The UKFF Retro Gaming Thread

[RedTwoster]

13 minutes ago, BigJag said:

Would any of you guys invest in this?

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/spectrumnext/zx-spectrum-next-issue-3-0

Looks like it’s doing pretty well. The Spectrum was long before my time though, and I’ve never felt like its library has aged well, so it’s not for me really. Great to see it smash past its target though, that’s brilliant for those who enjoy it.

 

[BigJag]

Absolutely. The campaign looks to have been phenomenally successful.

I'm a bit perplexed by it though. I'm of the age bracket that fits that demographic. Maybe I don't like tinkering with that stuff as much as I thought I did.

[Scratch]

Mini DC update:

All ISOs are currently downloading directly to the Pi. I can’t wait to play The Grinch, I bet that’s well good.

[BigJag]

Are you working in CMD there? I can do the most basic of functions within CMD. More complex functions make my brain freeze.

[Scratch]

That’s an SSH connection to the pi, logging in as root. Then running a script to scrape Archive.org and download just the .CDI files into the ROMs directory on the Pi. Archive.org isn’t all that fast for downloads, so it might take the whole day.

[BigJag]

If you say so. I lost you st SSH.

Some fancy connection to the Pi.

Told the computer to pull data from Archive.org. Took the .CDI files and pushed them into the Pi ROMs folder.

Edited July 28, 2025 by BigJag

[chokeout]

Anyone know the best way to mod a gamecube to run off an SD card. Seen multiple different ways and ideally want something I can do myself, without soldering 

[BigJag]

These guys have come together to resurrect Commodore. Along with the Spectrum Next project how much space is there for these endeavours?

[Jazzy G]

Is that Christian Simpson aka Perifractic? He puts some decent videos out. There was one where he tried to find the character he'd voiced in Star Wars online. His wife is rather lovely as well. 

[BigJag]

I think it is him. I remember him from a few videos where he converts his Tesla into a K.I.T.T. replica. It even caught Michael Knights attention.

Edited August 5, 2025 by BigJag

[FLips]

Finished Metal Gear (NES) in one sitting last weekend. Got it for a decent price off Ebay and my mate's a big Metal Gear fan so naturally we set some time aside to play it.

It's got a lot of the same problems that Metal Gear 2 had when we briefly played that, or to be more accurate MG2 never ironed out any of the issues from this. You spawn in enemy alerts during screen transitions, items respawn so you're expected to walk on and off screens to stock up on stuff, and the "stealth" is kinda shaky. That being said what it does well (for 1987) is fun and at times exciting.
We never used it as we one-bombed it but there's a password system to get you right back where you were with the same gear, so that's a boon. There's a nice progression system where even if you die you keep weapons and keycards, and you can unlock shortcuts, almost making it a proto-roguelike with checkpoints. The radio frequency chatter between characters is fun, and there's a great development during this where Big Boss repeatedly gives you dud instructions that put you in danger, eventually revealing they're the main bad guy.
My favourite bit was after a part where you get deliberately arrested to find Grey Fox in prison, you break out and find your gear again. For some reason now though every screen immediately alerts the guards. We played like this for what must have been a full hour until we had to look it up thinking it was a glitch, only for us to be told "look in your inventory and get rid of the transmitter that was stashed into your gear". A transmitter we looked at and went "wonder what that's for" as soon as we got out the prison and forgot about.

It's a port of the Japan only MSX version which has a ton more details in the graphics, music and presentation (including replacing the actual Metal Gear fight with a "boss" where you just plant 16 bombs on a stationary computer) but for what it is, we had fun with it. Worth a play for sure.
 

Edited August 10, 2025 by FLips

[Arch Stanton]

I had no idea the Metal Gear series dated back that far! Just had to give it a look on YouTube, looks great for a NES game!

[Jesse]

I played Metal Gear 1 & 2 as part of the collection they put on Steam a while back and it was shocking to me how much of the stuff I thought was unbelievably new in the PS1 game is just already there on the NES of all things.

[Onyx2]

Fans of Metal Gear 1 & 2 should play UnMetal, an affectionate parody of these games which plays well but has lots of good gags. It's one of those games that's always on sale too.

Edited August 11, 2025 by Onyx2

[Merzbow]

A very unexpected console release, I don't think this was ever ported back in day. It still looks great today, so colourful and that distinct mid 90's Namco aesthetic.