Along time ago in an arcade far far away, South Sea to be precise, there was a young Goth and a few chums who had spent hard earned paper round money on various dirge filled vinyl and wished for some escapism in the form of raster graphics. Having already spent about £5 the week before on Double Dragon it seemed inevitable that I would be drawn to the attract sequence that was issuing forth from a shiny new Golden Axe cabinet. Eagerly we pumped a fistful of 10ps into said cabinet and were whisked away to the lands of under pant clad warriors and amazons. Week after week I would assume the persona of Tyris Flare, as mentioned previously I was a Goth at the time and therefore more than comfortable with this temporary female form. This passion led me to sell my trusty Speccy Plus  and jump, somewhat recklessly, onto the Sega juggernaut, which was barely in its infancy at the time and purchased a Master system and a copy of Golden Axe after which there was no looking back for me.

Not with admiration for the beautifully rendered landscape nor with awe at the ground breaking combat system, which I hasten to add doesn’t exist and has been since described by my psychiatrist as an episode of denial. The thing about this game that made my jaw drop was that, even though Tyris Flare wobbled appropriately as she wandered through the landscape, they had removed /neglected to include a 2 player co-op mode.

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)

Hi Jace,

My rant...not very retro but something that has me fired up- Popped online to visit Lik-sang.com, which I've bought a few things from over the years, and was staggered to find Sony has had them closed down!

For a company who seems to be struggling a bit this generation, this will only anger consumers. My immediate reaction was to email Sony, tell them what I think, and tell them I'll buy a 360 this week. And I will!

Thoughts on Sony's latest move?

Thanks for your time, great new site look! All the best! :-)

Mike Roberts, New Zealand

Ah yes, Lik Sang is a sore loss to the hardcore game scene. It wasmore than just a place to buy stuff, it was a great way to find out what was coming out in Japan and when, plus the news section was excellent. I actually wrote a piece on the Lik-Sang forum just after the closure but everything has now been removed. What really makes me angry is that have been punished for providing a service which Sony just can’t. They say Europe (I know that New Zealand and Australia often get even worse treatment) is a priority for PS3, then stab us in the back and hold back release, then remove one of the few ways hardcore gamers can actually buy one relatively cheaply. I guess Sony don’t care for hardcore support. Playstation 3 certainly doesn’t deserve to succeed in Europe, if even Nintendo have decided to launch worldwide, there just isn’t an excuse.

Thanks Jason,

This will ensure I have all of your Retrogames magazines, I'm looking forward to reading them both. The new monthly retro gamer magazine is okay, but nowhere near as informative as your mag.

Personally I think the Retro Gamer magazine is "safe", by which I mean it covers the really popular machines, I want to read about the really obscure ones! It certainly has its place and its better having it around than not, but it doesn't offer as much for retro gamers as your magazine for people like me who have been collecting for years.

Best wishes, Leigh.

Ok ok, I tried not to put this letter in, but when we get support like this, particularly when being compared to the super glossy Retro Gamer, I do feel this need to shout it from the rooftops!!

Hi there,

I look at your site a lot and like it very much. I'm just emailing you just to make a couple of points, i do very much hope you won't be offended at all, as i like your site a lot.

Firstly, about the Neo Geo. I dont think there is enough effort to bring in new games/updates etc for the Neo. It is the king of all the classic consoles, and can even match the latest consoles i.e. PS2 in terms of 2D performance. Also, The Neo Geo is the only console that is still going. Games are still being released for it. Only a couple of months ago "Rage of the Dragons" was released, and "Metal Slug 4" is to be released very soon, along with a couple of other titles.

It really is a wonderful machine, released too far ahead of its time for the majority people to take notice. But there is and will be for a long time a dedicated following. The games you have in stock (I bought "Samurai Spirits 2" from the Retrogames shop a couple of years ago) are the cheaper more common titles, which many Neo owners already have. I think thats why you have had them so long without selling them. If you get some of the better ones they will be snapped up in a week! I know because i have tried to buy games from other shops and almost as soon as the game is in stock it is sold, i.e. games like Pulstar, Blazing Star, Metal Slug series, Wind Jammers etc. I think you actually had Wind Jammers in at one point, but someone bought it before i did! Anyway, its only in the last year or so that WJ has been more sought after.

