This Was Supposed to Be About Xevious

I'm admittedly on a bit of an Atari 7800 bender lately. You'll have to excuse me. I like the system and tend to ride it out wild hairs.

Xevious has actually been on my mind quite a bit over the past few months. I've been really enjoying Shadow Labyrinth (which reminds me... I need to get back to playing it), and since that game not only features Namco characters but actually takes place in the Xevious universe, it's gotten me thinking about it again.

While I've probably spent more time with the NES version than any other release, it's impossible to ignore the Atari 7800 port. It was one of the system's big launch titles, thanks once again to Atari's close relationship with Namco. Atari even published the arcade version here in the United States.

For years, I honestly assumed Namco had programmed the 7800 version themselves.

Much like last week's Ikari Warriors post, I decided to do a little digging.

Nope.

It was actually developed by General Computer Corporation—the same folks responsible for Ms. Pac-Man.

For some reason, I'd always assumed the 7800 version was adapted from a home computer release. Thinking about it, that's a feeling I get from a lot of Atari 7800 games. They're obviously console games, but they have this unmistakable home computer vibe to them.

I know that probably sounds a little ridiculous.

But consider Atari during the 1980s. They weren't just a console company—they were heavily invested in home computers. The Atari XEGS was essentially a repackaged computer, and the 5200 itself evolved from Atari's 8-bit computer architecture.

Really, a lot of the line between home computers and game consoles was blurrier than people remember.

The ColecoVision and Sega SG-1000 were close enough in hardware that software often jumped between them with relatively little effort. Some consoles even had optional computer expansion kits.

Honestly, I think that idea deserved a bigger push.

If manufacturers had done more to market consoles as an affordable stepping stone into home computing, I think a lot more working-class families would have adopted computers much earlier.

Of course...

That probably would've upset the same gatekeepers who spent the '90s telling everyone they were idiots for using AOL because it made getting online too easy.

Oh yeah, Xevious is pretty good.

Defeat Monday (please)

Good morning Zone Base readers! Another week of robots, monsters, and misadventure is starting full of fun for your eyeballs. Tomorrow is Setsubun, and while we don't celebrate it here in the states, I think it's really neat! I hope everyone had a good weekend, mine was pretty good! Another weekend of winter weather kept the Mrs and I home while roads got icy. We had a small amount of snow, but nothing major despite local news reports predicting a winter wonderland.  So obviously we didn't get out, but still had tons of fun at home. I spent some time playing Shadow Labrinth. I've actually gotten so many games at Christmas that I have a hard time picking one to play at a time. Shadow Labyrinth is a really neat game that got my attention when released and I was delighted to see under the tree as a gift from the Mrs. It's a really cool Metroidvania style game set in something of a Namco expanded universe. I really like it. I also finally got in some episodes of the new Kamen Rider Zezt. it premired last year and while I inteded to watch it weekly... those plans feel though. Fortunately it's easy enough to watch the show in it's entirety thanks to Tokushoutsu. I'm glad I did finally watch it, it's awesome!

Upcoming toy news from the weekend was certainty exciting. There were looks at upcoming Transformers from the Age of the Primes lines. Smokescreen from Transformers Prime is getting a new figure I'm really looking forward to. His original toy from the Prime line was a nightmare to transform and wasn't exactly screen accurate, so it'll be nice to have a hopefully better incarnation as I enjoyed the character on the show. Of course it'll be the Generations style Prime toy that's more traditional looking... but I kinda like that to be honest. Prime has a specific asthetic that looked great, but I do like the style unification in Generations. Also shown was Nexus Prime and Liege Maximo. Like Jhiaxhus, Liege Maximo is a must get as a G2 comic fan. Nexus Prime is a new take on the character that strongly resembles Courageous from Gobots. It apparently will form a combiner with the new Combaticons, so I'm pretty interested. The original Nexus Prime was a TFCC exclusive combiner whose members were membership exclusives. It took me 5 years to build that one, and frankly is still pretty high on a pedestal in my mind. However, this one looks like a lot of fun! I'm actually pretty far behind on Age of the Primes toys, so here's hoping I can catch up soon.

Also news of upcoming Cyberworld toys came this weekend. There has been leaks of upcoming toys in the line, but a picture of a new large scale Bumblebee and listings of upcoming Cyber Changers were unleashed this weekend. The prior leaks are from a reliable source, but theseare a little more concrete for the time being. The larger scale Bumblebee looks fun from what I can tell. Like Scorponok, it looks to be a bit of a playset... and I get Shogun Warrior vibes from both... and that's a good thing. According to the listings, the Cyber Changers (the real meat of the line) are an Optimus Primal truck and an Arachnid that looks to be an Armored Cyber Changer figure. The Arachnid doesn't seem to have many details ther than a hammer weapon. I hope she's a spider... but will gladly take a helicopter or drone as she's been used as. The Optimus Primal truck may be a reuse of the Offroad Optimus Prime toy, which was a figure I really liked. It did specifically say gorilla truck, so I wonder if it'll be a beast mode with wheels type alt mode like Sky-Byte. Either way, I'm super excited. I had so much fun with the prior Cyberworld toys, I can't wait to get my hands on more!

