Chris Covell
@chriscovell.bsky.social
I'll be posting retro gaming, retrocomputing, and retro dev stuff.
Canadian living in Japan
https://www.chrismcovell.com/
Canadian living in Japan
https://www.chrismcovell.com/
The Musashi-Sakai HardOff also had some nice cassettes (Real Life, yes, with "Send Me an Angel" on it) etc. but they were a mad 2700 yen each. Also, the Yamaha MIDI boombox that runs on 3.5" floppy disks. Anyway, goes to show you should take those chances even on a rainy day. Carpe Diem and all that
November 17, 2025 at 12:10 AM
The Musashi-Sakai HardOff also had some nice cassettes (Real Life, yes, with "Send Me an Angel" on it) etc. but they were a mad 2700 yen each. Also, the Yamaha MIDI boombox that runs on 3.5" floppy disks. Anyway, goes to show you should take those chances even on a rainy day. Carpe Diem and all that
I needed a backup or replacement Dingoo since my white one's screen was cloudy & f*cked up, and the battery was puffy though working. Sadly, the battery in the new Dingoo was dead. I ordered the closest-sized battery I could find online, did replacement surgery, and it appears to work great!
November 16, 2025 at 11:56 PM
I needed a backup or replacement Dingoo since my white one's screen was cloudy & f*cked up, and the battery was puffy though working. Sadly, the battery in the new Dingoo was dead. I ordered the closest-sized battery I could find online, did replacement surgery, and it appears to work great!
That HardOff actually had what I'd been looking for for a while, unbelievably: a black Dingoo A320 for cheap!
The Dingoo is an emulation+MP3 player from *2009* but whose OldPlay software on its Dingux OS is *really great* for old game music playing (SID,NSF,VGM,GBS,HES,SPC,KSS...)
The Dingoo is an emulation+MP3 player from *2009* but whose OldPlay software on its Dingux OS is *really great* for old game music playing (SID,NSF,VGM,GBS,HES,SPC,KSS...)
November 16, 2025 at 11:51 PM
That HardOff actually had what I'd been looking for for a while, unbelievably: a black Dingoo A320 for cheap!
The Dingoo is an emulation+MP3 player from *2009* but whose OldPlay software on its Dingux OS is *really great* for old game music playing (SID,NSF,VGM,GBS,HES,SPC,KSS...)
The Dingoo is an emulation+MP3 player from *2009* but whose OldPlay software on its Dingux OS is *really great* for old game music playing (SID,NSF,VGM,GBS,HES,SPC,KSS...)
One night in late October I had planned a look around Nakano Broadway and one more HardOff stop just to see what was there. The HO in Musashi-Sakai looked small & played 2nd fiddle to a wholesale supermarket. I almost skipped it, since it would be a 1.8km walk in the pouring rain at night. But...
November 16, 2025 at 11:45 PM
One night in late October I had planned a look around Nakano Broadway and one more HardOff stop just to see what was there. The HO in Musashi-Sakai looked small & played 2nd fiddle to a wholesale supermarket. I almost skipped it, since it would be a 1.8km walk in the pouring rain at night. But...
A stop by HardOff also found me this 3.5" floppy disk case, unused and unopened for 297 yen :) Stylish and useful, but it's already full now!
November 15, 2025 at 12:40 PM
A stop by HardOff also found me this 3.5" floppy disk case, unused and unopened for 297 yen :) Stylish and useful, but it's already full now!
Stop by HardOff after work. I thought this Sanyo PH-WCD800 boombox (missing speakers) was rather handsome, though apparently it's from 1987, when boring blackness was beginning to take over. I like its wide dual cassette doors & feature maximalism, such as an LED spectrum analyzer on the tape door!
November 15, 2025 at 12:31 PM
Stop by HardOff after work. I thought this Sanyo PH-WCD800 boombox (missing speakers) was rather handsome, though apparently it's from 1987, when boring blackness was beginning to take over. I like its wide dual cassette doors & feature maximalism, such as an LED spectrum analyzer on the tape door!
