Retro Games Ltd: The Spectrum

I guess it was unavoidable. To add to the pile of Spectrums and emulators, I bought Retro Games' "The Spectrum". Is it any good?

Physical appearance and connectors

The case appears as good as can be realistically expected. Perhaps the graininess of the back part is grainier than in the original, and obviously it says RETRO and not Sinclair. 

I'm not going to open it just yet, I've seen pictures of the insides though. The weight is credible, there are metal weights inside. If you need to adjust the weight up- or downwards, it shouldn't be hard to do.

The rear panel has only modern connectors: there's a kind of emulator inside, I suppose a bare-bones Linux, which then provides HDTV-out and USB connectivity.

The connectors and buttons at the back

Retro Games have entered the USB-C age, which is good. I've powered The Spectrum happily with a 20000mAh power bank, using the 5V/3A output. A Raspberry Pi -type PSU should be optimal. I've not dared to use a laptop charger, though I'm not sure why it would be a problem.

The power cable is at the "wrong" side of the computer but it's sensible to have it near the HDMI, so as not to have wires dangling from both sides.

There's a power button so the cable doesn't need to be yanked away every time. There's one USB port near the HDMI and power cable, a good place for a semi-permanent memory stick holding your games and original system ROMs.

Then there are three additional USBs, perhaps for two controllers and one for ... keyboard, if you really want to.

And a home button at the right side, surely a familiar idea to users of Multiface cartridges of old. From here you can access the game selection carousel and other system menus.

The triad of USBs is nicely placed where the original Spectrum had the edge connector, contrast this with TheC64 which had nothing at the cartridge port location. I can imagine a 9-pin joystick adapter taking its rightful place here.

Keyboard

The most important thing for me is the keyboard. Because if it doesn't work, then I'm nearly better off using an emulator on the PC. So, does it pass the muster?

First I'll say it's better than the Elite Recreated keyboard from around 2015, which I tried hard to like in my review back then. For the record I have to admit it had the Sinclair logo, and the case was perhaps in some ways more accurate.

They might not be exactly identical to the original Spectrum keys

I couldn't shake the feeling The Spectrum keyboard is a little mushy too. But this was at least in part because I had no sound on while in BASIC. Perhaps an added psychological sense of "snappiness" comes from that sound.

Turning sound on did make it more comforting, although it would be nice if the sound came from the insides of the case itself. Maybe a DIY hack will surface.

Playing games, the key presses are usually silent so the above point shouldn't matter at all. How does the keyboard fare as an authentic Spectrum controller?

The built-in games are chosen from a "carousel"

I'll say I was fine with it. Using the holy QAOP combination for games worked well, I didn't experience missed key presses or physical obstructions. Epic games like Lords of Midnight and Elite are more enjoyable this way than with a PC keyboard. I can even use the original keyboard overlays.

Perhaps surprisingly, I couldn't get into adventure games with this keyboard. I tried a few, but soon turned away in frustration. It's not the keyboard as such but the wonky and slow input that Speccy adventure games often had on offer, and I'm not a big fan of the genre anyway.

Typing BASIC works well, and this is one major difference to PC emulators. There you have to feel your way around a non-standard keyboard layout to produce the BASIC keywords. No such problems here, but admittedly it takes some guts to use that old rubber for programming.

Then some nitpicks.

It's interesting to note the printing on and around the keys are positioned just a little bit off. Perhaps it could be even an IP matter, made just different enough so it's not a full facsimile of someone else's work?

But that's not all...

Retro Games The Spectrum: ~9.6mm

The keys are just a tiny bit smaller than in the original Spectrum. This was my first intuition, and when I took out the vernier caliper, I could see the original ZX Spectrum has almost exactly 10.0mm size keys, and The Spectrum has them in the 9.6-9.7mm territory.

I'm wondering if they shrunk unexpectedly in the manufacturing process.

To me this raises the question if the original rubber mat would fit the new machine. It did seem to me the holes in the metal plate are correctly sized.

Sinclair ZX Spectrum: 10.0mm

Joystick

As my Arduino joystick 9-pin adapter didn't work with TheC64, I was a little sceptical (spectical?) if it would work on The Spectrum. But then news started coming in nearly all USB game controllers work, and I was ready to be optimistic.

I must say it passed with flying colors. I can attach a TAC-2 controller and play games without having to resort to a modern gamepad.

This one here.

Two controllers can be set, and there are ample options for configuring them.

