Even more Tetris games… XD

July 9, 2016 by stopXwhispering

I update my blog on a regular basis, that doesn’t always mean a new blog post though. I have so many collections and pages where I constantly scan and upload more games as I get them, but this time I thought I’d also make a new post announcing all the new things ^_^

I have had a bit of a Tetris obsession lately (as you may have noticed XD) and I’m now up to a whooping 86 video games with Tetris and 5 board games! Apart from that I have Tetris earrings, Tetris nailart, Tetris badges, Tetris leggings etc XD Hahaha ^_^ (it’s getting out of hand O_o)

Tetris Nails

Tetris Earring

Tetris Pins

Tetris Nails

Tetris Leggins

Anyway, I’ve continued acquiring Tetris games like a maniac. Someone on Instagram told me about Tetris for the Tandy CPC. I of course had to get it, since it’s Tetris! Even though I don’t even own a Tandy CPC, let alone know what the heck it is XD I’m thinking it’s some old computer.. I’m just hoping I’ll bump into one eventually.. maybe on this falls Retro Gathering ^_^ It’s a funky looking game package though! I like it :)

Tandy CPC – Tetris manual

Tandy CPC – Tetris Manual back

Tandy CPC Tetris The Soviet Challenge

I also found some really cheap Tetris knockoffs from China on eBay, I couldn’t resist since they were so cheap! They have 9999 games in 1, but it’s basically just falling blocks in different arranges, and they count the different speeds and levels as a “new game” XD I tried a few versions that were interesting though, like having the Tetris blocks fall from below and upwards instead, and having the board move one step to the side after you have placed a block. Total mindfuck! XD But a fun challenge :) The controls are surprisingly good on these “Brick Games”, but they’re super light and therefore feel kind of cheap, until you put batteries in them which basically makes it more than twice as heavy XD

Brick Game 9999 in 1 all colours

Brick Game 9999 in 1 blue mini super mouse

Brick Game 9999 in 1

I also got a PSP lookalike called POP Station! Haha! It just contains the same game as the Brick Games above though. No colour, just 9999 different versions of Tetris! It feels way shittier than the Brick Games, way more plastic and the buttons are not nice at all.. :/

POP Station Tetris Clone

POP Station Tetris Clone handheld

My most appreciated new Tetris game is my Nintendo Tetris Game Watch that I got for my birthday ^_^ Such a beauty!!! I wear it everyday :) It both tells the time AND you can play Tetris on it :D The Tetris game is kind of hard since the board is much narrower than usual, so it builds up fast, it’s not easy waiting around for that long piece, you usually end up dying before it shows up XD

Tetris Game & Watch

Nintendo Tetris Game Watch by Nelsonic

Tetris Game Watch from Russia with fun

I found this PC game on eBay and I just thought the cover looked funky :) I don’t really play PC games, first of all I don’t even have a PC, I have a Mac XD And I certainly don’t have a PC containing Windows 98 so I can play these old CD ROMS, but I’m seriously considering getting one! (I also want to be able to re-visit Toon Struck) Just look at all those awesome Tetris clones that seem to be on this Tetris CD III game!! 1993TRIS, BALLTRIS, FINTRIS, HEXRIS, INFINITRIS, MACTRIS, PACTRIS, PCTRIS, PICTRIS, POLYTRIS, PSYCHTRIS, QUATRIS II, SIDETRIS, SITRIS, TEAMTRIS, TRISTIX, ULTRIS, UPTRIS, ZENTRIS, FOURTRIS 2, TETRIX, YATETRIS and… GELULES?!? and many more.. omg.. so much imagination in coming up with names for “Tetris” without infringing on the copyright XD hahaha! I wonder what they will be like…..

PC – Tetris III

PC – Tetris CD III back

And then there’s some other various Tetris games for various systems that I’ve recently acquired, such as Tetris for Wonderswan, Magical Tetris Challenge for Game Boy Color, another copy of Welltris but for ZX Spectrum, Magical Tetris Challenge for PS1, Tetris Plus for PS1, THE Tetris (great name haha XD) for PS1, Sega Ages 2500 Tetris Collection on PS2, Tetris Worlds on PS2 and Tetris Ultimate for Playstation Vita.