I was switching between Famicom & PCE/TG16 games and was annoyed at how PCE screens were shifted to the left compared to Fami. So I did some measurements: the Fami's active pixels start ~7.6us after the end of HSync while the PCE's can be 7.0us (early) or 8.47us (late), but never the same as Fami :/
November 10, 2025 at 11:37 PM
I was switching between Famicom & PCE/TG16 games and was annoyed at how PCE screens were shifted to the left compared to Fami. So I did some measurements: the Fami's active pixels start ~7.6us after the end of HSync while the PCE's can be 7.0us (early) or 8.47us (late), but never the same as Fami :/
In 2005, I translated the fun Game Gear game Head Buster to English, and recently I found the game boxed w/ manual. So, here's the manual transcribed & translated, giving lots of details about weapon stats, movement, etc.
www.chrismcovell.com/HeadBusterEn...
(www.chrismcovell.com/HeadBusterEn...)
www.chrismcovell.com/HeadBusterEn...
(www.chrismcovell.com/HeadBusterEn...)
November 9, 2025 at 12:10 AM
In 2005, I translated the fun Game Gear game Head Buster to English, and recently I found the game boxed w/ manual. So, here's the manual transcribed & translated, giving lots of details about weapon stats, movement, etc.
www.chrismcovell.com/HeadBusterEn...
(www.chrismcovell.com/HeadBusterEn...)
www.chrismcovell.com/HeadBusterEn...
(www.chrismcovell.com/HeadBusterEn...)
And at another HardOff there was an original F-Zero slot car racing set from TOMY from the early '90s... cool but a ridiculous price on this one
October 31, 2025 at 2:22 AM
And at another HardOff there was an original F-Zero slot car racing set from TOMY from the early '90s... cool but a ridiculous price on this one
I went on a little walking trip to a relatively new HardOff in Zama. Pretty bleh there, though they did have a *really* grimy but unique General/Paxon MSX1 built into a TV. RF inputs only, but the article I have here says the internal MSX connection was RGB, so it should have been a sharp display.
October 31, 2025 at 2:09 AM
I went on a little walking trip to a relatively new HardOff in Zama. Pretty bleh there, though they did have a *really* grimy but unique General/Paxon MSX1 built into a TV. RF inputs only, but the article I have here says the internal MSX connection was RGB, so it should have been a sharp display.
The pre-Transformer Soundwave, known as "Cassetteman" in the Microchange series, has been selling for almost-mad amounts on Yahoo Japan. So, to assuage those pangs, I stitched together some photos and printed up a smaller-scale Cassetteman box, just for fun.
October 29, 2025 at 12:56 AM
The pre-Transformer Soundwave, known as "Cassetteman" in the Microchange series, has been selling for almost-mad amounts on Yahoo Japan. So, to assuage those pangs, I stitched together some photos and printed up a smaller-scale Cassetteman box, just for fun.
Yeahhh! I was playing through some FDS games randomly for an hour and popped in Gyruss FDS. I got a good stock of about 7 extra ships without dying once, then those damn random tentacle etc bosses came in. But I held out to the end and finished the game with 1 ship in reserve. 👍
October 13, 2025 at 1:22 AM
Yeahhh! I was playing through some FDS games randomly for an hour and popped in Gyruss FDS. I got a good stock of about 7 extra ships without dying once, then those damn random tentacle etc bosses came in. But I held out to the end and finished the game with 1 ship in reserve. 👍
Hey, you can get more of the original design with a little re-jigging. Here is a mock-up that should fit in the NES' constraints -- you can use sprites to touch up other areas that stand out.
October 10, 2025 at 12:35 AM
Hey, you can get more of the original design with a little re-jigging. Here is a mock-up that should fit in the NES' constraints -- you can use sprites to touch up other areas that stand out.
Laid up at home with a cold so I thought I'd play around once again with communicating with PC-Engines and Famicoms through RS-232/UART and doing fun stuff.
October 5, 2025 at 4:38 AM
Laid up at home with a cold so I thought I'd play around once again with communicating with PC-Engines and Famicoms through RS-232/UART and doing fun stuff.
Thanks for the scans. I love those late '90s GLs with devcarts, hacking hardware, etc. This one has a 60-pin Game Genie released by Realtec in Hong Kong.
September 24, 2025 at 5:57 AM
Thanks for the scans. I love those late '90s GLs with devcarts, hacking hardware, etc. This one has a 60-pin Game Genie released by Realtec in Hong Kong.
I bought Puzzle Boy for the GB recently, so here is a box scan, plus some of the art minus the hero, Poterin (ポテりん) in this Japanese version of Kwirk. The other characters are Nasubi-Kun (ナスビくん), Carota (キャロ太), P-Man (Ｐマン), and Tomato-Chan (トマトちゃん).
