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Kevin Edwards ( Retro Videogame development )

@kevedwardsretro.bsky.social

3.3K followers 870 following 1.3K posts

Retired video game programmer. 40+ years developing videogames and software. Creator of games for the BBC Micro, Electron, NES, SNES, PC, XBox, PS3/4, Mobile, Vita, 3DS. I am currently rescuing and archiving old game development disks. LEGO Dev/AFOL.

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Kevin Edwards ( Retro Videogame development ) @kevedwardsretro.bsky.social · 25m

The Atari VCS/2600 totally dominated in the UK. A few others did OK, such as the Videopac G7000 and ColecoVision. However, the arrival of home computers killed the console market very quickly.

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Kevin Edwards ( Retro Videogame development ) @kevedwardsretro.bsky.social · 12h

Ditto!

Kevin Edwards ( Retro Videogame development ) @kevedwardsretro.bsky.social · 15h

I wonder if he's showing it again next month....It is a gaming themed event!

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Kevin Edwards ( Retro Videogame development ) @kevedwardsretro.bsky.social · 15h

This was the one Adrian (from the museum) was showing at last year's Retrofest. I'd never seen one before. Very impressive. I guess it's made from unobtainium.

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Kevin Edwards ( Retro Videogame development ) @kevedwardsretro.bsky.social · 17h

One of my favourite consoles, the Hudson Soft / NEC PC-Engine! Known as the TurboGrafx-16 in North America where, for some reason, it was re-housed in a large, ugly dark coloured case! Games were sold on slim HuCard cartridges and also CD-ROM, if you purchased the external drive. R-Type was amazing!

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Kevin Edwards ( Retro Videogame development ) @kevedwardsretro.bsky.social · 17h

It was a first for me, never seen one before. The controller is really cool.

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Kevin Edwards ( Retro Videogame development ) @kevedwardsretro.bsky.social · 18h

It's the same book / content. The red-bound one is mine which was done by a library. They didn't bother using the proper title for the binding though!

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Kevin Edwards ( Retro Videogame development ) @kevedwardsretro.bsky.social · 18h

Wikipedia tells me it had 59 games! I don't remember seeing one back in the day, but have seen them since in computer museums!

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1292_Ad...

1292 Advanced Programmable Video System - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Kevin Edwards ( Retro Videogame development ) @kevedwardsretro.bsky.social · 18h

I'm sure you recognise that this one belongs to Adrian. I took these photos at last year's Retro event at the museum.

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Kevin Edwards ( Retro Videogame development ) @kevedwardsretro.bsky.social · 18h

Very nice. This one has managed to make it over to the UK. I hope yours is working too.

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Kevin Edwards ( Retro Videogame development ) @kevedwardsretro.bsky.social · 18h

I wonder how many people have heard of the Bally Astrocade ( AKA Bally Computer System ). Initially released in 1978. It has a really novel controller and is powered by a Z80 processor. Sadly, it didn't have the success of the Atari VCS/2600. Only 41 cartridge based games exist for it.

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Kevin Edwards ( Retro Videogame development ) @kevedwardsretro.bsky.social · 20h

I was on the hunt for a couple of decades then it came up on ebay. Never seen another since!

Kevin Edwards ( Retro Videogame development ) @kevedwardsretro.bsky.social · 20h

One of the most difficult BBC Micro books to obtain. Is there anyone out there that has a copy? I managed to get an ex-library copy that was re-bound. Curious to know how many are actually around. It was withdrawn from sale for legal reasons - it contained an annotated disassembly of BBC BASIC.

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Kevin Edwards ( Retro Videogame development ) @kevedwardsretro.bsky.social · 2d

NES Silver Surfer review in Electronic Gaming. Difficulty rating AVERAGE. Yes, Average!

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Kevin Edwards ( Retro Videogame development ) @kevedwardsretro.bsky.social · 2d

Indeed. I used tape storage for several years on 1980s home computers. Disk drives weren't always an option, or were very expensive.

Kevin Edwards ( Retro Videogame development ) @kevedwardsretro.bsky.social · 2d

More digging in my old BBC Micro and Acorn Electron development disks. This time I've finally managed to re-produce the workflow used to get the sprite editor working. My friend Paul Proctor used the Computer Concepts Graphics Extension ROM to create the sprites for the Electron version of Galaforce

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Kevin Edwards ( Retro Videogame development ) @kevedwardsretro.bsky.social · 2d

You may find this interesting if you didn't know already...
boingboing.net/2019/11/18/h...

Horace Goes Copyright Striking

How an obscure game character from the 8-bit era ended up at the heart of a very modern YouTube takedown fight

boingboing.net

Kevin Edwards ( Retro Videogame development ) @kevedwardsretro.bsky.social · 3d

Amazing!

Kevin Edwards ( Retro Videogame development ) @kevedwardsretro.bsky.social · 3d

Check out 'Orion Patrol' for the BBC Micro. A very clever 'Zarch-a-like' game by Angus Hughes ( 2025 ).

www.bbcmicro.co.uk/game.php?id=...

Orion Patrol

Self-published in 2025

www.bbcmicro.co.uk

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Kevin Edwards ( Retro Videogame development ) @kevedwardsretro.bsky.social · 3d

I never saw a Sword / CGL M5 in real life. I always wanted one.

Kevin Edwards ( Retro Videogame development ) @kevedwardsretro.bsky.social · 3d

A thing of beauty! The Commodore PET 2001 with chiclet keyboard and integrated monitor + tape deck. 8K Bytes of RAM was more than enough. The first computer I ever used. I learnt BASIC and 6502 machine code on it. Thanks to Pete Davidson, my amazing Computer Studies teacher. Post your first computer

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Kevin Edwards ( Retro Videogame development ) @kevedwardsretro.bsky.social · 3d

Canadian Charcoal Pit, Spud U Like, the local chippy and various chinese take-aways did big business from programmers in the early/mid 80s.

Kevin Edwards ( Retro Videogame development ) @kevedwardsretro.bsky.social · 3d

That sounds very familiar. My first published game was also in 1983. Stayed in the videogame industry as a developer until 2020 when it was time to focus on other things! Been through all of the storms along the way and managed to come out the other side with lots of great memories.

Kevin Edwards ( Retro Videogame development ) @kevedwardsretro.bsky.social · 3d

It helped pay for our take-aways and new technology! Most of the money went to the publishers and retailers of course. The programmers would typically get about 10% of the retail price, if they were lucky!

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Kevin Edwards ( Retro Videogame development ) @kevedwardsretro.bsky.social · 3d

Advertisement on the back cover or inside covers was SO expensive back then! Premium spots that only the big companies couldd afford.