The Xbox 360 - Microsoft’s Second Gen Marvel - Part 1

It’s hard to believe that the Xbox 360 (shortened to 360 for this article) is nearly 21 years old. After the success of the original Xbox, Microsoft teamed up with IBM to produce the Xenon processor and ATI to create the graphics architecture. Wireless controllers were standard, and Xbox Live expanded to let users play online and buy games through Xbox Live Arcade. By the end of its life cycle, 84 million units had sold, and it became the tenth highest-selling video game console of all time.

The 360 is one of my favourite consoles, probably in my top five. I have 150 physical titles in my library and have purchased several games on XBLA (Xbox Live Arcade). It does have copy protection, which over the years has been bypassed by doing a hardware modification. I didn’t bother doing mine, and I stuck by my physical collection. 

Being a shmup fan, there are several exclusive Japanese region titles that I couldn’t play unless I purchased a Japanese 360. However, just recently, a softmod has been released called Peer Pressure that is an absolute game changer. This softmod introduces a persistent, software-based modification that can automatically activate during startup. Using a program called Xbox Image Browser, you can convert your ISO files and then copy them to the 360's hard drive. The same applies to XBLA games, and you can also play different region games. It’s a new way to discover the 360’s enormous catalogue.

The softmod itself is quite easy to do, and after 30 minutes or so, my 360 was up and running. It now boots directly to the Aurora dashboard, where it displays all the games on the hard drive. There are various settings that you can change, and you can copy and paste files from a USB flash drive to the 360’s hard drive. Cover art is also supported. If you would like more information and instructions on how to apply Peer Pressure to your 360, have a look at this very helpful video by MrMario2011 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8ceM_xXlO8&t=1560s.

The Phat and Trinity Slim models are compatible with Peer Pressure

PICO-8 Fantasy Console

What’s a PICO-8? Is it a real console? Well, yes and no. The PICO-8 is what you would call a “Fantasy Console”. It's about creating an imaginary computer with deliberately limited capabilities that feels like a fictional piece of hardware from the 1980s or 1990s.

Modern computers give developers almost unlimited possibilities. PICO-8's limited capabilities force creativity. One of the nicest things is that it's not simply an emulator of an imaginary machine. The entire development environment is part of the fantasy.

Sounds intriguing. Where can I download PICO-8? PICO-8 is tiny to download, easy to install, and will run on almost anything. It’s compatible with Windows, Mac, Linux or Raspberry Pi. You can buy it for $14.99, and it includes all future updates. Click on this link: https://www.lexaloffle.com/pico-8.php#m.

I run PICO-8 on my Raspberry Pi 500 with a matching monitor. It features a quad-core 64-bit ARM processor. It runs Raspberry Pi OS and delivers a superb experience for web browsing, video playback and arcade and console emulation.

Some of my favourite PICO-8 games

Game Boy Advance - The 32 bit Handheld Powerhouse

The Game Boy Advance is my favourite handheld of all time. I got mine at an EB Games midnight launch, and it is still part of my hardware collection.

For the last few weeks or so, I've been working on my Game Boy Advance presentation for my monthly computer club. This gave me an excuse to delve into its vast library. With over 1500 games to choose from, most of them exclusive to the platform, it's been a blast to discover games that I haven't played previously.

The Game Boy Advance was first released in Japan in March 2001 and in Australia in June of the same year. Fifteen games were available on launch day, such as Super Mario Advance and F-Zero: Maximum Velocity.

Super Mario Advance was a launch title (a conversion of Super Mario Bros. 2)

Hardware-wise, the Advance is a 32-bit powerhouse powered by an ARM7 processor and several graphical modes for sprite work and scaling and rotation of background and foreground graphics.

I've dubbed it the 2D sprite beast! Most of the game library can be downloaded from Archive, and I use the EverDrive GBA Mini to play the various ROMs. Here's a showcase of what the Game Boy Advance can do.

