Classic Replay

This is the first time I’ve ever poked a stick at the Atari 7800. I’ve walked away thinking “what if?”. There are some fantastic arcade conversions and Ninja Golf is as equally bizarre as it’s playable. For a system I knew very little about, this discovery has been a sight for sore eyes. After doing this video I now also noticed that Space Invaders and many other new games are available for the Atari 7800 and I’m now considering a full collection of new and old games. Hope you enjoyed and please do me the honour of subscribing if you want to see more and would like to support this channel. FACT: The Atari 7800 was originally developed in 1984 as the Atari 3600. It was actually designed by a company called General Computer Corporation (GCC). As part of a lawsuit settlement, GCC had been sued for releasing an unlicensed speedup chipset for Atari's arcade version of Missile Command Backwards compatibility with the Atari 2600 is a huge plus. The reason for the outdated sound...

Here’s my take on the top 25 Atari 2600 games. This is by no means an easy thing to do, there are so many highly playable games that made it to the Atari 2600. I’ve also included my top ten favorite homebrew titles, well the games I’ve played over the years. I hope you enjoy watching this as much as I enjoyed putting it together. Long live the Atari 2600!!! Thanks for your support, leaving a comment, or rating my video! I really appreciate it. Please subscribe and like :)) Thanks.

It suddenly dawned on me the other day that the Amstrad CPC version of Stunt Car Racer might not be the best version. For some unknown reason, the C64, Speccy and more importantly 16-bit versions completely escaped me. That's not saying the Amstrad version is bad, just that I watched a video the other day that compared all versions, and just watching the 16-bitters blew me away. I always thought the Amstrad CPC version was really fast, too fast if that makes sense, those dips, hills and corners came at you at pace, giving the player less than a second to react in some cases. But the Amiga version really opened my eyes to how superior 16-bit computers were in comparison to my trusty 8-bit. At that time as well, I also had an Atari 800XL, but unfortunately, the games on that system were really hard to find, the ones I did find were absolute classics, in fact, the best tennis game I played until Virtua Tennis on the Dreamcast was a game called Real Sports Tenn...

In the 1980s, My local fish & chip joint held a striking resemblance to a small arcade hall, I'd never seen anything quite like it, without fail they'd always have the latest and greatest arcade games, it was incredible, absolutely amazing! I spent a ridiculous amount of time there, I'd walk in after a few weeks of not going and be like "will you look at that!", new arcade machines everywhere. The food counter was on the left, but the main reason for the majority of my visits was to play on their growing collection of arcade games. The machines were badly but tightly packed into this tiny right-hand corner of the restaurant. It was a dream come true though, I remember they'd get packed to the rafters, especially after school, sometimes I just went to watch how other people played and completed these games. Throughout the years, this is where I played classics such as Kung Fu Master, R-Type, Bubble Bobble, 1943, Outrun, UN Squadron, Pit Fighter, Bion...

Everyone needs a shiny new game to play on Christmas Day, right? But what happened if that game was a U.S.GOLD title? U.S.GOLD had a bit of an up and down relationship with Amstrad CPC owners. Most of their games felt like quick, dirty cash-in's, with big, bright, colourful graphics and broken controls; worse still, some of their games were riddled with bugs. I'm not sure how you guys feel about it, but for me, playing the vast majority of their games on the Amstrad CPC felt like I was wading through treacle. I felt screwed over on many occasions, but didn't seem to learn my lesson. I'd fall for the same marketing candy time and time again, with the promise that this time, their new game for the Amstrad would be amazeballs! I think the final straw came with the title California Games, the Amstrad version was crap, I suspected nearly every single publisher after that, with the exception of Ocean, I kind of half trusted those guys. Just play California Games on the CP...

I’m sitting here staring at a blank white Microsoft Word background. My head is swimming with random retro thoughts, however, I haven’t got a clue where I’m gonna go with this, but I'll give it a shot.  I've currently been thinking about all these new remakes i.e. The NES, Megadrive and five hundred other devices that are currently available or incoming. Initially, I was really excited by it all, but in essence, these are just more lumps of plastic that I’ve already collected. In 2016, shouldn't we be able to play all our favourite games on a single platform? For sure we have the PC and Raspberry Pie, but I’m thinking more along the lines of a SEGA console that plays all SEGA games, for example; SMS, Megadrive, Game Gear, 32X, Saturn, and Dreamcast all in one lovely lump of Japanese plastic. The same goes for Nintendo, Atari and any other console manufacturer, sick of the prospect of buying yet another lump of plastic and feeling restricted to only one genre of consol...

