Haha I love how much of a savage you are with the fact that a company sends you a free product, and not only do you give it a completely honest review but you tear them apart for hounding you on doing a review. Good for you. Way to show that you're not just some advertising platform for some annoying company. You reviewed it for the love of tech, not dollars. *thumbs up*
Any company trying out something needs support from "influencers" and people in general. Not sure why Companies are vilanised for promotions and advertisements.
Really love how the games have an actual manual instead of just promotional stuff that you find in modern games. As a kid I always enjoyed to first read the manuals from cover to cover before starting the game.
As a graphic designer I just want to commend whoever designed the package art for the game The Bear Essentials. It’s really well done. And I have to disagree with you David, I think the clear case is kinda nice looking.
Basically none. For C64 there was much more RAM available so things like complete window checks needed rewrites from scratch. However, much of the experience in fine tuning difficulties was used from C64.
"i'm actually working on a game myself which i'll reveal more about at a later date" i just love how much dedication & love you put into petscii robots!
I really loved the "Pond" Logo (recognized the similarity with the Ocean Logo from the start) and as a former Sinclair Spectrum owner I can only say: hats off to the rendition of the first level of Manic Miner.
They asked me to pay $35 to ship it. So I said "No Thanks." They contacted me again almost two weeks later like they had never contacted me before. Same exact email. I said "Send me one." They said "$35 shipping." I added them to my SPAM list. Quite honestly, I assumed they were just scammers.
I got some odd messages from them as well, from three separate accounts, and the whole thing just seems strange. It's not the kinda device I'd talk about anyway, but the frequent emails and unusual demands also made me not want to cover the device out of principle.
It may look cheap when I say so, but I think it is really addictive :) You can check this thread here for some gamer's experience: atariage.com/forums/topic/267854-assembloids2600-highscore-chart/
My personal theory - and I'm not sure Graham agrees with me - is that the giant flies and spiders (and ticks/woodlice?) are all shown onscreen the way they appear in Bear's imagination. He has turned the chore of collecting apples into a game. The little spider he is distracted by on the front cover turns into a giant spider trying to sabotage his apple collecting, in his imagination. "Oh no, the big scary spider got me, I better lie down for a bit and recover"
I really like your honesty with the products that are sent to you. It's a glass of fresh water here on youtube when all you see is people giving positive reviews for the sake of free products and maybe some money.
@@theshankman8682 I know this is a late reply, but... why pink? Isn't that rather presumptuous of you (and a little sexist) that things have to be pink for girls? I'm sure you didn't mean it that way and it's likely because of our stupid western culture that pushes these gender-defining junk onto our kids; programming them to be perfect binary archetypes, like we're all just automatons without unique personalities.
''I am from BittBoy Company and I want to know when will you make a more detailed review of our product?'' The e-mail 8-Bit Guy will keep getting for the next 7 years.
Thanks for your video. I like the Bear Essentials game as it appears to be very polished and it looks like a fun game to get kids of all ages interested in the C64. I think the thing that you described as an octopus is likely a wood louse which are very commonly found in decaying wood in the UK and as bears live in the woods that would make sense. I'm surprised that Nintendo and other software companies haven't 'stamped' on the Bittboy handheld you reviewed if there are licencing issues regarding the pre-installed software as many of their retro titles are still available to buy for a number of their recent systems.
I used to do Amazon reviews for an up and coming tech company and I was the first person they ever enlisted to do the reviews and once they grew they became that way and eventually I stopped hearing from them and products they said they shipped I never received. I felt towards the end of my time with them when they would bug me twice a day about reviews not being posted ( sometimes I had already posted them but they didn’t seem to get that). So I am glad you got to review the Bit-boy but completely understand your frustration.
That was a great snap for them to not make a whole video about just their product but to include the detailed review in this video ;). Nicely done David.
I have to say, this is the only channel that I really get excited about. The quality, time, and dedication put into the videos are exceptional. Love your content, keep up the great work man!
That second packaging idea is actually really a good idea. You could have a reference card or other material setup nicely while running the program in the machine. Brilliant idea!
It means they stole the battery. Nintendo should sue these hacks because I'm pretty sure stealing components from an existing product is an infringement of some kind.
Ok, the 2600 cart is impressive but I can see small run 3D printing and such covering it and the innards. Where in the hell did they get brand new working 5.25" disks? That's good. Also I like it, "POND" as a piss take of the old "Ocean" logo :d
+Pond Software I was very impressed what you did there, I don't have a C64 but I do have a C64 emulator for DOS to definitely try it on. Also I'd recommend putting a Donate button on your site too so others can contribute for your hard work!
+Kippykip Thank you! :) We're non-profit, but we could add links to our favourite charities instead perhaps, then people could choose to donate to one of those if they enjoy the free downloads. We're donating the extra money from the physical versions of The Bear Essentials to an organisation that rescues and cares for bears in Asia.
That Bitboy, IPS panel, aside is just a dime-a-dozen generic chinese bootleg all-in-one console that are pushed out by the billions. I'm surprised the producers are now going out of their way to try and push them more aggressively rather than just selling them on ali express or taobao.
For an Atari 2600 game, it looks technically perfect. It's not ugly, it's easy on the eyes and everything is clean and sharp. Nice work. IPS screen? A new type of lcd screen? My cheap 27" from 3 years ago is an ips screen. Kind of weird that you off all people isn't familiar with this "old" piece of technology.
