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Showing posts from July, 2015

An Italian Plumber Returns to the Realm of Coin-Ops in Luigi Mansion Arcade

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Even though they're mostly associated with Nintendo's line of home gaming consoles, Italian plumber brothers Mario and Luigi started their journey to digital stardom in the coin-op arcades. In the early '80s, Mario first appeared in the arcade classic Donkey Kong , and Luigi made his debut in Mario Bros. They've spent most of their time since then in console-only games but it appears that Luigi hasn't forgotten his roots, since he's the star of the new Luigi Mansion Arcade game that was recently released in Japan. Luigi Mansion Arcade is a first-person rail shooter along the lines of House of the Dead , although it takes its plot, settings and characters from the Luigi Mansion games that were previously released on the Nintendo GameCube and 3DS. In the game, up to two players explore a haunted mansion and use the Poltergust 3000 to capture a selection of ghosts. As you can see from the video below, Luigi Mansion Arcade looks like loads of fun. I'm sure t

More Zoids Robot Toys: Tribots and R.A.T.S.

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Way, way back in 2010, I posted a retrospective about Tomy's toy robot line Zoids and two of its less popular spin-offs, Starriors and Z-Knights. I recently learned that Tomy produced two other spin-offs during the '80s that weren't sold in the United States: Tribots and the Robot Anti-Terror Squad (R.A.T.S.). These two other lines also less popular than Zoids, but that doesn't make them look any less fun. Click below for more details and pictures of these interesting yet obscure robot toys from the '80s, and how they fit in to Tomy's approach to motorized, mechanical play. I learned about Tribots when I was looking around the ever-awesome Collection DX site. It posted a review of one of the Tribots toys, along with a picture that placed a Tribot and Starrior next to each other for comparison. Even though these robot figures are from different lines, both share Tomy's aesthetic of interchangeable parts and bulky, mechanical shapes--the same aesthetic that