iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

OMPeaRetro @ompearetro.com · 31/08/2026

I was able to go the last day there was a Gundam popup store in a local-ish mall. They had a lot of friendly staff helping out. They had a gunpla/gashapon area, a card game area, and the main store. People of all ages were enjoying it. Definitely worth checking out if it comes to your area.

020

OMPeaRetro @ompearetro.com · 19/08/2026

My favorite new find on FM Towns and PC98 is the SRPG Dead Force. There's crafting, programmable ai, day/night cycles, units/sub units, and a decent story.

060

OMPeaRetro @ompearetro.com · 11/08/2026

I took this picture of Scott Speed in Project Midnight at the top of Mount Washington Sunday. The morning race was delayed and then shortened due to insanely heavy fog. A few hours later he broke the record in the afternoon race. Climb to the Clouds 2026 was an amazing time.

Subaru Motorsports USA built Project Midnight, a 2024 WRX with 670 hp and weighing under 2500 lbs. Scott Speed drove it during its debut at the Goodwood Festival of Speed earlier this year.

Check out the gravel being spit out from the front tire.

060

OMPeaRetro @ompearetro.com · 16/06/2026

I've uploaded dumps of the rest of my recent FM Towns purchases: Game Jang+ High School War Image II Pleria - The Royal Emblem github.com/Unsatisfacto...

github.com

052

OMPeaRetro @ompearetro.com · 10/06/2026

I finished the blazer faction playthrough of High School War on FM Towns. One of the enemies has a sweet X68000 Super tattoo/body paint thing going on

041

OMPeaRetro @ompearetro.com · 05/06/2026

I got some less than common gems in today for FM Towns. High School War is the big one here. It's Marty compatible and it's not dumped according to Redump. I'll dump and scan everything when I get a chance. High School War is a tactical RPG about school uniforms, btw.

High School War for FM Towns. An undumped tactical RPG about school uniforms.

Pleria The Royal Emblem. An adult ADV floppy disk game for FM Towns.

Image II is another floppy disk adult ADV game for FM Towns

040

OMPeaRetro @ompearetro.com · 25/05/2026

It's been a whole year, but I'm continuing work on the FM Towns Marty Master Compatibility List. I'm mostly dealing with more floppy disk games right now, but I do have another undumped game or two on the way from Japan to test. v1.05 coming soon. github.com/Unsatisfacto...

040

OMPeaRetro @ompearetro.com · 20/05/2026

The north coast of Northern Ireland is not a bad place to visit.

The north coast of Northern Ireland between Portstewart and Portrush at sunset.

Northern Ireland looking towards the cost of Portstewart.

Walking towards Carrick-a-Rede in Northern Ireland.

Looking back over the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge in Northern Ireland.

020

OMPeaRetro @ompearetro.com · 18/02/2026

I'm glad I didn't have to pay this much for either of mine.

000

OMPeaRetro @ompearetro.com · 08/02/2026

I just verified a slightly updated version of my FM2AND6 controller. A slight cost savings will help offset tariffs, and I've added an LED to show when it's in 6 button mode.

2101

OMPeaRetro @ompearetro.com · 31/01/2026

Some test boards are shipping out to me, so I'll be able to test the Zerosen dumps.

170

OMPeaRetro @ompearetro.com · 27/01/2026

I've finished verifying 8/16/32kb games work on my reproduction cart for the Bandai RX-78. I need to finish working on the CMT portion for Basic use, as well as look at games with dual 8/16kb chips.

190

OMPeaRetro @ompearetro.com · 27/01/2026

I'm working on a joystick expansion card for Hitachi's Basic Master Level 3. I should probably see if the machine actually works 🤔

030

OMPeaRetro @ompearetro.com · 23/01/2026

I also received a Hitachi Basic Master Level 3 yesterday. It is loaded with expansion cards. 2 cards are for an external FDD unit, 1 for joysticks, and 1 expanded ram. I recreated the joystick card, and will make one with DE9 connectors that are compatible with MSX style pads.

030

OMPeaRetro @ompearetro.com · 23/01/2026

I got my e-waste PC-6601SR in yesterday. NEC was forward thinking and put the battery on the little led board in the front panel. Easy to get to for replacement, and away from important things if it leaks. Speaking of, absolutely no leakage or corrosion on this one. Astounding

050

OMPeaRetro @ompearetro.com · 19/01/2026

I was looking up places to visit in Iceland for a future trip, and came across this picture someone took in a shop. ネコジラ (nekojira) 😂

040

OMPeaRetro @ompearetro.com · 16/01/2026

I just paid shipping on my last package from Japan for a while. I was able to check off a couple more computers of the 8 bit variety. First up is an NEC PC-6601SR with no keyboard. Second is a Hitachi Basic Master L3 MK2. It comes with a few expansion boards. Pics to come when I get them.

