Among those who celebrate it, Christmas is often remembered as a magical time full of joy, excitement, and anticipation. It all goes back to when we were kids and we begged our parents all year long to buy us something we wanted so badly, but they resisted because the item usually cost over $20. We typically lost all hope of ever getting the item until Christmas rolled around. That was the only time of year that you could ever get that one mythical item, usually courtesy of Santa Claus.

Let’s talk presents. Since this site is called Vintage Computing and Gaming, I’m limiting the discussion to those items relevant to the site. I’ll give you some examples of VC&G-related presents I received when I was younger, then I’d like to hear about some of your favorite VC&G-related Christmas memories.

Some of the greatest computer-related Christmas presents I’ve received throughout the years include a Prodigy sign-up kit and membership (Man, I wanted that so bad. It was in my early BBS days), a 14.4 kbps modem (which was bad-ass at the time), a SoundBlaster Pro (our first sound card ever), and our family’s first CD-ROM drive and some software on CD-ROM. Some of my favorite video game presents have been Mega Man 3 and Castlevania III (my brother and I received them in the same year, which was incredibly exciting at the time) and our first PlayStation with a copy of Twisted Metal 2. My brother typically received various PC games over the years, like Shogun, Planet’s Edge, Thexder, Wasteland, Silpheed, Bard’s Tale III, and more. I had a lot of fun watching him play them, of course, so they were like presents to me too.

So now it’s your turn. Post some of your favorite computing- or gaming-related Christmas memories. Tell us about some of the best Christmas presents you’ve ever received. Just leave a comment on this entry, and don’t be shy.

Thanks, and Merry Christmas from Vintage Computing and Gaming!

Can’t get enough pixels, can ya? Merry Christmas, my pixel-loving friends! This week I have a great challenge with a lot of diversity for you to chew on. Here’s a hint: The pixel blocks are from three different game machines — one of which is actually a computer. And yes, that is indeed pixelated cleavage. As always, post your guesses in the comments section of this entry, and don’t be bashful. Good luck!

    

The answers to last week’s challenge are after the break.

[ Continue reading Name Those Pixels: Challenge #5 » ]

Hey there, folks. Welcome back to Name Those Pixels! Unfortunately, mgroves has gone AWOL on me this week, so it’s RedWolf here filling in.

Are you ready for the next challenge? Last week was pretty easy, so I decided to make this week a tad bit tougher. As a tiny hint, two of the pixel blocks are from the NES, and one is from a SNES game. The first one is on the right, and the other two are down below. As always, post your guesses in the comments section of this entry, and don’t be bashful. Good luck!

    

Last Week’s Answers

Unfortunately, I don’t have the pictures of last week’s answers, since mgroves was the one who captured them and he hasn’t sent the full shots or the answers to me. But I do know at least two out of three of the answers. Item #1 was Barnstorming (Atari 2600), Item #2 was a Mega Man game (not sure which one, because I don’t have the original shot), and Item #3 was Earthbound (SNES).

[ Hacksterpiece Theatre is a regular column devoted to fun, odd, and interesting retro game hacks. ]

Ever since DahrkDaiz released Mario Adventure over two years ago, fans of the NES hack masterpiece have been ravenously hungry for a sequel. After my coverage of Mario Adventure earlier this year brought the hack back into the public eye, DD and I planned a full-scale release of Mario Adventure 2 on VC&G when it was complete. He sent me a demo version back in March, and as much as I wanted to show it off, I decided to hold off until DD completed the project. Unfortunately, that hold became indefinite as DahrkDaiz abandoned work on Mario Adventure 2 over six months ago and has since moved on to other things. It seemed that the sequel that everyone was waiting for would never see the light of day.

Fast forward to this month: fans of his work have been so persistent in pestering Mr. Daiz about when Mario Adventure 2 would come out that he finally publicly released the incomplete version last week on Acmlm’s Board. Now that the cat’s out of the bag, I guess it’s safe to take a look at DahrkDaiz’s masterful, but incomplete sequel to the beloved Mario Adventure.

But wait a minute: Where did all this “Luigi vs. Mario” business come from?

Identity Crisis

Some of you may be confused by the names I’m throwing around here. The hack featured in this article started out as “Luigi vs. Mario,” but at some point DahrkDaiz decided to use it as the basis of Mario Adventure 2 (likely after seeing the incredible explosion of popularity caused by VC&G’s article on Mario Adventure). From that point on, the hack had an instant identity crisis, because the main concept of Luigi vs. Mario was to have two complete games in parallel — a quest for Mario, and a separate quest for Luigi. That plot wasn’t necessarily appropriate for a sequel to Mario Adventure, so DahrkDaiz began to change various aspects of Luigi vs. Mario to fit its new Mario Adventure 2 title. Luigi vs. Mario is an incredible feat of programming with tons of new features, and ironically, it might have been the incredible depth and ambition of those very features — and the confusion that resulted when he tried to force Luigi vs. Mario into the mold of Mario Adventure 2 — that made DahrkDaiz abandon it earlier this year.

