Well, we all know someone close to us – be it a friend, family member or work colleague that asks this very question when they find out your dirty little secret.
For me? Well it was obviously something I grew up with as a kid. Spending lots and lots of pocket change (which basically means your entire lunch money) down the local arcades, then only to go home, get out the spectrum/C64/Amstrad/Whatever you owned and played something till it was time to go off to bed.
It was a great era for gaming, everything seemed new, inventive, exciting back then!
Then you started to enter your teens several years later and for some of us, games and consoles took a back seat for other things like Football, Girls, alcohol, friends- take your pick!
Then back in 2000 it was a case of passing a car boot sale and seeing a badly treated Sega Master System with umpteen games sat beside it. I just looked and thought ‘hey it’s worth asking to see if it is going cheap – might help pass a few bored moments and take a trip back to the good old days!. £5 and an hour later, it was wired up, and I got the bug!
So that’s myself. How did it start again for you? Or did it never stop? Come and pop over to
www.retropassionforum.co.uk and let us know. We always like to hear from new members about their experiences, not only with retro gaming, but also the new stuff too.Maybe we will see you soon then?
Do you remember taking a trip to the local arcade? The smoke-filled room, with the booming noises from the cabinets and watching someone play a game and admiring their skills?
I and many, loved visiting the arcades, whether they were at the seaside, down the local shops, at the fairground or simply a machine in a newsagents or take away restaurant – they were a source of excitement and passion.
Gone are the days of the arcade – now you go to a seaside resort or a amusement park and are greeted by a series of dance machines, fruit machines and the occasional racing simulator.
The titles that always were a firm favourite of mine were Galaxian. Pac Man, Street Fighter 2, Super Contra, Jackel, Outrun and After Burner.
They all spanned over a period of a decade (or slightly over in some cases) but they were ground breaking for all different reasons – and attracted huge interest in their time.
Don’t you wish you could just go back for a moment to a much simpler time and relive those moments? I know I do sometime when taking a trip down memory lane.
So…………..as a homage, take a look at the images below and cast your mind back to a distant, yet exciting time – being part of a new breed of entertainment for the masses.
The NES (Nintendo Entertainment System) was released to the masses in 1985 in Europe. The box-like 8 bit system still has influences from it’s design, even on today’s powerhouse machines.
Things, such as the gamepad layout are still seen on the current home systems – left hand d-pad layout, separate start and select buttons, not to mention the prime buttons being to the right hand side of the pad.
Nintendo revitalised the market with their vision – allowing 3rd party developers to work on and make games for the system. It allowed their system to be a platform to a wider number and types of titles.
Along with their own hit franchises, such as Super Mario Bros, The Legend of Zelda and Metroid beginning to gather a quick and profitable fan base, the system dominated the 8 bit console market and gave Nintendo worldwide success over their rivals Sega.
In Japan, the system was known as the Famicom. Although the two machines looked vastly different in appearance, a lot of the internal parts and build were similar – although a major difference on the twi machines, was that the NES used a 72 pin cartridge, whereas the Famicom used a 60 pin cartidge.
Overall, Nintendo’s machine helped really get Nintendo on the worldwide map it terms of home gaming and is still hugely popular, with a large number of the original titles, now being played on the current systems via download
