Review: Hasbro Transformers Generations War for Cybertron Kingdom Voyager Rhinox Action Figure
Something new every day-- unless it's old! Our exciting Figure of the Day continues for you lucky people! Is there anything we won't cover in this column? Probably not!
Via Kickstarter: Mawthorne (NES Game). They say: "Mawthorne is an NES game and playable on real NES hardware (Nintendo Entertainment System) and the 2nd game in the "CGT-verse" (the first being Shera and the 40 Thieves). The game is already 100% completed and only requires funding for physical production and release."
The ROM is $10, a cartridge is $35, a boxed NES (or Famicom) cart is $55, a Dreamcast disc is $45, and there are higher tiers too. I love cartridges, but the $10 ROM for emulators, ROM carts, and MISTer may be the way to go for those who dislike plastic clutter.
Stretch goals for ROMs and MP3 soundtracks and a bonus booklet in PDF are unlocked. A Steam release is next but... well, who needs it? The game is expected to deliver physical rewards around November 2022.
Via @FPGAzumSpass: "Thanks to Sorgelig we now have Multitrack CD Direct Audio support for the #MiSTerFPGA PSX core." For those following the project, the MISTer FPGA core for PlayStation - the first one, no bloody A, B, C, or D - has gone from being a nifty project-in-the-making to a nearly fully realized project. I've almost finished playing through one of my all-time favorites on it, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, which doesn't use that kind of audio as such but it's still really impressive. His tweet shows off just how well it's all coming, with video that looks just like the CD-ROM-based system spat out nearly 27 years ago... except on a modern display. And maybe the resolution isn't exact. But it's pretty impressive.
For the uninitiated, the MISTer is sort of like the Raspberry Pi, except the hardware simulation is more in line with what Analogue's consoles do than the free PC emulators do. It's really impressive! Also possibly insufferable if you don't find this interesting. MISTer isn't perfect, but in some cases it does things above and beyond the original hardware's capabilities. For example, the Game Boy Advance core lets you do higher-resolution sprite scaling, so F-Zero and Mario Kart tracks look cleaner on big HD monitors.
But I digress. Right now, the PlayStation games I've tried out mostly work really well, looking kind of good, kind of blocky, and kind of awkward - more or less what you've come to expect from 1990s 3-D pre-N64 games, on the whole. The MISTer doesn't have the level of system support that you get out of the newer generations of the Raspberry Pi, but if you're picky about accuracy (and like the kind of thing Analogue does) you'll probably want to look up the whole Getting Started With MiSTer FPGA thing, as I'm likely to be putting more in here about it in the future. Presumably this is going to be the new hotness until the transister-level simulation for Macs and PCs become a thing as computer power improves in years to come. There may come a day where original hardware - except maybe controllers and CRT TVs - will be increasingly unnecessary for old and picky game players.
Via the Star Wars Galactic Hunter Figure of the Day Blog: Cobb Vanth (The Black Series). The new 6-inch release looks great and has a removable helmet that just happens to fit on your Tython Boba Fett. Mix and match? It's a sharp figure with decent gear, but unfortunately it also costs a lot more than a typical figure. Read the whole review.
Review: Mattel Hot Wheels Experimotors Custom Small Block
Something new every day-- unless it's old! Our exciting Figure of the Day continues for you lucky people! Is there anything we won't cover in this column? Probably not!
A baseplate on wheels. The Mattel Hot Wheels Experimotors Custom Small Block is a car with two bricks slapped on it, and you can remove those to build your own structures. Or parade floats. It's a pretty neat toy for a buck at Walmart. So read on, and come back tomorrow for more fun!
Via Bandcamp: Bandcamp is Joining Epic Games. Is this good news? I have no idea - so much indie music is sold and streamed for free through this site that I would hate to see anything change. I've been picking up records and various digital music packages from here for years, and it's been a very listener-friendly way to hear new stuff from outside traditional radio venues.
Hopefully Epic Games will take a mostly hands-off approach and will continue to allow artists to keep doing their own thing, which is to sell you music. Where else are you going to find Donny Benet, John Dwyer, and whatever Oliva Neutron-John is going to call themselves next?
Star Wars Review: Stormtrooper Jedha Patrol (The Black Series)
Via the Star Wars Galactic Hunter Figure of the Day Blog: Stormtrooper Jedha Patrol (The Black Series). This is the 2020 Stormtrooper sculpt, with a giant antenna and a big backpack - and a pauldron, and a rifle. It's pretty nifty if you need more troopers, and presumably you do. Read the whole review.
