Retro Thing

Blip: The Digital Game

It's hard to believe that a game like Tomy Blip could captivate a generation, but it was high on many Christmas lists in 1977. The game was a simple electromechanical version of Atari Pong: an LED bounced back and forth across the court, powered by a windup timer. The only reason the unit required 2 x AA batteries was to light the little LED ball on the play field. And -- although I never realized it as a kid -- there is something incredibly ironic about a unit marketed as "The Digital Game" which makes a mechanical "bZzzz... Bzzz... bzzz..." noise as you play.

Tomy sold millions of these little portables, no doubt riding on the success of Atari's much more expensive electronic TV games. I remember gazing at one for hours in the back pages of the Sears Christmas Wishbook, imagining it as far more pong-like than it really was. Perhaps the real secret of Blip's success was hidden in the tag line on the box: "Take it anywhere. No TV set is needed." Parents probably envisioned a portable game as a great way to keep kids from taking over the living room TV set so they wouldn't miss James Garner receiving his weekly pistol whippings on The Rockford Files.

[Update: Here's a link to a vintage Blip TV commercial on YouTube, via technabob in the comments. Thanks!]

Tomy Blip [handheldmuseum.com]

Amazing handheld consoles

I wish Ben Heckendorn was a senior member of the R&D division at a large electronics company. It really causes me pain every time he produces yet another clever handheld vintage game console that can't be bought at any price. This is his latest one-off - a stunningly compact ode to the Atari VCS.

As far as I'm concerned, the next best thing to owning one of Ben's masterpieces is the Linux-based Gamepark GP2X. It's a modern gaming platform with an old soul, thanks to enthusiastic support from hobbyists around the world. In addition to hundreds of original titles, the Korean-made system runs MAME GP2X, which emulates more than 1100 classic titles.

Until recently, the unit was only available through offshore distributors. Because of its growing popularity, the system is now available in the USA directly from GP2X Store in Yorba Linda, California. One thing I really appreciate is that they offer spare parts at reasonable prices - so you don't have to pay a fortune to replace a scratched screen panel or lost joystick cap. We're also really pleased to mention that GP2X Store is sponsoring Retro Thing this month. Thanks, guys!

The GP2X Store

A stunningly cheap 8-bit Konami handheld

It's been 25 years since Frogger first ventured across a crowded freeway at an arcade near you. To celebrate, Konami recently licensed our favorite amphibian to Performance Design Products (PDP). They're planning to introduce this title and others in a ridiculously inexpensive $29.99 handheld that features a mysterious mix of "25 classic 8-bit games."

The VG Pocket Tablet offers a 2-inch backlit TFT LCD screen and accepts an optional $10 A/V cable that lets you enjoy some vintage 8-bit gaming on your big screen TV. Alas, there's no word what the other bundled titles might be, but this device could be a bargain. Available at megaretailers across North America on October 16, 2006.

Read the VG Pocket Tablet press release

Nintendo Game Boy Color emulator

GBCemu lets you play Game Boy color games on a PC. Just remember that downloading ROM images is illegal, OK?

Apparently, "TGB is the first and only Gameboy Color emulator that supports / simulates / emulates gb link cable that enables you to connect 2 roms on one PC or over the IP network and trade pokemons from one emulator game to another or play gb and gbc multiplayer roms."

GBC emu - GameBoy Color Roms Emulator

Gamepark GP2X update: Available in the good ol' US of A

Update: The GP2X is now available in the USA directly from Dynamism, and we're looking forward to serving up a review sometime in the not-so-distant future. In the meantime, here's a rebroadcast of our introductory post from last February:

The $179 $199 Gamepark GP2X is a cool little handheld game console from Korea. What makes it cool? Well, it's an open-source platform based on Linux, designed to encourage homebrew game creation and world domination by cute but lethal cartoon penguins. Someone's already ported a version of the MAME arcade emulator which supports over 1000 vintage games. Other noteable hacks include Commodore 64 / SNES / SEGA Genesis / Atari ST emulators and a credible port of Open Transport Tycoon Deluxe (an open-source SimCity).

An S-Video TV output cable costs $10 and lets you play games on your big screen at resolutions up to 720 x 480. The handheld itself features dual ARM processors (one core, the other for graphics), 64MB RAM, 64MB flash memory, an SD card slot, USB 2.0, and a 320 x 240 color LCD. It's also capable of playing video in a multitude of formats: MPEG, MPEG4, AVI, DivX, XVid.

