Tag: compilation

LOADSTAR Compleat: Commodore 64 Disk Magazine Archives

This is something I’ve been trying to make happen for some time. But then some work I put into it hit an unexpected snag (the maker of a library I had been depending on decided he wanted to be paid a subscription fee to use it or else he was going to put a nag screen on people’s projects), then other things came up, and so the project languished for months.

So now, on the premise that it’s better to get it out there and available and add features and fix things later, instead of sitting on it and potentially nothing happening with it ever, I have put up on itch.io ⅘ths of the run of classic Commodore 64 computer disk magazine LOADSTAR, with the blessing of owner/long-time managing editor Fender Tucker.

This isn’t the first time I’ve mentioned LOADSTAR in these pages. The magazine’s name came from the commonly-entered command on Commodore 64 computers LOAD”*”,8,1, to load the first program on disk into memory, and sometimes also to run it. LOAD”(star)”, you see. I packaged one of its programs, Dungeon, for sale on itch.io for $5 some months back and mentioned it here. This is an opportunity to get the collection it was drawn from. I recognize this is a bit self-serving, but I don’t do it very often, and there’s so much on LOADSTAR that the world deserves to know about. The price of $15 is because that’s what Fender has always sold it for. The issues can also be gotten for free elsewhere, yes. This is mostly an opportunity to get them all at once, and with the Fender’s approval: the person most responsible for all of it, the driving force behind it, the one who always believed the most in LOADSTAR, its very heart and soul.

I had been working for an explorer program for getting the contents of issues and searching through them without having to load each issue individually, but it had been stymied by the issue I mentioned in the first paragraph. Something else I’d like to do is supply an emulator that will run the issues directly, with sensible defaults. The version that’s up has an absolutely ancient copy of VICE for Windows with it. It’s so old that I’m not sure if there might be security issues with it; I should probably just remove it. In any case, current versions of VICE are available for many platforms and are free and open source.

To start an issue, you first start up your copy of VICE. The Commodore 64 emulator included is x64, or else x64sc; the Commodore 128 emulator is x128. Under the File menu, choose “Smart Attach…,” then pick the issue from within the LS64 folder for Commodore 64 issues, or LSQ128 for Commodore 128 issues. Make sure to click the Autostart button: it’ll load the Presenter program and run it automatically! You’ll find both 1541 (*.d64) and 1581 (*.d81) disk images. 90% of the time you’ll want to load the 1581 version, because those disks were much larger and a whole issue could fit on one of them! The 1541 versions (which while growing up I had to put up with) are split up into four disk sides, and are a hassle. By the way: the 1541 disk drive was excruciatingly slow. If you press Alt-W, you can toggle “Warp Mode,” which will speed up loading greatly! Just be sure to toggle it back off once your program has loaded!

And something the collection really needs is a list of highlights of interesting things on each issue, and also a directory of the people who made this unbelievable wealth of software. Here’s a few names to watch for: Jeff Jones (Assistant Editor), Barbara Schulak (Puzzle Maven), Ian Adams (Mathematician), Maurice Jones (Card Game Implementor of Great Skill), Jim Weiler (Third in Command), J.C. Hilty (BASIC Game Programmer who never let it get him down), Nick Peck (Creator of A Couple Of Awesome Games), Jon Mattson (General Gamesperson) and Walt Harned (Pixel Artist Extraordinaire). If I could affix all their names in the stars for the world to see forever, I absolutely would.

To construct the itch.io page I needed some screenshots, so I dipped into a few issues to make them, and got the names of their makers along the way. Here you go, but understand this is only a tiny fraction of what’s included.

Zorphon by Nick Peck, from LOADSTAR issue 39. A rather polished space shooter! The aliens are drawn using character mode. I like the classic Astrocade-like font for the text.
Pipe’s Peak by Bob Blackmer, from LOADSTAR issue 73. It looks like an action game, but I think it’s more of a timed puzzle?
Outpost by Thomas Czarneki, from LOADSTAR issue 60. A fairly blatant Missile Command clone, but it’s well polished. The opening menu asks if you want to play to lose, or play to win. I think the difference is, playing to lose starts you on Wave 7.
King’s Ransom by Scott Elder, from LOADSTAR issue 68. An interesting little game, you control a greedy king trying to scoop up coins before they fall into the lava. When a coin falls off the bottom, a gush of lava shoots up! There’s also skulls to avoid. In one of those little touches that you sometimes find in LOADSTAR software, if you wait on the title screen you get to see a hi-res illustration of the gameplay.
Quadrilation by Dave Johannsen, from LOADSTAR issue 68. A two-player game, playable against a computer opponent with four difficulty levels. Take turns placing your pieces so they overlap with as many squares of the same color as possible.
Stream, hi-res art by prolific Commodore 64 artist Walt Harned and included as part of The Compleat Walt.

