Are you a seasoned “Starcraft” player? Retroactive wants to hear from you ASAP for a documentary about to hit pre-production in the next month, and hopefully release a few weeks after Starcraft 2.

We’re looking at interviewing modders/mappers/and players both casual and “hardcore”, as well as filming the release of the game’s sequel in Wellington.

Please email ross@retroactive.co.nz for more information. NZ’ers only for interviews sorry!

Star Wars Arcade

Developer: Sega Interactive/LucasArts

Publisher: SEGA

Published: 1993(Arcades) , 1994 (32X)

Platform: Sega 32X, Arcades

Features: 1-2 Players

Star Wars will always have a special place in my heart, I always get a rush when I see Luke Skywalker flying his X-wing down the trench run on the Death Star. Star Wars Arcade allows you to feel a part of the battle like no other game of it’s time, except perhaps the Super Star Wars Trilogy. Star Wars Arcade was originally released in arcades in 1993, then was ported to home consoles in 1994 as a launch title for the infamous Sega 32X.

At the start of the game, after being treated to an ear wrenchingly loud 32X version of a new hope’s opening scene, you have the option to play the original game as found in arcades, or with the longer and harder levels they added.There are two modes in Star Wars Arcade, one player and two players, which is explained in-game by saying that in 1p you are piloting an X-wing,, while you are piloting or gunning a Y-wing, during 2p. The 1^st player in both modes can fly their ship around, and they can shoot in the direction the ship is moving. The second player in Y-wing mode can shoot the same weapons, but aren’t limited by having to fire in the centre of the screen, having the ability to shoot in a different direction from the Ship. How advanced!

Your goal in each of the four levels of Star Wars Arcade is to destroy a number of enemy TIE fighters, (which increases every level) within a time limit (which varies between levels).

The four levels don’t display incredibly advanced graphics, but the sheer size of the levels is amazing. The first and third levels are set in asteroid fields, where you have to either shoot down or avoid the asteroids, the second level is set in the midst of an epic space battle with star destroyers, which shoot massive lasers, and the last level is set on the surface of the death star, which seems the same size as the real one. The last level is the hardest, because as well as the stock standard TIEs, you are also dodging bullets from the Death star’s turrets, and are being hunted by Darth-freakin’-Vader’s TIE.

This games storyline is rather ambiguous, as while you’re driving an X-wing around the completed Death Star, with Vader hunting you down, only seen in A New Hope, you are taking orders from Admiral ‘squid face’ Ackbar, who only appeared in return of the Jedi. Either way, it probably doesn’t matter as Star Wars Arcade definitely isn’t canon.

Star Wars Arcade is a short, fun game, with very few flaws, and I definitely recommend everyone give it a playthrough sometime.

Until recently (I’d say at least the last 10 years), living in NZ we have been subject to games being released months after their release dates, same with movies and music, it’s only in recent years that we have caught up due to things like the internet and publishers realising they can’t with hold product from us for too long otherwise we may find other ways to watch/play/listen (this doesnt always stop them from holding back though).

This will probably be the last in the line of the Thrill Of The Hunt series, I wanted to keep it strictly inside NZ but at Armageddon I had people asking questions about imports from overseas.

In the past, we saw a lot of hardware never reach here, such as the Super Scope, or get released in rather limited numbers (such as the Sega 32X, a very hard to find addon over here). This makes it hard to find within our own shores (such as places mentioned in Part 1), so sometimes we inevitably have to start looking outside to places like the US, Japan and UK.

In this edition we’ll be looking at places to purchase these online, ways around un-needed region locking and how to go about getting your goodies to our fine shores.

Before diving into the world of the internet and online shopping I highly suggest you read the entire article, as it’s all extremely relevant to the whole topic of importing.

Part 1- The stores themselves

Consolepassion.co.uk

These guys have been recommended by a popular-ish retro gaming mag called “Retro Gamer”, back in issue 43. I know many people over in the UK who use them, and with them being based in the UK, 90% of their stuff is PAL, save a few imports and hardware pieces they have in stock, they are great for us due to no incompatibilities to our region.

