Funky Monkey is back with the final part of The History of Turrican.

Beware, for ’tis a dark day… We conclude this whistle-stop tour of Turrican History with a look at the perils of Movie licences, and a sloppily converted game called Universal Soldier.

Oh! And if I get 300 views per video on all my History of Turrican Videos by January, I’ll start a second series, and go in-depth on some of the mentioned games! Tell your friends!

Follow Funky Monkey on Youtube and now Twitter.

Funky Monkey is back with the fifth part of The History of Turrican. This time it covers Turrican on Nintendo systems.

The History of Turrican continues with a side-quest into the realms of gaming giant Nintendo. Witness One man’s NES vision! Behold the beauty of Super Turrican! Gasp as Super Turrican 2 isn’t as good!

And watch out! The season finale is in 2 weeks!!!

Follow Funky Monkey on Youtube and now Twitter.

Here’s the second part of FunkyMonkey’s History of Turrican video. In this episode we get to the game itself. Released across Eight separate formats, This is Turrican!

(Part 1 of 2)

(Part 2 of 2)

Here’s a great Video from FunkyMonkey about Turrican, one of the greatest video games of all time .

Colin the Burmese cat turns 19, to appear at Bath Spa University.

Colin, a Burmese cat will appear alongside his owner, Allister Brimble (hundreds of audio tracks over the years including many of the early Team17 hits) at Bath Spa University this week.

Colin was perhaps one of the very first voice over artists to actually be an animal and provided the basis for many of the sound-effects that were to grace Team17′s break-out hit ‘Alien Breed’ in 1991, to which a glamorous next-gen sequel was launched on XBLA late last year.

We can assure everyone that Colin wasn’t harmed in the development of the game, but was ultimately ‘encouraged’ to make the mewling sounds which were finally mixed with elephant noises to create scary sounding Alien screams.

At 19 and a grand old 171 in cat’s years, it is currently unknown if Colin will star in any future titles and is getting busy doing very little in his Exeter retreat.Allister also penned a modern remake of his classic Alien Breed opening track, which features in “Alien Breed Evolution’s” credit section.

via Team17

You may have noticed this rather dramatic image. However don’t fear, I’m not acting out for the attention (well, at least not anymore than normal). It’s just a little note to say I’m going to be reducing the amount of time I spend on the internet, as I want to prioritise other areas of my life.  I’m going to try and manage my internet time more effectively so hopefully you won’t see a big change in the number of blogs posts.

One thing I want to be doing more is hitting the town on a Saturday night, and this I’ve been arranging nights out with my old mates. They are particularly hard bunch to pin down, but we enjoyed a great night out together and the end on last month. I’d forgotten my camera, so sadly I’ve got no pictures, but it was a really great night. We’ve got another night out planned for the end of this month.

I’ve recently knocked out some new ObscureInternet Posts, including a new three part scam baiter. Part one is available now and the next couple of parts will be up in the next two weeks.

Gaming wise, after playing Saints Row 2 almost to death (I’m about 82% complete, but all the stuff that’s left isn’t as fun as the rest so I’ll leave it for now) I’ve picked up a couple of new (and more importantly cheap) PS3 games, they are GTA IV and Metal Gear Solid 4: Cut scenes of the Patriots. Conor bought himself Lego Indiana Jones 2 for the PS3 and we also got Let’s Dance but I haven’t had a proper go of it yet.

The Animex International Festival of Animation and Computer Games is again taking place at Teesside University, and as part of this Conor got two tickets to see UP and the Cineworld in the town.

While we were at Cineworld we bumped into Darth Vader and  a few other Star Wars characters and I even managed to say the ‘Aren’t you a little short for a Stormtrooper?’ line and it was in context as he was about the same height as me.

The film itself was brilliant and despite seeing it in 2010 it is definitely my movie of 2009 (beating even District 9) and my been getting old and sentimental but those scenes at the beginning of the movie really got to me, also Russell is awesome.

You know what? Writing blog posts is rubbish, it’s such a bloody chore that I’ve got about 425 things I’d rather do, including wash the dishes, and that’s without really thinking about it, I could come up a few thousand more things I would rather do if I thought about it for another minute or so.