190

OMPeaRetro @ompearetro.com · 10/01/2026

It's been a while since I've bought new music. Going a little off brand for a classic

030

OMPeaRetro @ompearetro.com · 07/01/2026

My last couple orders from JLC have been fulfilled super quickly. I submitted gerbers Monday morning, and received a shipping notification earlier tonight.

020

OMPeaRetro @ompearetro.com · 02/01/2026

I've been diving into the RX-78 some more. I recapped one of my machines, I got 8 and 16k roms working on my repro cart, and I mapped out the rest of the expansion/cartridge port. I'm not exactly sure what some lines are as this system uses a Z80 and the rest are customs.

091

OMPeaRetro @ompearetro.com · 27/12/2025

My last order from Japan for the year. A programming book for the Sord M5. An NEC data recorder. Perfect Mahjong and Excite Baseball for the Bandai RX-78. A pretty clean Family Basic set

181

OMPeaRetro @ompearetro.com · 07/12/2025

I'm not a coder, but it's one of those things I've always wanted to learn. I'm easing myself into it in a way I'm sure a lot of old-timers did back in the before times, by copying type-in games. These games can be loaded back into real hardware as well.

130

OMPeaRetro @ompearetro.com · 05/12/2025

I opened up the new Casio FP-1100 I just received. Oh, that's why it's heavy

060

OMPeaRetro @ompearetro.com · 03/12/2025

I just got another misfit child in, a Casio FP-1100 in very nice shape. I'll tear into it at some point, and test the 1 cassette I have for it, but I'm focused on the RX-78 right now. It's a simple, but very attractive design. Those blue keys 💙

160

OMPeaRetro @ompearetro.com · 23/11/2025

First bit of info on the Bandai RX-78 to correct some incorrect documentation. The joysticks are full 8 way with 2 fire buttons, and everything is microswitched. It's quite nice. The connector is a 7 pin miniDIN.

Bandai RX-78 joystick showing the outer case with its 2 fire buttons and 8 way markings.

A poor picture of the Bandai RX-78 joystick plug showing that it's a standard 7 pin miniDIN.

Case bottom removed of the Bandai RX-78 joystick showing the pcb screwed into the top case.

Bandai RX-78 joystick pcb fully removed from case showing all 10 microswitches.

041

OMPeaRetro @ompearetro.com · 23/11/2025

I'm very excited to finally have a Bandai RX-78 in my possession. There is very little info about them floating around out there, and some of it is not exactly accurate. @gamingalexandria.bsky.social has done a bunch of preservation work for the system. I'll be doing some as well.

080

OMPeaRetro @ompearetro.com · 18/11/2025

It was a busy weekend. I also used my laser to verify fitment of both short and tall reproduction pcbs for Bandai RX-78 cartridges.

072

OMPeaRetro @ompearetro.com · 18/11/2025

I also received my new PC98 CD drive Gears. The drive in the BA3 now opens and closes. I had to ream the post hole a bit as there's a small taper on the post. I just took my time until it spun freely.

060

OMPeaRetro @ompearetro.com · 18/11/2025

I put together a care package for my buddy's PC-9821 Ap2. Custom Gotek cases, adapter pcb with power and ribbon cables, front panel trim piece, and extended knobs for a dual Gotek install. Then there's an adapter for popular CF/IDE and SD/IDE adapters, and a rear trim piece for single joystick card

030

OMPeaRetro @ompearetro.com · 13/11/2025

I snagged an auction for something I've been after for the past 4 years or so. I even got a great price. Sometimes patience pays off. Now to wait...

020

OMPeaRetro @ompearetro.com · 09/11/2025

Now we're getting somewhere. The face and locking tabs are dialed in. Now I need to work on the opening.

030

OMPeaRetro @ompearetro.com · 09/11/2025

In a surprise to nobody, the PC98 CD drive gear that fails all the time has failed. I had a few printed, but they haven't arrived yet. The broken teeth were jamming the other gears, which made it quite tricky to release the tray.

