had changed the venue to a place called Inkonst. I really liked this new venue, they had used the stage downstairs for the marketplace which was awesome. So many retro games for sale, awesome sellers and tidy tables filled with retro gaming goodness ^_^

Games for sale

N644 games

Boxed Game Boys

So much SNES

Famicom

NES games

Mr. Gimmick

Lots of retro games

Sachen games

My little Pony and games

PC Engine and Game Boys

N64 controllers

NES games

Nintendo64

Retrospelsmässan at RSF

Quartex table of retro games

SFC

Retro Bit Bros selling games and merch

SNES and GBA

SNES games

Super Famicom

The market

Japanspel

Apart from games you could as usual also find a lot of retro gaming merchandise, artwork and crafts :)

Buying retro games

Pappas Pärlor bead art

Turtles riding a dino

Pappas Pärlor

Games and merch

Knitted beanies from bleepwear

Pappas Pärlor flowers

Sluskafan art

Table filled with games and merch

Upstairs there was a large area decorated with various console demo kiosks and arcade machines that were set to free play. They also had a demo corner surrounding the small stage where the competitions were held. Unfortunately I didn’t have the energy to stick around all day (I’m over 7 months pregnant right now), so I missed all the competitions and the lectures that were being held :( It was all really nicely set up though, and well organised :)

Super Mario Bros

Arcade gaming

Arcades

Candy cabs

Blast City

Donkey Kong Cocktail table

Gaming corner

GBA demo stand

Metal Slug

Ms pacman

Move

Start Game

MS Pacman arcade

N64

Playstation demo stands

PS2 demostand

The arcade

Scene

Sega Saturn demo stand

Retro Gaming

Scattered around the place were small personal collections on display, like Final Fantasy and Game & Watch :)

Final Fantasy Collection

Game & Watch

Game & Watch collection

I had a great time at Retrospelsfestivalen and I’m already looking forward to next years convention! It’s always great to get to meet all the friends I’ve gotten to know in the retro gaming world of Sweden ^_^ And of course I bought some cool stuff as well ;D I’ll make a post of that soon! Meanwhile, check out Geeky Gals post from the convention to read more about a cool game called Wünderling that was being showcased at Retrospelsmässan :D

Retro Gaming Events & Conventions in Sweden

November 19, 2016 by stopXwhispering

A lot of people have asked me if I know a place where you can find a calendar of all the Retro Gaming related events and conventions in Sweden, I don’t, but I can make one! ^_^ I’ve made a short calendar on the right side of the page, but also this page where I’ll update as soon as I find out about new conventions or events that are retro game related! If you know or hear about any events feel free to drop a comment and I’ll add it to the list :D

Upcoming retro game events & conventions in Sweden:

2018

MAY 26th
Göteborg
RETROSPELSMÄSSAN
Sweden’s largest retro gaming convention. Loads of games for sale, games to be played (both arcade and console), competitions like the Swedish Championships of Super Mario and other events.
See posts from previous Retrospelsmässan >>

SEPTEMBER 1st
Malmö
RETROSPELSFESTIVALEN
A retro gaming festival (convention) in the southern part of Sweden. Loads of games for sale, games to be played (both arcade and console), and usually some fun competitions and events.
See posts from previous Retrospelsfestivalen >>