However, since I’m upset over Scribbler not updating mercuryvapour (and deleting a load of old posts) it would hypocritical of me not to do a proper personal blog post once in a while.

“So, what has happened since I last did a proper update?” I hear none of you ask. Well the answer is if you are bothered to read on the following is (in no particular order);

Built a Snowman

As the country ground to it’s annual halt because of a little snow earlier this month, I happy plodded along working from home. However as the old saying goes; When God gives you Lemons snow, you squeeze them in that fuckers eyes make snowmen.

Note the hat (mine) and the six pack (not mine).

Upgraded the PC

I finally ordered new parts for the Desktop PC as I’d manage to scrape up enough money and because the old parts were so knackered the PC was crashing to a Blue Screen of death on a daily basis.

The PC build (and reinstall of Windows 7) was as easy as Lemon Pie (like they say, when God gives you Lemons, you squeeze them in that fuckers eyes make Lemon Pie) the only slightly problem was my complete ignorance of the existence of SATA power cables. I had to pop out to computer shop to buy one, which was pretty stupid as later when examining my spares box, I found I three of them. I just didn’t know what they were when I put them in there.

PC runs like a dream now, I can actually have more than four tabs open in Chrome without the PC breaking down like a Eurostar train in a winter snowfall.

Read some books

Got a started on my Christmas books by reading through Charlie Brooker’s Screen Burn, which is laugh out loud funny (a rare thing for me), The Twenty Guiding Principles of Karate and Eric Bischoff’s Controversy Creates Cash, which I download read on the ebook reader (it still gets used, and I still love it) after watching Bischoff and Hogan’s return to Monday Night Wrestling with TNA.

I’m currently reading Charlie Brooker’s Dawn of the Dumb, and it’s every bit as funny Screen Burn.

Sort out my New years Resolutions

I’ve sorted out a my New years Resolutions for this year, they are the usual goals (stop being fat, do some work, have a life, etc), but this year I’m going to be smarter (no pun intended SMART goal fans), I’ve broken these goals into Monthly and Weekly targets which are documented and updated on a weekly basis. I’m also having a weekly meetings with a friend in which discuss, track and verbally commit to our weekly goals.

Also as mentioned previously the ObscureInternet forum, is has new a lose weight and get fit subforum, which is going very well at the moment.

Played Saints Row 2 on the PS3 far to much

I went out bought a game for the PS3 that I could play, this games was Saints Row 2 as it was a cheap and came highly recommended from my friends at the insideoutcast podcast. It’s definitely a lot of fun, and I’ve managed to knocked up almost 50 hours playing time in the last month alone.

Did some boring Internet stuff

I’ve done a fair amount of blogging this month, this will be my twenty post which is probably a new record for this blog, (look in up in the Archive, I can’t be arsed to). Last months myleene-klass-and-jonathan-shalit-are-full-of-shit post got an amazing response. It had a recording number of readers, was retweeted a lot, and was linked to by some pretty great blogs. I may do more of these ranting about real world stuff in future.

I’ve discovered Windows Live Writer, which I’m using to write this post. The drag and drop features are superb for things like images, and I imagine I will be using this a lot for future ObscureInternet posts.

Speaking of ObscureInternet, I’m still working on a new design, and looking at kicking off with some new articles shortly.

Nowt else interesting.

So that’s pretty much what I’ve been getting up to since new year, dull isn’t it. I’ll just rap this up by saying this post took about a day to write, so I hope you enjoy it.

The is the first post of Classic Amiga Games, where I look at some of my favourite Commodore Amiga Games.

Our first game was released in 1991 James Pond Robocod 2, is the second game to feature James Pond, (I never played the first one) and is an all time classic game, and not just for the Amiga. Robocod has been released on multiple platforms, it can be enjoyed on no less than 10 systems including the Commodore C64, MegaDrive/Genesis, SNES, Gameboy, Nintendo DS and PlayStation.

It is a platform game where our fishy hero must retrieve the Christmas toys Dr Maybe has stolen. This time however James Pond is now part fish, part machine, which gives the game it’s Robocod subtitle. Although rather than being a cyborg cop from the future, he has been armed with an Inspector Gadget-style stretch device, which he can use to view higher areas or claw onto ceilings so as to slide across them.

