Retro Computers

A mecha equipment screen. Image top left, a picture of the pilot, wearing a grey jumpsuit and blue accents, gold earrings, a black headband, and a white bob cut. Bottom left her name and rank (Anita Shefeeld (sic), ARMY Cpl.Sgt.) and her scores (such as "Adj. to-air +6" and "Adjusted AP 15"). Cneter is the robot itself, deliberately evocative of the design of a late 80s to early 90s jet, with a 'canopy' style helmet and two large 'jet' intakes; a railgun of some type is on its right shoulder, and a missile pack on its left shoulder. The right hand column shows the current equipment in dense type; the two hand slots show silhouettes of the weapons. The bottom right gives stats for the X3A mecha as a whole (such as "Durability 60, Land defense 40"); the bar at the very bottom has the game logo (POWERDOLLS 1994 Kogado Studio) and the options 'Select' and 'Done'.

Power Dolls (DOS, 1994)

A sleek grey box with a CD rom popup on the left, a floppy drive (!) on the right, and two controller ports and AV ports out the front (!). The grey controller has a D-pad, A/B, Select/Start, far fewer than its companions.

FM Towns Marty (Fujitsu, 1993)

A spade lug switch box. The face indicates various ports: GAME, 300Ω, 75Ω, TV - and has a black rocker switch to switch between GAME and ANT. The whole device is on a woodgrain background. From the bottom, a spade switch output wire runs offscreen.

I got the hook-up.

A simple black-and-white catalog page for TRS 80 software. Titles include Robo Attack ("The game that talks!") with a screenshot like Robotron, Attack Force with a screenshot like Combat, Galaxy Invasion with a screenshot like Space Invaders, Gobble Man with no screenshot but a picture of a gremlin, Cosmic Fighter ("With Sound") showing a spaceship trying to dock, SuperNOVA (screenshot like Asteroids) whose ad copy outright states it's a copy of Asteroids for your TRS 80, "3D Adventures" with no screenshot, and "Asylum ("over 550 locatiosn!"). At the bottom, an order form, marked "All tapes 10 pounds ea - ASYLUM Tape 12 pounds"

The Essential Software Company

Results of a computer art contest from the July 1988 issue of The Rainbow. First place for the Coco 3 depicts a desert skyline; first place for the Coco 1&2 depicts firefighters saving people from a building; second place depicts a kid's bedroom with a Coco MAX setup; third place depicts King Tut; and an honorable mention depicts a woodpecker.

The Coco Gallery

Up top, a computer kiosk; a screen and keyboard on the left, a place for a price card on the right, and multiple shelves of storage below. On the right hand side of the storage, places to install disc burners or cartridge burners appear. The heading below the image reads "Xante: Software While-U-Wait", while the preview reads "New distribution system makes programs and manuals on the spot for PC and PCjr." The story continues below, and to some future page.

With their XPS, Xante is predicting a future where you might be able to get software anywhere - maybe even your local supermarket! (Source.)

Article from a 1988 issue of COMPUTE!'s Gazette, featuring a hack to use functions from the C64's built in BASIC interpreter to interpret a broad array of BASIC statements as a function. Headings are Typing It In, Using Smart VAL, and Error Trapping.

Give your 64's VAL function a lession in mathematics with this short-but-powerful machine language routine!

An ad in a faux movie poster style, reading "Cinemaware Presents: The TREE STOOGES" Moe, Larry, and Curly appear right (They can save the day by making ASSETS of themselves!"; the Evil Banker appears stage left ("He took their NEST EGG and told them to BEAT IT!"); and the Widow and her Three Beautiful Daughters appear below ("They're about to be thrown out on their ARREARS!"). On the bottom, Amiga screenshots depict the handdrawn cartoons plus the realistically colorized screenshots of the old black-and-white films.

Can THREE Stooges save ONE orphange from FOREclosure?

An article from the May 1988 issue of ST-Log Magazine. Up top, a knight in shining armor with lance charges on his horse. Down below, the article describes the setup and strategies of of Strathello.

Strathello: A C Version Of Capture The Flag

Image left, an image of a fighter-jet-style mecha; it has an ejection-canopy style helmet, jet intakes, and thick thighs. Image right, the text "Armed with next-generation cyber-technology and firepower, the Power Dolls will rise through the ashes and administer justice!"

