iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

5. Emerson Arcadia: Unloaded by a friend of my brother's for $20 4. Microvision: Thrift store in Sierra Vista AZ (previously, warehouse reseller in Lakeview MI) 3. MP-1000: Thrift store in Tucson AZ for, uh, $10? 2. Gizmondo: AtariAge, I'm pretty sure 1. Amiga CD32: Random eBay score. $70?

Purchase points: 10. 3DO: Sierra Vista Bookman's, for $25! 9. Vectrex: Latest? Bidville auctions, for $75 8. N-Gage: AtariAge? Unknown price 7. Neo-Geo Pocket Color: GameHits, a Lansing store, for web design services 6. Astrocade: yard sale, for $3 (con't)

3DO is just barely obscure, and the same goes for Vectrex. People know about it; they just don't have it. Amiga CD32 leads the pack, a weird game-ified Amiga 1200 that coulda been a contender if Commodore hadn't been so stupid about copyright law. Instead it buried the company!

000

And now, the top ten obscure game consoles I've owned! 10. 3DO 9. Vectrex 8. N-Gage 7. Neo-Geo Pocket Color 6. Astrocade 5. Emerson Arcadia 4. Microvision 3. MP-1000 2. Gizmondo 1. Amiga CD32

210

I don't think anyone is scrambling for Downland on MP-1000. Most people don't even know the MP-1000 exists! I didn't know until the late 1990s, when I bought one at a thrift! It's ridiculously obscure... easily in my top five for obscure consoles I've owned.

000

And the thing is, the MP-1000 is similar enough to CoCo (same GPU, processor from a similar lineage) that I think some of the machine's lighter games could be coaxed to run on MP-1000, albeit with extra RAM on the cartridge or some minor concessions. The big concern: does anyone care?

100

However! Like the situation with the ColecoVision and Super Game Module, or the 5200 that people want to pump up to XEGS levels, the MP-1000 is likely expandable. Heck, we know it's expandable... there was a computer expansion!

100

Would I say either of these machines is terrific? Not really, but they're very, very early. This is the status quo for 1970s game systems... only the Atari 2600 and Intellivision came out of that decade smelling like a rose. I think the MP-1000 is the better of the two, but is let down by software.

100

The MP-1000, by the way, is one of two game consoles designed by a black guy. Ed Smith was responsible for this one, while the better known Jerry Lawson handled the Fairchild Channel F. Of course, what's on the INSIDE counts, and what's inside the MP-1000 is a very Tandy Color Computer-y device.

100

APF Imagination Machine: Programming

Oh, goodie goodie gosh! Here's a lot of information about the APF-MP1000... got this information from the Bally Alley guy, and I'd like to see what I can do with it. (Perhaps nothing? We'll see!) hcvgm.org/APF_Programm...

hcvgm.org

000

Be sure to scream that it's rare and illegal, and tuck in enough malicious misinformation to annoy nerds. Hey, it works for Lady Decade!

000

There are three modes. Pick the one in the center for the story mode. (There's Vs. Mappy too, and I have no idea how that works.)

These plug and play solutions tend to be more convenient when you've got limited space, and a working cart slot has possibilities (if loading the games doesn't take thirty seconds, like that stupid 7800+).

000

A week ago, I bought an Atari computer online. And now, there's an Atari computer with HDMI and a functional cartridge slot. Ugh!

They went places with that opening, with the white trash dudes punching the air, pretending they're Steve Hermann. And I'm still trying to figure out that cryptic clue they gave at the end... castles and microwaves?!

000

Or! If you have an Atari 5200, the analog joysticks are analog but DON'T snap back to center! If the big joypads on classic Xbox are Dukes, the Atari 5200 controller is the Marquis (de Sade).

120

I mean, she's a Bluey fan. The flat butt observation is probably on point!

It's not Namco's best work, but this being Namco at its prime, it still stomps most of its arcade competition. It's abundantly cute and cartoony; Tom and Jerry for the digital age. Try the Game Gear version, where you're traveling through time and the target items change appropriately.

He was doing that crap to the bitter end, wasn't he? And people were in the comments section going, "Oh, well if he asked for redemption, and I'm sure he did, he will surely be saved!" It's like they have styrofoam for brains. Stop giving people infinite chances to screw you over!

000

And when you beat him, Mega Man gets... Bethesda Bomb! It turns all onscreen enemies upside down and buries them into the surrounding playfield, as if they were the victims of a Star Trek teleporter accident. Switch to something else and blast 'em at your leisure... they'll be there for a while!

000

So yeah, The Sequel Wars guy is doing a great job with Mega Man 5, even powering up the weapon set that was kind of mediocre in the official game. I'm thinking he should add a Minakuchi Man boss that fights with the power of bad video game design tropes. Choppiness, slowdown, and poor timing!

120

Best news I've heard all day. This guy was straight up narcissistic, grifty trash. Where you're going, you'll be Bakk-ing plenty.

Weird, taking the self-pity angle for selling a soft drink. "Our soda is so misunderstood! Sure, the Brits think it tastes like semi-congealed prune juice, but hey, Worf from Star Trek likes prune juice! It'll make you big, strong, and Klingon when you grow up!"

