ChinnyVision

Firelord published by Hewson is an unusual 8 bit game where you mix exploration and trading across a huge map. Published for the Amstrad CPC, SInclair Spectrum and Commodore 64, this unique and huge game can devour hours of your time as you explore its map. We look at the game, as ever, on real hardware.

5 new games from Egotrip for the Amstrad CPC. Prelude To Chaos, Oceano, Slither, Ice Slider and Jewel Warehouse (previously reviewed) in a lovely package. We check these new titles out using real hardware.

Semi-regular feature where I answer mainly technical questions about old computers and consoles whilst giving you something nice to look at.

1990, semi final, tears before bedtime? Mmmm? Penalties! Defeat! Small boys in the park, jumpers for goalposts. Etc etc. Gazza 2 by Empire is the hastily cobbled together sequel to Gazza's Superstar Soccer in the wake of the 1990 World Cup. Paul Gascoigne himself appears in digitised form on the loading screens of the CPC, ST and Amiga versions. ChinnyVision tackles this top down football game using the original hardware on the Sinclair Spectrum, Atari ST, Commodore Amiga, Commodore 64 and Amstrad CPC. And what did happened to the advertised and reviewed Amstrad GX4000 version?

Alan Sugar had a plan! He was going to bring the gift of email to everyones homes without needing a computer. Simple to own, cheap to buy? What could possibly go wrong? Except Alan couldn't resist on dipping into peoples wallets once he had the device in peoples houses. ChinnyVision looks at the 2nd iteration of the Amstrad Emailer, the Emailer Plus and also tears down the device to see the brains of this glorified telephone. Behold the end days of Amstrad!

Skweek is a game by Loriciels for the Atari ST, Commodore Amiga and Amstrad CPC published in the UK by US Gold. Walk over the blocks to change the colour but avoid the baddies. Think Pippo but with scrolling. ChinnyVision investigates what is regarded as a classic game on the CPC using real hardware.

Light pens and Speech Synthesisers, the stuff dreams were made of in 1985. And now in 2019 the CPC has a brand new Speech synth complete with PCM Playback.

Football! Yes the 16 bit era was defined by football games and we look at 8 of them on the ST and Amiga? Why 8? Well why not. Games include Striker, Sensible Soccer, Kick Off 2, Microprose Soccer, Kenny Daglish, Manchester United Europe and Sega World Championship Soccer.

Probably THE most ambitious sprite scaling arcade game, Jaleco's Cisco Heat was ported by Imageworks to the Atari ST, Amiga, Spectrum, Amstrad CPC and C64. We look at these conversions on real hardware including CRT shots for the Spectrum.

A 64 bit handheld that plays SNES games for under 25 quid? 10,000+ games included? We have to investigate! This is the ZX S9000a Game Player Plus, surely the most powerful handheld console ever made?

Back to 1985 with a game on the ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC written by a 15 year old and set in a school. Tubaruba see's you having broken a window and your headmaster has bet his car that you cannot raise the £50 needed to repair it. So you have to travel between rooms collecting the money! All footage from real hardware.

Stunt Car Racer by Geoff Crammond is an 8 and 16 bit classic. But the BBC Micro never got a port. No matter, Bit Shifters have got to work and ported this game to the BBC Master 128. But how will wire frame graphics fare on the 2 MHz 6502 inside the Acorn machine? ChinnyVision fires up its ex 6th form Master 128 to fine out!

Five NEW games for the Atari 8 bit games, some of which ported from existing systems. Time Pilot, Total Eclipse, Ziggy, Drudarium and Jack The Nipper are the games, all running on my Atari 65 XE. Note, all the games here run on a standard 64k Atari. I don't own a 128k machine so please don't ask why certain games are not covered. This is a REAL HARDWARE channel.

It's Space Invaders, but Super! Yes Taito's Space Invaders '91 made it to the Atari ST, Amiga, C64, CPC, Spectrum and Sega Master System. An update of a game over a decade old and treated with slight disdain by reviewers at the time. But is it worth revisiting in 2019? We check its out on the original hardware.

Finally what we have all been waiting for, an SD card interface that works on an Acorn Electron with no other expansions required. Is this device a game changer? Does it mean you no longer have to battle with loading games via the tape interface? Time to find out with ChinnyVision!

I like trucking, I like trucking, I like trucking and I like to truck. Juggernaut by CRL gives you the chance to get behind the wheel of a big rig on your Spectrum or CPC. Drive around town, pick things up and take them back to the depot and get lost on a sprawling randomly generated map.

A review that has taken 2 years and 3 machines! ChinnyVision looks at the Acorn Archimedes A3000, a familiar site in classrooms of the early 90's. It's 32 bit ARM processor leaves a legacy that still impacts each and every one of us today. We look at the machine, some of the software and the pitfalls you may come across when trying to buy one. Note the video says the machine has a pre-emptive multitasking operating system like the Amiga. It does not. It switches. Sorry for the mistake.