September 23, 2025 at 1:18 AM
I bought Puzzle Boy for the GB recently, so here is a box scan, plus some of the art minus the hero, Poterin (ポテりん) in this Japanese version of Kwirk. The other characters are Nasubi-Kun (ナスビくん), Carota (キャロ太), P-Man (Ｐマン), and Tomato-Chan (トマトちゃん).
Also here's a chart illustrating the curious situation I've found myself in:
September 21, 2025 at 2:14 AM
Also here's a chart illustrating the curious situation I've found myself in:
I managed to find cheaply a 110 film camera in a beat-up box that came with actual Kodak 110 film in its own beat-up box. Let's slot this thing in and see what shots we can get!
... (says here I'd better develop my prints before May 1988.)
... (says here I'd better develop my prints before May 1988.)
September 21, 2025 at 1:41 AM
I managed to find cheaply a 110 film camera in a beat-up box that came with actual Kodak 110 film in its own beat-up box. Let's slot this thing in and see what shots we can get!
... (says here I'd better develop my prints before May 1988.)
... (says here I'd better develop my prints before May 1988.)
A little drawing from the instruction manual of Puzzle Boy (US: Kwirk) on the GB.
September 19, 2025 at 12:11 AM
A little drawing from the instruction manual of Puzzle Boy (US: Kwirk) on the GB.
Psst... it might not be a complete map, but...
September 15, 2025 at 10:00 PM
Psst... it might not be a complete map, but...
I didn't buy much for myself at today's HardOff, but I loved the pastel '80s colours of this blank 10-min cassette, themed for making your own Karaoke tapes
September 15, 2025 at 1:46 PM
I didn't buy much for myself at today's HardOff, but I loved the pastel '80s colours of this blank 10-min cassette, themed for making your own Karaoke tapes
I took a trip to a new HardOff (Aikoishida) today and they had a nice antique & toy section. Obviously it was seeded with the stock from a shuttered old toy store because they had tons of '80s/'90s licensed kids' show goods. Game-adjacent ones were Wataru, GranZort, Solbrain, B-Daman, and Haadogumi.
September 15, 2025 at 1:42 PM
I took a trip to a new HardOff (Aikoishida) today and they had a nice antique & toy section. Obviously it was seeded with the stock from a shuttered old toy store because they had tons of '80s/'90s licensed kids' show goods. Game-adjacent ones were Wataru, GranZort, Solbrain, B-Daman, and Haadogumi.
Do you remember Nintendo Power's 'Purple Period'? 👀😶
It's a time from late '90~Apr '91 when many screenshots had a purple tint to them.
I don't think this was a printing error: more like their RGB NES for capture had a miscalibrated Green control.
Famimaga in Japan had similar problems at this time.
It's a time from late '90~Apr '91 when many screenshots had a purple tint to them.
I don't think this was a printing error: more like their RGB NES for capture had a miscalibrated Green control.
Famimaga in Japan had similar problems at this time.
September 14, 2025 at 2:32 AM
Do you remember Nintendo Power's 'Purple Period'? 👀😶
It's a time from late '90~Apr '91 when many screenshots had a purple tint to them.
I don't think this was a printing error: more like their RGB NES for capture had a miscalibrated Green control.
Famimaga in Japan had similar problems at this time.
It's a time from late '90~Apr '91 when many screenshots had a purple tint to them.
I don't think this was a printing error: more like their RGB NES for capture had a miscalibrated Green control.
Famimaga in Japan had similar problems at this time.
Alright, so I've listed the regional differences I had known about in Super R-Type on The Cutting Room Floor. ✌️😄
tcrf.net/Super_R-Type
tcrf.net/Super_R-Type
September 1, 2025 at 12:48 AM
Alright, so I've listed the regional differences I had known about in Super R-Type on The Cutting Room Floor. ✌️😄
tcrf.net/Super_R-Type
tcrf.net/Super_R-Type
Screenshot Saturday: been playing Super R-Type on SFC. Why oh why did the US version swap out the beautiful view of the asteroid belt and Jupiter (? Saturn?) in the JP version for the generic TNG-intro-style purple and green planets?
August 31, 2025 at 1:30 AM
Screenshot Saturday: been playing Super R-Type on SFC. Why oh why did the US version swap out the beautiful view of the asteroid belt and Jupiter (? Saturn?) in the JP version for the generic TNG-intro-style purple and green planets?