I should ask SMS Power about this, see what they have to say about it. Alternately, the Sega Sports Pad could be used for that purpose, but really, late 80s gamers were all about the light gun. Trackballs were more of an early 80s thing.

000

What I know is that the SMS takes an approximation of where the player aimed the Phaser when the fire button is pressed, and generates a circle from that data, with the "hotspot" at or near the left of the circle. Like a carnival target rifle with the sight slightly off.

000

Seriously, I would rather have this game on Master System, what with the light gun and everything, but I don't know how to squeeze that I/O out of the system with the stock CVBasic. There could be an ASM routine for that! I just don't know what it is.

100

Shootin'anny! by ArugulaZ

arugulaz.itch.io/shootinanny My latest project, Shootin'anny, now on Itch.IO! It's a target shooter. On ColecoVision. Where you use a trackball to play it. It sounded like a good idea at the time, okay?!

arugulaz.itch.io

Trackball target shootin' with a downhome feel!

If there's a skill barrier to coding with AI, so much the better... I love knowledge, but that's dark knowledge I don't wish to acquire.

000

What AI gives you is BOOP BEEP BOOP rough approximation of an arcade game rigidly conforming to the limitations of the home system KACHUNK. Insert credits.

Chiki Chiki Boys is arguably BETTER on Genesis due to gameplay rebalancing for the home format. AI can't do this, and wouldn't even think to do this. Similarly, MERCS has a whole-ass bonus game attached to the main game as a consolation prize for losing two player gameplay. AI can't do this.

It's all very rote? By the numbers? And you want faithfulness from a port of an arcade game, but you also want a little wiggle room for the sake of the system's limitations, and also creativity to give that version of the game its own flavor. Genesis games do this pretty well; the JPN ones, anyway.

On a related note, there's an upcoming Sega Genesis port of Black Tiger. It's AI-assisted, and you can kind of feel it in the colors that don't make adequate use of the system's limited palette, the pacing issues, and the lack of a shopkeeper in the shop.

200

Maybe AI will work for some users. It will never work for me. Like Luis Sanchez from Digitrex Techstar, my mind doesn't work in such a linear fashion. When I make a game, I want to make it my own; include concepts and play mechanics that could only have come from my mind. And AI can't read my mind.

000

You ask an AI to make you a Pac-Man game built on a new core concept, and it won't have any idea what to do with that. Maybe it'll get lucky and come up with something, but it won't work within the framework of the gameplay. AI can't create; it can only restate, reiterate, regurgitate.

000

So Eyes is not as good as Pac-Man. But it is better than Exciting New Pac-Man Plus, or the half-dozen games from the time that were literally Pac-Man with slight adjustments to the graphics and maze designs. And the secret to its success is a human brain, with human adaptability and creativity.

100

Pac-Man doesn't do this. Pac-Man also doesn't set the screen alight with an orgy of spastically pulsing objects, but Eyes does! It's flawed in some pretty obvious ways, but Eyes legitimately feels like a new and different game, rather than just more Pac-Man.

100

Take for instance Eyes. It's not as sharply designed as Pac-Man... enemies are hugely dumb and can be trapped behind the walls of a simple, unchanging maze fairly easily. HOWEVER, it gets big points for innovation. Shooting turns the gameplay on its ear, giving it the feel of a wild west shootout.

100

There's a million games like Pac-Man out there. However, the real standouts in the genre aren't the games that perfectly replicate Pac-Man, but find ways to innovate on the theme and explore the designer's own artistic vision.

100

Personally, I find I get better results from a more organic product. Video games aren't just a product, although capitalism has made them so. Video games are a form of artistic expression, represented on a digital medium. And you see this express itself in so many ways.

100

I'll admit, there is some temptation to use AI for coding. I'm not great at coding, and it can be stressful and frustrating. However, if I have to learn a whole new skill to use AI, that should provide adequate disincentive to use it as a crutch. You know what they say about old dogs and new tricks.

000

"AI takes time to learn!" You already know BASIC. Anyone who can read and understands basic computer concepts knows BASIC. So why not just code the thing yourself?

000

From the Denial VIC-20 forums: "It's a difficult choice, because people may assume you just one-shot the whole thing, when in fact you may have spent many hours honing, guiding and testing the AI's output." If it's got that high a barrier of entry, then why not just code the game yourself?

000

What's your choice for most "old man yells at cloud" progressive rock song? The Runaway by Saga has got to be in the running, along with Steve Howe's Blinded by Science. Geez guys, calm down and take your Geritol.

000

I hate it when nuts have a poisonous flavor. Hazelnuts are the same way... it's just a really off-putting taste for me. Thing is, pistachios taste fine in a bag! Just not like this.

000

Jess Ragan @mneko.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Tried Monster Dubai Chocolate coffee drink. My advice? DONTbai this drink. It has a strange antiseptic flavor that I presume comes from the pistachios. Are the Dubai chocolate bars like this too? Because if so, gross and yuck in that order.

000

Imagine that, but with color, sharper graphics, and a dance club atmosphere similar to Lumines. (Pro-tip: just play Lumines.)