To finish this season of the Retroist, I asked some people to share some of their own memories of subjects I covered during this season. I put them together in a new episode I am calling the "Memories Special."View the full article on the Retroist
PLAY EPISODE 18 HERE #PA2037, Published by Atari Corp. In this episode I cover the first of two soccer games for the Lynx, World Class Fussball/Soccer, also known as World Class Soccer, released for the Lynx in 1992. Included are statistics for the game and a run-down on how to play it, along with reviews and ratings, some fun facts and trivia, and some listener feedback about the game. And Monty and I get into a spirited (and ultimately futile) discussion about the differences between soccer,
PLAY EPISODE 17 HERE #PA2036, Published by Atari Corp. In this episode Monty and I cover one of the best arcade combat racing games for the Lynx, RoadBlasters, released for the Lynx in 1990. In addition to providing statistics, gameplay, reviews and ratings, fun facts and trivia, and listener feedback about the game, I pose an easy Atari Lynx trivia question to Monty, who refuses to join in the fun and to provide an answer because he is not a fan of pub quizzes……nor of my singing.“Let’s all go
PLAY EPISODE IN02 HERE THE ENTIRE INTERVIEW IS ALSO AVAILABLE ON YOUTUBE: Recorded May 19, 2021 Many, many thanks go to Scott Rhoades, the gifted Atari game manual writer who graciously agreed to be interviewed for The HandyCast. Scott's willingness to share his experiences at Atari during the Lynx's early days is a testament to his devotion to the craft of writing, to fans of his work, and to the Atari Lynx community. Cheers to you, Scott! Biography of Scott Rhoades: Portfolio website (includ
It's time for my Pac-Attack review. Recently I've been spending a lot of time with this game. For those who haven't played Pac-Attack it is a 1993 falling-tile puzzle video game developed and published by Namco for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System and Sega Genesis. Or to put it in simpler terms it's Tetris featuring Pac-Man. 😂 Your goal just like in Tetris is to eliminate the blocks to get as many points while trying not to hit the top of the board. In this game to add a little twist the
More adventures with the Phoenix.
One very minor issue that I've had with the Phoenix has been that my retro gaming is done on an old analog TV. Since the Phoenix only has HDMI output (and my TV has no HDMI input), this was a problem.
Off to ebay! I found a very inexpensive (less than $10 shipped) HDMI -> AV converter and ordered one. It has arrived, and I've been playing around with it. Summary: it works! It's exactly what I needed. No fuss. Just plug it in, and it works stra
What is it?
It's a modern rendition of the classic Colecovision. It has a cartridge port and will play all of the original cartridge games. In addition, it has an SD card slot and can run Colecovision ROM files. It also has an Atari 2600 core to run Atari ROMs. Real Colecovision controllers work with it, and it also has a Super Nintendo socket to use a SNES gamepad. And it has HDMI output for use on modern TV's. It comes with the "super game module" built in -- so you can use the latest
On this episode of the Retroist Podcast I take a look at the history of the pizza-producing powerhouse Pizza Hut from its humble origins to its current status as a globally recognized food brand.View the full article on the Retroist
In lieu of many retrogaming conventions already being canceled for 2021, the AtariAge booth will be going virtual this year with AtariAge Day presented by ZeroPage Homebrew! The AtariAge Day stream takes place this Saturday, May 1st, at 12PM PT/3PM ET/7PM GMT. AtariAge Day will be filled with unboxing every new AtariAge homebrew title and interviews with homebrew developers from around the world such as:
John Champeau, developer of Avalanche (2600) & Zoo Keeper (2600)
Lewis Hill, developer
On this episode of the Retroist Podcast, I talk about the ground-breaking game, King's Quest. This was a genre redefining game brought to the world by the brilliant Roberta and Ken Williams.View the full article on the Retroist
😎I've never finished it but I played the original SHADOWMAN first on the N64 followed by the DREAMCAST then years later the PC version (from STEAM or GOG I cannot recall) of course, each version had some minor improved visuals but here I am again this time playing the recently released REMASTERED version on PC. It runs great and though still incredibly dated it's the best it's ever looked. I like the atmosphere and it's somewhat a guilty pleasure game for me like NIGHTMARE CREATURES etc. Here's
PLAY EPISODE 15 HERE #PA2034, Published by Atari Corp.In this episode I cover one of several sports titles created for the Lynx, Basketbrawl, released for the Lynx in 1992. Included are statistics for the game and a run-down on how to play it, along with reviews and ratings, some fun facts and trivia, and some listener feedback about the game. BASKETBRAWL VITAL STATISTICS Release Date: Originally scheduled for release in December of 1991, according to this blurb on page 163 of the January 1991
