#1363 – Monochrome
Posted on September 8, 2011 at 12:00 am by Chris
Chapter: Comics
My first computer was a Commodore 64. My parents were the only ones that used it as a “computer”. My brother and I used it as our own personal video game system. A lot of kids we knew had a Nintendo or an Atari but we never did. It actually worked out fine. It was very entertaining to go to a friend’s house and play Space Invaders or Super Mario Brothers and when they came over to my place they could play Bruce Lee or M.U.L.E. I do feel a little left out that I didn’t get to play the Legend of Zelda games as a kid. That seems to be a big deal to a lot of people.
Today’s Maximumble interrupts.
There are times when I’m reading this comic that I can’t decide whether I like the comic or the blurb underneath better. I would definitely buy a book that collected all of these Chris stories.
Dude, I was the same way growing up, only the earliest computer I ever used was a Tandy 1000. We had two newer computers by the time I got around to knowing what I was doing, but there’s nothing like breaking out the old computer to get at the old games… when the old thing still works.
Our monitor for that thing was hilarious. It would randomly shift colors, and you quite literally had to smack the thing rather hard to make it change again… randomly. Had to go through often half a dozen whacks or more to get it normal again.
I don’t remember what kind of computer had but the graphics were green. And if you toggled one of the cables they would change to a different color, but you really couldn’t get it to stay that way, so once you let go they were green again.
Mind you, this computer was already old when we got it. The ones at school and the ones at my mom’s work were much much better.
I loved M.U.L.E. My friends and I would play for hours.
First computer my family ever had was a Windows 3.1 PC, though the first computer I ever used was an Apple IIe in the school computer lab.
I used Mac’s for a few years, then got a Windows 3.1 PC. It was a very traumatizing experience for me.
Never have owned a game console. Used to program my own games on a Trash-80, instead. I’ve a collection of old computers in still-functioing condition in my basement – I don’t have a working Franklin down there, but I DO have a Vic-20. I’m ready for the virus melt-down!
Biff is a genius…of a sort.
Well for once I feel like the youngster in the room. I remember we had a Trash 80 at some point, but I never really bothered with it. My first computer was a 286 that my eldest brother had and had tweaked to the max. 4 Meg of memory! Ran Windows 3.11 and took Eleven minutes (timed it) to boot up. It was great!
My eyes! They bleed with nostalgia!
So do mine … That machine looks so very like the first computer I’ve ever used in my life. It was our school’s Wang computer with green 64*32 characters display, cassette drive (software controllable!), and 8k of RAM! (We were proud of the memory because our neighbour school had the same model, but with only 4 k. But they had a punchcard reader, which we didn’t.)
I had my dads ibm pc jr (8086 processor) to start off my programming “career” (it stays in quotes until it makes enough money).
if you’ve never played any zelda games there’s a variety of ways you can play them now. some even legal.
Ahah! Sly, you are, Biff.
At one of the many schools I went to (long story involving my IQ sending me to gifted programs), all the classrooms had the same Commodore computers. One class had the only copy of Space Invaders and would let other classrooms rent the cassette for 50 cents a pop.
Now, I have an old Commodore color monitor that I hook TV Plug and Play games into. Including a Taito branded Space Invaders unit. But, there is still a sort of charm to the old monochome displays. The phosphor-green ones seemed more direct in attitude, while the amber ones were more subtle, almost laid back and businessike at the same time. That might be just me, though.
<>
That’s cheating. 😛
Major MULE fan here. I have a C64 emulator on my PC to play it, but I also have an original C64b, so I can play it or Zork ^^
I wasn’t really aware that the C64 did anything other than games. I used to tell my friends in school that I had a console whose games were on tapes, the kind of tapes our music was on, and they didn’t believe me!
On a separate note, I remember playing a lot of Alternative World Games on it. Brilliant game
as one of those people zelda meant alot lto to (hence my username) I can honestly say that the first one was pretty hard. this coming from a guy who beat ocarina of time and windwaker without getting any heart containers (life extenders) though that might just be because I’ve only played the original on virtual console where I can’t check the instruntion manual and get the BS (backstory) and how to find the first dungeon. I did eventually find it, but that’s it. and I have heard of people crazy enough to beat the original without any swords (the main form of battle in the zelda franchise, sword shield and sometimes arrows, bombs, bomb arrows, hookshots [experimental grappling hooks] and musical instruments. you non-zelda fans would not belive the number of zelda games with musical side-quests/important-plot-points.
I played my first Zelda game at 35 and I don’t feel I’ve missed much. And I’d be scarred for life if I had played Twilight Princess as a kid O_O
When I was a kid, the techiest game you could play was pinball.
Legend of Zelda is awesome. Do you want to borrow my N64?
Won’t do any good, Biff; today’s viruses are so damn shrewd now, they could mess up an abacus!
What do you think Biff is programming there? (Albeit inadvertently, I suppose.)