Game Covers - Gwnn (Commodore 16 and Plus 4)

Hurtle across the galaxy on a desperate mission to rescue valuable scientists from fiendishly constructed alien bases.

There's lots of problems, tasks and obstacles to overcome in this all-action space shoot-em-up.

JOYSTICK ONLY
PROGRAM BY PATRICK STRASSEN

The Cover

The Inlay

The Tape

3D View (hold and move to rotate)

Kayleigh's Retro Isolation - Day 44

Kayleigh's Retro Isolation - Day 44

Wednesday 6th May 2020

Virtua Racing on the Sony Playstation 2

"I really like this game.  It was fun playing against my brother and Dad. 8/10" - Kayleigh

Retro Game Boys Episode 1 - Action Biker (Commodore 64)

Well, it's been a long time coming but episode 1 of Retro Game Boys is now online.

The idea of our new YouTube channel is for me to introduce Kieran to some of the games I was playing when I was his age and growing up, and to see what his opinion are of them in a world of XBoxes and PlayStations.

"Join the Retro Game Boys as they review and play games from yesterday.  In episode 1, Stuart introduces his son Kieran to the wonders of Action Biker - A classic Mastertronic game on the Commodore 64 from 1985.  Grab yourselves a pack of KP Skips and enjoy!"

 

To be notified of future episodes, please subscribe to us on Youtube, follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook!

  

TWITTER : https://twitter.com/RetroGameBoys

FACEBOOK : https://www.facebook.com/retrogameboysUK

YOUTUBE : https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyrzqpPlew1UqDlUyCQN0qg (we'll get a custom address when we have enough views)

 

We also have a web site at www.retrogameboys.co.uk

Alive and Kick'Starting'

Kickstarter is addictive....  There I said it.

Last year, I backed my first Kickstarter...  a book called "Commodore 64: a visual Commpendium", by Sam Dyer, and published by Bitmap Books.  It surpassed all expectations and became quite a hit with fans of the Commodore 64 (including me).

So, when I heard that Sam was producing a follow up book entitled "Commodore Amiga: a visual Commpendium", I just had to back it immediately.

The book had a target goal of £25,000 so I think it came as a bit of a surprise to most when the total amount pledged to the project came in at just short of £130,000.  Wow.  It just goes to show how much love there is for the old Commodore computers.

Anyway, after several months of waiting, the book finally arrived through the letterbox today, and WOW.

The book is fantastic, and considerably larger than the Commodore 64 one.  The graphics on each page depicting various well known games are truly remarkable, with a small piece of text from well known people from the Amiga days (game/demo programmers, designers, graphic artists and fans)

AND due to the massive success of the project, backers also get loads of cool extras with the book as standard.

• Shadow of the Beast 2015 Remix CD by Tim Wright (CoLD SToRAGE)
• I Love Commodore Amiga Sticker
• Metal Amiga engraved bookmark
• Amiga pen
• Amiga Ball Pin
• 6x Demoscene postcards (one signed by the author of the book)
• Another World poster
• Ask Me About Loom badge (from The Secret of Monkey Island) Limited to first 100 Backers

I highly recommend this book (and the Commodore 64 one) to any person who has an interest in old computer games - even if you never had a Commodore computer.  I cant wait for Sam's next book which I hear may be about the Spectrum.

Amiga Book - http://www.funstock.co.uk/commodore-amiga-a-visual-commpendium-book
C64 Book - http://www.funstock.co.uk/commodore-64-a-visual-commpendium-c64-book

Now, I've just got to wait for the other Kickstarter projects I've backed to arrive, including Matt Gray's "Reformation" C64 music project, From Bedrooms to Billions : The Amiga Years, Marcel Donne's "Project Sidologie" CD Box set, and Uncle Art's Elite 2 (Frontier) Orchestral and Retrogaming Music Remakes.

Both Books - the Amiga Commpendium and the C64 Commpendium.

Both Books - the Amiga Commpendium and the C64 Commpendium.

 

Remember this from The Secret of Monkey Island?

Demoscene Postcards

A3 Poster from the cover of Another World

Shadow of the Beast 2015 Remix CD by Tim Wright

Sticker!

The full booty!

Oh yeah, I got my name in the book as an official backer!

