Sasha's Retrobytes 🏳️⚧️ (@sharkabytes.bsky.social) reposted
Chibi adventures in the lands of Sosaria. ⚔️ A peek at the artwork and more comical character styles of the Ultima III: Exodus guidebooks released in Japan.
Freelance Writer│Magazine Editor│UK VG & Anime Historian│🦈 fur │Transfem she/her│AuDHD │❤️ : @kitnibbles.bsky.social │Business Enq: curicuricreations@protonmail.com More info in pinned ❤️ : https://ko-fi.com/retrobytes ❤️ : patreon.com/SashasRetroBytes
22,093 followers 3,766 following 23,903 posts
view profile on Bluesky Sasha's Retrobytes 🏳️⚧️ (@sharkabytes.bsky.social) reposted
Chibi adventures in the lands of Sosaria. ⚔️ A peek at the artwork and more comical character styles of the Ultima III: Exodus guidebooks released in Japan.
Sasha's Retrobytes 🏳️⚧️ (@sharkabytes.bsky.social) reposted
"Welcome to EverQuest! You are in our world now!" It has been a looong ol' time since I last saw this tutorial screen. I dabbled a bit in the original Ultima Online but EverQuest was the first MMORPG I sank regular time in, a couple of days a week at a local net café that had this and Starcraft.
Sasha's Retrobytes 🏳️⚧️ (@sharkabytes.bsky.social) reply parent
Aww, neat! I've had fun tinkering with an old version of it. Really helps you understand 3D virtual spaces more.
Sasha's Retrobytes 🏳️⚧️ (@sharkabytes.bsky.social)
The unearthly beauty of mid-90s fractal worlds. Bryce3D, named so for Bryce Canyon, which inspired some of the first landscapes simulated by the software. 📖: HyperLib magazine, 1994.
Sasha's Retrobytes 🏳️⚧️ (@sharkabytes.bsky.social) reply parent
Ohhh not at all! I've got it lined up now for a watch too now myself.
Sasha's Retrobytes 🏳️⚧️ (@sharkabytes.bsky.social) reposted
When j-pop, anime, and western fantasy combine - Ultima III for Famicom! Richard Garriott confirmed several years back that an Exodus anime was made (though unbroadcast) and hinted that he had tapes of it. #VideoBytes
Sasha's Retrobytes 🏳️⚧️ (@sharkabytes.bsky.social) reply parent
Hey Zeggy <3
Sasha's Retrobytes 🏳️⚧️ (@sharkabytes.bsky.social)
If you enjoy reading more about the Dreamcast and its ambitions to be a fixture in your home and online life in the year 2000, check out my feature on them and the oh-so-cute mascot that personified it.
Sasha's Retrobytes 🏳️⚧️ (@sharkabytes.bsky.social) reply parent
Yeah! Very much so.
Sasha's Retrobytes 🏳️⚧️ (@sharkabytes.bsky.social) reply parent
Ooh neat! Have you been able to use it much?
Sasha's Retrobytes 🏳️⚧️ (@sharkabytes.bsky.social) reply parent
Totally!
Sasha's Retrobytes 🏳️⚧️ (@sharkabytes.bsky.social) reply parent
Yeah! It's one of my favourite shades of green, a dark jade.
Sasha's Retrobytes 🏳️⚧️ (@sharkabytes.bsky.social) reply parent
The Dream eye camera is an interesting little thing in its own right, released in September 2000. Images taken for email would be shrunk down to 240p resolution via the VMU before being attached and sent. The network and accessories expandable nature of the Dreamcast is always fascinating stuff.
Sasha's Retrobytes 🏳️⚧️ (@sharkabytes.bsky.social) reply parent
Ohh! I aha, I totally getcha. That's one peeps should remember, that at the time, translucent stuff for anything outside kids toys/electronics, and controllers was looked at as tacky. I'd have never bought a translucent green or red dvd player, hifi, or cd player.
Sasha's Retrobytes 🏳️⚧️ (@sharkabytes.bsky.social)
Objects of desire... The Divers 2000 CX-1 Dreamcast + TV combi, with network capabilities and DreamEye digital camera. Co-developed by Sega, CSK, and Fuji, it had a tiny production run, numbering just two hundred. The remote is essential as it's the only way to switch it into DC mode.
Sasha's Retrobytes 🏳️⚧️ (@sharkabytes.bsky.social) reply parent
Cheers! I'll keep that in mind.
