Keatah Posted September 23, 2020 Share Posted September 23, 2020 No love for the X68000? Commonly known as the Japanese Amiga. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+x=usr(1536) Posted September 23, 2020 Share Posted September 23, 2020 (edited) 1 hour ago, Bill Loguidice said: Not really comparable in my opinion. The North American BBC Micro didn't sell a lick. I'm no expert on the European market, but I'm pretty sure Atari software was at least somewhat available and the platform somewhat supported over there. Sorry, should have been clearer: I was speaking from my experience growing up as an Atari user in Ireland when I wrote my initial comment. The reality is that there was no single Europe-wide experience for Atari owners - it was country-by-country, and some had better availability of software and hardware than others. That said, Atari's computers never really had the popularity that the ZX Spectrum and C64 achieved in most markets. In the Dublin area, there were two major Atari retailers. Two. For a city of 1.5 million people. One retailer - Peats of Parnell Street, for anyone who may remember them - was considerably more invested in Atari than the other. And while it was possible to pick up software or, say, a 2600 elsewhere, those two retailers were the only ones who carried a comprehensive range of Atari hardware. The UK was a bit better, with a wider variety of retailers - and there were a number of times I had to mail order from them because there were things (1020 plotter pens spring to mind) that I just couldn't get where we were. That said, it was also the home turf of the ZX Spectrum and Amstrad, with the C64 having a very strong hold as well. The Atari computer range was always a 4th-choice machine in that light. Full credit to the ZX Spectrum for what it achieved, though, particularly behind the Iron Curtain (and later). As regards the BBC Micro, however, yes, it certainly wasn't a blip on the radar in North America; nor were any of Amstrad's offerings on this side of things. Apologies for making it sound as though Atari was similarly-obscure in Europe - it wasn't, but it was very rarely in the top 3 sellers for home computers in any country. Edited September 23, 2020 by x=usr(1536) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+x=usr(1536) Posted September 23, 2020 Share Posted September 23, 2020 18 minutes ago, Keatah said: No love for the X68000? Commonly known as the Japanese Amiga. Best port of R-Type on any system of the time, hands down. Interesting hardware design; never understood why Sharp didn't license, sell, or manufacture it outside of Japan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arnuphis Posted September 23, 2020 Share Posted September 23, 2020 (edited) 20 minutes ago, Keatah said: No love for the X68000? Commonly known as the Japanese Amiga. There's one on eBay for $1850.00. So probably not a good recommendation for someone looking to get into the hobby. They look nice though. I stand by my choice of C64. Especially now since someone can buy a TheC64 and plug it into their modern TV to get a taste of retro computing before taking the plunge and getting original equipment. As for the Atari. I remember seeing the 400/800 on sale in some stores in the UK back when I lived there. Never saw an XL anywhere. I liked the look of the 800 but remember it being too expensive compared to the others (VIC-20, Sinclair etc.) . Never saw an Apple computer. I saw Colour Genies, Newbrains, Orics, TI-99, Dragon 32, Amstrads, TRS-80s,Sharp Mz-80/700 and even Tatung Einsteins. But not Apple II in sight anywhere. Edited September 23, 2020 by Arnuphis addendum Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluejay Posted September 23, 2020 Author Share Posted September 23, 2020 X68000s are really nice, but they're expensive, obscure, and not well supported these days. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