Bosconian '87 is a budget update on the original Namco arcade game. Released by Mastertronic and coded by Binary Design, we look at this 1987 take on the arcade classic and ask, why did anyone feel i needed updating to begin with. All footage from a real Sinclair Spectrum +2, Amstrad CPC 6128 and Commodore C64c.

Getting images into your computer was challenging until the advent of the scanner. But flat bed scanners were very expensive, thus the hand scanner was born. However this gave users unique challenges when trying to scan in images. The Mustek Hand Scanner is shown running on an accelerated Amiga 1200.

Did Commodore or Sinclair have an official newsstand magazine run from their HQ? No, but Amstrad did. Starting off as little more than a user club magazine, it ended up on the high street with a circulation of over 60,000 copies a month. ChinnyVision scans through the first 18 months of the magazine looking for highlights

It's not snooker, it's not pool, it's Angleball by Mastertronic. A unique hybrid of pool, Mastertronic released the game on the Spectrum. CPC, MSX and C64. But does a five sides table make this pool game any good? ChinnyVision investigates on the original hardware.

It's FA Cup weekend so ChinnyVision cashes in with FA Cup Football by Virgin. Steer your team all the way to Wembley with all the excitement of the cup on your Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64 and Sinclair Spectrum. Real hardware, naturally!

You take grabbing images from video for granted today. 1 click and it's done. Even if it's an old source like a VHS tape a cheap adapter will see you right. But back in the 90's, high quality frame grabbing was big news. The Vidi Amiga from Rombo promised stunning quality images captured from video on your home micro. However we all know about promises of that era, right? ChinnyVision investigates.

"Clive Sinclair, the man who bought you Jet Set ***** Willy!". Well no, actually it was Matthew Smith and Software Projects. ChinnyVision investigates this game over 9 platforms. The Spectrum, CPC, C64, Atari 8 Bit, MSX, BBC Micro, Acorn Electron, and the Commodore 16 and Plus/4. Which versions stand ups against the Spectrum original and which have been converted by the crack coders at Tynesoft. Tune in for this real hardware treat!

The Sega Dreamcast was the last console from the former giant of gaming. A fantastic console sunk by bad decisions by the company that gave us so much joy in the 80's and 90's. But if you pick up one of these consoles, which games should you buy that won't break the bank? This isn't a definitive list but a suggest of 5 great games for the Sega console.

Can't be bothered buying a C64? After all they are so hard and expensive to obtain. Where would you even find one? Well fear not, Retro Computers have decided they can't resist the lure of the Retro £ and have released The C64 Mini. We wouldn't have touched this with a bargepole at full price, but with units now available at around half the official RRP we thought we'd take a look! PLEASE NOTE: This is not a review of all the games on the system, but the hardware as you can load on your own games.

Crazy Cars by Titus reviewed across 7 formats on the real hardware. Race your way across America with this game for the Amiga, Atari ST, IBM PC/MSDOS, Amstrad CPC, MSX, Commodore 64 and Spectrum.

The MSX was supposed to take over the world but hit the market too late to much much impact in the UK, much of Europe and the USA. But that doesn't mean there are not a load of interesting machines to look at. Indeed the Toshiba HX10 is one of the most common machines you will find in the UK. It looks more akin to an industrial computer but what is this "Made In Japan" Micro actually like to use? And how does it stack up against other MSX machines we have tried?

Mid 80's cop series Dempsey and Makepeace got a conversion to the home micros Britannia Software. The game was advertised for the CPC, C64 and Spectrum but only the CPC version ever turned up. Is it an all action 80's cop show game worth seeking out? Why did the other versions never come out. ChinnyVision investigates using real hardware.

The cartoon Ghostbusters more like. Anyway this series was ripe for a cash in and Activision grabbed the rights to convert a lacklustre reskinned arcade machine to the ST, Amiga, CPC, Speccy and C64. ChinnyVision investigates on the original hardware to see if this cash in conversion comes off well or not.

Oink! was a mid 1980's comic from the same stable that gave you Buster and Whizzer and Chips. Edited by "Uncle Pig", it features strips such as Tom Thug, Pete and His Pimple and Frank Sidebottom. CRL got the licence to convert the comic to a game for the Amstrad CPC, Sinclair Spectrum and C64. But just how do you convert a newsstand comic to a game?

Off to the seaside we go to answer your questions! Did you win a C64 mini? Find out!

Acorn were one of the last companies standing with an authorised dealer network, with shops still to be seen in places like Four Marks in Hampshire as late as 2000. But in 2019? Well l'd heard mention that Worthing still had a dealer and I thought I had glimpsed a logo when driving past earlier in the year. I was in town so I thought I would go and take a look! CJE Micro's is indeed a Acorn dealer with thousands of items in stock. We caught them in the process of moving to a brand new store in Littlehampton but there were still piles of items being moved out of the shop to what sounds like an exciting new shop a few miles down the road.

