The last days
of summer are just around the corner as most of us continue to adjust
our daily lives - some settling more into a routine from home, others
preparing to return to work or school, and others still who have been
weathering the current situation among the public. It is my hope
that our readers and their families are doing well and keeping as safe
as possible. I can personally attest that the uncertainty of the
current times has affected the amount of gaming I've been doing as of
late. The desire to work on other hobbies that don't involve
looking at a screen, which while working from home is now the entirety
of my workday, is the main catalyst behind that. With
that said, it was nice to get back into some specific games and
subjects I've wanted to talk about here for awhile, and the same seems
to be true of our staff.
Many hobbyist
programs were once sold in print that would be typed in by the end
user, providing an introduction to programming in addition to new games
and applications. Unsurprisingly this method of software
distribution was popular on the Commodore 64 and Merman shares memories
of this unique part of retro computing in More C64! Donald Lee
finds a way to introduce classic Apple II programs to a present day
workplace in the Apple II Incider. Spy fiction sneaks into the
early days of the arcade with Intrepid, a fitting addition to Arcade
Obscure. In this issue's cover story, the often forgotten Famicom
Disk System format is given a new lease on life with an affordable and
practical modern replacement, preserving an important part of mid
1980's console gaming. Love The Legend of Zelda but find yourself
looking for a new challenge? Perhaps the TurboGrafx-16 has
exactly what you need in a new review column. If you're looking
to protect your retrogames, Todd Friedman shares the results of his
findings looking to do just that. All that and
more are ahead in this issue of The Retrogaming Times!
I want
to
again remind our readers if
they
have comments or questions about anything covered in the newsletter, or
there is something they would like featured in a future issue of The
Retrogaming
Times, to contact me directly at trt@classicplastic.net!
Of course article submissions are also always open. If you have
something
ready to go, the address is the same, trt@classicplastic.net. "If
there is something you want to write about, send it in!"
If
you're stir crazy at home and are a retrogamer, there has to be
something on your mind - let us know by submitting an article!
NOTICE: Due to the ongoing
COVID-19 pandemic, many shows and events have canceled, postponed, or
modified their dates. For the latest on the events listed below,
please visit their individual websites or contact their relevant
customer support channels as the current situation continues to
unfold. Thank you.
~
~ ~
KansasFest, July 19th - 25th 2021,
Kansas City, Missouri, USA
KansasFest is
an annual convention offering Apple II users and retrocomputing
enthusiasts the opportunity to engage in beginner and technical
sessions, programming contests, exhibition halls, and camaraderie.
KansasFest was originally hosted by Resource Central and has been
brought to you by the KFest committee since 1995. For photos, videos,
and
presentations from past KansasFests, please visit the event’s official
website.
If there is a
show or event you would
like listed here, free of charge, please contact David directly at trt@classicplastic.net.
Please include a short official blurb about your event along with any
relevant
links or contact information and it will be published in the next issue
of The Retrogaming Times. The event listing will remain posted
until
the issue following the event date. Big or small, we want to
promote
your show in our newsletter.
Check out
these great events, shows,
and conventions and let them know you read about them in The
Retrogaming
Times!
More
C64! - Type-In Listings
by Merman
Many of us will remember
the days of
typing in a program to play a game. That's how many games programmers
actually learned how to program, by altering someone else's code and
seeing how things worked. For many the 1970s was dominated by typing in
a program, either on punch-card or tape and then later from a listing
in a book. The front-runner was David Ahl's 1973 title BASIC Computer
Games, perhaps most famous for its Super Star Trek game that was much
imitated.
Fast-forward to the
1980s and Commodore's
manuals came with many programs to type in and try out. The C64 manual
is best remembered for its balloon sprite, while the Programmer's
Reference Guide included a cute program called the Dancing Mouse that
demonstrated animation.
Many magazines of that
period also had
listings. (These are not to be confused with "cheat" programs that
could be entered before LOADing a game). One issue of the UK magazine
Commodore User had a special supplement with type-in listings created
by famous programmers, including Triads by Mike Singleton. Jeff
Minter's first game for the C64, Rox, was published as a type-in while
Commodore Horizons gave away a special "19th screen" type-in based on
Lazy Jones from David Whittaker. Ahoy and RUN were two of the top
American magazines that included large listings. Compute and Compute's
Gazette tried to avoid problems with their listings by having two ways
to check what you had entered. The Automated Proof Reader program
checked lines of BASIC as you typed them in, while the later MLX system
used a "checksum" (adding up the values of the machine code data you
entered to compare with the number printed alongside each line of data
in the magazine).
Typical magazine covers of
the
time, Commodore User and Compute's Gazette.
Although I never got to
see those American
magazines, I have played a few games from them. One of my favourites is
CROSSROADS and its sequel CROSSROADS II -
PANDEMONIUM. These frantic
single-screen maze games have unique wraparound gameplay and persistent
bullets, meaning you have to be careful not to shoot yourself! It was
an influence on the iOS game Forget-Me-Not and its later C64 remake
called GET
'EM.
The brilliant Crossroads
and
Crossroads II are strongly reminiscent of Wizard of Wor, and can be
played by two players simultaneously.
Get 'Em DX was an enhanced
cartridge release of the original 16K Get 'Em, with new features
including power-ups.
