Monday, June 11, 2012

Time for an upgrade...

One of the fun parts of my job as Network Manager is buying new computer hardware for the school I work in.  My team and I have recently upgraded one of our classrooms and have replaced some aging HP workstations with a new suite of Acer Veriton computers with i3 processors.  Not as high spec as the i5's we bought last year for two other classrooms (budgets are tighter afterall!), but seeing this room now makes me think back to when I did I.T. at school, and what we had available to us back then :- one classroom containing some BBC Micros ("Model B" I think) and a few BBC Master computers, and another classroom with a handful of RM Nimbus 186's...

...  Now, as you know, I'm a big fan of old/retro computers, but I wish we had access to this kind of classroom when I was at school!


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Saying that, playing "Frak!" and "Dare Devil Dennis" during lessons was much easier on a BBC!


Saturday, June 09, 2012

Thanks!

When I first started the Captains-Blog exactly 6 years ago, I never expected many people to read it - maybe close friends and family, and that was all.  Anyway, having a quick look on my Blog stats, I'm surprised to see that so many visitors from all over the world have come to visit recently.  Anyway, I just wanted to say a big hello to everyone who comes by, no matter where you're from.  It's nice to know that I'm being read all over the world, and it means a lot to me.

HELLO.... and thanks!

Friday, June 08, 2012

Games that remind me of my childhood Number 4 : More Adventures of Big Mac - The Mad Maintenance Man (Commodore Plus 4)


Time to go back to 1985, and one of my favourite games on the Commodore Plus 4 computer...

Big Mac (the actual title being "More Adventures of Big Mac - The Mad Maintenance Man") was one of those games which I was addicted to when I was young.  My Dad and I would play this for hours on end, although I could never beat him!

15 levels of pure platform goodness which involved you as the player negotiating some well-designed levels featuring guns that fired at you, plungers that move up and down ready to squash you, disappearing floors, and numerous switches which needed to be activated to get you further on each level and to allow the exit to appear.  You also had a limited amount of time to complete each level before your air ran out.

Released by budget software publisher Mastertronic for £1.99, I had this game on both the Commodore Plus 4 and Commodore 64, although this was one of the rare titles which was actually better (both graphically and better to play) on the inferior Plus 4.

Level 1

Level 2

Level 3

Level 4

Level 5

Level 6

Level 7

Level 8

Level 9

Level 10

Level 11

Level 12

Level 13

Level 14

Level 15




And here is a screenshot from the equally-as-good-to-play-but-not-so-good-looking C64 version.


Classic gaming at its best!

Tuesday, June 05, 2012

Games that remind me of my childhood Number 3 : Street Beat (Commodore 64)


Street Beat was another great game released for the Commodore 64/128 by Mastertronic for a pocket money friendly £1.99.  The aim of the game was simple...  You play a character called Rockin Rodney, who has just started a new job at Significance Records.  You must wander town, collecting audio cassettes from various houses and returning them to your place of work.  The only thing is, you need to get a certain number of people dancing before you can drop the tape off at Significance Records.  You do this by using the ghettoblaster which you carry on your shoulders.  You basically shoot musical notes at the passing pedestrians to get them dancing.  Using F1 and F4, you can change the volume of the music - the louder it is, the further the musical notes go (although you're more likely to get nicked by the local police).



You have to watch your batteries though.  Pop into electrical stores to replenish your ghettoblaster batteries should they get low.  If the batteries run out, you lose all the people you've got dancing and you have to start all over again.



Every now and then you are notified of a dancing/house party which you can gate crash.  If you are successful in finding the right house, you can increase the number of people dancing greatly.

You also have to watch out for various characters who make playing the game difficult, including :-

  • Tone Deaf Walker - He'll damage your ghettoblaster and you'll need to find a repair shop to get it working again.  Don't let him touch you more than once otherwise your ghettoblaster will be irreparably damaged and the game ends.
  • Psycho Killer - This guy will kill you and instantly ends the game.
  • Gangster of Groove - If you let these guys touch you, they steal your tape.

The town is quite large, and it can be difficult to find a house with a tape to collect (indicated by a random flashing front door).  Fortunately if you bump in to a character called Jumping Jack Flash, he will teleport you to a house with a tape (or Significance Records if you already have collected a tape).

There are 10 tapes to collect, and you have to collect them all and get them to Significance Records before your on-screen tape counter reaches 999.

I spent many hours of my childhood playing this game, and even after 25 years I still have not finished it.  I think the most tapes I could find is 8 (out of 10).  Graphics are simple but effective, and there is a good number of tunes to listen to when you collect a tape.  This game was actually a re-release of a game called Ghettoblaster - Both games were the same, but with a few minor changes such as different music.

May the funk be with you.




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Monday, June 04, 2012

Get N, or get Out!

