TRJ Newsdesk : Another A Handheld History book is coming!

Following on from the excellent A Handheld History book last year a sequel is now being planned due to ship in the fourth quarter of this year, to be entitled A Handheld History : 88-95 it will take a deep dive into the pivotal period for handheld gaming from 1988-1995, it promises to be a thicker book than the first at 400 pages.  

It’s now available to purchase in both standard and deluxe editions at https://www.lostincult.co.uk/ if it raises £60,000 by the end of the crowdfunding campaign on 5th May it will happen, at time of writing £19,000 had already been reached so I don’t think it’ll have any trouble reaching it’s target in the next two months!

It promises to be another cracking read, looking forward to receiving my copy!

Mini Metro (iOS / Android / Nintendo Switch) Review

Made by the wonderfully named Dinosaur Polo Club, Mini Metro is a game where you must build subway lines to connect the matching symbols on the screen but be careful to avoid each stop becoming overcrowded or it’s game over!

There is a clock at the top right corner of the screen and at the end of each day you’re given additional locomotives and carriages to ease overcrowding on the lines, you’re also given tunnels and bridges for building lines over or under a river.

Soon you must decide which lines are the most crowded to add the extra locos and carriages to and things soon become quite strategic and challenging.

There are various different maps available to choose from including London, Paris, Berlin and many more.

A calming, fun and zen game which is a firm favourite of mine.

Ticket to Ride (iOS / Android) Review

For this blog’s first foray into mobile gaming I begin with a review of Ticket to Ride, a board game adapted for play on iOS and Android devices.  The basic object of the game is to draw cards which can then be used to claim railway lines on the map, if you claim more lines than your opponent, you win! 

To a newcomer to the game it may look daunting but fortunately there is an excellent tutorial which guides you through every aspect to get you up and running quickly.  You start off with one map but further maps are available as optional in-game purchases.

As a lifelong railway enthusiast I really enjoy this game, it’s extremely well presented, looks great and is really engrossing to play.  Even if you’re not interested in trains at all it’s still well worth a look if you like a bit of strategy!    

Donkey Kong Country (SNES) Review

 

The SNES will always be a special system to me as it was the first Nintendo system I owned and started me on the road to being a true Nintendo fan, one of my favourite titles on the system was Donkey Kong Country, a game which, at the time, blew people away with it’s graphics not previously thought possible on a system such as the SNES.  The levels and characters looked simply amazing, the levels were detailed, varied and challenging.  A favourite level of mine was always Mine Cart Carnage which sees Donkey and Diddy Kong in a runaway mine cart, a really fun but frustrating level!

DKC is a game which has truly stood the test of time and spawned two further titles - Donkey Kong Country 2 and 3, both look equally amazing and are highly recommended.

If you own a SNES or an emulation handheld this is a game you must play, it really did break the mould for SNES titles.     TRJ RATING : 5/5

Remembering mobile Java games

In the days before the iOS and Android mobile games we enjoy today there were mobile Java games, simple titles you downloaded to your phone by texting a code or a word to a mobile number (the cost for the game was billed to your mobile phone bill or deducted from your pay as you go credit) and in return you’d receive a link to download the game.  I seem to remember most titles costing between £3 and £5 but I could be wrong.

The games themselves were quite simple by today’s standards but there was still a decent amount of fun to be had.  My favourite games were always those made by Gameloft, in particular the excellent XIII, a shoot-em-up with great comic book style graphics which, even on a small phone screen was hugely enjoyable.

Java mobile games were promoted everywhere - in newspapers, magazines even on TV but the advent of the iPhone and the titles available saw it’s eventual demise.

And the best thing is that if you own an Android phone, tablet or emulation handheld it’s still possible to play Java mobile games to this day, simply download one of two available J2ME emulators from the Google Play Store, do a Google search for ‘java mobile games’ (there are plenty of sites that have them), download the titles you require, copy them to your device and away you go, pure mobile gaming nostalgia!   

I have to say it’s a real treat being able to play XIII again after all these years!

Memories of gaming shows at Earls Court, London

 

A favourite venue of mine for many years for all kinds of different shows and concerts was London’s Earls Court but in particular I always used to enjoy going there for gaming shows such as Eurogamer Expo and, going back a bit further, the Personal Computer World Show.  There was just such a great atmosphere around gaming events at this venue, from the anticipation building on the journey from Embankment on the District Line tube to there always being something cool to see on the forecourt outside - I remember for one show there was a full size tank parked up promoting a game - I forget which one!    

At the last Eurogamer Expo I went to there the streaming games service OnLive was launching and they were giving away the boxes required to use it.  I queued up for 45 minutes but it was absolutely worth it as I came away with a free OnLive box and shortly after returning home I was up and running!

The building itself had so much character and lent itself perfectly to hosting gaming shows especially with the upper balcony level too giving extra exhibiting space.  Another unique feature of the building was the covered underground walkway from one of the platforms at the tube station which brought you out right in the entrance foyer of the building!

I used to genuinely love going to events at Earls Court but gaming shows were always my favourite and it’s an absolute crying shame that the building has now been demolished and I’ll no longer be able to enjoy it’s special atmosphere.

Quarth (GameBoy) Review - a real gem!

As mentioned in previous post about the Portable Power Podcast, I’ve found it most useful so far for discovering titles I’d never heard of before and one of those is a real gem - Quarth.

Best described as Tetris meets Space Invaders, shapes descend from the top of the screen and the object of the game is to use your ship at the bottom of the screen to fire squares to fill the gaps in the shapes and make a perfect square or rectangle, once the gap is filled the shape will disappear.  The level is over once all gaps are filled or the shapes hit the bottom of the screen.

Graphically the game looks great, is really addictive to play and is one of the best and most innovative GameBoy titles I’ve played in a long time - highly recommended! TRJ RATING : 4.5/5

There’s a new GameBoy YouTube channel and it’s brilliant!

There’s a new GameBoy YouTube channel and it’s really rather excellent! It’s called The Portable Power Podcast https://youtube.com/@PortablePowerPodcast and the mission of it’s creator is to play every GameBoy game released in chronological order and upload a new video (a mini review) each weekday of a different title.

At the time of writing the channel is up to episode 48, the videos are between 5 and 8 minutes in length, well presented, informative and entertaining.  Some of the well known titles featured so far include Super Mario Land, Tetris and Space Invaders.

I’ve found the channel most useful for discovering titles I never knew about or had heard of, so far I’ve found three such excellent games - Quarth (to be reviewed shortly), Flipull and Pipe Dream.

The eventual plan of the guy who runs the channel is to launch a book containing all the reviews of the titles funded through Kickstarter and if it’s half as good as the YouTube channel it should be well worth waiting for!

An absolute must watch channel for anyone who’s a fan of the original GameBoy.