Multicade Magazine

Retro Gaming - Pinball - Arcade

ISSUE 1 The Holy Grail Of Gaming

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Hello My name is Philip Nicholson. I am a northern graphic and web designer with an obscure retro games, pinball and arcade machines.

Welcome to the very first issue of Multicade.

This publication was designed by myself and was inspired by my childhood and interests.

I grew up seeing video games as the best form of entertainment and it was probably a good way of keeping me quiet.

I hope this publication can give you some exciting nostalgia of that late night you spent blurry eyed starring at the tv, crawling to bed after defeating that final boss. Happy reading.

www.philnicholson.co.uk @phil__nicholson

HISTORY The Nintendo World Championships Issue

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he Nintendo World Championships is the most sort after video game on the planet. Collectors have spent fortunes getting copies, while others could only dream of holding it. With a game that is commonly known as “The Holy Grail of gaming” amongst enthusiasts, you would think this has to be the greatest game you have never played, right?, lets take a look. In the late 1980’s a company which had resurrected the video game industry from its horrific crash a few years earlier, had their latest and greatest product in development.

Nintendo was set to release the “Power Glove”, a new and innovative way to play all of your favourate Nintendo games, without using your standard controller. It was to be worn by gamers and was to have a similar feel to the current “Nintendo Wii”.

Promoting the Power Glove was the next big step for Nintendo and with this, thought to be, ingenious idea came an entire film based around Nintendo and their products. “The Wizard” stands out in peoples mind as a glorified Nintendo commercial and I challenge you to watch this movie and prove me wrong.

The idea for the Nintendo World Championships was born. Inspired by the movie Nintendo set up their own competition with different age groups consisting of 11 and under, 12-17 and 18 and over. There were cash prizes of $10,000 to be won for finalists who managed to qualify. As a result of this competition Nintendo made specialized cartridges for contestants to play on and in hindsight probably had no idea that they were creating something that would have such a strong legacy for gamers in many years to come.

Without a scene going by with someone playing their NES or Nintendo related product the storyline of the film is unsurprisingly centered around a video game competition, were we follow the story of a boy who runs away to compete in said competition. It was also the first look that gamers got, of what would become one of the best selling video games in history, Super Mario Bros 3. Overtime, the film has gained somewhat of a cult following, and was the beginning of something that would dominate american pop culture in 1990.

It was the beginning of something that would dominate american pop culture in 1990.

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CARTRIDGE S

The actual game came with the World Championships logo cut out of paper and glued on.

o whats on the cartridge?, what special game can people only dream of playing?. An exclusive Super Mario Bros maybe?, a brand new game only made for the competition possibly?, not exactly. The Nintendo World Championships cartridge is the most expensive multicart out there.

The games included were, the original Super Mario Bros, Rad Racer and Tetris.

Three of the very best games Nintendo had to offer for their home console were chosen, with small objective changes implemented for the competition cart.

Your standing at the booth, your palms are sweating, and the first title screen pops up. It reads “Get Ready!, Collect 50 coins”, second player presses start, and your off!. Once you have collected 50 coins on Super Mario Bros, your onto the Rad Racer round, where you must complete the first race. Your finger is hurting from the imagination that if you push the button hard enough your car will go faster, and then your onto the Tetris round where you play for points until the 6 minutes and 21 seconds time limit has ran out. You await your score.

Your final score was added together by using the following calculation.

(Super Mario Bros. score) + (Rad Racer score x 10) + (Tetris score x 25) = final score. Pretty complex for a video game competition and many strategies where formed by gamers as a result. Quickly running through the Mario and Rad Racer stages and then racking up big points on the Tetris stage became the norm, with players finding faster and faster ways to get through. After the competition each of the 90 finalists took home a copy of this special game cart.

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There is also a gold version of the game that has become even more rare. In Nintendo’s official magazine “Nintendo Power” there was 25 gold cartridges given out in a random prize draw. The strange thing about this cartridge is the red label shown, only existed in the adverts. The actual game came with the NWC logo cut out of paper and glued on to the gold cartridge. Today the ware abouts of both these games remain largely unknown, with only a handful of people popping up online showing they own this part of video game history.

LEGACY T

The Nintendo World Championships Issue

he legacy that comes with this epic game does not just end with its enormous price tag and its immense rarity. There is a pretty tragic story that the Nintendo World Championships game cart has been associated with in recent years involving a father and son.

The Nintendo World Championships cart belonged to a young man fighting the recent war over in iraq, who sadly lost his life. The auction description on eBay explained further that his son had passed away a few years ago and he was now ready to clear out a few of his belongings.

