A while ago, me and Alex played Ghost Castle. While the game itself was indeed terrifying and full of peril, as promised by the box, what really caught my attention was the MB Games catalogue included in the box (Alex kept all the original bits because he is a gimpy swot).
Inside is a cavalcade of crap from 1992, ranging from classics to ‘who the fuck thought this was a good idea’. And Dial A Design. Let’s have a look at the shit we used to get up to before the internet was invented, and we still had to physically interact with people, even though people smell and are annoying. Continue reading “Hippos and Haunted Pigs: The MB Games Catalogue”→
Most of it is just stuff about Scott and Charlene, and maybe that one who did “Heeyyyyy MONA”, and 3 pages containing 2 facts about Australia, but one thing that caught my eye was the ‘Beat Your Neighbour’ board game:
This might be the most boring post I’ve ever written, which is saying something. You know me, occasionally I will just spout shit. It keeps you on your toes or whatever.
I’ve always wanted a desk tidy. Mainly because I’ve always wanted a desk. When I was little I’d sit and moon over this desk ‘n’ chair combo in the Index catalogue:
Why I wanted a desk was never really explained. I think I just liked pretending I was important.
I never had a proper desk because my room was the size of a postage stamp. Also, I think my parents sensed that I’d sit at it once then go back to running round with my finger up my nose pretending to be She Ra. Therefore it always remained on my Bucket List. Until now!
“Hello how are you? I am fine? Hoping this finds you as it leaves me. I never should have come on holiday to Watford Gap services, Preston bus station, or fucking Doncaster. But here I am, and I guess I’ll make the best of it. There are pretty nice toilets at the services, I guess.”
If the above sounds like something you’ve written on a postcard before, don’t blame yourself. I have it on good authority that certain service stations and roundabouts employ evil government mind control people to trick you into going on holiday there. They do this by producing postcards. This tricks people into thinking “If there’s a postcard of it, it’s a holiday place! Come on Ann, let’s go on holiday to Doncaster!”
I grew up in Doncaster. It is not a holiday place.
With that in mind, let’s have a look at some of the ways the government has tried to trick you into visiting Newport Pagnell, or Norwich post office.
In the mid 90s, I spent a huge amount of my teenage time dicking about with the CD-Roms that came free with our computer. This was because I was a bit weird and didn’t have stuff like friends or hobbies. Not unless you count writing shit poetry about Radiohead and the fact that you have a small bedroom as a hobby. I do not.
We had about a dozen free CDs chucked at us with our Packard Bell PC; most of them were shit and boring, like ‘Elle 2000 Recipes’ and ‘Telepower Pro’, but some of them became my very best friends. I think these games were mostly for five year olds, but when you’re a sad lonely teenager and you have no money, car or boyfriend, you must find other ways to entertain yourself.
Let me take you through the glorious world of software from the mid-90s that probably no one would have bought, so they had to give it away for free.
Batman And Robin Cartoon Maker
I never really got the hang of using this properly, so all my cartoons were surreal affairs with tinny, distorted voiceovers and a million Batmans (Batmen?) on the screen all at once. The workings of it were pretty similar to lots of animation games out there – you create your scene, then pick a character, and draw a line for them to follow. The idea is that your characters walk or run around, going from scene to scene, and some kind of story happens:
You could also add speech bubbles with text, if you wanted your characters to talk to each other, and not just stand there until they died. But also – and this was the really exciting bit – if you had a microphone, you could add your own voiceovers!
Now that I think back, I did actually have one friend at the time. She’d come over to my house and we’d mess about with Batman, making shit sweary cartoons. I think one of them was just a hundred Batmans (Batmen?) filling the screen, all shouting “bastard!” and “fuck!” Those were the days.
Casper Brainy Book
I always felt so sorry for Casper. He was just a little boy who wanted some friends. Not only did he not have any friends, he also had to put up with his three gigantic bastard uncles, who these days would be locked up in ghost prison for the way they treated him. I don’t know what ghost prison is exactly, but it’s probably something like this:
Anyway, this was an interactive story book starring Casper. I think it was pretty much just the plot of the movie. There were side games to play; I can’t remember if you had to win at them to continue with the story, but judging by my skill with computer games, it’s probably safe to say you didn’t.