I didn't even try the Retro Games Competition Pro-style USB joystick that came with TheC64, I assume it works and is just as bad as before.

I have no intention to test lag scientifically. My gut feel is that there is likely not much lag, but if you really go looking for it you might find it.

Spectrum games rarely have a very fast screen update anyway, so any lag would probably be lost within the general chunkiness. Using my Joystick adapter and 50hz HDMI display, I didn't feel anything was off in the fast paced Atic Atac.

Video

50hz and 60hz screen refresh rates are provided, and you have to make that choice when you first boot the computer.

I think it's crucial The Spectrum is connected to a 50hz-capable display, for authentic speed. Fortunately I have such a display, so no problem there. Normal TV-type displays can likely do this better than some computer monitors.

The screen is scaled in an integer-based way, so I didn't see any interference patterns or moire-type effects, not on a 2560 x 1440 resolution display or 1920 x 1200 display. Why I even bother to mention this is that I've found some non-commercial emulators difficult to set up in this respect.

The clear menus you'd expect from Retro Games

For authenticity, the amount of BORDER displayed can be adjusted, and this is also a game-specific setting.

For my tastes, the non-bright color levels and the BRIGHT levels are a little too close to each other. My experience is that the boot-up white screen is grayish, and the bright white really stands out.

The BASIC program below is a very rudimentary test that tells me The Spectrum generates a rock solid frame rate.

10 PAUSE 1
20 BORDER 0
30 PAUSE 1
40 BORDER 7
50 GO TO 10

Seeing "tear" or other hiccups would indicate a less than ideal experience. The border should flash consistently, as it does on The Spectrum.

A 50hz smooth frame rate in a Spectrum game is quite rare, so it's not surprising if games are not silky smooth. But it may be indicative of more subtle timing issues in the hardware? To be really sure, I would have to compare outputs to each other side by side.

After seeing a few demos that showcase horizontal scrolling, it was easier to see the frame rate is indeed smooth. It may be that a 50hz in a modern display is more mechanical than a CRT with some afterglow.

To get audio, I needed to use my HDMI-to-VGA with 3.5mm audio splitter, and it worked just as well here as with TheC64.

System

Games can be loaded using an USB stick. It should be FAT32 formatted, and you need to have games in folders that have a maximum of 256 files each.

I'd recommend NOT to have 1000s of games at hand, but to concentrate on a smaller number of games you know you can return to, and maybe a few unfamiliar ones you intend to have a crack at.

A suitably themed memory stick...

I don't have much to say about the 48 game collection that came with the computer, haven't yet tried them all really. To me it's a combination of hits and misses, some obvious inclusions (Manic Miner) and some obvious omissions (the Ultimate catalog).

From older games, I prefer simple and short ones such as Saboteur!, Bruce Lee, Splat, or Viking Raiders. But just sometimes, more epic is more fun, as with Lords of Midnight or Elite.

Compatibility issues may arise because the Retro Games ROM for Spectrum is not a Sinclair/Amstrad ROM. Fortunately this can be changed, if you think you have a permission to use the ROM. These need to be added to a specific folder path on the USB stick, THESPECTRUM/roms/ (See the large manual p. 48)

Using the default Retro Games Ltd system ROM, I could see that Manic Pietro, which uses a timing-based graphics engine to circumvent the normal attribute limits, showed some flickering. Switching over to Sinclair ROMs, this flickering ceased.

Here I have to say a speed boost would have been welcome for games such as Lords of Midnight, or Viking Raiders. But The Spectrum is set at the standard 3.5Mhz. There is a rewind option for cheating.

There are no timing adjustments, for example the "Pentagon" timings are not possible, and 128K appears to be the memory limit.

There are some reports of snapshots not working. I did find a snapshot of Bruce Lee, which works on Fuse emulator, but crashes reliably on The Spectrum. This with Sinclair ROM or not. These situations can be fixed by searching for an alternative snapshot or TAP file.

Final words

For someone who already knows their way around Spectrums, this may be just another collectible to fill the shelves. But I think it succeeds better in reaching its goal than TheC64 did, which wasn't bad either.

Some questions were left open, such as if it's possible to use an older Spectrum rubber mat, or modify an existing keyboard membrane to work on The Spectrum. Maybe I'll look into this eventually.

Dyson Detect V15

V15

Tired of constantly walking on breadcrumbs, the old cabled Hoover massively noisy and underpowered, I took yet another middle-class/middle-age plunge and bought a Dyson.

