Retro Gaming Museum
  • Home
  • The Collection
  • Hardware
    • Commodore
    • Sinclair Research
    • SpectraVideo
    • Nintendo
    • Amstrad
    • IBM
  • Software
    • Sierra Online
    • Infocom
    • Strategic Simulations, Inc. (SSI)
  • Gallery
  • Video
    • Complete Video Walkthrough
  • Donations
  • Contact
  • About

The Collection

King's Quest: Quest for the Crown (SCI remake)

10/29/2016

Comments

 
Picture

King's Quest is an adventure game developed by Sierra On-Line and published originally for the IBM PCjr in 1983 and later for several other systems between 1984 and 1989. The game was originally titled simply as King's Quest; the subtitle Quest for the Crown was added to the game box in the 1987 rerelease, but did not appear in the game itself.

It is as the first official part of the long King's Quest series (not counting 1980's Wizard and the Princess), in which a young knight, Sir Graham, must save the Kingdom of Daventry to become the king. Designed by Roberta Williams, the game was revolutionary and highly influential in the evolution of the graphic adventure game genre by introducing more detailed graphics and animation.

The edition we got here is the SCI Remake which is the "Enhanced" version of King's Quest. It uses the Sierra's Creative Interpreter (SCI) engine, the same engine used in titles such as King's Quest IV; while it still used 16-color graphics, it featured twice the resolution as well as music card support instead of the PC speaker. There are two different box variations for this release: one that used the same box as the 1987 AGI original and a box created specifically for the remake.
Here is a video clip from the game running on a Roland MT-32 soundcard
Comments

Commodore 128D

10/18/2016

Comments

 
Picture

​Late in 1985, Commodore released to the European market a new version of the C128 with a redesigned chassis resembling the Amiga 1000. Called the Commodore 128D, this new European model features a plastic chassis with a carrying handle on the side, incorporates a 1571 disk drive into the main chassis, replaces the built-in keyboard with a detachable one, and adds a cooling fan. The keyboard features two folding legs for changing the typing angle.

According to Bil Herd, head of the Hardware Team (aka the "C128 Animals"), the C128D was ready for production at the same time as the regular version. Working to release two models at the same time had increased the risk for on-time delivery and was apparent in that the main PCB has large holes in critical sections to support the C128D case and the normal case concurrently.

In the latter part of 1986, Commodore released a version of the C128D in North America and parts of Europe referred to as the C128DCR, CR meaning "cost-reduced". The DCR model features a stamped-steel chassis in place of the plastic version of the C128D (with no carrying handle), a modular switched-mode power supply similar to that of the C128D, retaining that model's detachable keyboard and internal 1571 floppy drive. A number of components on the mainboard were consolidated to reduce production costs and, as an additional cost-reduction measure, the 40 millimeter cooling fan that was fitted to the D model's power supply was removed. However, the mounting provisions on the power supply subchassis were retained, as well as the two 12-volt DC connection points on the power supply's printed circuit board for powering the fan.
Picture

A significant improvement introduced with the DCR model was the replacement of the 8563 video display controller (VDC) with the more technically advanced 8568 VDC and equipping it with 64 kilobytes of video RAM—the maximum amount addressable by the device. The four-fold increase in video RAM over that installed in the "flat" C128 made it possible, among other things, to maintain multiple text screens in support of a true windowing system, or generate higher-resolution graphics with a more flexible color palette. Little commercial software took advantage of these possibilities.

The C128DCR is equipped with new ROMs dubbed the "1986 ROMs," so-named from the copyright date displayed on the power-on banner screen. The new ROMs address a number of bugs that are present in the original ROMs, including an infamous off-by-one error in the keyboard decoding table, in which the 'Q' character would remain lower case when CAPS LOCK was active. Some software will only run on the DCR, due to dependencies on the computer's enhanced hardware features and revised ROMs.

Despite the DCR's improved RGB video capabilities, Commodore did not enhance BASIC 7.0 with the ability to manipulate RGB graphics. Driving the VDC in graphics mode continues to require the use of calls to screen-editor ROM primitives or their assembly language equivalents, or by using third-party BASIC language extensions, such as Free Spirit Software's "BASIC 8", which adds high-resolution VDC graphics commands to BASIC 7.0.
Comments

Fairchild Channel F ( Luxor ) Games

10/16/2016

Comments

 
Picture

Twenty-seven cartridges, termed 'Videocarts', were officially released to consumers in the United States during the ownership of Fairchild and Zircon, the first twenty-one of which were released by Fairchild. Several of these cartridges were capable of playing more than one game and were typically priced at $19.95. The Videocarts were yellow and approximately the size and overall texture of an 8 track cartridge. They usually featured colorful label artwork. The earlier artwork was created by nationally known artist Tom Kamifuji and art directed by Nick Talesfore. The console contained two built-in games, Tennis and Hockey, which were both advanced Pong clones. In Hockey the reflecting bar could be changed to diagonals by twisting the controller, and could move all over the playing field. Tennis was much like the original Pong.

