Another Retro Gaming Store Opens In Perth: Retro Collect

I emerged from the bushes and went inside...

It really doesn't feel like it was roughly 10 months ago that I was last down Armadale way checking out Retro Levels at the Gosnells Railway Markets. I'm actually in doubt if that still exists since their website and Facebook page has seemingly disappeared (although an Ebay account is still around) but until I confirm that, I know for sure that there is a brand-spanking new retro outlet in the heart of Armadale.
As of writing, Retro Collect has only been open one single week - but I went and visited this Saturday and I can assure you that it's fully stocked and ready for trade. Rather than operating out of a permanent market stall like Retro Levels or a few others around Perth, Retro Collect is in an actual high-street store much like Player [1]. Walking in off the street you're greeted to clean wooden floors, freshly painted walls with shelves and bins full of consoles, games and accessories. This is an actual proper store, and to have a few of these now kicking around Perth makes me a super happy retro gamer.
The question everyone will no doubt have though, is "how are the prices?", so I'll get straight into it. Obviously, they're not going to be anywhere near as cheap as op-shop prices which are my main way of sourcing games usually, but I can't always win with those. It's always super refreshing knowing that I'll be out and about to buy new games, and actually come home with something. This is quite worth the premium if you're not having much luck out in the wild (like I am at the moment).

The prices are more aligned with what you'd expect from eBay and the Facebook buy/sell groups which are gaining a lot of prominence at the moment, but a bit cheaper. I went in setting myself a budget of $50, but of course spent $55 because I have the self-control of a three-year-old. What you see above is what I purchased on Saturday, with all the price tags still attached. All titles were cheaper than what's the current going rate online by about $5-10, which is great when you consider the extra advantages buying from Retro Collect offers. For one, all games come with a 40-day warranty, which is absolutely above and beyond what's expected. Not like it's needed, however, because all games worked first try. It's obvious they had been cleaned and tested beforehand.

So when you compare to buying on eBay, it's a win-win all around. It's cheaper, there's a warranty and you get it that exact same day. Postage in Australia has come a long way, yes (I remember the dark days of a fortnight minimum wait across the Nullarbor) but nothing beats paying on the spot and owning it immediately.

The second question everyone might be wondering: do they sell for my *insert favourite system?* The answer: probably. All the major systems were represented (which you can see for yourself in the photos) and a lot in-box too. There wasn't anything too obscure though, so I wouldn't visit expecting to increase your Game.com or Apple Pippin collections, but I did find some Atari Jaguar cartridges so that was nice.
Otherwise, they sell a nice selection of accessories (with quite a few fighting sticks) as well as a handful of consoles. No doubt the console selection will grow as time goes on, but it was definitely the section that had the least.
Otherwise, there are a few other odds and ends about. One bin was full of strategy guides while another with Tiger Electronics-type handhelds (I can't quite recall what brand they were). There was also a selection of Nintendo plush toys scattered around.

That PlayStation sign is awesome. I want it above my retro setup.

Another feature of the store which resonated highly with me was the Nintendo upright cabinet with an N64 hooked up to play. I'm assuming the game inserted is probably on rotation, but the day I visited Donkey Kong 64 was playable. This is one of those store features that is completely unnecessary, but totally welcome at the same time. The store would be no different without it, but it certainly adds a nice touch. I have no idea why Mario is giving the evils on it, though.

Pictured: Mario at breaking point.

All the hand-helds and higher priced items were safely locked away under the counter from sticky fingers.

The two guys running it were super polite and easy to talk to, and it's obvious they are proud of their store. I don't really have anything negative to say about Retro Collect at all since I had a very good experience. The only slight knot in the rope is a lack of EFTPOS, however, I was told that this was coming, so no worries there.

Can I recommend Retro Collect? Absolutely. The prices and service was fantastic, and I can't wait to return. They're located in a prime location too, being just across the road from Armadale Shopping City (the suburbs mall) and just down the street from the local train station. Unfortunately, I don't live close enough to be able to visit as much I would like to in the future, but its location ensures that it's quite accessible for a large portion of the Perth metropolitan area.


