Before LucasArts Took Control: The Wild First Decade of Star Wars Games

by Old School Gamer | Jul 28, 2026 | 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, Retro Computing

Today, a Star Wars game arrives carrying decades of expectations. Players know what a lightsaber should sound like and how an X-wing should move. The earliest Star Wars games had none of that inherited design language. During the franchise’s first decade in video...

Life Before the Plumbers – Platform Games Before Super Mario Bros

by Marcus Albers | May 24, 2026 | 1980s, Arcade, Atari, C64 Vic20, Console/Handheld

Super Mario Bros. This game single-handedly changed how platform games were approached after it stormed onto the scene in 1985. It established so many conventions that people now expect in side-scrolling platform games. When you approach a new platformer, what is the...

Beagle Bros Two-Liners: A Coding Magic Trick

by William Winter | May 20, 2026 | 1980s, Apple 2, Retro Computing

One of the things I miss most about the Apple II era is how much personality surrounded the machine. The Apple II was not just a computer you used – it was a computer you explored. You typed things into it, made mistakes, and discovered strange memory locations....

One Game, Five Systems – Choplifter

by Marcus Albers | May 19, 2026 | 1980s, Apple 2, Arcade, Atari, C64 Vic20, Console/Handheld

Most popular video games eventually end up on platforms other than the one for which they were initially created. Obviously, there are exceptions. You wouldn’t have seen a Super Mario Bros title on a Sega console, just like you weren’t going to see the...

Breakout on Cassette: When Apple II Games Came Screeching Out of a Tape Player

by William Winter | May 13, 2026 | 1970s, 1980s, Apple 2, Retro Computing

Some early computer artifacts feel almost impossible to explain today. The original Apple II cassette of Breakout, written in Integer BASIC by Steve Wozniak, is one of them. Yes, distributed on cassette. Not a floppy disk, a cartridge, or a download. A cassette. The...

Review: Jupiter Fracture for the Commodore 64

by Marcus Albers | May 6, 2026 | 1980s, 2020s, C64 Vic20, Reviews

In case you haven’t heard, the classic Commodore has undergone a rebirth. Retro computer YouTuber Christian “Peri Fractic” Simpson managed to gather the support and financing to purchase the bits and pieces of Commodore held by other companies and...