https://us.bitmapbooks.com/?shpxid=5a2016a7-a647-40d6-b5d0-6e23f9554118

The Arcade 1971–1999: The Stories Behind Classic Coin-Ops, Told by Their Creators

When Bitmap Books was established in 2014, our founder Sam Dyer had a vision that was as ambitious as it was straightforward. He wanted to create and publish the highest quality, most visually splendid gaming books ever produced.

Since then, Bitmap’s team of global collaborators have produced numerous award-winning titles that celebrate the software, hardware, developers, and code shops that laid down the foundations for the billion-dollar game industry we all know and love today.
Interview with Creator coming soon….

The post Bitmap Books – So many great published books appeared first on Old School Gamer Magazine.

The Commodore 64 scene gets another Arkanoid clone as developer Hanyic.Robert releases Rob-Ball, the highly anticipated follow-up to the hit Rob-Man. Far from a standard clone, this latest offering is a masterclass in 6502 assembly programming, pushing the aging 8-bit hardware into overdrive to deliver a premium arcade experience! According to the creator this is the ultimate Arkanoid-reimagining on the Commodore 64! Featuring smooth parallax scrolling, 24 randomized stages, and a unique “Coffee Break” help system.

At first glance, Rob-Ball sets itself apart with technical flourishes rarely seen in the brick-breaker genre. The game features lush, multi-layered parallax scrolling backgrounds that provide a stunning sense of depth. To keep the play area clean, the developer utilized sprite-multiplexing to “open” the top and bottom borders. This Open Border HUD neatly tucks away your score and life count, leaving the entire main screen free for high-speed action. Furthermore the game even features dynamic physics! Feel every impact! The paddle reacts physically to the ball, and floating obstacles will test your reflexes to the max.

Links :1) Source

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With over a dozen games on the compilation and special numbered Deluxe collector’s edition that includes a Barbie doll wearing an Atari shirt, this may be the perfect gift for retro gaming millennial in your home.

“Play classic Barbie video games from 1991 through 2007, enhanced for today’s consoles. Includes the never-before-released game, Barbie : Vacation Adventure (Sega Genesis and SNES),” Atari, the game’s publisher, said on their website. “Decorate the DreamHouse through the decades, while playing classic Barbie games in this cozy and creative game for the whole family. Barbie Rewind pulls you back in time through iconic eras of Barbie with stunning pixel art and retro style. Your bestie, Barbie, invites you into her world and asks for your help decorating the DreamHouse using items from 65+ years of Barbie history.”

The Complete List of Included Games Are:

Barbie (1991, NES)

Barbie Game Girl (1992, Game Boy)

BarbieSuper Model (1993, Sega Genesis, Super Nintendo)

Barbie Vacation Adventure (Unreleased, Sega Genesis, Super Nintendo)

Barbie® Race & Ride (1999, PlayStation)

Barbie® Super Sports (1999, PlayStation)

Barbie® Ocean Discovery (1999, Game Boy Color)

Detective Barbie®: The Mystery Cruise (2000, PlayStation)

Barbie® Fashion Pack Games (2000, Game Boy Color)

Barbie® Pet Rescue (2001, Game Boy Color)

Secret Agent Barbie: Royal Jewels Mission (2002, Game Boy Advance)

Barbie Groovy Games (2002, Game Boy Advance)

Barbie Gotta Have Games (2003, PlayStation)

Barbie Horse Adventures : Blue Ribbon Race (2003, Game Boy Advance)

The Barbie Diaries: High School Mystery (2006, Game Boy Advance)

Barbie in the 12 Dancing Princesses (2006, Game Boy Advance)

Barbie as the Island Princess (2007, Game Boy Advance)

What was your go-to Barbie retro experience? Is it in this collection? Sound off in the comment section below.

The post Barbie Rewind Now Available on PC, Consoles appeared first on Old School Gamer Magazine.

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Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee Remastered is coming to Steam on November 3 and isn’t holding anything back. On top of improved visuals, Atari and Pipeworks Studios are adding a few special features to make the remaster legendary.

