Late reply, but as someone who grew up in the era of 8-bit games, I feel like I’m still trying to catch up before I move on thoroughly to 16/32-bit. :P
Mind you, I’ve all kinds of things to say about 8-bit games. The stories I could tell, etc etc!
But seriously, I seem to recall seeing you post just the one screencap on R, to which I responded by running it through TinEye, with sadly no results, but not responding at the time. (so here’s me actually responding, this time)
Fortunately, you’ve published a bunch more info here, and it seems like the video itself answers your question, in which the host/interviewee says “being a bit of a computer buff, I thought I’d cook up a little game, and here it is–.”
So you’re right-- the guy’s directly saying it’s a bespoke game, and he explains it’s directly to the tune of “herpes,” which he felt was taking off in NYC, IIRC.
Maybe the difference here is that I’ve been hearing English accents for decades, whereas perhaps it’s a bit gibberish for you?
Yeah I should clarify what I mean by bespoke, as most production games from that era were entirely bespoke (custom hardware designed specifically for the game). I’m trying to discern between “bespoke design from a corporation”, “bespoke design from a small startup” and “bespoke design by some dude in a garage”.
I suspect there’s an interesting story behind this game.
Trying to figure out any info on the game or person(s) who created it. Starting with:
was this a real coin-op game or fake one (made for the show or say, some hands on herpes educational exhibit etc)?
what was the hardware? Was it built (as I suspect) on an A8 machine?
how many were made? did it ever get into production?
who was behind this? Just one mad programmer in a garage, or his small company hoping to build a bunch of them and get rich etc.
If I had to guess it’s a lone programmer with an idea he figured would make him rich, used the A8 platform and TV to avoid hardware engineering, built a machine or two in a hand-built cabinet, promoted them any way he could, got nowhere, and faded into obscurity.
So many oddities out there. I love the intersection of retro gaming, forgotten prototypes, and obscure media.
I certainly don't see it as a production game, and the designer himself didn't pitch it that way. Then again, this show isn't a straight documentary, containing plenty of scripted material, so who knows?
And note-- I'm a bit of a MAME fan, and have never run in to this one under the name "Herpes," nor seen it on any list.
Also, speaking as someone well-familiar with C64 and Apple ][ graphics from this era, I'd lean towards the graphics looking like an 8-bit Atari's, as you say. Based on the sophistication of the gameplay, I'd guess he wrote this in AtariBasic, then built a little cabinet around the game unit. I suppose me & my high school buddies could have done the same for some of our old 1983 games, given sufficient motivation.
In any case, discounting this is all scripted, I really do get the sense this is just a little social experiment, maybe partly for his own amusement, maybe partly to talk about for the show. The gameplay and concept certainly don't scream to me that he intended to make it big with this game, and his demeanor and way of talking about it don't seem to suggest that, either.
I've looked at the credits for this ep at various places (including the IMDB), and the actors' list seems to cut off after the Ray Davies - Mari Wilson segment, before this guy's starts. Guess you'll have to dig further to figure that out. The total lack of context for his segment certainly doesn't help, but I guess that was the style of the show at that point.
I have an Analogue Pocket. It is a great device but I wish it was in a horizontal formfactor. Vertical handhelds just aren’t that comfortable for me. Love the dock though so I can still get that big screen arcade feel.
Mister FPGA for me. Instant on and keeps me away from a pc or phone. What’s hardware emulated on it works flawlessly too. Can’t wait for that N64 core.
I had a pi4 with emulation station but spent more time skinning the UI instead of playing a game. Sd card corruption caused me to abandon it.
I always end up googling shit around emulation when playing on a PC instead of playing the games so I’ll always go for single purpose devices meself.
My favourite on its own would be Sonic and Knuckles, but the best, imho, is to combine Sonic 3 with Sonic & Knuckles. You used to be able to actually plug one cartridge into the other - so cool
Oh right I remember that, the Knuckles cartridge had those little flaps at the top you could jam another cartridge into. My young mind was blown when I saw that for the first time.
I have an external soft spot for Sonic 2, but objectively S&K is probably the best of the bunch.
It varies. I have my desktop PC and couch gaming PC setup and can emulate on those (and do sometimes play PS2 and PS3 games on the couch PC setup), but I mostly play retro stuff on portables.
My devices:
Powkiddy X55 - 8, 16, 32 bit games, GBA, and some ports like Sonic Mania, TMNT Shredder’s Revenge, Streets of Rage Remake, Doom, etc.
2DS XL - NDS and 3DS
Samsung Tab S7 FE tablet with either Series X controller or wired 8bitdo Ultimate - Dreamcast, PS2, Gamecube, or if I want a bigger screen for some of the stuff I might play on the X55.
Honestly I just use my computer, boring as it is. I think it gives me the most flexibility for playing basically any and all games, even the ones that I have other hardware for.
I was for a long time using vintage hardware, I have severals Amiga 500, an A600, an A1200, a C64, two Atari XE, an Atari 2600 and a Sega Master System. And I thought about buying the NES. Unfortunately I have not enough space left and to be honest: I can't use all these computers and the same time. It's still cool to have original hardware but I've bought the RG405M about three weeks ago and I love it!
retro
Hot
This magazine is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.