They stock both hardware and software for a massive variety of systems (48 in total). Credit card payments accepted via Paypal and they are very fast at replying to emails.

Prices are reasonable, but certain rare items sell fast and are subject to stock available and they also deal with game trading, but that will likely be prohibitively expensive with what shipping prices tend to be…more on that later.

Japangamestock.com

This place is 100% NTSC Stock. Based in Japan, you aren’t going to be hideously gouged on pricing. Their site states that it is Y1860 (roughly $28nz give or take) to ship a 1kg package to NZ. Many of the games their can be bought cart only, and they also stock a great deal of hardware.

Email replying is fast, but may take a little deciphering..Eg:

hi there

we can ship to NZ.;we have already shipped there
unfortunately the country is not listed..but no problem

use Japan as country..then choose IPMO/bank transfer as payment even if you want to pay by CC/paypal

put in the comments your real address and full adress in the comments..we will modify manually the order with the correct delivery address and email you instructions for payment later one (once done)
shipping cost will be adjusted to NZ…before you pay anything you will have the total.please choose USD as payment radther than JPY if you want to pay by CC/paypal ..you will then be able to pay in your local currency
if you pay by bank transfer choose JPY as the currency on our website

regards
JGS staff

I’m basically assuming all the shipping info is entered into the comments, then they bill you separately for it all…otherwise just continue as normal. Slightly risky, but may be worth it for their stock and shipping prices.

Make sure you have the appropriate modded consoles, or converters to hand to play stuff ordered from here, unless it is listed as PAL.

Stoneagegamer.com

Another NTSC site, this time based in the US of A. Plenty of hardware, including some stuff that I most certainly now have my eye on, like the RetroGen handheld.

Upon inspection this is the most expensive thus far, with it being $US54 for 1 loose game cart and a RetroGen, whether this is just standard or flat rate, I’m not sure, as I haven’t received a reply yet.

Make sure you have the appropriate modded consoles, or converters to hand to play stuff ordered from here, unless it is listed as PAL.

Ebay.Com.Au/Ebay.com

Ebay, like TradeMe, is an online auction site. There are buyer protections in place, but it would be the last place I would personally go after hearing many ebay horror stories. Make sure to fully read what you are purchasing, and whether the sellers even ship to NZ.

Amazon.com

Amazon started as an online bookshop, quickly branching out to selling DVD’s and music, and eventually allowing people to use it as a front for selling stuff online at set prices. As above, read the fine print, and make sure the sellers ship to NZ. Amazon themselves don’t for certain electronic items (I used the RetroGen as a test), due to export taxes/customs reasons.

Part 2- Playing the games

Most of you, if you’re already buying, will likely own a PAL console, as it is what was released here. You wont have to worry if your games originally come from Oz or the UK, as these play perfectly fine in NZ PAL consoles. It’s when you head to the US or Japan that stuff starts to get sticky.

Thankfully, there are ways of getting around this.

Game Genie/Action Replay

The first and foremost way of playing import games without busting open your console the Game Genie/Action Replay Carts and dsics

Both the Game Genie and Action Replay were released for many systems and used many methods to circumvent protections.

On the Megadrive it was a case of plugging in your import cart on top, and inserting it all into the top of your console.

Other consoles like the SNES/Nintendo64 it utilized what is called a “pass through” system, where you plug a PAL game into the back, and then your import game on top. It then uses the “header” information from the PAL game to replace that if your import game and magically boots it all up.

Ripping open your console and soldering bits into it

The least recommended method (or the method where you get a friend who is a dab hand at electronics, alternatively find a place selling console pre modded), is cracking open your console, and slapping in a mod chip, or in the case of the Megadrive, a switch and a resistor.

There are plenty of places online which will give you guides to modding your consoles for 60HZ NTSC game playing, but make sure you (or your friend) know what they are doing.

A simple Google search yields many results for stores that mod, or how to do it yourself.

Modding a SNES – http://www.gamesx.com/importmod/snes5060.htm

Modding a Megadrive – http://www.gamesx.com/importmod/gen2import.htm

There are plenty of other, and better guides out there, parts are cheap and can easily be found at places like Dick Smith for less than a few dollars

Buying a Licensed remake/remodel

The great thing about old consoles it, that due to a thriving community and electronics industry, people out there have remade a lot of the old consoles, sometimes combining two at once. They tend to be cheap, but also tend to be compatible with most first party controllers and games.

