Gateway to Apshai (Colecovision and Commodore 64) Manual Artwork

This is the image from the Gateway to Apshai, a roguelike RPG for the Colecovision. Below is the crazy Commodore 64 box version...

Released in 1983, it's one of the first console RPGs, and it remains impressive in 2013--thirty years after it was made.

It's a few years after the groundsbreaking Ultima games, but still I have to admire Gateway to Apshai's ambition and vast amount of content. An almost endless series of dungeons are available to explore.

Give it a try, its one of the best on the Colecovision.

Donkey Kong Artwork

A gallery-style collection of Donkey Kong artwork and packaging. In one of them Mario looks like Thor and Donkey Kong is an anime super villain. Classic stuff. Anyone have a favorite version of Donkey Kong? The arcade and NES are probably the best, but Colecovision has its charm to be sure.

Adventure Island 1 & 2, Mega Man High Scores

Some recent NES and Colecovision scores. See the full post for all 4 images. Above: Adventure Island (NES) 116,320.

 Adventure Island II (NES) 232,650
-no continues

Frenzy (Colecovision Emulated) 22,702 

-Game 1

Mega Man (NES) 1,667,200

-no continues

Elektronika MK-90

The Elektronika MK-90 was a Russian mini-computer. Not quite as powerful as the TI-8X calculators, it seems more like the "PDA" toys released in the 1990s. It had 16k RAM and a 16-bit CPU (not sure exactly how fast it was, but my guess would be slightly less than half the speed of a TI-83).

It packs the ability to program in BASIC on it, making it a pretty damn awesome piece of hardware. You could program a lot onto the 120x64 pixel display. Apparently it was too fucking expensive for anyone but the richest czar to own, costing the equivalent of $22,000 in 2013 money, adjusted for inflation and adjusted for an American wage. Your calculator would be worth more than your education.

I guess it was ahead of its time.

You can watch a video of some of the games. There is a pretty good Pac-Man clone on it, and, of course, TETRIS.

Read all the technical specs on the Museum of Soviet Calculators on the Web.

Untitled 2

Untitled drawing #2.

HighScore.com

Have a high score? Post it to Highscore.com 

You can make an account for free and vote on if other scores are legit. They have special categories for emulated versions, which is better than 10,000 categories for each individual emulator and platform. Original or Emulated, two varieties and you can compete on both. Just take a picture with your name on an index card in the shot when you get a high score and people will probably vote it in. You can always view the evidence for any high score.

Sign up now and vote for some scores! Get trophies and conquer the galaxy.

This advertisement wasn't paid for; I just really like this site and want to see more competitors there.

Computer Chess