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Exercise bike connects to original Mario Kart, Rainbow Road shortcut gets even trickier (video)
Canadian modder Brent Smith has managed to connect an aging exercise bike to Nintendo's perennial racer. Naturally, there's some Arduino involvement, but the whole setup plugs directly into an original SNES console -- no emulation necessary. Power-ups are accessed with a button in the center of the exercise bike's handles, each of which has a directional button for steering, while the pedals function as the acceleration button, accurate to one sixth of a rotation. According to Smith, "it's a lot harder than it looks" -- and we believe him. Watch his test-drive kart plow off-track in the video demo after the break.
Your Japanese SNES Warlock game supply is secure at PAX East
If you're at PAX East this weekend, and in desperate need of a brand new, packaged Japanese copy of the SNES game based on the movie Warlock, Sudden Impact Games has you covered.Head over to booth 148 in the expo floor, and you can find your very own copy of that one game from 1994, in the freshest and most imported of conditions.
Engadget goes hands-on with the RetroDuo Portable NES/SNES
We don't know if you guys realize this or not, but CES is a big show. Like, really big. So big, in fact, that our crack team of ground forces couldn't possibly see all that there is to see, no matter how efficient and devilishly handsome they may be. Thankfully, our sister site Engadget was also at the show, and they got to spend some hands-on time with the RetroDuo Portable, an NES/SNES combo device from classic console fabricator Retro-Bit. Functionally, the device serves the same purpose as the SupaBoy released by Hyperkin late last year, albeit with a few catches. Hit the source link for Engadget's full write up, and ask yourself a very important question: Which is more valuable, $90, or memories?
Retrobit RetroDuo portable and RetroPort hands-on
Inspired, perhaps, by the fruits of Ben Heck's dual-console handheld dreams, Retrobit has retrofit their Retroduo NES / SNES hybrid game console to fit in your hand. The Retroduo Portable, a handheld SNES console shown for the first time at CES 2012, hopes to one-up Hyperkin's SupaBoy by adding support for classic NES games. We dropped by their booth to get a closer look.
Battlestar Galactica, as retold by a 16-bit RPG
Feel like reliving the bizarre twists and turns of Battlestar Galactica without, you know, actually having to watch it again? College Humor has put together a handy (and fake) retro RPG that handily condenses the series' most memorable plot points (and holes). Oh, and: Spoiler warning. Duh.
Retrode 2 USB device lets you play real SNES and Genesis games in emulators
Combining game consoles and emulators, the Retrode 2 is a device that lets you play SNES and Genesis games on your computer. It's a USB device that accepts SNES and Genesis cartridges and controllers, and uses them with any emulator program. When not in use, it folds up into a little clamshell box. It's kind of magical, as far as we can tell. It's hard to say why you would be playing on a computer, in an emulator, when you have the cartridge and controller handy. Perhaps you want to be able to use save states or other emulator niceties. You might just want to take a bunch of screenshots. Whatever the reason, we like having the option! It'll be available January 23 for 65 euro or $85, depending on your region.
Retrode 2 retro gaming adapter brings SNES / Genesis support to your PC for $85
We were already head over heels for the original Retrode, and we've gotta say -- version 2.0 looks mighty good in that attire. As the story goes, the product shown above is the result of some three years of toiling, with the second iteration handling cartridges for Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo. In fact, there's a pair of ports on here, enabling one cart from each console to be loaded up and carried around. Users need only to find and install an emulator on their machine, plug a cartridge and / or an associated controller into the device and then connect the Retrode 2 to one's computer via USB. Once you've loaded a ROM into your emulator, configured your controller and canceled every appointment on your calendar for the next 48 hours... well, you're in for quite a weekend of retro gaming nirvana. It's up for pre-order now in the source link for $84.99, with shipments expected to begin on January 23rd.
Chrono Trigger hits the App Store, lets Square Enix fans turn back time
Square Enix just couldn't resist plucking at our heartstrings -- not to mention willing bill folds. As a timely holiday treat, the company's made good on its end-of-year promise, delivering the SNES RPG epic and cult hit -- Chrono Trigger -- to Apple's App Store. If you're wielding either a third generation and up iPhone or iPod touch, the endless hours of non-linear, time-traveling gameplay can be yours for the re-hashing, albeit on a maddeningly tiny screen. That 16-bit nostalgia won't come cheap, either, at $10. But it's a small price to pay for a welcome walk down gaming's memory lane.
