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Next up was some retro goodness in a slew of computers and consoles, some of which I hadn’t played before, and some of which I hadn’t even HEARD OF before. This was enlightening!
Before I get to the machines, I noticed these beauties. I got the impression these weren’t items for sale, but just a classic set of Ocean games in a cabinet which all hold many memories, some individually and some in collections: Barbarian, Renegade, Rampage, Yie Ar Kung Fu and one of the most bizarre and incredible games you’ll ever play – Frankie Goes To Hollywood, whose ideas were as out-there as the band themselves.
I also saw one stand selling the heart of any original arcade machine back in the day, JAMMA boards! On the left, a selection of prices, and then on the right, Street Fighter II for a mere £30!
They also sold Neo Geo cartridges. Before this day I never got to play on a Neo Geo game, but when these were first released, from what I learned the games were all arcade-perfect but the individual titles could cost anything up to around £160! A bit beyond my budget, sadly.
Then it was welcome to the machines, and first up was a ZX Spectrum (1982), one of my all-time favourites, with this one being the first I saw with an ingenious RAM pack extension, of sorts. Unfortunately, I can’t remember which game I played and the screenshot doesn’t help much, either. If anyone knows, please tell me and I’ll update this.
Next up, another old favourite, the BBC Model B (1981), here with a trackball, a teletext adaptor and a number of disks with lots of games available to play – like most, if not all, of the units on display, although I generally just stuck to the game playing at the time on each one. Marble Madness was the game here, but I wasn’t very good at it. Guess I needed more practice 
And then another machine, this one playing Super Cobra from 1981. Again, I wish I could remember the name of the unit.
The next computers were an Enterprise 128 (1985) and a Commodore Plus/4 (1984), both of which I hadn’t played first-hand before.
Then a PC Engine Super CD-ROM system (1987) and Whitechapel Computer Works MG1 (1984), the latter playing Defender.
Next up, the old faithful, a Super Nintendo (released between 1990 and 1992, depending on the country), playing Super Mario Kart and a Toshiba MSX HX-10 (1984). Oh, and if you look below that, you’ll see I had the high score on Space Trouble at not long after midday
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.