Event Overview

The Black Country Games Fair returns on Sunday 26 October 2025 at The Robin in Wolverhampton. Doors open at 10:00 AM, and the event runs until mid-afternoon.

Location & Venue

• Venue: The Robin, 26-28 Mount Pleasant, Bilston, Wolverhampton, WV14 7LJ
• A local favourite, The Robin sets the scene with an intimate venue known for community events and live gatherings.

Tickets & Entry

• Early Bird Access: Two door-entry slots available:
  • 10:00–11:00 AM — Early Bird 1
  • 11:00–12:00 PM — Early Bird 2
    Each early bird ticket is priced at approximately £3.30 (including fees)
• Free Entry After Midday: The event transitions to free entry for all attendees from 12:00 PM onwards

Get your early bird tickets here

What to Expect

This retro gaming fair promises:

• A robust array of traders offering retro games, consoles, accessories, and collectibles.
• Bargain hunters likely to find rare and nostalgic gaming items.
• A welcoming atmosphere of community and shared passion for gaming. The event’s earlier editions were celebrated for delivering “value for money, both for traders AND attendees alike”

Why You Should Attend

Retro Gaming Enthusiasts

Ideal for fans of classic gaming, the Fair presents a treasure trove of vintage games, consoles, and memorabilia. It’s a chance to examine, compare, or even bargain for rarities.

Affordable Early Access

The modestly priced early bird tickets offer a smart way to start browsing at your leisure without the usual afternoon crowd. Alternatively, the free afternoon access is perfect for casual browsing or family visits.

Community Energy & Nostalgia

The Robin provides a cosy, social atmosphere — great for meeting fellow gamers, sharing memories, and soaking in the retro vibes. Annual attendees rave about strong turnout and supportive community spirit.

Useful Links

Black Country Events Facebook page

Facebook Event Page

www.blackcountryevents.com

Original post can be found at Retro Games Collector
Upcoming Event: The Black Country Games Fair – Sunday 26 October 2025

Fast forward to today, and the Jaguar has found a dedicated cult following. Unfortunately, original cartridges and especially Jaguar CD games are becoming increasingly rare and expensive. This is where RetroHQ’s Jaguar GameDrive comes in — a modern solution for playing your entire Jaguar library, from official releases to homebrew and prototypes, using a single cartridge and a microSD card.

I recently had the pleasure of reviewing the Jaguar GameDrive, thanks to a discount from Retro Towers, who kindly supported this review. Let’s take a deep dive into what it does, how it works, and why it’s become an essential part of my Jaguar setup.

First Impressions & Build Quality

Out of the box, the GameDrive feels reassuringly solid. The casing is slightly taller than a regular Jaguar cartridge, minus that distinctive top “handle,” and with a custom GameDrive label. The build quality is excellent – no creaky plastic or ill-fitting seams. It’s clearly made to withstand regular use, which is reassuring given it’s likely to spend a lot of time being plugged and unplugged for those of us who still enjoy using real hardware.

Inside is where the magic happens: an FPGA-based design that communicates with the Jaguar as if it were a real cartridge, loading the game data directly into the system’s memory for authentic, cycle-accurate gameplay.

Setup: Getting Your Library Ready

Setting up the GameDrive is straightforward, but it helps to be organised. All you need is:

• A microSD card (FAT32 formatted is recommended)
• Your legally obtained Jaguar ROM files
• Optionally, .mrq files for displaying box art in the menu

The ROMs are simply copied to the SD card via your computer. The GameDrive recognises .jag and .rom formats for cartridges, and with the latest firmware, supports converted Jaguar CD images as well. You can arrange games in folders for easier navigation, which is a blessing if your collection runs into the hundreds.

The .mrq files are a delightful touch. These are small image files that, when placed alongside your ROMs, allow the GameDrive to display box art in its menu. It’s not an essential feature, but it makes browsing your library feel more like scanning a shelf of physical games — a nice nod to collectors.