One of the earliest
books I remember
typing games from was called "The Commodore 64 Games Book -- 21
Sensational Games" from UK publishers Granada. My parents also helped
with the task, sitting and reading from the book. I do remember the
heavy black type which made deciphering some of the special symbols
(the C64's colour commands predominantly, created by CTRL or Commodore
and the number keys 1-8) difficult. The book was on loan from our
village library, and we borrowed it several times. I also borrowed some
of the Usborne programming books from my local library (see WEB LINKS
at the end of this column).
Several of those games
were good fun at
the time. NIMBLE
THIMBLE was a classic board
game based around sewing thimbles, where you had to avoid being the
player to move the last thimble off the board. SANDCASTLE simply required you to
hit the correct
number key to build the castle higher before the tide washed it away.
In hindsight SNORKEL had
really bad graphics but it impressed
11-year old me as I dived for pearls. Finally there was RAIL RUNNER, a forerunner of the
classic Railroad
Tycoon as you competed against other players to build your railroad. It
looks simplistic but has a surprising depth to it.
The cover and two of the 21
games in the book,
Nimble Thimble and Snorkel.
Sadly the tape that Rail
Runner was saved
to stopped working. We also discovered another problem. Many early C64
listings used the tape buffer (a small area low in the computer's
memory with room for three different sprite images) to store their
sprites in temporarily. A type-in listing from a book called Skier did
this, and the end result was that saving the game to tape actually
corrupted the sprites.
Early in a game of Rail
Runner,
and the higher the number the more sand you add to the Sandcastle.
My parents actually went
out and bought
another book of listings for us, with the impressive sounding title of
"Astounding Arcade Games For the Commodore 64" from Interface
Publications. This had three listings in it, for ASTEROID DEATH SHIP, MARTIAN ENCOUNTER and GRAND PRIX. One evening after a
family meal my
parents spent nearly two hours typing in MARTIAN ENCOUNTER for myself
and my older brother to play. (The title itself is a problem, as it
contains 17 characters - and the maximum a C64 file can have is 16,
meaning when LOADing it back from tape or disk it is called MARTIAN
ENCOUNTE).
The cover of the book, Asteroid Death Ship and Grand
Prix are not very astounding games for the Commodore 64...
There was a problem. The
listing did not
work properly and the sprites looked corrupted. The basic idea of
MARTIAN ENCOUNTE(R) is to guide your ship down to the planet and avoid
the layers of asteroids flying left and right. It is inspired by the
classic Taito coin-op game Lunar Rescue. The strange asteroid shapes
clued me and my brother that something was wrong, but looking at it
onscreen we could not initially spot the bug. We saved the file to tape
and came back to it over the weekend. And then we realised something.
The listing used a font where it was difficult to distinguish zero from
the letter O. We got it working eventually - but even then, the
programmer was too lazy to bother creating an explosion sprite and just
used random memory locations to represent the player's ship dying!
Trying to reach the surface
in
Martian Encounter, and the weird explosion sprite "animates" briefly
through random memory.
Forward again to the
1990s and I was
adding to my retro collection. I started out with a Super Nintendo and
then bought more consoles when I could afford them. But I stayed loyal
to the C64 and also bought bundles of second-hand games, hardware,
books and magazines. One such book was called "Power Plays on the
Commodore 64" from Century Communications. The programmer and writer of
the book Humphrey Walwyn had come up with some more strategic and
simulation-type games that did not require fancy graphics. The one that
interested me the most was called PAGE
ONE, and it was a really long program to type
in. It was a management simulation, allowing up to seven players to
edit and run their own newspaper (in theory with counters / physical
money to play with alongside the computer game). As the political
situation in the fictional country changed, it was up to the player to
decide what headlines to run - but if the Government falls or you run
out of money, it is game over. So your popularity with the Government
and the readers is important, as is the staff costs of covering the
stories. Interestingly the game situation starts after "simulating"
eight weeks, giving variation each time you play. I typed the whole
listing in and enjoyed playing it.
The cover of the book, Page
One takes time to set up,
and the Government may not like every story you choose to print.
So in the modern era of
digital downloads
you might think that the type-in listing was a thing of the past. But
there are still enthusiasts out there typing in old listings. GameBase
64 continues to add new listings to its collection of Commodore 64
games thanks to enthusiasts typing them in, and there are other
websites dedicated to type-in listings.
But perhaps most
interesting of all was
the idea behind FALLEN. C64
programmer Bacioiu Ciprian is
selling a PDF of the listing, allowing you the pleasure of typing in
the game itself and seeing it RUN. (The black & white version of
the game is free to download as a PDF; the paid colour version comes
with a PRG file to load and play as well as a PDF of the colour listing
with extra design notes). The game is an interesting twist on the Rogue
genre, with you controlling a character through a maze. The dungeon
levels you explore are randomly generated, and you can only "see" where
your character has been and can see around them. It's a fun little game
and worth checking out.
The title screen of Fallen,
and
fighting with a snake.
So if you are interested
in going back to
the era of typing in a game, check out the web links below for some
handy starting points.
Happy end of summer everyone and
welcome back to this edition of The Retrogaming Times! I hope
everyone is staying safe in a pretty crazy world at this time. I
don't envy all the people who have to worry about their kids in school
or loved ones that may be working the front lines in the battle against
COVID-19.
On a happier note, lets talk about
this issue's topic. I believe
I mentioned in previous issues that I was laid off from my job.
