The final post of the year.

The end of the year approaches and I thought it was about time for a short, final post for 2021. 

Some of these might (no promises) get a post next year

I set a goal of getting one post per week in 2021 and, helped by a crazy November, certainly hit that target, at least as an average. Did I post about everything I wanted to? No - no reviews of 6th Gen titles, nor much in the way of wargaming posts (aside from books) and the Was That Film Really That Bad series has stalled, although a few of those (including the last two of Wor Paul's Resident Evil movies) should make an appearance early next year. I would like to keep the same frequency of posting into 2022 but a planned return to office working (even if it is only two days a week) will take away 8-10 hours of spare time, so perhaps one per week might be pushing it, and there are other outlets for my writing that were a little neglected as 2021 progressed...

The most obvious being the reviews for RVG. That is something I intend to correct and at least get back into the habit of one review per month. There was also some additional writing which you should hopefully see in print next year and that is an avenue I'd like to continue down - but I'll let you know more as and when things happen.

I hope to have more posts about RISC OS (and possibly alternative computing in general), and (when they have confirmed the date), a trip down to the Wakefield Show. If that does happen, expect a show report with plenty of pictures. The same goes for wargames shows but, just like Wakefield, they are dependent on the Covid situation. Another wait and see for those.

In my first post of 2021, I said I was expecting several Kickstarter backed projects to be delivered within the following 12 months, some of which were delayed. Such is life but I am hopeful that these (and some newly backed projects) will make an appearance in 2022. There will also be more videogames and computing book reviews too as I work my way down the seemingly never-ending wishlist.

There's gaps for more books, and more shelves too!

In any case, I wish to say "Thank you" to each and every reader. This is a small blog, written just for my enjoyment, yet it is heartening to see there is an audience for my witterings. Thank you all very kindly. Have a great festive season and I shall be back to posting again in the new year.

Terrible Old Games You've Probably Never Heard Of by Stuart Ashen - Book Review

Terrible Old Games You've Probably Never Heard Of (hereby shortened to TOGYPNHO) by Stuart Ashen is a tour de force guide featuring nineteen home computer "gems" released between 1980 and 1995. Handily, this period covers pretty much the exact lifespan on the traditional "home computer" before the PC (and Mac to a degree) became the defacto standards. As such, you're treat to titles from the Atari 8-bit range to the Atari ST, via the Spectrum, CPC, Electron, MSX and many others along the way.

This period was very much the Wild West as far as software releases went, what with bedroom coders and publishers, and larger clearing houses that pumped out title after title at the tempting price of £1.99 (which was a hefty sum of pocket money back in the day, I can tell you!). There was also the lure of licensed titles - what more could be guaranteed than quality when you saw a copy of Highlander on the shelves - the film was great, so the game should be too, right? Ahem!

Ashen approaches the topic perfectly, from his understanding of the period (which you'll have to be of a certain age to fully get), to the desert dry humour throughout. Each entry is a mine of information, keenly written so that the humour cushions the reader against the horrors contained within. And yes, there are some horrors here. Maybe back then you could, if your parents were well off enough or you had a paper round, write off a £1.99 purchase, but when it came to dropping up to £25 on such trash, well, gentle reader, that was proper folding money! Hell, it still is today. The author even includes a game he wrote on the Amiga, a game that only ever saw the light of day as freeware. Kudos has to be given to him for bringing it to our attention.

There are screenshots galore (where sometimes you wish there weren't) and each title is shown a perverse level of care and, indeed, affection. What other reason could there be for writing so eloquently about them - apart from the obvious warning to others, naturally... But the enjoyment doesn't stop here. Mr Ashen has also approached others to share their most disappointing game purchases.

Violet Berlin, Jeff Minter, Paul Rose, Mentski, Alan Boiston and Steve Benway provide admissions of guilt, shame and sheer perversity to the worst games they have purchased, one of which I recall very well. Yes, I fell foul of SDI on the Amstrad CPC back in the day. And yes, it was utter shite. There is also an interview with Ste Pickford about the state of the industry at the time. This one is particularly interesting as it highlights the changes that affected game development as the industry moved from the familiar 8-bit ranges to the wonders of the 16-bit future. The general impression given of the 8-bit market very much gels with the theme in iDesine's A World in Pixels, a cracking volume on the 8-bit Acorn scene.

But wait! There's more! With 80's games comes 80's comedians...

You also get your own Spectrum game included with the book. Now, before you all head off to the loft to dig out that +2 you were given for Christmas in 1987 (when what you actually wanted was an ST or Amiga), it's just a listing and it really is a crap game. Whether you find it worth typing in those eleven lines of BASIC is up to you, but it's a canny touch to top off the book. Actually, no, the cherry on top is the index. Read it, you'll see.

TOGYPNHO is a lovely little piece of videogame nostalgia, of a time when it really was pot luck walking into a games shop/supermarket/newsagents and picking up a cassette case with even the most decent of artwork - for as we all know from that time, the artwork (and screenshots on the back of the inlay) rarely gave you an accurate impression of the game itself. This fantastic little book deserves to be in your videogame tome collection and there is a follow up volume too, Attack of the Flickering Skeletons, that I'll pick up as and when, as I really enjoyed this volume. 