Panda Suit, Anyone?

There are so many incredible new features, power-ups, levels, and elements in Luigi vs. Mario that I’m not quite sure where to begin. Personal highlights for me include the new Mouser and Panda suits. With the Mouser suit, you can throw Bob-ombs, ala Mouser in Super Mario Bros. 2, and with the Panda suit, you can walk upside down on the ceiling in some areas! It’s really absolutely stunning what DahrkDaiz has managed to cram into this hack. Due to the incredible complexity and depth of this hack’s new changes and addition, the game is probably best explained by the author himself. At the bottom of this article, I’ve reproduced the manual that DahrkDaiz created in HTML for Mario Adventure 2 / Luigi vs. Mario, which he sent me back in March 2006. I’ve edited it some and cleaned it up a lot, but otherwise the text remains all his. For now, though, you should get the hack and see it for yourself.

[ Continue reading Hacksterpiece Theatre: Luigi vs. Mario (Mario Adventure 2) » ]

In Memoriam: Alan Shugart (1930-2006), inventor of the floppy disk.

Soon after I started Vintage Computing and Gaming, I began to receive many unsolicited questions related to old computers or video games via email. I definitely don’t mind being asked, and I always try my best to help whomever is asking the question. Sometimes people describe an old video game and ask me what the name is, sometimes people want to know more about a certain computer they once used but can’t quite remember the model. Sometimes people just want to know some ideas for good multiplayer Atari 800 games.

With all these questions coming in, I figure, “Why not make it public?” so that my answers can benefit others who might be looking for similar information. I might not always know the answer, but with a little research, I typically know enough to pull together a good response. The oracle of infinite wisdom, I am not — but I will do my best to help.

Today, I am officially opening the “Ask RedWolf” email box for questions. Any question related to vintage computers or retrogaming will do. Question topics might include video game or computer history, my thoughts on an issue or topic, collecting tips, info on hardware, software, games, hacks, mods, emulators, people, accessories, or anything else you can think of that’s related to vintage computing and gaming.

I will choose two or three questions each week to answer and feature in the “Ask RedWolf” column on VC&G. Keep in mind that I might not be able to privately respond to every email you send — depending on how popular this becomes — but I will try my best. Also, VC&G readers will be able to supplement my answers in the comments of each Ask RedWolf entry. Let the questions begin!

Please use the special email address in the link below to ask questions for the Ask RedWolf column only.

Have a Question for RedWolf? Click Here to Ask.

Andrew Wiskow emailed me today with news that his long-planned Commodore dial-up BBS’s return to glory is now complete. The Cottonwood BBS, perhaps the last dial-up only BBS running on authentic Commodore hardware (feel free to correct me on this!), is now up and accepting callers at 1-951-242-3593. Andrew also posted a comment about his BBS on another VC&G post, which I have reproduced below:

Well, after a bit of a delay, Cottonwood BBS is now back up and operational! As it turns out, the 1200 baud modem wasn’t the problem, but instead it was the VoIP line I was trying to run the BBS on. I had to switch back to a regular phone line in order to get good results. The 2400 baud modem I tried to used wasn’t working well, so I’m back to where I started on the 1200 baud modem.

Anyway… You can call Cottonwood BBS at (951) 242-3593. Open 24 hours a day, running at 300/1200 baud. For more information on the BBS, or to get some tips on connecting, check out the following website:

http://hometown.aol.com/cottonwoodbbs/

Sounds awesome, doesn’t it? Be sure to check out his website to pick up a copy of C64Term for the best Commodore BBS experience for PC users. I haven’t made a call yet, but I plan on it when I get the chance. If you give it a call, please let us know how you liked it.

Imagine if I told you that there was a legal alternative to GameTap that nearly nobody knows about, costs half as much as GameTap (yet is partly free), and beat GameTap to market by at least three years. Well, I guess that was a dumb way to start this, because you don’t have to imagine — I’m actually telling you: such a service exists, and it’s called Console Classix.

Console Classix could best be described as “the world’s first online video game rental service.” Its creators have found an ingenious way to circumvent all the usual legal hassles associated with providing classic games for legal play over the Internet and on your home computer. How did they manage this incredible feat, you ask? Well, they take advantage of a loophole in copyright law that all movie and video game rental stores use: it’s legal to lend a legally obtained (i.e. bought) copy of a movie or game to someone else, as long as you don’t transmit or distribute new copies of said movie/game to others. By extension, Console Classix dumps the ROM data from unique copies of games it physically owns on a one-to-one basis and lends out the cartridges in digital form to users of the service. When a user plays a game through the Console Classix service, that copy of the game is “checked out” and no one else can play it while the first customer is using it. However, if Console Classix owns more copies of the game, other customers may play the same game until all the copies are occupied. It’s just like a video game rental store, but in digital form.

[ Continue reading VC&G Review: Console Classix, The GameTap Alternative » ]