Ironically it also came out that he would of kept all of the 24 Nintendo games that where in the auction for his daughter, however there original Nintendo console was not working anymore. So it may never have even gone on to eBay for sale if the stupid console was working.

Although when it did go up for auction the starting price for such a god like game was a mere $24, thats right, $1 a game was deemed to be a reasonably price in the fathers eyes. Imagine seeing the holy grail of gaming at a flea market or car boot sale marked for sale at $1.

I think I would faint if I even saw sight of the bloody thing, nevermind the price. Its a sad situation for anyone to lose someone and I cant imagine losing a son. I would like to think the son knew what he had and didn’t sell it before he went for a reason, because he certainly left his father with an extremely rare item and a shock when he saw the final bid on his $24 a game auction. Nonetheless, a unique treasure from gamings past deserves a unique story to go with it. More recently on eBay Nintendo World Championships have been popping up every now and then.

The holy grail was on ebay for a mere $1. The owner never knew what he had. But his son did.

Many other stories that have involved the holy grail being sold on eBay have had the sale fall through, after the buyer promised money he didn’t have. Some stories can be read online about how buyers have contacted sellers asking about who the seller purchased the game off and so on, to try and verify if the one for sale is actually real or not. If it wasn’t hard enough to find one of these things then after you have read the many stories of Fed ex’s being cancelled and payments not being made you will wonder why you where ever on the hunt for the holy grail.

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REPRO S

o we have established that none of us can afford the real thing, and unless you are the luckiest person in the Milky Way then you are probably not going to find this wonder game on your sunday strolls to the car boot sale or flea market. That begs the question of what is the next best option for us gamers that want to actually play the darn thing. Well, there are two options. The first option and undoubtably the cheapest, because its free, is an emulator and a rom. Now, emulators are a funny business concerning the legal side of things for a couple reasons.

The second option and certainly the best in my opinion is to buy a reproduction cart which a website called retrousb have started to make. The reproduction cart houses the rom of the original Nintendo World Championship game and comes in cartridge form, ready for you to dust off your old Nintendo console. They are very high quality reproductions which also include a switch board towards the top of the cart for switching between time limits, just like the real thing. They include specially designed boxes and manuals which are really thick and high quality.

One reason, and probably the one people should take into consideration the most when emulating is that playing a game via an emulator is not illegal at all. What makes it illegal is if you do not own the game. Now I can tell what your thinking and the answer is yes, that does throw an enormous spanner into the works if your wish is to emulate the Nintendo World Championships for obvious reasons.

However , realistically is anybody going to care (or know) if you decide to play on a game that is over twenty years old, for a competition that is now useless.

These couple of options for the normal game playing people like me and you are the closest most of us with ever get to experiencing what it was like when your name was called up to take your turn in the Nintendo World Championships.

Thanks to retrousb and their amazing project people can now actually play this reproduction cart on their Nintendo’s like it was meant to be played. Because lets face it, its just not the same as owning, playing and experiencing this pretty mysterious legend that has come out of this industry we call gaming.

retrousb.com has reproduction NWC carts waiting to purchased without you giving away an arm.

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The Nintendo World Championships Issue

This is certainly one of James Rolfes more cinematic and storyline type episodes and cannot be praised enough that it even hit 1,300,000 views. Admittedly approximately 8 of those views will be myself alone because I just couldn’t believe how entertaining it was. Without giving too much away for you guys that want to go and watch this epic piece of film (which should be all of you), the basic storyline is that The Angry Video Game Nerd thinks he has finally found what he is after, the holy grail of gaming but ends up finding something even better than he expected.

AVGN T

he Angry Video Game Nerd is a video series created by amateur film maker James Rolfe and easily receives millions of views for his entertaining episodes as this character. However there is one episode that can make you forget you where ever on YouTube, and make you feel like you are watching something really special.

That episode is obviously the Nintendo World Championships episode. This 15 minute film will make you understand why this game is so wanted, why it is so darn expensive and why it deserves to be this months main article in Multicade.

For the YouTube savvy amongst us there is even a special guest appearance from Pat The NES Punk, and we all know what he owns. Speaking of which, Pat The NES Punk was recently on the american t.v programme Pawnstars attempting to sell both the grey and gold cartridges for $35,000. Unsurprisingly they didn’t sell and I think Pat didn’t really want to sell them either. If you have never watched any James Rolfe nostalgia fueled short videos, then I suggest you give yourself a couple of hours viewing time where you will be saying “I used to have that!”