Wonderswan – Tetris

GBC – Magical Tetris Challenge

ZX Spectrum – Welltris

PS – Magical Tetris Challenge

PS – Tetris Plus

PS – The Tetris

PS2 – Sega Ages 2500 Tetris Collection

PS2 – Tetris Worlds

PSV – Tetris Ultimate

I bet there’s still Tetris games out there that I’m lacking.. I am always keeping my eyes out for them ;D If you know of any Tetris games (hard copies, not digital games) that I don’t have in my Tetris collection, then please let me know ^_^

Ajax TV Game – a super sleek pong console

January 4, 2016 by stopXwhispering

I’ve been on the look out for Pong machines recently, mainly to train my skills before the yearly Swedish Championships of Pong that takes place each year at Retrogathering ^_^ I’ve been attempting to compete since 2014, but haven’t had anything to train on except my Philips Odyssey 2001, which has a quite different feeling than the original Atari Pong console. While scouting for an Atari Pong, like the ones they use in the competition I stumbled upon this beauty on eBay! It was so cheap and yet beautiful that I couldn’t help but buy it ^_^

I’ve never heard of the Ajax TV Games before, it’s from the UK, or at least that’s where I bought it from. It was complete, the box is a bit tattered but the console is in excellent condition! Shining white! It’s also so stylish and well designed! It can run on batteries or a power adaptor (which wasn’t included), and all the outputs for antenna and other chords plus the battery container is hidden behind a sleek compartment where you could also store the controllers, because they’re so tiny! Just look at this beauty ^_^

“Most exciting…fascinating home video games ever built
for your family.”

Ajax TV Games TG-621 in box

Ajax TV Games console box side

Ajax TV Games system box side

Ajax TV Game system

Ajax TV game chord compartment

Ajax TV Game with controllers

Ajax TV Game controller

The controllers really are tiny, one of the controllers is a liiiittle bit slower to turn than the other, but they both work fine. I tried it out for the first time today :)

The machine itself has loads of settings! You can turn the sound on and off, it comes straight from the system and is basically just beeps for when the ball hits the paddle. You can change angles between +-20°/40° or just +-20°, I guess this is how the ball will fly when it hits the edge of a paddle. There’s also two different speeds, H and L, High and Low I guess. You can choose between Auto serve or Manual and you can also set the bat size (the size of the paddle) between L and S, Large and Small.

Apart from this there’s 4 various game modes to choose from, Tennis, Hockey, Handball or Practice mode :)

This sucker takes no less than 6 C batteries to play!!!! Hahaha ^_^ I need to get an adaptor…

When I first tried finding the channel I had trouble. Two of my TVs refused to find it. The second one scrolled through a tuning that looked perfect, but refused to stop there, if I forced it to stop there it went bad again.. and whenever it did stop everything on the screen was warped like I was seeing double.. Eventually I got it working on the third TV though, luckily I have many TVs ;D

Here are the four variations of Pong that can be played on the Ajax TV Game :) I find Tennis to be the most fun one. Handball was kind of different though, I’ve never seen it before on a Pong machine. You take turns on hitting the ball, it gets a bit confusing to see which one is you or who’s turn it is. If the wrong paddle tries to hit it the ball just goes straight through. I would call this squash.. not handball.. XD

I didn’t have anyone to battle with so it was my left hand VS my right hand! (I’m right handed), but I recorded some gameplay of the Ajax TV Game, the first video is a game of Tennis on slow setting, and I was amazed at which hand came out victorious! It was hard focusing on turning the wheel in mirrored ways since I had it in two different hands XD The second video is of first Tennis on high speed and then some Hockey and Handball so anyone who’s interested can see how those look as well :) It was extremely difficult just controlling the paddle with one thumb!

The Ajax TV game system is a great addition to the collection! So pretty and works like a charm! Now I just need to find myself the original Pong console! ^_^

Retro Gathering 2015!