Gamepark GP2X Game System now in the US [Dynamism]
Overview of Homebrew Releases

Atari Cosmos: Holographic portable gaming

Handheld LED games were all the rage in the early 1980s. Technology-hungry youngsters lapped up portable units that featured rudimentary grids of blinking LEDs and a handful of annoying sound effects. Atari was anxious to enter the market, but they didn't want to introduce a 'me too' product.

Atari's solution was the Cosmos, an intriguing tabletop LED game that used dual-image holographic backdrops to give the illusion of a 3 dimensional playing field. The unit was pre-programmed with 8 games that were enabled by special cartridges containing nothing more than a holographic backdrop and a series of openings to select the corresponding game in the unit. It was a brilliant approach that would have allowed Atari to offer add-on games for as little as $10 each.

The game play itself wasn't revolutionary: the device contained a simple 7 x  6 grid of red LEDs that could be programmed to play games such as Space Invaders, Superman, and Asteroids. Atari produced a short pre-production run of units and even printed advertising brochures and product boxes before pulling the plug because of a shortage of funds.

We'll never know whether this machine would have been a success, but the Cosmos is definitely one of the most collectible games in history -- only a couple of working units are known to exist. [Image from an Atari ad scanned by atarimuseum.com]

RetroMo: The Atari Cosmos [mojodomo.com]
Atari Cosmos Holoptic Tabletop Game System [atarimuseum.com]

Three Dimensional Nintendo

The gaming industry has always been cut-throat, with each company looking to obliterate the competition by introducing 'must have' systems. Nintendo often takes enormous risks to keep market share. In the mid-1990s, Nintendo took their most extreme gamble so far by introducing the Virtual Boy 3D gaming system. This odd-looking cross between a Viewmaster and Virtual Reality goggles attempted to redefine the portable console world. Unfortunately, the technology wasn't quite ready for prime time -- not only was the system bulky and power hungry (6 AA batteries lasted a mere 7 hours), it  displayed images in four ghostly shades of red & black.

The device used a complicated dual LED/mirror system (licensed for a reported $5 million from an American company) to generate a 384 x 224 pixel monochrome image for each eye. The oscillating mirrors generated a distinctive buzzing sound while running and proved too fragile for a portable system: one good drop and things would never be the same again in Mario Land.

Nintendo probably intended to release a system that was small enough to wear like goggles or large sunshades. Unfortunately, the final machine weighed 760g and required a fiddly 'bipod' stand. This made it impossible to use as a truly portable system -- it was too unwieldy to take to school, play outdoors or use in a vehicle. Probably the only thing that kept Nintendo from canceling the project was that it was helmed by visionary Nintendo designer Gunpei Yokoi (the driving force behind the Game & Watch, Game Boy and other landmark products).

The system was introduced in the USA with much fanfare on August 14, 1995. Unfortunately, customers were immediately underwhelmed by the nightvision-style red display and awkward shape. It carried a price tag of $179.95 but failed to sell well against less gimmicky full-color handheld devices. The system sold a mere 750,000 units worldwide and was relegated to the bargain bin shortly after the Christmas season. I've been waiting over a decade for someone to introduce an improved 3D console based on modern full-color technology, but perhaps the moment has passed.

Games That Defined the Nintendo Virtual Boy [Retro Gaming with racketboy]
Nintendo Virtual Boy pixs and info [vidgame.net]

SEGA Game Gear Retrospective

Modojo is taking a nostalgic look back at the SEGA Game Gear this week, following up on their recent piece about the quirky NEC Turbo Express.

"The most important purchase that I made as a child was a Sega Game Gear. I had scrounged for several months to buy what was at the time a very hot piece of hardware, a portable that had a palette of 4,000 plus colors and played Sega videogames. It was and still is a cherished system, one that I played obsessively, not because it was the greatest thing ever, but simply because it was all that I could have. My parents were strict when it came to games, and if they had had their way, I would have been playing an Atari 2600 all through high school."

Be sure to read our previous posts about the SEGA Nomad and the Arcade Legends SEGA Genesis reissue.

Remembering the SEGA Game Gear

A Tribute to the NEC Turbo Express

Justin at Modojo recently published an extensive ode to the NEC Turbo Express handheld gaming unit. It was capable of displaying 482 simultaneous colors on a miniscule backlit LCD, and six AA batteries gave it serious heft to fight off would-be muggers and real-world super villians. It sold for $299 and games came on credit-card shaped TurboGrafx-16 HuCards.