In Use: The Jaguar Menu Experience

Once the SD card is inserted into the GameDrive, you plug it into your Jaguar just like any other cartridge. Power up, and instead of booting straight into a game, you’re greeted by the GameDrive’s built-in menu system.

The menu is clean, quick, and responsive. You navigate using the Jaguar controller’s D-pad and buttons, scrolling through your folders or list of games. Selecting a title loads it within seconds, and once loaded, the Jaguar treats it exactly like an original cartridge — because to the hardware, it is an original cartridge.

Performance & Compatibility

In my testing, every standard Jaguar cartridge game I tried — from Tempest 2000 and Alien vs Predator to Rayman — loaded flawlessly and played exactly as intended. Timing, sound, and graphics are spot-on. There’s no emulation layer here; it’s real hardware execution.

Where the GameDrive truly shines for enthusiasts is in its support for homebrew and prototypes. The Jaguar’s small library means there’s a thriving scene of developers producing new games or completing unreleased projects. Being able to load these directly on original hardware is a huge win for preservation and playability.

Jaguar CD Support

One of the more recent and exciting additions to the GameDrive is support for Jaguar CD games, thanks to a firmware update. This is a big deal – the original Jaguar CD add-on is rare, fragile, and notoriously unreliable. With the GameDrive, you can now play many CD titles without the actual CD hardware.

However, there are some caveats:

1. The CD images must be converted into a special format compatible with the GameDrive.
2. Not all games work – some have compatibility issues due to how they access data.
3. Load times vary, and certain multi-disc or FMV-heavy games may be more prone to problems.

Still, for the majority of compatible titles, the experience is smooth, and it’s a genuine game-changer for anyone interested in exploring the Jaguar’s CD library.

Firmware Updates & Longevity

RetroHQ actively maintains the GameDrive with firmware updates, adding features, improving compatibility, and occasionally enhancing performance. Updating the firmware is as simple as putting the update file on your SD card, booting the GameDrive, and letting it work its magic.

This ongoing support means the device will likely continue to improve over time — something you definitely couldn’t say about the Jaguar itself back in 1993.

Pros & Cons

Pros:

• Access your entire Jaguar library from one cartridge
• Excellent build quality and fit
• Flawless compatibility with nearly all cartridge games
• Supports homebrew and unreleased prototypes
• .mrq box art support for a more engaging menu experience
• Firmware-based Jaguar CD support (with conversions)
• Actively supported with firmware updates

Cons:

• Jaguar CD games require conversion and not all are compatible
• Requires a little technical knowledge for setup
• Doesn’t magically fix the Jaguar’s famously odd controller (you’re still on your own there!)

Final Thoughts

The RetroHQ Jaguar GameDrive is, quite simply, the best modern accessory available for the Atari Jaguar. It preserves your original cartridges by letting them stay safely on the shelf, makes swapping between games instant, and opens the door to homebrew and prototype exploration.

Yes, the Jaguar’s library is small compared to other consoles, and yes, it still has its quirks. But with the GameDrive, those quirks are part of the fun rather than a barrier to enjoying the system. For collectors, preservationists, and anyone curious about Atari’s last console, the GameDrive turns the Jaguar from a museum piece into a daily driver again.

A big thank you once again to Retro Towers for making this review possible. If you’ve got a Jaguar gathering dust – or if you’re one of the lucky few still playing regularly – the GameDrive is a must-have upgrade that breathes new life into a much-maligned, but endlessly fascinating, console.

Retro Towers stock SD solutions for a plethora of different retro computers and consoles, please check out their shop here.

RetroHQ Jaguar GameDrive – Verdict

Category	Rating
Build Quality
Ease of Use	½
Compatibility	½
Value for Money

Summary:
The RetroHQ Jaguar GameDrive is the definitive modern upgrade for Atari’s last console. Flawless cartridge compatibility, support for homebrew and prototypes, and even Jaguar CD playback (with conversions) make it an essential for collectors and enthusiasts. A sturdy, well-made cartridge with active firmware support ensures it will only get better over time.

Bottom Line:
If you own a Jaguar, you need a GameDrive — it’s as simple as that.

