Proposed New Logos

Ladies and gentlemen, Neo Retro Union is about to unveil its official logo. Here are just three proposed designs that I came up with for the Neo Retro Union logo. Keep in mind that these new logos are just interim designs for the time being.

Which of these three logos should be the official logo? The choice is yours.

Hexion

Author's Note: As at the time of this comic being uploaded, Hexion has yet to be re-released as part of the Arcade Archives series.

Of all the Konami franchises that have been around since the company's establishment in 1969, Hexion has to be one of the most criminally overlooked. How criminally overlooked, you say? There were no console ports of Hexion whatsoever, and this arcade game has not yet been given the Arcade Archives re-release treatment.

Then again, Hexion was nothing more of a licensed arcade port of David Markley's Hextris, and Hextris was nothing more than a shareware title. However, David Markley will be more than happy if Konami's Hexion gets re-released as part of the Arcade Archives series. After all, some forgotten Konami arcade titles such as Xexex have already been given the Arcade archives re-release treatment, so it's high time for Hexion to get re-released.

Arcade Letter S Variations

When the 8-Bit Arcade Font was conceived, many variations with different versions of various alphabet letters were conceived. One of the most notable variation differences was the letter S, in which there are two variations of the 8-Bit Arcade letter S in Rally-X. The letter S that distinguishes the Special Flag from the other yellow flags in Rally-X is uncommon in video games that use the 8-Bit Arcade Font. It is, however, the correct way to write the 8-Bit Arcade version of the letter S.

Arcade Memories

If you can remember playing the Arcade version of Tetris Plus and upon completing the Standard Difficulty levels for the first time, found out that there is another set of levels called the Expert Difficulty levels, and then going on to complete the Expert Difficulty levels where completion rewards you with the ending where you get to see the Professor's Assistant in a swimsuit, then you do have nostalgia.

It's sad that arcades are on the decline amid financial turmoil. This left many arcade cabinets abandoned, and many of them do not even get to have a new owner and a new home. In other words, financial problems have always been the real reason for the passage of time being cruel to us...

Remembering the Neo Geo

The Neo Geo. The arcade cabinet that transformed SNK into a serious Console Wars contender by giving us The King of Fighters, Samurai Shodown and Metal Slug. A true icon of video game history that may have influenced the creation of the Newgrounds website. Now, more than 30 years later, the Neo Geo is still the greatest arcade cabinet in video game history, with the Sega Astro City being the only serious contender that I know of.

Maniacs VS Skimpy Swimwear

The summer of 2023 will be remembered as a bummer vacation, especially in Europe. Public swimming pools have become a hot topic in Germany, in which some have shut down while others seek police protection because of attacks by maniacs from Middle Eastern countries, particularly on girls in revealing swimsuits similar to the skimpy attire worn by Arabian Moon from Irem's Superior Soldiers. If these ultraconservative maniacs continue with their attacks at this rate of ferocity, expect a rivalry from Daniel 11 to reach its bloody conclusion. With all that said, we are really living in the last days of this dark age of man's rule over man...

Arcades of Yesteryear

Do you remember the glory days of the video game arcades? Well, I do. That's why this comic focuses on remembering the days of growing up with Street Fighter, The King of Fighters, Metal Slug, Raiden, Dance Dance Revolution, Pop'n Music, Bishi Bashi, and Puzzle Bobble. but these were the more well-known ones. There might be more arcade obscurities out there, waiting for recognition.

Back in the late 1990s, video game arcades were still alive and well. In fact, some of the best arcade titles such as Puzzle Bobble, Street Fighter, Raiden, and Metal Slug to name a few were brought over to the PlayStation, and these arcade conversions did well. But now, a large number of arcade titles have fallen by the wayside, and of those that have continued to hold out, very few of them aged well. Even the video game arcades have seen the number of good arcade video games dwindle, and they continue to dwindle to this day.

And yes, the "Oh, to be young again..." quote became a popular topic in poetry that it became an actual quote in Miitopia, where Miis afflicted with aging often complain about what they have to do to be young again. Man, I really miss the times when arcades were at their prime...

Dirk the Daring's Victory 40 Years On

While the Dragon's Lair series hasn't aged well, despite the hilarious death scenes, we should also remember Dirk the Daring's victory over the fearsome dragon Singe because that would have been the fruits of persevering despite having to spend loads of quarters just to beat the game. Even the epic fails merely reward us with hilarious death scenes.