"Ultimately, I went with the Game Gear and it was a solid decision. NEC didn't last much longer in the videogame market, and the Turbo Express became extinct, but I never forgot about it, so a couple of years ago I scored a mint unit off Ebay and I've been beaming ever since. However, the Turbo Express, while cool, isn't exactly great technology today, or even back in the day."

Read more at Modojo...

NEC Turbo Express: A Loving Tribute (Modojo)

Frogger and Space Invaders Tabletop Games For $25

I fondly remember Coleco's line of miniature arcade machines from the 1980s (profiled right here by Bohus a few weeks ago). It looks like someone is at it once again, although not with the same flair and build quality. The new Frogger and Space Invaders offer color LCD figures instead of the beautiful (and expensive) VFD displays of earlier tabletops. That said, these look like an entertaining way to spend $25.

Frogger and Space Invaders tabletop arcade units (at perpetualkid.com)

BenQ Joybee EG10 Portable Offers SEGA Titles

Taiwanese manufacturer BenQ is the latest company to develop a tiny handheld unit that includes ten titles ported from the SEGA Game Gear and Master System. Details are hard to come by at this point (I don't speak Chinese...), but my guess is that the unit will offer a serious dose of Sonic fun along with mp3 playback. The unit includes an SD card slot so it should be able to run other games and perhaps even play teeny-tiny videos.

BenQ launches a slew of Joybees (Engadget)

Coleco Pac-Man mini arcade

At the height of the Pac-Man craze, video game craze, and handheld electronic craze, Coleco created mini versions of famous arcade games.  They started with Pac-Man, but it wasn't long before Ms. Pac, Galaxian, Centipede, and others joined the family.

It's rather impressive how much of the flavor of the arcade originals these little versions could capture within the limits of VFD (vacuum fluorescent display) technology.  The games were colorful (unlike battleship gray LCD, or red blip LED games), had a nice assortment of sound effects and music, and added simultaneous two player modes so that both you and your brother could crowd around your 9" high  personal arcade cabinet.

Lavod PocketPlay MP3/Handheld SEGA Consoles

It appears that Taiwanese manufacturer Lavod is the most recent company to license classic SEGA titles for use in a portable MP3 player/handheld. The tiny PocketPlay 320 (loaded with 20 SEGA titles) and 350 (loaded with 10 titles, despite the higher model number) units feature 2.4-inch TFT color displays. They include games like Sonic Chaos, Ecco the Dolphin, Sonic Spinball, Columns and Fantasy Zone. They both apparently have TV outs, allowing you to burn in enjoy Ecco the Dolphin in all its glory on your 50-inch plasma. The 350 also features an SD Card slot and a USB 2.0 port (and one would assume that the 320 also has some sort of portage for uploading tunes)

No word on price, but they were supposed to be rolled out at this year's CeBIT show in Hanover which ended on March 15th. The Lavod site doesn't have any information on these little units (I never understand companies that shoot themselves in the foot like that), but pics and info are filtering out through the blogsphere. Lets hope these devices are affordable and fun to play.

MP3 Player Gets Sonic Boost (eurogamer.net)

ipodmame Brings Classic Arcade Emulation To An iPod Near You

The brilliantly misguided folks over at iPodLinux have succeeded in porting a very limited version of the MAME Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator to the iPod. So far, it only plays Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man on the iPod Nano and 5G. I look forward to a few more games coming soon, although I suspect the gamer-hostile clickwheel interface will turn out to be a significant hindrance for those games requiring anything more than 8-directional joysticking.

Don't hold your breath for an iPod version of Defender unless Apple adds a few more controls to their future hardware. Still, this thing is tons cooler than paying $1.99 to watch a teeny version of a TV program that aired last night.

MAME on the iPod (via the boffins at ipodlinux.org)

Gamepark Announces A Miniature Handheld Gaming Unit: Hopefully Open-Source

I raved about the $179 Gamepark GP2X open-source gaming unit and its ability to play many classic games last month. It looks like Gamepark is planning a couple of sequels, including this tiny $150 XGP Mini. Like its older brother, it sports 64MB flash memory, an SD card slot, and a 320 x 240 color LCD. The internal RAM is cut down to 32MB, which will definitely have an impact on compatibility with the rest of the family (if that is the plan). Let's hope this little monster is also released as an open-source unit.

Gamepark XGP Mini stuff and fluff (via Engadget)