Yesssss, I still have one. Loaded with Mario Bros (I love it, a nice port), Double dragon ( hmmm... Nothing to see here. Let's say it's... a nice attempt), and Radar Lock (a really nice and well done Afterburner-like game ). Again, good job with the game. You nailed it perfectly. I love the fact it doesn't look "flat". Good use of colors and nice title screen. And it's addicting, ha ha. Kudos to you man. ( if you see mistakes, please point them out, I'm french :p )
Hi. Thanks for sharing. That's amazing achievement. Looks like the Atari 2600 is catching up to the Dreamcast's longevity when it comes to having new games still being published for it. (Also, it's great we kept some boxed, original PC titles like Windows 95 and an NBA game.) God bless, Proverbs 31
This bittboy thing is actually a pirate cart rom flashed into a chinese handheld NES clone. If you want something official. get an NES mini and tape screen along battery pack to it and carry it everywhere.
When I was in high school, I remember one of my friends would bring in these "4K Competition" submissions, which were various graphic demos, which were no larger than 4KB in size, but were still quite impressive... you talking about the size limit on the 2600 made me think of those...
Yes and no - he did fry some LCDs, but he said that he disconnected the C64 as soon as he discovered that the PSU spits out too many volts. He said it was "totally dead" - but I understood it as "It's not doing anything" which is not the same as "dead" (if that makes sense). If was a indeed a complete goner then disconnecting it stat wouldn't have made much of a difference. Maybe it's not a complete goner and fixable, but only the almighty 8BitGuy would be able to answer this question once and for all. :-) My guess is that he has a couple more of them kicking around - or that he can breathe new life into a "broken" one.
Great reviews! I love a lot of the new homebrews from Atariage. From what I've read there nobody is making new 2600 shells outside of home 3D printing. So they are reusing old shells of common 2600 games like Combat and Pac-Man.
Unless Nintendo starts printing old NES carts, the only ones who have to worry about the "legal" portion are those who are selling the item. Downloading the old ROMs is frowned upon but "usually" overlooked, selling them however...
FuturePants, really i think it was more that he wasn't that interested in doing a thorough review of it any longer with the way the company had treated him.
The Bitboy - Designed in China, sold under the radar. While emulation itself isn't illegal, redistributing copyrighted digital content like ROMs for purchase either in part or packaged with something else is.
You ought to ask them how they got their used floppy disk to look so new again, or how they got a factory to start making floppies again, since there's a video here that tells us that all factories of (at least standard) floppy disks have ceased production of them.
We'd don't use used floppies for our games, we use new old stock floppies, and each one is tested for errors during the copying. It's true that 5,25" floppies aren't being made anymore, but there are tons of old sealed unused stock for sale if you know where to look :)
Oh wow, a reply from the software makers themselves, cool, thanks! Well, not just 5.25" ones were discontinued. The video showed a bunch of 3.5" standard ones as well. Okay then, how did you find big enough stashes of "new" old stock disks for your project (guessing that many people would want this like I do)?
A friend in the UK has an online shop selling old software and hardware - he actually had some unopened bags of unnotched disks, we bought pretty much his entire stock of those. I had to modify one of my disk drives to be able to write to the disks without notching them first. We've also bought disks from some American companies and various ebay sellers, for future releases. www.floppydisk.com has a bunch of unused disks for sale (both 5,25" and 3,5") and this ebay seller has lots of really cheap KAO 5,25" disks: www.ebay.co.uk/itm/KAO-MINI-FLOPPY-DISKS-5-25-CARTON-WITH-TOTAL-OF-100-DISKS-10-BOXES-10-IN-EACH-/272710329405?hash=item3f7ecd643d:g:JYMAAOSwPWRZOxH-
Oh, yeah, I've had someone help me mod a 1541 for no-notch writing ("flippy-disk-without-the-puncher") before (about 25 years ago), as well as adding a device-number switch (about 30+ years ago, and it was nice when the newer Commodore drives came with their own switches for that). So how did your friend know where to go? I guess just do a search and there are pockets of people putting them up. How would there be so many brand-new-condition ones (NOS) still around, these days?
I'm not sure where he got them from in the first place - they're probably leftover stock from some software company, because as far as I know completely unnotched disks weren't really sold to the average user. Here's an interesting article on the owner of floppydisk.com, saying he bought half a million 5,25" disks a few years ago: www.digitaltrends.com/computing/why-do-floppy-disks-still-exist-the-world-isnt-ready-to-move-on/
To be honest...For a company that makes money off of stealing software...That's the kind of shady attitude I'd expect. I wasn't shocked or surprised in the least. :P (edit: in response to the bit boy)
As far as where do the carts come from, AtariAge offers 50 cents for each atari cart mailed in and they use them for this purpose. So the reason they look like a real Atari cart is that it IS a real Atari cart.
Am I just weird, or does it bug anyone else that in the new intro the label on the disk says 'LOAD "*", 8' and when he inserts the disk into the computer he types 'LOAD "$", 8'?
Assembloids is ofc also available for the Commodore 64 on all formats, cartridge (RGCD), disk and tape (Psytronik). If you like to play new games for the C64, then please do support the community by buying from these companies - they have fairly low prices compared to many other homebrew kickstarters and whatnot we see a lot of these days.
Came here for the odd nostalgia whiplash of seeing new games for old systems. Didn't expect to get misty-eyed over the iPhone 6; seeing that Home button made me pine for the old days.
