Category: Retro

Commodore 64ing

December 17, 2018

A few months back I got one of these:

It’s the C64 Mini console, which is a Commodore 64 on-a-chip in a cute little case with a bunch of software built in.

It’s good but not great, slightly crippled by a poor joystick and input lag. It’s also disappointingly bare bones in terms of presentation, with the lack of instructions making many of the games – originally from the 80s – borderline unplayably difficult.

But none of this matters since it includes C64 BASIC, and this meant I could code again! And I did…

I started to see if I could manage without an actual keyboard. I did, but it was excruciatingly slow selecting letters from the virtual keyboard (on the right of the screen as shown above). But I had enough fun I went and bought a cheap usb keyboard to continue.

As you can see I’m working on a ‘villain generator’, the obvious first step towards the long-awaited next installment in the Mercenary King series. My program would generate an infinite amount of bad guys that could easily fit into any game!

It didn’t take long, and it worked! Here’s four examples of the infinite results:

Unfortunately the lcd monitor I use doesn’t photograph well so you can’t appreciate the dazzling colour, but I’m sure you’re amazed by my amazing graphics? One of them I (may have) borrowed, but the other I designed from scratch! Here’s the sketchbook:

And here’s the sprite data in case you want to use it in your game:

Amazingly and coincidentally (*), while I was working on this I received a postcard that had this code on the back:

Naturally I had to type it in to see what it did…

It was an animated Gudetama sprite! Unfortunately the postcard had no sender on it so I’ll never know who sent me this incredible demo ?

Anyway let me know if you need a villain for a game and I’ll let my C64 mini generate it for you…

(* I may have sent my brother code on a postcard in the past plus he loves Gude…)

Kings Bounty

October 2, 2018

I’ve been on a bit of a retro gaming bender recently, and have bought (and played!) several games for Game Gear, Genesis and NES. One of these was a favourite of my youth, King’s Bounty.

The game was originally released back in 1990 on PC and Mac but this is the Genesis version from 1991. It’s a turn-based strategy game where you control an ever-increasing army on a quest to find a magic item. It’s a classic, and led to the very popular Heroes Of Might And Magic series.

I loved this one half a life ago but hadn’t played it in years. A couple of weekends ago I hooked up the Genesis and gave my newly repurchased (for $15) cartridge a whirl.

I started with the Crusader, playing at the easiest setting. At first I stumbled around forgetting what to do or how to beat the clock but it didn’t take me that long for it to all start coming back…

Within an hour or so I was fiendishly addicted once again, and as the day went on I advanced through the quest until the fourth continent when I upgraded my army to flying units. If you know the game, you know this is the final step to victory.

And shortly thereafter I did indeed win! My very first game in maybe 25 years and I won handily. Although maybe just because I had used the easiest character at the easiest setting? Couldn’t I do better?

I had enjoyed it so much I immediately restarted on a higher difficulty with the mage, who many say is the hardest character.

This time I min-maxed like crazy and was laser-focused on victory. While the Crusader took me about five (real time) hours to win with, it was less than a single hour before I reached the victory screen with the mage. As you can see I took far fewer days and got a much higher score:

And yet, I could have done better! Three of the boss villains remained alive, and had I killed them before finding the treasure I could have squeezed out a few more points. However I’d spent an entire Sunday playing and ran out of time. But just in case you’d like to ‘load’ my save right before victory so you can kill those bosses yourself, here’s the password:

Let me know if you beat my score 🙂

Passage To Maouv

September 18, 2018

I bought this at a local con some months ago:

It’s an old book and record set from 1975 and yes it still includes the record:

The idea was that kids would read the comic while listening to the record, and these things were very common back in the day.

This particular story involved the Enterprise transporting a telepathic catlike creature between planets only to be jeopardized by its mental powers when it escapees it’s cage and becomes terrified. It’s empty fluff of course, but would have made for a curious tv episode. Amusingly, it was written by Alan Dean “I’ll write anything” Foster!

When I bought this it was sealed in a protective sleeve and as soon as I opened it the stench of cigarettes overwhelmed me. This is a prime example of why collectibles that come “from a smoke-free home” are worth more on the secondary market!

Anyway let’s enjoy the story, albeit briefly. You’re about to hear this page:

Here’s the video:

Your first question is whether or not this is a performance by the original actors, and I don’t know the answer. I found conflicting information either way online but since my record player seems to have a perishing drive belt there’s a slight pitch offset on the audio which confuses things. (At the end of the video I set the pitch back to the default so you can hear the speed issue.)

I will say if these aren’t the original actors they’re very good soundalikes!

Your second question is what the hell is up with Uhura in the comic! That’s another I can’t answer…

Anyway it’s a good product overall and I was very surprised by the quality of the record. Even though it’s short (~16 minutes) it’s professional and very respectful to the show and I reckon Star Trek lovin’ kids in ’75 went bonkers for this!

Oh and if you’re wondering they managed to avoid disaster due to a feline crew member who was able to calm the alien cat down before it enslaved everyone:

Robot Claw