SONIC, Mario and the cast of Streetfighter 2 made it on to the big screen as part of a day for retro gaming fans.
Classic nineties gaming consoles like the SNES and Megadrive might be dusty relics to children of today with chunky graphics and basic sound, but that hasn’t stopped an underground culture growing up around the 8 BIT masterpieces.
Enthusiasts have been meeting to game together for some time in Liverpool, but now they have come out of the bedroom in a big way and have burst on to cinema screens.
Super Effective Sundays is a monthly meeting at the Contemporary Urban Centre which sees players battle it out on a 20ft screen making Streetfighters Ken and Ryu literally life sized.
At each event, consoles are provided for enthusiasts to come along and spend a Sunday afternoon playing games with like-minded people.
Every month a tournament is organised with a selected retro game played in the CUC’s cinema, transforming it into one massive gaming facility, with full Dolby surround sound on a huge cinema screen.
On Sunday the game was Mario Kart, the cause of major thumb ache in pre-millenial teens.
Organiser Tom Lox, 24, from Ormskirk, said: “We started Super Effective Sundays as a way of allowing gamers, like me, a totally new gaming experience in an environment that is unique.
“The event attracts around 50 people now, bringing like-minded people together to socialise and have a laugh doing the hobby we love.
“And playing on a cinema screen with full Dolby surround sound is an amazing experience no one ever gets tired of.”
The gaming also serves a more serious purpose as it is sponsored by Liverpool mental health charity Campaign Against Living Miserably (Calm), which was launched at the Cream nightclub in 2000.
Calm co-ordinator Simon Howes, whose focus is on reducing suicide among young men, said: “We are delighted to support Tom with Super Effective Sundays. What better way to spend a Sunday afternoon?
“Calm is well known within the music scene and we engage with young men who are part of that scene on a regular basis. We are committed to speaking to young men directly and on their terms.”
Super Effective Sundays are free to attend. Follow them on Twitter @Super_Effective
Toxteth boy with heart condition meets hero Sonic the Hedgehog
A SEVEN- YEAR-OLD with heart disease met his computer game hero thanks to a children’s charity.
Mason Mould, from Toxteth, met Sonic the Hedgehog after applying to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. He has Pulmonary Atresia– a form of congenital heart disease where the pulmonary valve does not form properly.
Mason’s mum, Hannah, didn’t tell him whether his wish had been granted or not until the actual day of the wish, which took place at Alton Towers. She said: “He was in awe; he couldn’t say much as he was so amazed.”
For more details about Make-A-Wish, visit www.make-a-wish.org.uk
ECHO games writer Cheryl Mullin says:
SUPER Mario Kart is one of the golden greats of gaming.
It was the first time characters from the Mario universe had appeared in a non-platform game – and fans loved it.
The graphics, for the time, were considered superb and its unique split screen action offered some of the most addictive gameplay ever seen on a console.
It went on to sell 8m copies worldwide and was the third best selling SNES game in the console’s history.
Super Mario Kart also holds the number one spot in the Guinness Book of Records’ top 50 console games of all time – a true gaming classic.
