Dateline 27th April 2012
Apart from establishing that the Amiga was far superior to the Atari ST, if you were still playing 8-bit computer games that the Amiga was the way to go and providing an albeit expensive alternative to the fledgling console market, what else have we learned about the Amiga during the merry month of April ?
Well the variety of titles were there. There were plenty of groundbreakers too – Another World, Flashback, Kick Off, Sensible Soccer and Populous to name but a few. The fact that all of these ended up on consoles goes to show the quality of the games and their enduring appeal which very much catered to all markets. The best thing though is that, unlike the PC at the time, the Amiga was very much at it’s best whether it was used for programming, educational uses or games. The PC simply couldn’t hold a candle at this time if you wanted to play games software.
Love At First Sight
So, with a last hoorah we wave farewell to the Amiga with much sadness in the heart, but look forward to May where the Sega Master System steps into the limelight…..
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1990's,
Amiga 1200,
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Review,
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Dateline 25th April 2012
When I first got my Amiga it came with just 3 games, of which 2 were awesome Ocean Software releases (Batman The Movie and New Zealand Story). The other was F-18 Interceptor and was my first taste of a flight simulator. It was only enjoyable for it’s San Francisco surroundings and the fact you could roll the plane under the Golden Gate Bridge. Otherwise it was confined to the back of the drawer. The rest of the software was educational and most of it was a waste of time especially the word processor as it needed another 512K worth of memory in order to be able to save things. Thus my first few pages of my first draft of a new Pink Panther movie was never saved. I think considering how the Steve Martin remakes turned out, it was a crying shame mine was never saved and unleashed on the world.
The very package that got me started all those years ago......educational software not pictured
Anyhoooooooo no more crying over spilt milk, time for some more Amiga goodness…….
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1990's,
Amiga 1200,
Amiga 500,
Arcade Conversions,
Bad Games,
Buying,
Car Boot,
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Game Rage,
Movie Games,
Platform Games,
Retro Memories,
Review
Dateline 23rd April 2012
I’ve always been asked what sort of games I prefer. Do I prefer First Person Shooters ? Well I like the original Goldeneye on the N64 and the early Medal Of Honour/Call Of Duty games, but not the modern versions. I love sports games, although playing anything pre Kick Off is now nothing more than a retro chore (with the exception of Emlyn Hughes’ Football). Puzzle games are OK, but give me Tetris and I’ll be happy. I love good arcade conversions and original games but I am not the world’s biggest fan of film and TV tie ins. So this next batch of Amiga games from my youth cover a lot of bases with the usual predictably mixed results…..
Which game genre do you prefer ? Strip poker games not included of course......
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1990's,
Amiga 1200,
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Homebrew,
Platform Games,
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Review,
Sports Games,
Top Tens
Dateline 21st April 2012
This is most definitely a trip down memory lane which I am going to relish. Looking back at some of the old Amiga games I used to play, it’s funny how many come back to surprise you and also some that shock you. I am hoping that the mix of games will at least give you an idea of the wealth of titles, the vast array of styles and a feel for what makes me love this machine so much.
Oooooooo the controversy.....
Just out of interest I have decided to exclude Kick Off 2 from this list, purely because I have banged on about it in the past and I’d like to save it for a footie retrospective once we get to the 2012 European Championships in the summer.
So away we go with our first batch of Amiga games…..
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1980's,
1990's,
Amiga 1200,
Amiga 500,
Bad Games,
Buying,
Car Boot,
Charity Shops,
Game Rage,
Movie Games,
Platform Games,
Retro Memories,
Review,
Sports Games
Dateline 20th April 2012
The Commodore Amiga – a phrase that brings tears of happiness to the eyes of myself. Oh how many happy hours were wiled away in front of my monitor playing on a computer system which had been purchased purely for educational purposes. Yeah right, as if that was going to happen. You know that’s gone out of the window when your Dad starts buying American Civil War games and wants you to come off so he can have a quick pop at E-Motion.