I should note that this was another book funded by supporters using Unbound. It really is a handy way of getting smaller, niche interest books published. 

You can buy this and the follow up on Amazon here, follow the author on Twitter here and subscribe to his YouTube channel here, which is also a hoot.

Breakout by Jamie Lendino - Book Review

Over the last couple of years, I have found a new appreciation for all things Atari - from the original VCS/2600 days, through to the re-born Atari's 16 and 32-bit computers, and even the much-maligned but ever so tempting Jaguar. In that time, I have picked up some very good games (via the Evercade handheld) and books (We Love Atari, Atari - a Visual History, 50 Atari ST Games You Have To Play) on the subject. But I wanted more. Tomes with different approaches, styles and yes, obviously, content. After finishing Greyfox Book's Visual History, I set out to locate other sources and very quickly found this: Breakout - How Atari 8-bit Computers Defined A Generation by Jamie Lendino.

This is, in one sense, a very personal tale as the author grew up with Atari 8-bit computers, ran a bulletin board on them and rediscovered the joys of owning an Atari 8-bit by rebuilding some of his collection in recent years. That personal connection pervades Breakout and reinforces the enthusiasm with which the author speaks of Atari. It's that enthusiasm which carries you along as you read through the three sections of this well-written tome. 

The first gives you the author's background and his formative years with Atari's 8-bit range, an in-depth tour of the 8-bit range's history, the high points and the lows (what was it with computer company management in the 1980's? Bill Herd's excellent Back into the Storm describes similar ineptitude at Commodore), as well as the kit that you could buy at the time. 

That fold in the back cover was caused by an unexpected feline intervention.

The core of the book details the games, with over one hundred titles covered in a section that takes up well over a third of the book. Here, you will find seminal arcade conversions, original titles, unreleased prototypes and maybe some games that history has mostly forgotten for the right reasons. These contain lovely snippets of info and touch on some of the weirder titles. There are screenshots (sadly not in colour) but they are clear enough, as are the images and photographs dotted around the book.

The final section deals with the modern (as of 2017) approach to Atari's 8-bit wonders. From emulation, collecting, modding (love the laptop, by the way) to the alive and kicking Atari community, you'll find a lot of still relevant information here if you fancy taking the plunge into the format. You'll also find a handy list of pertinent publications, and I will be tracking down copies of the ones I don't already own.

Breakout is a wonderful history of the Atari 8-bit range of machines, from both the author's perspective and its place in the US market. On it's own, it is a great book but, and hear me out, it is even better when read alongside Atari - a Visual History. Why? Because that similarly excellent volume is in colour and, where they crossover, you have a wonderful brace of resources for many Atari 8-bit titles. Inadvertently, these are superb companion pieces. 

You can purchase Breakout from Amazon, either as a paperback or a Kindle e-book. You can follow the author on Twitter, where you can find out more about his writing (he has a long career in tech writing). You can also find out about his other books here, which I intend to purchase in the new year. Expect reviews as and when. And, if you like the idea of having two great books on the Atari's 8-bit range, you can find out more about Greyfox Books here. 

Switch Player - Magazine Review

Regular readers may recall my review of Ninety Fresh back in August and how much I enjoyed that magazine. Since then, I have acquired the first three issues and backed the fifth, which arrived a few weeks back and continues the high quality Nintendo-centric approach of the previous editions. There is no doubt that when the next Kickstarter arrives next year for issue six, I'll be backing that without delay. Some of you may also remember I mentioned Ninety Media's other regular publication, Switch Player. Well, I eventually got round to buying the latest issue, number 58. 

And it's just so god-damned cute! I mean look at it, especially in comparison to the full size Ninety Fresh! This is an A5 publication, 60 pages in length and in full colour. For £3.49 per issue plus postage, that's not too shabby at all. There is a subscription service available as well but I will cover how you can support Switch Player later on in the post.

So, a handy little magazine, reminding me of the old Commando comics (are they even still a thing?), that gives a great first impression. It looks and feels professional and given it's now approaching issue 60, a successful one too. Again, more on that later.

Content-wise, the cover gives a handy hint at the ten pages handed over to Pokemon, but not before an editorial piece on the difficulty in path-finding in Metroid Dread and the ability to get lost in even the most well-designed of games, plus a potential solution. After Pokemon, there is a three page report on the EGX show, a single page dedicated to Gaming Ruminations (on the topic of difficulty vs enjoying gaming), and then a feature on Shin Megami Tensei, a gaming series I had never even heard of before so it was good to learn something new. The last piece before the reviews is a two pager on the Switch Player Tournament, where four of the crew competed at playing Gang Beasts. Imagine a competitive version of Couch Potato that SFX used to run in years gone by.

