What good would the PSP's shiny huge screen be, if it weren't able to play classic '80s ColecoVision games? Apparently not much, and to make sure you're enjoying your fair share of retro gaming on the go, do give the brilliant freeware PSP Colem a try. Oh, and did you know Coleco stood for Connecticut Leather Company?
If you thought brilliant e-books aimed at professional game makers haven't been free since Chris Crawford's classic The Art of Computer Game Design, well, think again, for here is the unreleased Programming the Game Boy Advance: The Unofficial Guide in all its freeware glory. And if anyone's interested in paying a modest price, the CD that would accompany said book were it ever (despite Nintendo) to grace the shelves, is also available for download, as well as quite a few developer friendly links.
Crikey! Master System Monday # 11! And instead of just lazily trawling Youtube for a piece of Master System video history, I thought I might actually do a relevant post for a change...
OK so I went to ebay and discovered this...
I would URGE any of you who read this blog to snatch one up while you can. The advent of XBLA and the Wii Virtual Console will have retro junkies running to snap one up, rendering their availability obsolete by 2009... Possibly! LOL :)
Well, hello!
And all with Mrs. K's blessing! Cripes! Heck! Blimey!
Well I've been playing this bloody game on and off for about four months now, and I'm still stuck! I've reached a very familiar stage in most of my Resident Evil outings, where I start off from my save point, only to find I've got woefully inadequate health/inferior weaponry/have forgotten where all the really badass enemies are/have no type writer save facility/play for about twenty minutes then die.....
Until the US blockaded the ports of Japan (forcibly) back in the 19th Century and insisted it indulged in outside trade, Japan was by choice a very insular society... Look here...Now, within the twenty first century, popular franchises like Dragonball Z and Pokemon are hitting Western youth with images like this...
As if the ultra popular Nintendo DS didn't have enough quirky non-mainstream and/or adventure games, here comes Insecticide by indy developer Crackpot Entertainment (web), an action-adventure with a distinct Schafer-eque feel, no Tim Shafer, a noir mood and some seemingly impressive production values. More info and a smart teaser video is available over at the game's official site, GameZone and publisher Gamecock.
Well I've just enjoyed an evening on my DS exploring for the first time in proper detail, the Games 'N Music accessory, first flagged up by Gnome.
Of course my rhapsody only lasted a mili-second before he was crushed by a ton of falling rocks, but it proved that it's not just a demo but a playable game! I'll get back to you on whether or not I ever managed to play any further but it was something of an epiphany to progress that little bit...
Nintendo! DS! It's gonna come out the winner... Watch this space!
Well, here we are...
On Monday, (when I originally posted the piss poor review of "Stweet's Of Wage" for the Master System) I actually received a lovely package...
Gee Whillickers Batman!
Jesus! Monday again and this time with the MOTHER of all hangovers, after a three day birthday binge that at one point included absynthe...
I've felt like a hollow shell of a man all day, so it's fitting that the artistic merits of this particular post are suitably empty and vacuous... The video 'review' of Streets Of Rage (or Stweets Of Wage...)has got to be one of the most piss poor pieces of video blogging ever aired. The guy doing the voice over and describing/reviewing the game sounds like a Brummie Arthur Pewty, continuously recoursing to " 'Ave that..." every time he runs out of something to say about the game...
It made me laugh and I hope it will give you a chuckle!
"'Ave that yer bastards..." LOL! :)
Pocket Sarien, a fantastic AGI emulator, FreeSCI, an aptly named Sierra Creative Interpreter emulator, an easy to use guide on installing & using them and some links to freely available retro adventure games are all happily available in one convenient place. And if you are still wondering what the fuss is all about, well, following the link provided will give your Pocket PC a chance to host classic Sierra adventures. You know, King's Quest, Space Quest, Leisure Suit Larry, Quest for Glory, the lot. Oh, and you could even try some pretty obscure classics such as Gold Rush!.
A very quick post as it's late and I'm missing being in Barcelona (bah!). This lovely video montage, to the strains of AM2's Space Harrier (the first game in the clip) is a lovely synopsis of the systems graphical abilities! Enjoy!
Having got all giddy about the re-emergence of the Sega Saturn classic NiGHTS, on the Nintendo Wii, imagine my absolute delight in finding out that the independently produced homebrew Dreamcast game Cool Herders was being ported to Nintendo's flagship handheld console, the DS!
This cute sheep herding (yes you read that correctly, sheep herding) game is actually far more suited to the DS than the Dreamcast, as the graphics are more in keeping with Nintendo's style, and its agricultural theme can be likened to Harvest Moon games for the DS forerunner, the Game Boy Advance. (Jeez that was a long sentence.)
I'm hoping that this might lead to more homebrew Dreamcast appearing on the DS. Alice Dreams or Last Hope perhaps?
Oh and while I'm on the subject of Dreamcasts and DS games, having armed myself with both my VMU game Chao Adventure, and my DS and my entire games collection of DS games for this weekend's trip to Barcelona - only my Dreamcast VMU saw any action! So a seven year old peripheral for the Dreamcast can still cut the gaming mustard! Happy days! Photo evidence of this phenomena will appear on this forum soon...
PaRappa the Rapper, one of the first rhythm video games ever, hit the PlayStation in 1996 and bizarrely featured a rapping dancing dog and an appropriately abnormal plot. PaRappa quickly achieved hit status and was in part to blame for the video game invasion of clubs and other bastions of mainstream culture such as ...uhm... open air parties.
I have taken a Game Boy Colour into my place of work this week, in order to snatch those illicit minutes of gaming that one can only sneak when you should be doing your job. Game Boys of various types are big news in my house at the moment, due to a resurgence of interest in Pokemon.
Now I never got into Pokemon, despite indulging my kids interest by buying cards, Pokeballs, capsule toys (and even going to the cinema to watch Pokemon the Movie). Hell, I can even name a few - Squirtle, Blastoise, Bulbasaur and Pikachu! But as a game, the Game Boy franchise just never appealed. My middle son -13, is now teaching his younger brother- 9, the ways of the Pokemon on GBA, like some sage like guru... They've both abandoned PS2, DC, PSP and DS to concentrate on the different versions of Pokemon for the GBA, with such names as Sapphire, Fire Red and Leaf Green. In fact it's safe to say that my middle son has got a good eight whole years (on and off) from these games...
Now, as well as a rather lovely Mario game (definitive Nintendo fayre), I have a rather fabulous Pokemon Pinball game which I'm loving at the moment. This is not in any way like the 'gotta catch 'em all' Pokemon franchise they are playing, just a rather fabulous Pinball sim, but very heavily Pokemon themed.
