“Now computing can be fun and easy for the entire family.”

The Tandy Sensation was an early attempt at a specialized Multimedia PC. In this case, Tandy came up with a 25 MHz 486SX computer with a 107 MB hard drive, built-in CD-ROM drive, stereo sound card, a voice/fax modem, SVGA color graphics, and more.

All this for $2,199 US with a SVGA monitor included (that’s about $4,232 today). You could also get the MMS-10 Stereo Speaker/Amplifier for $79.95. It seemed so futuristic at the time.

The Sensation also shipped with the interesting WinMate interface, a successor to DeskMate that ran on top of Windows 3.1.

I miss the ebullient joy of Radio Shack computer bundles aimed at families. They always seemed so fun. I remember seeing the Sensation in a local Raleigh, NC Radio Shack store circa 1993 and wanting one.

By the way — Merry Christmas!

Discussion Topic: Have you ever owned a Tandy IBM compatible PC? Tell us about it.

Now you’re playing with…glowing robot hands?!

Brother and sister are finally getting along with “Multiple Player Action.”

A friend recently noticed I haven’t posted a new Retro Scan since 2019 (by the way—wasn’t 2020 hell?), so I thought I’d dig through the archives and look for something fun. My scanner isn’t even hooked up at the moment. That’s how long it’s been!

Here’s a nice high-resolution scan of the Nintendo Game Boy box art, front and back, that I scanned a few years ago for an article. One of the most fascinating things about it for me is how the text on the back refers to the Game Boy’s D-pad as a “cross key joystick.” As far as I know, this is the first and only time I’ve seen it described that way. So maybe that’s the official Nintendo term for the D-pad?

I know I’ve let this site wither on the vine for too long, but I’m glad some people are still out there reading it. Hope you enjoy the scan.

Discussion Topic: What’s your favorite Game Boy game?

Gaming used to be very painful

On September 9, 1999, Sega launched the Dreamcast in America. This is one of its pre-launch print ads.

20 years later, I am still not sure exactly how to interpret this advertisement. The tagline in the corner seems the most obvious part. To me, “it’s thinking,” implied that the Dreamcast packed a powerful CPU and could generate complex gaming experiences.

But the screaming, eye-pain stuff? At the time, video game advertisement in the US leaned toward cryptic and edgy. This was drumming up interest for a launch date, so it threw in some mystery, not even naming the console itself.

But if taken literally, the ad makes it look like playing games on this upcoming console could be a painful or negative experience. Somehow marketers calculated that dark and painful imagery attracted American gamers. What this cultural masochism says about American gamers, I am not sure. That’s a deep one to unravel.

I didn’t like the ad much at the time. But I was hyped for the Dreamcast launch, so maybe it worked.

9.9.99

1999 was a big year for me. In June, I graduated high school and started my first full-time job. A month later, I moved out of my parents’ house. I had money to burn, my own bank account, my own credit card. So I did what came naturally to an 18 year-old at the time: I bought a Sega Dreamcast. It was one of the highlights of my adult life — a symbol of independence.

[ Continue reading [ Retro Scan ] 9.9.99 – Dreamcast Turns 20 in America » ]

A controller bigger than your head

As far as I recall, this is the first time I’ve ever featured an advertisement for an IBM mainframe computer system on VC&G. The system in question is the IBM 4341, a System/370-compatible model first launched in 1979 and discontinued in 1986.

In this 1984 ad, we catch the system — apparently used commonly at universities — near the end of its lifespan. Other than this ad, I know nothing else about it. But Wikipedia does.

Huge IBM mainframes at universities predate my time in college — I’m actually glad I never had to use them.

Discussion Topic: Have you ever used an IBM mainframe computer? Tell us about it.

Nude boxer plays Nintendo

I have a framed print of this 8×10 photo hanging on my office wall. The first time I put it up and my kids came in, the conversation went something like this:

“Daddy, why is there a photo of a naked man on your wall?”

“That’s Mike Tyson.”

“…”

“A famous boxer from the 1980s.”

“…”
“But why is he naked.”

And so I hit upon a 1980s cultural zeitgeist I never thought I’d have to explain to anyone.

Nintendo’s 1984 arcade classic Punch-Out!! — which used richly detailed graphics for the time and dual monitors — was a masterpiece in creative arcade design. And in the 1980s, watching Mike Tyson fight (which I did a couple times on pay-per-view) was a thrilling experience. He was scary powerful. So when Nintendo combined the two together in 1987 as a game for the hottest console of the day, they cooked up the recipe for something amazing: Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!!.

Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!! still holds a place as one of my favorite NES games. It’s dynamic, beautiful, and fun. It’s challenging, but doesn’t feel unfair. Curiously, I must have only played friends’ copies of MT’s Punch-Out!! (or we traded it) because we also bought the non-Tyson version (with Mr. Dream) Nintendo released in 1990.

This photo is a promotional handout Nintendo sent to the press in 1987. I believe I own the only known physical photographic print of this image. (I’m sure there are others out there, but we don’t know where they are). Last year I sent a high-res scan of this image to The Gaming Historian for one of his YouTube features and also to Frank Cifaldi for Video Game History Foundation exhibits. So you may be seeing it more often in the future.

The back of the photo says this:

Mike Tyson, undisputed heavyweight boxing champion, has signed a promotional contract with the world’s leading manufacturer of home video game systems, Nintendo of America. Tyson will offer his name and likeness to “Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!!”, a game which allows players to participate in a series of challenging matches, leading up to a battle against the champ himself. The Game Pak, designed exclusively for play on the Nintendo Entertainment System, will be available in October.

Discussion Topic: What’s your favorite classic boxing video game?

A controller bigger than your head

The reports of Retro Scan’s death are greatly exaggerated.

