A Closer Look at Nintendo’s Official Game Boy Peripherals: Game Boy Battery Pack
When it comes to powering up your portable devices these days, all one really needs to do is plug it in and go. Whether you're playing on your Nintendo Switch, Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo DS, or Game Boy Advance SP, playing with portable power is a cinch. However, that...
Obelix for the Atari 2600
Asterix is the name of a very popular French comic that, like many Americans, I have never read. I can tell you that Asterix is the little guy, Obelix is the big guy and they both have Atari 2600 games named for them. That's about it. Sales weren't exactly brisk in...
![A Biased List of my Favourite Retro Gaming YouTubers [Part II]](https://i0.wp.com/www.oldschoolgamermagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Header-2.jpg?resize=400%2C250&ssl=1)
A Biased List of my Favourite Retro Gaming YouTubers [Part II]
A few weeks ago, I took the internet by storm and posted the most coveted list of my favourite YouTubers. As promised, since that was only a part one, here’s part 2! Hold onto your hats! Of course, this is not the end all, comprehensive list that you deserve – it’s...
Video Game Trading Card Spotlight – Joel West
Our next Trading Card Spotlight features Joel West, who is displayed on card number 11, from the Circus Card Collection of 2011. Joel is also featured on cards 1236, 1911, 2103, 2189 and 2197. Joel grew up in the early 1980’s when the arcade boom began. He was one...
Old School Gamer Magazine Nintendo Switch Holiday Game Guide
With Christmas less than a month away, Old School Gamer shares 10 Nintendo Switch games (in no particular order) that belong under your tree this holiday season. Arms: It’s not going to win a ton of popularity contests, but Arms is a fun game that takes solid...
Lemmings for Master System Review
Lemmings have been ported to just about every system under the sun prior to the 5th generation, and the SMS is no different! A fun little puzzle game as expected, the goal is direct a bunch of aimless lemmings to safety. PS: this is my first Master System review!...
An Atari 2600 Review: Star Castle Arcade
“Star Castle Arcade is an amazing port to the Atari 2600”
Phoenix IV: Playstation Portable
PlayStation Portable It was expected that the GBA SP would be another hit in Nintendo’s stable of handheld successes that no other manufacturer could penetrate. But that wasn’t from a lack of trying. When SCE attempted to take a stab at it, everybody paid attention....
Keep Calm and Insert Coin: Now Boarding
As a kid, I didn't really travel that much. Sure I went on those fun loving car rides with my mom and dad and my brother once in a blue moon. But it seemed like those trips took forever. Why, oh why didn't we have iPhones back then. Oh yeah, they weren't invented...
Classic Home Video Games 1972-1984: Pressure Cooker
Publisher: Activision. Action, 1 or 2 players (alternating) 1983 The delightful game has players maneuvering an animated chef around a colorfully detailed kitchen (it includes a fiery oven), catching instantly recognizable burger parts (tomatoes, onions, lettuce and...
What Happened to the Nintendo “Ultra” 64?
The much-delayed third home console from Nintendo saw numerous name changes along its way to finally reaching store shelves in mid-1996. Code-named "Project Reality" early on in its development and announcement phase, the machine would be well known for a brief span...
Other Magazine Update: Retro Gamer November 2017
The November issue of Retro Gamer (UK) covered my favorite console ever, the one that really started it all, the Atari 2600 and it's 40th Anniversary of its creation. But some reason the X-BOX got the big cover shot on it. Two great consoles no doubt about it. Lets...
Coleco Announces New Mini-Arcade Based on Robotech Anime
Originally announced at the 2017 San Diego Comic-Con, Coleco is returning to manufacturing the mini-arcade tabletop machines they were so renowned for in the 1980’s. This time around, it will be based on the popular anime, Robotech, that was the first anime viewed by...
The Best Wrestling Games Aren’t on Current Generation Consoles
With the release of another edition of 2K Sports’ WWE video game series on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and eventually the Nintendo Switch, players and fans of the medium have been presented with another beautiful game, chock-full of amazing options and things to do,...
Monaco GP – My First Arcade Game
Monaco GP is the first arcade game I ever played. I was so young at the time I didn't even know it by name. It was simply the racing game right inside the entrance to the arcade that was right inside the entrance to the mall. It was loud and fast and simple, an ideal...
Video Game Trading Card Spotlight – Richard Booth
Our next Trading Card Spotlight features Richard Booth, who currently is displayed on card number 704 from the Superstars of 2014 Collection. Richard has devoted the last 7 years to Twin Galaxies and is determined to keep Walters vision he had in 1981 alive. ...
Driver for PSone Review
Released in 1999, Driver is basically a 70's cop show hiding within a PSone game. Playing as an undercover detective named Tanner, the goal is to infiltrate local gangs by being a driver for them (the fact that Tanner originally was a racecar driver is beneficial). A...
Keep Calm and Insert Coin: I’m Getting to Old For this *@#!
Yeah, we have all played them some time or another. And they always seem to bring back that special memory of our youth. But sometimes there is a line that is crossed that may say, aren't I too old for video games? Well, I will start by saying not in my case. To...
The Radical Redesign of the Super NES, part 2: The Controller
Last time, we took a look at the changes made to the shell of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System's console shell and why they were made for the North American market. This time out, we're looking at the controllers. At a glance, the difference between a Super...
The VMU-Boy – the RetroPie Powered Handheld you Didn’t Know you Wanted
RetroPies, powered by the cheap minicomputer, the Raspberry Pi, have taken off hugely in the last few years as a great solution for emulation. While most will prefer using a Pi 3 Model B inside nothing but a pre-made case, since it’s easy to plug straight into a TV...