youki Posted September 23, 2020 Share Posted September 23, 2020 4 hours ago, Bill Loguidice said: I'm no expert on the European market, but I'm pretty sure Atari software was at least somewhat available and the platform somewhat supported over there. Despite the Atari has been sold in France, i have never meet somebody who owned one back in time. (except me! I bought one in a used computer shop for almost nothing in 1986, and still have that one!). But i know in some european country like in Poland where it has been very popular. In France , after 1984 almost everybody owning a 8bits had a Amstrad CPC... i was almost alone with my C64!? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Loguidice Posted September 23, 2020 Share Posted September 23, 2020 (edited) 16 minutes ago, youki said: Despite the Atari has been sold in France, i have never meet somebody who owned one back in time. (except me! I bought one in a used computer shop for almost nothing in 1986, and still have that one!). But i know in some european country like in Poland where it has been very popular. In France , after 1984 almost everybody owning a 8bits had a Amstrad CPC... i was almost alone with my C64!? The only French (SECAM) systems I ever had in my collection were a Thomson computer and Videopac console. Edited September 23, 2020 by Bill Loguidice Thomson instead of Tomoson Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamchevy Posted September 23, 2020 Share Posted September 23, 2020 A fun Retro computer that is a great all around machine is an 800 XL. They can usually be found modded on eBay for less than $200 shipped. I know this computer has been mentioned many times before, but finding a modded computer for less than $200 is a great deal. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arnuphis Posted September 24, 2020 Share Posted September 24, 2020 Yep the Atari 800 xl is a decent choice too. And inexpensive. I still prefer the OG 800 though due to its better build but obviously its not as easily upgradable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IntelliMission Posted September 24, 2020 Share Posted September 24, 2020 (edited) I just discovered the CoCo thanks to this thread and a recent video by LGR. It's a cute computer! As an Amstrad CPC owner back in the day, I give it my seal of approval. Edited September 24, 2020 by IntelliMission 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluejay Posted September 24, 2020 Author Share Posted September 24, 2020 3 minutes ago, IntelliMission said: I just discovered the CoCo thanks to this thread and a recent video by LGR. It's a cute computer! As an Amstrad CPC owner back in the day, I give it my seal of approval. Color Computers are really lovely computers worth investing in. They're super fun to mess with! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+OLD CS1 Posted September 24, 2020 Share Posted September 24, 2020 1 hour ago, bluejay said: Color Computers are really lovely computers worth investing in. They're super fun to mess with! I think CoCos have the best version of Thexder. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluejay Posted September 24, 2020 Author Share Posted September 24, 2020 9 minutes ago, OLD CS1 said: I think CoCos have the best version of Thexder. Well it wasn't released on too many platforms, was it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desiv Posted September 24, 2020 Share Posted September 24, 2020 2 minutes ago, bluejay said: Well it wasn't released on too many platforms, was it? More than I thought (I just googled it as I didn't know it had been released on the CoCo. From Wikipedia, they list PC8801, NES, MSX, IBM PC, COCO3, Apple II, IIgs, Mac, Tandy 1000, and Amiga. More than I thought. (I remembered PC and Apple IIgs (I think it was the IIgs version I remember) versions, and might have seen the Amiga version being an Amiga guy, but don't remember if I did...) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IntelliMission Posted September 24, 2020 Share Posted September 24, 2020 Did the CoCo have any exclusive games? Someone should raise a new topic about exclusive games for 8 bit computers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fimbulvetr Posted September 24, 2020 Share Posted September 24, 2020 45 minutes ago, IntelliMission said: Did the CoCo have any exclusive games? Outhouse 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Loguidice Posted September 24, 2020 Share Posted September 24, 2020 2 hours ago, OLD CS1 said: I think CoCos have the best version of Thexder. Genuine question, but how do you figure? It has worse sound and only 5 levels versus the 16 on the other versions. It does have a big advantage in one way and that is that it's on a ROM cartridge rather than a disk, so no load times (it also happens to be the one version I still own boxed - in fact, my current copy is still sealed). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Loguidice Posted September 24, 2020 Share Posted September 24, 2020 51 minutes ago, IntelliMission said: Did the CoCo have any exclusive games? Someone should raise a new topic about exclusive games for 8 bit computers. It certainly does have some exclusive standouts, including the ones that everyone always brings up like Doubleback and Dungeons of Daggorath. Still, it's really not a great games computer overall for all the reasons mentioned earlier in the thread like lack of big name third party support, weak color palette, weak sound, CPU time getting hammered with the shared processes so games were often a bit sluggish, etc. Surprisingly, there are few true exclusives relative to the overall number of titles on many of the bigger classic computer platforms. Ports, one way or the other, were incredibly common. As such, regardless of computer, I personally try to focus on games that were created first on/original to a particular platform (and sometimes best on a particular platform). In fact, that was how I/we chose the 10 games for each of the platforms covered in my book, Vintage Game Consoles, i.e., focus on the ones that were either original to, or more typically, first developed on a particular platform. Of course, some platforms did better in the area of exclusives relative to their library size than others - the TI-99/4a comes to mind as having a particularly high percentage - but it also doesn't mean that they're any better off for it. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Loguidice Posted September 24, 2020 Share Posted September 24, 2020 36 minutes ago, fimbulvetr said: Outhouse Even that's a port: http://www.trs-80.org/outhouse/ ? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
potatohead Posted September 25, 2020 Share Posted September 25, 2020 The exclusive games topic would be interesting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arnuphis Posted September 25, 2020 Share Posted September 25, 2020 Simply put, consider the following... Wasteland, Bard's Tale, Sid Meier's Pirates!, Pool of Radiance, Wizball, Zork, Last ninja, Ultima IV, Elite, Times of Lore, Commando, Skate or Die, California Games, Psi-5 Trading Company, Tau Ceti, Bubble Bobble, Maniac Mansion, Paradroid, Lode Runner, Impossible Mission, Sentinel, Airbone Ranger. If your retro computer cannot play all of these then you chose the wrong retro computer! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven Pendleton Posted September 25, 2020 Share Posted September 25, 2020 On 9/24/2020 at 12:25 AM, Keatah said: No love for the X68000? Commonly known as the Japanese Amiga. The thing with the X68000, as has been mentioned already, is the price. I went to BEEP the other day and they had a few of them... for around 200000 yen each. As much as I want one (I really do), there is no way I can afford to spend that much cash on that thing right now, and the games are expensive, as well. I opted to buy my friend's MSX2+ with his MegaFlashROM SCC+ SD instead as my first old computer. Still haven't played it since I don't have a controller for it. Normally I'd just use the keyboard, but the down arrow key seems to not be extremely responsive and I'm not sure how to clean it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesD Posted September 25, 2020 Share Posted September 25, 2020 6 hours ago, Arnuphis said: Simply put, consider the following... Wasteland, Bard's Tale, Sid Meier's Pirates!, Pool of Radiance, Wizball, Zork, Last ninja, Ultima IV, Elite, Times of Lore, Commando, Skate or Die, California Games, Psi-5 Trading Company, Tau Ceti, Bubble Bobble, Maniac Mansion, Paradroid, Lode Runner, Impossible Mission, Sentinel, Airbone Ranger. If your retro computer cannot play all of these then you chose the wrong retro computer! If you only want to play games 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+x=usr(1536) Posted September 25, 2020 Share Posted September 25, 2020 36 minutes ago, JamesD said: If you only want to play games Remember, folks: old computers are for serious business, and ONLY serious business. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
youxia Posted September 25, 2020 Share Posted September 25, 2020 7 hours ago, Arnuphis said: Simply put, consider the following... Wasteland, Bard's Tale, Sid Meier's Pirates!, Pool of Radiance, Wizball, Zork, Last ninja, Ultima IV, Elite, Times of Lore, Commando, Skate or Die, California Games, Psi-5 Trading Company, Tau Ceti, Bubble Bobble, Maniac Mansion, Paradroid, Lode Runner, Impossible Mission, Sentinel, Airbone Ranger. If your retro computer cannot play all of these then you chose the wrong retro computer! Quite a roundabout way of saying "buy C64!" As for the exclusive list it'd have hundreds of titles. And that's only the significant ones. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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