James raised over a quarter of a million dollars for his upcoming film. But what about NWC?

From this James set out last year to fund The Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie project and raised $325,327 from just fan donations alone, which is absolutely incredible. The trailer for the film is already online and its safe to say that the entire retro gaming community is behind James making this film, and when you watch the Nintendo World Championships episode you can see why. The popularity of the game has certainly skyrocketed in recent years with more and more people knowing about this epic game, and part of it is thanks to The Angry Video Game Nerd.

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History of Sales

$17,500 Gold

$18,000 Gold

Purchased in a private transaction after ebay troubles on 1st June 2009.

Sold on 26th Dec 2009 in a private sale. The best late xmas gift ever.

$11,900 Gray #?

Bought directly from NWC competitor Jeff Falco.

Included hat & t-shirt.

$11,500 Gray #60

$7,000 Gray #49 Sold on ebay after false bids/offers fell through.

March 18th 2010

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Sold at the 2011 Childs Play Charity fundraiser on December 8th 2011.

Super Mario Land | Crash Bandicoot Streets of Rage 2 | Top 10 SNES Games

The Nintendo World Championships Issue

Modern Classic | Traders Village

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Platform: Nintendo GameBoy

Developer: Nintendo

If there was ever a game that Nintendo needed to show what the gameboy was going to be capable of to fans in its early days, then Super Mario Land was it. I could play this game over and over again and always find it a joy to try and beat my high score. As soon as your done blowing into the cartridge, this game is one word, fun. Many fans insist that it was not up to scratch graphically with the current Mario style, and more of a throw back to the original. Although I cant really disagree with that opinion I can hardly say that its a bad thing. I love the simple graphics for what was an early release in the Gameboys lifespan.

Release Date: April 21st 1989

new gameboy specific enemies that are ready to take you out if your not careful.

There are a total of four worlds containing three levels each, with my personal favorite level being the submarine type level. In this underwater level you control Mario in side-scrolling shooter type gameplay, where you eventually reach the end of the level and are greeted by a good amount of coins spelling out the word “Mario” as you go, a nice touch to say the least. Although this little snippet of a level doesn’t sound like much of a Mario game its extremely hard to not enjoy the thing.The music in Super Mario Land is like listening to a rainbow, however stupid that sounds. It was the only way to compare how happy the atmosphere is when your running through a level. Super Mario Land is available is numerous platforms these days like most older games. The more obvious one being the Nintendo Virtual Console for the Wii. However if you really want to experience this gem of a game the go onto eBay, buy yourself a cartridge for a couple of pound, blow into it, and have fun.

There is certainly the same creativity present in this release, that nintendo and the Mario series has become known for.

The amount of replay value that comes out of saving a princess and jumping from platform to platform is down right stupid, yet you cant help pick this cartridge up with temptation when you decide to spend a few half hours on your old brick gameboy. The usual enemies from Mario’s adventures are all present, including some

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The Nintendo World Championships Issue

Super Mario Land arrived with an impact and is a dot matrix classic for the Gameboy. A must have for the portable.

Super Mario Land was the first in the Super Mario series to be produced by the producer of the original Donkey Kong.

Super Mario Land was originally intended to be a pack in game with the Gameboy. But was replaced with tetris.

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Platform: Sony Playstation

Developer: Naughty Dog Release Date: August 31st 1996 to none, with an amazing sound output thanks to the Sony Playstation this was yet another area were Crash shone ahead of the game. Making you feel like you where actually running through the jungle and making your way up the rivers that where ahead.

If you are old enough to remember the hype, the talk and all the mystery surrounding the next step in gaming from 16 Bit to 32 Bit, then you will more than likely remember the spinning orange bandicoot that exploded onto the Sony Playstation in 1996. Sony at the time, were insisting that they did not need a character mascot such as Nintendo’s Super Mario and SEGA’s Sonic to compete with there competitors.

Although the idea of the first Crash Bandicoot was very cliche, having to save your damsel in distress, the game never forced this down your throat. I can bet 9 out of 10 gamers didnt even realise the story because of how much the game focuses on its core gameplay being imensely fun. There are 3 whole islands of levels to go spinning and jumping your way through collecting wumpa fruit as you go, for them all important extra lives.

The game never gets boring throwing fresh challenges and ideas such as the hog wild level, where you ride a wild hog.

This first Crash Bandicoot game created

by Naughty Dog is massively overlooked in my opinion. This game should be as popular as Mario 64 , if not more.