“The ultimate Godzilla arena brawler is back, completely remastered,” it says on the game’s Steam page.”Choose your monster and battle it out with a range of brutal attacks through recreated cities and other locations. Face off against your friends and foes in local co-op or new online multiplayer.”

Check the game out on Steam Now.

Will you Download Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee Remastered? Tell us your thoughts on the game’s legacy in the comment section below.

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Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about the late Gunpei Yokoi’s core design philosophy, the one that led to him parting ways with Nintendo when the company decided to focus on creating more powerful hardware. Lateral thinking with withered technology. The idea being, that it’s possible to create truly exceptional game designs by working around limitations. Modern retro game developers are a perfect example of this. But Nintendo itself never fully gave up on the concept, as can be seen with the Pokémon Mini, a bewildering concept that led to the creation of what I genuinely believe to be one of the greatest pinball games of all time.

If you don’t recall what the Pokémon Mini is, you can probably at least remember the Tamagotchi craze of the late nineties. Tamagotchis were, fundamentally, games that could be played on outrageously tiny devices. Pokémon was a natural fit for the concept. Ironically, as Pokémon was still seen as more of a game than a brand at the time, the Pokémon Mini when it came out in 2001 was an awkward hybrid of these ideas, a gimmick device by a major developer with crude technology with some pretty exceptional ideas.

Enter Pokémon Pinball. The idea of a pinball game themed around Pokémon was a solid one, as was seen in the Game Boy Color title which later received a Game Boy Advance sequel. But the Pokémon Mini was entirely too crude hardware-wise to emulate something as elaborate as a real pinball table. So, what the game did instead, was function as a pick-up-and-play puzzle title. You start out with one Pokémon, the very simply designed mole Diglett, to act as your bumper. With Diglett, you bump poké balls into holes. Simple, right?

What gives Pokémon Pinball for the Pokémon Mini such surprising depth is how the game demands almost perfect understanding from the player about how its generally wonky physics engine. The exact angle at which Diglett hits the ball radically alters its trajectory. Diglett can also only be held back for so long before it’s forced into making a power shot, adding an element of timing to the gameplay as well. With each of the game’s ninety stages operating under a time limit, completing Pokémon Pinball for the Pokémon Mini, requires an impressive understanding of the core mechanics from the players, something only possible because the game is so fundamentally simple.

Closer to a puzzle game than a true pinball title, Pokémon Pinball for the Pokémon Mini excels precisely because its designed less in terms of fidelity to tables than trying to make something that functions well on the Pokémon Mini’s hardware. The results are genuinely innovative, creating situations that can’t be recreated even on a real pinball table. The four stages where you catch new Pokémon to use as bumpers are a major highlight, genuinely my favorite way to catch Pokémon in any game. You have to repeatedly batter them with your poké balls, working your way around whatever obstacles are protecting them and doing so consistently enough that they don’t revive with a single hit point before you have a chance to catch them.

Getting to use these Pokémon as new bumpers is also quite rewarding. For the most part, it’s the shape of the Pokémon themselves that make them better or worse suited for certain stages. Even Clefairy, which gets the ability to influence the movement of the ball after it’s already been launched, isn’t as overpowered as you’d think because in some stages, the shape of Clefairy’s head just doesn’t get the poké ball going where you want it to go. Pikachu, the omnipresent mascot of the Pokémon franchise, unsurprisingly makes an appearance here but is unsurprisingly the worst bumper because its ears make it an awkward launcher. Still, even the electric rat has its moments, as later stages really force you to think about what kind of spin is most appropriate for the puzzle.

Pokémon Pinball for the Pokémon Mini is, in summary, a genuine gem. Not the kind of game that can be played in its original context very easily, as the Pokémon Mini unit is now a collector’s item. But the nice part of it being developed for such withered technology is that the game is trivially easy to emulate. I would encourage you to give it a shot! Psst, by the way, no one will hold it against you for using save states on level 62, I’m pretty sure the designers set the clear time on that one way too low by accident.

