PSG 7

RetroGame fanart

Introduction
I really like older games with 'poor' gfx because they let you use you imagination more. It's also a pity modern games failed to follow up on the gameplay we had back then.

I have a lot of work to do with this section since I've done so much. Here's two open dirs for starters. I'll have to make proper pages for these later: Exile (actually I have a page here that I did later but forgot to link) | Zelda 1. Exile was a really good C64 game (and other platforms). A few pics from those dirs:

Exile: Triax's evil clone soldiers.

Exile: Terrain test.

Zelda: 'Gibdos'.

Zelda: 'Peahat'.

Kid Icarus

It would be great to see HAL (GBA Kirby authors) make a Kid Icarus game. I couldn't resist making a few sprite tests.

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Linked 19 Jul, 06

Adventure: Dragons | Duck and cover, brave knight! | Sprite ideas

Misc old: Yar unfinished | Manic miner | Giana |

Retro Console, USB 'carts'. Wood, black plastic and brushed metal. Joypad with interchangable control slots and a little pixly display just for kicks. (There'd be lasers and stuff inside to check button/ball/stick input.)

Joypad

Also:

Festers Quest
This game was probably a bit rushed, probably because Sunsoft worked on Blaster Master. The designs are very similar between the two games. I played with the idea of making it into a RTS-Shoot'em up game with undeads on one side and alien mutants on the other. The antagonist is the yellow frog who invades the city with his clone army of... frogs and slimy things.

Handtop/handheld/TabletPC/mini-Laptop

Here's something I want. I can't find anything I like in this category. I wanted a PDA with a touchscreen, clam design and keyboard, and some proper gaming buttons.

(Scanned pencil sketch, PS 5.5, stole and scaled keyboard from Tungsten.)

SPECS
Somewhat based on other stuff of the same format, for example the Dell Axim X50v.

Size: 9cm wide (3.5 inches). It's slightly wider than a GBA SP.
CPU: 500mhz (plus small GFX card, sound)
Memory: 64 or 128mb
HD: a few gigs will do.
Screen: 640x480 @ 220dpi, tablet & pen. (Possibly 400x300 but 320 x 2 is 640, and 320 happens to be the NES resolution *cough*)
Ports: 2 USB 2.0, power, network (WiFi seems popular), headphones. Not sure about memory card slots. There's so many types (8 common?) and there's always USB converters/readers. I prefer USB keys myself.
Buttons: Programmable game buttons, + pad, compact keyboard, shoulder buttons. Since it's more for adults, I moved the game buttons in a bit (compared to GBA SP) to compensate for longer thumbs. It should be possible to roll the thumb over the action buttons (RBY). I didn't want an analog stick because the screen tablet might offer analog control. A regular +pad beats an analog in many situations too.
OS: Would be great if it could run a regular OS (XP/Linux), cuz of compability. If this could run Photoshop, even at a small resolution, it would be a great doodle device. My last PC was a 500mhz with 96mb and it ran PS5.5 just fine.
Pricetag: 300-600usd depending on # of units produced and when.

Use
Most handhelds are either for buissiness men or 13 year olds. I'm not interested in the calender function. Nor do I want a thing that only runs proprietary formats. This thing would be for:

Playing simpler / older PC games
Emu'ing classics
Media player (img, vid, music, with a player of your choice)
Photo editing if you're out with your digicam (most can transfer using a usb cable, so no need for internal card readers).
Taking notes, scribble and paint on when you get an idea somewhere. (Has to boot up fast for this to work.)
Storage
The standard mobile functions, I guess, calendar, email, WiFi.
Writing silly BASIC games on (this is prolly just for me)

More handhelds: Donkey Kong | Master System | C64 Portable | Centi/Milli-pede | USB key

Remote
Anyone who has handled remote controls knows how tricky it is to figure out what button is what. It would be great with a little help display that explain what a button does, or better yet, a multipurpose control unit for everything (as proposed by me here). It's certainly not a new idea. There is a standard (or two) for remote controls signals, but my version is more advance, since it can be updated with new remote control definitions in a simple XML format I designed.

The handheld itself could be very multi purpose. There's a few buttons on it, a green button which is always positive or accepting, and a red which means stop or cancel.
It can also be flipped into a gaming device.

XML for a generic TV remote using RC5 signals.
Pic of the handheld device, not to happy about the design. Pencil sketch works best.
Pic of the OS, lists can be condensed. Once a remote has been selected the XML file will be used to generate a list of buttons along with explainations. The real buttons on the handheld can be changed by the XML file. Stylus screen maybe.

Would be cool with trackball on a joypad wouldn't it? There could be a scroll wheel underneath and the shoulder buttons (2+2) could work as mouse buttons for both the left and right handed.