Original post can be found at Retro Games Collector
RetroHQ Jaguar GameDrive – Breathing New Life into Atari’s Last Console

Sure enough and true to their word I received two packages in the post. Yes, two. Which was above and beyond what I had expected to be receiving. The frames came in sturdy boxes and the wrapping on the frame is nothing short of beautiful in itself, consisting of custom Grid Studio wrapping paper, Grid branded ribbon and a special gold-coloured wax seal applied (with some lucky heather) for that extra touch of class!

Beneath the exquisite wrapping I found a Game Boy Color and a Game Boy Pocket, both laid out in exploded format, exposing their innards for all to see – like a framed teardown. Behind the exploded Game Boys there is a backing board, printed with appropriate graphics and labels for the various components giving the whole display a more technical look and feel. I felt that the balance of graphics to components was about right, too much and it would have detracted from the star of the show, but no graphics at all would have made the product appear less professional. Less is definitely more in this instance.

Overall, I felt that the displays were attractive and classy, with a minor gripe being the quality of the frames themselves, whilst not bad quality in any shape or form, they didn’t feel quite as ‘premium’ as I would have expected given the quality of the contents. Prices for the ‘grape’ Game Boy Color and Game Boy Pocket frames I reviewed were £168.64 and £160.17 respectively, including free shipping. A premium product at a not-so-premium price for something hand assembled and shipped halfway across the globe!

In summary

With an ever-expanding range of frames to choose from, I can recommend a Grid Frame Studio framed gadget for anyone who has nostalgic feelings towards the tech of old. These would make ideal presents for that retrogamer/tech enthusiast in your life or as an unusual and unique addition to your own mancave. Prices are extremely fair for such a premium product, especially when you consider the free shipping and I would be happy to display these attractive talking points anywhere in my own home.

My inner purist has just a small, but nagging concern that good working consoles were harmed in the making of these frames, lets hope that is not the case!

Grid Studio website: https://gridstudio.cc

Original post can be found at Retro Games Collector
Grid Frame Studio – Game Boy Review

So imagine my excitement (it was real my friends, very real) when I heard that LEGO were releasing an Atari 4 switch woody as part of their LEGO Icons range, following on from their massively popular NES model which featured a ‘working’ Mario TV screen.

This 2532 piece model (so close, but missed a trick there didn’t you LEGO?) consists of the legendary woodgrain wonder that graced our lounges back in the late 70s, along with replica cartridges and 3D vignettes of scenes from the 3 games covered. Asteroids, Adventure and Centipede being the 3 chosen games.

In usual LEGO fashion, they didn’t rest there and also included a ‘1970s living room scene’ within the Atari VCS case itself, complete with boom box, wall-phone, iconic posters and retro toys.

The set will be released on August 1st and I will undoubtedly be one of the first to grab one. This is one LEGO set I cannot be without.

More details can be found on the LEGO site: https://www.lego.com/en-gb/product/atari-2600-10306

*yeah, technically this is not a 2600, it is a Video Computer System, Atari didn’t give the name 2600 to a console until the 1982 all-black ‘Vader’ model – but we’ll let them off on this technicality – just this once.

Original post can be found at Retro Games Collector
Atari 2600 LEGO – is this the best thing I’ve ever seen?

Original post can be found at Retro Games Collector
Mattel Aquarius – my most neglected system?

Original post can be found at Retro Games Collector
Bandai Playdia (1994) unboxing and first play from sealed – will it even work?

Pledges include the following levels:

Commodore 64x Barebones

Case with integrated USB mechanical (cherry mx) keyboard with double shot keycaps. Case has space for an mini-ITX motherboard but also supports the Raspberry Computer Module 4 I/O board. Various coloured cases will be available.

Commodore 64x Extreme

The above but fitted with a passively cooled Intel Celeron J6412 (4 cores, 4 threads), 4GB DDR4 RAM (expandable to 8GB), a 250GB NVMe hard drive and an integrated 2.5” SATA hard drive docking station.