Well, the good news was that I got a job offer in late May and accepted
a new job which I started in June 2020. I don't think I've
mentioned what I do for work but I am a Sales or Solutions
Engineer. I assist the sales team in presenting / selling /
demoing technical products and services. I've done this for over
a decade now and enjoy it greatly.
As part of my new job, I was tasked
to do an intro presentation of
myself to my team recently. I was told "Get Creative." So
rather than your usual boring PowerPoint deck, I snuck in a some bits
of my Apple II history there. Namely, I recorded myself starting
up my Virtual II emulator on my Mac and booted up an old favorite, "The
Print Shop." I then went to create a card and typed a message to
my team.
Why did I do that? Well, it
dawned on me that when I was in
elementary school, I was asked to do a show and tell during a evening
event for parents on an Apple IIe. I remember using Print Shop as
the program to demo. I can't remember if it was just for my
parents or if others stopped by to see. But given my day job is
to pretty much "show and tell" I thought it was a good way to introduce
myself with the Apple II emulator. I was too busy to notice, but
a teammate (who's around my age) asked for a demo of "The Oregon Trail"
but I didn't have it.
I also did a few other things
too. I took a screen shot of Lotus
1-2-3 as that was my first spreadsheet I learned during college.
Later on I recorded myself logging into a Unix account and demoed
programs such as Pine (email) and Lynx (text web browser) as
well. My team has a lot of young folks who may not be aware of
these ancient but still fun and useful applications that exist out
there. So that's my story for this issue. Hope everyone
stays safe and we'll catch you in the next issue.
Some
reasonably obscure games have been covered in this column since it
began but I've known at least one person who was previously familiar
with one or more of them. That all changes today, as Intrepid is
an arcade game that not only have I never seen in person, I have never
encountered another in conversation who has memories of playing
it. That makes sense as it was developed by the equally obscure
Nova Games, Ltd. and apparently only had limited distribution in Canada.
The best way I
can describe the game to someone who has never seen it,
is to think of Taito's Elevator Action mixed with Exidy's Venture or
Data East's Lock 'n' Chase. The player controls a spy tasked with
stealing secret plans hidden in an embassy vault and then escaping
while avoiding a detachment of guards. The embassy has five
floors and a roof, with a maze of rooms and hallways located within a
door on each floor. Along the way an arsenal of tools and gadgets
must be collected from these rooms to allow access to the vault in
addition to assisting with search and evasion. These include a
key that allows access to the vault room on the 5th floor, a disguise
to sneak past the sentry guard at the vault, the combination to the
vault itself, a map that reveals all hidden items without searching, an
ID card that allows access across electrified floors, "high-speed
jetshoes" that increase movement speed, a wrench to sabotage the
elevator and trap pursuing guards, and an umbrella which is used like a
parachute when jumping from the roof. In hindsight it sounds a
bit like a comedic Metal Gear and it kind of is, as stealth and evasion
are the keys to progress.
A
list of items to collect (left), moving from floor to floor (center),
searching a room with guards in pursuit (right)
Each mission
begins outside the embassy at street level where the spy
enters an elevator that can take him to any of five floors. Each
floor contains a door with a series of rooms behind it. The door
on the 5th floor always begins locked as it is where the safe is
hidden. In addition to the elevator shaft in the center of the
embassy there are also staircases between each floor, as well as a
staircase leading to the roof. Upon entering a room, the
perspective changes to an overhead view in the style of a typical
arcade maze game but the character sprites remain the same.
Interestingly the upper portion of the spy's sprite will overlap
against walls, creating a very slight pseudo 3D perspective, which is
kind of cool. Rooms are filled in with solid color until the spy
walks into them, revealing if an item was hidden within. If the
map has been obtained, all items in rooms will be in the open the
moment the spy walks in from the outer hallway.
It is while
searching a room that the guards will begin to enter in
pursuit of the spy. What makes Intrepid different than a lot of
other similar games is that the guards are always on the move,
traveling from floor to floor, and sweeping from door to door.
That means one could be waiting on either side of a door the instant
the spy walks through. It also means that narrowly evading a
single guard in a room generally means you'll encounter others closing
in the moment you get outside. This is why waiting for guards to
enter an area before heading out to the next objective is an important
strategy. Having an estimation of where all the guards are and
keeping that knowledge in mind when you can't see them is invaluable in
Intrepid. Finding the jetshoes early on in each mission is also
an excellent strategy as the increased movement speed makes a big
difference in guard evasion. Not all items are required to
complete a mission but the key, ID card, the safe combination, and
disguise must all be in hand to gain access to the safe. If the
spy has the umbrella, jumping from the roof is the fastest way to
complete a mission after obtaining the secret plans but he can also
ride the elevator back to the ground floor. After obtaining the
secret plans and returning to the outside of the embassy, remaining
time on the clock is converted to bonus points and the mission is
completed. Subsequent missions will feature more guards who tend
to better track the spy.