Before we getting into the game play, there is an interesting note about the game. The UK version of the game contained product placements for Penguin Biscuits, with most notably the Penguins providing the narrative during the introduction sequence.

The main game area is the outside of a castle. At first only a few doors are open, each leading to a level. Completing the levels opens up more doors. Each level has a distinctive theme, such as sporting goods, candy and aircraft. On each levels you must locate the items hidden by the Dastardly Dr. Maybe. There is a large number of brightly coloured and very well designed levels, so it’ll take a good few hours to play through the game. After completing two worlds (each of which has three sub levels), a big (but cute) boss must be faced. There are also Power-ups such as wings, (flying ability) and umbrellas (floating) to collect and the enemies are varied across the levels, and fit the theme for example the birds on the games level, have playing cards for wings. The game also has many hidden sections and a lot of levels had a secret exit, giving you plenty of reason to continue playing the game after you completed it.

The game has lovely colourful cute graphics, perfectly suited to this Christmas themed platformer. The Amiga version also benefits from a copper backdrop adding even more colour (the console versions suffered with repeating teddy bear backgrounds on a lot of levels, which could be confused with the teddy bear platforms which used the same graphic). It also has excellent music by the late great Richard Joseph, feature cute and bouncy circus music and some brillant and funny Robocop theme parodies.

In summary this an great example of what every platform game should be like. Colourful, cute, Charismatic, charming, original, imaginative and must of all fun. Check it out, with it being out for modern formats such as the Nintendo DS, you have no excuse to miss out.

I didn’t always have a Commodore 64, in fact I didn’t get a C64 until 1988 when my mother was left a small amount of money in by recently deceased uncle.  Before I got the c64 I did own it’s cheap and cheerful little sister a Commodore Plus/4 (connect to a black and white portible TV). The Plus/4 along with it’s brother the Commodore 16 were Commodore’s entry-level replacement the VIC-20. Unfortunately both computers were a big flop, and were discontinued very quickly.

The Plus/4 wasn’t as powerful as C64 despite a 75% faster  processor, a better basic language, and 115 colours (99 more than the c64), as it had no sprite capability and a much weaker sound chip, but this didn’t stop game developers creating some great games for both the Plus/4 and the C16.

Here’s some of the great games I enjoyed playing during those years.

Spore

Spore was an simplified Gauntlet clone style maze game. It was also available on the for the Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum, with the C16 version being exactly the same as the C64 version (except for the music) and in many ways better than the ZX Spectrum version released by Mastertronic in1987.

A great feature was the game included a level editor for users to create their own maps, which kept me happy for many hours.

A remake of Spore for PC is available from the tdbsoft website.

Kikstart

Kikstart  is a motorcycle trials racing videogame based on the BBC Television series of the same name.  The basic premise of the game is to control a bike using acceleration, braking, “hopping” and “wheelies” to navigate across a course of various obstacles, from ramps and gates to telephone boxes and tyres.

The commodore C16 version  of game, despite being inferior to the c64 version, was  so popular it was  recently converted to the C64.

Treasure Island

A release title for a Commodore Plus/4 (the game was not available for the C16),  obviously based on the book by Robert Louis Stevenson. In the game, the player takes on the role of Jim Hawkins, and has to battle through hordes of pirates before a final showdown with Long John Silver. The game view did not scroll, but used a flip-screen style.

None of the pirates moved around, but some of them would throw a cutlass at Jim if he moved in range. The pirate in question did not lose his cutlass if he does so – he always had another to use himself. A pirate would very rarely throw more than one cutlass. If Jim was hit by a cutlass thrown at him, or if he touched a pirate, he would lose a life and start again from the beginning of the screen. However, if he moved out of the way in time, the cutlass would land on the ground, and he would be able to throw it at a pirate of his choosing to kill him. A killed pirate disappeared, thus allowing Jim to pass.

This game was great fun and every bit as good as the ZX Spectrum, and Commodore 64 versions.

Way of the Exploding Fist

A commodore 16 game in which The player takes part in a series of one-on-one karate matches, all overseen by a wise old expert who appears somewhere in the background. Once the player defeats an opponent they move up to the next stage and a more difficult adversary. Fights were not won using the energy bar style found in modern fighting games but instead the player needed to get two complete yin-yang symbols. Any move that connected with the opponent would end the round, a loosely timed or borderline kick or punch would obtain half a yin-yang icon, while a well executed move would obtain a full icon. Two complete icons ends the bout and the player progresses to the next level.

