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: Sonic "Perler Art" from 8bit Evolution Review

No review this week, but today (for something a little bit different) I review an art piece that 8bit Evolution sent me, involving none other than Sonic the Hedgehog.

Retro Game On Does Kalgoorlie

When you think of Kalgoorlie, what do you think of? Gold? Skimpies? The Mining Tax?
If you're not Australian, you're probably thinking "I don't remember playing a Kalgoorlie in the 80's" and that's totally okay. No matter what though, if you're Australian you wouldn't associate it with retro gaming.
If you're still wondering, Kalgoorlie is a mining town in Western Australia. It's known for having the biggest hole in Australia that we scoop gold out of. It's so big, it has 'super' in its name. It is called... The Super Pit. The Super Famicom has 'super' in its name, and that's pretty super, so by default this pit called a Super Pit is actually quite super. It looks like this:

Dale dug a hole.

Pretty super, eh? But why was I there? Am I a miner now? Nah. What about a Mining magnate? Sadly not. I was there for a family event, and thought I would check out some op-shops and do some promotion while I was there. See how promotion was in italics? That was probably me trying to be funny, but stay tuned to find out more.

The first place I went to was a Red Cross, which was in walking distance of my motel which was great since I didn't have my car.
I picked up these two for a couple of dollars each.

Nothing too out of the ordinary, right? You would think the case labelled "Sony PlayStation Catalogue" would be a demo disk wouldn't you? Well, the booklet inside is, talking about games and accessories but if there was a demo disk, its long gone.
I had an idea when I first looked what the game actually was, but I had to wait until I got home to confirm it. It wasn't labelled with a game name, but it was plastered with the logos advertising 3D Realms and GT Interactive. It wasn't black with simple white text like virtually every other PSone demo disk I've ever seen, but instead looked like a nuclear warning symbol. You've probably already figured out what it is, but for those still scratching their heads, it was none other than the PSone version of Duke Nukem 3D. Come get some! This was a nice surprise to say the least, as it sure beats paying money for demos. The booklet will make a nice retro scan blogpost one day though.

Besides from that, there is also Jack Nicklaus Golf, which is a DOS game. Honestly, I just bought this so I would reach the Eftpos minimum as I had no cash. Who knows though, it might be a laugh one day for a review; if/when I finally get around to doing PC reviews, anyway. Otherwise I'm sure it will make a great coaster.

In-between gallivanting around Op-Shops, I also saw a few other tourist attractions like the Broad Arrow Tavern:

This unique son-of-a-gun, is the only remaining pub of a ghost town. While that's cool in its self, at this pub you can write on walls. In fact, every square inch is covered in messages like "Davo was ere '07" or "Brad is lamo'o '94 ahaha". As humorous as they all were, I noticed a distinct lack of website promotion, so I of course fixed that.

On a XXXX Gold sign, no less.

Obviously, I don't think my target market drinks at this pub and since there is so much writing everything it will basically be drowned out. But none the less, Retro Game On is now a rebel. Graffiti on a wall; wearing a leather jacket and riding a motorbike. Watch out, hide your daughters. Who knows what this rebel without a cause will do next.

Well, if you're still wondering... he went to another op-shop.

This was also two dollars, but is a lot better than another damn golf game. Its actually one of those games I've been after for a little while too, so I was happy to find it in a Salvation Army that was also in walking distance from the motel.
Unfortunately, I didn't get to visit another op-shop while in Kalgoorlie, but I did check one out in the town of Southern Cross on the drive home. This was an independent, and while the lady thought there was a box of computer games available, they were nowhere to be seen. Oh well, it was at that point there were some people having a yelling match in the street, so I ate some surprisingly good nachos at the roadhouse and then hightailed it back to civilisation. Back to a stable internet connection, anyway.

Video: Metal Gear Solid for PSone Review

Today I check out and review what some say is the best game ever made. Is it? WELL... yes. No. Probably.
Its so good it received a copyright claim from Konami, anyway.

Scan: "Where do you play with yours?" Poster

I'm sure just about every gamer in the 90's had this poster on their wall, but since I've recently come into contact with a mint copy after buying Banjo-Kazooie boxed and complete, I thought I'd take the opportunity to upload it here.
It is a bit wrinkled after being folded in a box for so long, but otherwise its not faded or ripped anywhere.