Sasha's Retrobytes 🏳️⚧️ (@sharkabytes.bsky.social)
One of the neat things about old issues of EDGE (and by extension its twin Next Generation) is seeing all the vacancy listings from big game studios of the day. Eurocom's has such whimsy that I can't help but be immediately charmed by it. The Librarian from Discworld came to mind right away.
Sasha's Retrobytes 🏳️⚧️ (@sharkabytes.bsky.social) reply parent
Thank you, Timmy <3 Been a bit of a rough one, but on the up and up again now.
Sasha's Retrobytes 🏳️⚧️ (@sharkabytes.bsky.social) reply parent
I was catching up on Mega Drive in April/May after picking one up on the cheap as a gap-filler between finally giving up on Amiga and buying PlayStation. The cheaper prices for preowned MD games then def helped floof out a library of games.
Sasha's Retrobytes 🏳️⚧️ (@sharkabytes.bsky.social)
Ohh, this is such a cool timepiece! The early years of Gamestation from EDGE magazine, May 96. A long list of their pre-owned game prices, what they'll give you for cash, and their trade-in prices, which were generally very fair.
Sasha's Retrobytes 🏳️⚧️ (@sharkabytes.bsky.social) reply parent
Ahh neat! I've been digging through Dokan magazine and discs for the first time most of this year. Really cool things.
Sasha's Retrobytes 🏳️⚧️ (@sharkabytes.bsky.social) reply parent
Yeah, I think so too!
Sasha's Retrobytes 🏳️⚧️ (@sharkabytes.bsky.social) reply parent
Heyo! ^^
Sasha's Retrobytes 🏳️⚧️ (@sharkabytes.bsky.social) reply parent
Heya!
Sasha's Retrobytes 🏳️⚧️ (@sharkabytes.bsky.social) reply parent
Eyy, happy anniversary!
Sasha's Retrobytes 🏳️⚧️ (@sharkabytes.bsky.social) reposted
The dummy thicc equality of Ecstatica (DOS, 1994)
Sasha's Retrobytes 🏳️⚧️ (@sharkabytes.bsky.social)
Jeez, it's been a hectic day. Finally calming down now and getting chance to peek in and catch up. Good afternoon, y'all. <3
Sasha's Retrobytes 🏳️⚧️ (@sharkabytes.bsky.social) reposted
A quick peek into one of my familiar stomping grounds for late 90s/early 2000s anime multimedia CDROMs: DOKAN Magazine. Sweet slayers fandom and some of the most popular elves in 90s anime artwork action in the hefty gallery section.
Sasha's Retrobytes 🏳️⚧️ (@sharkabytes.bsky.social) reposted
A Gex by any other name is still a Spin Tail... New names (Spin Tail and Reno) and new vibes for the Japanese release of Gex: Enter the Gecko.
Sasha's Retrobytes 🏳️⚧️ (@sharkabytes.bsky.social) reposted
"Super consoles" of the last few years were on the menu of Bad Influence's Christmas 1994 episode - plus some tantalizing glimpses of the ones rolling out in Japan: Saturn and PlayStation. It's telling that they were already seen as going to 'take over' from the 3DO, CDi, and Jaguar. #VideoBytes
Sasha's Retrobytes 🏳️⚧️ (@sharkabytes.bsky.social) reposted
December 1995 - Resident Evil sighted! Always neat to turn a page in an old VG mag and come across early mentions of landmark titles. Survival horror hadn't yet been popularized as a term, so here it's called an arcade adventure, with Alone in the Dark as the only similar point of reference.
Sasha's Retrobytes 🏳️⚧️ (@sharkabytes.bsky.social) reply parent
What a hype moment and music
Sasha's Retrobytes 🏳️⚧️ (@sharkabytes.bsky.social) reposted
Friends since childhood, now attorney and client in an alternate 2016. Fresh out of law school, it's time for Phoenix Wright, future Ace Attorney, to step up and dramatically point. OBJECTION! Share your love for the Ace Attorney games, peeps. Which are your favourite games?
Sasha's Retrobytes 🏳️⚧️ (@sharkabytes.bsky.social) reposted
"Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should!" 10 PRINT "CLEVER GIRL" 📖: BYTE January 1986
Sasha's Retrobytes 🏳️⚧️ (@sharkabytes.bsky.social)
Going to give Dungeons & Television another shout out, a little indie YouTube anime project with short eps (one so far) and sweet world building, artwork, and premise.