150

OMPeaRetro @ompearetro.com · 08/11/2025

PC-9801BA3 package came in today. Everything mostly works as is, but the floppy drives and cd drive need love. It'll get a full resto at some point. Now that I have a working keyboard and mouse, I could test some other fun on the Ap2

080

OMPeaRetro @ompearetro.com · 07/11/2025

With all the curvature I'll have to print vertically to get good walls, but I'm just printing in a faster orientation while I dial it in. Nearly there. 1 or 2 more tweaks to get it spot on. Then I can work on the rest of the model. I've also got some retro platinum petg coming in to test.

030

OMPeaRetro @ompearetro.com · 06/11/2025

Slowly fumbling through these more complicated models. I know it doesn't look like much, but there are a lot of weird curves in this. Test prints tonight to hone in on a more finished trim cover for the PC-9821 Ap2 Goteks.

130

OMPeaRetro @ompearetro.com · 05/11/2025

Until I can figure out how to model a nice clean trim piece, this will have to do for the PC-9821 Ap2. I made it in grey at the suggestion of my buddy @derekpascarella.bsky.social whom I also made a set for. It sort of matches the logo color.

190

OMPeaRetro @ompearetro.com · 04/11/2025

asie doing awesome things for the Wonderswan community again.

030

OMPeaRetro @ompearetro.com · 30/10/2025

I got the updated dpads for the Double D controllers in today. They pass the button test. By that I mean everything works as it should, and you can pish the dpads straight down and not get errant presses. We're fully blacked out now too, which looks pretty cool.

1101

OMPeaRetro @ompearetro.com · 29/10/2025

I did some more controller work last night. I don't think I can find an off the shelf strain relief that would fit the controller/cable combo for the PC9821 controller, so I made one that seems to work well. I also got updated dpads in for the Double D. I still need to test, but it feels good.

030

OMPeaRetro @ompearetro.com · 27/10/2025

Hey @jeffsretrogaming.com here are some pics of the Marty mouse and keyboard. I will try to test tonight

191

OMPeaRetro @ompearetro.com · 27/10/2025

I won an auction for the oddball Casio FP-1100. I have one tape for the system I got in a previous listing. I've been curious about this one for a while. It'll be making the journey with some misc PC-98 goods.

151

OMPeaRetro @ompearetro.com · 27/10/2025

Testing out a new BASIC controller. These can be configured to many systems via solder jumpers. I made this one for my PC98 Ap2 which uses a 9p miniDIN. Metal Force uses FM Towns style Select and Run buttons, which is neat. Run pauses and Select does like a fast forward thing. More to come.

060

OMPeaRetro @ompearetro.com · 24/10/2025

The PC9821 Ap2 is slowly coming together. It doesn't look like much, but everything is custom to fit. The Gotek cases especially took a bit of work designing. The trim cover to neaten things up will be the most difficult though. A lot of curves.

150

OMPeaRetro @ompearetro.com · 20/10/2025

Fun fact, some of the horse names we used were pets and such. Shout out to Blazing Classic and Nona, my ex racing greyhounds that we rescued. I used to work at a kennel that adopted ex-racers out. I believe @derekpascarella.bsky.social added a couple names, too.

220

OMPeaRetro @ompearetro.com · 19/10/2025

The thought of having to form leads on 60+ capacitors for my PC9821 AP2 sounded terrible, so I made a simple tool. My first version spread the legs out to 5mm, but was a little finicky. Now you just load, squeeze, snip, and it's done. Now to make some for 4, 6, and 8mm wide caps.

Closeup view of the main board in an NEC PC9821 AP2 computer. It shows the Game Gear style SMD capacitors.

Bottom half of the through hole capacitor leg forming tool

Through hole capacitor leg forming tool loaded with a capacitor and squeezed together to put 2 90 degree bends in both legs.

View of the through hole capacitor showing the newly formed legs.

8310

OMPeaRetro @ompearetro.com · 19/10/2025

Sigh... I'm not sure how it cracked as it was just in a jewel case by my computer for a few days. It wasn't expensive at least, but it is on Redump's undumped games list. I'm so disappointed 😔

240

OMPeaRetro @ompearetro.com · 18/10/2025

Hey, the meme TV works! All knobs seem to do what they're supposed to, and audio is good. I didn't test composite in, or composite/s video/audio out yet. I'll open it up at some point to refresh things, but at least I know it makes colors.

0120

OMPeaRetro @ompearetro.com · 18/10/2025

A quick and dirty mount for the IDE to CF adapter for the PC9821 AP2.

150