Category: Games

Retro Gamer

July 17, 2013

This is an arcade system from 1982 called the Vectrex:

Specifically, the above is KLS’s Vectrex, purchased during the fire sales of 1983 that followed the crash of the video game industry. About 1X years ago, I found the above in an attic at her parents house and ferretted it away into our attic, where it now lives. We have the system (which still works!), one controller and about a dozen games including the screen overlays and the manuals.

Here’s an example of a manual for one of the games:

Last week, when KLS’s parents were in town, I got the Vectrex out for a tournament. The rules were simple: KLS, JBF and myself would play each game precisely once. The highest score in each game got a point, and the most points won. We started with the inbuilt game, Mine Storm:

That’s me playing like a pro, sans overlay. The raster works perfectly and it still looks breathtaking. This is rare in devices of this nature that are 30 years old like ours is, so the dry darkness of our attic seems to be a good environment for it!

Other games followed: Berserk, Cosmic Crash, Spike (with voice!). Here’s some shots of the action:

You can see the overlays – which are transparent plastic – add colour to the black and white raster.

We also had several games that we couldn’t get working at all, probably due to the contacts being hosed. I suppose if I spent time cleaning them I may have seen more success, but we skipped them and focused on the games that worked. After JBF left I also managed to get another game – Fortress of Narzod – working, so KLS and I played that one as well. Here’s a shot of her scoring big!

And so… the final score!

Rather than spell it out here, I’ll just show you the score card itself:

Yes my friends, even if we ignore Spike (which bugged out and inflated her score for no reason), she still won every game but one, beating both myself and Jim quite handily. Who knew she was an expert retro gamer?! 🙂

The New Addiction

June 23, 2013

Meet Zoffy, of Nebulon, my avatar in the new Animal Crossing for 3DS:

The game is all sorts of awesome, especially if you’ve been hooked by any past game in the series. It’s wonderful to get back to village maintenance and chatting with your animal buddies:

Although I’ve only been playing a week (since returning from Japan), it’s obvious the game is much more expansive than ever, with a mind-boggling array of stuff to do. This is no longer just a game you play for half an hour a day!

One new addition is ‘Club Tortimer’, which is an island excursion where you can play with people from all over the world. Yesterday I did this, and found myself on an island at night with two Japanese girls:

The one on the left was called Mari, and was very talkative and spoke great English. She is a secretary in Kobe that likes Ultraman! (This came up because my character, Zoffy, is named after one of the Ultramen):

The girl in the middle (with the pink hair) works as a secretary in a Tokyo Hospital. She is a hardcore player, and even had this award:

Anyway while we were chatting, we were just standing in a line like in the first picture. They were asking me about America and what I like about Japan and all sorts of stuff when I said “Do you know Rilakkuma?”. Their reaction was immediate and astounding:

As soon as the famous bear’s name was mentioned, both girls started running about the island excitedly just saying things like “love”, “cute”, “gyu~~~!” etc. They were maniacal about Kuma to the extent that even the mention of his name sent them into paroxysms! It was very funny 🙂

Later in the day, I also met Audrey, who lives in Paris. She told me it was sunny and hot:

So I showed her a fish:

These occurrences and much, much more are what await you should you enter the world of Animal Crossing 😉

Jokes aside, the online component (random matchmaking) is somewhat restricted as you may expect from Nintendo. Also, with no way to friend these people or even interact much with them outside of one-line chats, it will probably be something I don’t do very often. But my first experiences of it were very amusing!

Now back to catching bugs…

Crossing Items Off My List

June 5, 2013

There is an origami ‘museum’ not too far from where we are staying. Naturally, since Bernard is an origamist, we visited yesterday.

The museum, which is in the building of a company that makes traditional washi paper, consists of a small gallery, an impressive store, the area where the paper is made and died, and rooms for instruction. It is all very impressive, and the staff were very friendly and helpful.

As we were leaving, a friendly old fellow intercepted us at the lift and told us he would give us a demonstration. This was none other than the chairman, and we were treated to a private demonstration of his skills (and his English!) for the next 20 minutes or so. It was wonderful!

If you’re ever in Japan, this place is worth a look.

The above is a random sketch in one of many sketchbooks in one of many arcades (‘game centers’) in Akihabara, where we spent the rest of the day. I didn’t take a great deal of photos throughout many hours of shopping, eating, UFO Catching and gaming, but I’m quite pleased to say many of the items on my shopping list were found in that several hour period. The rate at which my wallet bled cash was amazing!

Notable pickups included;
– The two DS Wizardry games that were never translated
– Musha Gundam 2
– Vast amounts of monster hunter figurines
– the new Yamashita art book
– certain souvenir items for friends that I was after

The latest and unquestionably greatest of the current crop of UFO figures is a magical girl Kirino from Ore no Imouto. Here’s a picture of an advert for it outside of one of the mega-arcades:

Bernard and I both won one 🙂

The monster hunter cat mascots (‘airou’) are a very big deal here, with vast amount of available merchandise. Twice now KLS has joked (?) about buying one of the big guys seen above!

Game Center highlights included the dozens of classic game posters on display at a Sega arcade, a punching game which nearly broke my hand, and Y200 for what seemed like an hour of darts 🙂

It was another very long and active day, and I fear Bernard may be at the apex of ruination. Even I am in an advanced state of decrepitude, and as I lay here early the next morning writing this the question of how to even rise from the futon is a challenging one!

But I’ll soldier on. As I always say on vacation, I can rest when I get home 😉

Robot Claw