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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.