iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Kevin Bunch (ubersaurus) @atariarchive.org · 22/09/2026

Something to be said about the Gameplay Harmonies cover

Brian Clark’s Gameplay Harmonies book, with cover art by enerjax

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Kevin Bunch (ubersaurus) @atariarchive.org · 17/09/2026

Real ones know that there has only ever been one true 10/10 game

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Kevin Bunch (ubersaurus) @atariarchive.org · 11/09/2026

News to me: I'd never seen this Morrigan art before that's clearly riffing on SFA2 Sakura's key art. Turns out it's from a Puzzle Fighter ad that's specifically riffing on an Alpha 2 ad. Shout out to @foxhack.bsky.social for finding the Puzzle Fighter one!

A magazine ad for Puzzle Fighter with Morrigan dressed and posed like Sakura from Street Fighter Alpha 2 in a school hallway. Dan is in the background looking very distressed.

The original Alpha 2 magazine ad, with Sakura standing in the same hallway more or less looking like her official key art (maybe tweaked a little to fit the scene?)

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Kevin Bunch (ubersaurus) @atariarchive.org · 09/09/2026

I suspected he had, but I can confirm that Ed Semrad also reviewed it for his column in the Milwaukee Journal August 1, 1987! He also followed it up the next week with some hints.

Page 1 of Semrad's review, where he declares it "more fun than Super Mario Bros."

Page 2 of his review, where he hints that there's a second quest.

Semrad's column the following week, discussing Zelda further.

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Kevin Bunch (ubersaurus) @atariarchive.org · 31/08/2026

Another fun discovery from user slyDC on Atariage: RCA's Japanese distributor, Okura Trading, appears to have shown off the prototype at a trade show in 1976. Original scan comes from the Japanese site www.ne.jp/asahi/cvs/od...

A page from December 1976's Transistor Technology magazine, with the FRED III in the bottom left corner.

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Kevin Bunch (ubersaurus) @atariarchive.org · 26/08/2026

Oh no! I guess there's always one more option

Bart peering over a fence to watch some Civil War reenactors for free

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Kevin Bunch (ubersaurus) @atariarchive.org · 25/08/2026

RIP to Marti, our last surviving chicken from the initial cohort we got back in 2019. Large, angry, and standoffish, but also consistently able to keep herself alive despite predator attacks and moving up the pecking order. She didn’t even stop laying until this past June! A legend.

Marti the chicken on the patio earlier this year.

A younger Marti with her initial group of birds, when she was young and too dumb to understand how the door on the coop worked.

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Kevin Bunch (ubersaurus) @atariarchive.org · 03/08/2026

Realizing my son's primary game struggle nowadays is moving and doing other stuff, I had him try a turn-based two-player game, Artillery Duel. By the time we stopped he had whomped me 1-5 and was giggling maniacally every time he fired a shell at me. Fair, given how many of them hit.

A scoreboard on the Bally Professional Arcade game Artillery Duel at the conclusion of a match, showing a 1-4 point total.

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Kevin Bunch (ubersaurus) @atariarchive.org · 30/07/2026

The Strong Museum’s arcade is designed to appeal to @plasmasword.blacksky.app

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Kevin Bunch (ubersaurus) @atariarchive.org · 30/07/2026

Played some absolute Bronze Age beauties at Arcade 80s today. Much obliged to @nathaniellockhart.bsky.social and @atarispot.bsky.social for getting in on these matches!

Winner IV, a Pong clone for up to 4 players.

Kee Games’ Tank, which admittedly was not working properly due to a fried edge connector.

Atari’s Anti Aircraft, gorgeously restored and running perfectly.

Bailey International’s Fun Four, a Pong clone for up to 4 people with multiple game modes. Most notably, it includes a fairly unique one where each side is defending a series of targets instead of a goal, making it a proto-Warlords style game.

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Kevin Bunch (ubersaurus) @atariarchive.org · 22/07/2026

The NACS connector is the one that's being pushed by the feds as the standard bearer but there are still a lot of CCS1 chargers set up already/being built in so it's not as big a deal (most of the DC area chargers are CCS). The adapter is just this thing:

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Kevin Bunch (ubersaurus) @atariarchive.org · 19/07/2026

I was born a score chaser, and playing the recent remake of Star Fox 64 reminded me just how hard I went on the original. Very good score for the pre-unlocked charge shot era!

