Hyperkin

Easter eggs are to video games as hidden Mickeys are to Disneyland or Stan Lee is to the Marvel cinema universe. With the exception of the 2015 Fantastic Four film. We don’t talk about that here.

The first Easter egg ever to be reported by its players was found in Atari’s 1979 game, Adventure. According to game designer Warren Robinett, the term “Easter egg” came about when Atari personnel were alerted to the presence of a secret message that had been discovered by its players. The hidden message read “Created by Warren Robinett”.

Atari initially wanted the programmers’ names to remain a secret. However, Robinett had put in the Easter egg late in the game’s development in an attempt to gain recognition for his work.

Since then, video game developers have been leaving little bits and pieces of their personality in their creations. Some of which are subtle, while others beg for attention. None-the-less, finding these Easter eggs can be a gratifying feeling while in game.

Of course there are plenty of Easter eggs worth noting, but some of my favorites are attacking the chickens in the Legend of the Zelda games (sorry not sorry),

finding the Lost Vikings in the Uldaman dungeon in World of Warcraft,

and bumping into Samus and Link in the Rose Town Inn in Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars.

1. Get a Projector!

The RetroN 5 is the only cartridge-based retro gaming console with 720p HDMI output. How beautiful would it be to project Starfox on your back wall in the middle of the night? During a party? Make all your neighbors jealous! Maybe.

2. Play a Game....With Your Games!

"In Japan, a fun a game to play with a group of people involves Famicom carts, explained here in the blog Famicomblog:

The basic rule of the game is this. You have a bunch of Famicom games. You write down the names of each game on a scrap of paper and put them into a cardboard box. Each person takes a turn drawing a game name from the box. After removing the game name from the box, the person then has to complete level 1 of whatever game that is without losing a life.

The game does not finish until the group of you have collectively done this 10 times in a row without losing a life. Each time someone loses a life before they've completed level 1 of the game, the counter goes back to zero.

This can be a really fun group activity, particularly if you have been drinking. I've done it a few times. The tension really builds up when the group has finished 5 or 6 in a row.

One of the keys to making it fun is game selection. You have to choose games that have a level 1 and in which you can lose a life (ie no baseball games, etc). The photo at the top of this post shows a selection of 20 games that are usually in my lineup for this activity. Depending on the skill level of your group you might want to avoid putting tough games like Spelunker or Sky Kid in the mix."

You can do this with the RetroN 5 using all different kinds of carts. Not just Famicom!

3. All-in-one Home Arcade

Need just the thing to power a DIY arcade cabinet? Throw the RetroN 5 in there. Play your favorite retro games in a home bar or recreation room setting.  

Most, if not all, of us here in the office are avid gamers. Some of our origins date back to the Nintendo Entertainment System and the Sega Genesis, while others started their journey with Sony’s PlayStation and Microsoft’s Xbox. While most of our video game experiences took off with retro video game consoles, a handful of the office-dwellers here at Hyperkin made their way to PC gaming.

23-years ago, The Lost Vikings made its debut on the SNES and introduced Eric the Swift, Olaf the Stout, and Baleog the Fierce. These three Vikings were kidnapped by the evil Croutonian ruler to add them to his gallery of unique life forms. In true retro fashion, the Vikings must venture through time and space in this side-scrolling platform puzzle game. Unlike other games of this genre, you take control of the three Vikings each of whom has a unique set of skills that their two counterparts do not possess.

Much has changed since The Lost Vikings escaped imprisonment. For instance, their developer at the time of release started off as Silicon & Synapse and eventually became Blizzard Entertainment. Blizzard is best recognized for their WarCraft, StarCraft, and Diablo Franchises. Blizzard then re-released The Lost Vikings for the Game Boy Advance in 2003. Battle.net, Blizzard’s online platform, then added The Lost Vikings as a free download emulated through DOSBox in 2014. In 2015, The Lost Vikings were added as playable heroes in Blizzard’s PC-based MOBA Heroes of the Storm, allowing players to control the three Vikings as individual units.

Personally, I prefer playing tanky front-liners who can soak up incoming damage and set up plays for the rest of my team to follow up on. On the other hand, the rest of the office-dwellers here at Hyperkin lean more toward to the damage dealers. Regardless of your preferred play-style, The Lost Vikings offer a plethora of abilities that can suit any team composition.

