124 réponses à ce sujet

[Geraldine]

Ahhhh, the great Amiga/Atari debate, still going strong after all these years, great!  
There was one game on the ST that I had real envy for, it was called Sundog. A great space sim that you could get out of your ship and wonder around planets. It was an ST exclusive.

[blothulfur]

When I was growing up Senet was all the rage, good game but i'm told it's considered very retro now.

[vometia]

Geraldine wrote...

Ahhhh, the great Amiga/Atari debate, still going strong after all these years, great!  
There was one game on the ST that I had real envy for, it was called Sundog. A great space sim that you could get out of your ship and wonder around planets. It was an ST exclusive.

That largely passed me by as I was just starting to get into mainframes and this newfangled internet thing at the time, but I do remember an awful lot of squabbling between the two camps, especially when it came to computer-generated music!  If I recall, the Amiga had a better synth, but the Atari had MIDI.

It was nearly a three-way split in the UK with the Acorn Archimedes very nearly having a similar profile (and whose ARM processor still lives on in the embedded market) but they decided to mainly target their traditional stomping ground of schools and the educational market in general.  Shame they didn't make a bigger push into the consumer market like they did with the BBC Micro.

[Seagloom]

The past? Sure. The distant past? Not so much these days. I try to get in a game of Pac-Man on every now and then. Also a big fan of Robotron 2084 and Tempest. I still own a few older consoles. A friend has my Atari 7800 and collection of 7800/2600 games at the moment. My library sports some of the very best to very worst. Yes, I own a copy of "E.T."

Retro games are great to pick up and play without needing much investment. Still, I barely have time for new releases and years old games I never get around to. Older stuff gets an even shorter shrift.

[AllThatJazz]

I got my brother's Amiga after he moved on to newer consoles. There was a truly great shareware version of Tetris that I was utterly addicted to, and just remembering the music still almost sends me into a trance ...

@Vometia - blimey, the BBC! We had one at school, I remember playing some kind of text adventure involving a princess. I think it may actually have been the root of my CRPG passion. Hm.

My earliest computer was an Amstrad green screen. Essentially a word processor, only slightly less effective than a manual typewriter. And oh, so green. I had one game disk for it, which contained classics such as 'Skippy the Sailor' (three whole levels of ocean-going tedium! In green!) and 'The House of Usher', which I thought sounded fabulously spooky, but was actually several levels of a small man in a hat trying to avoid flying strawberries. Sigh. Sometimes I really DON'T miss the old days. :/

Modifié par AllThatJazz, 11 juillet 2011 - 07:36 .

[Cutlass Jack]

The Commedore 64 was my first computer. Loved that thing. I think Bard's Tale was my first cRPG on it. Back when EA was about Electronic Artists, rather than profit. Very different company now.

[vometia]

AllThatJazz wrote...

@Vometia - blimey, the BBC! We had one at school, I remember playing some kind of text adventure involving a princess. I think it may actually have been the root of my CRPG passion. Hm.

My earliest computer was an Amstrad green screen. Essentially a word processor, only slightly less effective than a manual typewriter. And oh, so green. I had one game disk for it, which contained classics such as 'Skippy the Sailor' (three whole levels of ocean-going tedium! In green!) and 'The House of Usher', which I thought sounded fabulously spooky, but was actually several levels of a small man in a hat trying to avoid flying strawberries. Sigh. Sometimes I really DON'T miss the old days. :/

The BBC was the computer everyone wanted back in the day, but at £400 (I guess over £1,000 in today's money) it was a serious outlay.  I was so jealous when a friend's parents bought him one!  I also recall Sinclair's adverts unconvincingly trying to claim that the Spectrum was every bit as good as the BBC Micro.  Hmm.

Amstrad did quite a range of computers back then.  Their CPC series was unusual for Amstrad in that it was actually very good, both in terms of hardware and software: they saved money by using the then ageing Z80 processor, but made up for it with excellent graphics and sound.  My neighbour bought one and again envy was the order of the day.   But they needed dedicated monitors, and those who weren't flush with cash had to use the green-screen model that you mentioned; they also did the PCW word processor thingy that was indeed like a typewriter on anti-steroids.

