The mind of a computer!
Over the course of the past few site updates and server changes, a few of the Game Reviews had become lost. I still had copies of the review text, but never got around to re-posting them. But over the past few days, I finally took care of it. The old reviews are back, and I also posted a few new ones that I had written earlier but hadn't yet published.
While doing this, I also restored the three In-Depth Reviews, which had been offline for a while. Now you can enjoy reading about the fantastic depths of Quest for the Rings, the ultra-violence of Showdown in 2100 A.D., and the brain-busting grade-school challenge of I've Got Your Number. I even re-coded the I've Got Your IQ Number Intelligence Test, which is good for a chuckle if you haven't taken it before.
I must say, while re-coding the IQ test, I realized how just old this site is. The IQ test is something I wrote to help teach myself JavaScript back in 1998. It required frames, which I don't want to use anymore, so I rewrote it using the awesome jQuery library. Before that, I hadn't touched that code in probably 10 years. It's hard to believe the site has been around that long!
In 2007, programmers Rafael A. Cardoso da Silva and René van den Enden produced a homebrew racing game called Route 66. An extremely limited cartridge run was produced, and unfortunately not all collectors who wanted the game were able to obtain it.
Now, Classic Consoles Center has teamed with Rafael and René to rectify this situation by producing a new 100-cartridge run of the game. The latest version, dubbed Route 66+ features enhanced background graphics when played on Videopac G7400-compatible machines (the game will still work on normal Videopac and Odyssey² machines as well, only without the fancy backgrounds). Route 66+ also features support for The Voice module.
Route 66+ comes with both Videopac- and Odyssey²-style labels and box inserts, so you can make it look appropriate for your part of the world. The game costs 29 Euros plus shipping. Motor on down to the Classic Consoles Center web site to place your order today!
Plogue.com's chipsounds is a software synthesizer that emulates a number of 8-bit-era sound chips, including the Odyssey²'s (the P824X). This chipsounds blog post describes the hardware analysis of the P824X that led to its inclusion in the synthesizer. The post is highly technical, but it may be useful to anyone interested in Odyssey² sound architecture or chiptunes in general. I added a link to it in the Off-Site section of the Articles page. Thanks to Justin for the heads-up!
After sending that link, Justin pointed out that the information on the Emulation Resources page was really out-of-date. Sorry about that. It has now been updated. Thanks again Justin!
Bas Kornalijnslijper of the Netherlands, who was responsible for the recent prototype reproductions of Spider-Man and Melrep, has struck again! The newest cartridge release is Play Tag, a Videopac prototype that is finally seeing the light of day after a surprisingly long history. Longtime classic game collectors might remember a game that was sometimes listed in rarity guides as "Plantage." I'm fairly certain that Play Tag is that game. It was discovered at a Dutch flea market way back in November 1996 and soon found its way into the hands of a Videopac collector. Other than the fact that it was a "catch" game, little information surfaced about the prototype. Eventually, a screenshot or two and even a short video clip appeared on some European web sites, but those sites eventually went offline the game all but fell off the radar screen. Now, thanks to Bas, this rather obscure (and, from the looks of the screenshots, fairly primitive) Videopac prototype is getting a proper release, complete with Videopac-style cartridge label and custom, oddly streetwise box art.
Play Tag is being released as Videopac #69, and will be limited to a 69-copy run. The cost is 25 Euros (about $37 US) plus shipping. Order your copy at the official web site.