My old high score on Star Fox 64 circa 1998 of 1640.

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Kevin Bunch (ubersaurus) @atariarchive.org · 23/05/2026

I may not be at combo breaker but we’re still playing the really good shit out here. Shout out to @minovskyarticle.bsky.social for coining the “Dogpatch Dozen” term for 22-can matches

Dogpatch on the Bally Arcade console, legitimately one of the best obscure 2 player games of all time. You’re shooting tin cans over your opponents head to score points

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Kevin Bunch (ubersaurus) @atariarchive.org · 13/05/2026

If you go by Atari's internal newsletter Coin Connection, today is the 50th anniversary of Breakout, their most popular title since Pong at the time and such a massive hit in Japan that it spawned a bunch of clones and inspired Space Invaders. Granted, other internal sources say April 76, but hey

An article from Coin Connection's May 1977 issue indicating Breakout is still extremely popular after being born "May 13, 1976"

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Kevin Bunch (ubersaurus) @atariarchive.org · 11/05/2026

Evergreen screencap in this day and age

Bill and Marty, the KBBL radio hosts from the Simpsons, referring to a computerized host the station is threatening to replace them with. The man on the right is saying "Don't praise the machine" to his dummy coworker who just finished asking how it's so good at what it does

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Kevin Bunch (ubersaurus) @atariarchive.org · 01/05/2026

I had picked up imports from local shops but Border Down is the first game I actively mail ordered from Japan. Absolutely no regrets about that one (and it’s way more fun than my early Japanese game pickups from the shops, i.e. the ps1 dragonball fighters)

The Dreamcast game Border Down, in its limited edition format.

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Kevin Bunch (ubersaurus) @atariarchive.org · 20/04/2026

Visited the Vintage Computer festival East show yesterday. Maybe ambitious to make a day trip of it, but I got to see some very cool stuff!

The beginning of an Apple 1 hands-on demonstration

A Videopac G7400+ running Killer Bees! First time ever getting to use one of these in person

A ransomware exhibit where the virus will only release your files if you play Touhou 12

The 1802 table, with various Cosmac Elf and VIP setups.

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Kevin Bunch (ubersaurus) @atariarchive.org · 20/04/2026

this one comes up in our household frequently, as well as Zap's "what makes a man turn neutral?" soliloquy

Bender, annoyed, telling Fry that they didn't grow up together

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Kevin Bunch (ubersaurus) @atariarchive.org · 16/04/2026

The Neo Geo+ stuff is throwing me back to when I used to bring my old modded Neo Geo Mas joystick to play in Samurai Shodown tournaments. It worked so well for that game with the button layout! People kept asking me if I’d sell it to them, as I recall.

A Neo Geo Mas joystick on a table in front of a monitor showing the character select screen from Samurai Shodown 2019.

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Kevin Bunch (ubersaurus) @atariarchive.org · 03/04/2026

There also is contemporary news reporting that Atari anticipated selling between 7-8 million copies of Pac-Man in 1982, which tracks pretty closely with their actual sales figures (the fall off in 83 was likely because starting in January that year it became their 2600 pack-in title)

Article from the El Paso Times' March 14, 1982 edition, where an analyst indicates 7.9 million Pac-Man carts are expected to be sold

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Kevin Bunch (ubersaurus) @atariarchive.org · 03/04/2026

to wit: There were an estimated 17.4 million VCS units sold by the end of 1982. What we know of ET is that it sold very quickly for Christmas and then sales fell off a cliff, and we have firm numbers for 82 and 83! 2.6 million ETs sold in December 82, with a net negative of 669,000 in 83

a partial sales memo of Atari 2600 games, as seen in Once Upon Atari

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Kevin Bunch (ubersaurus) @atariarchive.org · 03/04/2026

This snippet from Videogaming & Computergaming Illustrated describes the real issue with the 83 crash. Nothing about game quality so much as retail stockrooms being so full that they couldn't really get new stuff, and what they did have had to be discounted or sold back to publishers eventually

Article scanned by the VGHF about Imagic's downfall despite being known for their high game quality, which noted a primary problem is that there were too many copies of games on shelves

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Kevin Bunch (ubersaurus) @atariarchive.org · 02/04/2026

Now that @gamehistoryorg.bsky.social has added Tips & Tricks to its library, it's possible to dig in and read about early FGC history and results. I used to play at Wizzard's (and was even in that cvs2 tourney, I got 9th!) and this page was posted near the entry until the place closed.

