Apologies for the lack of updates. I can’t believe that my last post was a year ago and it’s now 2025. So, Happy New Year! The last few months have been quite busy. I listed my house for sale in March and I had to get it ready for inspections. This involved a spruce-up of the gardens and a replacement of the hot water system. It finally sold at the end of April, which was a massive relief as the cost of living and paying two mortgages for the last two years has been difficult. I had 30 days to vacate and spent the next few weekends packing my belongings. You don’t realise how much you have until you move house.
While this was all happening, my long-term manager at work resigned after 25 years, which meant I was moved to a new team, and naturally this took a little while to adjust to. Now, enough of the personal stuff; let’s get onto some gaming news.
Some significant hardware releases in 2024: The 400 Mini and The Spectrum from Retro Games Limited. The 400 is a mini remake of the Atari 400, originally released in 1979. The Spectrum is a full-sized remake of the 48K model, including the rubber keyboard.
The 400 Mini
The Spectrum
Blaze, makers of the Evercade, expanded their Super Pocket range. The Atari Edition includes 50 Atari classics from the 2600, 5200, 7800, Lynx and arcade platforms.
The Technos Edition has arcade versions of Double Dragon, Double Dragon II, The Combatribes and Renegade for a total of 15 games.
I've had a brief play of these and the quality, execution and range of games available is excellent. The reproductions from Retro Games Limited keep getting better and better and I'm looking forward to the full-size Amiga coming out sometime in the first quarter.
Atari also released new hardware and a follow-up to the 2600+ released in 2023. The 7800+ is a smaller replica of the hardware originally released in 1986. The replica has a cartridge port so it can play the current library of games and includes a wireless joypad and a new game called Bentley Bear's Crystal Castle.
Several new and previously available titles were also released for the 7800 and 7800+.
Apart from Ninja Golf, Fatal Run and Food Fight, all the other titles were available as homebrew but are now officially released carts under the Atari banner.
New carts for the 2600 and 2600+ were also released as they can be played on the 7800.
I managed to get the 7800+ and the above games late last year but haven't had a chance to test-drive them yet. Hopefully soon.