Retro Collect can be found at 52 Fourth Road, Armadale, WA.
Ph: 0434 182 310
Website: www.retrocollect.com.au
Facebook: www.facebook.com/perthretrocollect

Video Catch-Up: Sonic R / Buck Bumble / Heart of Darkness / Vortex / Game Room Tour

Holy Hell. I haven't posted any of my videos here since Micro Machines on the Mega Drive/Genesis. I released that back in July! What's going on? Isn't YouTube half of the Retro Game On's conglomerate machine?
Whoops, well anyway; let's have a catch-up post, ordered from oldest to newest.

Sonic R for PC Review

I'm especially surprised I forgot this - since it was the first of my PC reviews that I said I was going to do probably over a year ago now. I have no idea why I choose Sonic R of all games, but here it is none the less.



Buck Bumble for N64 Review

In Buck Bumble, I play as a cyborg bumble bee who's saving the world from a group of evil and radiated insects. Hot damn, I love retro games.



Heart of Darkness for PSone Review

After swooning over it and the cheap price I paid for it - I then went and reviewed it. Reminded me of Limbo in many ways. I thought it was brilliant.



Vortex for SNES Review

An interesting 3D mech shooter that utilised the Super FX chip. This was bought from the Retro Levels store in Perth.



Game Room Tour 2015

After a request from a viewer, I made this updated tour of my retro games room. It's been two years since I last did this, so a reasonable amount has changed.

Video: Super Game Boy for SNES Review

I don't think I've ever done a peripheral review before - soooo here's one!
Released in 1994 for the SNES (or Super Famicom), the Super Game Boy was a fantastic piece of plastic that let's you play Game Boy games on your TV. In this video I check out how to use it, how it works and most importantly, what is and what isn't specifically compatible with it.  

Perth's Newest Retro Gaming Store, Retro Levels (and free shit from McDonald's)

Unrelated of course, but there is in fact a new retro gaming store on the block and McDonald's are giving away free cups. What a wonderful time to be alive.
I mean, seriously though - $6.50 for a large cheese burger meal from Mackey D's is wonderful value on its lonesome and is easily the cheapest route to obesity. But when the nice man gave me that cup in the drive-through, I was over the moon.
I won't let that distract from what I actually want to write about here though. Yes, the title is correct; Perth has yet another retro gaming store. Can you believe it? I certainly would of flipped my shit if you told me this three years ago.

Hot on the tails of Player [1] opening its doors in North Perth about a year ago, Retro Levels has opened a small storefront in the Gosnells Railway Markets. Here's a photo I stole from their Facebook page as I forgot to take my own:

The retro store-displays out front are a super nice touch, and seemed to do a great job of drawing customers in. There were plenty of people walking in and out during my fifteen minute or so visit, and it honestly seemed like the busiest stall in the markets.
They have a super extensive range, covering all the consoles you'd expect plus a few more. Among N64 and PlayStation games were also oddities like the Famicom Disk System (just games though, unfortunately no systems) and items that are hard to come by in Perth like the Sega Saturn (but again, only games).
The prices weren't too bad, but I feel that Player [1] is still priced better. This would likely have to do with how the stores are run, as Player [1] also offers music lessons (which is the main business bringing the cost of the games down) while Retro Levels only sells games and consoles. So for this instance, I totally understand the higher prices as they do have a business to maintain and keep financially stable.

Having said that though, it wasn't as if the prices were ridiculous. I mean, I do find the common online prices of games to be god-awful compared to a few years ago, but Retro Levels does keep its prices in-line with those. So, if there was a game you really wanted, you could buy it here for roughly the same price as online but play it the same day instead.
There are other perks when buying from an actual shopfront too. For example, I was issued with a receipt (fat luck getting one of those on eBay or Gumtree) and upon checking the games out in my car later on (while slowly killing myself with junk food) I opened the shopping bag they were placed in to be greeted with a strong whiff of rubbing alcohol. They had already been cleaned, and I mostly had no trouble getting the games I bought to play first go.