Most people associate gaming with kids' classics like Outrun, Space Harrier and Streets of Rage are games that have lived on and continue to live on through adults. Nowadays, it feels as if SEGA has tapped into this and is on a mission to re-release most of their prized possessions, such as PowerDrift, a perfect racer in which you race across all sorts of weird and wonderful structures, or the legendary Outrun, it took me years to properly master this Yu Suzuki classic, it was like no other racer in the world. But it's the imminent arrival of Turbo Outrun that has me real excited, it's not quite "Outrun" I mean you can't really compare the two, for example, the sequel is more of an atmospheric hi-octane race, that transports the player through nearly every road-like extremity. Gone are the branching paths and selectable soundtracks, but it does have better graphics and more features, including upgrading your car between stages, and more importantly, you can...

Part one of a chronological view of the consoles and games I've played over the years. Please click on video below... 

Turrican 2 is massive, one of the biggest games I've ever experienced on any computer or console. You traverse ledge after ledge, with most jumps consisting of leaps of faith.  The programming team responsible Enigma House, boasted in (AA71) "Turrican 2 contains a jaw-dropping 1500 screens! Think of it this way - if you laid out 1500 monitors on their backs on the floor, it would cover an area 9240 meters square." Each level took up nearly 60k of code, with a total of five levels, this had to include sound effects and music, I'll let you do the maths! The amazing thing was, this game fitted on a single disk. The basic idea is to explore everywhere and anything, killing all sorts of nasties and giants, collect extra lives, power-up's and extended time, and basically just try to survive in order to reach the next stage. There's an excellent feel for the game, the main protagonist looks and struts along like a proper space trooper, and effortlessly g...

Ever since StarWars flashed before my eyes, I've been hooked. I was just a kid back then, but the impression it left will stay with me until a right good ole' age. There's something else I probably shouldn't admit to, I had such a soft spot for the movie, I imagined playing the lead role and would pretend to shoot down Tie Fighters and ultimately the Death Star from the safety of my armchair. It had to happen, my only surprise is that it took so long. The now decidedly ropey Atari released Star Wars in 1983, it was a nice attempt at doing something new with a classic film. The graphics and sound were amazing for the time and had colourful vector graphics. It also featured the really cool heroic music of the movie, accompanied by smooth reactive-tight controls and a movie-authentic blasting noise. The speech is where it impressed the- be-Jesus outta me and at the time I thought the stuff of dreams. Star Wars was definitely my favourite game as a kid, I'd nev...

Thrust is an easy game to describe, it's like Asteroids mixed with a splash of Moon-lander. You can tell from the word go that the guts of those classics have been well and truly assimilated, whilst retaining their addictive qualities. Visually, Thrust is less than interesting, I remember it having a half decent loading screen, but that was your lot. If you were willing to forego a little colour and didn't mind a bit of light thinking, Thrust was a real treat. Graphically it's very simple, you guide a spaceship where Gravity can work for or against. At first, it starts out easy, but on later stages, you've got to actively and precisely use the ship's thrust in order to prevent crashing into the scenery. I can't remember why you have to do all this, but the story mentioned something about the resistance planning a massive attack on the Intergalactic Empire, ring any bells? Anyway, your mission was to fly in, grab the Klystron pod and escape in two pieces. Be...

On patrol... Amstrad, Speccy, Arcade and C64 Robocop the movie is stunning, the prime directives still resonate in my head even today. I recall from one scene good old Murphy getting blown to smithereens and in another ED-209 powering up with the immortal words - 'Please put down your weapon. You have 20 seconds to comply'. The game is every bit as enjoyable as the movie and in some ways just as memorable. I'd already experienced Operation Wolf, Chase HQ, Gryzor and Combat School, but nothing prepared me for what I was about to receive. Delta city had never looked so good, it was littered with dark alleyways, ruined building and crime infested streets. Scenes from the movie were cleverly replicated, including the hostage and drug factory encounter. You could never walk more than a few feet without all hell breaking lose. You start out all guns blazing... ultra violence a plenty. The weapons were as devastating as seen in the movie. In between the horizontal scroll...

It's amazing what I've recovered from my failed H.D.D. Here we have an old Kevin Toms interview from a few years ago, maybe 2009 at a guess, can't believe I nearly chucked it. Hope you all enjoy... lots more to come.   Q: How do you feel about Football Manager all these years on? I am proud of what I created and that it gave so much to a lot of people. Q: When did you realise you wanted to become a programmer? At school and I don't think I really knew what a programmer was, when I decided that. Q: Have you ever thought: 'Wow, I did a great job'? It's not normally what I think. Other people have said I should be more aware of it. Q: How has life changed for you since the 80's? My life is quite ordinary now, apart from the occasional recognition. Q: What are the ten greatest games you've ever played? It's the simplest games that have always drawn me in. I don't like to have to work hard to learn to play. So classics l...