Some examples are; AtGames Twin Pad Player (Megadrive Variant),  Retro Mini X (NES Handheld Variant with TV out) and the Retro Duo NES/SNES System

Often these consoles come with a variety of games built in, and aren’t too expensive at all. Generally no more than $50+shipping (shipping price varies depending on store).

Final short note: On TradeMe, especially with the PlayStation, you will find a majority of the consoles are modded already, thus saving you the hassle of DIY or Find a Friend, or purchasing boot discs.

Part 3- Shipping.

This is the worst part about importing. In some places (I’m looking at you America) it will end up costing more to ship, than the actual items themselves. So when you’re going over what you are buying be sure to check out and account for the shipping costs! Most sites include an FAQ which will go into detail about their international shipping policies and charges. Be sure to read before handing over your credit card info for your truckload of goodies.

If somewhere doesn’t ship to NZ, then use a service like Shipbuktu.com. They act as a US based address to receive items and send them here.

And that pretty much concludes Thrill Of The Hunt for now, be sure to check out Part 1 and Part 2 if you haven’t already!

Words by Ross/F33dback

Just flick an email to ross@retroactive.co.nz with the subject line SUBSCRIBE and I’ll add you to it.  It will likely be a monthly affair, with volume ZERO having just gone out.

You can unsubscribe any time by sending UNSUBSCRIBE in the email subject.

I am also available at this address for offers on games I may be on the look out for- bear in mind I’m currently only after games for systems I own (N64, Mega Drive, SNES, Master System, Mega CD).

Currently I’m after the following:

Perfect Dark (N64)

Mario Kart (SNES+N64- The N64 version at Armageddon wasn’t mine)

Ultimate Qix (Mega Drive)

Ground Zero Texas (SegaCD)

Sonic CD (Sega CD)

Resident Evil 2 (N64)

Knuckles Chaotix (Sega 32x…bonus if you have a 32X for sale)

Sonic Adventure

Platform: Sega Dreamcast (Original Release). Nintendo Game cube & PC (Director’s Cut), Xbox live (Coming Soon)

Released: 1998 (Japan) 1999 (Internationally) on Dreamcast (2003 Director’s cut)

Developer: Sonic Team

Publisher: SEGA, (PC version by Activision under Sega PC)

Features: 6 different single player storylines, dozens of mini-games, A-life Virtual Pet Chao Garden, VMU game Chao Adventure (DX also includes 12 Game Gear Sonic Games)

Sonic Adventure was the first actual 3D Sonic game. It was released as a launch title for Sega’s final Console, the Dreamcast. Sonic Adventure was the best selling dream cast game during the consoles entire history, selling 2.5 million copies. And in my humble opinion was one of, if not the greatest, Sonic titles ever.

The games story focuses around six different playable characters, Sonic the hero, his young sidekick Tails, the gruff and tough Knuckles, Sonic’s wannabe girlfriend Amy Rose and newcomers Big the Cat and E-102 Gamma. These six characters have a wide variety of game play, and give the game a huge amount of replay ability. The game also introduced the English speaking world to Dr Eggman, the name of the villain known to us English speakers as Dr Ivo Robotnik .

Sonic’s story involves running to get to the end of the level in the fastest possible time. It might be because of this speed based game play, as well as his being the main story, why Sonic has the most levels, going through a whopping ten “action stages” and three “sub games” . Sonic gets the most bosses too, fighting Chaos four times, Eggman 3 times, and duelling with fellow playable characters Knuckles and Gamma. Because of the sheer amount of Bosses, after completing the game you unlock a boss rush mode, letting you duke it out against all 9 bosses in a row with no breaks in between.

During Sonic’s game, you’ll notice Tails following you around like always, but now you can play as Tails. Yes you could do this in Sonic 2, 3 and Knuckles, but now you get to play as Tails when he’s following Sonic around, instead of just pretending Sonic never existed. Because Tails can fly, there is a more open feeling to the seven playable levels Tails can explore, making Tails a good character to play after completing Sonic as you see much of the game from a new perspective. Tails’ Story is great, showing him becoming independent from sonic, and culminates in him not needing sonic anymore, which was instantly retconned in the following games to turn Tails into the whiny baby he always was.