I ventured into Retro Levels with the soul purpose of expanding my SNES and Game Boy collections, but found very few SNES games under $20 and the Game Boy cartridges were hard to sort through.
Most SNES games under $20 were sports games, which are gross, but I did manage to find some interesting looking games on the cheap. Not hugely known titles of course, but I think they will end up as interesting enough reviews.
Super Dropzone was $15 and is a port of the 1984 Atari 400/800 and C64 release (simply titled 'Dropzone') by Archer Maclean. It's much like Defender in the way it plays, and you play a scientist who's defending his research base on Jupiter from aliens.
Vortex cost $14 and is an interesting Super FX enabled release that has you controlling a mech. I haven't played too much of it yet to really give a comprehensive description, but it's a 3D mech shooter on the SNES, so of course I have high hopes.
Lastly I bought Mole Mania for the Game Boy, and that cost $11. They really need to fix how they sort some of their handheld games, as loose carts for the Game Boy Colour, original Game Boy and Sega Game Gear are all just chucked into a large container. It took me quite a while to sort through that and find anything of interest, but the good news is that most cartridges in there were under $10.
I first picked up Mole Mania because it reminded me of Monty Mole (honestly!) but on further inspection I found it to be a puzzle game partly developed by Nintendo EAD and it's one of the least known titles by Shigeru Miyamoto! I say, what a surprise. I haven't played it beyond shoving it into my GBC to see if it works, but I'm certainly looking forward to giving it a review.

So, final thoughts about Retro Levels? For the most part, I'm quite impressed. The major downfall I can see at the moment is that there are no Eftpos facilities - which is a bummer. Luckily there are ATM's scattered around the markets, but for dudes who hate-on cash like myself, adding Eftpos is needed. I certainly think they could support it, as they seem to be doing great business.
While I'm not totally digging the prices, I do understand why they're at the level they are, and they're definitely at a range that people would be willing to pay.
Unfortunately I doubt I'll be going back too frequently though, but this mostly has to do with its location (which is absolutely nowhere near where I live). I'm sure it will become a local haunt for any collector who lives on the Armadale side of the city though, and I can imagine it will stay in business for a while yet.

Retro Levels is open from from 9am-5pm Thursday to Sunday (and public holidays), and by appointment 9am-5pm Monday to Wednesday.
It can be found at the Gosnells Railway Markets (1 Fremantle Rd, Gosnells).

For more information:
Website: www.retrolevels.com.au
Facebook: www.facebook.com/retrolevels

Video: Lemmings of SNES Review

Ah, Lemmings. Need I say any more? A timeless classic, even went ported from the PC to the SNES!

Video: Wings 2: Aces High/Blazing Skies for SNES Review

I don't really give the SNES as much love on this channel as it deserves, so let's check out a WW1 dogfight game!

Birthday Presents & Retro Game On in 2015

Christmas? CHRISTMAS? Pfft. It's not Christmas until my birthday has come and gone, but luckily for consumers and Christians alike, that faithful day is done with for another year.
I constantly preach the word of retro to anyone with opposing ears. One of those poor souls is my long suffering girlfriend, and to shut me up for a while she took me down to the local friendly retro gaming store (Player [1]) and let me pick out some games (which I should add, now includes a funky vinyl section). Like every time I've been there so far, I've left grinning ear to ear. Luckily for me this time though, I didn't have to pay for anything. If that's not living the good life, then I have no idea what it.
That day scored me Sega Rally Championship 2 on the Dreamcast (a Japanese copy no less) Ecco the Motherflipping Dolphin on Mega Drive (geddit?) and Blazing Skies on SNES (I don't have anything worth writing about between these brackets). They all work of course, with maybe only Blazing Skies requiring an external clean. Who am I kidding though? I always plan on doing that and always laze out. Cart cleaning is for people way more successful at life than I.
Who knows though, I might clean it for its inevitable review for the money shot at the start of the video, but I'm making absolutely no promises.

