HD Retrovision - A Kickstarter Interview

We spoke to HD Retrovision about their now 'Live' Kickstarter project - its goals and expectations, and why its so important to support retro gaming systems of days gone by.

Tell us why you choose to work on a Sega & Nintendo retro gaming product - rather than a new generation console accessory?

We grew up on these consoles and they're the reason we're gamers today. It saddened us to see them threatened by the lack of support on modern TVs. 

Who are the products designed for?
The products are really designed for anyone who wants a simple, affordable, yet high quality solution to playing their old consoles on new TVs. It's true other solutions exist, but they can be expensive and messy, or require people to have hardware skills they don't have.

What was is about the Genesis and SNES that makes it so special?
The games on those consoles represent the pinnacle of gaming to us in a lot of ways.

The games had enjoyable story lines without hours of cutscenes, and designers were focused more on awesome gameplay than making the game have movie-quality graphics. They also feature some of our favorite video game music of all time. I still hear the Desert Strike theme in my head regularly.

How important are playing games for you when you making a product like this?
Very important. We've tested our cables across on many many games to make sure we don't run into anything unexpected. It's really the only way to know if you're going to run any issues if someone plugs a Sonic 3 into a Sonic & Knuckles into a Game Genie.

How has your background and experience contributed to the development of this Kickstarter?

Besides being avid gamers, we're both electrical engineers and mathematicians by training. This has contributed to us being very precise and methodical in our development of the cables. 

Tell us a bit about the technical details to feature in the product?

The concept behind our cables is not new, but the implementation is radically different. Through careful engineering, we are able to fit our custom electronics into a tight, enclosed space without an additional power source. This approach lowers the cost and headache compared with competing solutions, which we hope will give more people access to high-quality retro-gaming.

Left - composite video, Right with component from HD Retrovision cables

What are your favourite 5 Genesis games of all time?
Streets of Rage, NBA Jam, Kid Chameleon, Toejam & Earl, Earthworm Jim

What are your favourite 5 SNES games of all time?Megaman X, Chrono Trigger, Super Castlevania IV, Shadowrun, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past 

What does retrogaming /gaming mean to you?

It's the a link back to our childhood. Retro-gaming brings us back to an era where some of our best memories were formed, often while playing these games with a good friend or sibling.

Back the Kickstarter here: 

Grandmother buys old building in Japan, finds 55 classic arcade cabinets

Grandmother buys old building in Japan, finds 55 classic arcade cabinets

If you wanted to experience arcade games any time over the last forty years then you had to visit the Far East!. The game centers are still there lit up with neon lights all very attractive and Blade Runner like! But you have to go back 20 years to see them at their prime. Now one very lucky arcade fan is experiencing just that right now due to a surprise purchase by his girlfriend’s grandmother.

The grandmother agreed to purchase an old building in Chiba, which is just outside of Tokyo. When they arrived to check out their  building they found out that the first two floors used to be a game center in the 1980's!!. Whoever ran the arcade back then left all the cabs behind when it closed, and it is full of classic and now highly sort after games!

In total there are 55 arcade cabinets, most of which are the upright Aero Cities cabs, but it’s the game boards that they contain that’s the most exciting discovery. The list of game includes the following:

• Columns
• Donkey Kong
• Galaxian
• Magical Tetris Challenge
• Metal Slug X
• Pengo
• Raiden 2
• Super Puzzle Fighters 2 X
• Street Fighter 2 Championship Edition
• Street Fighter Alpha 2 (Zero 2)
• Street Fighter EX 2

There’s sure to be more games discovered as not all of the cabinets are in working order, with monitor damage being the main fault but whatever they find, this lucky gamer has just cashed in his extra credit!!

If I think back 2 1/2 years, there was no retro gaming in my life.

If I think back 2 1/2 years, there was no retro gaming in my life. 
It was a thing of the past. 
The arcades of the 80's were a distant memory. Fast forward to the present and I have 5 pinball machines, 6 video arcade machines and I'm organising the North East's first ever retro gaming event  www.northeastretrogaming.com - NERG!

I was born in 1969 and my first experience of a video game was a Space Invaders machine at the local youth club when I was about 11. From then on, it was gaming all the way! The first video console I had was an Atari 2600 and that's addiction started. Awww man, I loved that console.


From there the progression started. Upgrading every few years.

I used to go on day trips to Blackpool in the late 80's. Dare I say there were just too many arcades? I used to envy kids who lived in seaside resorts. All the money I earned being pumped into machines without a care in the world.

But as the years went on, home gaming got better and better and the arcades as we know it started to die out.

I lost touch with my 80's gaming for a long time.

My gaming consisted of sitting in front of a PC playing multiplayer Battlefield.....then a friend introduced me to an arcade collectors forum in June 2011. An arcade collectors forum? The arcade machines of the 80's and 90's still exist?

I remember flicking through the posts of the "Member's Machines" and just could not believe there were people out there that had video and pinball machines in their houses! And that's when it started all over again. I could actually own a piece of my arcade past! But it didn't have to be in the past anymore. My house can be an arcade!

Then in November 2012, NERG was born. I've got the arcade passion once more and I'm determined to bring the arcade back to more people out there. Bring the arcade of the past back to the present.



I've been in touch with collectors all over the country and so far, NERG with have at least 40 pinball machines, between 60 and 70 video arcade machines as well as 45 consoles and computers that we all grew up with. Bring your kids along and show them how you spent your youth and where gaming truely began. In big busy buildings, not the bedroom.

At NERG, there is an admission fee only. All the machines are set to free play! You can play the games as long as your fingers can take it.

But be warned....if the addiction comes back and you start buying machines, please don't hold me responsible :-)

Our GUEST blogger is Phillip Murphy - the great guy who LOVES all things RETRO and is the passion and brains behind NERG

http://www.facebook.com/OTWBigPhil

http://www.facebook.com/NorthEastRetroGamingLimited

Pac-Man...the biggest game in history?

The history of how Pac-Man. was invented is pretty well known – even outside the gaming world – the pizza was ordered the slice taken out and the rest is gaming history.

An ICON, an art form, a media man’s dream – Pacman beyond the games themselves has taken on many guises.

Everything and anything was Pac-Man. from it’s conception in 1980 to the World we live into today.

Seriously though if you want to start a ‘collection’ this could probably get you pretty crazy close to even ‘star wars’ - they have produced EVERTHING with the little yellow fellow on (and the ghosts!) from napkins, stationery, outfits and dog jackets to  hats, drinks, cereals and furniture.

Here's a few shots of our very own Pac-Man arcade machine...the 25th Anniversary EDITION with Ms Pac-Man and Galaga.