davetansley
@davetansley@lemmy.world
Dice maker, gamer nerd, developer, Dolphins fan. Reddit refugee (maybe).
Still fighting the 80s 8-bit wars, one port comparison at a time.
- Comment on Wayfair CEO Niraj Shah tells employees to 'work longer hours' in year-end email 6 months ago:
Clowns who think like this need to fuck all the way off… and, honestly, it’s up to older folk like me to make that clear. Younger folks are going to be fooled or scared into thinking like this and be unable or unwilling to speak up. We who have less pressing concerns need to have their backs.
- Comment on [deleted] 8 months ago:
That and the woke mind virus.
- Comment on [deleted] 8 months ago:
Why did its valuation tank after Elon Musk took over and started enacting his policies? Perhaps we’ll never know…
- Comment on If you could play one game for the first time all over again, what would it be? 8 months ago:
Dwarf Fortress is one of those games that I love to read about, but I don’t think I would actually enjoy playing. Like Eve Online.
- Comment on If you could play one game for the first time all over again, what would it be? 8 months ago:
Nope, it’s Zelda 3 on the SNES.
- Comment on If you could play one game for the first time all over again, what would it be? 8 months ago:
My heart says it should be Dark Souls, but my head reminds me I absolutely hated it until I’d figured out that the run from Undead Burg bonfire to Taurus Demon couldn’t be rushed, and the point of the game was to be slow and methodical. Then I loved it.
- Comment on Nightmare Scenario 8 months ago:
I love and hate the feeling in Animal Crossing that the world has just continued existing without you for the last 18 months that you haven’t booted it up. Feels like visiting old friends… but old friends that thought you were dead or something.
- Comment on If you could play one game for the first time all over again, what would it be? 8 months ago:
Yeah, it really was amazing to play blind. We especially enjoyed the DLC… when we first realised what it was all about, it nearly blew our minds!
- Comment on If you could play one game for the first time all over again, what would it be? 8 months ago:
It does seem to have been overshadowed by Shadow of the Colossus somewhat.
- Comment on If you could play one game for the first time all over again, what would it be? 8 months ago:
I picked it up blind after getting carried away in the magazine hype and excitement. I’d not played any FF games before that… man, that was quite an experience!
- Comment on If you could play one game for the first time all over again, what would it be? 8 months ago:
Considered Dark Souls… but, honestly, the first time I played it, I hated it. And every successive playthrough, I’ve loved it more and more. Playing it for the first time would feel like a step back.
- Comment on If you could play one game for the first time all over again, what would it be? 8 months ago:
It’s 20 years old… if Windwaker isn’t considered retro now, then Atari 2600 games weren’t considered retro in 1997 :)
- Submitted 8 months ago to retrogaming@lemmy.world | 341 comments
- Comment on Retroid Pocket 2S 9 months ago:
I don’t have the other devices to compare, but I understands that it should handle those platforms better than the 2+ and slightly worse than the 3+. So some playable games, but not all.
I tried a few GC games (Mario Kart Double Dash and Monkey Ball). They seemed to run okay. Monkey Ball ran worse than Mario Kart.
- Comment on Retroid Pocket 2S 9 months ago:
More powerful chipset and different dpad/left stick placement is the main one. Here’s a breakdown:
- Comment on Retroid Pocket 2S 9 months ago:
Yeah, it’s confusing, and not helped by the fact that they release a new one every couple of months.
- Comment on Retroid Pocket 2S 9 months ago:
Funnily enough, that’s one of the reasons I went with the 2S over the 3+. I love the look of the old NGPC!
- Submitted 9 months ago to retrogaming@lemmy.world | 17 comments
- Comment on The cartridge art was always so kickass. You just had to use your imagination quite a bit... 10 months ago:
Except in the case of the Sega Master System, where the simplistic 8-bit graphics felt like a massive leap up from the terrible box art!
- Submitted 10 months ago to retrogaming@lemmy.world | 3 comments
- Comment on Bomb Jack: A Home Port Comparison 10 months ago:
I did a much smaller comparison over on Mastodon a few months back: mastodonapp.uk/@davetansley/109767977707445539
It’s one of my favourite games from that era, so I’ll maybe expand it and post here.
- Comment on Bomb Jack: A Home Port Comparison 10 months ago:
Ferries and other ocean-going vessels seem to be a rich source of arcade memories… I remember lurking around the sit down Galaxians cabinet on the Bowness to Ambleside ferry on more than one occasion.
- Comment on Bomb Jack: A Home Port Comparison 10 months ago:
Nope, Lemmy exclusive :)
Just want to contribute something to building the Retrogaming community, after years of being a consumer only on Reddit.
(mostly it’s just an excuse to play loads of games… you know, for science)
- Comment on Bomb Jack: A Home Port Comparison 10 months ago:
In the interests of good comparison science, it’s worth mentioning that a couple of platforms also got homebrew ports…
The Atari 8-bit version of Bomb Jack
Over on the Atari 8-bit platforms, we have “Gacek”, a kind of unbranded version of Bomb Jack. It’s really good, and really pushes the old Atari’s to their limits. Varied sprites and colourful backdrops, and a range of music throughout the levels. It feels really good to play as well.
There are oddities though - like the way it plays the theme from Gradius/Nemesis on the high score table. And the way it doesn’t mention Bomb Jack at all (understandable, given its homebrew nature). So it’s not so much Bomb Jack as Bomb Jack-ish. But it’s still very good!
The Colecovision version of Bomb Jack
The venerable Colecovision also got a homebrew version, this time staying truer to the original. It’s also very good, and looks way better than a 1982 console has any right to. Control is fluid and fast, and the music is catchy and not annoying.
The bomb sprites are a bit large however, and the game tends to be a bit on the easy side, given there are fewer enemies on screen. But it’s still a tremendous achievement.
- Submitted 10 months ago to retrogaming@lemmy.world | 24 comments
- Comment on The NES at 40: Seven ways it changed the gaming world forever 11 months ago:
I’m always vaguely jealous that I missed out on NES culture first time around.
In the UK, consoles weren’t really a big thing until the Megadrive and the SNES, and the NES seemed to be nowhere at all, at least where I grew up. A few people had Master Systems, but mostly it was Spectrums and C64s.
I’d see the NES in magazines occasionally, or in game ads in American comic books I got my hands on, and it always looked so cool.
- Comment on Vigilante: A Home Port Comparison 11 months ago:
I tried so hard to find the ST version for this comparison, but I couldn’t find it anywhere! It’s like it has been erased from history or something.
- Comment on What have you been playing and what do you think of it? 07/16/2023 11 months ago:
GBA Advance Wars… I missed it first time round, so I’m playing it through on my Miyoo Mini Plus. Absolutely perfect handheld game, ideal to grab for a quick half hour mission.
- Comment on Mmusks new ideas 11 months ago:
I mean, it’s worth a try… what else could have possibly caused such a steep downturn in Twitter’s fortunes since Musk took over and started enacting his policies?
- Comment on Vigilante: A Home Port Comparison 11 months ago:
A lot of it was also down to the interpretation of the individual devs… they often had limited access to original source code or assets, and ended up relying on simply playing the arcade game or even watching VHS footage of someone else playing the game.
This is why the early 8-bit ports often felt like they were inspired by, rather than ported from the original games. It sometimes amazes me they got as close as they did.