Now, as you may have guessed it's quite late in the year. As of writing we're balls-deep in December, which may very well mean this is the last post of 2014. Sadly I haven't been able to post much this month, as December is always hectic for me in-between finishing off whatever I've been studying that year, having my birthday, working a retail job that's always crazy this time of year and then Christmas. I won't make any more excuses, but I'll just add that there probably won't be anything new on the YouTube channel until the new year too.
I guess I should probably make an announcement for the people not sexy enough to follow this blog also, but honestly I'm looking forward to putting the camera down and having a break. I love making videos, I love them more than my cat, but I just need a rest. That time will be used efficiently to re-coup, reflect and think up awesome content for awesome people in 2015. At first I was reluctant to leave my Constructive Criticism video as the last for the year, but I think that actually may be for the best. Having said that too, it just occurred to me that I never posted it here. Let me elaborate.
Basically, within the last couple of months I've had a bit of a drop in subscribers. I understand that this is a natural (nearly organic) thing, but the drop did feel a bit too steep, so I thought I would take the opportunity to ask the community for some constructive criticism. The thing is, I very rarely get told what I could improve on. Everyone who watches my videos are just too darn nice, so by asking directly I received some great feedback. If you want to watch that and give me some too, then please feel free. I'll embed the video at the bottom of this post, but you can leave the feedback either here, or on Facebook or Twitter. I'll read it all.
Leaving the year with that video will give me plenty to think about over the break, but I can't wait to get back into it. It's going to be great.

If I don't see you until next year though, then Merry Christmas (or whatever you beliefs may be) and have a fun and safe new year. Don't drink and drive, be nice to your Mum and be sure to wear clean underwear every day. Retro Game On out.

Viewer Feedback v1.0: Feed Me Constructive Criticism! 

Video: F-Zero for the SNES Review

After a terrifyingly long break from the SNES, I'm happy to report that I'm reviewing F-Zero today. This game shows how awesome launch titles can be, and showed off what the SNES (with Mode 7) was really capable of at the time.

Video: Winter Gold for SNES Review

Remember this? The game I picked up ages ago from Cashies because it was cheap, only to find out it's worth the price of a current gen game online? Well, here is a review of it. How about that.
This is my first review using my Elgato Game Capture HD, which I've just realised that I forgot to post about. I did gloat about it a bit on my Facebook page though.

There are still some artefacts to iron out. You'll notice that the image of the recording moves a bit, ever so slightly. It records okay, but it seems to be my editing software that is disagreeing with it. Ah well, I'll figure it out in due course. I couldn't record SNES at all with my old capturing device after all.

More Games I Won't Get to For Months

I took the Retromobile out the other day for a thrift shop run, just like I had envisioned. I don't quite have my licence yet (t-minus 5 days) but it was in the Retromobile non the less, so I thought it was worth a mention.
It was kind of a last minute thing, so I only went to three places. I'm quite pleased with the end result though.

The first place was a bust. I nearly laughed out loud when I saw a Super Nintendo for $150, but I nearly had a heart attack when I saw a Mega Drive for $175. These over inflated prices are just ridiculous. I don't know who to blame, the thrift stores themselves or all the clueless people on Ebay who are also charging these prices, probably basing their numbers off an episode of Pawn Stars they watched.
Quite a shame really, since that place had quite a lot of games. Too bad they were so expensive, maybe I'll come back in a couple of months when maybe they'll bring the prices down after they realise no one is buying them. Either that, or some schmuck will actually pay the ridiculous prices and the whole vicious cycle will start again.

Moving on. The other two shops were quite successful:

No matter where you move your head, the Hawk will still stare into your soul.

The first place was an independent. There I scored Top Gear Rally on the N64 for $10, but the real bargain was buying Red Faction 2 and Tony Hawk's Project 8 on PS2 for $3 each! I can't believe how cheap PS2 games are these days. I better stock up before people consider them 'vintage' and start charging $30 a pop for them as well. 

Also slightly interesting fact; On the top-left of the Red Faction 2 case, you can see a yellow sticker that says 'Ultimate Games'. I found this awesome because during my childhood that was the only independent game store near where I lived. Sadly it's not around these days, but I built up most of my PSone collection from there when they were as cheap as the PS2 games. These were good games too, not the endless $5 copies of Fifa 2001 you see in the present.