SEPTEMBER 29th
Västerås
RETRO GATHERING
Retro gathering is a pure retro game and vintage computer convention, the longest running one in Sweden. Here you can find anything from old C64 and Spectrum to Nintendo and PS2
See posts from previous Retro Gatherings >>

~~~

Events that will most likely come back next year:

RETROSPELSMÄSSAN, Gothenburg
Sweden’s largest retro gaming convention. Loads of games for sale, games to be played (both arcade and console), competitions like the Swedish Championships of Super Mario and other events.
See posts from previous Retrospelsmässan >>

RETROSPELSFESTIVALEN, Malmö
A retro gaming festival (convention) in the southern part of Sweden. Loads of games for sale, games to be played (both arcade and console), and usually some fun competitions and events.
See posts from previous Retrospelsfestivalen >>

RETRO GAMES, Stockholm
A retro gaming convention in the capital of Sweden with a lot of focus on arcade games. Loads of arcades are displayed there for you to try out. There’s also a market section and competitions, like the Swedish championships of Pac-Man.
See posts from previous Retro Games >>

COMICCON, Stockholm
COMICCON, Malmö
COMICCON, Copenhagen
NORDSKEN, Skellefteå
RETROSPELMARKNAD, Vetlanda

Apart from these events there’s of course a lot of permanent retro game inspired places to visit, I will fill up the list below with places that are worth a visit for any retro game enthusiast ^_^

STOCKHOLMS SPELMUSEUM, Stockholm
A video game museum filled with history of video games, and also playable games, both arcades and consoles :) See some pics from it here >>

HEY ARCADE @ Roq bar, Stockholm
An extensive arcade with loads of machines, everything from classic shmups to the great rhythm and music arcades from Japan ^_^ Read about my visit here >>

CAFÉ PÅ BIT, Skellefteå
A really cute café filled with retro games and some arcades that you can pay to play and retro games that you can buy ^_^ Read about my visit here >>

MACKAPÄR, Gothenburg
A vintage retro store containing everything from cool furniture and accessories to obscure retro video games :D

SPEL & SÅNT, Norrtälje
A video game store that also holds loads of retro games

Retrospelsfestivalen 2015 – the loot!!!

October 13, 2015 by stopXwhispering

This year’s retro gaming convention in Malmö (Retrospelsfestivalen) was awseome! I didn’t have much time to buy stuff though since me and my Geeky Gals spent most time hosting competitions and stuff on stage. It was a lot of fun though ^_^ And we got to meet so many cool people :D I did however get half an hour off at the end of the day where I did some speed-shopping for retro games! haha :D

So here’s what I found ^_^ Not bad for 30 minutes huh? ;D

I’m thrilled to have found a Neo Geo game I didn’t already have! Less thrilled to find out that it’s a fighting game (like every other game on that system >_<) instead of a platform game, like the previous Karnov games on NES for example.. but I got a fair price so I’m happy :) I have a lot of friends who enjoy fighting games, so I’ll pop it in my new cab ;D (I’ll tell you more about that in a later post..)

I was also happy to stumble upon some PC Engine games, they’re quite unheard of here in Sweden. But Japon carried a few titles ^_^ I got Gokurake Chuka Taisen on HU card :) I love the other games in this series so I hope this one will be as good, if not better ;D

Apparently Rock n’ Roll Racing for SNES is supposed to be rad, haven’t tried it yet, but I’m looking forward to it ^_^ It’s NTSC, but now I have an NTSC SNES so I feel comfortable buying this region as well :)

I found these C64 carts that I jus thad to have, since they had such amazing artwork haha ^_^ I love how the guy on the cover of Saboteur is both jumping, kicking and shooting a gun at the same time, with such precision! hahaha :D

I also got some games for the Nokia N-Gage, a few weeks ago I bought two N-Gage systems so now I also have games for them ;D It’s Sonic and Crash Bandicoot, so hopefully they haven’t screwed that up..

Sonic N – Nokia N-Gage

Crash Nitrokart – Nokia N-Gage

Nokia N-Gage

From MXS I bought two handheld Game & Watch clones, one was called Hungry Elephant and the other one Sky Invaders. Unfortunately Sky Invaders didn’t have a hatch over the battery slot, and it didn’t seem to work when I held batteries in there :/ But I got them really cheap so I’m happy one of them worked :) I also bought a Tetris Jr. from Pixel, so cute! ^_^

Hungry Elephant handheld game

Sky Invaders handheld game

Tetris Jr keychain game

I also found a Famicom pirate called Mechanized Attack II, I liked the cover and was curious of what was on it :) And I found a Game Boy game from Japanspel, I mainly bought this one for the ridiculous cover XD It’s called Tasmania Monogatari. Apart from this I found a cheap Sega Master System game I didn’t previously have.

Tasmania Monogatari – Game Boy

Tennis Ace – Sega Master System

I got some gifts from friends, like the Famicom matchbox from Pappas Pärlor and the mushroom and Sonic pin från Pixel K.A.F.E :) Thank you!! And I bought an amazing album that I have been listening to all week on Soundcloud from Professor Sakamoto! :D He performed at the festival and also at the after party ^_^ So talented and an amazing composer of chiptunes! At the bottom here I’ve embedded a few videos I filmed from his performances :) Go check him out!

Apart from all this my friend David showed up with all the ZX Spectrum games and other stuff I had bought from him earlier :) So I came home with 42 new Speccy games! (which I’m pretty sure is more than I paid for ;D) Thanks David! Apart from the Spectrum games I had bought a perfect case for storing Atari 2600 cartridges, or Famicom games :D But preferrably Atari 2600.. and a Neo Geo MVS game, Super Sidekicks 2. It’s football >_< but it was cheap :)

Hunchback II, Devils of the Deep, Wally Kong, Don’t Buy This – ZX Spectrum 48k

Tapper, Wanted Gunfright, Mikie – ZX Spectrum games

Atari 2600 cassette case

ZX Spectrum games

Super Sidekicks 2 – Neo Geo MVS

This year at Retrospelsfestivalen I also had a table where I sold off some doubles, I’m happy with how my table turned out ^_^ First time ever selling games!! It’s hard since I’m a hoarder by nature ;D hahaha! I set up a PC Engine with Coryoon so people could try out this awesome game ^_^ Unfortunately I didn’t sell too many of the japanese games, a lot of people don’t have the consoles for it here. Most people are into PAL NES and SNES.. :/ Also my fiancé was taking care of the table all day, and he is completely clueless when it comes to games! LOL! I appreciate his support though, and people told me he was friendly ^_^