The animation of the bear really, really reminds me of C.R.E.A.T.U.R.E.S. I wouldn't be surprised if the bear had the exact same silhouette as the player character in that game.
The backgrounds in the demo version did the same. Looks like they used a dump of some of Creatures graphics as a placeholder and then replaced (most of) them.
I'm pretty sure Graham drew those himself - he is a big fan of the Thalamus games (including Creatures 1 and 2), though, and some Thalamus characters do appear in the game as bonus life pickups (with kind permission from Andy Roberts of Thalamus).
I'm sure he did. The same approach of using copied assets as placeholders and then replacing them with original art worked pretty well with Freedom Planet too.
His method of creating the game on the 64 and sending it to the Supercharger is genius! There are also complete IDEs for creating programs on the 2600 that run on Windows and other OSes, but the Supercharger method is the most interesting (plus, you'll know for sure if it works on a REAL 2600!)
Was the Bitboy maker a Chinese because that sounded like normal Chinese way of handling business with the same question and not understanding what you replied to them every-time.
RUclips is not availible in china so it wouldnt make sense why they would want to sponsor RUclipsrs, as well as the fact that NES games were never sold much in China becuase of regulations. It's not impossible for them to be manufactured in China but the company itself probably isn't Chinese
trying to get you to pay shipping high enough to cover the cost of actually buying one? pretty sure bitboy was trying to make you a customer first. they still look cool though and i might buy one
PSP with PRO-CFW 6.60 C2 firmware on it is more than enough for most emulation needs. With SNES9x TYL, gbSP Kai, NesterJ, Daedalus X64, and PicoDrive you're good to go for SNES, Gameboy/Gameboy Color/Gameboy Advance, NES, N64, and Genesis games. For C64 and DOS there's VICE and DOSBox-PSP, but both are limited in what they can play due to CPU speed limitations since the PSP only runs at 333MHz max.
+VulpesHilarianus ^^^ I agree, having a modded PSP is definitely the way to go. The PSP 1000-2000 models are a lot easier to install CFW. Not to mention there's also the PSX2PSP converter that allows you to play PS1 games on sony's official emulator for the system.
but i want a portable device that i don't have to worry about/ distract me from using a cell phone and draining my communication device. i have an nes already so i don't need a tv solution
From what I've experienced the 3DS emulators aren't as stable as those on the PSP since the processor's slower and can't be throttled. Though on the upside you do have less stuttering in 3D games since it has more RAM. Most people will be looking for up to 16-bit emulation anyways, and in that fight the PSP definitely wins. EDIT: Forgot to mention that you can pick up a PSP with a 4GB MemoryStick Pro Duo at a yard sale for $20 these days. So that's an edge that the 3DS doesn't have.
You don't need special hardware to write to write-protected disks, just need to install an override switch on the optical detector. But I like the professional packaging of both games. I think the plastic calendar stand thingy is really clever.
LOL! No company should make you pay for shipping to review a product. This is what you get from companies who don't have PR experience or who have junior PR members with little to zero previous experience dealing with press and influencers. I'm sorry you had a not so savory experience with that company. Either way, really cool channel. Subscribed. :)
I don't know if you'd have any interest, but I've been collecting for the MSX system these past two years or so, and not only has it been an absolutely wonderful (albeit expensive!) pastime, it's also opened the door to perhaps *the* most extensive homebrew community out of any retro system I've ever seen. Seriously, the sheer number of modern homebrew titles released for the MSX and MSX2 -- primarily on cartridge, but also on disk and even cassette tape -- is kind of staggering, and they tend to be of overall exceptional quality. I own over 20 such games at this point, and the majority of them were created after 2012, with I'd say half of them being made in the last 2 years alone. I actually think the MSX would be an awesome system for you to cover, and I could easily see you getting pretty addicted to it. So if you ever have a chance to get your hands on one (be it MSX1, MSX2, MSX2+, or MSX turboR), I highly recommend you snap it up! You won't regret it.
Maybe the developers of the Bit Boy thingy are Chinese or Japanese or maybe from other country and they don't speak or understand English very well or they are using Google Translator.
Great reviews. Keep it real & honest like that. I'm a huge fan and it's in part because of your honesty. No need to do paid reviews and what not like some others. Just proper, quality content.
I've been working on a new Atari 2600 RPG and documenting it on my channel. The cartridge you received would have been recycled from a real Atari 2600 cartridge. That's why it looks so authentic - because it is. :) Usually they remove the old labels from common games like Combat or Defender and reapply the new labels. I ran into issues when it came time to actually get my game on a cartridge so I've ended up making my own from scratch. It's a deep deep rabbit hole and I'm still down there.
Hmm, I can't help but think that you should remove the Bittboy part of the review, at least until we can get some confirmation that they've licensed the games (very, very unlikely). I'm not sure if ninty could take your videos down based on this, but it's sort of morally questionable to review a product filled with possibly pirated content. Not blaming 8-Bit Guy though, and I hope this doesn't discourage future review videos!
It's one thing to download the games that are completely impossible to get elsewhere, but it's another to profit from them without the owner's consent. That's theft.
Great vid once again! Also, I think the "Pond" logo has more layers to the joke. Ocean made a game back in the day called James Pond about a secret agent fish. Somehow I seem to remember James Pond 2: Robocod had a similar logo in-game to joke about their own publisher if I'm not mistaken. At any rate, Ocean and Pond had links already in the 90's and I got a real nostalgic feeling seeing that great logo!