Here’s to you Eric, Olaf, and Baleog. No matter how annoying and difficult you can be to play, you’ll always have a special place in our hearts.

Whether you are a plumber trying to save a damsel in distress from a rampaging gorilla, or a commander of a rag-tag team of misfits saving the galaxy from an alien threat, you are well aware of how your actions affect the outcome of your adventure.

There will always be a place in our hearts for retro gaming, but as fans of retro video games grew up, so did the demands from retro and modern gamers. Video games have evolved into a more cinematic and engaging experience, allowing the players to dive into a universe of endless possibilities. This type of freedom allowed gamers to choose their own adventure and write their own story.

To meet these demands, video game developers handed the reins over the gamers to freely traverse through the plot. But, as some smart guy once said, “for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.”

So the next time you choose to kill off a character to loot their weapon or armor, or ignore your squads’ side quest to rush through the campaign, keep in mind that you may need their trust further down the road.

Accept this as fact: we once lived in a world where less than 20 pixels represented a plumber on your TV screen, and we just supposed to go along with it. But you look back at it today, and it's not ugly or "outdated." Some how this lo-fi representation of characters, also known as pixel art, has remained relevant for the past 40 years. We do know this style of art was due to hardware limitations, but to this day, devs are making games in the same style. 

Why?

How does retro console gaming translate to gaming in 2015? Is it nostalgia? Is it just a pleasing aesthetic?

We're willing to bet that it's a combination of both. The bright, simple pallettes and minimalist approach at tricking your brain into reading images as well as the sheer pleasure of knowing these are the kind of graphics your eyes were glued to for hours on end when you were like 8.

Do you like pixel art? Why? Why not? Let us know!

Virtual reality has come a long way since it made its appearance in the video game scene and the changes have been huge between the retro Nintendo Virtual Boy and the modern Oculus Rift. However, for Sega, the concept of immersing players into an interactive world fell short of successful, as the Sega VR home console version never saw the light of day.

Due to the difficulties of development back in 1993, the console Sega VR headset only remained a prototype and was never released to the general public. By difficulties, I mean testers complained about getting headaches and motion sickness while using the headset.

The Nintendo Virtual Boy was then announced On November 14, 1994. Nintendo claimed that the Virtual Boy would "totally immerse players into their own private universe." Nintendo of America debuted the Virtual Boy at CES on January 6, 1995.

Early press releases touched on the technological advancements behind the retro console, Virtual Boy, and threw the game releases to the side. Nintendo extensively promoted the Virtual Boy and focused on the technological aspects of the new device in its press releases, neglecting to detail specific games. However, the Virtual Boy’s vital signs flat lined after shipping 350,000 units three and a half months after its North American release, coming short of their projected hardware sales of 1.5 million units. The Virtual Boy was then discontinued in late 1995 in Japan and in early 1996 in North America.

Virtual reality then made a resurgence when a company called Oculus VR developed a headset called the Oculus Rift. The Oculus Rift got its start through a very successful Kickstarter campaign and made its way into several tradeshows, where it was well received. The determining factor to the Oculus Rift’s success will most likely be its game library, which consists of both original and popular titles.

As the Oculus Rift gained popularity among gamers and consumers, it also caught the attention of social media mogul, Facebook. Facebook paid Oculus VR $2 billion for its Oculus Rift technology but intends to let the company to run its own. This means that virtual reality can be easily accessible for consumers and rise in popularity again.

With virtual reality stepping back into the limelight and gaining more popularity than ever, Sony decided to take on the challenge and introduced Project Morpheus at GDC 2014. Project Morpheus utilizes Sony’s new and existing accessories, a 3D headset and the PlayStation Move controller, to bring the user into a whole new world of gaming. By integrating the PlayStation Move controller into Project Morpheus, gamers can reach out and interact with the environment rather than just using the peripherals to get around.

Finding Mega Man 4 with clean, unoxidized contacts at a Goodwill in Lodi, Ca. is probably a feeling only matched by finding 5+ curly fries that have made their way into your bag of regular french fries. What I mean is: it rules.

But really, why do we collect retro games? What gives the satisfaction of finding a score? What benefit does it give us in 2015, the year of instant digital satisfaction.

If you're a member of Gen X or an older Gen Y-er, then you group in a time when these games were still $60-$80 a pop. They came either inside consoles or on the shelves in sleek, glossy packaging. Holding it in your hand was the greatest feeling in the world...probably.