Sundry Sunday: Cursed Images and Game Music

Sundry Sunday is our weekly feature of fun gaming culture finds and videos, from across the years and even decades.

I think I’ve posted some of these before, but I don’t think I’ve done all of them, and I’m cleaning some links out of my list. So let’s take another look.

These are from a six-or-so year old meme that began with putting creepy (but not too creepy) music to battle music from perennial retro JRG favorite Earthbound. Earthbound had lots of weird and crazy enemies, so they fit fairly well. But they’re not all Earthbound collections, just so’s you knows.

I’ve got quite a few of these links. I could spread them across weeks, but I’ve got other posts to make, so I’ll just unload them all at once. Watch as many as you can stand.

First, the Earthbound collections. 3 minutes:

8 minutes:

Now, 9 minutes:

They’re getting longer in length. 12 minutes, if you’re getting tired of them I can’t say that I blame you:

This one’s 16 minutes:

And the mother (heh) of all collections, 51 minutes, using music from all three games:

The meme mutated a bit into science diagrams that look like shitposts, and with other game music. This one’s Miitopia (8 minutes):

And, with Splatoon music (11 minutes):

Last one! With Toby Fox music (13 minutes), you know, Undertale and Deltarune and stuff:

I’m glad to get those out of the list! Something different next time, whew.

St1ka’s Youtube Channel

St1ka is a Portugese Youtube creator who has retro gaming as his stomping grounds.

St1ka’s “INCREDIBLE” series. You might notice something(s) these thumbnails all have in common.

They generally do good work, although sometimes they include unexpected games in a series? As an example, their video on Forgotten 16-Bit games includes DOS and Amiga titles that are often not considered part of the bitness wars, PC Engine games that should rightfully be considered 8-bit, and even a couple of romhacks, which are a whole infested kettle. Once you start including romhacks your field has gotten large enough that you could likely never be done including things. And their monotonous vocal presentation grates quickly. Still though, they do their research, and the information is good.

Something else you’ve probably noticed from the thumbnails above is that St1ka’s not at all above focusing on female skin as clickbait, in such a way that it sometimes makes one feel vaguely creepy when loading his videos. It’s not a huge portion of the content, although the 16-bit compilation does feature as one of its subjects the Super Famicom title Princess Minerva which is a bit, as they say, sus. He admits to doing this in the Modern NES Games video, which, fair? Youtube is a content meat grinder and people try different things to be noticed. Also, the titles are a bit incendiary once in a while, in a style that many Youtubers use, and that often turns me away from a video.

Still, the amount of content that St1ka’s provides may overcome the negatives for you. He certainly cares about the subject. It’s a fun series, and it’s very likely to point you to some titles you’ve never heard of before. I leave the question of clicking through up to you.

St1ka’s Channel (Youtube) – 29 Incredible Modern NES Games (45 minutes) – Incredible 16-bit Hidden Gems You Never Played (44 minutes) – Forgotten 8-bit Games You Never Played (41 minutes)

The Modern NES Games video provides no information on where to get these titles! I believe strongly in accessible text, so here is where they can be found and what they are. If you choose to pore through this, or watch the video linked above, you’ll quickly discover that not all of these are actually “INCREDIBLE.” Blame St1ka for the discrepancy.

