Tag: 1980s

This portable gaming system looks a whole lot like Sonic The Hedgehog. So it’s a good thing that it actually plays a variety of classic SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive games. Freetron’s FunPlay 20-in-1 not only can be connected to your television, but since it runs on 3-AAA batteries can be played on the road with portable DVD players (as long as they have a video input).

I have a very vague memory of playing with one of these Terminator joysticks on my old Atari computer system back in the 80s. I can’t believe somebody managed to dig one of these oddities up.

I found this great time capsule image over on Flickr earlier today… I’m not sure where Flickr contributor Rotin managed to dig up this postcard image, but I can’t believe there was actually a Pac-Man Land attraction at the Six Flags Over Texas theme park back in the 1980s, and I never got to go.

If you grew up in the 1980s, you probably remember Nintendo’s Game & Watch LCD games. These primitive portable games were the great-grandparents of the Game Boy, GBA, and DS, and now they’re back for you to enjoy once again.

Remember the classic episode of Futurama where Fry has to save the planet from “Invaders! Possibly from Space?” Pretty soon, you’ll be able to take down those aliens while listening to your own all-Rush mix tape while chugging a 2-liter bottle of Shasta too.

Sure, Christmas is almost seven months away, but that doesn’t mean you can’t start getting in the spirit really, really early. Especially if you really, really love your retro video games. I first eyed Hallmark’s keepsake Pac-Man holiday ornament back in December 2008, and grabbed one for my tree then.

These Pac-Man ghost coasters bring back 80s arcade memories every time you raise a glass. ArcadeArt handcrafts these whimsical ghost coasters (aka ‘Ghosters’) that display Blinky the red ghost on one side, and then flip to reveal a post-power-pill blue ghost on the flip-side.

Remember the old Nintendo Game & Watch LCD games from back in the 1980s? These early handheld video games have always had a bit of a cult following, despite their primitive, repetitive graphics, and drab monochromatic screens with cheesy color overlays.

I’ve seen plenty of portable retro video game systems in my travels, but never one that attempts to cover as many bases as this one. This Chinese import plays 8-bit, 16-bit and 32-bit titles from 7 different game platforms in one compact system.

A few months back, I reported on a guy who turned his old Sinclair ZX81 computer into a PC. When I wrote that post I was convinced that there would be no way that anyone could cram a modern PC into the even more minuscule Sinclair ZX Spectrum.

When you think of 8-bit computers, classics like the Atari 400/800, the Commodore 64 and the Apple II probably come to mind. But there’s a new kid on the block that hopes to bring 8-bit computing back – this time for the hacker community.

This could be my favorite Mac Mini mod yet. Take one part retro Apple Disk ][ drive and one part Mac Mini, and what do you get? A little bit of casemodding genius. Modder Charles Mangin took the guts out of his old Disk ][ enclosure and managed to find a way to squeeze the innards of a Mac Mini inside the case.

You really don’t hear much about Donkey Kong Junior these days. If you ever wonder what happened to the little pixelated monkey in diapers, look no further. He’s got a new job keeping watch over naked people as they hose off.

Have you ever loaded up a retro arcade game with MAME, only to be greeted with an error message about those bad ROMs you downloaded 2 years ago? Well one enterprising developer decided to take that idea and actually turn it into a game.

Remember when controllers had corners and not curves? When speakers were bigger than a house? When storage was limited but personal? and rectangular? Remember when synths… Nevermind. Synthesizers still look the same. Oh wait. Remember when synths had no USB connection?

Designer Anderson Horta’s retro 80’s Ghost lamps will only turn blue if you happen to be downing some serious hallucinogenic power pills – otherwise, they are as you see them. Pac-Man not included.