Category: 19xx

19xx Archives | Category for grouping a collection of posts for topics covering the years 1970-99.

Dark Chambers: Atari 7800 June Review

Posted by  on June 1, 2021

Dark Chambers: June featured game

It’s June and it’s #AtariMonth so this month’s review is a game described as the spiritual successor to Gauntlet, Dark Chambers, a remake of the 1983 game, Dandy.

Dark Chambers Atari 7800Loading screen

There’s no mistaking this is a form of Gauntlet. The game starts and instantly you recognise the playing field. My first instinct was to brace myself for hordes of enemies… that, apparently, didn’t get an invite. Taking a quick walk around I got the feeling I’d entered this dungeon during a bank holiday, or maybe everyone was Social Distancing? I encountered approximately 10 enemies in the first area, most seemed disinterested in the fact I was roaming their dungeons.

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Atari Month: June is the month Atari was founded.

Posted by  on June 1, 2021

It’s June and that means it’s Atari month

Why Atari month? #AtariMonth is to celebrate the founding of the video games company. Founded on 27th June 1972 Atari is the creation of Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney. The name Atari (当たり, あたり, or アタリ) supposedly originates from the Japanese for hit/strike or impact and is “used in Go for a situation where a stone or chain of stones has only one liberty, and may be captured on the next move if not given one or more additional liberties”*
*[source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Go_terms#Atari]

Atari was a pioneer in arcade, video games consoles and home computers, releasing games such as Pong, Pac-man and Space Invaders into the home market. During the late ’70s/early ’80s Atari was everywhere. People you wouldn’t imagine playing video games had the Atari VCS or one of their 8bit computers. It was a video game revolution.

Atari Carts

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Hotel Mario: Philips CD-i May Review

Posted by  on May 1, 2021

Hotel Mario: May featured game

Mario’s first outing on the Philips CD-i comes in the shape of Hotel Mario.

Hotel Mario: Philips CD-iHotel Mario: Level 1

I’ve seen Hotel Mario slated on many occasions. As a Mario game I can understand the dislike but I prefer to look at Hotel Mario as an ode to the Golden Age arcade era. If you strip away the Mario-ness of it all and look at Hotel Mario for what it is then there’s a game akin to the likes of Donkey Kong or Burgertime, admittedly 10-15 years too late, but it can still be fun.

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Vectrex Overlay Config File Creation Tedium

Posted by  on April 18, 2021

A less time consuming way of creating Vectrex Overlay config files for RetroArch

It turns out Vectrex overlay Config creation pisses me off. I’ve been setting up IAGL (Internet Archive Games Launcher) on my computer (see previous post) and decided I’d like it set up on my Windows installation also.

I installed KODI, installed and configured the RetroArch basics then added IAGL into the mix all without much fuss. Painstakingly, I went through all of the emulators making sure everything worked and, for the most part, everything worked great. I have a couple of issues with the Atari 800/5200 emulator still to work out but otherwise it’s all good. Then eventually I got to the Vectrex.

KODI Windows 10 Vectrex Overlay config

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The Transformers Comic Book Memories

Posted by  on April 6, 2021

Transformers comic: More… Much more than meets the eye

During my childhood Saturday mornings were great. No school, sleep-in, wake up to some of the best cartoons of the time, but nothing gave me quite as much enjoyment as getting my latest Transformers comic arrive through the letterbox to read while I ate my cereal.

More than just a range of toys, The Transformers comic told one epic story ranging from their origins on their homeworld Cybertron, to their arrival on Earth 4,000,000 years ago and beyond. At one point we get a glimpse of The Transformers activities 20 years into their own future.

I still remember getting the first weekly issue #27, September 21st 1985. It had Shockwave transforming from robot to space gun on the cover and came with a free gift, a Cadbury Wildlife chocolate bar. Not only was it the first weekly issue it was also now in full colour.

Transformers #27

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