A
room search reveals the key (left), odd storm clouds act like faster
guards (center), jumping from the roof to escape the embassy (right)
Although it
shares a copyright date of 1983 with Elevator Action,
Taito's game is much more visually pleasing, as Intrepid is clearly of
a graphical design whose era was being rapidly overtaken. The
sprites are all relatively simple, as are the level boundaries and
items, with everything on a plain black background. Granted,
everything is easy to see and identify but there isn't much detail or
spice in the presentation. Sound effects are a lot of pings and
dings that while aren't anything interesting, never quite get to the
point where they are annoying. I do enjoy the
"tat-tat-tat-tat-tat" sound of the spy's footsteps as he dashes around
however. Intrepid's music on the other hand is a totally
different beast as it's a strange mash up of existing tunes. Upon
obtaining the secret plans "O Canada" plays, if the spy is caught by a
guard a few bars of "The Imperial March" from The Empire Strikes Back
plays, and when jumping from the roof with the umbrella "La donna
è mobile" from Rigoletto plays. I really can't think of
another game that uses music from a national anthem, a space opera, and
a classical opera. The renditions themselves aren't great, using
the same pings and dings type sound used for the effects, but
completely noticeable as being lifts from their respective compositions.
So it may not
be the best looking or sounding game. It may have
an extremely repetitive objective with little variation between
missions. It also may be terribly difficult with frustratingly
cheap deaths for new players. Yet I still keep coming back to
Intrepid on my MAME cabinet because it provides a quick and addictive
challenge. This is the perfect representation of an arcade game
that you'd drop a couple credits into now and then, play for a bit, and
walk away satisfied. It won't pull you back immediately and it
won't create a high score obsession that warrants hours of continuous
play. However to me it provides that, "yeah, I'll play a couple
games" interest that keeps it in my regular rotation.
Three
years after the launch of the Famicom and riding high on its success,
Nintendo would release an ambitious and unique expansion known as the
Family Computer Disk System. Available to Japanese retailers in
early 1986, the Famicom Disk System (FDS) allowed games to be
distributed on magnetic floppy disks, a novel concept for a home
console. Not only did this allow games to be theoretically
limitless in size, it made production far less costly and those savings
were passed on to Japanese consumers. The FDS package included
both a self-contained magnetic disk drive and a RAM Adapter cartridge
to interface with the Famicom through its cartridge slot. Using
rewritable media also meant that game progress could be saved directly
to a game disk, removing the need for long and complex passwords in the
days before battery backup on cartridges. Popular games such as
The Legend of Zelda, Kid Icarus, Metroid and many others were developed
with this ability as a cornerstone of their design. It also
allowed new releases to be quickly manufactured and distributed, in
addition to budget priced re-releases of earlier cartridge games, and
value-centric lower cost games from some publishers. As the disks
were completely rewritable, Nintendo installed Disk Writer kiosks in
many stores, allowing totally new games to be written over an existing
disk for what amounted to pocket money - an innovative system. In
addition the FDS hardware expanded the Famicom's audio processing
capabilities by adding an additional sound channel, giving many FDS
games unique sound design compared to standard Famicom releases.
Top
to bottom: a Famicom Disk System RAM Adapter, Famicom, and Famicom Disk
System disk drive
It wasn't all
starmen and fire flowers for the Disk System
however. Piracy ran rampant as although proprietary, the disk
format was based upon the Mitsumi Quick Disk standard and could be
duplicated by an enterprising bootlegger. Additionally a vast
number of unlicensed games made their way to the system, mostly adult
in content. The disks themselves were reasonably fragile and
nowhere as robust as a Famicom cartridge. However what ultimately
killed off the format was the march of technology, with cartridge
memory becoming bigger and cheaper to produce, and battery backed save
memory replacing the need for rewritable media. Still, there are
a lot of unique games for the Disk System and interesting takes on the
origins of popular games that would later be released on cartridge.
Unfortunately
time has not been kind to the format, both due to the
nature of low cost magnetic media and an overly complex disk drive
design. Disks often have read errors or damaged sectors and the
disk drive itself is notorious for having a difficult to replace drive
belt, which requires a cumbersome recalibration of the drive mechanism
after replacement. Although some modern Famicom flashcarts have
gotten better at emulating the sound and timing of the Disk System,
nothing is more accurate than using actual hardware. Loopy of the
NESDev forums approached this problem from a different angle.
Rather than attempting to emulate the entire Disk System component soup
to nuts, he instead would replace the weak links: the disks and disk
drive.
The
FDSStick (left) and an original case and disk for the game The Monitor
Puzzle: Kineco - Kinetic Connection (right)
The result of
Loopy's work is the FDSStick, a USB based hardware
solution that completely replaces the disk drive and acts as a flash
memory device for FDS disks - all in one tiny package. As the
FDSStick interfaces with actual Famicom Disk System hardware (either
the FDS RAM Adapter or the built in RAM Adapter of the Twin Famicom),
sound production and timing are identical to using an original disk
drive. As far as the Famicom is concerned, it's just reading data
off of an FDS disk. The difference is there are no moving parts
or decades old magnetic media to contend with. Roughly the size
of a USB thumb drive, the FDSStick features a standard USB plug on one
end and an FDS RAM Adapter socket on the other. A single button
resides on the top, centered within a smooth depression.
Usage is
amazingly simple, even more so than most modern flash memory
cartridges. Plug the USB end of the FDSStick into a Windows PC
and open the FDSStick loader program provided for free on Loopy's
website. The loader will read the state of the FDSStick and
display a list of files currently flashed to the stick, in addition to
a blue bar showing how much of the total capacity is currently
occupied. There are three tabs in the program, each providing a
different utility: Flash, Disk, and PC Load.