Power Dolls (DOS, 1994)

The "Chao World... Now Loading" mission load screen from Sonic Adventure 2. Unlike the normal Chao World screen, it has a mission start text, which reads "1st Mission: Make sure we debug this!"

In the initial release Sonic Adventure 2, by glitching the Chao World loader, you could enter a secret debug world. The PC port fixed this... but introduced a new glitch:

An all-in-one computer from 1996. It stands on its edge, somewhat like a clamshell computer, but using standard keyboard and mouse. It looks like a precursor for the POS machines of today.

The Monorail

A magazine ad showing the Hyper7. It's a dedicated word processor all-in-one, with a PS/2 keyboard, a monochrome backlit LCD monitor device left, twin vertically mounted 3.5" floppies device right, and a thermal printer device rear. The screen on the device shows a multi-application operating system, including word processor, spreadsheet, rolodex, drawing program, graphing program, disk utility, telecommunications terminal, and tutorial. The only thing it's lacking is a way to program on the thing.

Word processors used to be an appliance. (Source.)

Screenshot of the 1992 DOS edition of Oregon Trail Deluxe. The center right gives the weather, Continue, and Options. The center left gives a picture of Independence Missouri (that town hall is still standing!) and a status: "June 1, 1848. You started down the trail with 1 ox, 2 sets of clothing, 200 bullets, 1 wagon wheel, 1 wagon axle, 1 wagon tongue, 100 pounds of food, and $1,490.00" Left controls, top to bottom, are Map, Guide, Status, Rations, and Buy; right controls, top to bottom, are Trade, Talk, Rest, Pace, and Hunt.

Just 2170 miles to go...

A stage screen from the game Aero Fighters (1993), the US localization of Sonic Wings. On the left, a very beautiful pilot holds a pink rose. In the middle, a map screen shows Japan has been selected. On the right, a dolphin in a fighter cap. Down below, it reads "You're pretty punk, Steve," though it is not clear who is the punk that is Steve. At bottom, it reads "Level-4 Credit 01."

"You're pretty punk, Steve."

The splash screen for Windows 3.1, arguably the breakaway point for Microsoft. The classic "flying window" logo flies up top, with its four-colored panes disappearing into digital static; the name Microsoft Windows appears in serif dropshadow; "Copyright Microsoft Corporateion 1985-1992. All Rights Reserved."

It's time computers got friendly again.

Top Left, a putative illustration of Edison besides multiple prototype light bulbs - and an Apple computer. To the side, the headline "Edison had 1,800 patents in his name, but you can be just as inventive with an Apple." Below, dense ad copy with heading "How Apple grows with you," "Apple speaks many languages," "More illuminating experiences in store," and beneath, the rainbow apple logo reading Apple Computer, Inc. At the bottom, an Apple III with integrated disk drive and detached keyboard is left, and an Apple II is right, with a bamboo fan on the Apple III, which is ironic given the system's heat issues.

Edison had 1,800 patents in his name, but you can be just as inventive with an Apple. (Source.)

A two-page ad from the August 1995 issue of Fusion Magzine, framed by black and yellow hazard tape. The left page reads "For Serious Gamers Only. Neo•GeoCD: Don't Cross the Line Unless You're Serious." The right page shows the Neo-Geo CD itself, a squat rounded black case (not unlike the Saturn or the N64, two of its contemporaneous systems) and tow controllers, which have a joystick, four action buttions, and two menu buttons

FOR SERIOUS GAMERS ONLY. (Source.)

A scene of a road facing away from the viewer, viewing a bay that shows Point Reyes. The road is rained over; puddles reflect the wrought iron fence and the fractal bushes, while grass is blooming to either side of the road; translucent rainbows guide the viewer's eye to the distant landscape. A sheer cliff blocks line of sight to the left.

The Road To Point Reyes (Rob Cook with Alvy Ray Smith, Loren Carpenter, Tom Porter, Bill Reeves, and David Salesin; 1983)

In this preview of the CD contents of Computer Games magazine for June 2000, they review Storm Watch, an isometric 2D squad based tactical shooter with a dialogue section. The first screenshot shows an Action Girl selected, with movement options on a side bar; the second sidebar shows the team is composed of Action Girl and Action Guy. The second screenshot better highlights the visual style of mid-90s flat-shaded comics (animesque with heavy noir influences for Shadow Watch's takes, if the wide swaths of black framing the screenshots are any indication), showing the players talking to a bartender with various dialogue options. A side bar in the bottom left proclaims "The Goods", stating it's a turn-based strategy published by Red Storm, with "Requirements: Pentium 133, 32MB RAM, 98MB."