I saw ads for an "optic" Dyson, with a green light emanating parallel to the floor. This made sense to me as I'd just been experimenting with a LED torch in the dark for hunting tiny items on the floor.

These portable Dysons are sold as bundles, there are only few main motor unit variants, but they come packaged with different set of nozzles. This one was V15 Detect "fluffy", aimed more for pet households which sounded good enough for tackling strands of long hair. 

Extra nozzles, the main one not included

The package was not too bulky to carry in public transport. Opening the box, I encountered an enormous pile of cardboard for all the sub-parts, and very minimal instructions. 

The plastic and carbon-fiber appearance wasn't very convincing at first, but the parts fit together with a nice and satisfying lock. It does feel slightly flimsy, with the long pipe and a nozzle attached, but not horribly so.

I don't like the Dyson looks and color choices all that much, but at least as it turned out, the actual design (i.e. how it works) is rather well thought out.

The head with the rolling furry bar and green "laser" light is effective. The nozzle adapts and turns along multiple axes, making operation quite gentle and flexible. The light is not a gimmick, you can easily spot hair and dirt concentrations.

The main nozzle layzoer experience

It's almost addictive. After having this experience, the other nozzles don't seem to do anything. Perhaps it could be considered "gamification", but in a good way, it gives a sense of purpose to see the dirt at first and then feel the achievement of the the dirt and hair going away.

When there was more hair, they would circle around the yellow/black bar. These were easy to remove, though.

As usual, the floors and surfaces should be in basic good condition. Porridge particles stuck on the floor won't be removed by the vacuum just like that, and the light will forever highlight them.

The bagless operation was one draw, but this is common even in many crappy hand-held vacuums, so how does the Dyson fare? Well, the trash ejector handle works nicely, so mostly you just eject to get the dirt out of the compartment.

Gun and the gun-like ejector-rod

Hair proved to be a little more tricky, though. The end of the compartment could get a little bogged with a "donut" of hair, but the entire container is also quite easy to remove.

So, on the whole this is all thought out very well.

I sung the praises of the optic "fluffy" head, the rest of the heads were not as impressive. There's this corkscrew thingy that's supposed to take out pet hair out of sofas and beds, but couldn't confirm if it's any more effective – it doesn't have a light.

As the nozzle carries a motor, it's heavy and the sound is crunchy. It's possible you really need to have cats and dogs to appreciate this one better.

The corkscrew thingy

Talking of sound, the Dyson does make some noise but it's far less whiny than the old Hoover or a Bosch hand-held I already recycled. The quality of the sound needs to be taken into consideration, too. Again something to check later, if old age changes things on this front.

The Dyson Detect is portable, yet fortunately larger than the smallest of portable vacuums, so I don't think I need two separate items. The trigger needs to be pulled all the time, with no lock function, and this can be considered a little minus. The other thing is the stiff hose is not perfectly suited for vacuuming from under sofas, so you need to be a little more nimble to reach those places.

The display that tells how many microbes, small particles and crap have been accumulated is probably just a statistical approximation based on how far the head has rolled, but why not.

ECO-mode was fine for standard floor-cleaning, this likely lasts about an hour or even more. AUTO might be better when using the various heads and trying to get into more difficult places. I dared not really use the BOOST for more than a few seconds, as it might deplete the battery under 10 minutes.

The battery is not super powerful and takes a few hours to load. I believe the idea is that cleaning doesn't take a huge amount of time and there's ample time to recharge in-between. At first I'd find all kinds of excuses to use the vacuum, so the battery also depleted faster. A plastic wall-dock was also included.

Saboteur SiO first look

Time flies. It's been about four years since Clive Townsend's Saboteur remake appeared, and somewhat more than two years since the sequel, Avenging Angel. The expansion of the two original games was quite successful in my opinion (My views here and here) and I was hoping a sequel would appear.

Now I got to play Sabouteur 3, or Saboteur SiO to be precise. Clive says this is not the game we've been waiting for, and Saboteur IV will cover that. There's also Saboteur Zero prequel in the works, and as far as I understand that prequel is not IV either.

Now, Saboteur SiO is supposed to be a PC/Windows game, but again, Proton to the rescue and the game launches perfectly on my Linux Mint/Steam. (What's Proton? For example, see the news item here)

What happens now when the game is no longer a re-versioning of an already existing, original 8-bit game?

Well, for example the levels are now scrolling and the ninja moves more flexibly around the obstacles. He'll climb over boxes and stones. The jumps are more forgiving: if there's room for the ninja to do the sideways-somersault, the ninja will sideways-somersault.