The post Remembering Pokémon Pinball for the Pokémon Mini appeared first on Old School Gamer Magazine.

“The 800XL represents an important moment in Atari’s history, when home computers were becoming a gateway to gaming, programming and creativity,” said Matt Burnett, VP of Strategic Operations at Atari. “It gave an entire generation the opportunity to discover what they could do with a computer, while offering an incredible catalog of games and software. That combination is what makes the 800XL such an important part of Atari’s legacy, and working with Retro Games Ltd. and Plaion we are excited to bring back this modernized version.”

First introduced in 1983, fans consider the 800XL the jewel in the crown of Atari’s line of personal computers. The unique, low-profile form factor housed a computer and cartridge slot within a full-sized keyboard. With 64KB of memory, custom chips for advanced graphics and sound, and built in BASIC, the original 800XL epitomized Atari’s position at the intersection of personal computing and gaming.

https://retrogames.biz/

“The 800XL was one of those rare machines that really showed what an 8-bit home computer could be capable of,” said Stuart Chiplin, COO at Retro Games Ltd. “When recreating it, we wanted to capture not just how the original looked, but what made it such a compelling computer – the freedom it gave people to play, program and create. A lot of work has gone into making THE 800XL feel authentic while bringing the experience up to date for today’s players.”

25 Built-In Games

With support for Atari 8-bit home computer software, THE 800XL gives players access to decades of classics. Players can instantly enjoy 25 built-in titles or load their own games and software from USB flash drives with cartridge, disk and cassette image support.

https://retrogames.biz/

The 25 built-in games are:

• Airball, Asteroids®, Basketball, BattleZone and Berzerk: Five classic arcade-inspired titles spanning action, shooting and sports.

• Boulder Dash®, Bristles, Capture the Flag, Centipede® and Crystal Castles®: A mix of arcade, puzzle and strategy classics.

• Elektraglide, Encounter, Flip and Flop, Henry’s House and Hover Bovver: A selection of driving, shooting and platforming games.

• Lee, M.U.L.E., Millipede®, Miner 2049er® and Missile Command®: More Atari 8-bit favorites featuring strategy, platforming and arcade action.

• O’Riley’s Mine, The Seven Cities of Gold, Star Raiders® II, Wavy Navy and Yoomp!: A final selection featuring exploration, strategy, space combat and arcade action.

Of the 25 built-in titles, eight are licensed Atari first-party games and 17 are licensed third-party games. Two additional titles – Castle Crisis and Super Breakout® – are hidden on the game carousel and can be unlocked by connecting an analog controller.

8-Bit Support

The original supported decades’ worth of games, applications and home-grown software development. With a working cartridge slot, and the ability to load and run programs via USB, THE 800XL supports software created for the Atari 400, 800, XL and XE 8-bit computers, as well as games developed for the Atari 5200® console, giving users access to a vast library of gaming and computing history. .

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/muud8hnqsqitu3k7otlds/APTntoZX2JSihysZRFg0zes/Videos/THE%20800XL%20Announce%20Trailer%20-%20ANZ%20English%20%E2%80%93%20ACB.mp4?rlkey=a779t6cjigiuuw99w232kljxg&e=1&dl=0

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A more polished version of the original games, Pokemon Yellow is a less-glitchy and better-looking experience and one that features characters from the hit TV show, mainly Pikachu. Away from that, it’s virtually the same experience as its predecessors. 

The largest difference in Pokemon Yellow is the fact that Pikachu is your starter Pokemon and not Charmander, Bulbasaur or Squirtle. The fact that he follows you around Kanto and you can talk to him to see how he’s feeling adds another emotional to the game that wasn’t available in Red & Blue. However, the coolest part of Pokemon Yellow is that you’ll have the opportunity to pick up all of the original starter Pokemon along the way and build a powerful and diverse team of Pocket Monsters. Perfect for more of a loner-gamer, Pokemon Yellow allows you to get the team of your dreams, simply by playing, while Pokemon Red and Blue basically forced you to trade with friends to “catch em all.”