"Whereas most games shoot for a hyper-slick, 3D-accelerated look, or at least aim for super-sharp, high-res 2D graphics, Shadow Watch takes a retro approach to visuals..." (Source.)

An old school HP terminal, featuring CRT monitor, tape drive (internal top left), thermal printer (internal top right), keyboard (with 32 function keys and a keypad loosely based on HP calculators).

HP 9835A (1979)

Top right, the text "VIDEO EXCITEMENT in the palm of your HAND" - the first words are in blocky sans serif text, but 'hand' is stretched vertically. To the left side, a kid wearing a black denim jacket, blue jeans and yellow polo jumps to hold his Tiger electronic game. Middle, the Tiger Out Run game itself - a handheld console, white with painted scenery on the edges and unlit LCD; the left circle has two buttons, the right circle has two buttons (Speed and Brake), and four function buttons are in the center; a grille for the bleeptronic speaker is on the bottom of the "console." Ad right, breathless copy describes the challenges players face when they take "the Out Run challenge." At the bottom of the ad, the logo for "Tiger Grandstand: The Leading Name in LCD Games" appears.

"20 top titles available..." (Source.)

Screen top right, "TURN 14"; below that, a compass indicating the wind is blowing to the north at 18mph. Below that, "FIREBREAKS: 6"; below that "COMMANDS: Arrow Keys D(rop water F(irebreak B(ackfire". Screen left, the 25x25 grid that represents the forest; a few lakes in blue are dotted about, but much of the screen is covered in red of varying depths. The black vertical liens indicate the user used firebreaks to keep the fires from heading west, but with the wind now blowing to the north, the fire is starting to spread north of the firebreaks. It's not certain how the user will be able to protect the homes in the center and the homes at risk to the left in the same few turns, indicating the sort of stress this game that is essentially a turn-based cellular automata put you through.

Fire Fighter (DOS, 1985, and every other computer with a BASIC, by the end of 1986)

The box for the Tano release of the Dragon 64. A fairly simple breadbox up top on a vaporwave grid, underneath the rainbow Dragon logo; below are pictures of a grown man at a spreadsheet, a grown woman at a database, a boy playing chess, and a boy and a girl playing some grid based two player game.

While the Dragon was designed and built in Wales, a licensing agreement with a New Orleans company meant that you could get the Dragon 64, new in box, until 2017, making the Dragon 64 perhaps one of the longest market stays for any micro.

An old school Windows shareware title with a lot going on. Menus are Play, Options, Info, and (greyed out) "TRIS-ME 1997 (C) Unregistered Version." The playfield is a standard black field with falling Tetronimos composed of rounded spheres of various colors. Top left are colorful notes of Level, Score, Money, and Bonus; playfield left is the Next indicator, with hearts, clovers, magic wands, and a timer. Top right is a spellbook, with the colorful word "CAST!" below; below that are various spellcasting reagents, and their point values. A strung-out orange tank cat with green stripes has a chat balloon, currently empty, where messages would appear; at the bottom right are the buttons "Play!", "Buy!", "Stole!", and "Return!" The whole thing is set up against a faux-granite backdrop.

TRISME (Stephane Giacone, 1997) (Source.)

A landscape format handheld playing a Sonic game. The left has a D-pad; the right has action buttons (A, B, C, D), power, pause, and menu buttons.

The Game.com Pocket Pro. There's not a lot out there about it, but it came in Atomic Purple, so it can't be all that bad.

A yellow cylinder, with legs, two arms, green eyes, and a red tongue. The free hand is posable is just strong enough to hold a pen; the big palm hand lifts in order to put the coin into his mouth.

Robie the Robot (1982) (Source.)

A commodore game, in extruded all-capital font, reads: "Well, there goes your third life - and since you're not a cat, you don't have six more - so sayonara, ja mata ne!

Well, there goes your third life! (Source.)

A review from the April 1988 Up top, the aforementioned article title, and a picture of the machine itself; the grey machine doesn't look too dissimilar from modern pizzabox computers, with a 5.25" disk drive where a modern pizzabox would have a CD drive, and a detached clickey keyboard that's not too far from IBM standard. The article touts such features as the enhanced video RAM ('an expansive 64K'), enhanced CP/M, support for multiple operating systems

CLOSE UP: The Commodore 128D

Hey, they came reasonably close.