Silkworm is a 1988 arcade shooter released by Tecmo and converted to C64, Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST and Commodore Amiga in 1989. The unusual thing about the game is the co-op gameplay that sees you and a buddy fight the enemies side by side but using different vehicles.

Hi Tec Software produced a large number of budget games based on Hanna Barbera characters in the early 1990's in attempt to break their way in to the budget market. Ultimately unsuccessful they did produced some polished games. This release for the Amstrad CPC, Sinclair Spectrum, Commodore 64 see's Atom Ant have to defuse bombs placed on buildings.

It may be 2019 but the Speccy is still getting new games. Quadron is an unfinished Spectrum project from the 1980's which is now ready to play 30 years later

Behold the floating bearded head of Kevin Toms, author of Football Manager regarded as the first true football management simulator. Published by Addictive Software and ported to every format under the sun we look at the Spectrum, C64, CPC, MSX, Atari 8 Bit, BBC, ST, Amiga, Electron and C16 versions. Yes it did take a long time!

It's a lot less bovver with a hover! Jeff Minter action on the Atari XL/XE and C64 as you mow a lawn and evade irate people helped by your trusty dog.

Who dares wins? Well the SAS do. You can now join the Special Air Service on your ST, Amiga, C64, Spectrum or CPC with this budget game by Codemasters. At 7 minutes 20 when I say Commando, I of course mean Green Beret. Sorry!

Say the name "Pinball Dreams" and you think of a colourful Amiga game with full screen scrolling, amazing graphics, 50fps animation, superb ball physics and wonderful sound. Not something you could imagine could be ported to an 8 bit system without being cut down. Let alone the Amstrad CPC with its total lack of hardware sprites and hardware scrolling. So how will the old girl cope with this? ChinnyVision runs the game on a real Amstrad CPC 6128 (as ever) and also shows you CRT shots and the Amiga version for comparison. Finally we get an Amiga Pinball Dreams player with no experience of the CPC to pass comment via the wonder of the Lambdaspeak 3!

New games on cartridge starting at just £9.99? Well that's what The Future Was 8 Bit is offering with a new range of games. We look at Super Goatron (C64), Ms Rodman (C64) and Nibbler (Vic 20) all on real hardware.

Martial arts action with this 7 format review of Ninja (sometimes called Ninja Mission) by Mastertronic. We look at the Atari 8 Bit, Amstrad CPC, Commodore, Spectrum, MS-DOS IBM PC, ST and Amiga versions to see how this budget hit stacks up across the formats.

In the early days of Spectrum gaming there was no bugger name than Ultimate Play The Game. Sabre Wulf sees Sabre Man battle through a jungle to collect pieces of an amulet. Originally released for the ZX Spectrum we look at that version on an original 48k issue 4s as well as on the CPC, C64 and BBC Micro. All real hardware as ever! For this is ChinnyVision, real hardware capture since 2014!

Protect North Sea oil rigs from undersea attack with you helicopter in this game from Tynemouth Software. We look at the Amstrad CPC, Acorn Electron, BBC Micro and Commodore 16.

Bad Dudes Vs. Dragon Ninja, or simply known as Dragon Ninja was a Data East coin-op ported by Ocean to the Amstrad CPC, Sinclair Spectrum, MSX, Commodore 64, Atari ST and Commodore Amiga. How does this arcade beat-em-up action look using real hardware on the home system? As ever, ChinnyVision finds out!

We always fancied getting gold of an Atari 130XE. So we bought one that was "Refurbished" from a dealer. What could go wrong? What do people mean by 'refurbished'. ChinnyVision finds out and also takes a look at this 8 bit home micro from the Tramiel era of Atari including a teardown.

Earlier in the year we reviewed an SD card interface for the Acorn Electron. The first of its kind, the performance was impressive but perhaps 20% of games didn't work due to memory issues. This new device, the ElkSD64, aims to solve all of that with 64K of RAM and an improved all in one design. Is it the answer all Electron owners have been waiting for?

The classic arcade game Moon Patrol got a fairly good port to the Atari 8 bits, bit this new port addresses some niggly problems and adds some polish. So we fired up our new 130XE to take a look (the video says its the 65XE but it was the 130XE used).

Published by Palace Software and coded by Steve Brown and Richard Leinfellner, Cauldron is a side viewed game where you must gather ingredients to defeat your nemesis, the evil pumpkin. Released for the Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC and Sinclair Spectrum. We look at the game on original hardware.

Guzzler isn't a port of the arcade game but a unique game published by Interceptor Software (later renamed Players) for the C64, CPC and C16. You are a mouse who goes around a Pacman style maze with the addition of collecting keys and doorways you can only go through when "deflated". Mr Do meets Pacman!

Tesco is selling brand new tape recorders that on the face of it look like a good solution for loading games into machines such as the ZX Spectrum. But are they the good deal that they seem? ChinnyVision dresses up as Lynn Faulds Wood to find out if the Groov-E cuts the mustard.