A sales brochure from 1978 listed 'Keyboard Videocarts' for sale. The three shown were K-1 Casino Poker, K-2 Space Odyssey, and K-3 Pro-Football. These were intended to use the Keyboard accessory. All further brochures, released after Zircon took over Fairchild, never listed this accessory nor anything called a Keyboard Videocart.

There was one additional cartridge released numbered Videocart-51 and simply titled 'Demo 1'. This Videocart was shown in a single sales brochure released shortly after Zircon acquired the company. It was never listed for sale after this single brochure which was used for winter of 1979.

It is amazing that we got all these games in their original packaging and they feel almost like new :)
Comments

Fairchild Video Entertainment System ( Luxor )  

10/13/2016

Comments

 
Picture

The Fairchild Channel F is a home video game console released by Fairchild Semiconductor in November 1976 across North America at the retail price of $169.95. It was also released in Japan in October the following year. It has the distinction of being the first programmable ROM cartridge–based video game console, and the first console to use a microprocessor. It was launched as the Video Entertainment System, or VES, but when Atari released its VCS the next year, Fairchild renamed its machine. By 1977, the Fairchild Channel F had sold 250,000 units, trailing behind sales of the VCS.

​The Channel F electronics were designed by Jerry Lawson using the Fairchild F8 CPU, the first public outing of this processor. The F8 was very complex compared to the typical integrated circuits of the day, and had more inputs and outputs than other contemporary chips. Because chip packaging was not available with enough pins, the F8 was instead fabricated as a pair of chips that had to be used together to form a complete CPU.

Lawson worked with Nick Talesfore and Ron Smith. As manager of Industrial Design, Talesfore was responsible for the design of the hand controllers, console, and video game cartridges. Smith was responsible for the mechanical engineering of the video cartridges and hand controllers. All worked for Wilf Corigan, head of Fairchild Semiconductor, a division of Fairchild Camera & Instrument.

The graphics are quite basic by modern standards. The Channel F is only able to use one plane of graphics and one of four background colors per line, only three plot colors to choose from (red, green, and blue) that turned into white if the background is set to black. A resolution of 128 × 64 with approximately 102 × 58 pixels visible and help from only 64 bytes of system RAM, half the amount of the Atari 2600. The F8 processor at the heart of the console is able to produce enough AI to allow for player versus computer matches, a first in console history. All previous machines required a human opponent.

One feature unique to this console is the 'hold' button, which allowed the player to freeze the game, change the time or change the speed of the game during the course of the game. In the original unit, sound is played through an internal speaker, rather than the TV set. However, the System II passed sound to the television through the RF modulator.
Picture

The controllers are a joystick without a base; the main body is a large hand grip with a triangular "cap" on top, the top being the portion that actually moved for eight-way directional control. It could be used as both a joystick and paddle (twist), and not only pushed down to operate as a fire button but also pulled up. The model 1 unit contained a small compartment for storing the controllers when moving it. The System II featured detachable controllers and had two holders at the back to wind the cable around and to store the controller in. Zircon later offered a special control which featured an action button on the front of the joystick. It was marketed by Zircon as "Channel F Jet-Stick" in a letter sent out to registered owners before Christmas 1982. They also released it as an Atari-compatible controller called "Video Command", first released without the extra fire button. Before that, only the downwards plunge motion was connected and acted as the fire button; the pull-up and twist actions weren't connected to anything.
Comments

Lula: The Sexy Empire

10/7/2016

Comments

 
Picture

Lula: The Sexy Empire (also known as Wet: The Sexy Empire) is a business simulation game for Windows and AmigaOS. The game revolves around building a multimillion-dollar pornography and erotica industry. Character designs were done by German comic artist Carten Weeland.
Comments
<<Previous
    Picture

    Yngvi Th. Johannsson

    Retro gaming enthusiast and all around computer collector. 

    Check out youtube site for more videos !

    Archives

    November 2020
    October 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    June 2019
    April 2019
    May 2018
    January 2018
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015

    Categories

    All
    Amstrad
    Artwork
    Atari
    Commodore
    DOS/WINDOWS
    Fairchild
    GameCube
    Joystick
    Nintendo
    PC Hardware
    Playstation
    Playstation 4
    Pong Machines
    Retro Hunt
    Sega Mega Drive
    Sega Saturn
    Sharp Computers
    Sinclair
    Spectravideo
    Xbox

    RSS Feed

  • Home
  • The Collection
  • Hardware
    • Commodore
    • Sinclair Research
    • SpectraVideo
    • Nintendo
    • Amstrad
    • IBM
  • Software
    • Sierra Online
    • Infocom
    • Strategic Simulations, Inc. (SSI)
  • Gallery
  • Video
    • Complete Video Walkthrough
  • Donations
  • Contact
  • About