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59 More Hours of Ultraman!

Thursday, June 3rd, 2021

I’ve been continuing with the Ultraman series, watching each as they have been released. Here’s an update with what I’ve seen since the last post.

Ultraman Taro (1973, 53 episodes 22.5 hours)

This was the first ultra-series made after I was born! As with all others, it tells the story of an alien superhero that possesses the body of an earthling to protect the planet against extraterrestrial threats. By now the format was established and the series had won the hearts of Japanese children, and as such most episodes featured a child-in-peril who is then saved by Ultraman Taro. Many kaiju return from earlier series, and overall the production quality felt higher than it was for Ultraman Ace.

Once again much of the series is shot outdoors and on location, and as with earlier series I loved seeing the ‘normal’ Japan of the early 1070s. I always enjoyed glimpses into peoples apartments, shops, tourist sites (even an unusual amusement park!) and restaurants. The fashions are great as well, as with most media created in the 1970s!

What made Taro particularly good was the frequent cameos by other Ultras. Not only does this series introduce Mother of Ultra, but Father of Ultra makes a few appearances as well. Better yet, all previous Ultramen (including Zoffy) feature more than once, and there’s a wonderful two-part episode that even features the original actors of the human hosts from all previous series. I imagine this was incredible special for parents watching the show with their kids back in 1973, seeing Shin Hayata and Dan Moroboshi returning to the series for cameos.

I enjoyed this series quite a bit, and can see why it’s one of the more beloved of the original Heisei-era Ultraman series.

Ultraman Ginga/Ginga S (2013, 27 episodes, 13.5 hours)

This is a strange series, since (more than any other Ultra series) it seems to exist in a world unconcerned by the goings-on. Hikari Raido awakens to the power of Ultraman Ginga, an Ultra ‘from the future’ and uses the power to defend the Earth from evil aliens. Except mostly he’s defending an abandoned school, which he randomly visited in episode 1 for nostalgic reasons. He has a few friends that assist him, but the lack of any concerted government response to the attacks from giant kaiju feels more unusual here than in other series. It’s extremely fast-paced as well, wrapping itself up in only 11 episodes. I wonder if even the creators felt the show lacked a bit of spark as they were making it?

The solution: a quickie sequel! Ultraman Ginga S came out the following year, and added a second new Ultraman to the show: Ultraman Victory. In almost every way he’s cooler than Ginga and the dynamic between the two (first jealousy, then brotherhood) works well as they battle off the evil Alien Chibull, who is trying to steal resources from Earth. Ginga S as a series works much better than Ginga, and the two followup movies wisely include both Ultramen. Ginga S also includes Japanese idol Moga Mogami in a guest role as an android named Mana, and she steals the scenes every time she turns up 🙂

Overall Ginga is a little weak, but Ginga S is great and redeems Ginga quite a bit.

Ultraman Geed (2017, 27 episodes, 11.5 hours)

This is a great series. Rika Asakura (played by a 16-year-old) is Ultraman Geed (pronounced ‘jeed’) who we eventually learn is the son of the evil Ultraman Belial. Through the usual hijinks, he lives in a teleporting base with an alien and a cute girl, and collectively the three fight off the efforts of Ultraman Belial to destroy the universe. It’s an absurd setup to be sure, but the show is so fast-paced and insane it doesn’t matter.

There’s lots to love here. Belial’s host is an author specializing in books about mysteries (such as lost cities, unexplained phenomena etc) and the actor plays the role very well. Riku’s got a childhood friend who pretends to sell insurance but is actually a space policewoman with an (extremely cool) android boss, and there’s some great episodes where she is jealous of the girl Riku is living with. But the best inclusion is an office worker who is the unwilling host of Ultraman Zero (historic nemesis of Belial and all-around badass Ultraman). This guy does the whole Clark Kent/Superman thing perfectly – down to the glasses – and his transformation into Zero is always grand. He’s not just a cameo either, and is in almost every episode (as is his family). They could have just as easily called this Ultraman Geed/Zero!

Geed has some insane transformations, especially once he assumes the powers of Ultraman King. Zero also goes through various levels of upgrades in this series, and the battles in the last few episodes (and the movies) feature all sorts of dazzling effects and special attacks. As a very recent series the kaiju suits are often breathtaking as well, and many times I wondered if they were all physical effects or enhanced with CG.