There are hardly any flaws in this game.

Being seen as the equivalent of Mario 64, Crash had it all and some people insist more, myself included. The gameplay and controls are unbelievable for an early 3D platformer. When most 3D platformers had camera issues and problems, Naughty Dog chose the smart route of putting the camera on a rail so the player never had trouble being able to see around corners or what they where doing. Back in 1996 that was a major problem that nearly all 3D platformers had back then. Especially ones trying to replicate the success of Super Mario 64.

The sound in Crash Bandicoot is second

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The Nintendo World Championships Issue

Crash was originally code named the “Sonics ass� game. Due to the camera being behind the character

Hog Wild is one of the most unique of levels that would leave fans wanting more. There was a secret Hog Wild 2 to unlock.

Naughty Dog came close to dropping the game completely.

After Universal insisted on the name Wizzy the Wombat.

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Platform: Sega Genesis

Developer: SEGA

Streets of Rage 2 is one of the most familiar games for the SEGA Genesis.

Punching, kicking and side slamming its way to being right up their with the likes of Sonic the Hedgehog. The city is in trouble. One year has passed since the happenings of the first Streets of Rage and evil villain Mr.X is up to no good again. The game starts with the opening screen explaining that Adam (previously a playable character in the 1st outing) has been kidnapped by Mr.X’s henchman.

Release Date: December 20th 1992

dial up even more with a great co-op story mode to play through. It is not your cheap , last minute multiplayer, it is exactly the same with no cut-backs and nothing taken out, exactly how multiplayer should be done. The gameplay from Streets of Rage 2 is extremely satisfying, someone will have to explain to me why its so entertaining to just beat the hell out of Mr.X’s henchman, and if your not happy with just using your fists then why not pick up a knife or a metal pipe to really start bringing the pain.

Being a beat’um up from this era of gaming don’t be expecting a 6 hour campaign or heavily detailed cut scenes, because there not there.

From here we find the brand new fighters that replace Adam, joining Axel and Blaze. Max the wrestler hits hard and moves slow, although to be honest you really never feel like he does. There is also the younger brother of Axel, Skate, who by his name you can guess is wearing a pair of skates. If you are looking for one of the best beat’um ups of the 16-bit era then hands down it has to be Streets of Rage. Thats a big statement to make when Final Fight is just as good, however Streets of Rage has the edge on Final Fight for one reason, multiplayer. Playing 2 player on this game just turns the fun

But what you can expect is a good couple of hours of fun gameplay and loads of replay ability.

You can pick up Streets of Rage 2 for just about anything. There is an online mode for all your Playstation and Xbox Live people, which is worth the download just for that. If your after the real thing they are pretty cheap on ebay and there’s plenty of rage to go around.

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The Nintendo World Championships Issue

The arcade machine featured in level one is called “Bare Knuckle”. The Japanese version of the series.

Two brand new characters were introduced to help defeat Mr.X , including Axel’s younger brother, Skate.

Streets of Rage 2 was the very first game to have a composer copyright his music. Proof to how good it is.

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Its hard enough to narrow down top ten lists in general but a top ten list featuring so many influencial and innovative titles is almost as impossible as NES Ghosts and Goblins. I did my best.

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Copies Sold: 4

The Nintendo World Championships Issue

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Star Fox

Million

Copies Sold: 1

With the brand new technology that had been unleashed by using the Super FX Chip, Star Fox introduced itself into the gaming world in true polygon fashion.

Aging terribly, Star Fox was a real pioneer during the 16 bit golden age of gaming.

Nintendo decided to cancel Star Fox 2 even though it was complete and ready to be released, due to the Nintendo 64.

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Million

If you are a fan of racing games then this is the game for you. The fast paced futuristic racing from F-Zero will leave an impact on you to last. The graphics are bright and colourful and the gameplay is amazing for a Super Nintendo racer. It never gets boring racing at high speed around a good selection of different tracks. Making it number 9 on the list.

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SMW 2: Yoshis Island

Copies Sold: 4

F-Zero

Million

Super Mario Kart

Copies Sold: 8

Many fans believe that this game was never a true sequel to the original.

Taking Yoshi as the playable character instead of Mario was a brave move by Nintendo, and if you get past the regret of a true sequel you can agree this game deserves a number 8 spot. Using the Super FX Chip to make an absolutely beautiful 16 Bit game for the system.

Million

Considered the very first in the kart racing genre, Super Mario Kart was released with a brand new concept, Split Screen gaming.