Happy 40th Anniversary, Dragon's Lair! And thanks for giving us some of the most hilarious death scenes, as well as an epic final battle where victory over Singe gave us a great ending!

Dragon's Lair © Digital Leisure.

Singapore's 1983 Arcade Prohibition

Did you know that arcades were actually prohibited in Singapore in 1983? Amid a North American video game crash, Singapore's then Ministry of Culture issued a nationwide ban on video game arcades in a bid to curb addiction, as well as reduce truancy, petty crimes, and possibly beat 'em up-style fighting incidents. Private clubhouses such as the Singapore Armed Forces Reservists' Association (SAFRA) and Civil Service Club (CSC) were exempted from the ban, provided that they enforced checks regularly. PC and console gaming were also excluded from the arcade prohibition, resulting in their respective markets proliferating. This in turn would turn Singapore into one of the forgotten battlegrounds of the Console Wars between Nintendo and Sega. By then, the ban was lifted because it failed at curbing addiction and reducing delinquent crimes.

If only other Japanese consoles that's not Nintendo's Famicom or NES, both of which were sold in Singapore, such as Sega's SG-1000, Sega's Master System, Epoch's Cassette Vision, Epoch's Super Cassette Vision and Sony's MSX were on sale in Singapore's video game stores, they would have thrived in terms of sales numbers amid a ban on video game arcades, because video game consoles are exempted from the video game arcade ban, and video game console sales actually thrived due to the ban.

Rejected Tetris Plus Endings

Author's Note: This was originally going to be the very first comic uploaded to Neo Retro Union, back when it was originally going to be called Gamers' Generation. But the name "Gamers' Generation" was already taken, so I chose Neo Retro Union instead.

The arcade version of Tetris Plus has ten different endings for the Puzzle Mode, eight of which are featured in the Standard version of Puzzle Mode. Of course, there may have been proposed versions of the endings that did not make the cut for the final product.

Here are three potential endings that I came up with that did not make the cut for the official version of the game.

Rejected Ending #1: In one of the Standard Puzzle Mode endings, the Professor's Assistant found an ancient bikini among the heap of treasures. For an awkward ending, this would have been a better ending than the ending where the Professor and his Assistant found out that the treasures are fake. Also found in the treasure heap is a magic wand from Rod Land, which, like Tetris Plus, is a Jaleco title that began in the arcade.

Rejected Ending #2: Endings 5 to 8 revolve around the Professor and his Assistant finding a switch. In this rejected ending, the Professor and his Assistant become invisible and cannot see each other. This would have made more sense than the ending where the pyramid turns into a robot.

Rejected Ending #3: Basically the Expert Puzzle Mode ending, but with the Professor's Assistant wearing the bikini from Rejected Ending #1. The final product version of the Expert Puzzle Mode ending arcade version of Tetris Plus had the Professor's Assistant wear a red swimsuit without shoulder straps, which would make more sense than a bikini found among a heap of treasures from an ancient pyramid.

It's disappointing that there is no video footage of the Expert Puzzle Mode of the arcade version of Tetris Plus or the Extra World Levels of Tetris Plus 2's Puzzle Mode. And don't even bother wishing for Tetris Plus 3 because Jaleco closed down when Game Yarou went bankrupt, unless City Connection decides to revive the Tetris Plus series, which is unlikely to happen.

On a related note, please enjoy the Professor's Assistant wearing a gold linen bikini that she found among a heap of ancient treasures.

Update: Sometime around May 2021, somebody actually uploaded video footage of the Expert Puzzle Mode of the arcade version of Tetris Plus, and the ending was featured as well.

Pantsless

The Tank Battalion arcade flyer that was created by Game Plan seems to have a lady who does not mind leaving her panties exposed and was not wearing any pants or skirts. However, some people would not find the flyer appropriate as compared to the Shark Attack flyer that Game Plan also made, which featured a lady in a bikini in a flyer for a game about sharks eating up divers.

For those who do not know about the arcade game Tank Battalion, it was actually the first game in Namco's Battle City series, which was pretty obscure since Famiclone multicart owners were the only people who know about Battle City's existence.

Wardrobe Malfunction

It would be a lot less embarrassing for the female fencers from The Astyanax if they had been wearing any undergarments under their skimpy outfits.

But then again, it was the female enemies' fault for not wearing any underwear under their skimpy costumes.