The Amiga CD32

For christmas I got an Amiga CD32, boxed and in new condition, from my fiancé. Unfortunately when they stated that it was “new”, they didn’t mention that they had opened the box and removed the power supply o_O Also they didn’t mention that it probably was an NTSC machine, since the antenna cables that came with it where the old style american ones.. I had to go order a new power supply, and once I got it I was excited to see if it worked. After some fiddling I realized that the composite cable they had added with it wasn’t a working cable, once switching it out for one of my personal ones I got the CD loading screen.

Now I wanted to try out an old Giana Sisters CD game that I’d had for ages.. But apparently this Giana Sisters game was not an Amiga CD32 game, even though it read “Amiga” somewhere on the cover.. I’ve always wanted to try this game again, I remember playing Giana Sisters once when I was a kid and I loved it, so I’ve been looking to find a copy, but so far this is all I have, a collection CD for something “Amiga” that doesn’t work on the CD32… So now I didn’t have any games for the system :/

I turned to eBay for a quick fix of some Amiga CD32 games, but the supply was scarce.. I bid home Total Carnage and after a while it arrived in the mail. I couldn’t get it working at first but my helpful instagram followers instructed me that the Amiga CD32 is “region free”, but you have to switch between the regions in a lock screen, this can be entered by connecting a mouse to the Amiga CD32 and pressing down both buttons on the mouse simultaneously. They said it had to be during startup, but I managed to enter it even after the start screen had appeared. Once in there you just steer to the side to switch regions. After this my Total Carnage game worked ^_^ It was an ok game, probably really cool back when it was new, but I got bored because it didn’t have music during stages and the sound effects were really clunky :/ I’m just picky like that, I want an awesome soundtrack when I’m going on a kill frenzy in games XD

A while later I bought another game from eBay, not knowing what it was I just had to get it because of the name and the cool cover ^_^ It’s called Whale’s Voyage :) It was an adventure game, it seemed to have been made by Germans, all the voice overs had really German accents XD The game started out with you having to create a couple of characters.. this was quite elaborate, you had to choose a father and a mother. The fathers looked like an enemy from doom, Kramer, Paul McCartney, Val Kilmer (or possibly Christian Slater) and Eugene Levy XD This type of game style is quite boring in my opinion though.. I don’t like just going through menus, I want live action! XD I managed to make it from the menus onto the surface of an actual planet after I had created my crew.. it then turned into a dungeon crawler type of game, except it was in a city, all the doors were locked, and I couldn’t interact with people I met, or even walk past them >_< Boring…

The controller for the Amiga CD32 is really weird looking, but it’s surprisingly comfortable to use! :) Now I just need to find a fun game to use it with XD
What are your experiences with the Amiga CD32? Does anyone have any recommendations of great exclusive games for the system? ^_^

The Vectrex

Vectrex-and-games_1K

The Vectrex has always been a mystery to me, I haven’t really read up on it or anything, but it has crossed my path of hunting down retro games all over the web more than ones. I’ve always been intrigued and thought many times about whether I should get it on eBay or not. It was always pretty expensive, and I had no clue if I would be able to play it or not (because of power outlets and such). I didn’t even know what to expect from it, but it sure looked cool! :D Recently though a friend found an ad in Sweden from a guy who was selling one! I got so excited I rushed to buy it instantly! I might sound like a total n00b, but I actually prefer not knowing about games and even systems until I get them in my possession, that way I can experience them the same was as I would if they were new, the only thing I basically research when game shopping are the prices so I don’t overpay ^^

This one was originally sold in Sweden (I didn’t even know it was released here!!) and it had a bunch of games and extras :D

Vectrex system
Vectrex console

The first problem I encountered was how to turn the Vectrex off?! It started immediately when I plugged in the power cord.. but I didn’t wanna change cartridge or move it until I figured out how to turn it off first! I had to google for about 40 minutes before I found out! I discovered an old original users manual for the Vectrex as a PDF that someone had scanned in (THANK YOU!!) and finally read my way to understanding that the volume lever IS ALSO the on/off button. At first I didn’t believe it, because I kept turning it to max and the minimum but nothing happened, but like with any old machinery you have to be patient! After turning the volume knob all the way to the left (turning the volume down) until you hear a click, just leave it there for a little while, the system will power down after all the juice has run out of it! Haha, this was trippy >.<

Vectrex game insert

It has a cartridge slot on the right side of the screen, and that’s where you insert the games. It comes with one built in game as well called MineStorm :D

Vectrex joystick
Vectrex controller joystick

Vectrex controller

The system has two controller ports, I got two controllers with the system ^_^ One controller can be folded into the front of the system so it’s not lying around :D The controller is kind of awkward when used though. It’s big and bulky, not really comfortable to hold so the best way to play is to put it in front of you on a flat surface in my opinion.

Vectrex and games

On the above picture you can see the controller folded into the bottom of the system, it’s got the logo on the back of it :)

I also got 19 games with it, they were:

Armor Attack Art Master Bedlam Berzerk
Blitz! Clean Sweep Cosmic Chasm Flipper Pinball
Fortress of Narzod Hyper Chase! Rip Off Scramble
Soccer Football! Solar Quest Space Wars Spike
Star Hawk! Star Ship WebWarp

When I added them to my collection on retrocollect.com it said I had all the games for it, but I haven’t researched it any further. Perhaps there are more games that came out in North America? Then again, I’m not sure whether this system is region free or not…

Every game that I got had it’s overlay! Overlays are a colorful transparent plastic cards that you put in front of the screen to give the illusion that you’re playing in color ;D Since every game displayed on the Vectrex is white on black it sure provides some variation :)  My favorite overlays are Bedlam and Scramble:

Bedlam overlay2
Bedlam overlay
Scramble overlay

Here’s some other really pretty ones:
Vectrex Armor Attack overlay Vectrex Berzerk overlay
Vectrex Cosmic Chasm overlay Vectrex Starhawk overlay
Vectrex Webwarp overlay Vextrex Flipper pinball overlay

Another amazing accessory I got for the system was the Light Pen! This is used together with the Art Master program. You can Sketch, Connect or Animate ^^ It works amazingly well! :D

Light Pen Art Master sketch connect animate
Light Pen Art Master cat
Light Pen Art Master connect
Light Pen Art Master smiley

If anyone knows if there are more games released for it that I don’t know of, please enlighten me :D

NES controller + camera + photoshop!

I have another photo shoot that I am working on, it’s all my various Game Boys playing outdoors! :D Coming soon, meanwhile here’s a NES controller I also took a pic of and played around a bit with ^_^

Original picture and photoshop cutout:


Finished results:

:D

Parodius, Don Doko Don and more!!

Today I got a package of Famicom games I had bought through a Swedish auction site. First of all four Famicom cartridges, Parodius Da!, Bokosuka Wars, Don Doko Don 2 and Insector X.


And also some Famicom Disk games; Gall Force, Gyruss, Arumana No Kiseki, Falsion and Kiki Kaikai: Dotou Hen with a guidebook:


I can’t wait to try them all out! :D But that will have to wait until tomorrow, since I spent this evening watching Iron Sky (a Finnish/German/American movie set in 2018 about Nazis who had been hiding on the dark side of the moon since 1945).. interesting..

I also got an early birthday present from my favorite japanese import game seller :D He had included a Hudson Turbo Controller for the Famicom  ^__^ YAY!  Perfect for all the shooters I have just bought :D

Retro console photo shoot part II

Here’s the rest of the consoles and their accessories that got the opportunity to take a little walk with me and my camera ^_^