I just emerged from the other side of a huge house move that taxed my body and soul. Moving my huge collection was very difficult, and now dealing with where to put it all keeps that stress going. I feel behind on lots of things, but it’s time to catch up. One of the best ways to do that is with a new Retro Scan. So here we go — let’s talk trackballs.

As far as I know, the first arcade video games to use a trackball were Midway’s Shuffleboard and Atari Football, both from 1978. As to which came first, I have no idea at the moment.

Atari really ran with the trackball (they called it a “Trak-Ball”) and produced several mega arcade hits that used the interface, including Missile Command and Centipede. It only makes sense that they would bring the tech home to their Atari 8-bit computer line — and the Atari 5200, as seen here — in the form of the Pro-Line Trak-Ball controller.

(An aside: Despite the ad saying the Trak-Ball controller works for the Atari 2600, I know of no vintage 2600 games that support trackball mode natively. There is a joystick mode switch on the bottom of the controller, however, that lets you use it with any game.)

Of course, the 5200 version of the Trak-Ball controller is legendarily huge. It’s almost as big as the (already big) console itself. But I’ve heard good things about it, despite never having used one. I do have the smaller CX22 Trak-Ball controller and I enjoy games of Missile Command on my Atari 800XL with it from time to time, although it is criminally under-supported (in Trak-Ball mode) by games on that platform.

So how about you guys: Have you ever used the Atari 5200 Trak-Ball? What did you think about it?

Discussion Topic: Have you ever used a trackball with any game console? Tell us about it.

Simple beginnings

Since I first saw this in a magazine about 12 years ago, this Apple IIc (//c if you prefer) ad has probably been my favorite Apple ad of all time.

The reason is nostalgia — it portrays a kid’s bedroom in the 1980s, and it reminds me of being a kid back then.

I also like the details tucked in there, such as the Motley Crue poster, the Bazooka bubble gum, the ATV helmet (next to a tiny photo of a three-wheeled ATV), the hamster, and an Apple Modem 300/1200 sitting under the telephone. I also wonder what those circuit boards up on the shelf are supposed to be (and what they were actually from).

The Apple IIc was indeed a great machine for young students in the 1980s.

* * *

At 37, my circa-1985 bedroom was outfitted mostly with He-Man figures and stuffed animals, but my older brother’s bedroom looked more like the room in the ad.

Come to think of it, I actually have a photo of my older brother’s bedroom from December 1985, and part of it looked exactly like this:

You’ll notice the nice Atari 800 setup, which I have no doubt talked about many times before.

At that time, we did have an Apple IIc as well, but my dad kept it in his home office. It was the first computer I ever used a mouse with.

And what do you know, I have a photo of my dad’s office too — labeled July 1985:

You’ll notice the Star brand dot matrix printer on the floor beneath the desk. I still have many vivid memories of crawling around the floor and watching Print Shop banners and calendars emerge with an intense and persistent screech.

Good times.

In 2016, I did a whole slideshow about my family’s computers through the years for PCMag. If you enjoyed these family computer snapshots of mine, you’ll enjoy that as well.

Discussion Topic: Did you have a computer in your bedroom as a kid? Tell us about it.

Simple beginnings

This ancient personal computer ad comes to us from February 1977 in Byte Magazine — before the launch of the Apple II.

Like the Apple II, Ohio Scientific Industries’ Challenger PC used a MOS 6502 CPU.

I don’t know too much about OSI, since I have never owned a machine they made, but I know that they were very important in the early PC industry. I found a really neat website about OSI boards if you want to learn more. You can also learn more about their complete systems, including those with Apple II-like built-in keyboards at this website.

Discussion Topic: What’s the oldest computer you’ve ever used?

BEGIN A FANTASTIC NEW QUEST! !!!

For some reason, my brother and I never owned any SSI Gold Box AD&D games when I was growing up. I have played many of them briefly since then — and there definitely are a lot of them.

So I’m particularly interested to know what you guys think about the Gold Box games — which ones you’ve played, which are the best, etc.

Discussion Topic: What’s your favorite SSI Gold Box game?

Seems like I wanted a computer

My father passed away in 2013, and since then, I have been slowly going through his possessions, including his papers, to take stock of what’s there and put things in order.

Last year, in the back of a tall metal file cabinet, I found a manila folder labelled “Christmas Lists.” Amazingly, it contained many of my handwritten childhood Christmas lists, addressed to both Santa and my parents. It was very touching to find. I had no idea my father had saved them.

Among these papers, I found this gem from 1992 (I pinpointed the date easily because I remember which year I wanted to get a Prodigy client set). I was 11 years old. That was also the first year I started my BBS.

Unlike my richly illustrated Christmas list from 1989, this one is all text. Among items like ‘G.I. Joe guy,’ a giant Hulk figure, and a snare drum, we find gems such as ‘Nintendo Game Genie,’ the aforementioned ‘Prodogy’ (sic), and “#1 gift! A COMPUTER!!!”

(I’m pretty sure the $15 was a joke.)

At the time, I was using a dreadfully slow monochrome IBM PS/2 Model 25 (with an 8086 CPU) to run my new BBS (that my dad had bought new around 1987), so I’m pretty sure that was the main reason I wanted a computer.

I didn’t get a new computer that Christmas. I think my dad bought me my first non-hand-me-down PC around 1994. But I did get a Prodigy connection kit, and you can read more about that in this classic post. And of course, best of all, I was surrounded by my loving, supportive family in a stable home. It was a great Christmas.

I was a lucky kid, and I am very grateful that my family encouraged me to explore what I loved. I plan to do that for my kids as well.

I hope all of you out there have a very Merry Christmas.

Discussion Topic: Have you ever received a computer for Christmas? Tell us about the first one.