With 8 familiar characters to choose from and a good amount of power ups to blast your enemies, it was an introduction to gamers who where used to jumping with Mario and friends, rather than speeding round corners and dodging bananas.

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5

Donkey Kong Country 2

Copies Sold: 3

Million

Copies Sold: 1

Donkey Kong Country 2 continues where the first one left off. With more levels and characters you really can’t go wrong with this one. The decision to put Diddy Kong in the spotlight as the main character and not Donkey Kong was questionable to say the least.

But rare continued to prove everyone wrong by making a fantastic platformer.

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Million

When Square-Enix put there heads together and released Chrono-trigger, they released a insanely immersive game to fans of the RPG genre, that even veterans of the genre knew they had something special to play. With numerous side quests on offer and multiple endings this game will be played and enjoyed for quite some time.

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Donkey Kong Country

Copies Sold: 9

Chrono-Trigger

Million

Super Metriod

Copies Sold: 1

In 1994 when the Super nintendo was appearing to be running out of steam, Donkey Kong made everyone feel like the 16 bit era of gaming was not quite over just yet. Rare made this beautifully pleasing platformer from a franchise that hadn’t been used since its arcade days. Tight controls and an aggressive campaign by Nintendo sold this game by the bucket load.

Million

The atmosphere in Super Metriod alone got this game to number 3. The music is chilling and the gameplay of this side scroller is a perfect example of how it should be done, that just about anyone and pick up and play right away. No effort was spared on any aspects of this game from graphics to the players experience, it truly is a 16-Bit classic that will cost you a pretty penny.

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2

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

The Nintendo World Championships Issue

Copies Sold: 4.61

Being received extremely well by fans of the original and gamers that were being introduced to the series, A Link to the Past is literally one of the best videos game you can ever play. If action RPG’s are your thing then you have probably already played this classic to death. If you haven’t then you should do so as soon as possible, and see what you missed out on.

It wasn’t a matter of whether A Link to the Past would be featured in this list, but how far up it was going to make an appearance, and it turns out that its pretty far up the list. Talk about games getting a face lift with the jump from 8-bit gaming to 16-bit gaming, Zelda looked absolutely awesome when it arrived on the Super Nintendo way back in 1991.

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Million

Super Mario World

Copies Sold: 20.60

Million

outstanding and fast paced, and introduced a brand new character in Yoshi, with him becoming a fan favorite instantly. There are countless things to do in this game with loads of secrets to be discovered and the graphics are bright and colourful. It was everything the Mario games of the past where and so much more. You need to play this game.

I know your not surprised by the number 1 pick, who would be?. I tried my hardest to not make this top ten a Mario fest but you cant argue with numbers, especially in this case. This game sold like meat to a butcher, it was Super Mario world for the Super Nintendo. Argued as the best game ever created to this day, Super Mario World has it all. The gameplay is

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Got something you want to buy or sell?, then you’ve come to the right place.

Traders Village is pixalated mish mash of gaming goods.

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The Nintendo World Championships Issue

The Wanted Scroll

SMS boxed. With games.

Nintendo 64 games boxed

This Master System is in superb condition and comes with 9 boxed games, seller is asking for £50 which is very reasonable

Super Mario 64, 007 Goldeneye, Mario Kart 64, Starfox 64 and Wave Race 64 are all in good condition. £20 each.

Contact Paul for more info and pictures on pauledang@hotmail.com

Contact Ken for more info and pictures on kenny_ni@hotmail.co.uk

Old Arcade Machine

Sealed Grand Theft Auto 3

This old arcade machine is not in the best shape. But after some tlv its sure to shine as a mame cabinet. £100 ONO

Sealed and in a box protector this GTA 3 is in mint condition. Sellers asking price is cheap at £18 for the sealed game.

Contact Nigal for more info and pictures on nigalclink@gmail.com

Contact Ian for more info and pictures on i_ian@hotmail.com

Boxed Nintendo Gameboy

Street Fighter Arcade Stick

A boxed gameboy is up for grabs and is in fantastic condition. Only missing the headphones, otherwise complete. £45.

A brand new and in the box Street Fighter arcade stick for use on PS3 and Xbox 360. Sellers asking price is £22, ONO.

Contact Matt for more info and pictures on sabi_matt@live.co.uk

Contact Dean for more info and pictures on deane_@gmail.com

Sega Saturn Controllers Contact Dave at davehb@gmail.com NES Consoles & Games Contact Mike at mike14@msn.com Atari 2600 pong Contact Chris at c_hris4@live.co.uk Complete in box Starfox64 Contact John at 68Johng@hotmail.com Sega Saturn Controllers Contact Dave at davehb@gmail.com

Want something?