A truly wonderful Ultra series. Maybe it’s even better than Ultraman Orb 🙂

Ultraman R/B (2018, 25 episodes, 11.5 hours)

The followup series to Geed (yes they make a new one every year) features not one but two Ultramen! Brothers Katsumi and Isami are Ultraman R and B, who together must fight against the machinations of Aizentech president Makoto Aizen, who is using a dark alien power to turn himself into an evil Ultraman…

…except that doesn’t last long and mid-series we find that the true villian is extremely cute gothic princess Saki Mitsurugi, who wants to destroy the world and just may have the power to do it!

Without giving too much away there’s more to the story than I just described, and it’s got quite a few twists and turns to keep you guessing down to the very last episode. The two brothers start a bit irritating, but quickly endear themselves as they realize there’s strength in brotherhood, which they point out to each other (ie. the audience) almost every episode! The villians are great, but goth-girl Saki has such screen presence that you will almost completely forget the first-half villian as soon as she appears! This series has a lot of comedy as well, including the few (usual) comedy episodes some of which break the fourth wall as they joke with Ultra conventions.

Of course R/B eventually learn to individually power up and when that’s not enough they actually merge together to create Ultraman Reube. Even that’s not enough for the final boss, so Reube himself powers up via special crystals. It’s all bonkers and a means to sell toys to kids, but it gives me a laugh every time. In a great surprise the movie introduces an extremely unique new Ultra as well, but I can’t say more without spoiling it 😉

The effects are great, the story is interesting, and the characters likeable: another fun and enjoyable Ultra series.

So that’s another 60-odd hours down, but of course there’s loads more. I don’t even think I’m halfway through all the Ultra series that will eventually be released, and indeed I already have Ultraman Leo in my possession and Mega Monster Battle and Ultraman Zero Chronicles are soon to be released. Look for another set of reviews in a year or so 🙂

Oh yes that last pic? That’s from the upcoming film Shin Ultraman, which I’m looking forward to more than any other film. If it’s anywhere near as good as Shin Godzilla was, it promises to be something special indeed.

Posted in Miscellaneous, Movies, Otaku, Retro, TV | Comments Closed

The Sky Is Falling

Friday, May 14th, 2021

Back in July 1979, I feared that I might die because of Skylab falling on me.

Skylab was the first ‘space station’, built and operated by the USA for 10 months from mid 1973 until early 1974. When the final crew departed they put Skylab into a higher orbit with the intention of leaving it in space until 1983 when the (in development) Space Shuttles could service it. Ultimately nature had other ideas and by 1979 it was clear Skylab would fall to Earth.

NASA’s calculations suggested it would land in the eastern Indian Ocean somewhere. But they didn’t know precisely where or when, and in Australia we were very aware there was a chance it would land smack on us! I can still recall schoolyard doomsayers predicting it could land on someone’s house, and to 7-year old me this was (very briefly) the new big scare to replace King Kong snatching me out of a window one night.

On July 11, 1979, during its 34,981st orbit, NASA made a last minute adjustment to prevent Skylab from falling on the USA. Later that night it entered the atmosphere and while most of it burned up as it fell some parts eventually rained down on remote areas of the western Australian outback.

It didn’t fall on our house, or anyone’s house for that matter. At best it may have given a kangaroo a bit of a start.

The madness quickly transitioned from ‘Skylab will fall on you!’ to ‘If you find Skylab pieces you’ll be a millionaire!’ and treasure hunters of all stripes descended on the outback to find what remained of the space station.

Some were successful, finding many pieces including some very large ones. Much of it is on display now in a museum in the town of Esperance, but some made its way into private collections. While the USA claimed that Skylab was still its property, it never made any attempt to claim debris. Quite the opposite actually: president Carter apologized to Australia and NASA gave memorial plaques to those that found the first pieces of debris!

In the end Skylab was a successful mission, the falling to earth didn’t hurt anyone, and everyone emerged smiling. The world moved on.

There have been many more cases of spacecraft raining down in the years since, and every time it happens (as recently as last week) the media reminds us once again that they might land on our houses! Let’s hope, like Skylab, that when our space trash does fall back to Earth it’s careful enough to land far away from any of us 🙂

Posted in Australia, Blog, History, Retro, Science | Comments Closed

Arcade Memories

Wednesday, January 20th, 2021

I’ve been thinking about memories a lot recently, and how most fade and change over time whilst some remain sharp. Recent discussions with mum have shown me some of my childhood memories are flat-out wrong, which makes me wonder about others.