The
FDSStick loader program is simple and straightforward with a clean
interface
The Flash tab is what is
shown when the application is launched. This where disk images
(in .FDS format) are added, removed, or archived off the internal flash
memory of the FDSStick. Clicking the "Add..." button will bring
up a file selection window. Simply select the disk images you
would like flashed to the stick and click "Open," this will prepare the
files for addition to the FDSStick's flash memory. To begin the
flashing procedure, click the "Apply" button and the application will
automatically flash the internal memory with the selected disk images,
displaying a red progress bar as the task is completed. To remove
a disk image from the flash memory, simply highlight it on the list and
click "Remove," then click "Apply." Remember, as each operation is flashing the
memory chip, changes do not go into effect until the Apply button is
clicked. To abort changes prior to clicking Apply and
flashing, simply close and re-load the FDSStick loader. "Save..."
is used to copy a disk image off the FDSStick back to your PC hard
drive. This is useful as game progress in FDS games that retain
such is written directly to the disk image. In essence, as save
data is added to a Disk System game, the game data (and thereby the
disk image) is no longer virgin. I recommend beginning with a
completely clean FDS library and duplicating it to keep a clean and
untouched archival set on your PC. Then whenever adding new games
or fan translations, copy the entire contents of the FDSStick back to
the PC, then mix in the new games as a blended set. Then flash
the entire blended set (disk images with game progress in addition to
the newly added games) back over to the FDSStick. It stinks to
copy a fresh disk image over one where you had hours of game progress
saved but even I can admit to doing it more than once. Once
changes have been applied and flashed to the FDSStick, simply close the
loader application and unplug the FDSStick from the PC - it's ready to
go.
The Disk tab is used to write
or read disk images directly to or from physical FDS disks using an FDS
disk drive. This utility requires use of a disk read / write
cable to connect the FDSStick directly to an FDS disk drive without the
RAM Adapter. As this is a non-standard cable, one must be
fabricated by either rewriting a pair of RAM Adapter cables or
modifying and rewiring a pair of Nintendo family AV connectors.
Loopy provides instructions for how to construct the necessary cable on
the FDSStick webpage. The options "Read disk..." and "Write
disk..." do exactly what they say, allowing an .FDS disk image to be
created from the data on a physical FDS disk or writing an .FDS file to
a physical FDS disk. This can allow original disks with corrupted
data to have a fresh rewrite or virtually any FDS game to be written to
any FDS disk. If you've ever seen people on eBay selling "new"
FDS games on disks with handwritten labels, now you know how they do
it. One word of caution, a disk written on one FDS drive may not
work properly on another FDS drive, depending on how accurately
calibrated the drives are in relation to one another.
PC Load allows a PC to directly
interface with the RAM Adapter and load games directly without
utilizing the flash memory of the FDSStick. More often than not,
this is a feature primarily for those developing FDS games or fan
translations that desire instant testing of games on actual
hardware. While this doesn't require any additional hardware, it
does require the RAM Adapter to be connected to the FDSStick while the
FDSStick is connected to a PC.
An
FDS RAM Adapter about to be plugged into the FDSStick (left), the setup
ready to go in an AV Famicom (right)
The current
generation FDSStick features 256Mbit of internal flash
memory, which allows it to hold up to 512 disk "sides." This is
more than enough space for the entire FDS library with plenty of space
for duplicate fan translations. With the FDSStick flashed and
ready to go it's time to plug it into the RAM Adapter. If you're
using a Sharp Twin Famicom, the FDSStick can directly plug directly
into an expansion port on the underside, although you will still need
to use a RAM Adapter cable and modify the connection to match the
expansion port socket. Definitely the easiest way to go is to use
a stock RAM Adapter. Plug the RAM Adapter into your Famicom's
cartridge slot, be it either an original system, Twin Famicom, or in my
case an AV Famicom. Then plug the RAM Adapter cable into the back
of the FDSStick. Upon powering on the Famicom the RAM Adapter
BIOS splash screen will load as normal, and then load a menu of what is
on the FDSStick.
The menu is
very slick and is styled to mimic the FDS splash screen,
along with a star field in the background. Menu scrolling is fast
and the utilized font is clean and easy to read with excellent
contrast. It truly feels like an extension of the Famicom Disk
System rather than a homebrew application running on a modern
device. Obviously there is a limitation to how much text can be
visible in a single line across the screen. However there's
enough room (about 30 characters on my CRT) that similar games are easy
to differentiate between one another and files can always be renamed
prior to being flashed to the FDSStick. Move the pointer up or
down to the game you want to load with the directional pad and press
the B Button. The menu will scroll away and the game will begin
to load just as if its disk was inserted into an FDS disk drive.
FDSStick
on-screen menu (left), the RAM Adapter loading the selected game
(center), fan translation of Dead Zone running on real hardware (right)
An internal
light on the FDSStick will illuminate green whenever the
virtual disk is being loaded from, and red whenever it is being written
to. This is actually more information than the stock Disk System
drive provided, as it used a simple "busy" light regardless of the type
of operation being performed. A short moment after loading, the
game will come up as if it were being played off a genuine disk.
Many FDS games are two sided, with game data on both sides.