There was also news of new Masters of the Universe toys that tie into the upcoming movie. I haven't covered a MOTU figure in a while here despite still getting a fair amount this whole time. I actually don't cover every toy I get here, but try to make posts on ones that'd make for good material. The random Wednesdays just might be getting more He-Man this year as these new movie figures look great! There's the new Chronicles line that looks to be taking over Masterverse in the higher end 6 inch action figure area, while a more simple and less exspensive movie tie in line that looks like a lot of fun. Right now I plan to cherry pick figures from boths movie based series, but to be honest, I'm really looking forward to the Evil Warriors from that more simple line. They look like a fun little series to collect and talk about here. What is it about the more simplier figures that makes for good blogging material?

As for purchases, I finally ordered the Blokees Wheels series 1 box. I'd been wanting it for a bit now and finally took the plunge. It should be here this week and I'm excitied! I also ordered the Blokees Defender Version Bruticus kit. Defender Version 06 came in last week with the last few Combaticons members. Be sure to look out for an upcoming post about that team. I've been building models my entire life, but for the past few years Transformers models kits have been commanding a larger portion of my attention than the regular toys. It's a bit of a struggle giving models and toys a decent amount of site time. Models are a lot of fun to write about and I can tell by the views they seem to be more popular with you readers, but I don't want to give figures the shaft either. We'll, I guess we'll just see what I talk about each week! I also got some of the new McDonald's Changeables! You all know how much I love the classic ones and this new series is excellent! I've been trying to watch what I eat, so it's a tricky balance of working Happy Meals in with a balanced diet. Fortunatley the Mrs and my Mom are willing to help. So far I've gotten 2 CapCaps, FR-135, and Torrus. I hope to get more and am hoping to find the ones I miss on the aftermarket for reasonable prices. It's actually a pretty popular promotion, so that might be quite a challenge. I also ordered a new SD card reader as I still can't locate my old one. Good thing they're cheap! I can't wait to load the card I built last weekend onto my Atari Gamestation Go.

Well, it's Monday, so that means it's time to get to works taking toy pics and doing some household chores. Of course I also need to get my daily exercise in. Five miles on the exersize bike as well as some included exercises only takes around 30 minutes a day... but man... sometimes is hard to make myself do. Oh well, it's for the better. Thank you all for reading Zone Base. You'd never know from social media, but several thousand of you show up to read daily and I really appreciate it. It's super flattering. I've got a fun week in store for you all with some fun posts headed your way. You could say this week is leading the way... you know that sounded better in my mind than typed out. I guess that's what happens when you try to be clever with toy based tag lines.  Please don't forget to share the site with your friends and be excellent to each other!

New Week, Old Year

Well Zone Base readers, Christmas has come and gone, putting us squarely in that strange, time-nebulous stretch of days between Christmas and New Year’s Day. Like many of you, I’ve got a few work days wedged in between the holiday breaks and feel completely lost in time.

It’s actually Sunday as I’m writing this, since I’m doing another odd Sunday shift to offset being off on New Year’s Eve. Thus is the life of a graveyard shift CNC programmer—working extra weird hours during the holidays. Of course, you’re all aware this is another holiday week with abbreviated posting here on the site. I’m sure many of you are also juggling strange schedules, or maybe you’re off entirely for the holidays.

Honestly, I’m surprised if anyone is taking the time to read this. However, if you are, thank you. And for those of you who aren’t… I totally understand. I hope everyone had a great Christmas and is enjoying this weird in-between time until New Year’s.

I’ve got just one post this week, but don’t fret—we’re ending the year on a doozy of a toy. Regular posting will resume next week, I promise. Thank you all for reading, don’t forget to share with your friends, and be excellent to each other.

Consume Monday

Monday has somehow returned. But fear not Zone Base readers, this isn't just any ordinary week, it's Toylanta Week! I'm gearing up for the great toy show and looking forward to having a great time! This weekend isn't just Toylanta, but my birthday as well! I'm looking forward to having some fun and celebrating getting older! This past weekend was pretty good, though I admittedly didn't feel very well. The Mrs and I did a little weakly shopping, but for the most part I kinda just rested. The extra business of the past few weeks cumulated in my crashing out Saturday. I was pretty tired and had all around body aches. So some much needed R&R took place. I intended to organize some toys... but got plenty of rest instead. 

As in the past few weeks, I didn't buy myself anything toy related, but did finally find something new. Walmart had Swapticons! These are a new lower priced Transformers series consisting of smaller robots that combine with a partner to form an alt mode. They're fairly silly and feel like a spiritual successor to Botbots. Of course I love them and I think the birthday fairy took notice. If this were a Facebook post, that would have been followed up with a winking emoji. I intended to play some Double Dragon this weekend, but was literally feeling too poopy for my beloved Switch. The Mrs and I took in a lot of Halloween cartoons and Mom came over for a very filling Sunday Olive Garden dinner. They deliver now, so I forsee lots of marinara flavored foods in my future. There's also a recently opened Fazoli's near, so clearly Italian food is on my menu. 

I've got a fun week in store for you all. This week is a con week and the first special event on the site of the year. The regular posting schedule will be off, but it's going to be pretty busy over the weekend. Please check back daily during the weekend for daily updates. Thank you all for reading. Please share the site with your friends and Mutual High Fives everyone!