Now you can play SNES while crossing busy streets with SupaBoy
What do you get the gamer who has everything? How about two things he already has -- a classic SNES system and a handheld device, combined into one glorious package. Hyperkin has officially released the SupaBoy, a handheld system that takes full-size SNES cartridges, has a 3.5 inch screen and moonlights as a home console, with two controller ports and TV connection as well. The battery life is locked at 2.5 hours, but with all the new friends you're going to make when they see you walking down the street playing the SupaBoy, that's all the time you'll have to game anyway.
SupaBoy portable SNES, the most fun you can have without a soldering iron
We previewed Hyperkin's SupaBoy back in the summer and loved the idea of toting 'round original SNES games without resorting to Ben Heck-style crafting. The handheld takes full-size cartridges, packs a 3.5-inch screen and a battery that's disappointingly rated for just two point five hours (best keep a power cable handy). It'll also double as a home console: there's an AV-out port and slots for two classic controllers for when you wanna kick it old-school. It's reportedly compatible with titles like Mario World, A Link to the Past and Starwing Starfox, but who needs them when we've got a mint condition copy of Tetris Attack at home? It'll cost you $80 and is available from Amazon as of yesterday -- we suggest you get to practicing blowing the dirt from the connectors, since you'll be doing a lot of it soon.
Chrono Trigger screenshots out, with touch controls and redone menus
Square Enix's Members site has posted a few screenshots of the long-awaited release of Chrono Trigger on iOS, and truth be told, they're a little disappointing. Don't worry -- the game is still there, and as one of the best console RPGs of all time, I'm still excited to play through it again on iOS. But those touch controls, like a lot of Square's games remade for this platform, look pretty tacked on. The original menus for the game were so gorgeous, I'm sorry to see they didn't make the jump to the touch-based version. I guess that's all right for this title -- better to just have it out, at this point, and maybe these touch-based menus, ugly as they are, make the game play that much better. But hopefully we're seeing the end of ports like this, where classic games just get an overlaid virtual joystick and big clear buttons for their menu options. It'd be nice to have a really great old RPG remade into a port where someone has actually thought about how to do the interface justice. Chrono Trigger is due out sometime "before the end of December," with price yet unknown. [via Joystiq]
Hyperkin SupaBoy portable SNES console hands-on (video)
Sure, all the morning's news may have been surrounding a vowel-augmented console from Nintendo, the Wii U, but a certain other Nintendo console that has fewer vowels is also seeing some well-deserved love here at E3 2011. It's the classic SNES, and its been reborn as the SupaBoy, courtesy of Hyperkin. It's a handheld version of the console that's basically intended to fulfill a gamers' desire for portable classic gaming but without having to ask for advice in the Ben Heck Forums. Click on through for some impressions of this handheld wunderconsole. %Gallery-125688%
The Game Archaeologist sees The Shadow of Yserbius
Really, I blame my parents for not being filthy rich. If they were, we could've afforded the $130/month unlimited subscription fee to the ImagiNation Network (INN) back in the early '90s. Just think! All of the gaming, the socializing, and the roleplaying that you could handle -- for such a low price! I mean, sure, there were hourly options, but who'd want to play for a mere five hours a month? So instead of becoming part of a growing online community, I had to be content with my SNES and copy of Chrono Trigger -- hard times, indeed. Sometimes I think how my life would've been different if we had subscribed to Sierra's colorful online world, because I would've had a chance to get in on one of the first graphical MMOs: The Shadow of Yserbius. It was a step forward in graphic quality from the text-only MUDs of the day but perhaps a step backward from the complexity that many MUDs brought to the table. Still, for a few shining years, it entranced thousands who lined up to delve dungeons deeply alongside their friends (and a couple of complete strangers with odor disorders). Today we're going to take a quick peek at one of the first MMOs that stepped into the realm of lush color and animations and see what made The Shadow of Yserbius so enduring.
Chrono Trigger travels to Virtual Console next Monday
It sure feels like we've waited an eternity for Square's timeless Super Nintendo RPG to come to Virtual Console. Begrudgingly, we suppose it's true -- good things do come to those who wait. Next Monday, May 16, marks Chrono Trigger's long overdue release on Virtual Console in North America. Following its press release, Square Enix confirmed that the game will be sold at the standard 800 Wii Points ($8) price for SNES ports on VC (as opposed to the 900-point premium being charged in Japan). That's quite a bargain for pretty much the best game ever. [Image source: Chronopedia]
'SupaBoy' handheld lets you take SNES games on the go
Hyperkin, who sells third-party gaming accessories and various retro game devices (like the RetroN3, a combination NES/SNES/Genesis) announced its next product at the Midwest Gaming Classic last month: the SupaBoy, a portable SNES console that works with real SNES cartridges. It's shaped like a controller, but it also has two controller ports, so you can play while you play. According to CVG's report on the device, it has a 3.5" screen, a rechargeable battery that runs for about five-and-a-half hours, and AV out for use on real TVs. It's due for launch in America this summer. It might look a bit silly with the huge cartridge sticking out, but Sega got away with pretty much the same thing. Officially.