Phoenix IV: Polygonal Graphics
Polygonal Graphics Ironically, one of the last projects that the old Atari, Inc. released to the arcades reaffirmed the fact that the company's designers could be as innovative as ever: I, Robot was the first game that featured state-of-the-art 3D polygonal graphics,...
GameShell Launches on Kickstarter and Redefines the Portable Game Console
GameShell, a modular, portable, and programmable handheld console comes preloaded with games and is the perfect DIY mini-computing platform. No matter how advanced smartphones and gaming apps become, there is no substitute for a quality portable gaming console with a...
Donkey Kong for the Atari 2600
The first place I saw Donkey Kong on the Atari 2600 was an in-store display sometime in late 1982 or maybe early 1983. By this time my family owned a Colecovision and I'd played the arcade game a few times, so I had a pretty good idea what Donkey Kong should look...
Video Game Trading Card Spotlight – Michael Sroka
Our next Trading Card Spotlight features Michael Sroka who is displayed on card number 25, from the Superstars of 2011 Collection. Michael is also featured on card 1311. Michael is one of the driving forces behind the old online podcast known as the “Twin Galaxies...
Other Magazine Update: Retro Gamer October 2017
Continuing the tradition I started in September with reviewing other industry magazines, lets go after the October issue of Retro Gamer from the UK. I personally subscribe to it via my ipad instead of picking up at a local Barnes and Noble anymore. This issue's cover...
WinBack for N64 Review
WinBack (Operation: WinBack in PAL regions) is widely considered to be the first 3rd person shooter to use a cover system (like in Gears of War etc.). It was also developed by Omega Force who is mostly known for Dynasty Warrior - so not only was it a pioneer, it was...
An Atari 8-bit Home Computer Review: War Room
Welcome to the War Room! War Room is a new, fast-action, shoot 'em up arcade game for the Atari 8-bit family of home computers. The game was written by Rob Schlortt and Eric Henneke. It was released on Halloween, October 31, 2017. From the game manual: You have 3...
Keep Calm and Insert Coin: Pac Man Fever
Ok, normally I write about the video games that I played in my youth years. But this time, I am going to do something different. I want to talk about music for a moment. Oh man, the 80's. I don't care what you say, I think that the best music of MY years was the...
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A Biased List of my Favourite Retro Gaming YouTubers [Part I]
While I don’t claim to be very good at many things in life, one pastime I excel at is sitting on my butt and watching the Tubes. I’ve been a fan of many YouTube channels since I started watching them regularly about eight years ago - and since then, have built up...
100 Greatest Console Video Games 1977-1987: Solar Fox
Solar Fox for the Atari 2600 was a tough call for the inclusion in this book. I love the game and still play it, but it has some of the most simplistic graphics of any cartridge produced in 1983 - a grid of squares, some enemy projectiles, and a trio of ordinary...
The Radical Redesign of the Super NES
The recent release of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System Classic Edition around the world has reignited an age-old discussion about which design for the console is superior: The sleek, rounded grays of the European and Japanese release, or the multiple contours...
Phoenix IV: Sega’s New Console
As Nintendo and SCE volleyed for the top position, it was plain to see that Sega was no longer in the running, even though the Saturn was outselling the N64 in Japan. American sales for the Saturn had fallen so dramatically during 1997 that Sega of America decided to...
Gigolo and Cathouse Blues for the Atari 2600
Send the kids to bed. These games are for mommies and daddies only. Now for many of you reading this, "adult" Atari 2600 games are old hat, but if they aren't, open a new browser tab, Google "Custer's Revenge" and take some time to immerse yourself in the colorful...
Galaxies Of Gaming this weekend
Come Join us this weekend, November 10th-12th, 2017 in Ottumwa, Iowa for a weekend of retro gaming, tournament, trading cards, and the International Video game Hall of Fame Ceremony. Special guests include Walter Day, Billy Mitchell, "Tri-Force" Johnson and team...
![Thrill Kill [PS1] – Unreleased & Unobtainable](https://i0.wp.com/www.oldschoolgamermagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/maxresdefault-2.jpg?resize=400%2C250&ssl=1)
Thrill Kill [PS1] – Unreleased & Unobtainable
Thrill Kill (for the PlayStation) was originally intended to be released mid-1998. However, thanks to big companies buying smaller companies (in this case, EA), the completed game was canned by its new overlords due to its sexual and violent nature mere weeks before...
Old School Gamer Magazine Exclusive: Inside Riskers
You wouldn’t necessarily call the gameplay in Grand Theft Auto retro, would you? Well, it’s actually been over 20 years since the original GTA game hit shelves and as a result, it's had an impact on a plethora of gamers and more importantly, developers. In this...
How to Connect Retro Consoles into Modern TV’s
Maybe you’ve just entered the wonderful world of retro gaming and only own a modern TV – or, you’ve just upgraded your TV from 1995 (that was so close to becoming a family heirloom) to a modern, whiz-bang flat screen television. Either way, you might be wondering how...
A Closer Look at Nintendo’s Official NES Peripherals: NES Max
These days, whenever Nintendo releases a new console with a wild and unusual new controller, they typically have a backup -- something more basic for their more traditional games and the traditional gamer. But what did they do back in the era of the Nintendo...
Phoenix IV: Arcade Virtuality
As home consoles were becoming more sophisticated, arcade manufacturers had to stay one step ahead and devise games that couldn’t be played at home. Virtuality, a British company, introduced four virtual reality games into arcades. While the games were different, the...
Video Game Trading Card Spotlight – Zach Kaczor
Our next Trading Card Spotlight features Zach Kaczor, who is displayed on card number 99, from the Superstars of 2011 Collection. Zach is one of the youngest gamers to appear on a Video Game Trading Card. When the card was produced, Zach was 11 years old. He took...