November Newsflash

Things have been a bit quiet on this front for this month for a number of reasons. First of all, work, music and life got in the way again, but still, I'm writing new material as quickly as I'm able to.

Second, another episode of Retrogame Talkshow FINALLY got out yesterday (Random Ramblings #2) after almost half a year's delay, so we now have 8 episodes done! Click on the link right there to get to our Spreaker site, which is our main platform for the podcast. Work on the next episode has already begun, but how long that will take is anybody's guess.

In other news, which I forgot to mention earlier (sorry about that), an Italian retrogaming magazine, simply titled RetroMagazine contacted me in August about doing Italian translations of my blog articles for their magazine. The first one, which was a nice glued-together version of my original Bruce Lee comparison, including its updates, was featured in issue #17 - follow the link, if you can read Italian.

The next blog entry will be released, according to tradition, on the 6th of December - the Finnish Independence Day. Expect to read about something rather Finnish then. As for the followers of My Nostalgia Trip Games and other video series, I have decided to continue work on those in January, so you'll have to wait until then. But worry not, things are definitely brewing here.

NGOTM: l'Abbaye des Morts (Locomalito, 2010)

Written by Locomalito, with music, sounds and promo art by Gryzor87. Originally released as freeware for Windows PC's in 2010.

Port for the Sinclair ZX Spectrum 48k:
Programming by Yuri "Jerri" Potapov. In-game graphics and music by Paolo "Dark Horace" Arus. Loading screen by Einar Saukas. Published as digital freeware in 2014, and also a physical release by RetroWorks.

Port for the Sega Megadrive/Genesis:
Programming by Mun/MoonwatcherMD. Graphics by Gerardo Herce, Felipe Monge Corbala, Daniel Nevado and Igor Errazkin. Sounds by Paolo Arus and Manuel Gómez. Cover by Felibe Monge Corbala, Masterklown and Ozar Midrashim. Published digitally at itch.io and as a physical cartridge by PlayOnRetro and Mega Cat Studios in 2017.

Port for the Commodore 64:
Programming by Antonio Savona. Graphics by Saul Cross. Music by Gryzor and Saul Cross. Package design by Jason MacKenzie. Published by Double Sided Games and Psytronik Software in 2019.

Also released for Linux, MacOS, OUYA, Pandora, Nintendo Wii, GCW0 and Sony PlayStation Portable. The game is also reported to be in the making for at least MSX, ColecoVision, Commodore Amiga (AGA) and Sega Dreamcast.

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INTRODUCTION & GAME REVIEW

Due to the imminent arrival of yet another Halloween, and despite my previous lack of planning ahead, I decided to rush out a comparison of a few select versions of one of the most celebrated retro-styled horror-platforming games of the last decade: l'Abbaye des Morts. The reasons for only doing a comparison of a select few versions are simply, that most of the versions are basically carbon copies of the original, that it would be stupid going through all of them and finding nothing of importance, and secondly, I personally don't have access to most of the required hardware. So we only focus on the most retroest conversions currently available, in addition to the original.

FireTrap (Data East, 1986)

Originally developed by Wood Place Inc. for the arcades, and published by Data East.

Conversion for the Commodore 64 programmed by Mike Chilton, with graphics and music by Chris Gill.

Conversions for the Amstrad CPC and Sinclair ZX Spectrum by Source Software Ltd (assumedly Ross Harris).

The home conversions were published by Electric Dreams (Activision) in 1987.

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RESTARTING RAMBLE & GAME STATUS

Due to the increasingly uncertain future of Retrogame Talkshow, I decided to get properly back to writing comparisons whenever I felt like it, which means that they will be released as quickly I can get them done. In the odd case that there isn't a video comparison available on YouTube for any specific game I'm writing on, I shall compile a companion video for it. Now, this reboot comparison was chosen this time due to its placing in the alphabetic list, and more importantly, the number of versions available, just to give me a continuation of an easy restart - hopefully.

TWOFER #19: Revs (Acornsoft, 1984) + Microcosm (Firebird, 1985)

REVS

Designed and written by Geoff Crammond.

Originally published for the Acorn BBC Micro through Acornsoft in 1984.
Conversion for the Commodore 64 published through Firebird in 1985.
Unofficial conversion for the Commodore Plus/4 by András S. in 1988.

MICROCOSM

Written for the Acorn BBC Micro by Steven Reece and David Pearce.

Converted for the Commodore 64 by Andrew E. Bailey and released by Firebird in 1986.

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INTRODUCTIONS & GAME STATUS, PLURAL

Before I venture on to talk about the games themselves, it should be noted that only one of these game comparisons was recently featured in the most current RESET 64-magazine (the 12th issue), and I just wanted to write another comparison as a big bonus thing for the blog, since I haven't been doing comparisons since starting the Retrogame Talkshow podcast and my two video series. So, now felt a good time to do something more about the blog, and I've got the feeling I might be continuing with new comparisons for a while for now. As for the second game featured in this two-fer: it was very randomly picked months after writing the Revs comparison here, and the only connections between the two games are the publisher and that both games were only ever officially released on the BBC Micro and the Commodore 64.

Presenting: Another brand new thing!

Yes, you read it correctly: I'm starting another new thing, and this time, as you can see, I'm going for video format! Going video is something that has been suggested to me many times during the active FRGCB years, and starting to do so now could be the means to restart the blog in some manner. But before you can utter the words "ooh, nice, new comparisons", take a look at this brief introductory video I've prepared (using a potato-quality camera) to see what I'm really on about right now.

Meanwhile, work on the Retrogame Talkshow continues on-and-off, whenever Bob and I can find common time to work on it, and we're hoping to get a new episode out before 2019. Also, another comparison article has been delivered to the Reset64 magazine staff to be reviewed, so that's coming out in its own time.

All in all, the future of FRGCB is looking surprisingly promising at the moment, so stay tuned!

EDIT 18th of December 2018: Here's the first actual episode, enjoy! If you want to keep yourself updated on my videos, you might want to consider subscribing to my channel.

Voidrunner (Mastertronic, 1987)

Written by Jeff Minter for the Commodore C64, C16 and Plus/4 computers.

Converted for the Sinclair ZX Spectrum by Icon Design Ltd.

Also converted for the MSX, but no credits are known.

All versions released through Mastertronic Added Dimension in 1987.

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INTRODUCTION & GAME STATUS

Because this article was originally prepared for the RESET magazine's issue #11 many months ago, I have been holding on to the blog release of it due to a certain agreement I have with the magazine folks. I guess, from the point of view of an FRGCB reader who doesn't read RESET magazine, this entry comes as an arguably nice bonus surprise, although if you're a Commodore fan, but don't read the said magazine, do yourself a favour and fill this void in your life now. Naturally, from the point of view of a RESET magazine reader, this entry will come as not much of a surprise.

Presenting: A Brand New Thing!

While the FRGCB's closing-down has been in process, there's something new and interesting for retrogaming fans that's been in the works. Today, on the 26th of March, 2018, my good friend Bob and I have launched our very own podcast, which is simply, but very effectively called:

The first episode, which is an introductory episode, has now been released through Spreaker on Soundcloud and YouTube, and you can follow us on Instagram, Twitter @RetroGamePod, and Facebook. Take a listen, and send us some comments on any of those social media accounts, and you can also send us some e-mail to retrogametalkshow(at)gmail.com (link removed for spam prevention).

Listen to "Episode #1 - "The Beginning"" on Spreaker.