Instead of a flying kick, there is a sweep kick, which makes the combat situations somewhat different. More about that later.

Still, it has the feel of an 8-bit Spectrum game, and the look if you choose so, "retro", ZX, C64 and Gameboy are available at first.

The screen scrolls in 8-pixel chunks. This is an interesting choice in 2020, and at times I felt it might have been better for my old eyes to have non-scrolling rooms instead.

But a scrolling Saboteur is also something new and I understand the choice to do it this way. The game looks like it could in principle run on an 8-bit computer.

I would have liked an option to add a black border to the screen - it would have given some more of that speccy feeling.


Enter the Ninja

As for the game, in a true 8-bit fashion, it's quite difficult. You have to both figure out what to do and then do it. Often the figuring takes more time than the doing, at least for me. There's little or no hand-holding.

I'm going to give some tips on how to go on, but it's clear the missions are intended as puzzles to be solved so I'm not going to be too precise. But if you have difficulties like me, it may be helpful to have the solution to the first missions so you'll understand what kind of game it is.

Took me a few mintues to realise I can hit that box.

The intro is done over quickly. There's a lab and a technician who disappears into a kind of ... purple haze. Break the box and you'll find a way to teleport through another purple cloud.

Teleporting onwards you'll find yourself in different ninja-situations.

The first proper mission is a maze. You have to explore around a cave. Addicted to the purple stuff now, you need to collect the crystals before teleporting again to the next level.

There are no enemies to fight, just some bats, which makes this mission quite easy in the end.

Just as I started thinking I have to map this area on paper, I begun to get it and found all the needed crystals. The area is not that huge, just be systematic with the three mine shafts. Falling isn't generally deadly, but if you are already low on health a long fall could be fatal.

The Commodore 64 mode.

The next mission, the Purple Palace, seems like a more straightforward beat-em-up setting. I say "seems" because the level can't be easily completed by just attacking the foes head on. It almost reminds me a little of Skool Daze.

Here the shuriken come useful. What would a ninja be without throwing stars? They can be thrown forwards or diagonally up and down. There's a lot of shuriken but they are also needed for other tasks than just plain fighting.

The ninja appears at a parking lot of what must be a very exclusive club: everyone wears purple. The graphics and the style is really nice here.

A huge number of goons will assault you from two directions and there's a big boss too. Fortunately the henchmen are not very fast, but if you let them gang up on you from two sides it can mean game over very easily.

They are not that tough.

I confess I played this stage a dozen of times without having any sense on how to go on, and was a bit disappointed at first. I could jump past the foes and run to the Baron's office, where I got some more crystal. The goons also left tiny pieces of crystal occasionally. The boss appeared to have the third of the crystal, but was unbeatable, so I left him alone. I switched to easy difficulty and nothing changed for me.

The enemies take quite a lot of beating, but any one of them won't do much damage alone. So, these goons have some qualities of the androids from Saboteur II, but are less deadly.

After a while I accepted there is nothing more to this mission than the left-right scrolling area. Then I went about beating up all of the purple suits, and there must be like hundred. Because they leave off some crystal there is progress to be made.

I lured them outside, herding them into small packs and used the sweep kick. Then I found an easier technique, just crouch and hit the front man, you can afford to take the incoming hits. If a rare guy approaches from the left, sweep kick him early enough and let him join the herd. Pick up all the tie clips.

This was quite satisfying and I felt I was finally on my way to solving the mission. Eventually, the Baron was the only one left. I had to assume that he can be somehow beaten, but nothing seemed to affect him and he just blocks all the shuriken!

Then, after trying a ridiculous amount of obscure approaches, I finally cracked it and I'll tell the solution here:

You have to throw the shuriken at the boss, which he will deflect. This will give you time to jump past him and throw another shuriken at his back. This needs split-second timing. Do this a few times and he'll die.

This felt really obvious afterwards. This is probably something you can't do as long as the henchmen are around, so deal with them first.

Not the nicest reception!

The third mission has again a lot of fighting, but the catch is different. Although the same fighting technique looks useful at first, it soon becomes clear that a new approach is needed after all. Time becomes more important, too.

The fourth mission is the kind of game I was hoping Saboteur SiO to be, when seeing the very first mission. You now have to explore a two-dimensional maze and you'll encounter only a few enemies (at first).

More of those "angry amazonian antagonists", I guess?

The verdict

I won't give a final verdict as I've only played the game so little and only reached mission 5. (Six and half hours says Steam).