Then put it on the wanted scroll.

scroll@multicade.co.uk

Traders Village has a good reputation so thank you to all the retro enthusiasts out there for making the purchase of these games a joy.

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Platform: Playstation 2 Developer: Rockstar Release Date: October 22nd 2002

When the news of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City hit the gaming world the big question on everyones mind was, how can they improve on Grand theft Auto III? and if it was even possible to do so. Well the answer to that was quite simple in the eyes of Rockstar games, who to be honest could of released any old rubbish and made millions. That answer was more explosions, more over the top excitement, more missions, the introduction of motorbikes and everything else with the dials turned way up. There was a certain feeling about the Grand Theft Auto glory days that just never got boring. Whether you spawned a rocket launcher and raised hell until you got caught, or hired a “special” service only to run them over and get your money back once your health hit 100. It just never got boring to play around and come up with random stuff to do in the open world sandbox

that was Vice City. I would sit for hours on end ranking up the highest wanted level I possibly could, until the army came and ruined my fun, then i’d start again.

For a more modern gamer who may not remember Grand Theft Auto being sold out everywhere think of it as the Call of Duty of the Playstation 2, the popularity was unbelievable. After all the amazing and major improvements from GTA 3, I think my favourite part of the whole game was the setting. Theres nothing like raising hell in 80’s Miami, whilst wearing a pink suit and listening to “Video killed the radio star”. When your done with causing chaos within Vice City (which may take a while ), there is actually missions that can be done, who knew?. We follow the story of mafia hitman Tommy Vercetti, who has recently been released from prison. After being in a drug deal that turned sour Tommy seeks out those responsible for his prison sentence, all the while building

Vice city was the first 3D Grand Theft Auto to introduce motorbikes.

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his own criminal empire. Sounds fun, and it is. The game used a slightly tweaked version of the game engine used within Grand Theft Auto III , with improvements on fighting, aiming and all that other good stuff. As celebration for the tenth anniversary of the release of Vice City, Rockstar released a mobile version of the game, which to me sounds insane that you can now play what was once a Playstation 2 game that blew our minds, on our phones. So now blowing up Vice City can keep us occupied on the go, and even if you haven’t played enough of the story missions to unlock the second island, lets face it, it was always fun getting over there and trying to survive when the army is on your tail. So if I was you, I would put this magazine to one side (ready for reading later of’course) , and go ahead and blow some stuff up in a game that deserves to be this months modern classic.

JUNO FIRST Juno First blasted onto the arcade scenes in 1983 and was one of few games that stood out in what was an over-crowded space-shooter genre at the time. But Juno First took a step forward in the shooter genre allowing the player to not only go from side to side like previously seen in the likes of Space invaders, but adding the movement of forwards and backwards. This may sound useless in todays gaming world but in 1983 it was leading the way. With enemies coming at you your goal was to not only eliminate them and rack up big points but to get to the end of the level in time. This introduced a new strategy where the player had to decide if it was worth risking the time limit to get a few more points, or to just get to the end as quickly as possible, because if you didn’t advance you didn’t win. Although Juno First is not as recognizable as some space shooters it deserves a whole lot of credit and would have swallowed plenty of your money back in the day.

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ROBOTRON 2084

Nearly every game that is being produced these days uses a control scheme that involves two joysticks. One is for the movement of your character and the second is for looking or aiming at whatever. This control scheme that has become some what of a norm within modern gaming gave birth from the one and only Robotron 2084.

That is one heck of a claim for fame when you think of how the gaming world changed because of the dual joystick design, but that isn’t the only reason you should take notice of Robotron 2084. It is also a prime example of gameplay before graphics.

Your hands will be clutching those cherry top joysticks like a fat man clutching a hot dog. Trying to

get your guy made of squares away from the robot made of squares, whilst mowing down your enemies with your gun, which is also made of squares.

The developers hit the jackpot with this epic fast gameplay and sound that blackens everything around you apart from the arcade screen, fully taking you into the game and putting the pressure on.

Unlike most arcade games when Robotron 2084 was ported to home console it was no where near as playable as the arcade version because the consoles at the time lacked the second joystick. But its certainly safe to say if your going to play an arcade game such as Robotron 2084, then you need to play it on the actual machine, and this is certainly worth playing.

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BURGERTIME

Being a twenty two year old male, one of my favorite foods, is a big fat, juicy burger.