One side has the iconic image of Mario swinging Bowser by his tail (which I'm sure was on more than one version of these posters), but the other-side includes promotional stuffs for the N64 and the Game Boy Pocket. It's pretty simply otherwise; I'm actually struggling to write anything more about it.
Um... the N64 stuffs seems to be held together by a bendy blue lightsaber while the GBP stuffs is held together by a red one? What could it possibly mean? Cue Twilight Zone music; or don't. Just enjoy the images.
I'll probably get this framed actually. I'm sure this would look rad on a wall.

Video: The Best Retro Gaming YouTube Channels

Something a bit different this week as I'm currently reviewing something a little more in-depth than usual. Watch this space.
This week I've complied a list of all my favourite retro gaming channels. These are the channels that inspire and entertain me, and I encourage everyone to check them out.

Video: Jurassic Park for Genesis/Mega Drive Review

Today I review Jurassic Park for the SEGA Mega Drive/Genesis. Most movie tie-ins are rubbish, but this particular title didn't suffer from a short development period like most, taking 15 months to create. Does that make this worth playing though?

Breaking News: My Atari ST Collection Just Doubled

Startling and shocking updates from Retro Game On HQ; that title tells no lie. I finally bought another Atari ST game, bringing my total collection to two.
Nearly a year ago I bought the game T-Bird to test my Atari ST that I bought off Gumtree for $10 throughout a flu-frenzy. It was only just then, finding the links to those posts for this very blogpost did I realise that was an entire year ago. What a slow way to build a collection; I even buy Famicom games faster than that and I live in the wrong continent.

If I was going to expand this collection, it was going to be something I actually want to play. No disrespect to T-Bird or anything, that game is backed by a wild animation (check out the post linked above for its... interesting backstory) but its sorta... well, a crap game.
Then again, what can you expect for the $3 or whatever I payed for it? Lotus Esprit Challange on the otherhand (clocking in at close to $10 including postage) is from an established series.
I showed my love for the Lotus series very recently by reviewing Lotus III R.E.C.S for the Mega Drive, so I was definitely in the Lotus mood when I purchased this.

I won't review it too much here, because hey, that's what my YouTube channel is for but I will add that it's quite a lot of fun. C+VG magazine says so right on the cover after all.
I would like to say this is the start of huge ST collection for reals this time, but I wouldn't want to tell a lie no matter how much I want it to be true. The fact is, these games are hard to come across on anywhere but the internet. Pawn/op shops do not stock floppy disks; at least not in my local area anyway. I am, however keeping an eye on bids that offer multiple games so I can expand my collection and delve deeper into the system. Watch this space.

Can Doom run on a printer? ...yes

Do you know what I hate?

Well.. do ya? Do ya really? You don't? Well. Let me tell you.
My printer. My piece of shit, ink-guzzling HP that charges something like $80 to replace all the cartridges. Every time I try to use it, it abruptly stops what I'm trying to do so it can 'prepare'. That usually takes a couple of minutes, and it's completely random. I hate it.
It's old too. We literally bought it with the money that Kevin Rudd gave us during the 2008 financial crisis so we'd spend up big and not fall into a blackhole of recession. Because of its vintage, it doesn't have luxuries that printers these days automatically include like wireless of double-sided printing.

tl;dr: Damn that piece of shit to electronics Hell along with the Game.com and the Apple Bandai Pippin.

But maybe I should chill out and read more 'Birds of Australia'.

But what if I had something to do while waiting for that invasive preparation? What if I had a classic game to play, something that could run on just about everything? What if that game... was Doom?

It turns out that's not so much of a stretch as far as Michael Jordon is concerned.
Not the basket-baller, sadly, but Jordon is a white-hat hacker for a firm called Context Information Security. He figured out that Canon Pixma printers are not so secure thanks to a feature that lets users access them from the web. That may not sound too malicious, but Jordon also discovered that it was so unsecured to an extent that he could actually upload his own custom firmware.
Doom can run on everything supposedly (which thankfully Jordon knows) so he spent the next four months coding a custom ROM, getting it almost perfect for a hacker conference on the subject.

Here's a video of it in action:

Obviously the colour palette is bit off and there are no controls or sound (it appears it be running in demo mode) but this is undoubtedly Doom on a printer and that is awesome.

Canon says they will be adding a fix sooner or later, but it just goes to show what can run on what in this day and age.

[Contextis.co.uk via BBC News]

Video: Tokyo Xtreme Racer/Tokyo Highway Challenge for Dreamcast Review

Otherwise known as Shutokou Battle in Japan, this is a fantastically original game for the Dreamcast. It's set on a Japanese express-way, but instead of conventional racing you must track down opponents and then lose them to win. This game is very non-linear for its time.