I do recall that a lot of the games of the day really didn't live up to the advertising at all, either in terms of the description or the cover art.  I bought some real lemons that were rubbishy things written in BASIC, though given the problems of loading them from cassette I often gave up before I even had a chance to play, good or bad.

[Geraldine]

The PCW! Oh my goodness I had one of those too with a green screen. If I remember right, I think it used these small disks that you put into a disk drive on the side of the monitor, in fact I think the whole computer (or most of it) was inside the monitor too.

[AllThatJazz]

vometia wrote...

AllThatJazz wrote...

@Vometia - blimey, the BBC! We had one at school, I remember playing some kind of text adventure involving a princess. I think it may actually have been the root of my CRPG passion. Hm.

My earliest computer was an Amstrad green screen. Essentially a word processor, only slightly less effective than a manual typewriter. And oh, so green. I had one game disk for it, which contained classics such as 'Skippy the Sailor' (three whole levels of ocean-going tedium! In green!) and 'The House of Usher', which I thought sounded fabulously spooky, but was actually several levels of a small man in a hat trying to avoid flying strawberries. Sigh. Sometimes I really DON'T miss the old days. :/

The BBC was the computer everyone wanted back in the day, but at £400 (I guess over £1,000 in today's money) it was a serious outlay.  I was so jealous when a friend's parents bought him one!  I also recall Sinclair's adverts unconvincingly trying to claim that the Spectrum was every bit as good as the BBC Micro.  Hmm.

Amstrad did quite a range of computers back then.  Their CPC series was unusual for Amstrad in that it was actually very good, both in terms of hardware and software: they saved money by using the then ageing Z80 processor, but made up for it with excellent graphics and sound.  My neighbour bought one and again envy was the order of the day.   But they needed dedicated monitors, and those who weren't flush with cash had to use the green-screen model that you mentioned; they also did the PCW word processor thingy that was indeed like a typewriter on anti-steroids.

I do recall that a lot of the games of the day really didn't live up to the advertising at all, either in terms of the description or the cover art.  I bought some real lemons that were rubbishy things written in BASIC, though given the problems of loading them from cassette I often gave up before I even had a chance to play, good or bad.

Hah, yes, funnily enough it was the BBC that was on my Christmas list. Ah well, at least all the green shades meant my eyes were very relaxed ... 

I do remember my one and only attempt at programming on the Amstrad. I spent all day trying to get a dot to move around the screen in zigzag patterns; it never worked and I eventually gave up in frustration, which I regret to this day!

Off topic slightly, Vometia your knowledge about all this is really impressive. Interesting stuff, thankyou   

[AllThatJazz]

Geraldine wrote...

The PCW! Oh my goodness I had one of those too with a green screen. If I remember right, I think it used these small disks that you put into a disk drive on the side of the monitor, in fact I think the whole computer (or most of it) was inside the monitor too.

Good lord! I'm not alone! 

[AngryFrozenWater]

AllThatJazz wrote...

Geraldine wrote...

The PCW! Oh my goodness I had one of those too with a green screen. If I remember right, I think it used these small disks that you put into a disk drive on the side of the monitor, in fact I think the whole computer (or most of it) was inside the monitor too.

Good lord! I'm not alone! 

No you are not. I had one too. I have written a public domain program to increase the capacity of those 3 inch disks. It turned out that program became rather popular. Many used it.

[Rockworm503]

The true nostalgia for me is going to the arcade and devoting an afternoon and a few books to beat the Simpsons or X-men or Golden Axe or Battletoads or Turtles or any of the other countless beat-em ups with friends.
Oh good times.

[AllThatJazz]

Rockworm503 wrote...

The true nostalgia for me is going to the arcade and devoting an afternoon and a few books to beat the Simpsons or X-men or Golden Axe or Battletoads or Turtles or any of the other countless beat-em ups with friends.
Oh good times.

What about all those Olympics games? Ahhh, I so wanted to be Daley Thompson but sadly I never mastered the running. Or hurdling. Or high jump. 

[Rockworm503]

hated those games with a passion.
we have a nickle arcade here that is 2 dollars to get in and games cost a nickel to play them...
I haven't been there in years but I remember there was an Olympic game there that I tried once. I still want my nickel back!