October 3, 2015 by stopXwhispering

This weekend I visited Retro Gathering in Västerås (Sweden), I was there for the first time last year, but this convention has been running yearly since 2006! I came home with quite a lot of loot last year, and this year wasn’t far behind ^_^

Retro Gathering 2015

I bought 62 games, and traded another 400+ games with friends! So I came home with lots of games.. most of the traded ones were newer games though so I’ll just cover my retro acquisitions on here ;D First up is the Philips Videopac Computer G7000 with 8 games that I traded with Anton for a bunch of Famicom doubles I brought for him :) I also found one Videopac game at the convention, this one was a newly made homebrew game for the system, the packaging was just splendid though, fits right in with the originals ^_^ Can you spot which one it is? ;D

Philips Videopac Computer G7000 with games

Philips Videopac Computer G7000 games

Philips Videopac Computer G7000 keyboard

Philips Videopac Computer G7000

Videopac Computer G7000

Philips Videopac Computer G7000 Joystick

Philips Videopac Computer G7000

Another system that I bought at the convention was an Arcadia 2001, or at least one of it’s clones. Never heard of this one before, but it didn’t last very long, it was discontinued after only 18 months. The reason I bought it was that it came with almost all the games released for the system! :D The games come in paper boxes, which were surprisingly well kept! Inside there’s a manual and overlays for the controllers and the game cartridge is latched in a whole in the box. This is extremely frustrating since the cartridge tends to move around underneath the opening so it’s hard to get it out of there without ripping the paper around it >_< This makes me even more surprised though that the previous owners haven’t already torn the boxes apart! XD

BTW I think it’s hilarious when companies back in the day lacked the licenses for certain popular titles and had to come up with “alternative” names for clones ;D Nibblemen!!! Hahaha!

Arcadia 2001 with games

Arcadia 2001 joystick

Arcadia 2001

Arcadia 2001 games

Arcadia 2001 clone Video Computer Game by Soundic

Arcadia 2001 games

Arcadia 2001 game cartridge

Arcadia 2001 games

Nibblemen for Arcadia 2001

Combat for Arcadia 2001

Space Raider for Arcadia 2001

I also got my second Sinclair ZX Spectrum that I had bought previously, but got delivered on the convention ^_^ The 48k model is so cute!!!!!!!! :D

There were more japanese games popping up at this convention than what I have seen before in recent years here in Sweden. I think it’s nice that people are becoming aware of all the amazing things you can find from over there ^_^ Unfortunately when demand rises the prices also go up >_< There were no Famicom games that I didn’t already have though, but I did find 5 Super Famicom games and a Famicom pirate that was just cheap :)

It’s always nice to pick up some C64 games as well, they are usually pretty cheap and the artworks on these old cassettes are just amazing! :D I always buy games that look fun, have a funny title or just incredible or funny artwork ^_^

Commodore 64 games

C64 games – Tetris etc

C64 games – Mutants

C64 games – The Legend of the Amazon Women

I also found some Atari 2600 games, two turned out to be unopened and I’m torn whether to break them open or not >_< I wanna play them!!

Apart from all this I found a few other titles for various systems, like Batman Forever on Sega Mega Drive, Wolfenstein 3D for the Atari Jaguar and two Amiga 500 games, Pinkie and Capone ^_^ These last two looked like fun games when looking at the screenshots on the back :) Unfortunately my Amiga 500 has gotten a green screen so I can’t try them out right now :/ Have to get it fixed or find a new one first…

Batman Forever for Sega Mega Drive

Wolfenstein 3D for Atari Jaguar

Pinkie & Capone for Amiga 500

Capone for Amiga backside

Pinkie for Amiga backside

This year on Retro Gathering there were even more sellers than last year and loads of old systems setup to play ^_^ They held competitions in Super Bomberman 2 for the SNES, Super Skidmarks on the Amiga and Car Race ][ for Commodore PET. This last one in honor of the late CEO of Nintendo, Satoru Iwata, who programmed that game back in the day. They also hosted the annual Swedish Championships of Pong, and I participated this year as well! I made it one step further than last year, so just a few more years and I might win! ;D hahaha or not.. I’ve began searching for an Atari Pong console so I can do some serious practicing though ^_^ They’re unfortunately hard to come by :/

Gaming at Retro Gathering

Geeky Gal Eleth playing Pong at Retro Gathering

Kids gaming at Retro Gathering

Lots of games for sale at Retro Gathering

Retro computers for sale at Retro Gathering

Telstar Combat retro console at Retro Gathering

This is one of my favorite retro gaming conventions in Sweden, the atmosphere is just so friendly and you can find so much more than just Nintendo and Sega stuff! ^_^ It’s just a shame it’s so far away from where I live :/ I will still come back next year though ;D

For more pictures from Retro Gathering, check out Geeky Gals :)