Way back in 1981 Microsoft founder Bill Gates co-wrote a top down scrolling (of sorts) game with Neil Konzen called DONKEY.BAS. It was written partly to show off the power of the  new PC-DOS operating system Microsoft had been contracted to develop for the new IBM PCs. It was actually called Donkey but was written in BASIC hence the .BAS file extension. The original game is widely credited as being the first ever IBM PC game written.

The game explained

You are ‘controlling’ a car near the bottom of the screen, with a road that scrolls from top to bottom with donkeys randomly generated appearing within it’s lanes every few seconds or so. The aim of the game is to switch lanes by tapping the screen whenever a donkey appears on your side of the road. Every time you make it past a donkey you move incrementally towards the top of the screen so reducing the time you have to react. After eleven donkeys you score one point and are taken back to the bottom of the screen, where the process begins all over. If you should hit a donkey, the donkey’s get the point and you start over.

Description from the developers:

You’re cruising in your new supercar on a little-used, dead-straight rural road when suddenly a zombified donkey attacks you. It charges at you, dead-set on destroying you. Can you escape the donkey?

DONKEY.BAS is a challenging retro arcade racer. To be successful, you need to react fast with your finger. There’s no room for mistakes.

For the first time on iPhone and iPad, relive the classic racing game that started it all.

• Cool 8-bit graphics and sounds
• Great grandma of all racing games
• Simple one-tap game control
• Game Center enabled
• Win all 14 achievements if you can

Conclusion

iPad version of DONKEY.BAS

We see the point of the game as a tribute to the first ever PC-DOS game ever made. We even had a some fun playing it for a while, having heard about the original game and wanting to see it in action. It is Game Center enabled so you have access to leaderboards etc. and the game has a nerdy-retro coolness that cant really be explained but unfortunately we don’t think it would appeal to anyone who doesnt ‘get’ what it represents – the very first attempt at gaming on the IBM PC.

Pricing is fair at £0.69p and if you had an original IBM PC with Donkey or are interested in the history of Microsoft/early IBM PCs you are going to love reliving the simplistic gameplay that this offers. Anyone else I’m afraid is going to get bored real quick.

Pros

• Does what it says on the tin – delivers original DONKEY.BAS action on ipad/iphone

Cons

• People who weren’t there wont ‘get’ it
• Very simplistic, almost too simplistic for todays iPhone generation

Entitled Mayhem, it features a character called Wizzy and some frantic looking gameplay involving stick… (see video below!)

Features include:

• Playable on Videopac and Odyssey2 consoles
• High resolution background on Videopac+ consoles
• Digitized speech using The voice add-on
• Multicolor sprite animation
• Internet highscore uploading
• Online rewards system
• Hidden gameplay mode

Available to purchase for €39. Check out the Revival Studios website here.

I have been waiting until I received my pre-ordered iCade from Firebox before writing this review for one good reason. Atari’s Greatest Hits app does not play well with the on-screen controls. In fact I don’t think I’ve played any retro game app on my iPad that has had on-screen controls that work. Atari’s offering was especially bad and I have found most if not all of the games unplayable with unresponsive controls killing me off way before I should have been.

iCade should hopefully remedy that. We will see shortly…

Unpacking the iCade

As usual Firebox were better than average and I received my pre-ordered iCade on 22nd July (website stating that shipping would start on 28th). The printed iCade box was well protected in a larger plain packing box and came totally undamaged which was a good start.

Upon opening you find the instructions, a bag of bits, 2 AA batteries, a bag of Cola Bottle sweets (for eating while assembling I assume) and a flat-packed iCade. You have to assemble the iCade yourself but there are only 6 screws and 2 pins to use and assembly took under 5 minutes. The instructions were adequate and an appropriate size allen key is supplied. Oh, and the Cola Bottles were nice too.

First Impressions

Assembling something yourself in this way gives you a better idea of just how sturdy something is and I must say that if anything this thing is over-engineered. It really is like a mini arcade machine material-wise with the main body being made of essentially the same thing; plastic faced wood composite with a panel of realistic feeling set of switched buttons and a switched arcade style joystick. 2 AA size batteries (supplied) are inserted below the main control panel. There is also an AC Adapter jack situsted at the rear of the unit although it is not supplied with an AC Adapter (a seperate purchase from ION). A large ‘flip up’ panel on top of the unit lifts up to reveal instructions (if you really need them) and to make lowering your iPad into its ‘cradle’ easier. The ‘cradle’ also has a hole big enough to fit a standard iPad connector so it can sit in the iCade whilst charging if need be. A thing to be noted here is that the cradle is NOT a dock. The iPad has no physical connection to the iCade other than one caused by gravity and connection is made via a Bluetooth connection. This also leaves you able to place your iPad in a landscape orientation for certain games, although to do this the iPad sits ‘outside’ the unit in a groove just behind the stick and buttons which sort of spoils the arcade machine look of it all in my opinion. A nice touch is the fake ‘coin slot’ on the front of the unit which lights up when the unit is operating and gives it a really authentic look when the lights are dimmed.