Click above to play

Days Like This

I've got a penchant for collecting systems that are seen as failures or sold in very low numbers compared to their competition. Systems such as GX4000, Philips CD-i and the Bandai Pippin, amongst others. One of the biggest failures was the Aquarius computer released by Mattel in June of 1983. It was discontinued 5 months later due to poor sales.  Compared to the Vic-20 and the TI-99/4A, it had weaker graphics and limited memory. Shown in the picture below is a modern remake by Sean P. Harrington, utilising a real Z80 CPU, dual AY sound chips, and 512MB of system memory. It runs original Aquarius ROMs as well as new software taking advantage of its new capabilities.

The Aquarius+

Retro Games Limited rereleased their Mini 64, this time in black and with updated games such as Sam's Journey, A Pig Quest, Steel Ranger and more. There are 25 games in total, with the ability to add more via a USB flash drive.

The C64 Mini Black Edition

Retro Games Limited also rereleased their Spectrum computer as a white edition. No changes to the games list compared to the first release, but it does include a USB flash drive and a recreation of the CRASH magazine. It does look nice in white.

The Spectrum White Edition

Namco's conversion of Time Crisis on the PlayStation is one of my favourite ports, and I played the heck out of it on release. Last year, a company called Gaime raised funds via Kickstarter to release the arcade version on a closed-circuit console along with a gun and additional gun-based games. The campaign was successful, and I received mine last year.

The Gaime Time Crisis Plug and Play Gun

Atari have been on a bit of a roll with their hardware releases. Late last year, they introduced their handheld called the GameStation Go. It has a 7-inch screen with an integrated trackball and spinner, and a library of 200 games. Five games in the Atari Recharged Series are included, as well as Balls of Steel pinball tables and 2600, 5200 and 7800 console games. It can add games via a USB flash drive. A separate controller was also released for 2-player games or for use instead of the on-board controls.

Atari's GameStation Go handheld and separate controller

We do not remember days, we remember moments

Wow, it's been a year and 8 months since my last update. In that time, I was made redundant at my writing job after 13 years in May 2025. I was off work for 2 months and then happened to get a job at a retro game store very close to home. Then I was made redundant at the end of May this year. So yeah, a lot happened. And I did little to no gaming in that time. But I now have time on my hands to game, tinker with hardware, and dedicate some much-needed attention to this blog.

Even though I haven't been gaming, I've still been adding to the collection. This includes new hardware releases as well as retro hardware and games for various platforms. And there's more to come later in the year such as The A12000 from Retro Games Limited, the AES+ from SNK and the Vectrex Mini, which was funded on Kickstarter. Here are some of the purchases over the last 12 months.

Super Pocket Neo Geo Edition

Super Pocket Rare Edition

The Super Pocket Neo Geo Edition includes 14 games such as Blazing Star, Fatal Fury Special, Metal Slug X and Alpha Mission II. Some top-notch titles there. The Super Pocket Rare Edition includes 14 games such as Banjo-Kazooie, Battletoads, Cobra Triangle and Jetpac. The great thing about the Super Pocket devices is that you can play the Evercade carts on them.

The Intellivision Sprint by Atari

Back in 2024, Atari purchased the Intellivision brand and around 200 titles. The Intellivision Sprint is a modern remake with two wireless controllers, 45 built-in games and a USB port so you can add your own games library.

The Unico Pocket

The Unico Pocket is a limited edition handheld running Android and a Neo Geo emulator. It has 40 built-in games such as Metal Slug 3, Art of Fighting, Samurai Shodown II and Baseball Stars Professional. It has an excellent quality screen, and the controls feel great.

Atari 2600+ Pac-Man Edition

This is the second iteration of the 2600+, this time with a Pac-Man-coloured theme and joysticks that match the ghosts' colours. Also included is a conversion of the recent 7800 version of Pac-Man programmed by Bob DeCresenzo (an excellent homebrew developer), and the original 1982 release.

This is just a fraction of the new hardware added to the collection. More to come in the next post.