GRcade

It’s now officially abandon ware so legal to download too.

Sports Interactive are famously chill about people still playing their old games, it's very welcome.

Paid a visit to the Arcade Club in Bury today, absolute retro gaming heaven.

Pacman, Space Invaders, Centipede, Frogger, Mario Bros, Donkey Kong, Super Hang On, Star Wars Arcade, Outrun and so many more from that sort of era. Many more from the late 90's and early 2000's too - Soul Calibur, Time Crisis, Point Blank, Crazy Taxi, Monkey Ball (so much more difficult on an arcade stick!). They had more modern things too including a VR Arcade, a number of gaming PC's, several modern consoles hooked up but the highlight was definitely the retro stuff - I've played most of these in their home system forms so to play the Arcade originals that I (mostly) haven't experienced before was such a cool experience.

I'd definitely recommend it to anyone in the North West, well worth a visit. Was £16 for access to everything and unlimited play on all machines, surprisingly cheap (and good) food and drink too.

Paid £8 for a bunch of complete PS1 games

Toca world touring cars, Toca 2, driver, driver 2 , smackdown, tomb raider the last revelation, die hard trilogy, syphon filter , syphon filter 2, syphon filter 3 (platinum)

kerr9000 wrote:Toca world touring cars, Toca 2

I think it's Toca 2 I remember playing at a friend's house, where all we did was go on a track that runs along a coastline where you can launch yourself off the track and over the invisible barrier, letting you drive along the beach and through the rest of the level.

I've never been able to find a video or mention of it since though

Jamo3103 wrote:Paid a visit to the Arcade Club in Bury today, absolute retro gaming heaven... Was £16 for access to everything and unlimited play on all machines, surprisingly cheap (and good) food and drink too.

That must have been a cracking day out, Jamo! I haven't played an arcade machine in many years - I think Sega Rally in the 90s was probably the last time - but there's something about the experience that is just great. The grub sounds decent, too :-) .

kerr9000 wrote:Paid £8 for a bunch of complete PS1 games ...

You are building one heck of a gaming collection, kerr. Do you find time to play the titles that you buy and/or is it the thrill of finding them that drives you on? Not judging, by the way; I veered towards collecting rather than playing until recently!

I play a decent amount but I'd be lying if I didn't admit that there's a lot of the thrill of the chase in it... When I feel stressed or out of sorts getting a bargain is a great pick me up. I even buy stuff I already have if its a good bargain.

I ended up playing through Donkey Kong Country 2 over the past few days, and it holds up so well. The pirate theme and level design were superb, and everything felt like a huge step-up from the original.

For me, DKC3 was always the best (the one I grew up with), but not so sure now, so will have to go back and replay that one, too.


Then, while I was on the SNES mini, decided to fire up Super Mario World for a quick game, before clearing the first four worlds, including two exits I hadn't found before, so might as well finish that too.

I'm off to a local retro gaming convention in a couple of weeks, NERG in Gateshead. I went last year and it was a lot of fun, loads of old arcade and pinball machines all set to free play along with a bunch of retro consoles and a gaming market.

Osito wrote:I ended up playing through Donkey Kong Country 2 over the past few days, and it holds up so well. The pirate theme and level design were superb, and everything felt like a huge step-up from the original.

For me, DKC3 was always the best (the one I grew up with), but not so sure now, so will have to go back and replay that one, too.


Then, while I was on the SNES mini, decided to fire up Super Mario World for a quick game, before clearing the first four worlds, including two exits I hadn't found before, so might as well finish that too.

I was playing DKC2 on my mini a while back for the first time, having only played the first one before. I was loving it, very very playable and still looks great. Mario world is timeless.

DKC2 was for many, many years my favourite game.

+1 for the DKC2 love in!

Had a weekend away in Birmingham and had a nosey around for games, not much to see really, been in game and there was nothing much, been to a market which had a huge game stall but everything was either the amount you'd expect or more.

Just before I left I got three 3rd party Dreamcast memory cards for £1 each one is a joytech 1mb, ones a joytech 4mb and the others an unnamed 4mb one.

kerr9000 wrote:Had a weekend away in Birmingham and had a nosey around for games, not much to see really, been in game and there was nothing much, been to a market which had a huge game stall but everything was either the amount you'd expect or more.

I found one of my all time favourite gaming bargains in Birmingham, Zero Wing on the Megadrive for a fiver in the now long gone What Everyone Wants chain of 'pound' shops.

Bought it long before it became infamous for the hilarious Engrish translation and despite the obvious flaws actually enjoyed playing it.

What everyone wants

Source of all my visionaries toys

After finishing DKC2 last week, we went through DKC3 again this week.

Still love it, but have to admit DKC2 probably is the better game.

Now the question is whether to move onto Returns or to try and get everything to unlock the hidden worlds in DKC2 and 3...

I'd probably move onto returns myself. I love all the games but its the original I always find myself going back to, I think its because me and a lot of friends used to own it so talked about it lots and played together etc

Diddy's Kong Quest was always the best of the trilogy, but the third installment definitely introduced plenty of new ideas that were very well received.

Osito wrote:After finishing DKC2 last week, we went through DKC3 again this week.

Still love it, but have to admit DKC2 probably is the better game.

Now the question is whether to move onto Returns or to try and get everything to unlock the hidden worlds in DKC2 and 3...

If you decide to revisit DKC2 and try to find the secrets, let us know! It was the first game I ever completely completed (at 102%) and I'd like to think I can recall where all the hidden sections are! And if not me, I'm sure Drumstick would also be able.

Speaking of classic platformers and Drumstick... did I read right somewhere that you've never played either of the Mario Galaxies?

Anyone in the north east or afar going to North East Retro Gaming (NERG) at the weekend?

It's at Gateshead Stadium Saturday and Sunday and has free to play arcade and pinball machines.

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/nerg-201 ... destsearch