Ah, the reviews section. This takes up twenty-six pages (and they had to drop a couple of smaller reviews to get the features in!) and offers well-written opinions on Metroid Dread, Epistory - Typing Chronicles, Tetris Effect: Connected, Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania, Disco Elysium The Final Cut, Castlevania Advance Collection, A Night At The Races, Droneridge, Youtubers Life 2, A Little Golf Journey, Death's Gambit: Afterlife, Staxel, Pandaball and The Long Gate. Phew! That's a lot! Reviews are scored out of five stars, with half stars being permitted and a handy guide at the start of the review section defining what each of the scores equates to. 

The last few pages of the magazine are given over to a two page look at the Switch OLED model, two pages on "A Moment in Switchstory" (detailing the events of previous Octobers since the Switch launched) and finally a lovely retrospective on the astounding Golf Story, which got a review back in Switch Player Issue 9. Was it really that long ago? The back cover closes off the issue with an advert from Premium Edition Games.

In a sense, I kind of knew what to expect from Switch Player when I ordered this copy - after all, it was from the same stable as Ninety Fresh. What I did not expect was to find was such a packed, informative little magazine, perfect for carrying round with your Switch to read when you've ran down your favourite handheld's battery. It really is a great magazine and long may it continue.

So now to the important bit. If you like the idea of this magazine and want to buy a copy, you can do that here. However, if you want to set up what is in effect a recurring subscription, head over to Patreon and check out the levels of support there. From a basic £1 per month for a digital pdf copy, through £4 for a physical copy including second-class postage and then upwards, with different levels of support gaining different benefits, this is the best way to secure a copy of the magazine and ensure it continues. I have signed up and am looking forward to future issues - the next one will focus on Grand Theft Auto, so should be a canny one. As the only monthly print Nintendo Switch magazine, Switch Player occupies an important niche in the still extant physical magazine market. No, you'll never see it on newsagents shelves, but that doesn't matter, as you will be directly supporting the writers and artists who produce this professional work - just like the teams behind Ninety Fresh, Amiga Addict, Amiga Future, From Gamers Magazine, Sega Mania, E1M1 and others. As you will note if you check out the magazine tag on my blog, I am a big fan of the printed word and Switch Player joins the ranks of those I am supporting. If you're a Switch player (see what I did there), I recommend you do so too.

The Sega Mega Drive and Genesis Encyclopedia by Chris Scullion - Book Review

SCULLION!!! We need to have words!

Why? The Animaniacs entry - factoid - Youtube video - that's all I'm saying but I will tell you that I had that bloody song stuck in my head for days afterwards! Anyhoo, back to the book review.

The Sega Mega Drive and Genesis Encyclopedia is the latest entry in what looks like turning out to be an annual series of well-written and crafted platform specific guides to the games that were released on them. The NES and SNES volumes were the first two (reviewed here), and this Mega Drive/Genesis tome marks the third entry to the series. The author has announced that 2022 will see the N64 edition, then another four, unannounced volumes are due with an annual cadence thereafter. Oh, and that's not to forget the platform gaming book due out early next year as well. Between these and the author's day job at VGC, I am surprised he doesn't sleep with a keyboard melded to his fingertips and ice packs strapped to his wrists - won't somebody think of the tendons?

All joking aside, I have suffered from tenosynovitis long ago that led to six months off work so I salute whatever Mr Scullion does to keep himself writing. It is not just the amount that astounds though. Nope, there is also the quality of his output and, with what could be described as almost machine-like regularity, he's done it again. The book is a corker.

The Sega Mega Drive and Genesis Encyclopedia follows the template of the previous books in the series. Each game gets at least a quarter page (some get a half page but due to the sheer number of titles covered, there isn't space for full page entries) which neatly describes the game in question with some snarky asides thrown in there for variety. These are funny and more than a couple had me laughing out loud, much to the consternation of my good lady and the cat. The tone of the entries is something to note as well - the author is passionate about videogames and he wants that passion to shine through in his writing. Whether you read this linearly or just jump around the entries at will, you'll never be less than entertained and informed. You also get a little trivia note for each game so consider this a fair warning: when he says check something out on YouTube, be aware that you might have to deal with the musical consequences for much longer than you think... Each game also gets a screenshot as well.

Were it just the Mega Drive/Genesis that were being covered, all would be tickets-boo, but no, Yer Man Scullion has taken things further by including sections covering the libraries of the Sega 32X and the Mega CD/Sega CD. This makes this encyclopedia a truly one-stop shop for any fan of Sega's 16-bit wonder. Having said that, I have still backed the Mega Book Collection from Greyfox Books that is currently live on Kickstarter. I reviewed their Atari - a Visual History recently and I wanted to see a different take on the same subject. Plus, you can never have too many books...

One of the nice things Mr Scullion does when releasing a book is to get a limited number of  copies for signing so you could order directly from him. This was the course I took and I'm very happy with copy number 24 of 100. He also included a lovely typed (but hand-signed) thank you note, explaining the journey for this volume and the forthcoming N64 one. 

So, there you have it. Another brilliant entry in the series and one that you can buy directly from the publisher here, or from Amazon here. You can follow the author on Twitter here and he has his own blog here. Will I be buying his future books when they hit the shelves? Of course, ear worm YouTube songs and all!