One of the biggest mistakes I've ever made in recent times was selling my Nintendo 64.  I didn't have a massive collection of games for it, but the ones I did have were some of my favourite games from all the consoles I had at the time.

Anyway, I'm happy to say that I have recently corrected that mistake and have acquired a new Nintendo 64 (thanks Ebay), complete with two of the best games I've played on the system - Goldeneye 007 and Star Wars - Shadows of the Empire.


I remember buying the N64 on release day, way back on Saturday 1st March 1997.  Like most people, I bought it with Super Mario 64, and additionally I bought Star Wars Shadow of the Empire at the same time.  I also remember it not being cheap - Both games came to just under £100 alone, and the console was £250 - ahhhhh, those were the days when I had money to spend!

Thanks to emulation though, I found myself playing N64 games on my PC using a great emulator called Project 64.  This led me to selling my Nintendo 64 four years ago.  The problem with this emulator was that even though Super Mario 64 could be emulated 100% perfectly, both Goldeneye and Star Wars would not play properly at all, with numerous graphical glitches.

I really missed those games...

Will I ever replace the games I had before?  I doubt it to be honest, but for the price I paid for this N64, it's so nice to play these great games again.  What's difficult to believe is how the console is now considered 'retro', afterall it did come out over 15 years ago.  Another reminder of how old I am getting.



Saturday, May 26, 2012

Games that remind me of my childhood Number 2 : Mercenary (Commodore 64)


Mercenary was another game introduced to me by my friend Steven Ready way back in 1985 on his Atari 800XL.  Of course, far better and larger games have been released since, but Mercenary was probably the only game ever to completely blow me away simply because it was unlike anything I had ever seen before.  It literally was an entire, explorable planet in a computer, AND in 3D!  What more could an 8 year old boy in 1985 ask for!





The game begins with a short introductory animation, with you flying towards Gamma Five, when suddenly there is a malfunction with the guidance system which results in you and your ship the Prestinium to crash land in the centre of Central City, on the planet Targ.

The game is viewed in first-person perspective, and the world is presented to you in extremely fast wire-frame vector graphics.  You have complete freedom to travel across Central City by means of aircraft, hovercraft, or foot.  One of the great things I remember about playing this game for the first time is wanting to explore the architecture of the planet, and seeing all of the various sites.  It's very easy to get lost if you do not have a vehicle to travel in, and walking from one place to another can take a very long time.


There isn't just the surface of Targ to explore...  Beneath the surface is a vast underground complex waiting to be mapped, and way up in low orbit is the Colony Craft which has many rooms to explore, although you need a ship powerful enough to reach it.

The aim of the game is quite simple - to find a way off the planet.  This can be achieved in several ways, which makes playing this game extra special since it can be finished with multiple endings. You begin the game having crash landed conveniently at Centrepoint Airport with Benson the robot as your only companian.  You start with 9000 credits and immediately after crashing you have the option of purchasing a ship at the airport for 5000 credits, or alternatively you can steal it, resulting in a dogfight with an enemy ship. You see, the planet Targ is in a state of war between the indiginent Palyars and the invading Mechanoids, and one way of completing the game is to play them off one another, trading items in order to raise enough money to escape.  All of the buildings on the surface belong to either one of these races, and each species want you as a 'hired gun' to destroy their enemy buildings.




One of the highlights of playing this game back in the 80s was mapping the vast game world - It's big, and numerous keys are needed to unlock all of the doors in the underground complex.  Items can be collected in various rooms, and most of these can be traded with both races within their respective installations/complexes for extra cash.

I have this game on pretty much every platform it was made available on, and although in my opinion the Commodore Amiga version was, and still is graphically the best (thanks to the faster processor which enabled faster rendering), the C64 version is my favourite.  It was quite an achievement for the programmer Paul Woakes to develop such an advanced 3D game on what was a primitive 8-bit computer - these computers were never meant to display fast moving complex 3D graphics, but the speed of Mercenary's graphics were VERY impressive for the time, and really made you feel as though you were actually on Targ.


A great many hours of my childhood were spent trying to complete this game. I did achieve it, several times, but fortunately the programmer produced Mercenary : The Second City on most 8-bit computers to keep all Mercenary fans interested in further adventures.  Two further sequels for the 16-bit Atari ST and Commodore Amiga - Damocles, and Mercenary 3 : The Dion Crisis were released.  Techically, these games were far more advanced, featuring solid 3D graphics, and an entire solar system to explore, with planets, islands and different cities, however the original Mercenary was and still is my favourite. 

Playing this game back in 1985 was almost like a glimpse in to the future and what gaming would eventually become some 20 years later.  Games like Grand Theft Auto allow complete freedom within a computer generated world, but just remember this....  Mercenary did it first!









Maps from various sources (here, and here)




And for some further reading, check out the short Novella which came with the Targ Survival Kit.  It's a really good read - Click on the link below to download the PDF file  :-

Click to download