[Retro / Playstation 1] You gotta love JRPGs. So, you’re just starting
out in a new one (Wild Arms in this case), enjoy the tranquil time nosing around the farm, bothering the chickens and trying to converse with horses, and out of the blue a chap comes out with a heavy-duty existential dilemma like this one.
Can you relate to that quote? My past life was so filled with “adventure” that it nearly spilled over a few times, so I’m quite happy with being boring these days. But, I wonder how many of you secretly share this sentiment…
Here’s another classic, this time a totally reasonable request…
[Retro / CRT] Behold, a Playstation CRT TV!
Well, sort of, since Sony didn’t go the whole hog here, like Nintendo + Sharp with their C1 and SF1 TV models, which respectively had a Famicom and Super Famicom consoles built in.
This one, called KV-21SP1, is just a normal Trinitron blessed with the grey stylistics of the original Playstation. The only hardware related extras were a specialized RGB connector, and a “Game” button, which would turn on the TV and instantly switch to the console input. Only 5000 units had been made and released in 1997, so it’s a bit of a rarity. Personally, I don’t really dig its overall look, what with these odd-fitting speakers, but it’s an interesting curio from the CRT television history nonetheless.
[News / ZX Spectrum Next] Clive Townsend, our childhood hero
responsible for the Spectrum classic Saboteur, is still quite active in the retro scene. His latest creation is not a coding venture, though, but a database of Spectrum Next’s software. You can find it here.
How does it differ from the ones already available on the SpecNext website or Mobygames? I think it’s got more details, eg prices for boxed editions and digital downloads, and these details can be used as filters for the list. It is also perhaps more up to date, since it contains 129 entries.
Photo Of The Day ties to the news item above…
Saboteur on the ZX Spectrum was one of these games which totally captured my young imagination. I remember sometimes travelling to another city, just to stare at theSaboteur’s box displayed in a little rental shop there, before I even had any means to play it. It seemed to be so much more than most of the other 8-bit microcomputer games from this era - dark, serious, and super cool.
[News / FPGA] If you’re interested in FPGA tech being used for retro
gaming, I’m pretty sure that by now you have heard the name Taki Udon. He’s a Hong Kong based entrepreneur responsible, amongst other things, for Mister Pi, the cheap MiSTer FPGA clone.
Some time ago, he started preorders for SuperStationOne, which is basically another DE10 - clone based, MiSTer compatible FPGA system. Its design closely resembles the original Playstation One from Sony, and follows the single-board MiSTer-like trail blazed by Multisystem from Herber (who also has a new version coming out soon). Apart from the PS One looks, it’s also compatible with its peripherals, such as the original Dualshocks and memory cards. I think there is also an add-on allowing playing from original Playstation CDs.
Taki has shown a new video yesterday on X, demonstrating a nearly-finished case for SS One. It looks really impressive, and I must admit it’s probably my favourite design of all the modern retro-devices. The fact it features all the CRT-relevant outputs (VGA, S-Video, Composite, Component, DIN10) in one place, without the need for additional adapters is also a great plus. If I already didn’t have a couple of MiSTers, I’d be very tempted to get one. The pre-orders are still open, at a very competitive price of 179$.
[News / ZX Spectrum] Little John Can't Jump is another amazing
production from the ever vibrant Sinclair scene. At first, looking at the screenshots from Planeta Sinclair I thought it’s a yet another flip-screen platformer, but upon closer investigation it turned out to be a Lemmings-inspired puzzler (with echoes of Lode Runner). Yay!
The gameplay is simpler than in Lemmings, because you only have to guide Little John, not a bunch of lemmings, but the concept is similar. As we know already, he can’t jump, and there’s no direct control, so you have to help him reach the level-ending doorway by means of placing ladders, brick blocks, digging holes, and using mines / sleeping powder against hostile robots (…wait…robots can sleep? Ah, videogame logic…).
And it all works supremely well! It’s very refreshing to see this old game style revived and that it fits the ZX perfectly, even playing without the mouse. Yes, we know it has already been done with the original Lemmings port, but it’s a good reminder. Graphics are of the simple-but-functional kind and there is a nice AY tune too.
The game’s itch.io page says it’s actually “A prequel to the (currently unreleased) game, John Can't Jump”, so perhaps it’s a free teaser of sorts before the big game drops. Still, Little John’s 20 levels should keep you occupied for some time, aided by the ability to change the gameplay speed and play it more as a time-attack.
[News / Atari 8-bit] And now for our (Sinclair’s massive) old frenemy
from the bygone days - Atari micro! These machines did really well in the dawn of micrcomputing era, but by 1983-84 couldn’t compete with Jack Tramiel’s price war and the rise of ZX Spectrum. Companies stopped porting games to the Atari line and it slowly faded away…but then it got a second lease of life in Europe’s Eastern Bloc. It became very popular in Poland and a lot of quality software had been written there.
This tradition continues to this day, and here comes Timber Man - a simple but entertaining game fresh from the Polish Silly Venture compo, where it won the Atari XL/XE Game category. This title reminds us of the best one-button mobile games, well, two directions in this case, because all you do is frantically chop, chop, chop moving only left / right to avoid the descending branches. It’s certainly not a complex AAA production, but still a good excuse to re/visit the Atari zone.
That’s it for today, hope to see you again in the weekend edition!