Retro microcomputer thread

[Sandteufel]

I feel there's a considerable divide when it comes to games on old microcomputers. Some love the C64 and Spectrum, others hate the games on them. I thought making a thread about them would be cool, so here goes.
The MSX was super popular in Arabia in the 1980s, and Konami, Hudson and Compile went fucking HARD on them.

This should've come out on the Famicom, hands down. Antarctic Adventure but has a plot, multiple stages, power ups, even multiple endings. You may know this as Hideo Kojima's first work at Konami.

Obligatory Castlevania mention. If you think this is just a straight port you are mistaken. The stages are very generally the same, but it no longer relies on just progressing through a linear stage. You have to solve puzzles, get keys, and explore a stage properly to beat it. The original Metroidvania! (sorry)

Compile's Golvellius. Kinda Zelda-ish, but there's side scrolling stages too which is cool!
Also, the first Bomberman came out on the MSX as well... but that's neither here nor there...

 

[Waffles's iconWaffles]

I'm told that we used to have a Commodore 64 when I was a kid, but I have absolutely no recollection of it.

I will say that the ZX Spectrum and C64 were pretty powerful for their time, even if they had a lot of shortcomings.

I mean... listen to this:

The fact that Doom exists on ZX Spectrum at all is also a testament to its greatness.

 

[Yousef Yousef]

I'm told that we used to have a Commodore 64 when I was a kid, but I have absolutely no recollection of it.

I will say that the ZX Spectrum and C64 were pretty powerful for their time, even if they had a lot of shortcomings.

I mean... listen to this:

The fact that Doom exists on ZX Spectrum at all is also a testament to its greatness.

Speaking of c64…… tempted to pick up rhe c64 mini. Good or bad idea?

 

[Waffles's iconWaffles]

Speaking of c64…… tempted to pick up rhe c64 mini. Good or bad idea?

Certainly cheaper/easier than getting an actual C64, but I can't vouch for it on the grounds of not owning it myself.

 

[Grumpy_Old_Man]

While i have no experience playing with microcomputers in their heyday. I'm pretty sure young me would love to play games like skool daze, little computer people or Aleste Gaiden on the msx.
The cassete loading times, scares me a little though.

 

[Egg (McMuffin) Man]

Micro computers are based. I used to have an MSX2 but sold it off. These days I run a MiSTer FPGA in a micro computer style case. I love firing up games in the various computer cores or dialing into BBS'. I also picked up the Commodore 64 Ultimate, that should be delivered soon.

As far as games go, recently there has been an uptick in the dojin game scene for the MSX here in Japan. Some of the games are pretty interesting.

 

[Badseed Badseed]

Stop with the Zed X Spectrum stuff.
What is this animal called in the USA, England and New Zealand?

It's defiantly NOT called a ZEDbra.

I had an Apple IIc back in the olden days.

I had a color monitor however. I remember there was this WWII submarine
game called Gato13 which I played the hell outta.

 

[Spyrone]

I never played around with them in their heyday, but MSX and Commodore systems are awesome. I'd love to have the opportunity to get a Sharp X6800 or a Commodore Amiga 1200 someday.

 

[diet_orange]

Micro computers (especially those across the pond) have been endlessly fascinating to me. It all started with Ashen's "Terrible Old Games You Probably Never Heard Of" series, which I naively thought were ones that he created and made up purely for a joke

Then I found channels like Steve Benway and JimPlaysGames and it really opened my eyes

Also found a really great book through a torrent called "Commodork: Sordid Tales Of A BBS Junkie", an amazing read about the very real coming of age story of a C64 obsessed kid and his ventures into piracy, game cracking, and general BBS use

 

[bjork]

I still regularly play Commodore 64 via emulator, a little bit of Apple II also. The other micros less so, but some is just due to always forgetting how to load files, so I just revert to C64.
Had a C64 in its day and loved it, we also had Apple II at school so that was also semi-familiar. But the emulators are a snap.

 

[diet_orange]

Had a C64 in its day and loved it, we also had Apple II at school so that was also semi-familiar. But the emulators are a snap.

I downloaded Vice and a 500mb pack of games, might try it out when I get home. Haven't really dabbled too much with older computers through emulation beyond Dosbox and a few Amiga games

 

[bjork]

I downloaded Vice and a 500mb pack of games, might try it out when I get home. Haven't really dabbled too much with older computers through emulation beyond Dosbox and a few Amiga games

A thing to know for the C64: I think everything will work if you're set to PAL, but NTSC has the faster setting and slightly better colors. If you run a game in NTSC and it's flickery, that means it needs to be played in PAL, just like old VHS tapes.