When I first played this I still hated knuckles for terrorizing me during Sonic 3 and Knuckles (he threw a bomb at me in Launch Base!), so it did my heart good when the opening cut scene of Knux’s game shows him utterly failing his Master Emerald guardian duties, letting it first get stolen, then smashing it into lots of little pieces. Knuckle’s Game is vastly different to Sonic and Tails’ as he isn’t aiming to complete the level this time around. Knuckles’ has to track down three pieces of the Master Emerald in each level.

Amy Rose first appeared as Metal Sonic’s hostage during Sonic CD, and is back in Sonic Adventure as a fully playable character. Amy’s story involves helping a bird get away from Eggman’s robot E-100 Alpha, known as Zero. Amy’s levels involve running away from Zero. She plays rather like Mario, her levels involve a lot of platforming, puzzles and less fighting, if she tried jumping on a badnik, she would get hit. To attack Badniks she must use her Piko Piko Hammer. She has only 3 “Action Stages”, but she has to do a lot of missions within the Hub stages known as “Adventure Fields”.

Gamma and Big have the largest departure from the traditional game play of Sonic Tails, knuckles and Amy, although one has a relatively fun game while the other is a snore fest. Gamma must travel through a level, and get to the end within a time limit, and then duel with one of his fellow E-series robots. Big on the other hand has to ponder around the level, looking for his best friend Froggy, a frog. Then Big must get out his fishing rod and spend an hour trying to catch Froggy. There is an incentive to completing these characters as well. If you finish all 6 character’s storylines, you unlock the final character Super Sonic. I’m not going to spoil the ending for you, so you’ll have to get the game to find out.

Another feature is the Sub Games. There are three different sub games. The first is Sky Chase. Reappearing from Sonic 2, Sky chase involves flying Tails’ new Tornado plane toward the Egg carrier, Eggman’s ship, and shooting down small fighters. It is the least fun and pretty hard because the reticule is inaccurate and flies all over the place. The second is twinkle circuit. This is a built in kart racing time trial mode based on a section of the main game level Twinkle park. This is pretty fun and it is quite satisfying to get a new record, although there are some acceleration problems in it. The best of all though is the Snowboarding. There are two snowboarding levels, Ice Cap and Sand hill, and it is amazingly fun to just zoom down the levels in a snowboard. Some other mini games include a shooting range, a whack-a-sonic game and a boss rush mode.

There were some huge flaws in Sonic Adventure though. The biggest, was in fact, Big the cat. Fishing isn’t fun! It never will be fun. It is tedious and hard and nearly stopped me from finishing the game. The second big issue was the camera. It was prone to start flicking around or for some strange reason zooming into first person mode while I’m trying to complete a delicate puzzle. The character’s animations were also kind of scary, when ever Sonic talked it looked like his eyes were going into a seizure.
Sonic Adventure has huge variety in Game play, featuring 6 wildly different characters, a built in kart racer, a mission mode and many many mini games. The music is amazing, as is the voice acting and FX. The graphics have dated, but were amazing for there time, and the story is film worthy. Give it a try by buying it on Dreamcast, Gamecube/Wii, PC or on Xbox live this year.

We originally met Impish on day 1 of Armageddon, which lead onto his mighty feat of clocking Sonic 3 over the course of 3 hours during day 2 and nabbing him a nice little prize in the process.

After some discussion after Armageddon, and looking over some material he wrote, we decided to bring him into the RetroActiveNZ  family as a new writer. Expect his first reviews to go up in the next few days!

“Tom Gluck, more commonly know on the internet as Impish, began gaming at a young age, first playing Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and Pokemon Blue in his homeland of England, then continuing his obsession on his PlayStation. Moving to New Zealand he quickly got an Xbox, forgetting about his Mega Drive and Playstation until he discovered emulation, and now he is far more of a retro-head than a hardcore, but he wont say no to a game of Halo. He owns an Xbox 360, Playstation, Game Boy, Game Boy Colour, GBA, Nintendo DS, and a busted Mega Drive. He is knowledgeble about after-market SEGA systems and rom hacks.”

