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MGL 31 - Netherworld Arcade - Arcade Armageddon


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I have posted this article on Netherworld in the MGL as well as the Meetings and Gatherings thread.

Non AA members cannot read the article in the Meetings and Gatherings thread, so here it is for the whole world to read ... :)

Games 1 and 2 from MGL31 were also played at Netherworld.

 

Netherworld - possibly the best arcade in Australia, ever ...

 

Last weekend I travelled north from my hometown in Sydney, to the great arcade event called Arcade Armageddon at Netherworld in Fortitude Valley. Back in January this year I suggested to John McNeill (aka John73) and Andrew Barrow (aka Barra) that maybe we can hold an arcade event at Netherworld to go for the world record on Galaga and Bump n Jump and whatever else would be of interest. Andrew would fly over from New Zealand, myself from Sydney, and it would be an opportunity to bring together the gaming community in general ... and also meet with fellow Aussie Arcade members.

 

I have been to many of the best arcades in this country since the early 80s and Netherworld became a must visit. More than just an arcade for video games and pinball, it provides a great bar, diner and gaming in general. Netherworld offers the unique atmosphere of classic and modern video games with original machines, a great selection of pinball machines, stacks of interesting board games and a social scene that everyone can enjoy. For the family, trendsetters, gamers of digital classics, gamers of boarding or card style and silver ball fans, this is the place to visit for a catch up with friends, a meal and some casual and competitive entertainment.

 

Back in the day of the golden age of video gaming, there is hardly any footage or pictures of these times in this country. Being so rare in the past, I wanted to make sure that this visit and this article captures everything about Netherworld. The idea was to share the look and feel of this great bar, diner and arcade ... through words, pictures and video ... and to chronicle "as it was" for the distant future. I hope you enjoy the article. I would also like to thank Netherworld and all the AA members that made this possible.

 

 

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Your greeting at the entrance to Netherworld.

The hand drawn artwork is great throughout the venue and adds character to the place.

 

 

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It was great to meet and have a chat with Ben and Jimmy who run Netherworld.

They have put together a great place to have fun in the Valley and they share their enthusiasm with the locals.

 

 

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The staff are energetic, polite and show an interest in the games.

I had one member ask me a few questions about Donkey Kong and other staff played these games quite well.

For example Ice Cold Beer, just like serving it up at the Netherworld Bar.

 

 

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David James (zanderzone on the left) and John McNeill (John73) taking a break from gaming and making sure their machines are working OK.

zanderzone has 2 boys that beat his scores in classic arcade gaming, so he needs to play his games more.

 

 

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Meeting Derek Broadfoot (Foot on the left) was a pleasant surprise at the event.

He got all excited that Crush Roller might be in the arcade, alas not yet, but he did find and enjoy Pac-man.

He won a ghost pin for his efforts.

 

 

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The great dane Johnny Bonde playing Donkey Kong as Mick Malloy looks on in support.

Johnny scored 852,500 points on Donkey Kong at Bartronica in Melbourne not long ago.

 

 

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Good to see someone from the DKF at the event fly the banner and have a good time.

Allen Staal (muscleandfitness) playing his favourite game Donkey Kong.

 

 

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Gerry Scott (djflask on the left), John McNeill (John73) and Andrew Barrow (Barra) make a talented gaming trio.

John is the current world champion on Bump n Jump arcade and MAME.

Andrew with the nice shirt flew from New Zealand to be at the event and run a master class on Donkey Kong and Galaga.

Gerry enjoyed the night and came to see his friends in real life.

 

 

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Someone clocked the Gyruss machine after 7pm on Saturday night.

The game was in a rare bubble cabinet and I only saw one of these back in the mid 80s.

 

 

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Great to see a padawan learning the game and playing well.

Also in this game you can drive your car at 220 mph and not get a speeding ticket.

 

 

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Found this machine and over 2 days, joking aside, no one had the balls to play this game.

Defender requires great skill to even play mediocre.

Looks like Rat needs to catch a plane from Tassie and show how it's not only done, but to run a master class.

 

 

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John Glover (Johns-Arcade) and Dylan Bendix (woka) enjoying a good yarn and the atmosphere.

Good to meet them both at the arcade.

 

 

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A very nice Centipede cabaret tucked away in the corner.

I saw some ladies play this machine and they were quite good at this game.

 

 

Russell (rusty_dagger), his wife and son Hayden popped into Netherworld to have a meal and 2 of them had a fun game of Dr Who Monopoly.

 

 

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Jon Tannahill cleaned up on the video game arcade pins as you can see.

His dad wanted the pinball Twilight Zone and Ghostbuster pins, so he'll just have to pop in another day and score them if he is good enough.

 

 

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There was an excellent selection of board games and they were very popular.

 

 

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Just some of the board games. Choose your game.

 

 

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Board games and pinball side by side, just part of the interest in gaming.

 

 

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A free play game of the week. That's a good idea and generates interest in the game.

Love the artwork.

 

 

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Jon Tannahill repelling the aliens in Space Invaders.

 

 

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Very nice Williams Moon Patrol cab. Game 4 in MGL31 at aussiearcade.com and twingalaxies.com.

I took a shot just when the wheels fell apart, that's Moon Patrol for you.

 

 

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What a great selection of drinks. Just where do you start?

Of course, from the beginning and make your way through the list.

 

 

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Ladies enjoying their pinball. All the machines played well and were well maintained.