Changing disk sides once a game is loaded simply requires pressing the
button on the FDSStick when prompted to load the desired side: once for
Side A, twice for Side B, and so on. So if a game prompts the
player to set Side B, simply press the button on the FDSStick twice and
you're good to go. Need to flip back to Side A? Simply
press the button once. I have seen some videos in the past where
people are trying to rapidly press the button to flip the disk, as if
there is some trick to getting it to work. There really isn't,
just give two regular speed presses - press, press - and the operation
will be completed. To save game data where applicable, simply
complete the save process as required in the game and the save will be
written to the FDSStick as part of the disk image, exactly as if an
original disk was being used. To change games, cycle the power of
the Famicom and select a new game once the FDSStick menu loads.
Fit and finish
of the FDSStick is superb, it truly feels like a
commercial product with a simple yet robust design. Let's just
say I've owned flashcarts in the past that weren't as nicely assembled
or designed as the FDSStick. Although it has been available for
years, this is one flash solution that has seemingly slipped under the
radar for most Famicom gamers - even those who use flash cartridges for
most of their retrogaming. The most striking thing about the
FDSStick is that it's only twenty bucks! Yes, you will need a
Famicom console and yes you will need a RAM Adapter but if you're
interested in accurately playing Disk System games then you probably
already have at least one of those.
The
rare - All Night Nippon Super Mario Bros. (left), the obscure -
Moonball Magic (center), the awesome - Otocky (right)
I've been
using an FDSStick for over a
year now, having played and
completed many FDS games without the usual fear that a disk will be
corrupted or that I'll need to work on an FDS disk drive. Sure,
it fills a niche need but it fills it perfectly and without
hassle. The FDSStick does exactly what it needs to do - replace
the problematic disk drive and disks - and does so with a no frills and
no headaches style. I simply cannot recommend this device enough
and if you have even a passing interest in the FDS, this is how to
experience it.
For those in
the USA, the FDSStick can be
ordered directly from Loopy's
official FDSStick page: https://3dscapture.com/fdsstick/
The webpage
may look a little sketchy but
is the official webpage and
only place to order directly from Loopy. Non-USA orders are
currently fulfilled by Tototek, and a link can be found at Loopy's page
above.
Most
video games owe part of their design to a game that came before,
whether directly lifted or mildly influenced. A few games so
completely mirror an earlier title that they can't help but being
called clones. Such is the case with Neutopia, a game released to
the PC Engine in 1989 and localized into English on the TurboGrafx-16 a
year later. To say Neutopia was inspired by The Legend of Zelda
would be an understatement, as it follows the objectives, play style,
presentation, and design philosophy of the earlier game as if it were a
blueprint. That doesn't necessarily mean that Neutopia should be
dismissed as a shallow copy, especially when the game that it is trying
to emulate is often regarded as one of the greatest video games of all
time.
Evil demon
Dirth has as ravished the lands of Neutopia, kidnapped
Princess Aurora, and commands his forces from a castle in the
sky. Before departing to rule his hordes from above, he stole
Neutopia's eight spiritual medallions, hiding them deep within
labyrinthine crypts guarded by his fiercest minions. Neutopia
drops the player into the armor of Jazeta, a young warrior given a
charmed compass by "an old and wise mother" and tasked with recovering
the eight medallions and defeating Dirth. Gameplay is presented
from an overhead perspective with an inventory of selectable weapons
and tools at Jazeta's disposal, exactly as in The Legend of
Zelda. On the overworld the charmed compass will always point
toward the location of a labyrinth containing a medallion, providing a
gentle push in the direction of the main objective.
The world of
Neutopia is broken up into four main overworld areas known
as spheres, each containing two labyrinths with a medallion hidden in
the crypt of each. Initially only the Land Sphere is accessible,
with its two medallions used to unlock the Subterranean Sphere, then
the Sea Sphere and Sky Sphere respectively. The Spiritual Shrine
where the quest begins is used as a hub to move between the three
locked spheres, freely restore Jazeta's vitality, and obtain a password
or save to internal memory when present. In addition to defeating
enemies on the overworld en route to the labyrinths, there are a lot of
characters to talk to, buy items from, and complete tasks for. If
there is a striking contrast to The Legend of Zelda it is just how much
dialogue there is in Neutopia, all very well translated, with just a
touch of humor. The majority of these conversations serve to
further explain the lore of Neutopia and it requires the player to do a
bit of piecing together to understand the full story. It's a
pretty standard fantasy narrative but I like the way it is presented,
as if you are a wandering warrior learning from townspeople you
encounter - which is exactly what Jazeta is doing.
Some parts really do
look
like a more colorful Zelda (left), a bit of humor and a lot of text
(center), entrance to a labyrinth (right)
As with the
game it is replicating, the majority of time will be spent
exploring the labyrinths. In addition to each containing a
medallion guarded by a boss enemy, they also contain useful items
required to advance in the quest. Utilizing bombs to blow open
hidden passages quickly becomes the norm but unlike many of the
dungeons in The Legend of Zelda, the hidden paths in Neutopia's
labyrinths don't always follow a logical route. This means Jazeta
will often need to bomb nearly every dead end in a labyrinth in search
of hidden areas. Bombs actually play a huge role in the game,
with even most townspeople in the overworld areas hidden behind sealed
doors that must be blown open. Speaking of sealed doors, it's
often overlooked but there is one design hallmark Neutopia featured
prior to its later utilization in the Zelda series - that of a large
key used specifically to unlock the door to a labyrinth's boss
room. In Neutopia this is called the "key to the crypt" and each
labyrinth features one hidden deep within, usually in an out of the way
area. Two years after the release of Neutopia, The Legend of
Zelda: A Link to the Past would feature a "big key" in each dungeon,
working much in the same way as Neutopia's crypt keys. Some form
of a large boss key would go on to be featured in virtually every Zelda
game that followed, proving that imitation is the sincerest form of
flattery.
