As any hardcore videogame and computer collector knows, there are many intriguing classic systems out there worthy of your time that never made it to your home territory. One of the biggest challenges when importing vintage systems from foreign countries is having the necessary hardware on hand to convert either or both of the power (voltage) and video (television standard) connections.

With vintage Japanese systems in the US, it's fairly trivial to use those systems here. Generally speaking, the video signal is the same - though you may have to tune in a weird channel if you're stuck using an RF connection - and power requirements are similar, generally 100-110v to our 110-120v. While you can usually get away with just plugging a Japanese system direct into a US outlet, a simple power converter is still recommended in some situations. With vintage European systems, it's not nearly as straightforward, since they use a completely different television standard and power requirements usually run 220-240v, so you need to do double conversions. On top of that, plugs for both video and power are often unusual shapes and may require yet another adapter.

Invertion: Is that GLADOS?I love Portal, and I love a good platformer. What do you get when you combine the two? Invertion! Go check out this awesome free game by my friends at HighUp Studio, game developers from Bogota, Colombia! My good friend David Arcila did the great artwork. The music is also excellent. I love it! Go play it now.

Just in time for Christmas!

Armchair Arcade is proud to present a spanking new game from Matt Barton: Thrust Lifter!
Download Thrust_Lifter.zip

Thrust LifterSpace. For most people, it's just an abstract concept, like Hollywood or an honest politician. For you, it's a day job. Sure, you won't find "rescuing trapped space miners" on your resume, but that's because you don't have a resume. You're known in this galaxy simply as "The Captain." Most folks think you're a hero. Others think you're just plain nuts. But one thing's for sure--they all call YOU when it's a matter of life or death.

Admiral Blount

Thrust Lifter is a game of timing and precision. Guide your lander into narrow tunnels, avoiding collisions with walls, fires, lava, electricity, and all manner of aliens. Get to the Chilenoids before they run out of oxygen and bring them back to the home pad before taking off to your next destination.

Features:

• 15 beautiful, massive levels for you to navigate
• Five original songs composed by Matt Barton with keyboards and real electric guitar
• Amazing fire, lightning, and particle effects
• Sprites built from 3D graphics made with Blender
• Two boss fights
• Compete to finish levels in the shortest time
• High score list

What the heck are you waiting for? Download it right here from Armchair Arcade today!
Thrust_Lifter.zip
If you like the game, please purchase a registered copy--starting at only two bucks!

Just cashed in my club nintendo stars for this (all 7000 of them). Its a replica SNES controller for using with virtual console games - it plugs into the remote for wireless authentic SNES gaming :).

Dungeons & Dragons: Order of the Griffon for the NEC TurboGrafx-16 (via Retro Uprising)I'd like to provide the latest update to my list of working emulator and simulator sites for various platforms and games. All of these enable play directly within your browser, so there's no sticky business of downloading software and finding the necessary game files to get it all going. These are all great sites and we should all show our support. This is the "December 2011" edition of the list and, naturally, I'd love to keep adding to it, so suggest away. Here goes:

• 2600online.com - Play various Atari 2600 Video Computer Systems games
• Another World (aka, Out of this World; 1991)
• Armchair Arcade - Our own hosted simulations
• Atari.com - Play select Atari 2600 and Atari arcade favorites
• BBC Micro News - Parrot - News stories and a speech synthesizer directly from a cluster of BBC Micros
• c64s.com - Play various Commodore 64 games
• Classic Atari games on IGN
• Spacewar! (1962) emulation
• First-Person Tetris (NES version)
• Freearcade.com (Scott Adams section) - Play various Scott Adams/Adventure International text adventures
• Google Pac-Man - The popular browser-based re-imagining of the classic arcade game
• Play Halo 2600 - Atari 2600 interpretation of the popular FPS
• Virtual GameBoy - Play a huge selection of GameBoy and GameBoy Color games
• JEMU - Emulate and play on the Acorn BBC Model B, Amstrad CPC464, Dick Smith VZ-300, Sinclair ZX Spectrum 48K, Sinclair ZX80, and Sinclair ZX81
• JPC x86 PC emulator - Play classic DOS games like DOOM and Linux demos
• JSGB - GameBoy emulator
• JSVecX - Play GCE/Milton Bradley Vectrex games in your browser
• Mocha - The Java Color Computer Emulator - Emulation of the Radio Shack Color Computer
• nintendo8.com - Play Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)/Famicom games
• Pica Pic - Play amazing simulations of classic LCD and related handhelds
• Play Infocom Adventures Online
• Retro Uprising - Play a wide range of videogame and computer systems (arcade, Atari, Coleco, Nintendo, Sega, etc.) in your browser and through a custom software interface
• Sandy White's Ant Attack
• Sarien.net - Play Sierra adventure games
• SC-3000 Survivors - Play Sega SC-3000/SG-1000 games
• Timex/Sinclair 1000 Emulator
• Virtual Apple 2 - Play Apple II and IIGS games
• Virtual Atari - Play Atari 2600 games
• vNES - Play Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)/Famicom games
• World's Biggest PAC-MAN - The World's Biggest PAC-MAN (really)

Jeepney Jeepers: Multiball FTW!Armchair Arcade is pleased to present Jeepney Jeepers, the all-new game from Myth Core Productions, designed and programmed by Matt Barton with comics and graphics by Elizabeth Barton.