Sasha's Retrobytes 🏳️⚧️ (@sharkabytes.bsky.social)
A quick peek into one of my familiar stomping grounds for late 90s/early 2000s anime multimedia CDROMs: DOKAN Magazine. Sweet slayers fandom and some of the most popular elves in 90s anime artwork action in the hefty gallery section.
Joey 'Detchibe' W. (@thestacks.ca) reposted
HyperLib [ハイパーリブ] No. 4 (January 1994) has been scanned and archived, there's some Osamu Sato stuff in here among other bits of software for Macintosh. Enjoy! archive.org/details/Hype...
Sasha's Retrobytes 🏳️⚧️ (@sharkabytes.bsky.social) reply parent
It really has. I'll take really good pixel artwork and/or pre-rendered backgrounds over rough polygons any day for stuff like this.
Sasha's Retrobytes 🏳️⚧️ (@sharkabytes.bsky.social) reply parent
Agreed!
Sasha's Retrobytes 🏳️⚧️ (@sharkabytes.bsky.social)
📖 Bytes of Game Ads 📺 "Bullets flying, flames approaching!" 🔥 A cool ad for the 1994 arcade release of one of my favourite games. 💜 It has a solid Sega Saturn conversion, and is also available in 'S-Tribute' re-release form on console and Steam.
Sasha's Retrobytes 🏳️⚧️ (@sharkabytes.bsky.social) reposted
One of the sexiest Japanese ads I've seen for the Mega CD - the Hyper Attachment, according to the copy. Oof. 😳 I love the double-stack MD MK1 + MCD combo. 💜
Sasha's Retrobytes 🏳️⚧️ (@sharkabytes.bsky.social) reply parent
I'll admit it's catchy, and I can tell that just like with Fox Kids' Escaflowne, there'd have been plenty of fond nostalgia for it and one of those anime gateways too.
Sasha's Retrobytes 🏳️⚧️ (@sharkabytes.bsky.social)
Someone linked this to me the other day, the intro to what was once a lost pilot for what would have been Fox Kids' broadcast of Magic Knight RayEarth. All I can think of when it kicks in is "In the not-too-distant future Way down in Deep 13..." (MST3K)
Sasha's Retrobytes 🏳️⚧️ (@sharkabytes.bsky.social) reposted
🕹️ Digital Visions 💿 16-bit visions of Starfleet Academy, San Francisco, Earth in 2288. A new generation of cadets brave the gruelling simulator, eager to prove their mettle and earn a prestigious posting. For one cadet, their Starfleet life begins in command of a venerable Oberth class.
Sasha's Retrobytes 🏳️⚧️ (@sharkabytes.bsky.social) reply parent
I'd completely forgotten there was a live action movie! Def going to check that out.
Sasha's Retrobytes 🏳️⚧️ (@sharkabytes.bsky.social) reply parent
xD They didn't, and it's localized with quite a noteworthy voice actor, Mitsuo Senda.
Sasha's Retrobytes 🏳️⚧️ (@sharkabytes.bsky.social) reply parent
Same here <3
Sasha's Retrobytes 🏳️⚧️ (@sharkabytes.bsky.social) reply parent
xD Totally
Sasha's Retrobytes 🏳️⚧️ (@sharkabytes.bsky.social)
A Gex by any other name is still a Spin Tail... New names (Spin Tail and Reno) and new vibes for the Japanese release of Gex: Enter the Gecko.
Sasha's Retrobytes 🏳️⚧️ (@sharkabytes.bsky.social) reply parent
xD That's a few comments now from peeps who were studying law or inspired them to do so.
Sasha's Retrobytes 🏳️⚧️ (@sharkabytes.bsky.social)
Still one of the most incredible intros of its time. Thundercats, Knightmare, and Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors were my, like, ho shizz it's time for... things to come booming out of TV speakers.
Alex (@deadlobster019.bsky.social) reposted
I played the first game in its entirety with my mum (we frequented a guide, tho), she really liked case 4. She couldn't pronounce Edgeworth (she doesn't speak English), so she just called him Edward lol.
Sasha's Retrobytes 🏳️⚧️ (@sharkabytes.bsky.social) reply parent
Hey Jeb, good morning <3
Sasha's Retrobytes 🏳️⚧️ (@sharkabytes.bsky.social) reply parent
Hey Zeggy <3 Feeling a bit sleep deprived after a couple of short nights of sleep, but not too badly.