[Milana_Saros]

AlanC9 wrote...

Milana_Saros wrote...

I do re-visit old games occasionally. A few months back I played Turrican 2 on an emulator and not long ago I played UFO : Enemy Unknown. Played BG1 & 2 as well recently. BG2 was a real pain to get to work on a modern computer.

I've got my X-COM disc on my desk right this minute. (That's the US release of UFO -- the funny thing is that they only changed the title on the box, so when you boot the game up it still says UFO).

What's wrong with BG2 on a modern computer, anyway?

It's insanely choppy and unstable without certain fixes. After searching the net for 2 hours I finally found out that you need to force the game to use both cores of a dual core processor. Not sure how the game handles quad core processors since I don't own one. Once I solved that problem the game ran just fine. But finding that solution sure was a pain in the butt.

[_Aine_]

Cutlass Jack wrote...

The Commedore 64 was my first computer. Loved that thing. I think Bard's Tale was my first cRPG on it. Back when EA was about Electronic Artists, rather than profit. Very different company now.

I was pretty young for games but my family had a Commodore 64  I was still in middle school but I taught myself how to program stories on it where you could chose your own endings...or rather your path, and your endings.  *laughs* and i wonder why I get annoyed when there aren't multiple endings in games    I also wrote really bad romance crap. I still sometimes do.   Technology changes but my inner derp lives on.   

[johnbonhamatron]

AllThatJazz wrote...

Rockworm503 wrote...

The true nostalgia for me is going to the arcade and devoting an afternoon and a few books to beat the Simpsons or X-men or Golden Axe or Battletoads or Turtles or any of the other countless beat-em ups with friends.
Oh good times.

What about all those Olympics games? Ahhh, I so wanted to be Daley Thompson but sadly I never mastered the running. Or hurdling. Or high jump. 

Do not make me think about Track & Field.

One has to wonder how many people developed rheumatoid arthritis because of that sodding game!

[Mr Kazett]

Rockworm503 wrote...

The true nostalgia for me is going to the arcade and devoting an afternoon and a few books to beat the Simpsons or X-men or Golden Axe or Battletoads or Turtles or any of the other countless beat-em ups with friends.
Oh good times.

YES! I literally grew up in an arcade. It was down the street from my grandmother's home. I played so many games, the ones you mentioned, Snow Bros., Metal Slug, Bust-A-Move, Street Fighter II, Samurai Shodown, and my favorite The King of Fighters

[johnbonhamatron]

While we're talking arcade games, the one I really remember (mainly because I broke it, once) is Nemesis/Gradius/whatever it was called where you lived.

I may have got so excited hammering the bomb button that the cabinet completely shut down...

[Chromie]

Did someone say Commodore 64?

Weird with Windows 7 running on it!

[OmegaXI]

Am I the only one who ever rocked a Turbo Graphics? Oh and Mario brothers on the NES before duck hunt came with it.

[SOLID_EVEREST]

Street Fighter HD: Remix online is the game I play non-stop, but as for retro gaming, this is one of the only places where I find a good number of people who actually even know what the company Westwood and Bullfrog where. I still play great games from the 90's like Blade Runner, Alpha Centauri, and Pool of Radiance. Anyways, not much going on in today's gaming so I've been hounding GoG.com trying to buy some of the old games I remember playing on my old Windows 98.

[johnbonhamatron]

Ringo12 wrote...

Did someone say Commodore 64?

Weird with Windows 7 running on it!

Ooh, I'd forgotten that was coming out. And yes, feels very weird seeing anything other than Commodore OS on it (that page says it comes with Ubuntu, and it supports Windows 7); I want to boot up games by pressing <SHIFT><RUN/STOP>, then pressing play on the tape deck, dammit!

Modifié par johnbonhamatron, 11 juillet 2011 - 10:55 .

[slimgrin]

blothulfur wrote...

When I was growing up Senet was all the rage, good game but i'm told it's considered very retro now.

You're so pre-dynastic Bloth.

[bussinrounds]

Some of my old favs from the 80's were the Ultima games, Pool of Radiance, Archon, The Last Ninja, D&D Treasure of Tarmin and Tower of Doom on Intellivision, The Kings Quest games...