Hi Jace,

I finally recieved your magazine & you confirmed something very important to me. I remember seeing a handheld 'Tetris' by Nintendo in the multiscreen format as a child at a major dept. store here in Canada.  I didn't buy or ask for it it because I had just gotten a Gameboy with the game packaged and saw no need.  What a mistake! Now if I could just get a picture, I'll be able to collect some serious cash from all the bets I've made!

Thanks!
Rick

This is enough to give me an icecream headache. While it appears as a line of text only on several Nintendo catalogues from the late 1980s, Tetris Junior is thought to have been produced in limited number. However, it has never been spotted and no photographs have been seen. As a childhood memory, i’m afraid it sounds unlikely it was really a Nintendo game, but if its a genuine sighting, then its very exciting.

Hello,

On the page with all the old machines for sale, you write that the
sinclair QL was the first 16 Bit home computer. That, however, is not true.The first 16 bit home computer is the Texas Instruments
TI-99/4 (the predecessor of the more famous TI-99/4a), running a
16-bit TMS 9900. If I remember correctly, that was 1979, because the TI-99/4A hit the market in 1981.

I had great fun browsing through your site and seeing all the stuff I wouldhave wanted as a kid now suddenly affordable.

All the best,
Bernhard Bockelbrink

Cheers Bernhard, I stand corrected, though is the TMS9900 really a fully fledged 16-bit chip? People used to think the Jaguar was 64-bit too!

Hi Jason,

My husbands love for these type of retro games etc. is starting to rub off on me too, as I think these games are great especially the old atari 2600 system games, very basic in graphics but our children like them & can play them! which is very important. 

As Atari didn't do blood thirsty, graphically enhanced cert 15 to 18 games to our knowledge, lol unlike modern games making them a great first system for our young children. I’m sure that when they get to 12, 14+ they will have such games on what then will possibly be a playstation 9 or 10, but for now they are just kids who like easy games. 

I think that Atari had it right with the 2600 back in the late 70's to mid 80's as a whole family games system & it looks like nintendo are going back to game roots too & what really works in my opinion with the new wii system, as this is designed to bring families together but its just my thoughts on the matter...

We dont have many atari games, but over time we can build a nice collection im sure, these games are becoming a real family activity for us, especially since our three children are all under 8. The problem my son, aged 7 has, is that he cant play playstation games as his hand & eye co-ordination aren't yet developed so he finds such games frustrating & our other children (both girls) 4 & 6 are just the same, (all 3 of them are very young) they want to play but cant do it properly, where the atari games gives them a chance, more basic, easy up, down , left right & possibly fire/jump and thats it, but its games like this, that you sell to people like me that still gives young children pleasure, 20 to 30+ years after the were first brought out.

 Sorry, I Must stop waffling on, but atari's really great!

Mrs L Coombes

You don’t need to convince me. Ahh, cherish those innocent times, when Dig Dug would while away those sunny afternoons while your parents were at the garden centre. I think all kids should be brought up on VCS games, just so they can appreciate the pain of playing for hours on an Atari joystick!

Hello Jason

Just thought I would drop you a line, the web-site is certainly coming along.  I know your games site is a business, but do you ever hanker for the things you will have huge difficulty getting (silly question really). 

I have collected an amazing amount of stuff over the years but its the two or three things (prototype games) I have found that really have got me thinking that maybe this is the way to go - maybe its a case of quality over quantity, anyway I just though I would share a thought - do you actaully still collect, from your mag I know you are well into your vectrex.

All the best

Gregor

Good to hear from you, always nice to hear from one of my original customers, from the photocopied days of old ;o)  Glad you like the new site, still lots to do, but we’re enjoying putting it all together.

 Yes, of course I am still collecting. Funnily enough, you have asked me about my collection after a weekend of going through it all. I used to have a very large games room, but have recently moved it into a smaller space. Ridiculously, all the recent items i've bought have been stacked up, waiting to be added to the proper sections. When you spend your working life sorting out games, its not something you relish when you finish work.  Quite sad really.

 I occasionally have a small cull, I think I agree with what you say, it's a case of quality rather than quantity. For years i’ve been most interested in the special stuff, but there's just so much of it. I went through a phase of collecting the most obscure and unusual consoles, ideally to write about for the magazine, but there are at least ten weird systems in my collection I haven't even had a chance to play. Everything just takes up so much space if you go that way. Some of my fellow collectors just buy everything - heaven knows where they put it all.

I have also got heavily into electronic games, tabletops and LED rather than LCD, the bulkiest ones ;o). I've paid ridiculous amounts for some of them, and I look at them now, and they are just stacked in their boxes, where they have been since I bought them. If I had a huge amount of space, i'm sure i'd be able to display everything and would feel it a more worthy collection. I have this crazy dream of making a Retrogames museum one day - I think it’s a common symptom of the collecting disease!

Obviously, parts of my collection get me more excited, I love Game & Watches, and i've got an interesting Nintendo collection, including some of their pre-gaming toys. I love the Virtual boy and the Vectrex. They still give me that buzz of excitement - like your proto carts i'm sure. The more expensive - the more exciting. I've yet to track down an Adventurevision, but i'm sure i'd buy it, play it once, then put it away for years.  

You get to the point though, where you wonder what will happen to it all. When you start your collection you're young, you're keen and single, you're happy to fill your life with old games. Now with a family of three kids, and heavier work commitments, it's kind of just 'Dad's Stuff' tucked away and forgotten about. This situation has seen me buy several large collections in recent years from old retrogames readers. Lives just got in the way of their collecting. It’s not the lack of enthusiasm for the items though.  

In conclusion, i'd say i'm losing the 'completist' urge I used to have. Having parts of my collection in storage in different places doesn’t help. I still crave the really nice things, the unusual things. I think many of our buyers like the fact that i’m as addicted to accumulating these games as they are. Luckily,  I don't need to fill my collection with everyday games as I have access to the retrogames stock if I really want to dabble with them again.  

So Gregor, really nice to hear from you, and thanks for letting me ramble on about it - it's just you picked the right subject at the right time for me ;o)