Category Archives: Friends

The Famicom Disk System and GameCube aren’t often compared because, well, they’re completely different; but there is one thing they have in common – Menu music. If you speed up the GameCube menu music by 16 times, it’s exactly the same as the Famicom Disk System start up menu!

Also – The GameCube’s glass cube does a crazy dance, awesome. Here’s another crazy GameCube menu secret, hold the Z button whilst turning on the GameCube and the intro will be performed by a monkey instead. Crazy times indeed.

The 31st Podcast by the guys over at Retro Gaming Roundup includes a 20 minute interview with myself speaking about the Hand Baked Arcade. This roundup is as always an in-depth discussion about many different aspects to the Retro gaming communities and history behind the games, consoles and so much more!

The Hand Baked Arcade interview starts at 45mins through the show, the whole thing can be listened to or streamed HERE

With the up and coming Duke Nukem Forever, Zelda Collection and Sonic Generations you’d be right in thinking that this year is rife with great retro come backs and it seems there’s yet another game to add to your ever expanding list of retro classics – the Dragon Quest Collection!

This year spells yet another 25th anniversary and Square-Enix plan to play homage to their ageing franchise by releasing a special package of the first ever iterations in the Dragon Quest series.

The first three Dragon Quest games will be available in their original Famicom/NES form whilst there will also be the updated Super Famicom/SNES remakes!

The compilation is set to have a September release in Japan on the Nintendo Wii and is also going to be compatible with both the Classic and GameCube controllers. There are no details of if there is going to be a Western release at the moment but judging by the rise of popularity Dragon Quest has seen in the west in the last few years there’s a high chance that it may end up on our release schedules soon!

_______________________

On a side note I’d just like to apologize for the lack of posts recently, the academic year is coming to an end and I have a huge pile of coursework looming over me like a Lakitu ready to throw a spiny turtle in my face so I’ve been rather busy – I’ll be back to my usual posting ways in a month or so!

Hand Baked Arcade are at it again, this time with their event called BUTTON BASH! Their retro gaming haven has found a new home at the Star of Kings in Kings Cross and their largest installation to date is to be open from 8pm – 2am on Saturday the 4th of June. This Pub venue is a great size and layout with enough capacity for a whole range of consoles and games machines never before seen at a Hand Baked Arcade event.

This time round expect to see all the usual suspects:

Mega Drive
SNES
Master System
2-Player Arcade machine
Atari 2600
Gameboy’s
Binatone Sports System Mk10
Leiro Machine

+ new playable setups including:

N64 now added!
NES
Sega Game Gear
Doom Multiplayer Deathmatch (tbc)
Sega Saturn (10 player!) Bomberman
homebrew corner featuring Orbital Snake by RJB Software

The Hand Baked Arcade are well known for their FREE to play arcade events across the UK. Installations have previously been seen at many of the best music festivals including Glastonbury, Glade & Bloc Weekend. Although they have also been seen in countless night clubs, art galleries and even on The Gadget Show, Channel 5.

Their last installations in Leicester Square and Farringdon were road blocked with eager punters so the venue size has been stepped up to allow the friendly, relaxed gaming vibe that Hand Baked are well known for creating. Expect as always to see many screens from small TV’s through to multiple video projections.

Background music will be supplied by Hand Baked DJ’s: lo-fi, underground, crazy, wonky, eclectic and electronic will be served up to help you BUTTON BASH!

So get down to the venue early, get the pints in and let nostalgia run through your veins, The Hand Baked Arcade is back in town!

** £4 on the door, all games FREE to play **

PRESS RELEASE CAN BE SEEN HERE
FACEBOOK EVENT HERE

Hand Baked Arcade Website

Mario loves a shot or two; in fact he was reported to have done a duet with Ke$ha where he stated he was “try’na get a little bit tipsy”. One problem though – half of his shot gets absorbed by that lip hair of his! Solution? Don’t have a mustache, just have a glass mustache instead!

These are perfect for when you want to pay tribute to any mustache wearing fiend but don’t want to undergo the obvious social trauma involved. Click here to buy the glasses (Both the Mario and Wario varieties – Score!).

Remember the all new Sonic game I posted about last week? Well the official SEGA blog shed light on Sonic’s latest game today and finally gave it an official name after it’s video unveiling last week; Sonic Generations. The video posted by SEGA America and SEGA Europe saw Sonic racing against his former, 1991 self. Nothing more was known about the game – until now!
It turns out that the game will be a complete celebration of the last 20 years of Sonic and will be a HD re-imagining of some of his past games. There will be three distinct ways to play including classic sonic which see’s you running along a 2D plain (much like in Sonic 4) and the new 3D style akin to games such as Sonic Adventure 2 or Sonic Heroes.

SEGA have briefly outlined the story which includes ‘time holes’ – This will see Sonic travelling through time and pairing up with old forgotten characters, as well as classic characters from his past – Even his past self!

“Sonic Generations will certainly be a fitting celebration for Sonic’s 20th Anniversary. By having the classic 1991 Sonic that many fans know and love team up with his modern day incarnation, we are bringing back the nostalgia of the early days of Sonic and combining it with the innovation and stunning HD technology of the modern gaming era. Sonic Generations will bring to life the last twenty years of Sonic’s universe in a truly unique and imaginative way.” - David Corless, Global Brand Director for Sonic.

The game is set to be released Winter 2011 on the 360 and PS3 – Check out the new Gameplay Trailer released by SEGA and IGN earlier today:

When I saw these Pikachu lips I literally came. A good friend, otherwise known as Amie-Leigh, is a Pikachu at heart and to show her inner electric mouse she made these amazing lips – Tell me the Ash Ketchum inside of you didn’t just explode with joy.

Pika Lips by Amie-Leigh

That’s not all though, Amie-Leigh is a budding make-up artist with loads more awesome stuff to show off, including X-Men inspired make-up! Check out more of her work and keep up to date with her latest endeavors by going on her Facebook page!

Possibly the best Beat boxing I’ve ever seen, YouTube user HIKAKIN (Hikaru), shows us just how epic Kirby is, without the use of Yarn!

If you thought this was great then you should check out his version of the Super Mario Bros. theme, it will literally blow your mind.

When the sun is shining and the fajitas are out there’s no better way to dance the afternoon away than to have a hardcore maraca fest on Samba De Amigo – So with the summer on the way why not get this Samba De Amigo Dreamcast? Gone are the dull grey’s of SEGA’s past and in are the bright colours of Amigo’s world!

Click Here to check it out!

Hear that? That’s the sound of Blackberry owners kicking themselves (Or in the spirit of Street of Rage, pounding themselves across the face with a pipe) as they are filled with envy whilst watching Apple enthusiasts relive the wonders of the classic arcade/Mega Drive classic, Streets of Rage. SEGA announced yesterday that Streets of Rage 2 is available now for iPhone and iPod touch!

You can rediscover one of the best multiplayer brawlers of the 90′s as you go around filthy, chav ridden streets, kicking ass and taking names with all manner of weapons. It’s up to you to fight the dastardly boss Mr. X (not to be confused with the action man fiend Dr. X who suffered from severe bowel problems) whilst enjoying the fast gameplay and compelling story.

I know what you’re thinking though, this game was best played with two people – Don’t worry, SEGA hear your concerns and as such this game supports multi player over Bluetooth – Yes!

“This classic Mega Drive™ era game is immediately available for download on the App Store and is priced at $2.99/€2.39/£1.79/AU$ 3.99. Fan favourites Golden Axe™ 2 and 3, plus Streets of Rage 3 are also coming to the App Store this spring.”