If there is
one small issue I've always had with Neutopia it's that
Neutopia feels small. I don't mean the length of the main quest
or the scale of the story or the way the game is designed.
Visually everything has always looked too small to me - the characters,
enemies, items, doors, trees, rocks - you name it. Although
characters are more or less twice the height of what was seen in The
Legend of Zelda, Neutopia inherits the stubby graphical design of
Nintendo's earlier game and is never quite able to escape it.
While this adds some variety in having characters of different heights
and enemies of different sizes, it has the side effect of making
everything appear more miniature in scale - at least to me. I've
never been able to totally explain my misgivings concerning this odd
perspective but it has persisted no matter the size of TV I've played
the game on. That's not to say that the graphic design is
inconsistent or poorly detailed, quite the contrary. While the
visuals won't blow anyone away, they are very colorful and nicely
illustrated from beginning to end.
A
familiar looking inventory screen (left), a large and nicely animated
boss that still feels
small (center), Jazeta fighting enemies (right)
Most of the
music is relaxing and calm, even the more action-oriented
tunes, which admittedly may not be what everyone is looking for in an
adventure game. However the compositions are unique and sound
great, especially the rousing title theme. The labyrinth music
has always been a personal favorite of mine, with a haunting melody
that tends to stick with me even hours after finishing a play
session. Effect sounds can be considered passable at best as
they're a bit muted and provide only the most basic auditory
feedback. Without a doubt the smudge on Neutopia's audio package
is the low life alarm. A sound meant to grab the attention of the
player when they are low on health is nothing new but Neutopia's is
more akin to something like an unfastened seatbelt or door ajar alarm
on a car. The chime sound is so overpowering and constant that it
borders on audio torture and nearly makes the game unplayable, forcing
the player to restore their health or continue to suffer.
While it
doesn't break much new ground, Neutopia is well designed with
solid gameplay and a nice length that any fan of action adventure games
should enjoy. The game is getting up there in value these days so
I'd recommend playing it via the TurboGrafx-16 Mini (which also
includes the ridiculously expensive sequel) or other modern
means. TG-16 Mini consoles seem to be hard to come by currently
but I'm sure a restock is on the way. I've always felt that
Neutopia was unfairly scoffed at over the years as nothing more than a
shallow imitation. It may be an imitation but it's nowhere near
shallow or empty. Neutopia is a far better game than it will ever
be given credit for. If you've played The Legend of Zelda to
death and want a new challenge rather than walking down the same well
worn and memorized path - here's your game.
I was organizing my
video games the other day and came across an
unopened Pokemon SoulSilver Version with Pokewalker accessory in box. I
looked up what an unopened box would be and to my surprise saw a range
between 250 - 350 dollars on eBay. I wanted to make sure this
game stayed in brand new shape, so I searched eBay for a box protector
for this specific game. I actually found one there by a eBay seller
"retroprotection." I ordered the box protector for what I felt
was a reasonable price with shipping. I then went online to a
retro gaming group and asked if there was a website that sold most
retro game protective boxes and one member sent me the link for RetroProtection.com.
I come to find out that the eBay seller and website are the same
companies.
When I logged into
the website, I noticed right away all the different
consoles that they offered box protectors for, including both US and
Japanese. I ordered a few more case protectors for my Atari Lynx games,
NES games and Super Nintendo game boxes. The cases are sold as
individuals, with discounts for bulk packs of 5, 10, 50, 100 and so
on. I was very impressed with the speedy shipping. Quality
and customer service have been really impressive and I will be ordering
many more box protectors going forward from them. If you need
protective cases for some of your games, I really recommend giving them
a try.
Every Friday on The Retrogaming Times
Facebook
page (facebook.com/theretrogamingtimes),
we present a Weekly Retrogaming Trivia question. This
just-for-fun
trivia challenge provided each week is an opportunity to test your
arcane
and oddball retrogaming knowledge. The answer to the question
from
the previous week is posted along with a new trivia question every
Friday!
Below is the recap of all
questions and
answers posted between this issue and the previous issue:
06/26/2020 - WEEK 169 Question: What is
the earliest year a Dreamcast's internal calendar can be set to?
07/03/2020
- WEEK 170 Question: What was
the first video game to feature a player adjustable camera?
07/10/2020
- WEEK 171 Question: What was
the only four-player vector graphics arcade game ever released?
07/17/2020
- WEEK 172 Question: What
Atari VCS game included special driving controllers?
07/24/2020
- WEEK 173 Question: The
arcade game Space Harrier takes place in what realm?
07/31/2020
- WEEK 174 Question: In the
arcade game StarBlade, what is the name of the mechanized planet that
serves as the initial threat?
08/07/2020
- WEEK 175 Question: In the
arcade game StarBlade, what is Red Eye's power core called?
08/14/2020
- WEEK 176 Question: Although
its transformation can still be triggered through a sequence of
actions, what jelly bean flavor was removed from A Boy and His Blob:
Trouble on Blobolonia?
08/21/2020
- WEEK 177 Question: Densha de
Go! EX was the only game in the popular series released on what system?