Making a connection

Detailed instructions are included on how to connect your iPad to your iCade but I will run through the relatively simple process for you here too. Go to settings on your iPad and under ‘General’ switch Bluetooth ON and make sure it is discoverable. Hold down the bottom 4 buttons and the top white button on the iCade until the ‘coin slot’ on the front of the unit starts to flash. You will then be prompted by your iPad to enter a series of numbers on your iCade to ‘pair’ your devices. Don’t worry, the buttons and joystick directions have been allocated a number each and these are listed on the instructions under the top panel of the iCade unit. Once done you will not have to do this pairing again.

Time to play

Playing the formerly unplayable Atari’s Greatest Hits app was a bit of a revelation. Gone are the awkward unresponsive on-screen controls replaced by a great feeling arcade-style joystick and 8 arcade-style buttons. I’m glad they opted to go for a full set of 8 making the unit compatible with future multi-button games should any be released. I’m looking at you Capcom… Street Fighter would be amazing. The instructions include a handy control legend sheet which details the button layout for each game and I was also glad to see that when the iCade is being used the on-screen controls disappear, ensuring they don’t spoil the mini-arcade machine effect. One thing I was dissapointed to find was that to get to a game you had to use the touch screen. I would have liked to have seen full iCade integration and to be able to choose games by using joystick and buttons to select.

Most of the Atari games on offer here are from the VCS/2600 era and to be honest there are quite a few duds. I mean… anyone for a game of Hangman, Math Grand Prix or Brain Games? … no, thought not. Because these offerings are purely Atari’s own,  you don’t get any of the great games that we all know and love by other software giants of the era like Activision, Parker Bros or CBS (to name a few). Hopefully we will see these in the future. That’s not to say there aren’t any good 2600 games on offer here. The like of Yars Revenge, Gravitar, Super-Breakout and many more are all here and play well, even if only for a short while.

The real gems (and the games most will be purchasing for) are the coin-op games. Atari’s coin-ops were not just pioneering but are arguably some of the best games ever to stand in an arcade and this collection doesn’t disappoint. From the inaugural Pong through to Crystal Castles these are all faithfully reproduced on-screen and most of them (thankfully) play perfectly with the iCade taking over from on-screen controls.

I say most because some of the trackball games and games like Pong or Breakout just cannot be replicated with a joystick. Missile Command is a good example of this, it was unplayable with an on-screen trackball before and with a joystick it’s even worse if anything. That said, Crystal Castles, Centipede and Millipede all play well with a joystick despite the originals utilising trackballs.

Conclusion

I don’t think that Atari’s Greatest Hits is an app worth purchasing without the iCade. And iCade is not worth purchasing only for use with Atari’s Greatest Hits. Whilst it is great fun for a while, the 2600 games just don’t have any longevity, the arcade games are too few and the app is too expensive (£10.49 for the full set of games). For the money paid, I would have liked to have seen some top Atari 7800 and maybe some Atari 5200 games thrown in too. I encountered a few minor problems along the way, the biggest being that after exiting the Atari app, the virtual keyboard no longer popped up when needed. To get it back again I had to switch bluetooth off. A minor bug, but annoying all the same. If you are willing to jailbreak your iPad an iCade is well worth purchasing for use with iMame4All which gives you access to thousands of arcade games, but for the majority who won’t be voiding their Apple Warranty on their shiny new iPad I can only say wait until other apps are released before parting with your cash.

Pros

• Build Quality
• iCade gives near-arcade experience
• iCade compatible with iMame4All (via Jailbreak)
• Works with iPad and iPad 2

Cons

• ‘Virtual Keyboard’ problems when connected via BT
• Some Atari games really need a Trackball
• Atari 2600 games are hit-and-miss
• iCade needs more software support

Links:

Atari’s Greatest Hits at the iTunes App Store

The Story of a Beautiful Machine

Viva Amiga is a project by Zach Weddington which needs the support of Amiga fans everywhere to make it reality.

Planned to be a documentary film about the legendary Commodore Amiga series of computers and their colourful history. Zach has already filmed many big names including former Commodore Engineers such as Jeff Porter, Dave Haynie, Bill Herd and Andy Finkel along with computer historian Jason Scott. The soundtrack is being composed by Amiga mod-scene musician Zoe Blade.

Support for the project can be given in many ways, whether directly through loan of equipment and services or through donation.

For further details please go to www.amigafilm.com

or donate here through www.kickstarter.com

For those of you that don’t know, iCade is a spoof that became reality. ThinkGeek thought it was a good idea to do an April fools joke of an article featuring a miniature arcade cabinet that housed an iPad. Many people (myself amongst them) thought it would actually be a good idea if implemented correctly and I guess that ThinkGeek saw that it might just be something they could sell.

Here we are a year later and iCade is indeed on sale. ThinkGeek have partnered with Atari and ION (best known for their USB turntables and the like) to bring the joke to life. The cabinet comes in kit form and has an arcade style joystick and 8 arcade style buttons which utilise a bluetooth connection (the iPad just sits in a  ‘slot’ and you don’t have to use any form of docking).