Here’s one of the games – I think the general idea was that the letters fell down, and you had to make words with them. Also you got burned with chillies or something. We both know I’ve only really picked this screenshot because it has the word ‘ass’ in it.
If you win, Casper… dies? doesn’t die? Gets to properly die? I have no fucking idea.
Sammy’s Science House/Trudy’s Time And Place House
Sammy was a snake/worm thing who lived in a house full of science, and Trudy was a crocodile in a frightening pink dress who lived in a house full of geography and time.
I don’t remember too much about every game, but there are a few I remember messing with out of sheer boredom. Firstly, over at Sammy’s, there was a game where you had to assemble things like ships and helicopters that had been split into three parts. If you got it right (and let’s face it, you did), then a bee would come and ride on whatever you’d just built. Anyone who’s played Richard Scarry’s Busytown will be familiar with this concept.
Over at Trudy’s there was a game where you played as an ant, and you moved around a map trying to find jellybeans:
I always found every single jellybean. I was so proud of myself.
Thinkin’ Things 2
I hate to use clichés like “it’s like X on acid”, but this software is like being on acid, while being on more acid. It certainly did make me start ‘thinkin’ things’. I had to check the expiry date on my solpadeine while I was researching this.
First up was a bizarre art/animation studio, where you could control the direction of some kind of worm made of dots. You could change the size, shape and colour of the dots, but essentially it was just a worm guiding game.
Stuck on where to make your worm go? Never fear, there’s plenty of help at hand with the ‘ideas’ bank. Simply click the ‘ideas’ button so see a weird montage of worms in assorted scenarios. Looking back, some of the ideas were actually quite groovy. For example, you could draw a slalom and have your worm ski down it. Or you could have your worm as water dripping from a tap:
Not that I would ever have thought to do stuff like that. I was never artistic. As I said, my thing was writing poetry. Probably with titles like “My family are all bastards”.
Another game was this:
Some type of bird playing a xylophone. Why is he wearing a snorkel.
Of course, if you were tone deaf, there was always another trusty ‘ideas’ button, which would play well known nursery rhymes for you. Or, depending on the instrument, it would play terrifying, unholy and wrong things like this:
Look at him, hitting sheep with a stick like a bastard. He looks so pleased with himself.
I’ll admit, I don’t know much about sci-fi. I know about Rainbow and eating biscuits. But the other day I didn’t want to do the washing up, so I sat and looked through a bunch of old sci-fi magazines instead.
I didn’t read the articles, which I assume were things like “How to hide your erection while talking about that one off Star Trek”, but I did have a good look at the adverts. I was surprised to find things like fashion and commemorative plates, in an unexpected crossover with Woman’s Realm.
Look, I’m shit at writing introductions, so let’s crack on with the adverts…
Space Jacket
I’m confused. If this is the OFFICIAL AUTHORISED Space Shuttle jacket, does that mean anyone who wears one gets to go on a space shuttle, and no one gets to question them? Continue reading “A Bunch Of Sci-Fi Print Ads”→
Are you ready for the best thing you’ll see today? That’s right, it’s time for another round of ‘Middle aged woman looks at toys, instead of doing grown up things like mending’.
Our cover star is the NES, which comes with Rob, the shit disc-shuffling robot. (For more info on why Rob was such a failure, you might want to listen to this episode of the Retroist podcast.) That boy is shooting at Rob, and also at his Nintendo, that’s how much he hates them.
Ignore the fat sleeping child, which is me. What really grabbed my attention was the collection of videos, sat minding their own business on the wall unit behind me.
With the help of social media, I was able to identify some of the blurrier ones. I’m not going to bore you with my dad’s collection of Shadows videos, or the blank ones that no doubt have episodes of Spender on them; I’ll just stick to mine, which were the best. Continue reading “12 VHS tapes from 1992”→
Fiendish Feet was the yoghurt of the cool and happening kid in the early 1990s. Much better than its rivals, the mediocre Munch Bunch, the shit Petits Filous, and the even shitter Ski.
As you can see, the pots were a thing of beauty, each having feet and the face of various terrifying monsters. Needless to say, these pots now go for hundreds of pounds on Ebay. I assume, I didn’t actually look.
We decided to have a crack at making our own, and we’ve included step by step instructions so you can follow along at home, if you’re a bit strange.