  1. Gold Guardian Gun Girl – While there’s a free demo version (Pixiv registration required), the full version is only provided in physical form, where it’s fairly pricey (around $60, but currently out of stock everywhere I looked). It’s homepage is in Japanese, and has links to where they sell it (when it’s available).
  2. Alfonzo’s Arctic Adventure – While made for the NES, it’s sold on Steam, Xbox, and Switch ($5). Limited Run Games sells it on physical cart ($60).
  3. Eyra: The Crow Maiden – Sold for $10 for a computer-playable version, $30 for a cart (either NES or Famicom), or $50 for a cart and a box. It was the subject of a Kickstarter campaign.
  4. F-Theta – Sold for $60.
  5. Alwa’s Awakening – A highlight of the video, it’s available in many places. Its home page lists them all, usually for $10. Of particular note is Steam, Switch and itch.io. While the original is made in a retro style, the actual NES version is on Steam, GoG and itch.io, also typically for $10.
  6. Battle Kid: Fortress of Peril – Can’t yet be bought for emulation, it’s available as a standalone game on Switch and Xbox.
  7. Battle Kid 2: Mountain of Torment – Appears to be out of print everywhere.
  8. Blade Buster: Available for free at romhacking.net.
  9. Chumlee’s Adventure: The Quest For Pinky – A reference to Pawn Stars, it’s for sale at itch.io for $10.
  10. Jay & Silent Bob: Mall Brawl – $15 on Switch and Steam.
  11. Astro Ninja Man – out of print, not legally available anywhere currently.
  12. Astro Ninja Man DX – for sale on physical cart for 5,490 yen. Also, an arcade version is currently available, if you have $523 to spare for a kit and an exA-Arcadia system to run it on.
  13. Fire And Rescue – $5 on itch.io.
  14. Steins Gate – Was released as an extra along with the Switch version of Stein’s Gate Elite, which is $60.*
  15. Legends of Owlia – Home page. Was available physically, but not anymore. The rom could be downloaded officially for free, but the link’s now broken. It’s been officially delisted. There’s an unlisted demo on Steam. It’s implied that they are okay with downloading it, if you can find it. Hey makers, if you’re reading this! Throw it up on itch.io and make a few extra bucks! You could make it pay what you want! There is no shame in that.
  16. Gaplus – St1ka misspells it as Galplus. This was included as an extra on Namco Museum Archives Volume 2, on Switch, Xbox, Playstation 5 and Steam. But the whole package is $20, which is a lot for a port of a semi-obscure arcade game. I suspect this is actually an unreleased game from the Famicom days. The Mermaid will probably cover the arcade version someday. Also, if you’re going to plunk $20 for a collection of basic NES games, get the one that contains Pac-Man Championship Edition, that one rocks.
  17. L’abbaye Des Morts – Please don’t ask me to pronounce it. Made, and remade, for a variety of platforms. A NES port is name-your-price on itch.io.
  18. Jim Power: The Lost Dimension – Another game with versions for several platforms. $20 on Steam will get you versions for PC, SNES and Genesis, and the NES version is coming to that eventually. It’s also on Switch, and they sell some of these versions on physical media on Limited Run Games.
  19. Gotta Protectors: Amazon’s Running Diet – Did I post about this before? Looks like I haven’t, possibly due to the conspicuous T&A factor. (We have some pride.) This was a basic NES game released to promote the latest release (Switch) in the Gotta Protectors series, which are a fun mixture of Gauntlet and Tower Defense, made by venerable game development house Ancient. The rom for Amazon’s Running Diet is free, but the official download link is hard to spot on the Japanese page of its creator-look for the image that says “Download English Version.” They made an updated version, Amazon’s Training Road, but it was only as a physical cart, and it’s no longer for sale.
  20. Project Blue – Available for $10 on itch.io, or $40 physically.
  21. Micro Mages – Physical for $40, on Steam or itch.io for $10.
  22. Mystic Origins – A prototype for an in-development successor, also for the NES, called Mystic Searches. Available on physical media for $50.
  23. Almost Hero – $50 on physical media. Why are so many of these only available on cartridges? I feel like they’re severely limiting their reach. I’m sure there are warez versions out there somewhere, but I figure, if they’re going to release games for the NES in 2023 and choose to restrict their work to people with real systems, it’s up to them. But seriously, why? itch.io is easy! Sell for $5 and let people emulate it. Who’s going to warez a cheap thing?
  24. City Trouble – Currently available free on their charmingly old-style website.
  25. Full Quiet – Fairly recent, first out in February of this year. This is how to release a retro game: it’s out soon on Switch, Xbox and Steam. They should consider itch.io, though….
  26. Rollie – Home page. Available on physical media ($60) and itch.io ($9).
  27. What Remains – Name-your-price at itch.io. Bespoke physical carts are for sale for $80 on their site, but through email contact.
  28. Reknum Souls Adventure is available on physical media only, on NES (50 Euro) and Dreamcast (20 Euro).
  29. Larry and the Long Look for a Luscious Lover – A NES remake of the original Leisure Suit Larry. Was released on physical media, is not currently available.

* It has become my policy not to duplicate egregious stylization in the names of commercial products, on the grounds that no one has time for that shit. The official spelling of Steins Gate is Steins;Gate, yes with a semicolon, but I can’t even bring myself to camel-case Youtube, Playstation, or Nethack (despite not even being commercial) these days, so I toss that misuse right out of my grammatical window.