The sort of photo that weeps nostalgia - many happy hours were spent loading this up
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1980's,
1990's,
Amiga 1200,
Amiga 500,
Arcade Conversions,
Buying,
Game Rage,
Movie Games,
Platform Games,
Retro Memories,
Review,
Top Tens
Dateline 18th April 2012
The weather in March was lovely. Now we have entered April the weather has turned for the worse. Hail, thunder and torrential rain coupled with colder than average temperatures can mean only one thing. Yes, it’s Car Boot season once again. Ah yes you can almost smell the hotdogs and burgers from the comfort of your own room. Never has there been more fun from being crammed into a tiny field at 7am on a Sunday morning than by going to a booty.
A perfect site for sore retro eyes - there be bargains to be had out there !
So here are a few tips to keep you on your guard during the next few months :
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1980's,
1990's,
2000's,
Amiga 1200,
Amiga 500,
Atari Lynx,
Atari VCS,
Buying,
Car Boot,
Charity Shops,
Commodore C64,
Game Gear,
Gameboy Advance (GBA),
Gamecube,
Handheld Console,
Megadrive,
NES,
Nintendo,
Nintendo 64,
PC Games,
Playstation 1,
Playstation 2,
Sega,
Sega Dreamcast,
Sega Saturn,
SNES,
XBOX
11th January 2012
A quick look ahead to some of the fun things that are planned here for Retrosection in the next 12 months. Of course there will be other bits and pieces but the idea is to have a nice them for each month. Read on for more details….
12 months is a long time in video gaming...........
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1990's,
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Atari VCS,
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Gameboy Advance (GBA),
Gamecube,
Handheld Console,
Megadrive,
Nintendo,
Nintendo 64,
Playstation 1,
Playstation 2,
Retro Memories,
Sega,
Sega Dreamcast,
Sega Saturn,
SNES,
XBOX
Hear ye, hear ye. Guess who’s been off on one of his sabbaticals again ?…
Thanks Maz, it's good to be back....
I made a promise a few months ago to keep coming back and posting stuff on a regular basis. Shortly after that I decided to do a piece on Football Manager and that’s pretty much where I have been since. Yep I dug out FM 2055 and have spent a lot of my spare time playing that.
Therefore I am devoting some of my run time each day to sit down and play one game for each day in November. It could be any format or any genre (not football management as I have had enough of that for now) but that’s my aim. I’ll post my thoughts on here when I have played the game and let you know how I get on, and also anything else that springs to mind.
So RetroSection still lives, it’s just the Retrobear needs to sort himself out a bit better in the future…..
1980's,
1990's,
2000's,
Amiga 1200,
Amiga 500,
Arcade Conversions,
Atari VCS,
Commodore C64,
Game Gear,
Gameboy Advance (GBA),
Gamecube,
Megadrive,
Nintendo,
Nintendo 64,
Playstation 1,
Playstation 2,
Playstation 3,
Review,
Sega,
Sega Dreamcast,
Sega Saturn,
SNES,
XBOX
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.
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1980's,
1990's,
Amiga 1200,
Amiga 500,
Atari VCS,
Car Boot,
Commodore C64,
Gamecube,
Megadrive,
Nintendo 64,
Playstation 1,
Retro Memories,
Sega,
Sega Saturn,
SNES,
Top Tens,
XBOX
In this week’s retro column, the Retro Bear goes on a rant about the fine line when deeming a game or games system to be truly retro, and shows he is quite happy playing new generation console games just as much as the old ones…
Originally Posted to GameFancier.com on October 26th 2010
Scouring the internet recently it amazes me just how much of a debate classifying retro games actually provokes. Try telling someone that the PS1 is retro and you are likely to get a volley of abuse in return. Surely a console 15 years in existence deserves to be tagged as retro ? After all it was released before the N64, yet that is deemed to be retro. I can’t really work out what the difference is and can only presume it’s because the PS1 is CD based as opposed to the trusty old cartridge. More >