[ Retro Scan of the Week ] Tandy Laptop Trio
July 18th, 2011 by Benj Edwards
The Tandy 2800 HD, Tandy 1100FD, Tandy 102, and Tandy 1500 HD
Discussion Topic of the Week: Have you ever owned a Tandy brand computer? What model(s)?
[ Retro Scan of the Week ] Broken Tetrisphere Teeth
July 11th, 2011 by Benj Edwards
Digital Jawbreaker
I don’t think I’ve ever played Tetrisphere. I’m sure I’ll try it some day. But the game itself is almost beside the point here. Egad on the broken teeth, man. That is my worst nightmare.
Nintendo crafted this ad to be perfectly in line with the prevailing advertising style of the mid-late 1990s. Look back at a game magazine from that time and you’ll see that almost every ad shows someone getting hurt, dismembered, or flagellated in some manner. And if not that, then they were too busy distributing boogers / urine / feces / something gross all over the place to feel left out. The edgy advertising trend started when Sega began purposely assaulting Nintendo’s kiddie image in the early 1990s. And it spread. By 1996, even Mario games were advertised this way. Did you Play it Loud?
I covered this phenomenon to some extent back in my Game Ads A-Go-Go column on GameSetWatch in 2006 (especially “Proof that Video Game Companies Want You to Die“). The 90s were a time of growing pains — a sort of “teenage years” for the medium — when the game industry, gamers, press, and lawmakers alike embarked on an entirely new cultural exploration of mature themes in video games. I’m sure I could write a whole article on the subject, so I’ll stop now and let you count your teeth.
Discussion Topic of the Week: What’s your all-time favorite version of Tetris?
Donkey Kong Turns 30 (Time for Oddities)
July 11th, 2011 by Benj Edwards
Thirty years ago this month, Nintendo released Donkey Kong in the arcade. The title introduced Mario to the world and turned Nintendo of America’s fortunes around.
Since the Mario character first debuted in Donkey Kong, we could just as well be celebrating Mario’s 30th birthday. I’m sure someone will figure that out and write about it soon (if they haven’t already). But folks celebrate Mario endlessly, regardless of anniversary or season, so I think it’s time to focus on his simian rival and the game they first starred in together.
That’s why I put together Donkey Kong Oddities, which celebrates the game in that very Benj way — by finding weird and interesting tidbits of Donkey Kong-related ephemera and compiling them in a graphically-rich slideshow. I hope you enjoy it.
Other Entries in Benj’s Oddities Series:
12 Electronic Toy Robots of the 1980s
July 11th, 2011 by Benj Edwards
Gather ’round the fire, kids, and let me tell you about some cool robotic toys from the 1980s. On second thought, just look at this slideshow instead.
[ Retro Scan of the Week ] Thomas Jefferson’s Apple III
July 4th, 2011 by Benj Edwards
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created floppy…no, wait.”
(click above to see the full advertisement)
10 REM DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE TEST BY THOMAS JEFFERSON
15 REM IN HIS BASEMENT, JULY 4TH, 1776, 14K FREE
20 PRINT "WE HOLD THESE TRUTHS TO BE ____"; INPUT I
30 IF I = "SELF-EVIDENT" THEN GOTO 100
40 IF I = "TURKEY FLAVORED" THEN GOTO 200
50 IF I = "ONLY TRUE IF YOU ARE MARTHA" THEN GOTO 300
60 IF I = "COMPLETELY FALSE" THEN GOTO 400
70 GOTO 20
100 PRINT "EXCELLENT! I LIKE YOU."; GOTO 500
200 PRINT "TRY AGAIN, FRANKLIN."; GOTO 20
300 PRINT "GO BRUSH YOUR WOODEN TEETH."; GOTO 20
400 PRINT "HOW DID THIS MAKE IT TO ENGLAND?"; GOTO 20
500 END
Happy Independence Day from Vintage Computing and Gaming
Discussion Topic of the Week: If most computers were manufactured in the USA today, would you be more or less likely to buy them?
Kids’ Computers Through The Ages
June 27th, 2011 by Benj Edwards
Today at PCWorld.com, you’ll find my new retrospective of kids’ computers through history. It covers a selection of toy/educational/kid computers from the dawn of computing to the present via the cyber-magic of the web slideshow medium. I hope you enjoy it.
[ Retro Scan of the Week ] Gear Up for Metal Gear
June 27th, 2011 by Benj Edwards
Don’t forget to pack your high-jump goggles and night vision boots.
As a young NES fan, I absolutely loved this ad. I remember studying it from top to bottom many times, excited by large amount of fancy equipment lavishly depicted in this ad for Ultra’s Metal Gear on the NES. I was never a huge fan of playing Metal Gear myself (I found it too hard as a kid), but I loved to watch my brother play through this depthy stealth-action title.
Fans and critics considered the first NES Metal Gear a classic in its own time, so perhaps I should dust off my cartridge and give it another shot.
Discussion Topic of the Week: What’s your favorite title in the Metal Gear series?
Sonic The Hedgehog Oddities
June 23rd, 2011 by Benj Edwards
Twenty years ago today, Sega released Sonic the Hedgehog for the Sega Genesis. In honor of this anniversary, I dug through the lesser-known corners of blue hedgehog history and pulled together an amusing collection of Sonic Oddities for you to enjoy. You’ll find the result — which includes Sonic’s brushes with genetics, Michael Jackson, and even ketchup — compiled in a slideshow over at Technologizer. I hope you enjoy it.
Speaking of Sonic the Hedgehog, what did you think of the 1991 Sega Genesis game when you first played it?
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Previous entries in Benj’s “Oddities” series:
Super Mario Oddities
Legend of Zelda Oddities
Nintendo Entertainment System Oddities
Game Boy Oddities
Windows Oddities
[ Retro Scan of the Week ] TRS-80 Model III Office
June 20th, 2011 by Benj Edwards
As Mary does payroll, Frank gets to know his Model III a little better.
Discussion Topic of the Week: Do you work in an office? What kind of computer do you currently use there?
[ Retro Scan of the Week ] The Hint Book No One Wanted
June 13th, 2011 by Benj Edwards
Retail price? $7.99. For you? Fifty cents.
In the early-mid 1990s, I regularly made trips to Toys ‘R’ Us to pick through their video game clearance section. It was then that I built up the foundations of my fast-growing vintage game collection.
I had a blast when they started clearing out their NES items — for example, I picked up Kirby’s Adventure for $10 and a whole bunch of unopened NES accessories like controllers and cleaning kits from that time for a mere pittance (I still have about four new-in-box NES Advantages from that time that I bought for $2 a piece). This is the same place where I bought the Virtual Boy and Sega 32X new in their boxes for about $30 a piece. Man, those were the days.
One day while browsing the store’s video game strategy guide rack, I noticed this forlorn and chronically passed-over hint book for Ultima: Exodus, a poorly received port of the PC classic Ultima III for the Nintendo Entertainment System. The copyright date in the back said 1989, and by the look of the discount stickers on the front, it appeared the booklet had been sitting on the shelf since that time. After five years of neglect, its cover had become scuffed, dirty, and mysteriously ink-stained on one corner.
The book’s binding was off-kilter when I bought it for the low low price of 50-cents, which may be why consumers passed it up in favor of non-defective printings of the same book. On the other hand, they may have simply passed it up because the associated game wasn’t too popular.
Discussion Topic of the Week: When’s the last time you bought a physical paper hint book for a video game?