Spend enough time thinking/talking/listening about arcade gaming and you’ll invariably think/say/hear about how most people that were big on gaming in the arcades usually remember exactly where or when they first played a given game. This is true for me as well, be it Exed Exes in a Pacfic Highway fish’n’chip shop in Charlestown or Xain’d Sleena in the grubby foyer of that cinema on Hunter Street that became an evangelical church (and is now closed?) just to name a couple. I spent innumerable hours in arcades in those days playing every game and I can fondly recall so much of it.

But what about the arcades themselves? One of my favourite Youtubers grew up in a British seaside town and – like me – spent his youth in the oceanfront arcades. He has more than once mentioned how he has very specific memories of playing the games but no longer has clear memories of the arcades that he played them in.

Do I? How clearly can I recall the arcades of my youth? Let’s find out.

I’ve picked three for this post: one in Newcastle city and two in Charlestown. These were probably the three I spent the most time in and – one would imagine – the ones I have the strongest memories of. There were of course many others, as well as countless hours spent playing video games in shops/cinemas/malls etc. For each arcade I have attempted to sketch the floorplan and list some memories. I’m relying on BS, AW and MMC to correct me where I (certainly) make mistakes. Let’s go…

Orbit 100 (Newcastle CBD)

Of course we start with Orbit 100, the king of Newcastle arcades in its prime. Even from the very start I will admit a slight tinge of haziness in my memory, since I conflate Orbit 100 and Orbit 600 these days and can’t be sure which was which. But I am 90% sure the Newcastle one was 100 and the Sydney (George Street) one was 600, so I’ll stick with that. (Interestingly in my ‘book’ about my return visit in 2000 I called it Orbit 600!)

I don’t know when it opened, but it was definitely very active in the early 1980s. I regularly visited when I was in high school since it was within (more or less) walking distance. It still existed when I left Australia in 1993, but by my visit in 2000 had become ‘Playtime’ and when next I visited Oz (in 2005) was gone for good.

As you can see in my sketch the arcade was two levels with two doors onto King Street very close to the Tower Cinema (which is now also gone). In the early days the arcade was mostly just standup cabinets with a few pinballs, but by the mid 1980s they had dedicated the areas on the inner front wall to cabinet games (large driving games mostly) and the pinballs had moved from the top level to the lower near the left door. Orbit was a very dark, smoky and noisy place, with small circular windows (like portholes) with darkly tinted glass. And yet it was a welcoming arcade, probably because it was slightly farther from the Hunter Street shopping and therefore only attracted enthusiasts.

A on my diagram was where a massive black & white Sprint cabinet seemed to sit for years. It was an ancient and often broken beast, rarely played, but probably kept as a curiosity. B was the showcase spot – the first game a customer would see – that was for what seemed like forever occupied with Dragon’s Lair. I recall they had a TV sitting on top of the cabinet so people that couldn’t get close could watch: this was how popular Dragon’s Lair was when it was released. Other games I recall taking this position included Gauntlet and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles arcade game.

C was where I would often sit on the top level and play imported Japanese cabinets. Of course I had no idea at the time that’s what they were, but Orbit had quite a few untranslated units they must have imported from Japan. These were often shooters, but I recall Tower Of Druaga and (a Japanese) Pac-Land as well. My fondest memories of sitting in the top level included playing Time Pilot and Star Force, both of which I loved in their day.

D was where I sat in 2000 and played Mars Matrix, possibly with AW. This was (and still is) the only time I ever saw or played the arcade version of the game and I remember it was right next to the door since every time someone opened it and walked in the bright sunlight shone onto the screen and irked me 🙂

The ? in the above pic I am unsure about. I think they had cocktail (ie. sitdown) cabinets there, but for weird reasons I also recall Orbit selling snacks and drinks and maybe having a seating area? I know pinballs used to be on the top but eventually moved to the bottom, but I’ll admit I have vague memories of the part of the arcade where I now drew pinballs.

Timeout/Timezone? (Charlestown Square)

Given how I virtually lived in this arcade in Charlestown Square you’d think I’d at least remember the name! The planets aligned in 1989 when I both lived in a house within walking distance of this arcade and one of my best friends (MMC) worked here. Even better, the manager was mum to another friend! While I very often did pay for my games at this place, equally common were the games free, and those few years were the platinum years of my arcade gaming. (Fun fact: the manager trusted me so much she more than once had me walk the bags of coins over to the bank for donation!)

