The Grand Emperor's Retro Video Gaming Blog

The continuing saga of gaming versus time, while being a responsible adult.  I've had some pretty odd times as far as gaming goes since my last 8-bit Friday's  posting. By that I mean opportunities have presented themselves that have allowed me to play games in the middle of the day, and even on weekdays since that time. At the same time though a lot of long weeks and even weekends have lead to Friday's and Saturdays of my wife and I passing out on the couch by 10:30 PM and heading quickly to bed after one we had enough energy to make it there. So late night gameplay on the weekends lately has been pretty hit or miss. As a plus though, I've also gotten a Retron 5 and its taken the place of my original NES, and SNES in my living room, although my SMS still remains. The Retron 5 is nice to have since it has a wireless controller that allows me to go beyond cord length and having to stand directly in front of the TV to play a game. On the rare occasion I have play...

Photo Courtesy Gamegrin.com   Perhaps this story is just more white noise, but I felt I had to follow up on a topic mentioned in my Coleco Gemini and I article ( http://retrovideogamingblog.blogspot.com/2015/11/the-coleco-gemini-and-i.html) on Friday. In it I mentioned the Coleco Chameleon, which at the time of writing the article seemed doomed, but it's fate was still unclear. As it turns out last week was pretty big week for the Chameleon as rumors changed to facts between the beginning and end of the week.  As it stands: -Coleco officially withdrew its name from the Chameleon.  And -Retro VGS/Chameleon has shut down its website and Facebook page Additionally, details are beginning to emerge (although still basically rumors) of various marketing schemes, and massive engineering issues that occurred with creating this product. So far most of it just seems kind of shady and in a grey area, but nothing particularly indicating an attempt to defraud the public, or ...

It's weird to hear the name Coleco being thrown around again as a hot topic, and even being dragged through the mud. Right now the big topic is the Coleco Chameleon, with its Phoenix like resurrection from the flames of the Retro VGS debacle, followed by its quick return to infamy after its appearance at the New York Toy Fair in February 2016 as allegedly nothing more then a video capture card in an Atari Jaguar case. So as some run forth to pronounce the project dead, others are patiently waiting to see what will ultimately happen.  Part of the mystique of the Chameleon though is that Coleco name. Say the name Coleco to someone who has a recollection of the early 80's and you are bound to get a reaction. Maybe it's Cabbage Patch Dolls, maybe it's Starcom toys, maybe it's the Colecovision, or maybe, just maybe it's the Coleco Gemini. For many Atari 2600 collectors and devotees, the Coleco Gemini is somewhat of an enigma. It's regarded as the best At...

So I'm installing Deep Space 9: Harbinger on my computer via DosBox D-Fend, and I realized that it would be the third DS9 game I've played for the day. Basically, it was unintentional and started off with my playing Deep Space 9: Crossroads of Time  on SNES, and then a while later with my installing  Deep Space 9: The Fallen on my old Windows XP computer.  Per my previous entry in this series you can probably guess that I am a bit of a DS9 fan. I'm not necessarily  going to  say that it was the best of all the Star Trek  series, since each is generally good in its own right. What I will say though is that of all the series DS9 had some of the richest, and deepest plot lines, and at times it had an admirable gritty feel.  Of the three games I played The Fallen is probably the best known, and the fan favorite. In just the few minutes of it I was able to play this afternoon I can tell you it's definitely something I want to come back to, and hopefully lik...