Nostalgia Nerd

So, I thought this would make a cheery, easy going video to roll in 2021, but as it turns out, this Fake PS5 had more hidden beneath the skin than I first thought. In fact, was the PS5 actually ripped off from this horror console, rather than the other way around?? Maybe the PlayStation 5 is the REAL fake in this instance.

ZX Spectrum owners will be more than familiar with Jetpac. A game by the phenomenal Stamper Brothers released by Ultimate Play the Game. But GameBoy owners will be less familiar with Super JetPak DX, mainly because it has only just been released. However, this excellent little title was originally written way back in 1999 for the GameBoy Color. So why the delay, and what's it like now it's here? Let's investigate.

Things have changed since Doom, even Doom 2016, so much so, that the retro FPS is back, but there are SO. MANY. RETRO FPS. GAMES. Seriously, when I started out on this mission, I didn't expect to uncover such a treasure trove of retro style FPS games. I expected games like Dusk, Amid Evil even Hellbound for sure, but the rabbit hole is much much deeper my friends, and it's glorious. Join me on this voyage of discovery as I examine (at least) 30 retro inspired FPS titles. Beautiful

Johnny Castaway. ScreenAntics. The Adventures of Johnny Castaway, or simply The Castaway. If you know this supreme screensaver published by Sierra Online in 1992, regardless of how you say it, then you should also know that it was the greatest screensaver ever made. If you don't, then, well, you're wrong (or simply have your own opinion which is completely subjective and therefore absolutely dandy as well).

Last month, I had the opportunity to purchase a car from 1990, a Renault 19 TSE. It's a car model that has a lot of nostalgia for me, and indeed I've been was fascinated by them since the 80s. So it seemed the perfect opportunity to make a video about it. Little did I know that it would turn out to be almost an hour long.

Please note, these games use *FLASHING LIGHTS*. It was bound to happen eventually. I couldn't get away with it forever. VHS Gaming. It was inevitable. The Action Max, Video Challenger, Hasbro Control Vision/NEMO, ViewMaster Interactive Vision, Sega Video Driver and everything inbetween. It's all here, and I've had to endure it. So I thought I'd dive in with the key question: How it conned us, and what I mean by that is; how any of these "game consoles" convinced us that they were something worth dabbling with in the first place.

The 90s and 00s demoscene was filled with incredible sights & sounds for the senses, but none more incredible (in my opinion) than kkrieger; a playable 3D FPS that compacts into just 96KB created by German demo group Farbrausch (theprodukkt). I'm fascinated by this, so it was amazing to get the chance to speak to some of the developers and designers of this monumental release and find out just how and why it was made.

Welcome to the world of Piepacker, an online service that allows you play retro games over the internet with friends, and using something called the PieReader, to actually play NES, SNES and Genesis/Mega Drive cartridges on your PC and through the internet. You can even bring your own digital ROMs, if you have them! What a time to be alive.

A game that combines the fantastical lands of Golden Axe with the gameplay style of Gauntlet you say? Well, apparently that's Battle Axe. Let's take a look and see if that holds up. Including a look at the ultimate physical edition.

A huge thanks to everyone else who has sent items in for this post/mail unboxing video. Please check out the links below for more information on each;

It's been about 2 years since we embarked on a good old fashioned Great British Bargain Hunt. So I decided to get my thrifting hat on and venture to Arminghall car boot sale and the Poringland village garage sale. Join us for retro tech thrifts of obscene glory with a haul that would make Thrift Man Slice happy.

IBM are famous for many computers, primarily the IBM PC. But the PS/2 line is interesting one. Mainly because it tried to do so much, but perhaps accomplished so little. It's for this reason that the IBM PS/2 Laptop is less well known than the more successful ThinkPad. But it contributed more to the ThinkPad thank you might think.

Here's a concept that my kids are fascinated with, and by extension, also me: Liminal spaces, liminality, and specifically here, liminal spaces in games. But, then I've always been fascinated by liminal spaces, and the feeling they bring; a kind of nostalgic disconnected anxiety, but until recently, I didn't realise there was a name for these spaces. So what better way to explore them than through the vessel of retro games.

Finally, some 30 years on from his last outing Alex Kidd is back, in a remake of Alex Kidd in Miracle World, titled Alex Kidd in Miracle World DX. So no dramatic change there. The question is, does the game itself have any dramatic changes, or is this just a quick rehash of the Miracle World we knew and ̷h̷a̷t̷e̷d̷ loved. In this episode, I'll take a look at Alex Kidd history, as well as opening up the Signature Edition games box set and then looking in detail at the new game itself. Does it hold up, or is it a floaty, frustrating piece of nonsense?

It has always surprised and intrigued me that titles like Street Fighter 2, Mortal Kombat and Pit Fighter made it onto 8 bit micros, like the ZX Spectrum, C64, Master System, NES. These 8 bit consoles just weren't made for the fast fighting pace of 90s fighting games, and it shows. In this video, I explore the world of crappy ports of arcade fighting games.

Commodore, a brand that has been with us for decades. As synonymous with computing as ICL or IBM, but almost universally loved. Commodore brought us the C64, the SX64, the Commodore Amiga, The Commodore PET Smartphone... WHAT. Yes, in 2015, a company known as Commodore Business Machines released a Commodore branded smartphone, and then seemingly vanished. This video explores what happened with that Smartphone before finding out what the company are doing these days, having announced a new "computer product" called the GK64 (Gaming Keyboard afaik). But wait, there's more, it's not even clear that this company own the Commodore brand rights. Plus ANOTHER company has emerged called Commodore Engineering who seem to be going down the same path. Are these rip off brands up to no good, or are they genuinely trying to offer us something connected to the Commodore brand that we know and love? Join me for a rollercoaster.