For that reason alone, Pokemon Yellow is the best version of the three recently-released Pokemon games and one that younger games will find a beefy, yet old-school version of their favorite series. At the same time, it’s a far different game than its far sexier two-screened children on the 3DS. Just like Pokemon Red & Blue, there’s no experience share, meaning there’s far more strategy than today’s version of the beloved RPG. Simply put, it takes a ton of time to get your team to Level 100 and battles are longer and far more stress-inducing, Even a wimpy Pokemon like Metapod can be a huge annoyance if battled incorrectly, especially early in the game.

However, by the end of this adventure, although not nearly as deep as today’s Pokemon games, the same feeling of success and accomplishment remains. You’ve traveled the world, originally by yourself, then joined by friends, who you’ve grown to love and nurture along the way and in the process, became something you’ve never dreamed possible. An experience like that doesn’t necessarily need widescreen support, 3D graphics or sexy gameplay. What it does have, in spades, is an emotional story and tried and true gaming mechanics that have been copied a hundred times over. That’s why the world and everything in it is still magical. In the end, even after all this time, Pokemon Yellow is the most refined version of quite possibly the best RPG series in gaming history.

Pros:

Fun: While Red and Blue were marvelous games, Yellow added just a few more refinements and a connection to the hit TV show that dedicated gamers at the time loved. Almost 20 years, later, it’s still a solid game that’s just a tad bit better than Red/Blue.

All About Pikachu: Unlike Red/Blue, having Pikachu walk around with you makes you form the type of relationship the future Pokemon games thrived on. While he’s not the strongest Pokemon, he’s a fan favorite for a reason. This is kind of where his legend started.

Still Challenging: Just like Red/Blue, if you’re not a master of strategy, you can and will be defeated. After all these years, balance is still key to defeating any team you face.

Cons:

Slow: The sheer amount of random encounters and lack of an experience share slow down the development of your team incredibly, making you wish a few updates could have been made to speed up gameplay.

Final Thoughts:

Of the first three Pokemon games, Yellow has the least amount of glitches and has the best visuals. More polished and refined, it’s probably the best option among the three for those that have never played them before.

The post Retro Review: Pokemon Yellow: All About Pikachu appeared first on Old School Gamer Magazine.

So why does the Chromatic still use AA batteries? It’s not a technological issue. The FPGA’s main competitor for Game Boy Color cartridge play, the Analogue Pocket, uses a built-in rechargeable battery just like nearly any other modern portable electronic device. Rather, I suspect the issue is a philosophical one. The Chromatic hearkens back to a late 1990s aesthetic, back when we owned games, instead of purchasing a license to play them.

But we also owned the devices we used to play them on. A rechargeable battery, while nice, had hidden hazards. Locked away in a device behind casing the consumer isn’t supposed to access, such batteries can go bad and even explode. This is a trivial problem for older model Game Boys, with forgotten AA batteries that might leak at worst and are easily removed. Other devices, however, be they SPs or PSPs or Wii U controllers are safety hazards. I would recommend checking for bulging batteries in such devices if you haven’t looked at them lately, incidentally.

The Chromatic power core, by contrast, is a choice. The Chromatic itself is still perfectly usable without it, and indeed, gets such great battery life off of AAs that had batteries thirty years ago been this efficient, a rechargeable battery might not have seemed like such a necessity for our portable gaming devices. It certainly doesn’t help that in addition to a rechargeable battery, the SP had a backlight, an innovation that much more unambiguously improved the gaming experience without needing to consider long-term philosophical questions like whether we as consumers should have the right to modify our own batteries. Or perhaps, more relevantly, whether a cheaper product is worth having to take on that right which sounds in practice more like a responsibility.

I won’t pretend to be able to resolve that question for us today. But I do think it’s worth noting that even buying the power core separately, the Chromatic is still cheaper than the Analogue Pocket, and comes with an exceptional version of Tetris to boot. It’s also still in stock, and comes in a much funner variety of colors. Still can’t play Game Boy Advance games though, or play rom files, which I should note, is not sanctioned by Analogue itself. All of which is to say, these are philosophical differences, and which ones you think are more important, are just as motivated by your own gaming philosophy as it is the ambiguous technical trade-offs.