Whats that you say?, there is an arcade game called Burgertime?, lets take a look shall we. Now when I first heard about this game my impressions were, I love the title, but is it really going to be any good?. The answer to that question was yes, its amazing. Burgertime is a 1982 arcade release from Data East, who are better known for their pinball machines.

But whoever came up with this idea of a burger game deserves a medal and one hell of a burger.

As if it couldn’t get any better Peter Pepper has some tasty food as his enemies (i’m starting to get hungry). The chefs enemies are Mr.Sausage, Mr.egg and Mr.Pickle, i’m honestly not making this up. To defend yourself from these enemy foods our hero chef has some pepper at his disposal, and i’m assuming the pun was intended. Although pepper can’t kill your enemies it dazes them long enough to allow Peter Pepper to pass unharmed and continue on his quest to make you a juicy burger. With all joking put to one side this game is a real example of how creative game designers where back in 1982.

There wasn’t really anything around in the way we have genres in todays games.

The player controls a chef whose name is Peter Pepper. Peters job is to dish up some tasty burgers for the customers by walking over the full length of one of the stacked up foods, which is usually lettuce, burgers and the top bun. Once you’ve walked over a layer of the burger it drops down where you then have to walk over it again until it reaches the plate and makes the burger. A gameplay idea that is obviously best suited to making burgers.

There was recently a brand new, updated Burgertime game that came out on the Playstation Network and Xbox Live. While this game is awesome in its own right and takes the basic skeleton for what Burgertime was, it doesn’t have the same arcade feel that the original one has. But its still worth a download for how fun it is. It surprises me how much this game slipped under the radar because of how creative, fun and down right daft is it.

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BUBBLE BOBBLE

Bubble Bobble mades its way into the arcades in 1986 as a bright and very visual attractive game.

Even today the art style holds up extremely well considering its age. We follow the adorable bubble dragons Bub and Bob on their quest to get back their girlfriends back in what is an absolute blast of a puzzle platform game. Ready at your disposal are some cute bubbles to attack enemies with.

When firing the bubbles your enemies then get caught in them floating upwards ready to be popped and killed. Bubble Bobble was ported to literally every console there is due to overwhelming popularity and is one really fun game to play. So settle in for 100 levels of collecting power ups and popping bubbles in what is an arcade classic in its own right, and extremely addictive to play 2 player.

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INSTRUCTIONS 1. Stare at the top cross for 30 seconds.

2. Stare at the bottom cross and blink.

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News, Reviews and the infamous Locator.

Between 1955-1970, pinball earned more money than the entire american movie industry

SPECIAL WHEN LIT REVIEW When I first heard about Special When Lit I went into watching it with no expectations at all and I was totally blown away. The documentary tells the story of pinball which surprisingly takes many twists and turns, even in its early years.

With the documentary Brett Sullivan seems to concentrate on bringing two arguments forward throughout; those being, is pinball dead?, or is pinball still alive and strong?. For a pinball fanatic like myself it was more than enough to just be watching thousands of pinball machines with their beautiful artwork, bright lights and history alone. To see people with a genuine interest in the machines makes you feel that you aren’t the only person in the universe still playing these old machines.

Special When Lit is shot exceptionally well and the director certainly doesn’t miss out on all of the creative ways that he could shoot the pinball machine, portraying it as iconic and part of culture.

It is certainly up to standards with any documentary that is out there right now and i’m glad, because this film could

have easily of been a disaster when trying to create something so big in such a deserted hobby. But this documentary does everything it can to make you feel like pinball is not dead and when you finally step away from it you realise it isn’t. My personal favorite quote from the documentary was “If you liked a certain movie from 1970 you can get the dvd. If you liked a certain song from that era then you can get the CD or download it. But pinball only exists in the real world and cant be digitally duplicated.”

For the avid retro gamer and nostalgia addicts Special When Lit is certainly an excellent viewing for a genre that has little to zero back catalogue. Even if you remember that certain machine which you defended your high score on or just miss arcades that where not full to the brim with redemption games, this is a must watch. Special When Lit is available now online to purchase on blu-ray and dvd for all regions. Show some support for a much loved dying hobby by visiting the website and spreading the word of this special film.

W a t c h T h e T r a i l e r AT : www.specialwhenlitmovie.com

Pinball Locator The Pinball Locator brings you the locations of all the pinball machines in cities around the world so you can go play them!

Can you guess what pinball machine this page is based off? (answer is on page 40)

Manchester,

Who Dunnit?