I'd like to say Saboteur SiO is better than Saboteur and the Avenging Angel, because it has all the makings of such a game. But based on these first missions, I can't say yet - time will tell!

The idea of collecting the crystals is bit simpler than the usual Saboteur tasks, but then again there are different types of thinking problems, and this variety helps keep the game alive.

As of 10th of September 2020, I have now completed the game, at least the basic premise of it. Admittedly I used the "easy" option. There is probably at least one more "better" way to complete it but it has to wait. It took me about 12 hours and I can see myself returning to the game.

The Inca temple mission was a turning point, somehow the next missions don't get that much harder and the game was over sooner than I expected.

Incidentally, the temple was the only section I really felt I needed to map. On paper. In 2020! The level has some more complexities than just the maze, so it helped.

The Inca temple

I was prepared to map the later levels too, but having opted for the easy mode this was not really necessary. They are quite huge, though.

Saboteur SiO has an interesting position in the series, as it's the first properly new game after Avenging Angel, but other games are already in the works. It's sufficiently similar, but also different, to the original two games.

My verdict now is a simple Thumbs Up!

Outro

I like the structure of Saboteur SiO. As the game is no longer constrained by an 'original mission', it offers reasonably sized stages, and the next mission becomes a reward. It's like having a collection of small Saboteur games.

The 'retro' mode graphics are occasionally a bit uneven (a combination of Amiga-style sprites and mostly ZX-esque backgrounds) so I sometimes play with the C64 or Spectrum graphics. The blue/black combination in the caves is somewhat dark without the new sprites, though.

If you have been pampered with more recent games I have to remind this is a decidedly ZX Spectrum -style game. I'm one of those people who believe the original Saboteur was one of the best 8-bit games overall, so I can persist and trust Clive T. to deliver. For other people, the difficulty can feel unforgiving and the unexplained riddles might put you off. But it is also very rewarding, there's neat things to see and the soundtrack is awesome.

What does "SiO" mean? I have no idea!

Saboteur SiO at Steam

clivetownsend.com

The C64 Microcomputer (revised post)

The C64 Microcomputer! I didn't get it for Christmas, but it's close enough...

The first physical impressions are good: it weighs more than you'd expect for something that is basically an empty box. The keyboard has a nice enough feel although it is a bit clunky and gives a somewhat "hollow" sound. I wouldn't know how pristine C64 keyboard might have felt straight out of factory gates, though.

Connect it to the wall with Micro-USB style power connector, connect to TV via HDMI. Insert the included joystick using one of the four USB connectors and you can go. The cables are all included.

(The box I think will be used for storing a real C64. A plastic dust cover is included.)

A few seconds after turning the power on, the computer boots into the games carousel mode. So it should be very easy to use. Select a game and play your emulated C64 classics.

Your own software? Simply insert a USB memory stick and if it has d64 files in it, it will be listed in the media menu. Then run the first file on the disk by using one button, or do the LOAD "*",8,1 manually from BASIC in the "Classic" mode. So it couldn't really be much easier.

All the menus are accessible from the one special button on the joystick, which is a surprisingly handy addition to the emulation environment. Whether this means you need to have the joystick connected all the time I'm not yet sure. (Edit: No, you don't)

The menus are clear and have pretty much all the options you'd expect from a consumer-oriented box, but not much more.

The computer can be made to boot directly to BASIC ("Classic Mode"). From the power on it takes roughly 15-20 seconds. But the subsequent resetting & loading new games etc. does not need this time at all. Games when launched from the carousel take only seconds.

The games and music run too fast, and this was NOT fixed by just changing the PAL/NTSC mode. I am guessing that the television goes to 60Hz mode and it is not for some reason able to use 50Hz, as The C64 gave no boot option for it, as stated in the manual.

Edit: Turns out The C64 decides this for itself, if the TV video mode has not been yet initialized. I did a factory reset, turned the TV on properly before The C64, and I got the 50hz/60hz question after boot.

This is a pity as the very same TV is able to show a real C64 image via SVideo! I tried to fiddle the crappy menus of this fairly old Philips flatscreen TV but to no avail. Although the image appears to be 720p video format and the TV should be able to handle in 50hz, it doesn't do it.

So I am still somewhat willing to blame the TV instead of The C64 here.

Which brings me to the slight real omissions. There's no Composite connection so I'm stuck with the HDMI. Also no separate audio jack. For someone else these might not be a problem at all, but the composite video would have been a really, really good feature.