Sasha's Retrobytes 🏳️⚧️ (@sharkabytes.bsky.social) reply parent
Aha, how I felt this morning after a night of choppy sleep
Sasha's Retrobytes 🏳️⚧️ (@sharkabytes.bsky.social) reply parent
Good morning ^^
Sasha's Retrobytes 🏳️⚧️ (@sharkabytes.bsky.social) reply parent
Heyhey TJ!
Sasha's Retrobytes 🏳️⚧️ (@sharkabytes.bsky.social) reply parent
Right back at you, Lene <3
Sasha's Retrobytes 🏳️⚧️ (@sharkabytes.bsky.social) reply parent
Hey, good morning o/
Sasha's Retrobytes 🏳️⚧️ (@sharkabytes.bsky.social)
Gyakuten Saiban - Turnabout Trial! Ryūichi Naruhodō, aka Phoenix Wright, took on his first cases on Game Boy Advance in 2001. A Japan-only series until 2005, it was the DS remake of Gyakuten Saiban that was localised as Phoenix Wight: Ace Attorney.
Sasha's Retrobytes 🏳️⚧️ (@sharkabytes.bsky.social) reply parent
Yeah! Definitely. Hit just at the right time as the DS Lite was really taking off.
Sasha's Retrobytes 🏳️⚧️ (@sharkabytes.bsky.social) reply parent
From reading up on peeps' history with him, it seems not.
Sasha's Retrobytes 🏳️⚧️ (@sharkabytes.bsky.social) reply parent
Yeah! That's how I first played through the original trilogy, with the Steam release.
Sasha's Retrobytes 🏳️⚧️ (@sharkabytes.bsky.social) reply parent
Yeah! BYTE have so many cool covers that stand as cool art pieces in their own right.
Sasha's Retrobytes 🏳️⚧️ (@sharkabytes.bsky.social) reply parent
It's such a gorgeous looking game. I still vividly remember doing the Clockwork City DLC and my jaw just dropping at how lovely it all looked.
nyoomfist.bsky.social (@nyoomfist.bsky.social) reposted
One of my favourite, if not my favourite game series ever. Not a single bad entry, accessible to players of all ages/skill levels. If you haven't played an Ace Attorney, please at least try the first one. It's available on virtually every platform.
MYST+ 🇺🇦 🇵🇸 🏳️🌈 🏳️⚧️ (@mystplus.bsky.social) reposted
IF SOMETHING SMELLS IT'S USUALLY THE BUTZ 🤪👍
Sasha's Retrobytes 🏳️⚧️ (@sharkabytes.bsky.social) reply parent
Ohhh yes!
Sasha's Retrobytes 🏳️⚧️ (@sharkabytes.bsky.social) reply parent
Oh no xD
Sasha's Retrobytes 🏳️⚧️ (@sharkabytes.bsky.social) reply parent
Aww, that sounds like a cosy way to play it. If you kept dry and warm, that is xD
Sasha's Retrobytes 🏳️⚧️ (@sharkabytes.bsky.social) reply parent
Aww, yeah, I really enjoyed Trials & Tribulations too when playing through the Trilogy release on Steam years ago. Been neat to finally play the DS originals now tho.
Sasha's Retrobytes 🏳️⚧️ (@sharkabytes.bsky.social) reply parent
Aha, I feel the same way about Kit for introducing me to Monster Hunter.
Sasha's Retrobytes 🏳️⚧️ (@sharkabytes.bsky.social) reply parent
Aww, lovely! Was it the original GBA version you imported, or the DS release?
Sasha's Retrobytes 🏳️⚧️ (@sharkabytes.bsky.social) reply parent
xD Yeah, it's interesting reading about how it takes place in an alternate timeline in the English localization.
📺~CRT~📺 (@crtvheadvt.bsky.social) reposted
This is how robo Vtubers are born.
Sasha's Retrobytes 🏳️⚧️ (@sharkabytes.bsky.social)
Friends since childhood, now attorney and client in an alternate 2016. Fresh out of law school, it's time for Phoenix Wright, future Ace Attorney, to step up and dramatically point. OBJECTION! Share your love for the Ace Attorney games, peeps. Which are your favourite games?
Sasha's Retrobytes 🏳️⚧️ (@sharkabytes.bsky.social)
"Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should!" 10 PRINT "CLEVER GIRL" 📖: BYTE January 1986
Sasha's Retrobytes 🏳️⚧️ (@sharkabytes.bsky.social) reply parent
Nor did I. Calling trans peeps 'uppity' would have already been enough of a red flag to me, but then there's all the other stuff too.