It looks the part with a ‘mini arcade machine’ shape, arcade style graphics on the cabinet and even has a coin slot (just lights up to show the iCade is functioning and doesnt accept coins unfortunately!).

Video review by MAMECADE:

Atari have teamed up with the manufacturers to make their iOS App compatible with the bluetooth joystick and buttons and we hear that the development kit has now been made free which will open the way for other software companies to produce Apps that are iCade compatible, so expect more retro arcade hits to be released shortly.

When can I get one?

We’re looking forward to getting our hands on one and testing it out with Atari’s iOS App but can’t wait to see more arcade games ported over to iOS to use with iCade.

If you are in the UK you can pre-order your iCade from Firebox here. They are expected to ship from 28th July.

Expect a full review of the Atari App and the iCade as soon as we get our hands on one here at RGC.

If you are of a certain age and owned a ZX Spectrum  you will remember well the playground taunts from your Commodore owning friends regarding colour clash, its rubber keyboard and feeble sound effects. Likewise if you owned a Commodore 64 you will remember the playground taunts regarding washed out colours, peeks and pokes and the relative lack of software in your local WH Smith.

If you do, then you will be interested to read Robert John Shepherd’s article over at MyReviewer.com where he tries to settle the argument once and for all. Intelligently, unlike back in the early 80′s…

OK, so not strictly retro game related, but we saw this computer gadget of yesteryear and we now long to run around with serial ports sticking out of the back of our trainers. How cool would it be to plug your trainers into an Commodore 64? Super cool, that’s how cool and we want some… not that we’d like to actually run in them.

Here’s the lowdown on the low-tech:

Released in 1985 by Puma, these shoes would act as an electronic pedometer that you could hook up to your Apple IIe or Commodore 64 computer and track your distance run and calories used. A bit like Nike + but not at all. Instead of the small wireless sensor that you get to put under your sole, you got a bloody great appendage stuck on the back of your Pumas which had the necessary control buttons and ports for connecting to your computer when you got back home. Looking at these gives me footache. Interestingly a sales programme manager for Nike was reported to have said that their market research at the time had ‘turned up no solid market for computerised shoes’. I think he may have been taking notes though.

More on this, including magazine articles and pictures of RS Computer shoes from their collection over at DigiBarn Computer Museum.

As a retro game store owner, I get a lot of pre-SCART retro consoles and computers sent back to me with reports of them not working. Upon testing, 9 out of 10 of these will prove to be working just fine, leading me to the conclusion that one or more of the following points apply:

1. the cartridge they are using is faulty/needs cleaning (see this article on how to clean your cartridge)
2. they had a modern ‘auto tune only’ TV (some of these cannot tune the weak RF signals that older computers produce)
3. they don’t understand the difference between analogue and digital signals
4. they don’t know how to manually tune their TV

With the advent of HDMI, USB and Wi-Fi the current generation of tech-users rightly expect their kit to just plug in and ‘work’. Unfortunately for me and them this wasn’t always the case and old tech needs a little more preparation and understanding of how it works before you can start using it.

From the mid 90′s consoles started to use an AV SCART lead and most modern TVs still have SCART connections so these consoles aren’t usually a problem. It is when we go back to RF output that problems begin to show. An RF signal is analogue and a modern TV has to be put into ‘analogue mode‘ in order for it to be tuned. Then you can usually allocate a channel and set it to auto-tune. If auto-tuning skips past the signal (usually Channel 36) then you may have to set it to manual tune. Some modern TVs don’t have manual tune. If this is the case, and it didn’t tune using auto tune then I’m afraid you won’t be using that particular TV to play pre-SCART consoles on. So to clarify:

Tuning a pre-SCART console/computer

1. Use a cartridge that you know works (or clean your cartridge following these instructions here) and make sure your console is switched on
2. Make sure your RF co-axial aerial cable is connected to both the console and TV
3. If the RF cable has a built in switch box make sure it is switched to ‘game‘ (or equivalent)
4. Make sure your TV is set to analogue mode (consult your TV instruction manual if not sure how to achieve this)
5. Pick a channel (nowadays most people are watching digital channels so just pick any)
6. If it gives you the option to manually input a signal channel choose Ch. 36
7. If you can’t, try an auto tune
8. If this hasn’t worked and your TV will let you, try manually tuning the signal
9. If that doesn’t work buy a Commodore Pet and play old games on that

Tuning a SCART enabled console

1. Use a cartridge that you know works (or clean your cartridge following these instructions here) and make sure your console is switched on
2. Make sure you have plugged the SCART cable into your console and your TV (make a note of the SCART socket number on the TV)
3. Tune your TV using the AV channel button on your remote choosing the corresponding AV number

The problem has become so bad I have taken to putting a disclaimer on all of my pre-SCART console and computer listings in my store. Hopefully with this article I can help get people to realise that the majority of the time it is their TV at fault and that their new (old) retro games machine is working just fine.