Scrolling seemed to be smooth and tearless whenever needed, but I'd have to make some more definite tests before giving my final verdict on that. I had no problems with the games included. Edit: I tried the Giana Sisters attract mode scroll and it seemed to give no tear or hiccups.

With the Competition Prof-esque joystick I could not really experience much lag with the games, until I really focused on the issue.

Oh, by the way the software offers a variety of aspect ratio/display blur modes so you can get the screen look correct on a widescreen TV.

The keyboard was good enough for typing the above small code snippet, even in the somewhat cramped conditions I had. The shift lock key does not lock physically, but the state is visually indicated in the screen corner. The run/stop + restore combo works.

The keyboard and the PETSCII markings on it are things that clearly elevate this product above a common emulator. The keyboard responsiveness is maybe not as immediate as one could hope, in terms of time between keypresses and the characters appearing on the screen. But at least no typing got lost in the process.

There are two extra fire buttons on the joystick and the 4 extra control buttons. As mentioned, one of them accesses the emulator menu. Funnily, two of them map to Y and N keys and the third to return. Possibly these can be remapped.

My immediate verdict is on the positive side, even if I had some hiccups here. Unlike with some retro products, I don't get the impression this is a cash-grab. It's within a reasonable price and tries to cater to the slightly more advanced users and not just games players.

Yes, for the price you could get a second-hand real C64, but getting all the needed peripherals would likely make it more expensive.

I might get back later with more detailed examination of the features, such as the VIC-20 mode, cartridge files, different displays and the more advanced file-naming and setting options.


Deltaco HDMI -> VGA with audio split (22.1.2020)

The HDMI turned out to be a bit limiting, so I wondered if a conversion could help here.

I bought a cheap Deltaco brand HDMI->VGA converter with separate 3.5mm audio out. I used the VGA to connect it to a Dell display and the audio to a small JBL chargeable loudspeaker.

The Deltaco thing is the black box connected to the blue VGA connector.

I am somehow suspicious of HDMI and especially HDMI conversions, but I was initially pleased that this worked at all.

I also got the speed to 50hz, judging from music playback speed. However, testing the scroll with Giana Sisters it is no longer smooth but a bit jittery and tearing. Sad but perhaps I should not have expected that much from this.

EDIT 24.1.2020:Another edit! So of course the jitteriness is because the display does not handle 50hz, but it attempts to conform to it anyways. However, if I again do the factory reset, connect THEC64 to the VGA display with the Deltaco cable, I get to choose 60hz. Yes, this is "wrong" speed for C64 but at least it was again smooth. Some games might even benefit from it a bit :)

So, it goes to reason if another similar display could handle 50hz the adapter might work fine, so perhaps I should not blame the Deltaco adapter.

*end of edit (goes to show I should have waited a bit before writing the whole post)

Scaling is not that bad, but I had to turn off the CRT scanline emulation as it produced a kind of mild screening artefacts when scrolling vertically.

The picture was not initially centred but this could be adjusted from the monitor settings.

It only now occurred to me to ask, where is the SID selection?

Now with bunch of cables, added visual artefacts and jitteriness, I'm not sure if this setup is so handy after all, compared to the HDMI TV. But, it has to do in a situation where nothing else is available.


Deltaco HDMI -> DVI adapter

This 4€ adapter did not result in an image at all. Firstly, it barely fits with the power cable and the memory stick at the back, and secondly... well, as I said no picture. So I guess even though THE C64 might be based on a 'reduced PC' it can't handle this. The adapter does not have the sound splitter so even if it did work here it would not be that useful to me.

Opening the Mac Classic

Memory and half-removed motherboard

I got a bit worried about a possible battery leak inside my Mac Classic, so I opened it for the first time.

It turned out to be much easier than I thought. Remove four torx screws, pull out the back of the case. Remove the memory sub-board, then remove all the drive and power cables from the motherboard. Now the motherboard can be slid out quite easily. 

This is a pretty neat design for that era, or for any era for that matter.

The memory sub-board and the motherboard fully removed. Red spot marks the battery holder.

Two of the torxes were in deep holes, so I used an screwdriver with removable tip and an extension which gave the screwdriver some added flexibility. 

The board is very small, even when considering the memory sub-board.

Putting it together was just as simple. Push the board in gently, plug in the relevant cords as you go along.