Haha I love how much of a savage you are with the fact that a company sends you a free product, and not only do you give it a completely honest review but you tear them apart for hounding you on doing a review. Good for you. Way to show that you're not just some advertising platform for some annoying company. You reviewed it for the love of tech, not dollars. *thumbs up*
Any company trying out something needs support from "influencers" and people in general. Not sure why Companies are vilanised for promotions and advertisements.
Really love how the games have an actual manual instead of just promotional stuff that you find in modern games. As a kid I always enjoyed to first read the manuals from cover to cover before starting the game.
Both boxes are fine, too ;-) They sure look lovely on the shelve / in your console/c64 ;-)
Monopolimies I used to take them to school to read when done with work lol.
So, when can we expect a detailed review of the Bit Boy?
I believe you'll see it on August 1 st, followed by a more detailed review a week later... if i'm not mistaken...
Thanks man!
tarstarkusz Yah, but unless you're specifically looking for them, its pretty easy to miss.
Dear.... Well, presumably if you are in to classic games you are going to be in the loop with the new game releases.
+tarstarkusz Those are clones/remakes of games, the ones in the video are unique and original
♪ When a grid's misaligned
With another behind
That's a moiré... ♫
As a graphic designer I just want to commend whoever designed the package art for the game The Bear Essentials. It’s really well done.
And I have to disagree with you David, I think the clear case is kinda nice looking.
Thank you - glad you like it! :)
Go Vanja!
“ uses a commodore to develop 4k games for an atari “ and i thought i was badass for programing in gentoo linux
Oh , i almost forgot , like if you want the 8 bit guy to try programming games on linux
How is it "badass" to program on gentoo?
Assembloids has also a C64 version, so it makes sense. I wonder how much code reuse was there.
Basically none. For C64 there was much more RAM available so things like complete window checks needed rewrites from scratch. However, much of the experience in fine tuning difficulties was used from C64.
Either you had some really specific hardware requirements or you love tedium.
I have to say the music in the intro to bear essentials is really great.
"i'm actually working on a game myself which i'll reveal more about at a later date" i just love how much dedication & love you put into petscii robots!
I really loved the "Pond" Logo (recognized the similarity with the Ocean Logo from the start) and as a former Sinclair Spectrum owner I can only say: hats off to the rendition of the first level of Manic Miner.
I love the fact that the side of the box on the Bitt Boy says 300 games, but the unit only has 129.
That same company contacted me for the Bit Boy review and I told them to go jump in a lake.
For the same reason or some other reason?
They asked me to pay $35 to ship it. So I said "No Thanks." They contacted me again almost two weeks later like they had never contacted me before. Same exact email. I said "Send me one." They said "$35 shipping." I added them to my SPAM list. Quite honestly, I assumed they were just scammers.
I got some odd messages from them as well, from three separate accounts, and the whole thing just seems strange. It's not the kinda device I'd talk about anyway, but the frequent emails and unusual demands also made me not want to cover the device out of principle.
The fact the bitboy interface looks like a bootleg 129 in 1 cartridge kinda rubs me the wrong way.
$35 shipping for this? Couldn't they just put it in a flat mailer and make it like $25?
assembloids looked so addictive. I was seeing moves before you played them, im gonna have to get this
It may look cheap when I say so, but I think it is really addictive :)
You can check this thread here for some gamer's experience:
atariage.com/forums/topic/267854-assembloids2600-highscore-chart/
glad to see people still developing retro games, so much to do with so little hardware.
The 'octopus thing' in the bear essentials is probably a tick.
I think so too!
Dang.. thats a BIG tick!
My personal theory - and I'm not sure Graham agrees with me - is that the giant flies and spiders (and ticks/woodlice?) are all shown onscreen the way they appear in Bear's imagination. He has turned the chore of collecting apples into a game. The little spider he is distracted by on the front cover turns into a giant spider trying to sabotage his apple collecting, in his imagination. "Oh no, the big scary spider got me, I better lie down for a bit and recover"
@@pondsoftware Sounds like a Commander Keen nightmare.
That review of the Bit Boy was hilarious, love it! I also love how you got the programmer have a segment in the video, excellent.
I really like your honesty with the products that are sent to you. It's a glass of fresh water here on youtube when all you see is people giving positive reviews for the sake of free products and maybe some money.
I was about to order 2 Bitt Boys for my nieces for Christmas when you told your story about how they treated you. Decided not to buy them.
soren123 that’s dumb
if you want a good console for your nieces. buy an psp. there are white coloured and even pink versions. just download bunch of games and emulators.
soren123 right choice because they actually have some pirated ROMs on there and I don't even own a bittboy
Stay away from it. There are only like 10 playable and unmodified games on there. The rest are hacked bootlegs.
@@theshankman8682
I know this is a late reply, but... why pink? Isn't that rather presumptuous of you (and a little sexist) that things have to be pink for girls? I'm sure you didn't mean it that way and it's likely because of our stupid western culture that pushes these gender-defining junk onto our kids; programming them to be perfect binary archetypes, like we're all just automatons without unique personalities.
''I am from BittBoy Company and I want to know when will you make a more detailed review of our product?''
The e-mail 8-Bit Guy will keep getting for the next 7 years.