Wow.

What. A. Weekend.

Sorry this didn’t get done Sunday night, but I think you can probably forgive me for doing 3 x 10+ hour days in a row relating to Armageddon. I slept from 9pm-10am last night so am suitably refreshed and my back is sore from standing up all that time.

Anyway, onto the write up!

We ripped down our timetables, and just let people play what they wanted, kicking off the day with Sonic and Mario Kart (which never failed to draw a crowd). I was seriously deluded in thinking Sunday was going to be a quiet one, and I couldn’t have been more wrong with the Cosplay competition kicking off the day in the main area an hour after the TSB Arena opened to the public.

Nothing majorly eventful at the stand, same as the previous 3 days. Tom G who completed Sonic3&Knuckles on Day 2 came back with a CD containing a hacked Sonic game, but due to technical issues we were unable to display (the Mega CD decided to not work!), and a guy who was around the previous day came to show me something I didn’t know was possible with Zelda 64 (bugging it out and getting into a developer debug mode).

Many MANY photos taken. Pretty much the same amount as the previous 2 days in one, so hop to the gallery after reading the write up and video.

The stand had people right up and till we packed down, albeit early to avoid the surge of other exhibitors packing up from 6 onwards.

We went around shooting some more interesting videos as well, rather than doing a clip show, we decided to ask attendee’s questions about their first games and hardest games, as well an interview with a guy called James who lives in Australia and owns over 2000 retro games!

This isn’t it for us though- the website is going strong, people loved the stand- we fully intend on getting our collective heads together for a road trip to Auckland for Armageddon in October this year. We’re looking at doing a double sized booth with 4 TV’s and 8 consoles over the weekend and more games than you can shake a deku-stick at. It’ll be hard, it’ll be challenging and stressful, but if it was as fun as this past weekend, it will be worth it!

Once again, thanks to those up us either side of our booth, especially Corey, Tom and Stacey who were especially fun and friendly neighbours! Tom even drew me a rad-core Mario picture!

http://www.corysaur.blogspot.com

http://www.tommonster.com

http://www.stacey-robson.blogspot.com

http://used-bandaid.deviantart.com/

Wow, another massive day. It was way less stressful than Day 1 of the expo, but still madness nonetheless. Last minute calls at midnight last night to solve a staffing issue and hit jackpot with having my friend Hamish come to help out the second half of the day while our other temp staffer for Armageddon Chris, went off to play in a Magic Tournament. None of this is his fault, I honestly thought it woudn’t be so busy at our stand so didn’t bother getting a 2nd person on till the very last minute before I went to bed. Biggups to Hamish, you did yourself good.

Today was very much a day for meeting people. Plenty of conversations had and people pointed not only to here, but various stores that sell retro games (one guess where They are in Petone…also pointed to Cash Converters). Met a few people from England/British Isles who remember owning the never released in NZ, SNES Super Scope.

Gallery, day2 roundup and a video with a special interviewee at the con after the jump

The day opened with the under the radar hit for PSX, Omega Boost and a Super Gameboy for the SNES loaded with Donkey Kong, Mario Land 1 and Earthworm Jim with people playing in less than 5 minutes after the doors opened.

Following that Wip3out was given a good thrashing on TV1 and continues Super Gameboy madness till the Super Scope was broken out for a few hours.

Starcraft64 failed to draw anyone in but me and Chris, with its overly complex controls. Something I have learned from the first RetroactiveNZ Armageddon stand is the need for games which are “pick up and play”. No majorly complex control schemes, and pick games people remember, or would be easy for them to play. With the amount of visitors there are who wish to try things out you should keep things as simple as possible to get the maximum fun out of each game.

Sonic was eventually the game of the day on the first TV, with expo attendee Tom G. (otherwise known as Impish at the Sonic Retro forum) taking it upon himself to play through the entire game of Sonic 3 (with Sonic and Knuckles) over the space of 3 hours with Hamish as Tails, clearing all the levels but deciding to not go the whole (hedge)hog and grab all the chaos emeralds on the way. With this he scored himself a $25 Overworld voucher, which is pittance for the amount of effort put in on his part. Short interview in the video at the bottom.