The other half

After I put the case back together, I checked if the computer still functions. It only gave an empty desktop backdrop. As it's missing a keyboard, a mouse and a battery, this might be normal. Still, it's a bit uncharacteristically unfriendly response from a Mac, so I hope there is nothing wrong.

Alive or dead?

Supposing it works, what to do with it? The Classic Mac is one of the last iterations of the original design, so it's not that old really, 1989-1990 maybe. But this also means it still has the 8Mhz 68000.

Compared to 8-bits, it is a bit cumbersome to get anything running on it, as all the interfaces and connectors are a bit weird from today's perspective, and there's no "load from tape" option to fall back on. HxC floppy emulator apparently won't work with it, and the SCSI interface is not as common as the IDE.

Perhaps the best bet is to use the 1.44Mb floppies for file transfer, which at this stage ought to be PC compatible.

Uncomfortable perspective: the case from below, with the board removed.

Saboteur II - The Avenging Angel remake

The saboteur, doing her sabotage.

After the excellent Saboteur remake for web browsers, Clive Townsend, the author of the Saboteur games, has released a similar treatment of Saboteur II - The Avenging Angel.

I waited for this release with mixed feelings. On 8-bit computers, Saboteur II from 1987 felt less good than the original. Slow, giant-size map with repeating rooms, difficult and random fighting. This type of opinion was also echoed around the 'net, so I never really found myself back with the game.

Even then, I also felt that on certain points, the sequel was an improvement over the first Saboteur game. You can select your own entrance by dropping from the glider, and you can sneak a bit around the building and not only inside it. The jumping is much more fluid and there are no frustrating jump sections. The ninja can do a satisfying somersault which has more subtle uses than in the first game.


The Saboteur II remake

Enough of that, what's the new game like?

With the Saboteur 1 update, Clive had done an excellent job of enhancing the outcome without altering the game play inside the original game area. Here I was worried that the second game could not work without fundamental changes.

Now that the game is faster and there is more to see, I'm happy to say Saboteur II becomes much clearer and better without any real alterations to the game core. For example, now I finally see that the different missions encourage taking different routes within the complex, whereas Saboteur I was bounded to the one back-and-forth journey with variations.

An example of the kind of attention to detail that has been put in the new graphics.

There's more visual detail, locations and "intel" points and achievements where you learn about the background of the complex. Another nice added detail is the enemy energy bar, which is also shown alongside the player energy. Although it confused me a little at first, this makes the fighting rules more clear and easier.

The missions and some game play aspects have been tweaked. I see the items are no longer placed in "stashes" of multiple items, and the code locations don't have items in them. This is a reasonable streamlining as there was no real benefit from the stash system. A tiny difference is that the missions are now properly locked away, and you can't use a code from a magazine to unlock them :)

As with the previous remake, there are also added game screens and plot elements, which are here revealed in a more piecemeal fashion. After completing a few missions you'll discover there are doors that lead to new rooms... and yes, there's also a new section after all the effort and that's all I'm going to say for now. Let's just say I like the way the new narrative unfolds. Just take heed of all the intel and achievement notes and you'll get an idea what you might be missing. Also, the background in the loading screen is a map, too.

The Amstrad CPC style shows Nina as a redhead!

But it is difficult at the very beginning! I died a dozen times in the first few screens when I started out, but after this initial frustration I took a deep breath and looked at what was wrong with my play style.


Some playing tips

For absolute beginners I'd recommend avoiding the androids, running away from them, or finding routes where you don't have to engage them. This way you can get a better feel of your way in, out and around the complex.

Eventually you have to learn to fight, ninja-style. Nina can do more fighting moves than her brother, but I'd suggest using the flying kick (run + fire) as the primary form of combat, as you can at the same time distance yourself from the androids and keep on fighting. A flying kick followed with a punch can be a devastating combo, but you need to get the rhythm of the fight correct. The crouching kicks are good for the pumas.

Serious moonlight!

The thrown items are as good as one kick, which can make the difference between life and death in some places. Ideally, throwing an item followed with flying kick+punch will destroy an android extremely fast. Got to appreciate the new splintering effect when throwing stuff at the androids!

Situations where two androids are close up can be dangerous. At places, you need to clear yourselves "home space" before climbing up or down a level, because you can't rest while on the ladders between two floors.

As in the original Saboteur 2, there are also some "silly" points where you can rest. These are spots the androids won't enter, despite what logic might say. Take note of such places.


