Tag: Handheld
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Astro Wars by Grandstand Handheld Review
The best 80’s handheld game? On the last day of term at my primary school we would all bring in toys, which back in the early 80’s would include games like Operation and Buckaroo, which still exist relatively unchanged 20+ years later. There would also be the kid who had the really cool toy of…
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Bandai Missile Invader and Mattel Sub Chase – Video Game Consoles as Art
Between 1978 and 1980 Mattel released a popular series of handheld games that featured LED technology, using simple glowing red lights to represent the on-screen characters, pre-dating the more common LCD and VFD formats seen on later portable machines. By necessity the Mattel handhelds had to augment the game displays to put the simple glowing…
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UFO Master Blaster by Bambino: Video Game Consoles as Art
The early 80’s were the golden era for handheld electronic games, and Bambino produced some of the most beautifully designed units. UFO Master Blaster was an unremarkable (at least in terms of gameplay) space invader clone, using a similar Vacuum Florescent Display as the more common Galaxy Invader handhelds. What set the game apart was…
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Handheld Games – The RolyRetro Collection
One of my earliest video gaming experiences was at the end of term in my primary school, where we all got to bring in a toy and lessons were given over to general playtime. Amongst all of the classic board games like Mouse Trap and Kerplunk, I spotted a small tabletop machine that had a…
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Grandstand Munchman 80’s handheld review
The classic PacMan handheld game Anyone who has read my blog before knows I am a big fan of retro handheld games, and Munchman from Grandstand was a great example. Many of these games attempted to recreate the big arcade games of the time, which explains the proliferation of space invader clones, including the likes…
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Grandstand Scramble 80’s Retro Handheld Game
The Scramble handheld game by Grandstand was based on the early 80’s arcade game of the same name, and featured brightly coloured VFD graphics.
