PC Engine - a massively under-rated machine

I own a number of emulation handhelds, devices which run a variety of console and handheld emulators and games (or roms) can be added to an SD card to be played on them.  I’ve recently discovered on them the NEC PC Engine, a console designed to compete with the mighty SNES and MegaDrive but never really caught on in the same way as Nintendo and Sega’s flagship machines did.  This is a shame as over the last few days I’ve discovered some really excellent games for the NEC machine, the majority of them are shoot-em-ups which suits me as I’m a big fan of that type of game, many are available including Darius and Gradius to name but a couple. In my opinion this is a hugely under-rated machine and worth tracking down the roms online and adding them to your device, you won’t be disappointed especially if you’re a shoot-em-up fan!

Pokemon Mini - a forgotten Nintendo handheld

Think you know all Nintendo’s handhelds?  Think again!  Back in 2001 Nintendo released the Pokemon Mini, what has to be the smallest cartridge based handheld ever!  I am lucky enough to own one and I love it!  I bought mine brand new from Amazon back in the day, today though the only way to get one and the games is via eBay.  It’s powered by one AAA battery which lasts for ages.  The machine is available in a variety of colours, as you can see from the photo I have the blue one.

As for the tiny game cartridges which fit in the back of the machine, only five games were ever released in Europe and North America :

- Pokemon Zany Cards, a Solitaire style card game

- Pokemon Puzzle Collection

- Pokemon Tetris

- Pokemon Pinball, my favourite!

- Pokemon Party Mini, a collection of mini-games

A few more were released in Japan only including Pokemon Race Mini - I believe an English translated rom of this is available online.

Sadly the Pokemon Mini never really caught gamer’s imaginations and it disappeared almost as quickly as it appeared.  This is a shame as I love mine, it’s one of my favourite handhelds in my collection, it’s not the most powerful machine ever but the games are huge fun to play especially Pokemon Tetris!  Worth tracking down a unit and a few games on eBay!

Best Retrogaming YouTube channels

As if to confirm what a popular hobby retrogaming is there are several channels on YouTube devoted to the subject and below are some of the best…..

Retro Dodo - in my opinion the best retrogaming channel on YouTube. Hosted and run by Brandon it provides varied content including reviews of new retro handhelds, news items, a series entitled ‘What the Fake?’ Featuring imitation consoles, countdowns of the best games for a specific machine and much, much more.  Also if you support the channel on Patreon via the top tier you can get free items, so far I’ve got a free mug and hoodie both branded with the logo (pictured above).  A regularly updated podcast called ‘Retrospect’ is also available via Spotify and podcasting apps.  A truly essential channel for any retrogamer, superb.

Retro Game Corps - Another essential channel to subscribe to, run and hosted by Russ who lives in Hawaii, this channel features reviews of new retro handhelds but useful are the detailed step-by-step guides he provides both on YouTube and on the website (retrogamecorps.com) on everything from adding roms to handhelds, installing custom firmware to optimising the settings to get your games looking their best on your emulation devices.  An excellent channel and website, a must watch especially for newbie retrogamers.

Sonic Love Emulation - A UK channel featuring reviews of new retro handhelds but also longplays of a specific emulator on a machine, performance tests and the occasional countdown too.  Provides good honest reviews presented by someone with a real passion and enthusiasm for their subject.  A great channel.

SWPL Gaming - Run and hosted by Joel this channel again features good, honest reviews of new retro handhelds primarily but also the occasional additional feature too.  Like the previously detailed channel the host displays a real passion and enthusiasm for retrogaming.

Slopes Game Room - This channel is worth subscribing to for the excellent ‘history of’ documentaries featuring the origins and history of classic game series such as Mario and Pac-Man

Also check out : 

Wagners TechTalk

Madlittlepixel 

The Retro Future

Enjoy your retrogaming viewing!

Reflections : Gaming Shops in London in the 80s/90s

In the 80s and early 90s on my regular shopping trips to central London there were always two gaming shops/departments which, for me, were always a must visit, it always felt like an event going to both of them, one sadly is no longer there and the other is still there but not the store is once was in my opinion.

The first was located on the first floor of HMV’s flagship store in Oxford Street, and went under the title of HMV Games, taking up pretty much the entire floor and was at the time the largest videogames department in the UK, it was massive!  Literally everything used to be available - SNES, Megadrive, GameBoy, 3DO, Atari Jaguar, PC to name but a few, I spent many a happy hour in there and in fact purchased my Sega Megadrive from there just after Christmas one year!  Sadly, in the now relocated HMV store in Oxford Street the gaming section is now reduced to a paltry one aisle, a pale shadow of what there once was.

The other must visit shop for me was Computer Exchange in Rathbone Place just off Oxford Street, there are branches of CEX all over the country but for me, this one was special at the time as it was the place to go if you wanted to see and buy the latest consoles first on Japanese import, I seem to recall them getting the Saturn and Dreamcast before their UK release.  Another thing I used to love was the Retro department in the basement where it was possible to buy brand new Game and Watch machines, and many other retro consoles, again I spent many a happy hour down there.  Sadly the Retro department has long since gone and the store now is pretty much like any other CEX branch but I’ll always have the memories of visiting there in the 80s and early 90s.