Via Scanline City on YouTube: It's been a long time coming but its finally here - The MAS "NEO". It looks a lot like the old MAS joysticks - I have one of the MAS Systems XBox 360 wired ones, and those were about $210 back in 2009. These new ones are said to be between $200 and $400, depending on configuration.
It's durable and feels a lot like a chunk of an arcade cabinet, so it's surprisingly satisfying and still works well with emulators, MISTer, and some consoles - the new one should work with more of everything. Is it worth the asking price? Well, maybe. Take care of it, take notes, and also show it off shamelessly to your friends. I've had good luck with mine. There are other, cheaper, and more-immediately-available alternatives that are just as good though. The current generation of Mayflash arcade sticks are well-regarded and you can swap out the buttons and sticks with arcade parts if you want, too.
We're taking donations for server costs! Really. One of the rewards is Q&A a few days early - you can read next Monday's installment as soon as it's ready, which can be as early as 1:00 AM my time on Monday!
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Review: Hasbro Transformers Generations War for Cybertron Trilogy Selects Decepticon Spin-Out and Cordon Action Figures
Something new every day-- unless it's old! Our exciting Figure of the Day continues for you lucky people! Is there anything we won't cover in this column? Probably not!
Via itch.io: Bundle for Ukraine. Ten bucks gets you 552 Windows games, 220 Mac games, and a bunch for other platforms. including the critically acclaimed Celeste for Mac/PC/Linux. There's even the aftermarket NES game Nebs & Debs in here, which is quite excellent for $10 in and of itself. I spent hours playing it in a hotel in a business trip many years ago, because that is how much fun I am on the road.
itch.io is sort of like Bandcamp in that it's a nice indie platform that has a lot of free and trial stuff on it, and they host a lot of retro games for Sega Genesis/Mega Drive, Nintendo Entertainment System, Game Boy, and others. It's worth browsing even if you don't subscribe to the Mac/PC paradigm, as there are a surprisingly large amount of 1980s microcomputer games getting Mega Drive ports (for your ROM carts, MISTer, emulators, etc.)
Review: Hasbro Transformers Generations War for Cybertron Kingdom Core Hot Rod Action Figure
Something new every day-- unless it's old! Our exciting Figure of the Day continues for you lucky people! Is there anything we won't cover in this column? Probably not!
Via McDonald's: Mario Kart Happy Meal Toys. Mario, Luigi, Peach, Yoshi, Toad, Bowser, Donkey Kong, and Toadette are up for grabs. I have no idea if they even advertise these things on TV anymore - you sure as heck don't see signs when you drive by.
While this may not be super exciting, remember that McDonald's Is Phasing Out Plastic Toys From Happy Meals In A Push To Be More Green. Expectations are to kill plastic toys globally by 2025, which with the lack of cereal box prizes and traditional Saturday morning cartoons, is probably the death knell for 20th century childhood pop culture junk.
Nearly everything else is getting pushed back at least a few months - in some cases many months - to 2023. Given The Flash was due in November, and a lot of other movies were (or are) set for this year, this could mean even more weird toy surprises show up at retail because it was too late to move the toy shipments. Or, it's possible delayed toy shipments are just going to mean there might actually be stuff on-shelf for the new movies, which has been scarce as of late for much of the Disney-produced stuff.
Via AMClicks: Re:Novedades Alemania Julio-Diciembre 2022. Mock-up boxes for a lot of new sets are shown, including a giant animal theme with anteaters, manatees, and reissues of dozens of classic animals. With Turning Red streaming last week, red pandas are also included. However, these ones are not giants nor do they speak English.
There's a lot to see here with carded and pillow-boxed figures seemingly dropping plastic from the boxes - but they're clearly not final. Being able to buy an animal outside of an expensive larger set is the kind of thing LEGO and Playmobil fans tend to always want, mostly because $90 is a lot to drop on a set with a Saichania in it.
Playmobil Manatees are one of those bucket list toys - like Vlix - that I dare not believed I would see in my lifetime. But there they are. Just like transforming Arcee toys, or cartoon Boba Fett in cartoon colors, or LEGO Star Wars, it's kind of amazing all we had to do to see this unthinkable-in-the-1980s-toys was to not die.
We're taking donations for server costs! Really. One of the rewards is Q&A a few days early - you can read next Monday's installment as soon as it's ready, which can be as early as 1:00 AM my time on Monday!