Windows 95 landed like no operating system. The marketing was insane. The events were insane. The hype was insane.... and it almost felt a bit insane to find Weezer's Buddy Holly music video on the CD-ROM version as well. What was it doing there? Why was it doing there?

There have been some fantastic arcade racers over the years.... Outrun, Turbo Outrun, Chase HQ, SCI, Hard Drivin'... I could go on. Many of these games were ported across to home micros such as the ZX Spectrum, MSX, Amstrad CPC, even NES... but sometimes, things didn't turn out as well as everyone had hoped.

Welcome to a review of Dread Templar (previously known as Hell Hunt); a game that is so much like Quake that you might even think you are playing Quake.... You do remember Quake, right? Of course you do, otherwise you wouldn't be here. Well, with the influx of recent Throwback FPS games, you might be at a loss at which one is most similar to id's 3D classic. Well, search no more, because Dread Templar is here.

Back when Microsoft had just released Windows 95, their minds were definitely not on consoles. In fact, Microsoft wanted Windows to be the gaming platform of choice, for everyone; PlayStation, Saturn, N64 or DOS gamers alike. So they set out on a campaign to get people switched over. This involved a smear campaign against their prior OS, a haunted house filled with lewd obscenities, two discs filled with games, and various statements advising people "Don't Buy a Console"

The Million Dollar HomePage was possibly, the most brilliant, yet simple internet idea ever. Conceived in 2005 by Alex Tew, milliondollarhomepage.com represents the perfect piece of viral marketing, and one that still exists. I did some digging, collected some research, and during the process, managed to buy a piece of this important piece of internet history.

PLEASE BE AWARE, THERE ARE SOME FLASHING IMAGES WITHIN. So then, we've covered racers and fighters, so let's look at arcade rail shooters, and some of the less than reasonable ports they received. It should be noted that some of these games are reasonable in their efforts, but a rail shooter on a 80s/90s home console rarely ever resulted in a joyful experience. Let's go shootin'

Think back to Bad Influence Series 3, episode 13. It was aired on CITV, on 1st December 1994, and it featured an array of things; a 32X, Sega Saturn, but most curiously a Scorpion XVI, otherwise known as a Sega Scorpion or Scorpion 16. This Sega Mega Drive & Genesis clone console was such an unexpected and mysterious artefact, that it stuck in my mind for years to come, and I wasn't the only one. But just as suddenly as it appeared, it vanished, without a trace. So, let's get to the bottom of this mystery and take a look at a Scorpion console, in the flesh.

Time for some Thrifting UK Style! Today's destination was AYLSHAM, at the Late One. A car boot that is, well... late. So that suits me! Of main note here are the Baoding Balls (Chinese worry balls) that I collected, along with a rather nice Sony Vaio neon red laptop. Mmmmmm, neon red. The usual crap here of course, but then, it is a British Car Boot Sale!

In 1996, HP Released a new range of Mopier Printers, and shortly after followed MopyFish, otherwise known as Mopy, or the Fish from Big Brother. These are all names you might be familiar with; probably because in the 90s or 00s, you had a virtual pet fish called MopyFish. That's interesting enough in itself, but Mopy's conception is also an interesting affair, involving Mopier Printers and HP. LET'S DELVE.

You've heard of John Rambo, but have you heard of RAMBO TV GAME? The greatest and latest (of 1994) console to grace this planet? If you were after a true console powerhouse in the 90s, then forget the Saturn, the PlayStation, even the almighty Atari Jaguar (yes, I did say that). Because the Rambo TV Game is here to blow you away.

Well if this isn't a Halloween video, I don't know what is!... If there's one thing that freaked me out, that HORRIFIED me as a child, it was the ending for Double Dragon; specifically the 2 player ending. Where instead of going on your way, joyful upon completing your quest, you instead have to batter the living hell out of your brother, in order to "get the girl".... WHAT?! What was this all about. Well in this slightly feverish episode (I wrote and edited the script whilst suffering from Covid), I delve into the meaning of this ending, and how it affected us all.

In 1984 something strange happened in the village of Dodleston. A BBC Micro was sitting on a counter, when it suddenly started receiving mysterious messages, which appeared to come from the 16th century. This might have gone unnoticed had local teachers, Ken Webster and Peter Trinder, not investigated to find that information was so accurate, it would be almost impossible to fake. This whole event was documented in the book "The Vertical Plane", published in 1989. But here, tonight, we investigate deep to find out exactly what this is all about.

Back in the 1980s, the Computer Literacy Project and the government's campaign to get Micros in schools, turned the UK upside-down. As children, no longer were classrooms a place of paper and chalkboards; now we had technology in the corner, namely, the BBC Micro (for most schools, at least). But along with the iconic, sturdy lines of the BBC Micro, there was another piece of kit ever present, and that was the Microvitec Cuc 452. Where-ever the BBC went, the Microvitec Cub went, and so, UK kids in teh 80s were brought up, in part, by these screens. Learning to type through them, learning to game through them, and learning to develop through them. We really spent a lot of time looking at them, and for that reason, they're incredibly important.

Back in 1989, two companies had an excellent idea; To create a CD full of games, that could then load on 8 bit machines like the ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64. Rainbow Arts was first up, with the 1st CD-Edition, swiftly followed by the Codemasters CD Games Pack. So let's look at the history of both and find out why we weren't flooded with 8 bit CD Gaming.

This is the type of game console that you hear as an urban legend, a myth. A tale told only by those who asked for a Konix Multisystem for Christmas 1989, but never received one. But this console did exist, and it was incredibly close to launch. The Konix Multisystem was such a novel and impressive games console that it actually could have changed gaming forever, had the Japanese not been so terrified of it. Join me, as we delve into the story of this unreleased, cancelled, forgotten console; The Konix Multi System.