Commodore 64x Ultimate

The above but fitted with an Intel Core i5, Nvidia GTX 1650 Graphics, 8GB DDR4 RAM (expandable to 64GB), Wi-Fi, a 500GB NVMe hard drive and an integrated 2.5” SATA hard drive docking station.

So if you want a modern PC with the feel of your old Commodore, this might be for you. And if you think that £330 is a little too pricy for an entry level PC, remember it is in the form factor of a rather cool looking C64, that’s gotta be worth the extra money, right?

Check out the Kickstarter page here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/myretrocomputer/the-commodore-64-its-back-and-better-than-ever#

Original post can be found at Retro Games Collector
The Commodore 64 is back! But not as you know it…

Glory Hunters is an all-new action-adventure RPG for the original Game Boy with a unique and original twist: you progress through the game by obtaining achievements.

Key Features

• A unique experience in the action-adventure RPG genre. The only game where you progress by obtaining achievements!
• A giant map (aiming to be the biggest one in a Game Boy game) for you to explore freely.
• Nonlinear gameplay.
• Over a thousand achievements.
• An epic story in a world full of lore.
• Many eccentric characters that will aid you during your quest.
• 20 hours + of gameplay and high replay value.
• Physical cartridges will feature battery-less saving! No more lost saves or soldering irons.
• Digital rewards will include a .pocket file for the Analogue Pocket alongside a Steam Key to play it on your computer (PC only).

THE GAME

A massive object is about to strike Earth and you hear the call: Rise hunter.

Knights and warriors around the world make journeys from their homeland to the ancient gods’ vessels seeking for their blessing in an hour of need. These courageous heroes are called Glory Hunters.

Fire has lit the sky announcing the last days of the world. Is up to you to find one of the four gods’ vessels to save the land of Glorianta.

Glory Hunters is an all-new action-adventure RPG for the original Game Boy with a unique and original twist: you progress by obtaining achievements that grants glory points.

Glory points are the main currency and they are mainly used to open your path in this world. You will be able to find many glorious deeds that award them by gathering materials, aid the townsfolk in various quests or diving into dungeons and caves to defeat different kinds of mobs!

Players can choose freely where to go and discover different zones with unique minigames, enemies and funny characters!

You can also upgrade your health, buy more items or hire people to help you on this quest. You are free to spend glory points to create your very own and unique personal experience!

Bitmap Soft will publish Glory Hunters in Game Boy Cartridge format compatible with the original Game Boy DMG, Game Boy Pocket, Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance. Physical rewards at the kickstarter will come directly from them. The standard version and the collector’s edition will be offered during the kickstarter.

Glory awaits everywhere

Discover and hunt various achievements. You can be a pacifist and focus on gathering, puzzle-solving and questing or choose the fighter way, by traversing caves and dungeons to defeat the evil that lurks within their walls. You will find that almost every action can grant you glory!

A world full of life

Venture into an open world full of possibilities and meet many characters across the land! You choose where to go and which one of the four gods you want to awaken. Lose yourself in a game full of lore and many secrets! Maybe you’ll encounter secrets and events that others may never find on their first adventure!

An adventure that will last forever

Once you finish the game by awakening one of the gods, you can start over and choose to seek a different one. Choose your own adventure: Revisit your favorite characters, towns, and events, or attempt to open a new way to discover a whole new experience on your next journey. If you are one of the real hardcore players, maybe you will be one of the few ones to awaken all four gods in a single run!

A nostalgic trip

Delve in a game that has the same glorious retro graphics and sounds used over 30 years ago. You can dust off your old handheld consoles (GameBoy DMG, GameBoy Pocket, GameBoy Color, GameBoy Light, Super GameBoy, GameBoy Advance) and relive that 90’s experience from your childhood. Alternatively you can join the hunt by adding the game’s files to modern emulation devices (Anbernic, Retroid Pocket, GPD, Powkiddy, Raspberry Pi) or even play it on the Analogue Pocket!

About the Kickstarter Campaign:

The campaign was launched on April 10th this year (2022).