For me the SNES and Megadrive era was the golden age of gaming, I know that the current PS5 and XBox Series X are much, much more powerful and capable of better graphics but for me, the 16-bit era was a great time to be a gamer and game releases felt like more of an event - remember Sonic2uesday and Mortal Monday?  Also there were a plethora of gaming magazines available (although see my previous two posts on retrogaming magazines for details of some available today) my favourite being the unofficial SNES magazine, Super Play, this always had absolutely stunning Anime-inspired artwork on the cover and was an essential for anyone who, liked me, owned a SNES, I never missed an issue and somewhere I still have them all safely in a binder!  Don’t get me wrong I love my Switch and PS5 and think they are both incredible bits of kit but for me being a 16 bit gamer was a time I shall never forget.

Funkey S Review

One of the best things about having Retrogaming as a hobby is collecting different retro handhelds, to date I have an impressive 19 with I’m sure more to come.  A recent acquisition of mine is what is described as the smallest folding gaming handheld measuring just 4.5cm wide, 4.4cm long and 1.5cm deep, this thing is TINY!  However despite it’s diminutive size there are some good things about this machine and equally some not so good things, so here goes…..

The first obviously is the size of it and the close positioning of the buttons, if you have large hands and fat fingers this is probably not for you as you may struggle when playing, but if, like me, you have small hands and thin fingers you shouldn’t encounter any issues, in fact playing games on it is a lot easier than I expected to be and the games on all emulators run perfectly.

The Funkey S supports an impressive set of machines : GameBoy, GameBoy Color, GameBoy Advance, NES, SNES, Game Gear, Master System, Mega Drive, TurboGrafx, Atari Lynx, NeoGeo Pocket, WonderSwan Color and Playstation 1, pretty amazing for a machine so small!

It is also possible to add box art to the games but be aware that the title of the box art image must match the title of the rom exactly to work.

Adding the games (roms) to the Funkey S could not be easier, simply connect the machine to a PC/laptop, select ‘Mount USB’ from the options menu on the machine and drag and drop your roms to the relevant folder, once done, select ‘Eject USB’ from the options menu and unplug.

Another handy feature of this machine is if you close the machine when playing a game, the next time you open the machine it will automatically resume the game from the exact point you left it, many larger machines don’t do this!  Multiple save slots are also available via the options button however.

Three colours are currently available for the Funkey S - Retrogaming Grey, Atomic Purple and the colour I chose, Original Purple.  The company behind this machine also deserve credit for providing via their website really outstanding tutorials (https://doc.funkey-project.com/) covering everything from adding roms to connecting to a computer, they really are very comprehensive and highly useful if ever you get stuck with anything.

With regards to battery life I estimate you’d probably get a maximum of 3 hours play time from this machine, it is not designed to be a retro handheld you spend long periods of time playing on, it is more meant to be something you can take out and play for a few minutes, say when you’re in a queue.  Charging the machine is very quick and simply a case of plugging the rather short USB cable supplied into a USB charger and the other end into the side of the machine, an orange light is displayed on the machine while charging which disappears when fully charged.  A  battery status indicator is shown on the screen in the top right corner.

It began life as a Kickstarter campaign which has now ended although the machine can be ordered from https://funkey-project.myshopify.com/products/funkey-s - be aware though that the machine is massively popular so expect to wait a while, orders are currently being taken for the next production batch expected to ship during August.  My original machine got lost in customs but fortunately the company sent a replacement free of charge which arrived safely.

To sum up, this is a unique, and very cute little handheld with excellent build quality which is highly recommended providing you’ve not got fat fingers!  TRJ RATING : 4.5/5

Retrogaming Magazines - an update

Since my previous post about retrogaming magazines I’ve discovered a couple more….

Sega Mania - a brand new magazine dedicated to all things Sega, each issue is themed around one year, the first issue available now at https://www.sega-mania.com/ is 1990, the second issue currently available for pre-order will be 1991 and so on.  I’ve just received my copy of issue 1 and it’s a very nostalgic, excellent, high quality publication, highly recommended for Sega fans!

Mega Visions - back issues available at https://www.megavisions.net/shop/ and subscriptions available through https://www.patreon.com/megavisions .  This American publication has been going for a few issues now and, like Sega Mania is themed around all things Sega.  It is to shortly undergo a re-design and the first new look issue is due to be shipped this month (August).  I’ve just signed up for a subscription so will give my thoughts on it when I receive the new issue.

Game and Watch Books Review

Anyone with any interest in handheld gaming from the 80s will surely remember Nintendo’s Game and Watch series, the forerunner to the GameBoy.  These fun little machines were massively popular and are highly collectible.  I’ve found a couple of excellent books on the Game and Watch series so I’m going to give more detail about them in this post.

The Unofficial Game and Watch Collector’s Guide Available from http://www.gameandwatch.at/en/ .  This book will be of most interest to collectors although it’s still a fascinating read in it’s own right. The guide is split into sections around the various types of Game and Watch that were available - Crystal Screen, Multi Screen, Panorama, etc. - two pages are dedicated to each machine beginning with information about the game and the object of it, screenshots of the game are also featured along with a very useful Rarity Guide showing how rare/common each machine is in varying conditions on auction sites.  Included with the book as a bonus is handy Quick Reference Guide.  A high quality, excellent and really comprehensive guide, highly recommended for anyone looking to get into collecting the machines or just wants to find out more about them.

The History of Nintendo Volume 2 : 1980-1991 Game and Watch When I purchased this book it was available through Amazon however at the time of writing it is unavailable although used copies may be available through Amazon Marketplace, eBay or online bookstores.  Unlike the previous book this is more of a general book about the series beginning with a thorough history of Game and Watch and how they came into existence, the rest of the book, like the previous book is split into sections around the various types of machine, a single page is dedicated to each featuring screenshots, trivia and information about the game.  There is also a rarity rating for each out of 5.  If you can find a copy another very interesting book about Game and Watch.