Aliens have landed in southeast Asia, and the only thing standing between THEM and humanity is...one man and his jeepney. Are you brave, fast, and just plain dumb enough to snap on that space-age laser prototype and defend the earth? Of course you are! So get your butt in that jeepney, yup!

• An homage to classics block-busting games like Arkanoid and Breakout but with a crazy twist!
• Blow up blocks, roast the invaders, rescue your fellow humans and--above all else--get to the last level and take on the awesome might of THE GORFINATOR
• Collect upgrades and unleash the unbelievable block-busting power of the five-pronged MULTIBALL
• Bust that crit bubble for the amazing SUPERBALL
• Bounce up them balls as much as YOU want, no more, no less
• Feelin' lonely? Bust out those poor little refugees for fun, fame, and profits
• Get the energy boost powerups and ram right through the blocks with your jeepney
• Surrounded? Don't panic, make THEM panic with your amped up car horn
• Twelve colorful levels with an awesome retro-arcade inspired boss fight
• Compete with friends and family for the honor of the High Score table
• Why ain't you playing this already?

Download this sweet mama right now!
JEEPNEY JEEPERS (version: 1.04b)

And if you enjoy playing this game, please leave us a comment below. It's man and womandatory.

NOTE: This is now the audio-fixed version of the video review, with much quieter in-game audio.

(Download the mp4)

Today I'll be taking a look at Atari's new Flashback 3, which, despite the name, is actually the fourth major Flashback system released. I reviewed the first Atari Flashback way back in 2004, when it was first released. Unfortunately, Legacy Engineering Group (LEG) was apparently only given 10 weeks to create the system from scratch and therefore had no choice but to rely on a NES-On-A-Chip (NOAC) to power the product. Since the goal of the Flashback was to deliver both a plug-and-play Atari 2600 and 7800 experience, this was definitely too tall of an order for what amounted to a Nintendo Entertainment System clone, particularly given the limited time to optimize the game simulations.

While the first Flashback clearly disappointed anyone remotely familiar with any of the 20 first party 2600 and 7800 games it clumsily simulated, the upside was that it sold enough for Atari to order production of a Flashback 2. This time LEG did have the time to do it right, and, while they dropped all efforts to replicate the 7800 experience, they ended up developing what amounted to an "Atari 2600-on-a-chip," whose high accuracy more than made up for the omission. Released in 2005, the Flashback 2 came with a mix of over 40 original, prototype, hacked, and homebrew Atari 2600 games. While the first Flashback was styled like a miniature 7800, the Flashback 2 was styled like a miniature Atari 2600 VCS, complete with simulated woodgrain. As a bonus, the two included joysticks were pin compatible with the originals, meaning they could be used on other systems that worked with Atari-style joysticks. This also meant that you could use original paddle controllers with the Flashback 2 to play the hidden paddle games. This was in direct contrast to the first Flashback, which merely converted its paddle games to make use of the joystick, which again, was not the way you wanted to experience those games. As a final bonus for those with the requisite skillset, the Flashback 2 could be hacked to add a cartridge port, which outside of a few relatively minor compatibility quirks, made it an ideal modern revision of the original Atari 2600 hardware, particularly since it had default composite video output rather than RF.

Star Chess (Videomaster)

Chessmaster II - PS1
Virtual Kasparov - PS1
Checkmate - PS1
Virtual Chess 64 - N64
Chessmaster - PS2
Wii Chess - Wii
CXG Computachess - dedicated
Mephisto Atlanta - dedicated
Videomaster Star Chess - dedicated

In 1968, international chess master, computer programmer and author David Levy made a bet that he would not lose a chess match to a computer program within 10 years. In 1978 he collected his winnings of £1,250. A tidy sum - but he didn't make another bet. Maybe Mr Levy saw the writing on the wall for chess as the ultimate challenge to computer programmers at the time. Now in 2011, chess games can be bought at an impulse purchase price that will trounce all but those at the very top of the chess playing fraternity.

No copper breastplate left behind.This week, I'm looking at what I consider the ten best innovations in CRPGs. That means, I'm looking at games that introduced new gameplay elements or at least adapted existing concepts, forging something that has become (or should have become) important, influential, or at least pretty damn awesome. Keep in mind that the game as a whole might be weak or even a flop; that isn't relevant here. What is relevant is which games introduced which concepts and when. So, let's get started with #10:

10. The mule in Dungeon Siege. Year: 2002. Concept: A pack animal to help carry your lootz. I don't remember much about the original Dungeon Siege game, but I will never forget that crusty pack animal. I'm pretty sure the thinking behind the mule was simply utilitarian; "Hey, that'd be handy to have around." But in one stroke the designers made a game ten times more memorable and self-parodying. And how many times did a battle hinge on the kicking of your mule? Mules literally kick ass. Wait, is that possible? Now I'm so spoiled that I always want a pack of them in assorted colors--what, I'm supposed to just leave that solid gold Elminster statue behind?