Coryoon for PC Engine

My table at Retrospelsfestivalen 2015

Mike the clueless Beyoncée ;D

Here’s the videos from Professor Sakamoto’s performance at Retrospelsfestivalen 2015! Check them out! So much awesome!! :D

Retrospelsfestivalen pickups!

October 29, 2014 by stopXwhispering

So here’s the games I picked up at Retrospelsfestivalen, due to the proposal the day ended quite quickly so I didn’t have time to buy much more, but I did find a few interesting things ^_^

First off I found a guy selling off some of his japanese games. I picked up Chitei Tairiku Orudora & Super Boy Allan for Famicom Disk System. Both complete in their big boxes :) I already had Chitei Tairiku Orudora, but not in it’s big box, so I couldn’t stay away from getting it ^_^

I also found a Jajamaru game I didn’t previously have :D They’re usually quite cute platforming games so I picked this one up as well. It’s called Jajamaru Gekimaden Maboroshi no Kinmajou.

He also had a bunch of PC Engine games, most of them I already had, and some were just a bit too expensive. But these two I got at a reasonable price :) Avenger and Prince of Persia.

Another seller had a Power Pad for the NES! I’ve always wanted one but never found one at a good price. It’s bigger than I expected! :D

I’m really excited to finally try these two games out for the Power Pad! :D Athletic World I’ve had for about a decade (!) and Dance Aerobics I got the weekend before at Retrogathering. Look at those hilarious 80’s kids posing in aerobics positions! hahaha ^_^

And here’s a closeup of the Dance Aerobics label!

I also got an NES game called M.U.L.E. It’s a US release only I think, never heard of it before but I’m excited to try it out! The box art is amazing! :D It’s a freaking Space Cowboy!!! :D

The final game I bought was from a friend of mine that was selling off parts of his collection. I finally got around to getting Sonic 3! (Yes, I did not previously have all the Sonic games… shame on me…) I’m glad to have it now though ^_^

This weekend I’m heading to Gamex/Comic Con in Stockholm, so the update on this previous weekend’s visit to a Sci-Fi convention in Helsingborg will have to wait until after this weekend (and yes, I found games there too!!) ;D

Retrospelsfestivalen 2014 – and how I got proposed to!!!!!

October 16, 2014 by stopXwhispering

This weekend I went to Retrospelsfestivalen in Malmö. This was the first year they arranged for a retro gaming show in the south of Sweden. I was super excited to go there, and it’s less than an hour from where I live. I had been asking my boyfriend to please join me and keep me company since all of my friends couldn’t make it. He ditched me less than 24 hours before I was going there, made up an excuse that he had to clean his grandmothers attic with his mom… I was pissed and pretty sure he was just dodging it to go fishing instead >_<

I had been speaking to the organizers of Retrospelsfestivalen and they had asked me to help hand out the prizes after the Tetris tournament, I accepted and went up on stage around 3 pm. We handed out the prizes and then they interviewed me about my game collection for a while and after that they asked me to try out a new game. In the below video you can see the game while I’m playing it, and it’s being projected behind me for an audience of around 500 people…

At first I thought the game looked cool, was expecting some kind of action platformer, but after reading the first couple of mushy lines about love I was getting confused and thought the game was kind of lame ;D Until the story-telling stopped and it just said…

…Heidi

Then I certainly thought somebody was just pulling my leg, maybe the organizers had set me up to embarrass me a little bit. Then the question hit the screen:

Do you want to marry me?

Now I thought that some guy in the audience might have some crush on me and decided to try and propose! I never thought my boyfriend would have the imagination to surprise me with something so grand and also fitting to my interests. But indeed, he had a programmer make the game with him and he stepped out from behind the stage with flowers ^_^ I was chocked! …and I said yes :)

It’s not everyday you get proposed to through a video game ^_^ The game only had two options to choose from, play co-op or single player :D Check out the video below to see the whole thing:

After the proposal the organizers gave us a whole bunch of gifts that had been put together by some of the exhibitors and sellers at Retrospelsfestivalen. This was so nice! Thanks to all of the great people that made this day super special ^^ We got the Generation 64 book written by Spelpappan, a Swedish documentary about the NES from Videospelsklubben, a Zelda T-shirt, Tetris mug, Halo mega bloks set and a bunch of other merchandise ^_^

This was of course my highlight of Retrospelsfestivalen 2014 ;D But there were also lots of other great things! I did have time to buy some things before, and talk to people. They had a lot of sellers, but compared to Retrogathering they had a lot more “new” things, like plush toys, T-shirts and other merchandise from games. There were of course a lot of retro games being sold as well, and some people displaying home made retro games they had made. There were also loads of TV’s setup to play various retro consoles and a hallway for Pinball machines and arcade cabinets. On the stage they had competitions in Tetris, Super Mario Kart etc. In the finals of the Tetris competition the competitors had to first make their own controller using the Makey Makey! This was original ^_^ I also met Pappas Pärlor who make amazing bead art! Here’s some pictures from the event!

These last few pictures are from a game called Space Clutter. It’s a homebrew game that only exists in this one homemade little arcade cabinet. The funniest thing is the handwritten note that was displayed next to the game, it reads in Swedish: “Space Clutter, super hard space game! You will NEVER be able to beat it!” so I just had to try it. It was difficult, but fun! :) The plot of the game is written underneath the shoot button and reads “Everybody in space hates you. Use the red button to kill them.”