If you've got a dollar a month to share, please Visit the Galactic Hunter Patreon and help cover our server costs. I'll still put in hours of work, writing, photography, and research - I just need some help making sure that the site costs me only time, and hopefully not money. Thanks for your support!
Review: Hasbro Transformers Generations War for Cybertron Kingdom Deluxe Autobot Tracks Action Figure
Something new every day-- unless it's old! Our exciting Figure of the Day continues for you lucky people! Is there anything we won't cover in this column? Probably not!
Via the Star Wars Galactic Hunter Figure of the Day Blog: Bodhi Rook (The Black Series). Hey, a new guy! A decent cap on the fifth anniversary of Rogue One, Bodhi turned out well with a decent slate of accessories. No sack for his head, though. Read the whole review.
Something new every day-- unless it's old! Our exciting Figure of the Day continues for you lucky people! Is there anything we won't cover in this column? Probably not!
It's a classic! And long since sold out. Nemo's Factory A/V Robot Glowing Being was something I picked up at D-Con 2018, and it's still great. So read on, and come back tomorrow for more fun!
Adam's Star Wars Newsletter #7 - Spring Forward to 2023
Galactic Hunter has posted a Adam's Star Wars Newsletter #7! New vintage Bespin Guards are basically a tacit admission that Hasbro hasn't forgotten about updating the original Kenner figures, and two of them are set to go up for pre-order soon. It's also packed with updates on pre-orders, new releases, and other stuff you may have seen on the news sites... but you're busy, so scan this anyway to be sure you're all caught up. Read it here!
Via the Star Wars Galactic Hunter Figure of the Day Blog: N0-AH. The dome was in Solo: A Star Wars Story on a mini body, but this release is based on The Mandalorian with a debut dome mold in unusual colors. That's really reason enough to pick up any droid. Read the whole review.
This week's batch of titles on the eShop: Gal*Gun: Double Peace, Cyber Fight, Jumping Brick Ball, and over a dozen more.
Also of interest, the Switch Online expansion pack added 3 new 16-bit-era Sega games - Light Crusader, Super Fantasy Zone, and Treasure's Alien Soldier - and that last one is pretty darned scarce thanks to never getting a US release (someone get Limited Run Games on that.) The Nintendo64 F-Zero X was also added last week, which I love, although some may disagree.
Buzz has it that it's set for a reset this coming weekend, but fans have already reported finding him. (I have not seen one yet.) The DPCI is supposedly 087-16-7493 but as with many Target exclusives, online inventory checkers do not recognize this or other recent releases.
Via Micro Center: Atari Single Player USB Fightstick - Plug and Play. It's incredibly easy to mock Atari for its 21st century IP, dead-on-arrival new VCS, and everything else, and also the price for this joystick. Micro Center (which doesn't do mail order and is nowhere near me) has had a number of arcade fight sticks that look a lot like the old X-Arcade Tanksticks - impressive beasts, to say the least - but the Atari ones tend to integrate things like spinners and/or trackballs. This one has both, plus wood veneer and a handy handle. If it wasn't so expensive - and unavailable for me to purchase - I'd like to try this out.
The red dot on the top right is a spinner (Arkanoid fans), and the red ball under that is a trackball which YouTube reviewers tell me works as a mouse.
If it's another product with Atari slapped on it, I haven't been able to find out what it is. This one's even got pinball flipper buttons on the sides. It's still too pricey for me, but dang if it doesn't show a lot of thought went into it for the Raspberry Pi/MISTer/MAME set. I have zero reason to buy another arcade stick right now, but pinball flippers, spinners, and trackballs would be compelling. Presumably if Fry's Electronics hadn't imploded, they'd have something similar. But they did, so they don't.
We're taking donations for server costs! Really. One of the rewards is Q&A a few days early - you can read next Monday's installment as soon as it's ready, which can be as early as 1:00 AM my time on Monday!
If you've got a dollar a month to share, please Visit the Galactic Hunter Patreon and help cover our server costs. I'll still put in hours of work, writing, photography, and research - I just need some help making sure that the site costs me only time, and hopefully not money. Thanks for your support!
Review: Hasbro Transformers Generations War for Cybertron Kingdom Deluxe Ractonite Action Figure
Something new every day-- unless it's old! Our exciting Figure of the Day continues for you lucky people! Is there anything we won't cover in this column? Probably not!