A page from Tips & Tricks issue 83 with a summary of the Detroit fighting game scene's first Capcom vs. SNK 2 and Tekken 4 tournaments. Cvs2 was won by now-reasonably known player VDO. while "Jinmaster" won T4

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Kevin Bunch (ubersaurus) @atariarchive.org · 06/03/2026

My 9 games, which was difficult to nail down but these are probably the ones that I can think of offhand that really influenced me and my tastes, or otherwise had a big positive social impact.

Capcom vs SNK 2, Super Mario Bros, Halo 2, Ms. Pac-Man (2600), Street Fighter II, Starmaster, Zelda II, Rayforce, Samurai Shodown 7

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Kevin Bunch (ubersaurus) @atariarchive.org · 02/03/2026

Visited Brewbit at the Dugout Arcade yesterday and had a wonderful time. Played some Rumble Fish 2, Space Harrier, Sam Sho V Special, Donkey Kong, and more. And also set new personal bests on a few cabinets!

Author getting second place on the Touhou Perfect Sakura Fantastica machine

Author taking third place on the Dodonpachi Saidaioujou cabinet’s exa mode.

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Kevin Bunch (ubersaurus) @atariarchive.org · 06/02/2026

Shadow Labyrinth got me in a Xevious mood and I decided to not only play the excellent 7800 port I grew up on, but also to start learning the locations of the flags and sol towers. Got a pretty good score on my second run.

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Kevin Bunch (ubersaurus) @atariarchive.org · 16/01/2026

Also the Japanese movie posters were a neat addition, the only other time I’ve seen anything about Flight of the Navigator recently was hearing @enerjax.bsky.social talk about it

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Kevin Bunch (ubersaurus) @atariarchive.org · 16/01/2026

Went on a work trip this week to Winnipeg and got to pop into Select Start, which was a neat little arcade. The cursed Donkey Kong with a circle gate notwithstanding, anyway

Dungeons and Dragons Shadow Over Mystara, Area 51, and 1943.

Tron (maybe the most pristine one I’ve seen in years) and Metal Slug 3

WWF Wrestlefest and Star Wars Trilogy Arcade

Golden Tee, Bottom of the Ninth, Rampage and Golden Axe.

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Kevin Bunch (ubersaurus) @atariarchive.org · 11/01/2026

I was told last night that as of around 8:30pm no one had beat my high score on the Magfest museum space invaders cabinet. Count those shots! Asteroids was also pretty okay, though I’ve never been quite the UFO hunter in that game I aspire to

Space Invaders attract mode, indicating a high score of 5250.

Asteroids high score table. I am leading it with 24140 points, double the next closest.

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Kevin Bunch (ubersaurus) @atariarchive.org · 08/01/2026

I also need to highlight someone else’s contribution to the Magfest museum this year: a slew of Japanese keitai with games on them! These were staples of Japanese gaming pre-smartphone, and it’s rad to see them presented here on their original hardware.

A lineup of Japanese flip phones with information sheets describing what they are and what games are available on each.

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Kevin Bunch (ubersaurus) @atariarchive.org · 08/01/2026

Also at MAGfest: if you visit the museum, you'll be able to try out a selection of Family BASIC games! The folks on the @gamingalexandria.bsky.social discord have been typing in these obscure Famicom games and bringing them back to life, and now's a good chance to give them a shot!

Let Out, a Famicom BASIC puzzle game where you must push all the inkwells off the stage and then go to the exit to move on to the next round. The player is a pink square with an X in it that slides along in a direction until it runs into something.

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