P47 - Freedom Fighter Arcade: Jaleco 1988 Home Conversions: Firebird 1989 In the midst of Spitfires, Messerschmitt's and Hurricane's, there was one world war 2 fighter, nicknamed the 'jug' (short for 'Juggernaut') that packed an almighty punch. The Jug entered the war in 1943, piloted by the 78th and 56th Fighter Group of the 8th Air Force, with a kill ratio of 8 to 1... changing history forever. WOT? NO SPACE SHIPS? When playing these types of SHMUPS as a kid, I had no idea of the historical significance of it all. Back in the day, it was just a really good shoot-'em-up, that moved at pace and looked really good. Although highly inaccurate  the game follows the real life struggles of the American fighter, as it prowled above the skies of Northern France, Egypt and North Africa. How does it play P47 is a horizontal scrolling shoot-'em-up (No need to fill out any forms), with bags of pace, outstanding graphics and rigorous gung-ho game-pla...

What's it all about: In early 1989, Storm released the coin-op Big Run. The game was loosely based on the world famous Paris Dakar. And in case you didn't know, Dakar is the capital of Senegal which is situated on the West coast of the African continent. Since 2009, due to security threats, the race is no longer held in Europe and Africa, these days Argentina and Chile host the endurance event. The original event trailed around 9000 kilometers across the Sahara and the tropical Savannah. It was generally considered the most challenging race on earth. The Dakar, did not enjoy this reputation without a price, many have died over the years, or returned home with broken bones. It's a race for survival, where reaching the finish line seems challenge enough. What does it play like: Big Run is an impeccably well made game, that plays like the child of Outrun and Wec-le-mans. The whole experience is wonderf...

Imagine a game with countless doors. Opening one, you find yourself outside of  a well known food chain. Behind another is a music store or ammunition shop, and yet another is filled with evil-red eyed Zombies offering to kill you with a single bite. You’ve heard of Disney Land, well this is Zombie Land, a monstrous shop till you drop of pain. Zombi is loosely based on ‘Dawn of the Dead.’ You control the actions of four survivors – Alex, Sylvie, Yan and Patrick. Your helicopter has run low on fuel, and in an emergency you have to land on the rooftop of a nearby shopping mall. Your mission is to get more fuel and fly the hell outta there. Just like in the film you must navigate your way through a vast shopping mall whilst trying to avoid flesh eating Zombies and contact with other surviving humans hell bent on stealing your ride. Zombi is an adventure game which incorporates animated point and click graphics, as opposed to an arcade ...

Set in ancient Persia, Jordan Mechner’s game follows a tale loosely based on the book ‘One Thousand and One Nights’. The story goes; many moons ago a rich Sultan is called to arms in a bid to protect his land against the enemies of Persia. Whilst away fighting in a distant land the Sultan’s Grand Vizier made an illegal claim for the throne.  The Viziers evil knew no bounds, and his insatiable desire for death and destruction seeped throughout the Persian kingdom, destroying the very fabric of Persian life.  Only a rag-tag unlikely hero is prepared to stand against the Grand Vizier, a humble man with dreams of glory, who one day hopes for the hand of the Sultan’s daughter. The Prince, our hero, is imprisoned, since Jaffar (the Grand Vizier) also has designs on the Princess. Knowing about the history between them, Jaffar also imprisons the Princess, giving her an ultimatum and one hour to decide, marry him or die.    The game starts with an amazi...

Released: 1993 Company : Atari Is it any good? Marketed as the worlds first 64-bit system, with the power to poo all over the Megadrive and SNES, why wouldn’t you want one. The graphics, and sound a thing of beauty… and the CPU as fast and as sexy as a ninja… or so we thought! All that power counts for nothing though, as the Snes and the Megadrives back catalogue of games kicked mostly anything from the Jags dodgy and severely limited line-up.          Should I still get one? Hell yeah! The Jag had one of the best games ever made in Tempest 2000, courtesy of the Llama man Jeff Minter. Tempest 2000 is worth buying the console for alone. The 3D graphics and soundtrack are absolutely awesome, and the gameplay out of this world. Other games worth getting are Alien Vs Predator, Rayman, Doom, Wolfenstein, Raiden, Sensible Soccer, Worms , and Power Drive Rally.     What to look for? The Jaguar CD-ROM unit for the Virtu...