 

 

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I was told not to make any trouble at Netherworld, otherwise you will need to go upstairs.

I had a quick look and decided it was safer to play nice.

 

 

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Had a chat with this guy sitting near the ceiling after a few drinks and he didn't say anything.

Just goes to show that some of the characters you meet here are quite interesting.

 

 

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Broadcasting world wide. Four cameras on Pac-man, Donkey Kong, Galaga and Bump n Jump.

 

 

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Shane Sawle (Mameshane on the left), Jon Tannahill, Johnny Bonde and Allen Staal enjoying the banter on the Twitch feed.

 

 

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Carrie, ssdninja and gettysburg1863 up late watching the Twitch channel and adding their sense of humour.

 

 

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Andrew Barrow (Barra) concentrating on Donkey Kong.

 

 

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The scoreboard before Arcade Armageddon.

Many of the scores will need to be changed as some of the best gamers visited and played well in the event.

 

 

A quick interview with Ben and Jimmy. The arcade, the event and the interest in gaming.

 

Andrew Barrow (Barra) playing Donkey Kong.

 

Shane Sawle (Mameshane) shows the keys to Pac-man.

 

Johnny Bonde at Netherworld enjoying the company and having a few games of Donkey Kong.

 

Jon Tannahill mixing it with the Space Invaders.

 

Andrew Barrow (Barra) playing with his last ship on Galaga TGTS.

 

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The Champions of Arcade Armageddon.

Andrew Barrow (Barra on the left, Donkey Kong 775,600 and Galaga TGTS 3,514,030), Jon Tannahill (Space Invaders 26,090) and Michael Kibbey (Pac-man 850,820).

Andrew became the new world no.2 with his Galaga score.

Jon became the new world no.6 on Space Invaders.

The scores are pending verification at Twin Galaxies.

 

http://i1120.photobucket.com/albums/l500/sno-bee/9997_zpsafstkjoh.jpg

To wrap up with an outrageous shot from the Batman pinball at Netherworld, it was a great event, a great venue, a great experience and I highly recommend you visit this place to have a great time.

That's a lot of greats in one sentence, and maybe that's because Netherworld may well be the best arcade in Australia, ever.

 

http://i1120.photobucket.com/albums/l500/sno-bee/9998_zpscbzmbclj.jpg

Make sure you grab a Netherworld gaming token when you visit and enjoy the festivities.

Till next time, OOO signing off.

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Great write up Paul, man I wished I had seen this event coming up. I may well of been able to get out for it.

I've just not had much time to follow Aussie Arcade recently (sad face)

 

By the looks of it it does look like the best place to visit in Aus right now

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Luv the. Chalk art

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Aussie Arcade

 

The chalk art is fantastic - wish I had artistic skills - sadly they went to my Sister :(

 

- - - Updated - - -

 

Great write up Paul, man I wished I had seen this event coming up. I may well of been able to get out for it.

I've just not had much time to follow Aussie Arcade recently (sad face)

 

By the looks of it it does look like the best place to visit in Aus right now

 

It is an awesome venue, and from the sounds of things, this is the first of many arcade events - I'm sure it will be bigger and better in the future and hopefully a lot more notice will be available so that interstaters like yourself can make plans to travel up and play.

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Thanks OOO for the great pics and write up, it looks like a fantastic arcade and a fun meet, I wish I had of gone along, maybe next time :)

 

Sad to see that the Defender is not getting the love it deserves, I would have given it a fair play but if you want instruction from a real master I suggest getting Gary up there @virtualgaz

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  • Super Moderator

Great write up OOO.! What a great weekend it was.

 

@John73 - I have a feeling that @GameDude (Dorian) may have high scored the Gyruss.? He was there keenly eyeing the machine off saying he was going to clock it.. Maybe he'll let us know.

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Thanks for the name check RAT. I’m a shocker when it comes to keeping up with AA. Great post ooo, I did wonder how Netherworld was going and, of course, if I had been less tardy in my forumness, I’d have seen there was going to be a QLD gathering and made a concerted effort to meet up with the AA members. I was going to use the fact that I’m an hour north of Netherworld as an excuse… until I saw that Sydney was represented!

Are any of the Netherworld staff part of AA? I’d be happy to go down there, squeeze out a quick million and help them set their Defender up to encourage noobs and start the tokens flowing should they need – there are a few strategies they can use with Defender’s generous settings & options to dilute the brutality of it all as a new player!

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Thanks for the name check RAT. I’m a shocker when it comes to keeping up with AA. Great post ooo, I did wonder how Netherworld was going and, of course, if I had been less tardy in my forumness, I’d have seen there was going to be a QLD gathering and made a concerted effort to meet up with the AA members. I was going to use the fact that I’m an hour north of Netherworld as an excuse… until I saw that Sydney was represented!

Are any of the Netherworld staff part of AA? I’d be happy to go down there, squeeze out a quick million and help them set their Defender up to encourage noobs and start the tokens flowing should they need – there are a few strategies they can use with Defender’s generous settings & options to dilute the brutality of it all as a new player!

 

Both Ben and Jimmy (the owners) are members of AA and bloody nice blokes too. I'm pretty much at NW either Sat or Sun or both days each weekend, more for a feed but I also play a game or two - so if you want to meet up just send me a PM. You can show me some stuff on Defender, but don't expect me to play or learn, I've seen the CP for that machine and have pre-decided that it's too complicated for me :)

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