Located in the Northern Quarter of Manchester TV21 holds a classic table that is 2 metres from the bar. tv21manchester.com £1 per game

UK

Spiderman The Orange Grove Pub in Manchester houses a brand new spidey pinball.

AD/DC Last seen Feb 13

Search Orange Grove

Corbieres Wine Cavern

£1 per game

£1 per game

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Revenge from Mars

Pirates of the caribean

A rare classic.

Fab Cafe is right by Wave Bar, so kill two birds while your there

The Lass O’Gowrie £1 per game

Search Fab Cafe 50p per game

Dracula Located on the way into Manchester town centre, Wave bar and food holds the old count, and lots of other old people too.

Wave Bar Manchester £1 per game

Its safe to say that Manchester has a good amount of pinball machines and we’ve highlighted six of the best on this page. But thats not all of the machines in Manchester, because once a year Play Expo comes to Manchester which houses the EventCity near the Trafford Centre with hundreds of pinball machines. Also, here is a short list of

rumored machines that are supposed to be dotted around the city. However be warned we don’t know if they are true rumors, so explore at you own risk.

BrewDog Bar - Judge Dredd Star & Garter Pub - The Champion The Elizabethan - High Speed II Queen Arms Pub - Elvis 35

Pinball NEWS I give you the drip feed that is Pinball news, every month. To be fair there is quite a lot going on in Pinball at the moment, which is always good news.

Can you guess what pinball machine that this page is based off?

Duck Pinb Hunt all

(answer is on page 40)

The famous Duck Hunt NES game has been turned into a pinball machine and looks really cool. The aim is still the same, having to shoot down ducks, only now you have to aim with your flippers and silver ball.

Give it a search for some gameplay footage and be amazed.

PLAY EXPO 13

In 2012 Play Expo came to Manchester, England and kicked off with hundreds of pinball machines lined up awaiting for eager fingers to start controlling silver balls on a playfield. This year promises to be even bigger. So go ahead and buy some tickets if you’ve got any brains at playexpo.net

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\repro Jersey Jack Pinball are going to release a repro of the King of Diamonds machine later this year. The machine is said to be getting a make-over meaning the brain of the machine isn’t a load of 1960’s tech but modern tech.

Hobbit Teaser

With the recent release of The Hobbit its hardly surprising that its pinball machine form would follow shortly after, not that this is a bad thing of’course. Especially when its coming from the newest kids on the block Jersey Jack Pinball. The machine will include shorts videos from the blockbuster film during play and the official artwork has been released recently online. So go and have a search for it.

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Pinball interview Stern Pinballs Gary Stern, was recently video interviewed by Engadget. I’ve put together some highlights for you guys to enjoy.

Can you guess what pinball machine that this page is based off? (answer is on page 40)

Stern pinball sales are up 32 percent

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Could you tell us a little bit about the history of you, the company and how you became the last pinball manufacturer?

We like to say the only pinball manufacturer, because the last sounds like we’re going to quit.

We are never going to quit, i’m 67 and i’ve been in this since I was 2 years old. We started it (Stern) as Data East Pinball, in 1994 we sold it to SEGA and in 1999 I bought it back from SEGA and renamed it Stern Pinball.

we didn’t have OnDemand or games in your pocket on your smartphone. But we are having a growth because pinball is real action, its not computerised, you can feel it. When we look at our coin op, our 2012 business over our 2011 business was up 32%, which is huge news for us.

What is your favorite pinball machine that you have played?

A lot of people are playing pinball on their iphones etc, Is it a good thing for the market or is it hurting you?

Before I left Chicago I looked out in the factory and we were making The Avengers.

The Avengers is my favorite machine [laughs].

I love pinball but i’m a sales man too.

I think its a good thing. I certainly think its a different experience but its a good thing because it introduces more people to pinball and you can learn about a particular game if you use an actual pinball.

Has there for pinball

Is there one that stands out?

Theres so many great games. I had a Guns’N’Roses machine at home. I wanted to take home a Family Guy machine, that was great. But I had a customer that wanted it. I always have a new game, at the moment we are making an AC/DC machine, an Avatar machine, a Transformers machine and a Tron machine.

been a growth machines lately?

Worldwide there has been a growth. Now i’m not saying we are going back to the arcade days of two decades ago because today there are so many other competing entertainments. Two decades ago we didn’t have the internet,

Do you think the pinball machines are getting better or do you have a standard?

My answer to that is, if I didn’t like the game, I wouldn’t build it.

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