Kirin's Retro Closet

Things cleaned out of my childhood closets, from the mid '80s to early '90s; games, toys, computer stuff, including supplemental Retronauts content.

[kirinsretrocloset]

Hey everyone, sorry for the sudden hiatus; personal crises + a new job starting up at the same time = no energy left for side-projects. Rest assured lots more Lego posts and other fun stuff are coming... eventually. Don’t wanna give an ETA yet and then miss it.

But meanwhile as a consolation prize, have this pic I took in Pokemon GO of Moltres vs Sky Lynx.

[kirinsretrocloset]

Quick break for one of the big boxes I found while cleaning up.. Sky Lynx!

Man, IO remember that Metroplex artwork.

[kirinsretrocloset]

Time for a bigger Classic Space set - 1985′s Gamma V Laser Craft. This has a lot of the hallmarks that the big spaceships would expand upon going forward - modular design where the cockpit snaps off the rear portion, translucent highlights, some flexible tubing, and a cargo compartment.

[kirinsretrocloset]

A couple wheeled Classic Space sets today - first is the little Surface Transport from 1983. Pretty simple and definitely in the “NASA collecting moon rocks” aesthetic. Next is 1987′s more complex Terrestrial Rover, with a neat hinged enclosure holding a little satellite. Never could find that fourth blue hinge and had to sub in a black one...

[kirinsretrocloset]

Have a whole batch of tiny Classic Space sets...

6809: XT-5 and Droid (’87) - An extremely simply hover-chair deal, but the droid is super cute

1557: Scooter (’86) - Probably one of the simplest recognizable spaceship designs you could make. Not sure if the hinged nose-cone had a purpose, or it was just the best way they had at the time to do the horizontal turn it needed.

6801: Moon Buggy (’81) - Odd name as I’d expect a buggy to have wheels, but the downward dish design is pretty cool.

6822: Space Digger (’81) - The neat claw on this will show up on a bigger set later...

[kirinsretrocloset]

Not the droids you’re looking for...

As a prelude to more actual kits, here’s some space-theme home made bits and bobs I had to disassemble to complete other sets. Pretty sure several were fully intended as affronts to god and man. (Though, the tiny guy in the first pic turned out to be a legit part of a set that’ll go up next.) The mobile launcher vehicle at the end was pretty cool, though, had a lot of flat-top bricks making a cradle the ship could slide out of easily.

[kirinsretrocloset]

Okay, kicking off the Lego sets with one of my oldest big ones, the Beta I Command Base from 1980. This is pretty representative of the early Classic Space aesthetic, which just has NASA style retro-future all over it. The boxy base, tiny rover, booster rockets - all classic designs that seem inspired by NASA equipment and concept art. And of course the Classic Space logo is somewhat reminiscent of NASA’s as well.

The builds from this era tend to be a bit more clunky and simple than modern stuff (most ships are based heavily on flat wing plates, lots of right angles, etc), but you can’t beat the attention to detail in this set. The guys chilling in the base have their own coffee mug, posts to hang their unused oxygen tanks, a unique big monitor screen, equipment racks, seats, and beds. The simple straight monorail track leading to the launchpad is pretty cool for a set this size. And the base windows even tilt open, which seems like a questionable choice on the moon, but hey.

Also included are a couple promo pics from the manuals giving a good overview of this era in Space Lego.

[kirinsretrocloset]

Consider this a teaser and a warning - I’m currently back at my parents’ house finishing one last round of cleaning, and this is what I’m mostly sorting and photographing right now. So while this has mostly been a G1 Transformers and retro game blog lately, in the near future it’s gonna be at least 80% Legos for a while. Hope you enjoy!

[kirinsretrocloset]

The bottom of the box holds a treat - the entire Constructicon team, combining to form the classic Devastator. Predating the more standardized “Scramble City” style combiners which are all 5-bot teams with a larger one forming the torso and four others forming interchangeable limbs, Devastator (who was originally the Diaclone “Construction Vehicle Robo” team) is made of six parts, all of which are unique and have some very weird ad-hoc connection methods. To make it all work they come with a bunch of extra parts, most of which can be repurposed to change the vehicles into “Attack Modes” with oversized weaponry or wings.

The individual Constructicons (L-R: Bonecrusher, Scavenger, Scrapper, Hook, Long Haul, and Mixmaster) are a mixed bag with some having simple, stiff transformations and other being more complex. Putting them all together can be a bit fiddly, but they hold up pretty well once combined (though a few joints on mine are a little loose after 30 years).

[kirinsretrocloset]

Been too long since I put any MacOS stuff on here and I’m not sure if/when we’ll get to these on Retronauts, so have some manual pics for Bungie’s other (other) successful series - MYTH. A fantasy military campaign, Myth: The Fallen Lords and its successors helped solidify the modern real-time tactics genre, which differs from real-time strategy by dispensing with resource-gathering and building in order to zoom in solely on the gritty details of squad-level combat, with a focus on unit formations and moment-to-moment tactical decisions. They were also notable for containing a relatively realistic physics engine, letting players use terrain and weather to their advantage.