We saw more crashes on the N64 (which you could have probably cooked an egg on by the end) and thankfully none during Tom’s epic Sonic 3 run through on the Megadrive, the SNES was surprisingly fine and my Super Scope is in one piece! Over the course of the day Mario 1, Alex Kidd and Sonic 3 were completed start to finish by several people.

Mega thanks for the people on either side of our booth for putting up with loud 8 bit music, guns and people of all ages raging at old games and consoles for the past two days as well as tomorrow!

http://www.corysaur.blogspot.com

http://www.tommonster.com

http://www.stacey-robson.blogspot.com

http://used-bandaid.deviantart.com/

Check their stuff out, it’s totally awesome! Also Dinosaurs.

Tomorrow we don’t have a plan for the timetable. I’ve given up on them for this con. Let people play what they want, when they want. Which so far seems to be Mario Kart, Alex Kidd, Street Fighter 2 and Sonic with bouts of Perfect Dark and Goldeneye thrown in for good measure. Who am I to complain they are all brilliant games!

Wow. What a day! Busier at the booth than we honestly expected, and even with 3 people we were run off our feet!

Early technical problems plagues the booth with me running around like a headless chook when both the Master System and the N64 decided to play up, and were fixed with 5minutes to spare before the torrent of people swarmed the TSB arena floor for what seems to be one of the biggest Wellington Armageddon Expo’s yet!

Write up,  more pictures and a video after the break!

Unfortunately I forgot the “Super Gameboy” addon for the SNES so there was no action on that today- but the Master System, Megadrive and Nintendo 64 all got a good run! By the end of the day both the N64 and Megadrive were overheating from 6 hours of continuous use! Lesson learnt for the next time we do this- switch up consoles more on the first day and don’t be lazy!

There was some clear favorites early on, with no one touching the Master System till we flicked on Alex Kidd. this certainly drew plenty of people to the booth, especially with Scott/Coldbain handing out over 300 flyers in the space of an hour to passers by!

The N64 was running all day, with crowd favourites being Star Wars: Episode 1 Racer and even more so Mario Kart 64 with a constant stream of 4 player match ups and goodies for the winners of some of the races! Wipeout 64 also got a good run a few times!

Over on the other side of our too-small booth we had the Megadrive overheating and crashing intermittently (I dont think they were designed with 5 hours of constant play in mind) but running Street Fighter 2: Championship Edition for most of the day, with the occaisional bout of Sonic and Knuckles 3 for races.

Despite the grumpy looks of those above, they were heavily engrossed in the games (Weekend RA staffer, Reegan pictured concentrating on the Hoth mission in Shadows Of The Empire)- with some people coming back multiple times throughout the day and everyone having fun playing each other- no one was getting aggro or impatient, and were playing nice and sharing the controllers well!

Muchos gracias to Reegan for helping out today and the people either side of us for putting up with the blippy 8bit noise blaring from our TV’s! I’ll throw up some links to their sites in tomorrows round up!

Tomorrow we kickstart the day with some big screen Gameboy action for the first hour, alongside PSX classic Omega Boost, and then into Super Mario All Stars for SNES and a Wipeout3 (or Wip3out if you wanna be cool) tournament with a giveaway for a $25 voucher for Overworld in Petone.

In the afternoon we will have a Goldeneye Tournament with the same prize, followed by Zerg rushy goodness of Starcraft64! We may even be breaking out the SNES Superscope a day earlier than on the timetable at some point!

Stay tuned,  and save your megabuxx’$ for the other displays as the RetroactiveNZ stand is free to play all weekend.

Developed and Manufactured by Nintendo

Released- 1992 in North America/Europe and Japan

The Super Scope is the official first party light gun for the Super Nintendo and was released in 1992 to North America, Europe, and gained a limited release in Japan due to a lack of consumer demand at the time for another expensive and limited use addon (after salt most likely being rubbed into the wounds of Power Glove owners after they purchased that….”so bad” is right…).