PLAY EPISODE 14 HERE #LX102, Published by Telegames, Inc.In this episode I cover one of my favorite arcade games of the 1980s, QiX (pronounced "kicks"), released for the Lynx in 1991 by Telegames. I've got vital statistics about the game, along with gameplay, reviews and ratings, some fun facts and trivia, and some listener feedback about the game.QiX VITAL STATISTICS Release Date: October of 1991 by Telegames. Initial retail price: Unknown. Cartridge: Stereo curved lip-style cartridge of unkno
PLAY EPISODE 16 HERE #PA2035, Published by Atari Corp.In this episode Monty and I cover a "Zero-G Futuresport" game for the Lynx, Robo-Squash, set in either the 29th or 31st century and released for the Lynx in 1990. As Monty seems somewhat confused as to what the game of squash really is, I go about setting him straight. In the meantime, he and I provide statistics for Robo-Squash, as well as a run-down on how to play it. We also go over reviews and ratings for the game, some fun facts and tr
The LaserDisc lasted for over two decades and was very influential on the optical formats that would follow in its footsteps. On this episode of the Retroist Podcast I discuss the LaserDisc from its inception to its demise just after the turn of the millennium.View the full article on the Retroist
This might require its own thread but I actually was working on an NTSC 7800 that was eating my lunch most of the weekend. It was sent in for just a basic composite mod installed into it. When I used the diagnostic roms everything was fine with this 7800. But then not long after I got the composite board installed and tested it again, I noticed some odd flashing lines of colors across the screen. It seemed to do this badly on Dungeon Stalker and Ballblazer. In the case of both games, it would fl
Quincy ME was a groundbreaking show with a passionate and charismatic lead actor, Jack Klugman. It is one of my favorite TV shows and I am happy to cover it as my 250th episode of the Retroist Podcast. View the full article on the Retroist
By the beginning of 2015, I had upgraded to a Lotharek HxC and an F18A, dropped on a Lantronix UDS-10 and started hitting Heatwave BBS...
By the middle of 2015 I added a PS/2 keyboard, and an extra disk drive and WiFi capability to my UDS-10...
Around the middle of 2016 I had a modem, which was not used much, and I think the HDX card (which has since been removed). It was around this time that I obtained a TI compatible Wico trackball and customized it to match the TI. I a
So what do you do when your TI-99/4A system is expanded as far as possible? Simple, start another system! I'm not sure where I'll take this one next, but so far...
.. currently my beige "portable system" has a TIPI/32K with RPi ZERO W and a speech synthesizer. Hopefully someday the F-18A MK2 will finally hit the market. This entry will be updated if/when anything changes!
What drives a guy to use a computer that is 40 years old? Nostalgia & fun are two reasons.
Back in 1981 or 1982 I got myself a TI-99/4A console, later Extended BASIC a "Program Recorder" (Cassette player) and then built it up little by little. This was what my system looked like in 1985...
The peripheral expansion box (as shown above) only had a 90K disk drive, 32K and RS-232 card. By today's standards that's laughable!
By 1987, I had to "downsize" due to my fir
Whoa! It's been a while since I last blogged! Sorry about that, readers!
Today is a special day indeed. It's the one-year anniversary of when I first got my Atari 2600s! I thought I'd post a little something here about my systems in particular. I already made a very long status update about this (which I'll archive here at the end of the blog so it doesn't disappear forever), but here in this blog entry I'd like to touch on the history of these systems from what I have heard through the yea
We see many projects come across Kickstarter, and every now and then we find one that we feel would be interesting to AtariAge visitors, and in this case, those that tinkered with early home computers back in the 70s and 80s. The READY! 100 is a portable solder-free DIY computer kit that features an extruded aluminum shell that accommodates any single board computer like a raspberry pi, 4x4 x86. pico-itx or something more exotic like an FPGA board and other external devices like dongles or batt
Gates of Zendocon gets a solid 10/10 . I never got to experience this game on original hardware but I've been playing it on and off the last few days on my Evercade and have been having a blast. I'm usually not the biggest fan of Space Shooters, Shoot 'em ups or Horizontally scrolling shooters, but this game has held my attention where others have failed. From cool looking enemies to explosions and safe spots like the awesome looking base, this game has it all. This game was released in 1989 an