The early objectives of
StarBlade, Red Eye and its power reactor Octopus - full disclosure,
StarBlade is this editor's all-time favorite arcade game
Answers: Week 169 Answer: 1950,
strangely enough. Week 170 Answer: I, Robot
(1984). Week 171 Answer: Eliminator
(1981). Week 172 Answer: Indy 500
(1977). Week 173 Answer: The Fantasy
Zone. Week 174 Answer: Red Eye. Week 175 Answer: Octopus. Week 176 Answer: Grape =
Wall. The grape jellybean was replaced with Ketcup = Catch Up to
remove the potential of Blobert being separated from the boy. Week 177 Answer: Sega
Saturn.
Indy 500 came in an
oversized box with included driving controllers (left) Eliminator was a
cool game saddled with a problematic monitor (right)
We
need your questions! If
you have a trivia question you would like to submit for possible
inclusion
in the Weekly Retrogaming Trivia question pool, e-mail it to trt@classicplastic.net!
If you question is selected to be featured, you will be entered in our
year-end prize drawing!
I'm closing this issue out with
something a little different than usual. During the second week
of
August of this year, friend and patron of the retrogaming community,
Frankie Viturello passed away. I'm terrible with properly
expressing
loss, especially when I always know there are others more directly
affected by someone's passing. So the only way I can think of to
show
my remembrance and gratitude, is to write about how I knew Frankie and
some of the interactions we've had over the years.
I first met Frankie on the Digital
Press video game forums, where his
user name was Frankie_Says_Relax. At the time the DP forums were
massive - it's really hard to explain just how popular and highly
regarded they were and how close and diverse its huge community of
users were. Eventually he would become a moderator on the forum
and be
very much involved with community events at the Digital Press physical
retail store.
Not too long after he first
registered on the forums, he was talking
about some Famicom Disk System repairs, as he had just refurbished a
Disk System drive. Reading of his repair success caused me to
finally
bite the bullet and buy a Twin Famicom AN-505 in early 2008.
Unsurprisingly the Disk System drive belt had long since rotted
away.
The correct belts were hard to come by back then but Frankie's
recommendation of an eBay vendor (the long since defunct JFGoods) that
sold replacement drive belts, as well as their replacement tutorial
that he had used in repairing his drive, gave me the confidence
that I could get it working. Upon posting on the forums about my
acquisition, Frankie offered to send me a duplicate copy of the FDS
game F-1 Race (on a loose 3D Hot Rally disk) to assist me in getting my
disk drive up and running and because he knew I'm a motorsports
fan.
Upon taking him up on his offer he dropped it in the mail, refused to
take any money for it, and a couple days later I used that disk to get
my drive running. As my collection wained over the years, that
copy of
F-1 Race became one of the few items that I would never part
with. I
used it to repair and calibrate many Disk System drives and it was
always the first game I would try on a newly received system.
Whenever
I'd be working on one of those FDS drives, especially in the years we'd
communicate on Facebook rather than a forum, I would thank him again
for sending me that disk - it was just a small gesture but it meant a
lot to me back then, and still does. That disk reminds me of how
cool
the community could be, how genuine
retrogamers could be toward one
another. That may sound lame or stupid to some but the small
things
like that are what show a person's character.
I recall our conversations about
TRON, The Prisoner, his erroneously
modifying a Dig Dug arcade cabinet into a MAME cab (and later atoning
for such by beautifully restoring a Mr. Do! cocktail).
Bootleg video
game copiers, cool gaming gadgets, virtues of the forgotten NES Zapper
game Gumshoe, his love of Halloween and his amazing costumes that would
give any professional cosplayer a run for their money. His nearly
drawing me into the world of unlicensed Transformers figures with more
screen-accurate sculpts and accessory sets that we could only dream of
as kids. He was also a friend of the newsletter, supportive of
the
re-launch right from the start, and one of the most frequent
respondents on our social media pages. Nearly every week he would
respond to Weekly Retrogaming Trivia and every time he would have the
correct answer - sometimes a more detailed answer than even what
I had
in mind.
I keep hoping it's some trick,
desperately hoping it's some elaborate
April Fool's prank (Digital Press always had some crazy ones), but
no... this sad and surreal feeling is so unfortunately true. Were
we
close friends? No, admittedly we weren't. That's on me
though, as I'm
a fairly private person but he never held it against me. There
are
people you encounter in life, no matter how or how briefly, who you
know are the real deal. Genuinely good people who make a positive
impact on those they cross paths with, full of life without
malice.
That's what I think of when I think of Frankie.
That he touched so many within the
retrogaming community is a testament
to who he was, how much he enjoyed video gaming, and more importantly
the interactions with the people involved along the way. My
deepest
condolences to his family and those who knew him better than I.
May your scores always be high,
Frankie. You are missed.
~
~ ~
Thank
you once
again for reading The Retrogaming
Times. We'll be back on November 1st with our next issue, the
last one this year!
Be sure
to follow The
Retrogaming Times on Facebook and join our community for the latest
updates and information! Additionally The
Retrogaming Times Info Club on Twitter features up-to-the-moment
news
and notifications for all things The Retrogaming Times! I
sincerely
hope you enjoyed this issue and that you will return to read the next
issue
and possibly submit an article yourself. Remember, this
newsletter
can only exist with your help. Simply send your articles
directly
to me at trt@classicplastic.net or check out the submission guidelines
on the main page. Submit an article today and join a great
retrogaming
tradition!