This thing is huge.

Ok…maybe not that huge….

It’s bigger than most of the previous light guns released for consoles like the NES Zapper and later the Sega’s Menacer/Justifier. It’s shaped like a Bazooka and is just over half a meter in length. It has 3 buttons (Pause, Fire and the Cursor) and a 3 way power switch (Turbo, On, Off). It also has an accurate scope for looking down and targeting the screen.

Looking down the barrel you can see the area holding the infra red LED’s which beam data back to the SNES via the control box which is placed on top of the TV (unlike the NES zapper there is a box that plugs into controller port 2 on the SNES, and semi acts in the same way as the Wii’s). The main barrel/lens “reads”the action on screen.

Here’s how it works. First a little history and a minor setback for modern-gamers turned retro. Do not expect this to play fair with your $1337 Sunny Bravo 42” HD TV.

Back in the day, CRTS’s were what was around back when this was released. In laymans terms the screen refreshes vertically, drawing one line at a time, so fast the eye cannot see, whereas LCD/Plasmas of today refresh in one go, thus leading to a lot of confusion for the light gun and receiver on what is being drawn when.

When you first start a game you are given a calibration screen. This tells the SNES exactly where the gun is in relation to the TV and sets out the first basic co-ordinates.

Step 1. Enemy is drawn on screen each frame, you aim and pull the trigger, the screen is refreshed and flashes and the gun instantaneously receives data on where you shot, depending what pixel was lit up.

Step 2. The gun then takes this information of either a 1 (hit) or 0 (miss) and sends the co ordinates to the set top box sitting on your tv.

Step 3. The set top box decodes the information and it runs down the cable to controller port for further processing on the SNES.

Step 4. The SNES then feed’s this back to the TV and depending if your aim was off or not, shoots the missile where you shot, which could well be nowhere near the enemy or a well placed hit.

My first surprise after playing with the Super Scope is how insanely accurate it actually is if you don’t suck at the calibration round and can actually shoot straight with no moving targets. It reacts as you would expect it to depending how bad or good you are.

The only downside would be the sights, having to close off one eye and looking through an oversized pinhole for any extended length of time hurts, and will eventually give you some nice disorientation. Thankfully most game rounds are less than a minute or two, so breaks are frequent.

The Super Scope itself was bundled with a cartridge called “Super Scope 6”. A package of 6 games in two categories. First you have “Blastris”which comprises of 2 Tetris style shooting games, where you blow up blocks to create lines either horizontally or vertically and a crazy whack-a-mole style game called “Mole Patrol” that has you shooting what look like rodents on the moon.

The second set of games are far more interesting, and could be considered more “mature”. LazerBlazer is a group of 3 different types of games. The first game, “Intercept” is a side scroller and has you shooting down missiles as they go left to right across the screen miss 5, and its game over.

Mini game number 2 is called “Engage” and can be compared with a first person After Burner or Space Harrier. It’s an on rails shooter, and varying enemies and missiles fly towards you for you to take out. Take 5 hits, or run out of fuel and that’s it for you.

Finally, the last mini game is called “Confront”, the only one of the three mini games that gives you infinite rounds to take out the enemy. You have limited hit points, but these can be gained back by shooting flashing enemies, again- 5 strikes and you’re out.

For such a great bundle, you’d probably be quite happy with the amount of longetivity back in that day an age (lets face it, in the PS2/PS1 days we were spoilt with lightgun games). Having said that, there are 11 other games compatible with the Super Scope, the most fun ones being Yoshi’s Safari, T2 (Terminator) Arcade, and Aerosmith’s Revolution X.

Within our shores, all this is very hard to find, with it never having actually gained a release at all within NZ. My Super Scope was nabbed in a lucky but pricey buy now on TradeMe, and came all the way from England originally when it’s owners immigrated.

I can’t wrap up this article without a comment on the build quality. It’s rock solid, and doesn’t really feel like a toy, it carries a bit of weight, and there is something hideously manly about shooting your TV with a bazooka.

All in all, another worthwhile purchase- if you can find one!

Lucky for you then, that we will have this down at our stand for you to try at Armageddon!