Bringing Past To Present
Retro Reviews
30 Days Of Gaming – Game 1 : Dick Tracy (Sega Mega Drive)
Nov 2nd
Dateline : 1st November 2011
Wandering through the criminal underground armed only with a dodgy looking yellow mac and Madonna for company, RetroBear tackles the more seedy people in society as he takes the role of Dick Tracy. Will he be a hard Dick or a limp Dick ? Only one way to find out…..
How many Dick jokes will this review contain ?
There have been many great detectives over the years : Sherlock Holmes, Poirot, Inspector Morse, Lovejoy (OK well that last one is pushing it a bit but he didn’t just deal in antiques you know), but Dick Tracy is a name that probably wouldn’t make it into most people’s Top 10. Largely confined to American comic strips and animated TV series, the first real wind we got of Dick Tracy was in the blockbuster film of the same name starring Warren Beatty, Al Pacino and Madonna.
RetroReview : Top Gear Top Retro
Aug 30th
Sunday nights are not the same without spending an hour in the company of Clarkson, May and Hammond. No they aren’t my solicitors but the presenters of BBC car-fest Top Gear. The series is once again off air but they recently posted to their website 10 retro driving games that they felt were the best. Retrobear loves a challenge and in true Top Gear fashion he picks 10 other games worth taking round the test track….
Vroooooooooooooooom
If you’re a fan, like me, of Top Gear then you might be pleased to see a list appear on their website. Finally after years of not discussing the notion of driving games against real driving (other than to say it doesn’t compare), this week a Top Gear Retro Computer Driving Game list appeared. Now you can see for yourselves what Clarkson, Hammond and May rate as the best games ever made for retro computers, although it might not actually be them and may be one of the website staff writers. Anyway if you are interested here is the link : http://www.topgear.com/uk/photos/retro-games-2011-08-09
RetroComment : Why 3D ain’t all it’s cracked to be
Aug 14th
The recent rumblings at Nintendo show the 3D market for games is still very shaky. By the time you have read this article the price of the 3DS may have dropped even further. Have Nintendo once again missed the mark ? Is 3D ever going to be anything other than a fad ? Retrobear casts his critical eye below….
When it comes to 3D, frankly my dears gamers don't give a damn
It really comes as no surprise that Nintendo’s launch of the 3DS console has been nothing short of a minor disaster for the company. It wouldn’t be the first time that they have totally overestimated the appeal of a new launch product, or mishandled a new release. I know because I was one of the few who ran out and purchased a Gamecube on launch day (there is another article covering this on this website and it still marks the last time I did such a thing)
RetroReview : Views From The Dugout
Jul 30th
No amount of shouting, gesticulation, pointing, waving arms around and wearing a 3/4 length sheepskin coat has any affect on the outcomes of a football management game. Just don’t tell RetroBear that, especially as he wears a suit when playing……yes, it’s the wacky world of PC footie management games.
You. The stadium. The fans. The players. And the balls - you definately need balls
Way, way back when I was still making my way through the educational minefield (College) I happened to stumble across a game which through one form or another would stay with me for the next 13 years. Other things I have picked up and either dropped or gone back to and wished I hadn’t, but there was something about this one game. I just couldn’t get enough of it no matter how hard I tried. It would come back to batter me senseless at university where it was a toss up between “extra reading” or playing this game. My degree (3rd Class) indicates what won my heart.
RetroReview : Plug N Play
Jul 29th
RetroBear loves his handhelds so what better way to further enhance those gaming memories by having a look at some easy to obtain and easy to use Plug N Play devices. They’re a darn sight cheaper than a 3DS that’s for sure…..
Plenty of choice for all gamers of all tastes, shapes and sizes...
As you’ll know from my scribblings here at RetroSection I am what you would class as a retro traditionalist. That is I don’t like anyone messing around with how things were. I don’t have anything against the silver version of the Atari 2600, I just prefer the original woody model. I love the Gameboy Pocket but I also like the chunky feel of the grey, 4 AA battery original. So it is with interest that over the last few weeks I have been tentatively dipping my retro toe into the world of Plug N Play.
Retro Reviews : Odds, Sods, Bits and Bobs
Jul 2nd
You can almost smell the retro in the air. The insane on screen action of an arcade classic, another crappy film tie in and the return of the Blue Blur. RetroBear trips the light fantastic and goes on a well timed rummage through some of the games in his collection…..
You'll never know what you'll uncover - possibly a lost classic, possibly not
RetroSection Returns !!
Jul 1st
It has been a while but back from the retro wilderness he comes. Armed to the teeth with all manner of retro goodies, RetroBear returns fully released back into the community. And he’s not all that happy with how things have been whilst he was away……
Seriously - how much ????
Retro Reviews : The Nintendo Game Boy
Mar 28th
This time Retrobear embarks on a journey of tiny screens, funny shaped and coloured moulded plastics, sore fingers and a gem of a machine. It’s the juggernaut of the handheld world, the Nintendo Game Boy.
Truly a robot in disguise - the original Game Boy with Handy Boy attachment - providing additional light and stereo sound
Ahhhh the Nintendo Game Boy and it’s family of smaller more portable sequels that completely and utterly dominated that sector of the market. Never mind fighting the console wars on the 16 bit front, Oh no, Nintendo had a much bigger trick up it’s sleeve. The launch of the Game Boy in 1989 gave it an almost unrivalled position as King Of The Mini Micros. That’s not to say that there wasn’t any competition – there was and many firms tried their best to wrest the stranglehold that Nintendo had, but all failed.
Retro Review – An A-Z Through My Collection
Mar 23rd
Michael Jackson once sang that ABC was easy as 123. If only he knew what that meant at the time. This week, Retrobear has a walk through his collection, stopping off at letters D, F and Q as well as the other 23 in the alphabet. Sesame Street this isn’t and any comparisons to Muppets will be frowned upon….
An every day occurence for Retrobear - the endless struggle against the simple things in life
Its quite often hard to pick a favourite computer or console, let alone a favourite game from my collection of retro goodies. Quite frankly I would think about hurting the feelings of the ones I neglected and the amount of hours (or in The Running Man on the C64’s case, minutes) we had together, getting to know one another and the sheer joy that we gave to one another during those few stolen moments. OK, that is sounding a bit sick so I shall move on.
Retrospective : Pac Man Championship Edition DX
Mar 6th
Pac Man was one of the biggest games of the 1980’s if not the whole of video gaming. Now Namco are giving the old yellow peril the dust off and a new chapter in his impressive history. So chomp down on your power pills with RetroBear as he looks at PacMan for the New Generation….
He's back. And this time he brought his missus and the nipper
Chances are if you are like me (i.e. over 30 years old) then one of the first games you would have come across in your youth would have been Pac Man. Whether it be Pac Man the arcade game or Pac Man on the Atari 2600, you would have been chomping up those power pills and eating ghosts before you knew how to count to 10. It should be said that along with Donkey Kong, Asteroids and Pong this is one of the titles that put video gaming on the map.