Chrono Trigger, Mega Man X coming to Virtual Console in Japan
Nintendo's Virtual Console release schedule for April includes just three games -- quite a contrast from the service's high points in 2007 and 2008, when the monthly additions would routinely top a dozen. However, even with just three releases, Nintendo of Japan manages to make us totally jealous, because one of those releases is Chrono Trigger. Nintendo (or Square Enix) has decided to charge a premium 900 Wii Points for the Super Nintendo RPG, a 100-point markup that is usually reserved for games "imported" from other regions, but used here basically because they can. That's still cheaper than the current (discounted) price for the DS version in the US. In case we hadn't achieved sufficient jealousy levels, the other planned SNES release for next month is Mega Man X, which will sell for the standard 800-point price in Japan. Also on the schedule: King of the Monsters 2 for Neo Geo.
Gaming's first-person history lesson: 1958 to 2008 edition (video)
There's just so much to love about this video, described by co-creator Florian Smolka as a university video-project from Munich. In a little over four minutes, we're given a first-person tour of console gaming from 1958's Tennis for Two (played on an oscilloscope) through late 2008's Rock Band for Xbox 360 (using a Guitar Hero drum set, but hey, nobody's perfect). Not every console gets a mention -- apologies to Atari Jaguar and 3DO apologists -- and it unfortunately stops before new hotness Move and Kinect get a nod, but that should in no way deter you from setting aside a handful of minutes to watch. Be sure to note the passage of TVs, too, and remember fondly the CRTs of your youth. Unless you grew up with LCD flatscreens, you lawn-lounging whippersnapper, you. Video after the break.
SNES controller and N64 console turned into iPad docks
Etsy user Geekunique sent along some links to these great pictures of old school Nintendo gaming units turned into iPad and iPhone docks. Above, you can see a Super Nintendo controller fashioned into a working iPhone 4 dock, and he's also got a Nintendo 64 console (though unfortunately it's the green translucent one, not the best looking, if you ask me) turned into an iPad dock. Pretty funny -- not only does the build look pretty good from the pictures, but of course Nintendo is probably the game juggernaut most threatened by the rising field of iOS games, so it's ironic that you've got an iOS device using Nintendo hardware as a stand. Geekunique is selling these (and only a few of them, so they'll probably be sold out by the time you read this), but it seems easy enough to cut a slot into one of these old devices and put an iPhone charger cord in there. If you have an old piece of hardware sitting around and do eventually hack it into an iOS stand, be sure to send us a picture!
Super Mario World is Miyamoto's favorite Mario game
Speaking to Game Hunters during Mario's 25th-anniversary celebration at the Nintendo World Store, Mario maestro Shigeru Miyamoto revealed some interesting tidbits about everyone's favorite plumber. When asked what fans don't know about Mario, Miyamoto revealed that the development team on Super Mario Bros had considered using the NES D-pad to make Mario jump instead of the A button. We know, madness. Another revealing bit of trivia: Miyamoto admitted that his favorite Mario game is Super Mario World. Miyamoto liked that the game combined the traditional action of the series with new map features, making players "think about where they were going and what they were going to do next." He added that many of the Super Mario World staff went on to become producers and directors. Strangely, Miyamoto neglected to mention the SNES game's standout feature: namely, that the cape is awesome.
Dell Streak gets SNES controller dock, navigates owner through Yoshi's Island (video)
Who'd have thought that a little thing like the inclusion of USB Host capabilities could open the door to such wonders as an SNES controller dock? That's exactly what we have here. The Dell Streak's ability to work with standard USB keyboards has enabled it to also work with a suitably modified SNES controller, having had a cablectomy and the addition of a PDMI connector on top. That, with the addition of a USB board, turns the controller into a keyboard and, hey presto, it's Super Mario World time. Modder 0TheRain0 did the handiwork here, which you can watch him demonstrate after the break.