But… my memories of this floor plan also start to fade. Once again it was two-level, and given it was at a mall the front wall was all glass so the biggest and flashiest cabs were at the front to attract players walking by. It was a very bright and colorful place with the game volumes up loud and a family-friendly atmosphere. I expect I – ‘goth’ that I was in those days – was about as unsavory a character as that place saw. Mind you this was many years since the arcades had shed their reputation as hives of villainy.

A was where Bernard and I sunk dollars into Narc to beat it. We got better and better and while the game was as unfair as they come eventually were successful. B was where I played an arcade installment in the Thunderforce series to completion while some girl about my age watched silently. I was aware she was there but given it was an intense shooter didn’t get a good look at her. When I beat it I glanced around to see her and she was no-where in sight! Was she a ghost? I’ll never know. C was where I often beat Black Tiger, Slap Fight or Tiger Heli on one credit. I was very good at arcade games!

When KLS visited Australia in 1992 I took her here (more than once) and on one memorable occasion as I was playing SF2 (at D) some young goon stuck joined in, picked guile, and pointed to my character on the screen and said (out loud) “Your arse is grass.” I thrashed him mercilessly and he shuffled off without a word. It was probably the game superiority I demonstrated at that moment that convinced KLS to marry me 🙂

I can recall that very shortly before I left Australia, possibly the day before, I was in this arcade playing SF2 (as I always did) when I just… stopped and walked away. I could effortlessly beat the game at that point with every character but the urge had left me and I just left the machine mid game. I think I had gone for a distraction from the giant step I was about to make in my life and even the familiarity of my favourite arcade wasn’t distracting enough.

Hilltop Arcade (Charlestown, next to the cinema)

I have no idea what this place was called, nestled as it was between the Hoyts cinema and Sizzler restaurant, but it was – between about 1990 and 1993 – the biggest arcade that I frequented. And the emptiest, which was one reason I liked it!

While it had a lot of games the floorplan was massive with lots of empty space and given that when I visited I was usually the only person there except for the employees it often felt on the edge of insolvency. I recall it had a lot of pinball machines, all lined up against one wall, and I routinely ignored these in favour of the arcade games. This was the early 1990s so of course the place was dominated by fighting game cabinets (Simpsons, TMNT), shooting games (Operation Wolf etc.) and large driving cabinets but – as with Orbit years earlier – they had their fair share of Japanese imports as well (probably Sega Aero City JAMMA cabs if you’re interested) and it was these more than any other reason which attracted me, since I was able to play all manner of weird and wonderful – and often untranslated – games at this arcade.

A was where I first played Street Fighter 2, which would have been 1991 when the game was released. The arcade had a bunch of machines arranged in a circle and I’d ‘shop around’ for good joysticks before playing. I played SF2 here a lot since the place was so unpopular and – for a time – this was one of the few places you could enjoy the game on your own without some goon joining in to grass your arse!

B was a narrow hallway which led to an exit to a car park. People rarely used this exit, and when I sat in this hallway to play games I was usually alone and undistracted. This was where I played Snow Bros enough to eventually beat it, and also where I played a lot of In The Hunt, R-Type Leo and Cameltry. I also recall trying many weird Japanese action games that I had no idea how to play!

One specific memory I have of this place is when an attendant asked me to keep an eye on things while she (I assumed) went to the loo. It must have been just me and her in there at the time, and I think she just asked me to tell anyone that came in that she’d be back soon. She gave me some credits in whatever I was playing (Golden Axe: Return Of Death Adder perhaps?) before she left and once I had finished – which took a while – she still hadn’t returned! I waited for a while longer before I had to leave myself, and eventually I did. I wonder what she though when she came back!

Even though I’d stay there for sometimes hours at a time I have unusually vague memories of this arcade. The ? on my floor plan are a complete mystery to me, and the wall opposite the pinballs is equally unknown. What was this place called? When did it close? Is it perhaps even still there?

Did it even exist at all?