Myth II in particular developed a long-lasting and vibrant community, with a multiplayer tournament scene and numerous mods ranging from custom maps to whole new campaigns. I helped ref a tourney once in grad school, good times.

[krjpalmer]

[kirinsretrocloset]

Had to cross-post this to multiple blogs I’m running - this is Susan Kare, a bitmap artist who worked on the look of the original Macintosh OS back in the 80s. Very cool to begin with, plus if you zoom on a high-res copy of the image, you can find Macross and Transformers/Diaclone toys up on her shelves!

[kirinsretrocloset]

It’s time for TECHNOBOTS, combining to form the mighty COMPUTRON!

Led by the previously-profiled Scattershot, L-R at the top we have Nosecone, Strafe, Afterburner, and Lightspeed. As usual for G1 “scramble city” style combiners, the four smaller bots look great in vehicle mode and a bit clunky as bots, and each can be used as any limb of the combined form. The first pic of Computron is done as per the instruction booklet, while the second is more like a pic found on tfwiki, with the leg bots flipped around and extended for a slightly taller stance, and a few more weapons attached. Bonus pic of Computron and our previous combiner Abominus mugging in bad lighting.

[kirinsretrocloset]

Hailing from the futuristic year 2000 on PS2, The Bouncer falls a little outside this blog’s usual range, but it was designed by Seichi Ishii, who also designed or directed on Virtua Racing, Virtua Fighter, Tekken, Tobal, and Ehrgeiz, so I”m making an exception as it ties into *both* the Sega Arcade and Square Fighter episodes of Retronauts.

Unfortunately it didn’t fare quite as well as some of those other titles. A very early PS2 title, it feels kind of like playing a shiny tech demo, with lots of bells and whistles (high-end rendered video for the time, Dobly surround sound, multi-language voice acting, analog button support, and so on) but kind of mediocre game-play. The “cinematic experience” also translates to some awkward camera angles. And to top it off, you have to play through the plot multiple times to reveal everything, with enemies getting harder each time, and an RPG-light progression system where it’s all too possible to screw up your builds with poor point-distribution choices.

[kirinsretrocloset]

Supplemental link - Square’s 90s fighters

Since tumblr’s search doesn’t always play nice for posts with external links, here’s a separate one with a handy link for the Retronauts podcast episode that goes with Bushido Blade:

https://retronauts.com/article/735/retronauts-micro-78-explores-squares-fightin-history

[kirinsretrocloset]

Hey, sorry for the long break (holidays + pneumonia, whee), but we’re back with a Retronauts tie-in: Bushido Blade! Jeremy and I just spent a while talking about Square’s 1990s fighting games, and this is a big one, known for its unique mechanics.

Developed by LightWeight under director Tetsuo Mizuno and released on PlayStation in 1997, Bushido Blade is a stripped-down weapons-based fighting game based on precise maneuvers and realistic damage. With no life bars, meters, or any interface to speak of, players go for one-hit kills or disabling an opponents limbs with clean hits.

I included a few shots of the manual highlighting the unique mechanics - controls change if you lose use of a leg or an arm, stances play an important roll, and you can also fight dirty by trying to blind an opponent with dirt. Most combos are tied to weapons, and you can mix and match as you please, but each character has a few special moves with weapons they favor.

In story mode, each character escapes through a castle fighting their former fellow assassins and then up to five bosses in a row. One of two final secret bosses is seen only if you make it through with zero damage, which is quite a feat. The stage layout is also really cool, featuring connected regions of one large location, and because battle is free-roaming the terrain comes into play with hills, water, and trees getting in your way.

All in all, a really addictive and intriguing variation on the fighting genre - and one we’d love to see an update of today.

(Sadly I don’t have an Ehrgeiz or Tobal artifacts to share, as I only played other people’s copies of those games, but I do have one more bit of Square fighting history which I’ll put up soon...)

[kirinsretrocloset]

A guest appearance from some other closet - this Famicom Family Basic Data Recorder is a new addition to the collection of tech historian Benj Edwards, my frequent co-conspirator on the Retronauts East podcast.

In the days before battery-backed saves or even the Famicom disk system, this gadget could be used to save custom tracks and stages in games like Excitebike and Wrecking Crew. Or it could be paired with the Family Basic Keyboard to write and save your own BASIC programs, just like on the TI-99/4A and other early micro computers over here.

Also it’s just kind of cool to have a cassette recorder in Famicom styling.

[kirinsretrocloset]

Here’s something different; a 1997 corporate profile for Square USA. Full of all the finest corporate marketing-speak. I have to wonder how many of these fine people in LA and Honolulu lost their jobs after the Spirits Within debacle a few years later... guess I dodged a bullet there by going to grad school instead.