Shut the fuck up. Nobody cares about the low quality plastic bricks you make
@@jazzius He's making a joke lol
Thanks for your video. I like the Bear Essentials game as it appears to be very polished and it looks like a fun game to get kids of all ages interested in the C64. I think the thing that you described as an octopus is likely a wood louse which are very commonly found in decaying wood in the UK and as bears live in the woods that would make sense. I'm surprised that Nintendo and other software companies haven't 'stamped' on the Bittboy handheld you reviewed if there are licencing issues regarding the pre-installed software as many of their retro titles are still available to buy for a number of their recent systems.
I like your woodlouse theory! :)
The content of this channel is so rich!
pspslimicesilver agreed
Your new intro is the best music I've heard in ages and I'd love to hear the rest of it if there is more.
Psyq Watts You can find it here: soundcloud.com/eox-studios/morning-dew :)
Anders Enger Jensen Anderz your music is so good
Right? It makes me feel warm and fuzzy.
Anders Enger Jensen thanks for sharing Andres
Kinda hard... since I don't play guitar very well. ;)
I used to do Amazon reviews for an up and coming tech company and I was the first person they ever enlisted to do the reviews and once they grew they became that way and eventually I stopped hearing from them and products they said they shipped I never received.
I felt towards the end of my time with them when they would bug me twice a day about reviews not being posted ( sometimes I had already posted them but they didn’t seem to get that).
So I am glad you got to review the Bit-boy but completely understand your frustration.
That rant at the end with the Dobby clips LOL
That was a great snap for them to not make a whole video about just their product but to include the detailed review in this video ;). Nicely done David.
I have to say, this is the only channel that I really get excited about. The quality, time, and dedication put into the videos are exceptional. Love your content, keep up the great work man!
That second packaging idea is actually really a good idea. You could have a reference card or other material setup nicely while running the program in the machine. Brilliant idea!
Oh my god I love his honesty. Bitt Boy shouldn't have been so pushy lol!
I love how real you came at that 8 bit boy company makes me love your vids even more
The BitBoy battery actually says ONLY WITH GAME BOY ADVANCE so yep, an actual GBA battery is used lolol @11:33
rkotm Why does it say it's only for the Game Boy Advance SP? It's also for the Bittboy!
It means they stole the battery. Nintendo should sue these hacks because I'm pretty sure stealing components from an existing product is an infringement of some kind.
@@CidSilverWing Well they steal roms from nintendo too, so, Game Over?
@@CidSilverWing ?
@@CidSilverWing Stealing? It's not stealing if you own the parts.
13:20 thank you for not lying by omission and letting users that might be interested know, also including your inference (about customer service).
Bear Essentials looks fantastic! Reminds me of Creatures in its mechanics and aesthetic.
Interesting how they treat you, and you are still kind enough to review their product
8:00 Isn't that "In the Hall of the Mountain King"?...Playing at light speed? Awesome, that must have been pretty difficult to do with the SID chip!
That music's also in Manic Miner, the game that level is mimicking.
Out of all your intros over time, I have to say this one is the best.
When will you review the bitboy ? :)
He'll show it in a video on August first, and go into a more detailed review on August 9th.
Ok Thanks.
When will you review the bitboy ?
You'll see it in an unboxing video on the 1st, with a more detailed review a week later.
Yeah, OK, but when will you review the bitboy?
Julien Itard I hear it is really bad, the plastic is cheap it have a fake micro SD card slots, the info on the box is untrue
The 2600 and C64 games reviews ... Very very cool. Brought a smile. Thanks for sharing.
Never too late to enjoy those systems ;-)
Ok, the 2600 cart is impressive but I can see small run 3D printing and such covering it and the innards. Where in the hell did they get brand new working 5.25" disks? That's good. Also I like it, "POND" as a piss take of the old "Ocean" logo :d
We prefer to think of it as a tribute :) Surprisingly, new old stock 5,25" disks are not that hard to find if you know where to look!
It's a really good tribute :D The whole thing so incredibly well done, I hope it sells well for you guys.
Thank you! :) We've sold over 400 copies of the floppy disk version so far, which is about 350 more than expected!
+Pond Software I was very impressed what you did there, I don't have a C64 but I do have a C64 emulator for DOS to definitely try it on.
Also I'd recommend putting a Donate button on your site too so others can contribute for your hard work!
+Kippykip Thank you! :) We're non-profit, but we could add links to our favourite charities instead perhaps, then people could choose to donate to one of those if they enjoy the free downloads. We're donating the extra money from the physical versions of The Bear Essentials to an organisation that rescues and cares for bears in Asia.
I love that people are making games for retro systems!!! Coolest thing ever
those bears had some sick dance moves.....
I just have to say, I really love your newer intro. It feels like I'm about to watch some kind of educational program from the early 90s.
The bitboy has a micro sd card slot, but it has nothing in there, and the box said it came with 300 games, but it actually comes with 129...
You are too pure for this world, 8 bit guy. Keep making vids.
Hell new 8-Bit Guy video! Oh wait, it's 11pm... ah screw it sleep can wait
Simon Richard I hate sleeping, so I end up staying up watching these videos.
well I hope that's not gonna give you too much problem in the long run
Both of them games are quite impressive. Very well done.
That Bitboy, IPS panel, aside is just a dime-a-dozen generic chinese bootleg all-in-one console that are pushed out by the billions.
I'm surprised the producers are now going out of their way to try and push them more aggressively rather than just selling them on ali express or taobao.
Dude, I love your videos, as a restorer, I like the little tips and tricks I have learned from this channel!
For an Atari 2600 game, it looks technically perfect.
It's not ugly, it's easy on the eyes and everything is clean and sharp.