Basically im just asking to give a little more support to the Neo Geo, it deserves it.

The other thing is, i was wandering if you could split your text into more paragraphs.. it is very difficult to read at the moment and i tend (as im sure other people do) to scan the text instead of reading it as it is written in huge great big blocks.

I hope also that you won't be offended at all from this email. It says that the site is being revamped, and i thought I would give my point of view, as a reader. I do very much hope that I have not overstepped the mark at all.

Thanks very much for your time,

Mr Channa Gammanpila,

A Neo Geo owner :)

No Channa, you certainly haven’t overstepped the mark. I really like criticism, it’s the only way I can make this site better. Unfortunately, getting hold of Neo Geo games at a good price to stock them is getting ever harder, and I apologise for the small selection we currently have. As for paragraphs.

There you go. No, seriously, i’ve taken your comments on board and am trying to spread the text more carefully throughout the site.

Hi RetroBloke

I stumbled across your page about the Konix Multi-System.

You ask "I have heard that some of the early Konix MS prototypes still exist in working form, if anyone can clarify this, please write and let us know."

The Answer was yes, but is currently I don't know. But I can fill in some further information.

I last saw the only working models of this system while working for the company in China!
They were to be built in China after the company hit financial problems. We had them shipped out to Fuzhou in Fujian Province in China. We spent three months out there training Chinese programmers to convert software titles across to the system and setting up a production line in an Electronics & Computer Corporation as a joint venture. The company again failed to raise the required capital and we came home again, leaving everything out there. They could have been shipped to the joint venture partner's companys in Taiwan or Hong Kong.

We had the only working systems which included the chair and software development systems. I even have some photos somewhere.

Just thought I'd fill you in a bit.

Regards

Paul Cooper

Ahhh Paul, send us your photos!! I saw that chair myself back in the early 1990s at the CTW show, unfortunately the motors had already been burnt out during the morning’s demonstration. If anybody in China knows where these prototypes are now, needless to say we’d love to hear from you

Hi Jason.

As the editor of Retrogames, I thought you may be interested in the following info!

You may or may not be aware of this, but it has recently been brought to my attention that both the SNES CPU and PPU have a pin out named 'HVCMODE', which suggests some form of preliminary NES/FAMICOM compatibility was originally experimented with in the design stages of the console and may yet be embedded within the console. Apparently this pin is permanently disabled on all SNES units and as I do not have a SNES currently in my possession, I can't do any pratical experiments with the mother board to see what, if anything technically could be unearthed. I also discovered that the popular 'Tri - Star' 8 - bit adaptor does not use the SNES/Super Famicom internals for emulation of the 8 - bit hardware. Instead, it incorportates pirate NES hardware eproms and simply feeds from the SNES power supply. I've passed this email on to various emu developers to guage their reaction.

Andrew Laggan

Andrew is one of our original readers, and a real pioneer of retrogaming. Let’s hope he hasn’t electrocuted himself.

Hiya

I've just found your site and it is amazing.

Myself and my Nan have each had an Atari 65XE since 1987 in her case, 1989 in my case.

Both are still fully working and my Nan constantly has hers on as we are both keen on Chuckie Egg.

However, my Nan and I cannot get beyond 3 million points and level 138 on the 65XE. The game just crashes.

So I was wondering if they'd be any chance of you having Chuckie Eggs 1 and 2 for the 65XE, cos I'm not sure if its just our tape is faulty where we can only get to level 138, or shouldn't we get that far on the Atari 65XE and each version of Chuckie Egg 1 crashes at that point. Its the 3m point mark, but depending on the corn collecting it will crash between levels 136 and 138.

Just curious for now. Thanks

Dan McPheat

I wouldn’t blame you if you thought I was making these letters up, this really is from Dan, and his Nan really is an expert at Chuckie Egg. If anyone else has managed to get to level 138 and can comment on the problem, i’d love to post a reply.