Now that we're older, more sophisticated adults with careers, we can afford to buy these games, which, depending on your taste of rarity, range from .95 to $300. The feeling of finally getting to play that copy of Hybrid Heaven that's been sitting in your local Video Rental Store (what are those?) is one of the most satisfying things in the world. And that's mot likely why some of us collect retro games and accessories.

There's also a level of completionism in play. Knowing that you own all the Sunsoft NES titles or everything in the Ultra line calms the beast in your for whatever reason, regardless of you actually playing the game.

Imagine what it must be like for a console collection, knowing how much space your hobby takes up. Your entire shelf is just cluttered with plastic, and you don't even know why. Accessories are no different, falling prey to a Ikea-related oversight.

There's also the group of collectors who actually love playing their games. It's comforting knowing that these titles are getting some more mileage out of them.

Everyone had that cousin in the late 90s/early 2000s who was just a little more tech-savvy than you, being able to download Limp Bizkit's Significant Other album in just under 45 minutes, grab that latest Rob Schneider movie, and play Chrono Trigger all on his Pentium III-powered desktop.

But what did this now mean for gaming, which at the time, had JUST left the 8 and 16-bit era? Was it "retro gaming" yet? Was it "last gen"? It's hard to believe the consoles that came just after the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis allowed players to enter complete 360-degree virtual worlds.  Accesories changed as well. No longer did the 2-4 action buttion and d-pad format suffice anymore, as characters were able to do more and see more. What happened to our 2D friends, other than confined to bargain bins or waiting on the shelf of your nearest Blockbuster Video (remember those? I don't)?

Software emulation offered an immediate fix for those wanting to play RPGs they may have missed in the past or were unable to obtain due to language barriers. Of course, this would mean hours of clacking away at a keyboard, as going to a Wal-Mart and picking up a basic USB gamepad wasn't a reality in 2000. Indeed, it was a weird time for retro gaming.

Suddenly, the corner of the universe that is retro gaming entered a paradigm shift. Stores started displaying their old school Nintendo and Sega games under glass cases or front shelves instead of dingy carboard boxes/table legs. Video games, accessories, and consoles now had "collectors value" and now there was a "collectors market". Dusty cartridges like Chrono Trigger, Earthbound, and Gunstar Heroes now had value outside of their artistic merits. These "retro games" were now a commodity.

Hyperkin entered the market right as Nintendo consoles such as the NES, SNES,and Game Boy were become scarce. Gamers would have to scour flea markets, garage sales, and basements just to play their copy of Actraiser in their living room, rather than a desktop setting. The RetroN series and Hyperkins' accessories created viable options for anyone who still had Final Fantasy III (VI for your purists) laying around.

True, you'll still have the nocturnal warriors, downloading a megapack of "EV3RY SN3S GAME" or "200 TURB0GRAFX ROMZ", but that sect of retro gaming lacks the charm of having a physical cartridge. Knowing you can't just select whatever game you want on a whim, means you're spending more time on that cartridge, getting as much playtime as you can on it. Knowing you spent your hard earned bucks on that rare Master System cartridge or that accessory you always wanted as a kid means you're not spending your evening passively hitting a key to forward in-game dialogue.

Nowadays, retro gaming has re-entered the video game lexicon as something other than quantified nostalgia: pixel art, 8-bit music, 16-bit style RPG games, NEW games made for the SNES and Genesis, and many more celebrations of a once-vibrant era of electronic entertainment. We see it in television and music as well. So, how has  retro gaming fared in the digital age? Pretty damn well.

This is Nick. He works here at Hyperkin. Because of his two deepest passions in life - Dragon Ball Z and Guy Fieri - he's agreed to dye his hair blonde!

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Special Thanks:

Chris Gallizzi Jesse Aragon Rocky Qiu Taft

Meet the SmartBoy, an upcoming Game Boy-compatible device for the iPhone 6 Plus (with more compatible smartphones to follow). This concept art shows that it will attach to the iPhone 6 Plus, turning the phone into a handheld gaming device compatible with Game Boy and Game Boy Color cartridges.

It will also feature an eight-way D-pad; two action buttons; a start and select button; and an included battery that can be charged through the phone itself providing 5 hours of gameplay. The gameplay itself will output through the iPhone 6 Plus' own screen.