Sasha's Retrobytes 🏳️⚧️ (@sharkabytes.bsky.social) reply parent
I'll link this one because it's especially awful. WTF.
Sasha's Retrobytes 🏳️⚧️ (@sharkabytes.bsky.social)
Heads-up, friends. Some additional context in the comments and quotes on Sam's post.
Sasha's Retrobytes 🏳️⚧️ (@sharkabytes.bsky.social) reply parent
Jeez, thank you for the heads-up; unfollowing and blocking.
Sasha's Retrobytes 🏳️⚧️ (@sharkabytes.bsky.social) reposted
"Welcome to the D&D World!" All the beginner's advice you needed to begin your D&D Basic Set adventures in Japan. TSR quested to make inroads there in the mid-80s, bolstered by the serialized play sessions of what would become Lodoss.
Sasha's Retrobytes 🏳️⚧️ (@sharkabytes.bsky.social) reposted
The ominous but lesser known Prawn Screen of Death
Sasha's Retrobytes 🏳️⚧️ (@sharkabytes.bsky.social) reposted
On this day of PS in NA 30th anniversary celebration, if you'd like to comfy up with a deep dive into the disc that those who pre-ordered it would have already had to slot in, then check out my feature on it. Hear it Now! Play It Later!
Wobbly Polygons (@polywobble.bsky.social) reposted
The PlayStation Can Produce Mind-Boggling Amounts of Bouncing Metal Frogs. 📺: PlayStation Developer's Demo Disc, 1995, given with preorders.
Sasha's Retrobytes 🏳️⚧️ (@sharkabytes.bsky.social) reposted
9.9.95 - Happy 30th anniversary of the North American launch of the PlayStation. 💜 It'd be out a few weeks later in the UK, but here it is first on 9th September '95, ushering in a decade of Sony console dominance. Any fond memories of picking up one on launch, peeps who were kicking around then?
Sasha's Retrobytes 🏳️⚧️ (@sharkabytes.bsky.social) reply parent
Yes please 💜
Sasha's Retrobytes 🏳️⚧️ (@sharkabytes.bsky.social)
A PETSCII Knight roaming an 8-bit Hallownest ⚔️ What a sweet single screen graphics production from 2020 by 'Lord Khyron' csdb.dk/release/?id=...
SnugglyBun (@snugglybun.bsky.social) reposted
reminder that i have music commissions open, trying to earn money to finish building a new PC before the world economy implodes over itself vgen.co/SnugglyBun #musiccommissions #commissionsopen #lookingforwork #music #art #vgen
Sasha's Retrobytes 🏳️⚧️ (@sharkabytes.bsky.social) reply parent
Aha, we can. It's my preferred one and so pleasing to the eye.
Sasha's Retrobytes 🏳️⚧️ (@sharkabytes.bsky.social) reposted
Style guides and the philosophy behind the logo from a 1999 Dreamcast Press Kit. The logo represents an uplifting community, optimistic and chill. Guidelines are presented on what to do if you can't fit in the swirl, and elsewhere, it's stated firmly that red is *not* to be used as a background.
DarkTetsuya (@darktetsuya.bsky.social) reposted
Happy 30th anniversary to the PlayStation! Since I bought the universal system for the wife, I've been trying to collect ps and PS2 stuff again. Here's our modest collection so far: (full list in the alt text!
Sasha's Retrobytes 🏳️⚧️ (@sharkabytes.bsky.social) reply parent
Yeah, I think so too. And with virtual reality still being a hot thing in '95, the fact that Hackers' Wipeout looks like a VR game and has that cyberspace sequence futurism about it definitely helps it look extra cool.
Sasha's Retrobytes 🏳️⚧️ (@sharkabytes.bsky.social) reply parent
Yeah! I've heard it called a beta, but there's no actual in-engine gameplay? It's more of an on-rails tech-demo based on a hype demo to get it into production.
Sasha's Retrobytes 🏳️⚧️ (@sharkabytes.bsky.social) reply parent
Oh, yeah! I meant concept as in it was a CGI sequence created for the movie and based on an older concept demo of the game back when Psygnosis were still trying to nail down what it would be.
Sasha's Retrobytes 🏳️⚧️ (@sharkabytes.bsky.social) reply parent
Ah, I think you might be, or at least, there was one inspired by it, aha. The game footage was specially created by Psychosis for the movie and based on an earlier demo concept for Wipeout where it'd be grittier and more like a rally game.