The Avenging Angel

To me this release is just as good or better as the Saboteur! remake, but for slightly different reasons. I appreciate the way the game is able to enhance and finalize Saboteur II: The Avenging Angel in a way that makes me say this is the game it ought to have been, or always was in its heart. The added material, different graphic modes, various music tracks and other improvements here and there make it so much more. I can only hope Saboteur III will be made, combining the best elements from both games.

Get the game(s) from here

My thoughts on the Saboteur! remake here

Saboteur! remake

How it all began...

I've always been a fan of this atmospheric ninja/industrial espionage game released in the 1980s on ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64 and various other platforms. Now I'm looking at the recent (2015) version of Saboteur! at clivetownsend.com, from none other than... Clive Townsend, the original author.

Based on Unity/WebGL, it runs happily on a modern browser.  Before I say anything, I'd urge anyone who finds the game working on their computer to simply go and pay the small fee for the full game. Especially all those naughty people who played the original Saboteur games for free back in the day :)

With remakes of old games, I often feel that any changes to the original seem "wrong". Nothing like that here. The original central gameplay is intact. There are simply visual and especially aural improvements that make the experience of revisiting Saboteur more interesting. The game has also been expanded greatly, which I'll discuss below.

There are various options that need some attention before playing seriously. You'll have to sign in to get the full game, but as a bonus you get to save your highscores, achievements and other progress to your online account. As for the options, the game was initially set as "fast", but I found the "normal" speed most satisfying at least for now. The QAOP keyboard controls are satisfactory. The ninja moves with arrow keys too but the QAOP gives a crisper response at least on my computer.

As the game replicates the original, the controls have not been updated in any way. Especially the jumping sections may put off people who are used to more fluid, console-type games.

The menu graphics are all new, high resolution, but the game graphics are Spectrum-like, and boldly so. You can also select C64 colours if they are more to your taste. I wouldn't have blamed the author for changing the graphical style altogether, but it's good to have the ZX Spectrum style pixeling here.

Guess which mode?

Well, there are in fact more graphics modes than the ZX/C64, but they have to be found in-game and they only work in the original warehouse area. Making them work was not 100% obvious, so here goes: After you've found the different "VR goggles" in the expanded game, start a new game from the beginning, then press ESC to get to the expanded graphic mode options.

However, even the ZX and C64 modes are not identical to the originals: there are tiny updates and added detail here and there. The new grenade explosion is pretty mighty.


The New Story

Like many players, I didn't know that blowing up the bomb was not enough to truly complete the mission. The disk has to be retrieved, too. Then it gets interesting. After you think you've completed the mission, there's more to do but I won't say anything about it here in case someone is a newcomer.

...Well, ok. I have to say something. What unfolds is a completely new Saboteur adventure, which is more modern, storyboarded kind of game. There's more to read, for instance, as the ninja communicates with the radio dispatcher, Metal Gear style. The style stays true to the 8-bit limitations, it's just as if the Speccy had a huge amount of memory. Even if I suspect some scenes would not run on a standard Spectrum the effects never go overboard.

We're not in Ninja Kansas anymore

The new area deviates a bit from the "one item held" logic of the original, as you can now possess keys and other quest items. Also, the map is no longer strictly two-dimensional as you can enter from front and back of the screen to different sections of the map. There are quest-oriented sections and then time-based map areas that are more reminiscent of the original Saboteur game. There are also jumping areas that make me pull my hair out in frustration, like I was ten years old playing Jet Set Willy. Maybe I can blame the keyboard here!

There's now more to do, new enemy types and behavior, more switches, keys and moving mechanisms to set and reset. There's also a lot of detail and humor, such as winks and nods to 1980s pop culture, ninja schlock and earlier computer culture. What I appreciate is that all the references are from the period, no internet memes in sight! No doubt we'll get to learn some more about the Saboteur world and how the first game ties to the sequel, the Avenging Angel.

Maybe, just maybe, I would have preferred a more compartmentalized play experience, such as new missions instead of this longer quest. Yet, altogether the new sections are well organized and as you get further you're bound to be obsessed with seeing it all through. Obviously the new material in no way detracts from the original game, which is intact. As with the original, the difficulty levels change the game experience and the map, and I'm looking forward trying to complete the harder modes. If a true Saboteur III appears, this all certainly seems very promising for it!

The game is quite a perfect treat to those who liked the original, and I think those who grew with 8-bit games should find it interesting. More changes might have been needed to win over more new fans, but then again too many changes might have lost that Saboteur charm.

Saboteur at Clivetownsend.com

My thoughts on the Saboteur II remake

Look at the Saboteur SiO