Nice one,

This will ensure I have all of your Retrogames magazines, I'm looking forward to reading them both. The monthly retro gamer magazine is okay, but nowhere near as informative as your mag. Personally I think the Retro Gamer magazine is "safe", by which I mean it covers the really popular machines, I want to read about the really obscure ones! It certainly has its place and its better having it around than not, but it doesn't offer as much for retro gamers as your magazine for people like me who have been collecting for years.

Best wishes, Leigh.

Cheers Leigh, you’re making me all teary eyed. Now if only we’d managed to get our magazine into WHSmiths ;o)

Hi Jace,

Well my Xbox is at the repair centre awaiting, er, repair. I was at a Microsoft conference last week so spent every available moment complaining the assembled MS Account Managers that they had killed my console! Cue for many sheepish looks.

It's odd how the MS update business hasn't really been picked up by the gaming press. I've been toying with firing off a letter to Edge. If I have a moment I'll have a bash at putting something together. As I write this I've had an email telling me that the Xbox has been repaired and dispatched. Now the fun with UPS and arranging a convenient delivery time will begin. And the other question is will it be worth the risk of connecting the console to the internet again and having another update brick the box? In fact, is this going to be a risk for all the next-gen consoles and periodic updates?

As for Wii, Dixons are now back-tracking on whether they can honour the order before Christmas (no surprise there). I was trying to explain to my parents yesterday the reverse psychology behind having "limited stocks" to generate demand versus having such a plentiful supply on day one that the console doesn't sell out and people interpret this to mean that no-one is buying it. It's a fine line that the console companies take and it would be in Nintendo's interest to honour as many pre-orders as possible (think of the little children!).

And Ninty must be rubbing their hands with glee at the lack of PS3 in Japan and the USA and the delayed rollout to Europe. The mainstream press in the US (e.g. The New York Times) are now promoting the Wii360 combo as a viable alternative to a PS3. And I can't say that's a bad idea because it's what we've opted for at home. I don't think I've read a completely positive review of PS3 and those that come close cite Motorstorm as the console's saving grace in near-launch titles and that's not even out yet except in demo form. Makes you wonder what the European launch will look like? More competitive price point? Software bundles? MS to slash £50 off the Xbox360 core pack and/or up the size of the HDD in the premium bundle and throw in GTA4? Maybe.

Rob

You won’t find any argument from me, if the 360 can kill itself in an update once, it can do it many times over the consoles’s lifetime. And while PS3 may be having a tough time in the press for ignoring Europe, today I found out that the Wii arcade downloads are the crappy 50hz PAL versions that hardcore gamers avoided by buying the import consoles in the first place!! (breath) Add to that the fact that Excite Truck was a launch game in the US, and Wario is out in Japan, and you still have a valid argument for buying an import machine. Grrr.

Hi,

When buying Nintendo Game & Watch, a repro is not a repro as such all the parts are genuine but more than one game is used to make a good one. Most are only discernable from the case.

Exterior.

My guide is check the side walls of the game, look for uniformed scratching. Are both upper and lower cases the same shade of colour? This check does not apply to New wide games that have different coloured cases, use the side wall check for these.

Check the screw heads, are any damaged or pitted and are all the same in look? Rusted screws are a good sign that the game's ok but they can be deceptive.

Check the upper screen graphics, is the border complete and not missing any black, a sure sign the upper graphics have been separated from the LCD screen as they are lightly stuck by the small dots (glue) you see when holding the game to the light.

Check for a Serial Number re-stick, look for uneven glue residue under the label or a badly placed label on the game.

Interior.

Any large amounts of dust in the game is bad. Check the colour of the solder to the speaker, does it look new or badly done?

Remove the PCB from the case and if the entire screen breaks away from the PCB it has been removed. You cannot re-stick the screen as when the integrity of the glue is compromised it loses its capacity to stick.

The screen is stuck on two rubber connecting strips that also carry instruction from the single chip in the game to the LCD. A G&W only has a single IC, one diode, a capacitor and a resistor.

Check the lower graphics under the screen, like the upper screen for missing graphics i.e. scrapes. A perfect game should have none and at the same time check the upper screen again as you will be able to get a better look.