Games that remind me of my childhood Number 29 : Icicle Works (Commodore Plus 4)

Since it is still the festive period, I thought it would be a great opportunity for a Christmassy GTRMOMC.  Not only that, but after my previous post about Ghost Town, I'm still in Commodore Plus 4 mode.  So, Ladies and Gentlemen, I bring you....  Icicle Works.

Icicle Works came as part of a game bundle supplied with the computer when our family purchased the Commodore Plus 4 back in 1985. 

Written by Doug Turner for Commodore, the game is essentially a Boulderdash clone, so any one who is familiar with that game, and the hundreds of other clones (ie Repton, Emerald Mines etc.) will feel right at home with this one - and you'll love it too.  You play Father Christmas, and other than the festive graphics, the game is exactly the same.

There are 16 rooms to explore, and the aim of the game is to complete each room by constructing each of the 16 toys by collecting the presents scattered about in each room.

Simple.

As with Boulderdash, you have various obstacles to avoid - Massive snowballs dropping on your head instead of boulders, snow storms instead of amoebas, and polar bears and penguins that will kill you if you let them touch you.  Of course you can use these maniacal animals to help you in your quest for presents by dropping snowballs on top of them.  In fact, some of the later levels require you do to this in order to collect enough presents to construct the toy.

Quite an addictive little game 30 years ago (yes, 30 years - gosh I feel old),and it's still great fun to play now, even if it can be a little infuriating.

Here are some maps to help you play, including the door locations and where each door will take you.

 

AND, here are the various toys which need to be constructed in each room.

 

 

The front cover

Instructions

The tape

The box

 

My Mum and Dad use to play this game a lot, and this is how they recorded their progress.  This piece of paper is 30 years old!

Mastertronic - What if? (Part 4) - Star Trek

Mastertronic brings you "Star Trek" for £1.99, only for the Playstation 3 - Available from all good newsagents, chemists and game shops!

If only..... :o)

Because I have WAY too much time on my hands, I thought I'd mess around with putting together some fake Mastertronic covers for modern computer games.

In case you are not aware (or can not remember), Mastertronic were big in the mid to late 1980s and were a major budget software label in the United Kingdom and produced a large number of cheapo games and re-releases for the Commodore/Spectrum/Amstrad/Atari 8-bit computers (and some 16-bit too) - most at a pocket-money-friendly £1.99!

Just a bit of fun really, but what would modern games look like if Mastertronic still released games like the good ol' days? Well, here you can find out!

 

 

 

 

You can view more of my fake Mastertronic covers by clicking here

Games that remind me of my childhood Number 8 : Trashman (Commodore 64)

The ultimate rubbish man simulator - welcome to Trashman!

Released in 1984 by New Generation Software. Trashman was originally released on the ZX Spectrum before shortly getting a conversion on the Commodore 64.  The game is very simple and has you control the 'trashman' who must collect the rubbish bins dotted along the street and empty them in to the rubbish collection lorry before the timer runs out.  Simple eh?

When you have successfully emptied a bin in to the lorry and have taken it back to the house it came from, the front door opens and you get an invite to go in and get a tip (extra time) from the resident of the house.   You must however stay on the path - one step on the grass results in the timer running down quicker, and no chance of a tip!

There are seven streets in total to complete.  The first street has 5 rubbish bins to collect, the second has 6, and so on until you reach the seventh street which is 12 bins to empty.  Obstacles to avoid are cyclists riding on the pavement, however the main cause of death in this game are the cars and other road vehicles .  If you are run over, then it's game over!

I was introduced to this game by Colin, a family friend who had a Commodore 128, and I remember wanting it so much, thanks to fun gameplay, and effective and realistic (at the time) 3D graphics.  As was the case with many games of the time, we only had a Commodore Plus 4, and this was another game which was never converted to that system.

A fun game in 80's surburbia, and a fond childhood memory.

Level 1 - Staunton Street (Click to enlarge)

Level 2 - Pultney Street (Click to enlarge)

Level 3 - Grove Street (Click to enlarge)

Level 4 - Lyncombe Vale (Click to enlarge)

Level 5 - Widcombe Hill (Click to enlarge)

Level 6 - Lansdown Hill (Click to enlarge)

Level 7 - Milson Street (Click to enlarge)