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INTERVIEW WITH Stephen Kick of Nightdive 

Q: What made now the right time to bring SiN back with SiN Reloaded, and how did the project first come together?

A: SiN has always felt like unfinished business for us. We originally re-released the game as SiN Gold back in 2014, and over the years our technology and experience have evolved to the point where we felt we could finally give it the treatment it deserved. It’s a game that has lived in the shadow of some of its contemporaries for far too long, and Reloaded is our opportunity to remind people just how ambitious SiN really was.

Q: How do you balance modernizing the graphics, controls, and overall presentation while preserving the feel of a late-1990s first-person shooter?

A: We want to remove the limitations of the era without removing its character. Higher resolutions, better controls, improved models and modern rendering can make the experience more accessible, but the movement, level design, combat and personality are what make SiN feel like SiN. Whenever we’re faced with a choice between changing something because it’s old and preserving something because it’s part of the game’s identity, we tend to err on the side of preservation.

Q: What were some of the biggest technical challenges involved in taking a game built around technology from the Quake II era and adapting it for modern hardware?

A: One misconception about this kind of work is that you simply drop an old game into KEX and everything starts working. Every title has its own assumptions, quirks and modifications to the original technology, and SiN pushed the Quake II engine particularly hard. A tremendous amount of work goes into understanding those systems, recreating their behavior accurately, and then getting them to operate reliably across modern PCs and consoles without losing the characteristics of the original game.

Q: The original SiN has developed a cult following since 1998. What elements of the original game were considered untouchable when developing Reloaded?

A: The personality of SiN was absolutely untouchable. The characters, humor, level design, interactivity, weapons and that slightly exaggerated late-’90s attitude are all fundamental to what makes the game memorable. We never wanted to sanitize those qualities or reinterpret SiN through a modern lens—we wanted to preserve what Ritual created and present it in the best possible way.

Q: For someone who has never played SiN, what do you think separates SiN Reloaded from both modern shooters and the growing number of other remastered 1990s FPS games?

A: SiN comes from this wonderful period where developers were discovering just how much more an FPS could be than running through corridors shooting enemies. There are interactive environments, alternate routes, objectives, consequences to your actions and an incredible amount of variety from one level to the next. It has this ambitious, experimental quality that can still surprise you today, even if you’ve played hundreds of shooters since.

Q: John Blade, Elexis Sinclaire, and JC are memorable characters from the original game. Did you make any changes to their presentation, dialogue, models, or characterization for SiN Reloaded?

A: One of the mandates I proposed to the team was bringing the in-game character models closer to their appearance in the cinematics. There was a dramatic difference between the two in the original game, largely because of the technical limitations of the time, so this felt like an area where we could make a meaningful improvement without changing the characters themselves. I think the new models make a huge difference to the overall presentation while still looking unmistakably like the characters people remember.

Q: How much attention has been given to the game’s AI, enemy behavior, weapon handling, and environmental interaction? Were these areas preserved closely or substantially improved?

A: Our starting point is always preservation, particularly with systems like enemy behavior and weapon handling where seemingly small changes can dramatically alter how a game feels. We’ve fixed issues and made improvements where appropriate, but we aren’t trying to redesign SiN’s combat to behave like a modern shooter. The environmental interaction in particular is one of the things that made SiN remarkable in 1998, so preserving all of those little details and making sure they work correctly was incredibly important to us.

Q: What is your favorite part of this game that you were involved with?

A: My favorite part was reaching out to the original developers and hearing their stories about making SiN—their inspirations, their ambitions, what went right, what went wrong, and everything in between. These people were trailblazers, and I don’t believe they’ve received enough credit for the artistry and influence they left behind. That’s become one of the most rewarding parts of what we do at Nightdive: not simply preserving the games, but shining a light on the people who created them during an extraordinary period of passion, experimentation and creativity in this industry.

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