Check the screen itself, it should have some evidence of adhering to the the upper graphics. Look for a small rubber ring, this sits inbetween the upper graphics and screen. It should be sitting on the right. It should not be missing.

Hope this helps,

Graham.

Many thanks Graham for some fairly comprehensive advice. Game & Watch has become the most valuable sector of the Retrogaming scene. It is important for people to check them out properly. However, who really knows the difference in value between a refitted G&W and an untouched one?

Hi,

I am interested in buying a copy of Gyron,

I’m buying this for nostalgic reasons – myself and a friend solved the competition maze and were invited to the London play-off where the prize was a Porsche. When we got there, we found a number of people had actually hacked into the game to obtain the winning code, and therefore - of course - didn’t stand a chance of winning the playoff maze!! Anyway, I turned out to be the only player to complete the playoff maze in London, but was soon told that a guy in Spain had also finished the maze – but in a quicker time. He won the car, and I have always felt a little doubtful and cheated that this guy ever existed and wasn’t just ‘made up’ by the organisers so as not to have to give away the Porsche…)

David Lewin – Wellington NZ

Wow, now that is a fantastic retro story, not sure anyone can beat that. Of course, if you happen to be the Spanish guy who won the Porsche, it would be nice to know it really happened.

Retrobloke,

Stickers on the inside of the plastic cover???! Are they born of Satan himself?!?!

i always buy my Gamecube & GBA games in HMV because as
well as having a 10% off everything deal. All the games come sealed in the shrink wrap. So when you get them home and get the wrap off which is hard but worth it, you get the box in absolute perfect condition, unsullied by dirty shoppers' hands!!

I hate it when the shop people (usually in GAME) just get the dirty, scratched box that you've given them from the shelf and shove the disc and instructions in it. Of course on the outside I'm very polite and nice but on the inside I'm screaming: "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

To obsessive collectors like us it's like buying groceries that are half eaten! You wouldn't stand for it would ya!

Speaking of which I did get DK64 in the end in Gamestation. It was in mint condition (though quite expensive) I say WAS, as the stupid bastards had put "security seals" on either end. I knew I'd have to get them off. I got home and got myself into an extreme state of calm before attempting the tricky removal. Why oh why did they put stickers on it? Anyone knows that stickers plus cardboard boxes = ruined boxart!!!

I was peeling the first sticker off; EASY, EASY, it was going fine until the very last pull where the extra momentum pulled a bit of the colour off. SHIT! It did exactly the same on the other side!! I was somewhat peeved but luckily the PAL N64 boxes have those black borders around the the artwork so with a bit of black felt tip pen you can get rid of those white fray marks and lines and you can't really tell!

Anyway, enough of my old-school packaging hell! Thank god for plastic!

cheers,

Hame :-)

Oh Hame, to many those would sound like the deranged ramblings of a french teacher on special brew, but i’m sure we’ve all been there. Back in the days when you actually found stuff at car boot sales, crazy sellers would stick their huge price tickets onto their SNES boxes with multiple layers of super strong sellotape. In the even better good old days, they used to do that to their Game & Watch boxes!!! I’m getting all clammy just thinking about it!

Hi!

Thanks for sending me the issues you had left. It’s pure bliss reading these; please keep up the good work. This brings me back…

I and a friend used to make a magazine of our own in 1981-83, in Sweden. It was called (roughly translated: Computer & Console World), were we used to write about new upcoming consoles & reviews of existing ones, as well as stories about games and computers. As far as I can remember we shipped 4 issues, and hade two subscribers! ;)

How about that?

Thanks Adrian Bara, Sweden

Oh Adrian, you do realise that someone now has some of your old magazines as part of their prized collection. 1981 for a console fanzine, that’s really early. Would love to see one.

Hi Retrobloke,

as some of the older issues are no longer in stock, will there EVER be a compiled version (ie a book) produced? I recently purchased the 'electronic plastic' book and would love to see a similar thing for your wonderful collection.

Regards,

Arthur Gill,

A lovely idea, and if I had a way of creating something as beautiful as the Electronic Plastic book, then i’d really enjoy putting it together. I’ve toyed with the idea of a compilation magazine, and may well get round to it one day ;o)