I could write a post a day on arcade memories and fill a year, but this is enough for now, and it’s time to turn this over to fellow arcade lurkers to correct me and fill in the blanks. I don’t doubt their comments will trigger further memories of my own…

Posted in Australia, Blog, Games, History, Otaku, Retro, Time | 12 Comments »

My Collection: PlayStation 2

Friday, January 1st, 2021

The PlayStation 2 (PS2) was Sony’s second game console, and was a dramatic upgrade to the original PlayStation. Released in the USA in late October 2000, I got my first PS2 a few weeks later from Working Designs, since I was then writing content for their website.

It was an extremely successful console – to date the most successful (although it will almost certainly be surpassed by the Switch) – selling over 150 million units in over 12 years of life. It has a massive game library and many extremely successful franchises that continue to this day began on the PS2. Historically, this will always be remembered as one of the most important game consoles in history.

Even though it’s still relatively young, some elements of the console feel archaic today, such as the use of dedicated memory cards for storage, the wired controllers and the lack of any built-in internet support. It did however play DVDs, and for many homes was their first DVD player, which was one reason for its great success.

Over its lifetime I bought well over 150 PS2 games, but I traded many in and my remaining collection (115 games) is shown above. Unsurprisingly this is mostly RPGs (since I was reviewing all of them in those days), and virtually every game you can see was beaten to completion.

The graphics hold up reasonably well these days: certainly much better than the original PlayStation. This was also the era in which cutscenes really took off since loading time and video quality had improved significantly over the previous generation. Playing the games now isn’t too great though since the (first generation) Dual Shock analogue controllers feel slow and stiff, and the memory stick system is clumsy.

The PS2 was also regionless, and this was the era in which I started semi-regular trips to Japan. That said I only bought two PS2 games while I was there, both of which I beat completely despite having not being able to read the text!

As I said there’s a plethora of incredible games on the system, including the mighty Final Fantasy XII, the Ratchet & Clank games, the first Monster Hunter and many others. But for me the Naval Ops series will always be remembered fondly. These are action games in which you develop and fight warships in combat. It starts off realistic enough, but by the end you have star destroyer sized submarines with wave guns and laser cannons. They’re all fantastic!

For an extremely popular system with so many great games there’s relatively few ‘holy grails’ on the system as far as collecting is worth, and the vast majority of games these days can be bought for less than when they first came out. The two shown above are probably the rarest in my collection, each worth over $100, which is modest compared to games on other systems.

As the PlayStation has evolved through the generations (now up to the PlayStation 5) the differences between successive iterations has become less and less. I feel the PS1-to-PS2 jump was the biggest, and for that reason remember this console more fondly than any other PlayStation. That said I’m not overly nostalgic about it (or it’s games) like I am handheld or Nintendo systems.

It was fun getting it out and firing up the games for a spin, but I think if the day arrives I decide to sell more of my collection it’s likely my PS2 games will be on the list.

Posted in Blog, Collecting, Games, History, Otaku, Retro, Tech | Comments Closed

Space Invaders

Saturday, December 19th, 2020

Space Invaders may not have been the very first video game, but it’s probably the most historic. It took the world by storm and led to an industry that by 2018 had surpassed the movies. I’ve written before how I still remember first playing it about 40 years ago, and to this day the game retains a place in my heart.

So when I saw the line of Micro Arcade handheld games it was a no-brainer which one I would buy.

These are tiny little game systems about the size of a credit card. I believe the same basic hardware is used for the entire range of games which is why this one has two buttons and a four way controller (space invaders only uses left, right and one fire button). The design is very nice: it’s a solid little unit with good buttons and a nifty clear front so you can see the PCB. It contains a rechargeable battery and has separate on/off and sound switches.

The screen is impressive for its tiny size (less than 1 square inch) and the pixels are clearer than they look in this photo. You can see the game simulates the cellophane stripes that added colour to the original monochrome arcade game, which is a nice touch.

It is of course a rewrite of space invaders and not the original code. It controls and plays the same but is fiendishly difficult with very fast enemy shots. Unfortunately the iconic sound and music of the original is not reproduced (this is a major omission) but what is here is good enough. It also doesn’t save high scores when turned off.

All things considered, for the low price ($15) this is much better than I thought it would be and while it’s probably ‘one for the collection’ I’m intrigued enough by the tech to consider buying one of the more complex games they have released.

It’s also notable how advanced this device is especially for such a low price. If you could take this back to 1979 and give it to little me I would have thought it was magic. Imagine the technology the children of today will be using when they’re my age!

Posted in Games, Miscellaneous, Otaku, Retro, Tech | Comments Closed

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