Nice work.
IPS screen? A new type of lcd screen? My cheap 27" from 3 years ago is an ips screen.
Kind of weird that you off all people isn't familiar with this "old" piece of technology.
Thank you for your kind words! Highly appreciated :-) Do you still have a VCS?
Yesssss, I still have one.
Loaded with Mario Bros (I love it, a nice port), Double dragon ( hmmm... Nothing to see here. Let's say it's... a nice attempt), and Radar Lock (a really nice and well done Afterburner-like game ).
Again, good job with the game. You nailed it perfectly.
I love the fact it doesn't look "flat". Good use of colors and nice title screen.
And it's addicting, ha ha.
Kudos to you man.
( if you see mistakes, please point them out, I'm french :p )
Feel free to review it on atariage :) My I quote you one day? hehe.
Feel invited to review/vote it ;-)
atariage.com/store/index.php?l=product_detail&p=1094
Hi Martin :)
Hi. Thanks for sharing. That's amazing achievement. Looks like the Atari 2600 is catching up to the Dreamcast's longevity when it comes to having new games still being published for it. (Also, it's great we kept some boxed, original PC titles like Windows 95 and an NBA game.) God bless, Proverbs 31
This bittboy thing is actually a pirate cart rom flashed into a chinese handheld NES clone.
If you want something official. get an NES mini and tape screen along battery pack to it and carry it everywhere.
No. Just No
When I was in high school, I remember one of my friends would bring in these "4K Competition" submissions, which were various graphic demos, which were no larger than 4KB in size, but were still quite impressive... you talking about the size limit on the 2600 made me think of those...
I thought your C64 broke down during the LCD screen episode.
He has a lot of spare C64s lying around
twistedyogert It was the power supply and he fixed it.
Internet Ranger I didn't know C64s could lie. Maybe they have become more intelligent nowadays.
Yes and no - he did fry some LCDs, but he said that he disconnected the C64 as soon as he discovered that the PSU spits out too many volts.
He said it was "totally dead" - but I understood it as "It's not doing anything" which is not the same as "dead" (if that makes sense).
If was a indeed a complete goner then disconnecting it stat wouldn't have made much of a difference. Maybe it's not a complete goner and fixable, but only the almighty 8BitGuy would be able to answer this question once and for all. :-)
My guess is that he has a couple more of them kicking around - or that he can breathe new life into a "broken" one.
He's also using Bwack's "C64 Saver" so the same doesn't happen again
Great reviews! I love a lot of the new homebrews from Atariage. From what I've read there nobody is making new 2600 shells outside of home 3D printing. So they are reusing old shells of common 2600 games like Combat and Pac-Man.
I wouldn't buy a Bit Boy, the company sounds shitty, not to mention those games are probably not the most legal.
JCreazy yeah, you can do exactly the same thing with like a GCW zero or any other portable emulator, except those have more functions
Unless Nintendo starts printing old NES carts, the only ones who have to worry about the "legal" portion are those who are selling the item. Downloading the old ROMs is frowned upon but "usually" overlooked, selling them however...
FuturePants, really i think it was more that he wasn't that interested in doing a thorough review of it any longer with the way the company had treated him.
You won't be the one getting your door busted down.
I think its a awesome way to let you're kids experience the games you did enjoy when you were a kid.
I love it when people create new games for old consoles, but not fan of destroying an old game cartridge to create a homebrew
The Bitboy - Designed in China, sold under the radar. While emulation itself isn't illegal, redistributing copyrighted digital content like ROMs for purchase either in part or packaged with something else is.
The box of The Bear Essentials is gorgeous.
You ought to ask them how they got their used floppy disk to look so new again, or how they got a factory to start making floppies again, since there's a video here that tells us that all factories of (at least standard) floppy disks have ceased production of them.
We'd don't use used floppies for our games, we use new old stock floppies, and each one is tested for errors during the copying. It's true that 5,25" floppies aren't being made anymore, but there are tons of old sealed unused stock for sale if you know where to look :)
Oh wow, a reply from the software makers themselves, cool, thanks! Well, not just 5.25" ones were discontinued. The video showed a bunch of 3.5" standard ones as well. Okay then, how did you find big enough stashes of "new" old stock disks for your project (guessing that many people would want this like I do)?
A friend in the UK has an online shop selling old software and hardware - he actually had some unopened bags of unnotched disks, we bought pretty much his entire stock of those. I had to modify one of my disk drives to be able to write to the disks without notching them first. We've also bought disks from some American companies and various ebay sellers, for future releases. www.floppydisk.com has a bunch of unused disks for sale (both 5,25" and 3,5") and this ebay seller has lots of really cheap KAO 5,25" disks: www.ebay.co.uk/itm/KAO-MINI-FLOPPY-DISKS-5-25-CARTON-WITH-TOTAL-OF-100-DISKS-10-BOXES-10-IN-EACH-/272710329405?hash=item3f7ecd643d:g:JYMAAOSwPWRZOxH-
Oh, yeah, I've had someone help me mod a 1541 for no-notch writing ("flippy-disk-without-the-puncher") before (about 25 years ago), as well as adding a device-number switch (about 30+ years ago, and it was nice when the newer Commodore drives came with their own switches for that). So how did your friend know where to go? I guess just do a search and there are pockets of people putting them up. How would there be so many brand-new-condition ones (NOS) still around, these days?