Via RetroRGB/Lu/MiSTer: MiSTer FPGA Updates Ð PSX Widescreen, Nemesis Core, Road Fighter Core and More. In short, it renders 3D backgrounds as a widescreen thing, with the playing field staying basically the same. It's neat and mostly applies to 3-D backgrounds in the beta for the core. 2D elements get stretched - so it's not really of value for Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.
There's a video showing more, if you aren't inclined to just try it out. It's glitchy in spots as games were programmed for 4:3 and not 16:9 (or whatever,) but enabling it does let you see off-camera stuff and it's generally pretty neat. I tried it with Einhander, and you can't move outside the 4:3 playfield - but it looks really good.
Via the Star Wars Galactic Hunter Figure of the Day Blog: MA-13. It's a droid with arms and legs! And an oar! The paint job doesn't match the weathered droids from The Mandalorian, but it's still nifty and worth your eyeballs. Read the whole review.
There's an official site for the remake of a 1976 computer text game "Colossal Cave Adventure." That would probably put it in the running for the longest time between a game and its newest remake, give or take whatever Pong does next.
Something new every day-- unless it's old! Our exciting Figure of the Day continues for you lucky people! Is there anything we won't cover in this column? Probably not!
Via maxoakland: Wink! This beta release is new to me, and you can grab it for the ROM-booting platform of your choosing (or play it in the browser). It didn't save my progress when I tried it, but it's still fun enough to give a spin. You play a jumping eye guy who can shoot, and in the level I played it was pretty fun with a decent boss fight at the end. At which point you get dumped on a big map screen.
Since it's free, it's probably worth giving a shot! The beta has six levels and I'm going to try to give it another whirl when I'm not merely booting it up so I can see if it's worth posting about here. (It was. Ran great on the MiSTer.)
Via the Star Wars Galactic Hunter Figure of the Day Blog: B5-SL. It's blue, it's mystery boxed, and it's pretty expensive for one little guy. Read the whole review.
Clear Water Interactive developed this around 2000, just around the end of the Game Boy Color's lifespan. (The Game Boy Advance would be sold in 2001.) The story was interesting - apparently the author made it for a publisher who didn't have the license. Take a look!
We're taking donations for server costs! Really. One of the rewards is Q&A a few days early - you can read next Monday's installment as soon as it's ready, which can be as early as 1:00 AM my time on Monday!
If you've got a dollar a month to share, please Visit the Galactic Hunter Patreon and help cover our server costs. I'll still put in hours of work, writing, photography, and research - I just need some help making sure that the site costs me only time, and hopefully not money. Thanks for your support!
Review: Hasbro Transformers Generations War for Cybertron Kingdom Deluxe Predacon Scorponok Action Figure
Something new every day-- unless it's old! Our exciting Figure of the Day continues for you lucky people! Is there anything we won't cover in this column? Probably not!
From the article: "With talks at a standstill, Haley says he wouldn't be surprised if there is a hostile bid for Hasbro." Toy industry investing gone sideways is what got us to where we are now - with Toys R Us basically no longer existing in a meaningful way, and Kay-Bee Toys likely gone forever.
Star Wars Review: ARC Trooper Captain (The Vintage Collection)
Via the Star Wars Galactic Hunter Figure of the Day Blog: ARC Trooper Captain (The Vintage Collection). It's a redeco with fewer accessories than the original release, but it's done in a way that makes it essential for 2003-2005 Clone Wars fans. Read the whole review.
Via Playmobil: Welcome to the PLAYMOBIL Volkswagen Designer. You can customize colors, stickers, license plate, and to some extent, figures. A VW T1 van is about $79.99 while the Beetle is about $65.
It's a lot more than the basic store versions were two years ago - those were about $50 and $40. While it can be easy to point to customization for the higher prices, recent Playmobil licensed sets (and non-licensed sets) are a lot more expensive than two or three years ago, so it makes some degree of sense. But since you can't order it in the USA anyway, just throw up your arms and call it a day.
I'd order one with a 16bit.com license plate if I could, but that ain't happening in North America yet. This is what it's like to collect Hasbro figures in Europe, I'm sure.
Review: Playmobil 70876 Special Plus Child with Monster
Something new every day-- unless it's old! Our exciting Figure of the Day continues for you lucky people! Is there anything we won't cover in this column? Probably not!
It's here! The Playmobil 70876 Special Plus Child with Monster gives you a kid with a monster under the bed. And plungers. And a flashlight. At least I understand the flashlight. So read on, and come back tomorrow for more fun!
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