The last place I went was a Cash Converters. This particular storefront is usually skimming on games, but they had one sole SNES game sitting in a cabinet; Winter Gold.
I couldn't see the price, so I decided to Google if it was any good. The internet on my phone was going annoyingly slow (it's usually pretty good) so I only got as far as the Wikipedia page, which was no help on the quality of the game. From there I decided to Ebay search it to at least see what it was worth, but as the loading bar was crawling along a store worker asked me if I needed any help. I took the opportunity to ask how much Winter Gold was, so he opened the cabinet and there was a $5 price tag on the back.
For $5 I decided I would just roll with it. There couldn't be much potential personal lose at that price.

Finally logging on to Ebay later that day, I received a minor shock. For some reason, all the auctions for Winter Gold ranged from $30 to $40. I have no idea why it's that dear, as the 5 minutes I committed to Googling the answer came up with nothing. What I do know is that it was only released in PAL regions, and relatively late in the consoles lifespan too (1996). Why this justifies the high price, who knows. All I do know is that its quite a fun game, and the 3D in it rocks. I guess that's all that matters at the end of the day. 

Super Strike Eagle Video Review for the SNES

It's been a while since I created and uploaded a video for this blog. There is not much else to say about it really.
Watch the video. This is a video post. Words are irrelevant.

Video: Street Fighter 2 Turbo Review for SNES

I've kept to my word and made a new video, with more to come.

This is my first video review which I've been wanting to make for a while. I feel it went well, and if the reception is good enough I'll make more! 

Have A Video

I feel it's been too long...

Hardware Review: Generic After Market Power Pack for SNES!

Feel it's wrath! 

Today we have probably the most exciting hardware review ever in Retro Game On history. Yes, hold onto your socks. It's an after market generic power pack for the SNES.
My god, just look at it. Actually, it's recommended that you don't look at it for too long, you may go blind from it's awesomeness.  It's both visually stunning and quite useful at the same time. Just look at that sleek black matt finish, toppled with a green LED. Man, do I love green LED's.
The prongs are also so shiny, I'd rather just look at the damn thing than use it. But alas, it was constructed to be used, not gawked at.
Physically it does what it should do, which is of course power the SNES. But lets not talk about that though, lets just bask in it's glory for a little while longer.

The green LED is just visually stunning. 

When you disconnect it, the LED still stays on for a little while. How it does this I'm still not sure, but one can only presume it's powered by a higher being than me.

I couldn't even focus the camera on it properly, must of been some electro magnetic fields powered by awesomeness causing interference.  

I think something this great should get more than just an article. Yes, I'm going to do it. I'm awarding it something that has only ever been awarded once ever on this blog. Yes, the Retro Game On Seal of Awesomeness!

Christmas Has Come Early Again!

Technically this new possession was a birthday present, but lets not get into the specifics. Remember a couple of posts ago when I scored two Famicom's and a Super Famicom? I just scored this SNES with a copy of Street Fighter 2 Turbo the same kind of way. People know I'm into retro collecting, so when they come across things like these which are no use to them, I'm the first person they think of.
This particular gift came as the console, the game and a third party controller. Unfortunately my friend who gave it to me couldn't find the cables, but this is no problem as my Super Famicom AV cable works with it (which is soon to get it's first game) and I'm using a universal AC adapter which I found in the depths of my spare room. Sadly the AC adapter is old and overheats dramatically after a few minutes, but I have a new one coming inbound from Ebay.
As for the console it's self, no problems at all. I had to do a bit of dust blowing to get it working in the first place, but it's been smooth sailing ever since. I've had a whale of a time playing Street Fighter on it so far; I can't wait until the new AC adapter arrives so I don't have to worry about the universal one catching on fire after half an hours use or so.

All in all, a very worthy console to add to my ever expanding collection. This doubled with the Super Famicom will make sure that my Nintendo collection from that era is going to be awesome.