I'm not sure where he got them from in the first place - they're probably leftover stock from some software company, because as far as I know completely unnotched disks weren't really sold to the average user.
Here's an interesting article on the owner of floppydisk.com, saying he bought half a million 5,25" disks a few years ago:
www.digitaltrends.com/computing/why-do-floppy-disks-still-exist-the-world-isnt-ready-to-move-on/
Great channel man, that bear game was highly reminiscent of Creatures and Creatures II.
To be honest...For a company that makes money off of stealing software...That's the kind of shady attitude I'd expect. I wasn't shocked or surprised in the least. :P (edit: in response to the bit boy)
It may already have a lot, but this channel needs more subscribers
whenever I see a video by The 8 Bit Guy I stop whatever I am doing to watch it.
Even surgery?
He's like PrimitiveTechnology, only with slightly less primitive technology. :p
To balance things out, I usually wait a few days.
So, wait, what happens when you're watching a video by The 8-Bit Guy, and you see a link for another The 8-Bit Guy video pop up?
Lovbe the manic miner easter eggs and the act that you get to play through one! 8:00
As far as where do the carts come from, AtariAge offers 50 cents for each atari cart mailed in and they use them for this purpose. So the reason they look like a real Atari cart is that it IS a real Atari cart.
So... Old games had to die in order to make new ones? Hmm.. I don't like the sound of that. I hope they were at least crap games that they dismantled.
Oh yeah, they are the one dollar commons. Combats, Pac-Men, and the like give their lives so that new games can live! :)
@@GuppyCzar also the pcbs are new as i remember a forum talk where a guy mentioned he makes pcbs for atari age.
I love your reviews so far - so straightforward!
Am I just weird, or does it bug anyone else that in the new intro the label on the disk says 'LOAD "*", 8' and when he inserts the disk into the computer he types 'LOAD "$", 8'?
LMacNeill That was later for the directory listing.
That Bear game reminds me a lot of the graphics and music from the Creatures games by Thalamus for C64.
No comment on how the box says it has 300 games and the one you have is only 129? Apparently some reviewers of them have gotten ones that have the 300
For a unknown reason, I have a strange need to translate this video to Spanish, More people deserve to know this content!
Yeah very cool
I'm surprised you hadn't heard of an IPS display! IPS has been used in TVs and monitors for some time.
Plus Apple has been touting it for years in their products, including the iPhone he mentioned in the video
Somehow that C64 game reminds me a lot of the Amiga Title "UGH!"... love it :)
Assembloids is ofc also available for the Commodore 64 on all formats, cartridge (RGCD), disk and tape (Psytronik). If you like to play new games for the C64, then please do support the community by buying from these companies - they have fairly low prices compared to many other homebrew kickstarters and whatnot we see a lot of these days.
Aye, new C64 games are generally quite affordable :)
Came here for the odd nostalgia whiplash of seeing new games for old systems. Didn't expect to get misty-eyed over the iPhone 6; seeing that Home button made me pine for the old days.
The animation of the bear really, really reminds me of C.R.E.A.T.U.R.E.S. I wouldn't be surprised if the bear had the exact same silhouette as the player character in that game.
agree.. :).. and some of the creatures reminds me of team 17's excellent title "SuperFrog"
The backgrounds in the demo version did the same. Looks like they used a dump of some of Creatures graphics as a placeholder and then replaced (most of) them.
I'm pretty sure Graham drew those himself - he is a big fan of the Thalamus games (including Creatures 1 and 2), though, and some Thalamus characters do appear in the game as bonus life pickups (with kind permission from Andy Roberts of Thalamus).
I'm sure he did. The same approach of using copied assets as placeholders and then replacing them with original art worked pretty well with Freedom Planet too.
Whenever I put my hands on a C64 that bear essentials game will be one of my first game purchases!
Is Rayar's Amplitude the song in the end? If so, then where can we get it?
I'm trying to find it but is impossible.....
Same here. Hence why I am asking The 8-Bit Guy! :(
I do not know where to find it. He sent it to me directly.
David, can you ask him about where to hear that track? thanks in advance!
Excellent objective review... Keep it up. Your viewers will respect you for that!
A Gameboy (or clone) without Tetris how could they?
His method of creating the game on the 64 and sending it to the Supercharger is genius! There are also complete IDEs for creating programs on the 2600 that run on Windows and other OSes, but the Supercharger method is the most interesting (plus, you'll know for sure if it works on a REAL 2600!)
Was the Bitboy maker a Chinese because that sounded like normal Chinese way of handling business with the same question and not understanding what you replied to them every-time.
Undoubtedly Chinese.
RUclips is not availible in china so it wouldnt make sense why they would want to sponsor RUclipsrs, as well as the fact that NES games were never sold much in China becuase of regulations. It's not impossible for them to be manufactured in China but the company itself probably isn't Chinese
wow...
Pixel Bytes most people in china trying to reach an international market probably just have a vpn
@@Harryofbath Im aware of that but its just not economical to reach to a western market in a method like that
Moral of the story: don't irritate the person you ask to review your product.
This one was made in 2017 WHICH IS STILL THIS YEAR
It's now 2020 and your comment says dated from 1 year ago. What year are you living in...?