The rewards are available as digital versions of the game (regular and deluxe including files to run on any Game Boy emulator, the Analogue Pocket and a Steam code) and physical Game Boy cartridges (standard and collector’s edition, the latter being limited to 200 which will include an art book and OST cd alongside other goodies).

All physical rewards include worldwide shipping. There are special offers for early backers and limited add-ons within the campaign, one of them being adding custom dialogue to special NPCs.

Our goal is to reach $800,000 MXN (Other currencies est. £28,571; 38,150 USD; 34,115 €) but stretch goals will include additional content and making the game in full color.

Check out the Kickstarter here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/98220550/glory-hunters-a-unique-game-boy-action-adventure-rpg

Play the DEMO here: https://2think.itch.io/glory-hunters

Original post can be found at Retro Games Collector
Glory Hunters – Kickstarter for Game Boy

That has all changed in recent years due to the cloning of the GDEMU card by Chinese manufacturers and a GDEMU clone can now cost as little as £35. The replacement of the Dreamcast’s GDROM with a GDEMU can cause air-flow issues inside the console, causing the unit to run much hotter than it was designed to.

The answer to this is a to fit an SD card remote mount kit which restores the original airflow to the console and also either a PICO PSU or Dream PSU which run much cooler than the original built-in PSU, the latter of which I will also be fitting in this video. You can also fit a Noctua Fan but I have so far not felt the need to fit one as the unit now runs sufficiently cool enough.

Check out the video below to find out just how easy this upgrade was.

Original post can be found at Retro Games Collector
Upgrade your SEGA Dreamcast – quick, simple and cheap GDEMU and Dream PSU

From the off, SEGA Mania is obviously a labour of love for the lads working on it, and kicks off with Issue 1 exploring the year 1990. They do this in an interesting fashion, with articles relating to non-game related events in that era, which serve to really take you back to the time in question. The magazine then moves on to focus on the game-related events of that year such as the Master System II and Game Gear releases and other articles including one featuring a Master System controller-shaped coffee table!

The main chunk of the magazine is taken up with various game reviews, mainly from UK-released Master System and Megadrive games from 1990 but also includes Alex Kidd in Miracle World DX to add some contemporary SEGA gaming into the mix. The writing does the job but ‘Dad jokes’ are abundant and there is some very bad, sometimes rude humour added which I felt was unecessary and a bit strained at times.

In the final section of the magazine, the SEGA Mania team cover contemporary indie synthwave music releases and SEGA merchandise, including clothing and books, culminating in some 1990s movie reviews. These are a nice touch adding to the whole ‘take you back in time’ feel of the magazine that the writers are so clearly trying to invoke. The letters pages at the end of the magazine were predictably (as it is the first issue) entirely made up – resulting in more ‘dad humour’ unfortunately!

The magazine is full colour and over 50 pages, which is an ambitious goal for a first issue which they have managed to pull off to their credit, but the overall design of the magazine does have some issues. I am an ex-graphic designer with some 16 years of commercial experience and know about the ‘rules’ of publishing, many of which the team at SEGA Mania clearly don’t. Text too close to the margins of the page, poor choice of typefaces, type sizes, backgrounds that are so busy they shouldn’t be used as backgrounds and the choice of text/background colour combos all combine to make the magazine a bit of an eyesore.

Thankfully, someone must have already had a word with the crew at SM, as some of these faux pas appear less of a problem in the subsequent issues, although still not great, and they could probably do with the benefit of someone with a design background maybe joining the team.

With all that I have said (even If what has been said seems a little harsh), this magazine is on track and improving issue by issue. Issue 3 even includes a cover CD which is a lovely touch, although there is only game music on it and not the homebrew Mega CD demo I was hoping for!

In Summary

SEGA Mania is clearly written by a team that love SEGA and the content is on the whole a very worthwhile read with a healthy range of subjects covered. If they can get their design-issues sorted and steer away from trying to be ‘edgy’ I think they will have a great thing going here and I look forward to reading further issues whilst wishing them every future success.

Get your copies or subscribe here: https://www.sega-mania.com/

Original post can be found at Retro Games Collector
SEGA Mania magazine – review