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The games Nintendo didn't want you to play: Tengen
Recently, I took a look at Nintendo’s MMC line of mappers, and some other boards. All boards for the NES’ western releases had to be manufactured by Nintendo, and so they generally met certain standards set by Nintendo. But these rules were enforced by technology, not by law. And the company that had previously killed the American game industry decided to break those rules. Madness? No. This… is Tengen.
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Mr. Do Proves Our History Is Not What It Seems
This is going to be a bit out there for Nicole Express, but I have to let you all know the truth. A terrible truth that only I, Nicole Express, could have discovered. A dark secret that shows that everything the ever-ominous they have told us about our world and our place in it is a lie. A truth that, yes, can be revealed only through 1980’s arcade boards. Maybe it’s not so out of place for this blog after all.
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What made the NES so interesting?
I often like to cover oddities here; details of computers and arcade systems people may not have heard of, that didn’t sell well but had unique or interesting characteristics. But focusing on oddities like that can disguise the fact that sometimes, even systems that were very popular can stand out for unique design. Such be it with the Nintendo Entertainment System: had Nintendo’s console flopped, it’d definitely have a post already. But it doesn’t. Let’s fix that! And answer a simple question I was asked: what’s the deal with special chip games?
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Donkey Kong's Discount Replacement: Hero in the Castle of Doom
D! K! Donkey Kong! He may be the leader of the bunch, but by 1985, America knew him well. A little too well. Unlike today, when the game and its sequel are considered classics, at the time arcade operators thought it was just another old game for the dustbin of history. And where there are worthless circuit boards, there are enterprising entrepreneurs trying to make them worthwhile again. Did they succeed in making a better game than Nintendo’s classic?
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Fact-checking a dead company: Is the Turbo Duo faster?
I’m assured that marketing is very important in order to let the people know about goods and services. But sometimes… marketers aren’t entirely truthful. Shocking, I know. Let’s look at one particular claim made by Turbo Technologies about the Turbo Duo. Is it as good as they say? If it is, great! If it’s not, well, we can call them up. Surely they’re still around. The Turbo Duo is a pretty cool console, after all.
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Genesis from Another World: the Sega System C
There’s a concept called the “Uncanny Valley”; when a human looks at a cartoonish face, they’ll generally recognize it as a person. When they’re presented with a photorealistic face, they’ll similarly recognize it. But when presented with an image that is highly realistic but just a bit “off”, the human will tend to find it repulsive or disturbing. Today, we’ll take a look at yet another Sega arcade board: one that would trigger an “uncanny valley” reaction in a Sega Genesis, if you gave it a human brain.
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Neo Geo Genesis 1 1/2: The Alpha 68K-V
Last year, I wrote up an article on the Alpha 68k arcade platform. A complex system made primarily with discrete logic by the Alpha Denshi Corporation, it would eventually become the basis of the Neo Geo. There was one game, though, that I really wanted to talk about and couldn’t. The highest development of the Alpha 68k system before it united with SNK. I didn’t have it then– now I do. Let the Gang Wars begin!