In light of the information about the company that sent you the Bitboy... the title of your video is absolutely hilarious and...
trying to get you to pay shipping high enough to cover the cost of actually buying one? pretty sure bitboy was trying to make you a customer first. they still look cool though and i might buy one
PSP with PRO-CFW 6.60 C2 firmware on it is more than enough for most emulation needs. With SNES9x TYL, gbSP Kai, NesterJ, Daedalus X64, and PicoDrive you're good to go for SNES, Gameboy/Gameboy Color/Gameboy Advance, NES, N64, and Genesis games. For C64 and DOS there's VICE and DOSBox-PSP, but both are limited in what they can play due to CPU speed limitations since the PSP only runs at 333MHz max.
+VulpesHilarianus ^^^ I agree, having a modded PSP is definitely the way to go. The PSP 1000-2000 models are a lot easier to install CFW.
Not to mention there's also the PSX2PSP converter that allows you to play PS1 games on sony's official emulator for the system.
Don't.
If you want to play NES games, just do it on your TV with a Pi Zero.
but i want a portable device that i don't have to worry about/ distract me from using a cell phone and draining my communication device. i have an nes already so i don't need a tv solution
From what I've experienced the 3DS emulators aren't as stable as those on the PSP since the processor's slower and can't be throttled. Though on the upside you do have less stuttering in 3D games since it has more RAM. Most people will be looking for up to 16-bit emulation anyways, and in that fight the PSP definitely wins.
EDIT: Forgot to mention that you can pick up a PSP with a 4GB MemoryStick Pro Duo at a yard sale for $20 these days. So that's an edge that the 3DS doesn't have.
That was cool! I am impressed by the logo animation in the first game.
Bitt Boy reminds me of that shitty Polystation multicart bootleg.
You don't need special hardware to write to write-protected disks, just need to install an override switch on the optical detector. But I like the professional packaging of both games. I think the plastic calendar stand thingy is really clever.
Crap I realized at the end that it said uploaded 19 seconds ago. :P
LOL! No company should make you pay for shipping to review a product. This is what you get from companies who don't have PR experience or who have junior PR members with little to zero previous experience dealing with press and influencers. I'm sorry you had a not so savory experience with that company. Either way, really cool channel. Subscribed. :)
Are the games on the last product legal???
Almost certainly not
ELMER SALGUERO
No
NOPE
No, but Nintendo would have a tough time pursing the Chinese manufacturer.
flashg30 no.
Tactile buttons! Thank you for saying that. Recently I've played again with my psvita and oh boy what a joy it is compared to touching phone screens
So is this the more detailed review of BittBoy? ; )
Just joking, don't go banging your head. lol
I don't know if you'd have any interest, but I've been collecting for the MSX system these past two years or so, and not only has it been an absolutely wonderful (albeit expensive!) pastime, it's also opened the door to perhaps *the* most extensive homebrew community out of any retro system I've ever seen. Seriously, the sheer number of modern homebrew titles released for the MSX and MSX2 -- primarily on cartridge, but also on disk and even cassette tape -- is kind of staggering, and they tend to be of overall exceptional quality. I own over 20 such games at this point, and the majority of them were created after 2012, with I'd say half of them being made in the last 2 years alone.
I actually think the MSX would be an awesome system for you to cover, and I could easily see you getting pretty addicted to it. So if you ever have a chance to get your hands on one (be it MSX1, MSX2, MSX2+, or MSX turboR), I highly recommend you snap it up! You won't regret it.
$35 to ship? And they emailed every few days? Unprofessional and off-putting. They keep it up, they won't last very long with that attitude.
Martin Wendt! He also made Caren and the Tangled Tentacles for the C64, that guy is a continuous surprise to me :D
Maybe the developers of the Bit Boy thingy are Chinese or Japanese or maybe from other country and they don't speak or understand English very well or they are using Google Translator.
Definitely Chinese. You can tell the back of the BitBoy box says the games are "in English and no Chinese".
Great reviews. Keep it real & honest like that. I'm a huge fan and it's in part because of your honesty. No need to do paid reviews and what not like some others. Just proper, quality content.
i wouldn't say "no need for paid review" as long as the review is fair.
Ashens..
Ass ends?!
+Abel Lujan The hell does "Ashends.." mean?!... 12:41AM 8/10/2017
Ashens is another RUclipsr, who also did a review of the BittBoy.
I've been working on a new Atari 2600 RPG and documenting it on my channel. The cartridge you received would have been recycled from a real Atari 2600 cartridge. That's why it looks so authentic - because it is. :) Usually they remove the old labels from common games like Combat or Defender and reapply the new labels. I ran into issues when it came time to actually get my game on a cartridge so I've ended up making my own from scratch. It's a deep deep rabbit hole and I'm still down there.
Hmm, I can't help but think that you should remove the Bittboy part of the review, at least until we can get some confirmation that they've licensed the games (very, very unlikely). I'm not sure if ninty could take your videos down based on this, but it's sort of morally questionable to review a product filled with possibly pirated content. Not blaming 8-Bit Guy though, and I hope this doesn't discourage future review videos!
he clearly said that on the video, he doesn't condone illegal rom usage
My point was that perhaps he shouldn't show it at all.
We do.
Nintendo sells them on virtual console.
It's one thing to download the games that are completely impossible to get elsewhere, but it's another to profit from them without the owner's consent. That's theft.
Great vid once again! Also, I think the "Pond" logo has more layers to the joke. Ocean made a game back in the day called James Pond about a secret agent fish. Somehow I seem to remember James Pond 2: Robocod had a similar logo in-game to joke about their own publisher if I'm not mistaken. At any rate, Ocean and Pond had links already in the 90's and I got a real nostalgic feeling seeing that great logo!