The much better C64 version of the game was successfully converted to the Plus/4.

Icicles works

This  plus/4 only title was a boulder dash clone where you take the role of Santa Claus trying to retrieve his Christmas Presents, but watch out for those Polar Bears and Penguins one touch from them makes you explode into Christmas Presents.

This game was so much fun even my mother liked it and she still remembers it to this day. She wanted me to get it for the Nintendo DS that bought for her last birthday.

Commando

Commando was a Commodore 16 conversion of the Arcade game of the same name. Unlike the arcade this game did not scroll and only included five single screen levels. Despite this it was very difficult and I don’t think I ever completed it.

A plus/4 conversion of C64 version of the game has been created by the same guy who converted Exploding Fist

Saboteur

When you purchased Saboteur! you got two versions of this game. A C-16 version and an enhanced plus/4 only Version.

The plus/4 of the game is exactly the same as the other 8bit versions of the game, and it is therefore great looking game. The Commodore 16 version is frankly a load of old pants. The game was originally designed to run on computers with at least 48k of ram, so it looks terrible (see screenshots for details) and is missing elements, for example you cannot kill the guard dogs or use a joystick. This version occupies nearly every single byte of memory on the C16.

The player controls a saboteur, trained in ninja arts. His task is to break into a central security building (which is disguised as a warehouse) and steal a floppy disk that contains the names of all the rebel leaders. The saboteur arrives at the warehouse by rubber dinghy and must fight through the building to obtain the disk and then escape via a helicopter on the roof (optionally setting a bomb to destroy the building for bonus points). All of this must also be achieved against a time limit.

Finders Keepers

Finders Keepers was the first game in the Magic Knight series of games (the others being  Spellbound, Knight Tyme and Stormbringer) and was release as part of Mastertronic’s excellent 199 range (called because it only cost £1.99 to buy)

It’s a platform game with some maze sections. The hero starts in the King’s throne room and is transported, via a teleporter, to the castle. The castle is made up of two types of playing area: flick-screen rooms in the manner of a platform game and two large scrolling mazes.

The C64 version of the game has three possible solutions. Unfortunately they had to cut a lot of things out from the C16 version, so it end up with only one, but it was still a great game

Soccer Boss

This was the first Football Manager game I’ve ever owned. Sure, I had played Football Manager on the C64 and Spectrum, but this game was a generate beyond that, so it had lots more features. In it you start in the fourth division and have to take your team from the bottom to the top. the FA cup is in there too.  Winning the top division got your to play in European Cup, not that I ever did that.

The funny thing about this game is that it was written in basic. So you could break it, and re-write it if you wanted.

Spiky Harold

Spiky Harold was the first video game hedgehog and he was brought to us by Firebird software in 1986. In this classic 2D platform game you must help a Harold find enough food to go into hibernation for the winter.

Each of the chambers beneath the hedgerow contains an item of food which Harold can eat. However, he must avoid the creatures who will try to stop him, as well as conkers, sulphur clouds, bouncing balls and peeping periscopes. On his travels, Harold may find some coins which will give him extra lives, and wine glasses that will make him drunk.

A PC remake of the game is available to download

Tazz

Tazz is a little bloke from a cowboy company ‘Bug exterminators Unlimited/Unreliable’ who has been miniaturised into a computer to gate crash a wild party hosted by a really nasty bunch of bugs. All may look easy but it soon becomes obvious that those bugs have a slight personality clash with Tazz and given half a chance will give him the touch of death.

Mindless and very silly, but most of all fun.

Thrust

If you had a 8 bit computer you will have already heard of Thrust. It  is a classic 2D dimensional physics based game. The player’s aim is to maneuver a spaceship by rotating and thrusting, as it flies over a landscape and along corridors.  It was originally programmed on the  BBC Micro and Acorn Electron, but it was converted to most 8bit computer such as the  Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, Atari and Commodore 16 as well as the Vectrex and Atari 2600 game consoles. Due to the games simple concept all the versions of the game are pretty much the same, although the commodore C64 would probably be consider the best version as it had great peice of music from Rob Hubbard.