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Brett’s Old School Bargain Bin: Asteroids and Beamrider – By Brett Weiss
The theme for this installment of Old School Gamer is simu- lation games, but I’m still on a shooter high from the last issue, so I’m going to spotlight two more shooting games that are easy on the wallet, yet fun to play. If you’re cool with cartridge only, Asteroids...
The Origins of the Name “Pac-Man” Indecent to Iconic – By Ethan Johnson
All old-school gamers should be familiar with localization by now. Whether that is the censorship of Nazi symbols in Bionic Commando or the hilarious cutscenes of Zero Wing, things can change for better or worse when crossing the Pacific. It is fair to say though that...
Video Game Trading Card Spotlight – Ellis Rowland
Our next Trading Card Spotlight features Ellis Rowland, who is displayed on card number 42, from the Superstars of 2011 Collection. Ellis is proud of his world record at the arcade game Eagle. His score of 274,970 was posted on the Leaderboard on July16, 2011 and...
ToeJam and Earl
Last month, the world was gifted with ToeJam and Earl: Back In the Groove. The game was funded by a $500,000 Kickstarter campaign with help from Adult Swim, and comes out roughly 28 years after the first game in the franchise was released. To celebrate the release of...
Just for Qix: Behind Enemy Lines – By Michael Thomasson
Near the end of 1980, Atari released the first-person combat simulator Battlezone in arcades. With its twin stick controls, overhead radar, and innovative plastic periscope, it mimicked an early construct of today’s virtual reality set-ups. Since the viewfinder...
The Last Official Release: Neo Geo Pocket Color – SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters Clash 2 (2001)
Greetings, those enamoured with retro consoles, and welcome back to The Last Official Release. Here, I scrutinise, study and examine the last official games released on your favourite consoles. Today, I finalise my journey through the universe of Neo Geo, but I’ve...
RetroPlace.com – A New Community to Collect With – By Brad Feingold
The staff of Old School Gamer has possibly found a new home for keeping track of our console game collection online and we recommend you check them out! This dynamic site, Retroplace.com, is built utilizing an amazing database that can do so many things. I can easily...
Driver and Driver 2 – By Conor McBrien
W hile most classic driving games would make players participate in races, stunts, or demolition derbies, Driver has players do things like helping crooks flee the scene of a bank robbery or delivering a stolen car to a chop shop. In Driver and Driver 2, you play as...
Horowitz’s History – 32X – Star Wars Arcade – By Ken Horowitz
One of the marquee titles for the launch of the 32X was Star Wars Arcade, a conversion of the Sega coin- op game. Based on the climactic Death Star battle of Episode IV, it set players in the role of Luke Skywalker as he made his classic run to destroy the massive...
The Curious Case of George Plimpton in the Video Game World
We’re still relatively close to April Fool’s Day, so I’m going to take a slight detour from my typical blog posts. Instead of writing about the history or gameplay of an an old school video game, I thought we’d take a look at the curious case of George Plimpton in the...
Nintendoes: SEGA Games on the NES – Shinobi
Go ninja, go Ninten, do!
Old School Gamer Magazine Exclusive: Inside ‘Out of the Park Baseball 2020’
Old School Gamer Magazine chats with Out of the Park Baseball 2020 lead developer Markus Heinsohn, who lets us know what makes this version of the game a special one. A simulation and stat lover’s dream come true, this year’s OOTP Baseball the best in the series. Old...
Atari VCS 2019: More exciting hardware news to report!
With the March AMD Ryzen upgrade announcement still fresh, the Atari VCS team spent four days at GDC in San Francisco where we met with numerous content providers and creators, distributors and others, before heading south to spend a full day with our engineering team...
Video Game Trading Card Spotlight – Keith Swanson
Our next Trading Card Spotlight features Keith Swanson, who is displayed on card number 60, from the Superstars of 2011. Keith is also featured on cards 972 and 1825. Keith is the world record holder of the arcade game Gorf (3 ships). His score of 1,129,660 was set...
Duck Hunt
I am not a hunter. As a general rule, I don’t enjoy guns (with the exception of water guns and Nerf guns). So, it’s a bit odd to think just how MUCH I loved the game Duck Hunt. It could be that it’s one of the first games that I ever played on the Nintendo. Getting an...
The Walter Day Report: The Art of Shooting – By Walter Day
Yes, there is an “art to shooting” in video game playing. Essentially, managing your bullets, especially when you are only given, more or less, one bullet at a time. This pertains particularly to the legendary games of the classic arcade era. In this article, I have...
Fox’s Game – The Greatest Video Game You’ve Never Played – By Shaun Jex
Later this year, Disney will open Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, a theme park experience set in the world of Star Wars. Amongst the coming attractions is Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run, which puts visitors in the Millennium Falcon. Guests will have specific jobs which...
The Last Official Release: Neo Geo CD – The King of Fighters ’99: Millennium Battle (1999)
Why, hello there, retro gaming friends. Welcome back to The Last Official Release – Old School Gamer Magazines incomparable source of what the final games released on your favourite consoles were. I’ve covered quite a few systems previously (linked below) if today's...
Just for Qix: Thunderforce – From the Home to the Arcade – By Michael Thomasson
It is a rare occurrence when a home console game makes its way to the video arcade, but that is what happened with the horizontal- scrolling shooter Thunder Force. Like a reverse chain of events, in the literary world it would be equivalent to a book being...
Piko Interactive Announces New Games for Classic Atari Jaguar Lineup
Piko Interactive, an independent video game publisher, has started accepting pre-orders for twelve new titles. These titles represent brand new releases for many consoles such as the Nintendo 64, Nintendo Entertainment System, Atari Jaguar, Sega Genesis, and Game Boy...
Blockbuster Video, Earthworm Jim, and the 1995 World Video Game Championship
Earlier this month, the Blockbuster Video located in Morley, Australia announced that it was closing. It was the last Blockbuster on the continent, and the second to last Blockbuster in the world. Now, there is only one left. The last Blockbuster Video on the planet...
Remembering the Nintendo Ultra 64 Dream Team: Time Warner Interactive
The circle of life.
Turn and Burn: KITCHEN’S LIFE-LONG F-14 LOVE AFFAIR – By Patrick Hickey Jr.
For many game developers, there’s always that one golden goose or white whale. That game or genre that appeals to them the most. The thing that will cement their legacy. The one that regardless of their success on other projects, they always come back to. For Dan...
Brett’s Old School Bargain Bin: Atari 2600 Shooters – By Brett Weiss
Despite limited horsepower, the Atari 2600 is home to ports of some of the greatest, most famous arcade shooters of all time. Each of them is missing certain aspects of its respective coin-op classic, but many retain the essential elements that made the originals...
