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I have heard his name here and there. I was familiar only with the title and cover, 8 1/2. I thought the lead looked like Micheal Caine to me. I kept thinking it was a British film. It wasn’t until I watched an interview with Martin Scorsese where he said 8 1/2 is his favorite film. When I hear about a director I like tell me their favorite film I take notice. I have enjoyed discovering movies this way. Scorsese said that he wanted show his daughter this movie someday. However, he said he wanted her to better understand the director’s progression before she watched 8 1/2. He wanted her to learn how the director tells a story. The movies an order he would show her are. La Strada, Nights of Cabria, La Dolce Vita then 8 1/2. So that is what I did. All these films are Black and white and of course in Italian.

First I watched La Strada, 1954. This movie stars Giulietta Masina. I really fell in love with her. She was so expressive with her face and moved like a silent movie actor. It starts off she is sold off to a traveling entertainer. The background setting of Italy really shows you the ruins that where left after World War 2. This movie has a circus in it and clowns. Fellini seemed to keep making nods to the circus and clowns in his later films. Giulietta Masina is Fellini’s wife and she really is a pleasure to watch on screen.

Nights of Cabiria, 1957, is the movie I watched next. Giulietta Masina stars in this one as well. She plays a prostitute in Rome. Also Rome is still far from recovery but some signs of clean up are around. In this film, she experiences some wild nights. She is just looking for someone to rescue her from the streets and transform her into a housewife. She continues to find heartbreak.

The next film I watched was La Dolce Vita, 1960. This is another time capsule of Rome at the time still not fully recovered but nearly there. You at this point definitely see the new construction. I have to talk about Rome because it is such on display as the movie follows around Marcello. Fellini found his actor he can project himself in his films. The handsome Marcello Mastroianni was Fellini’s Robert DeNiro. This is a love letter to Rome. Marcello is a well to do older bachelor. You follow him around from party to party all through the night. This movie bends reality and fantasy more than past efforts. You can see Fellini flirting with his storytelling more. From my history of film, this reminds me of Terry Giliam’s storytelling style. He makes reality whatever he wants and mixes in dream-like sequences. This is found in movies like Brazil and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. and pretty much all his other films.

The movie I have worked up to 8 1/2, 1963. I can see why Martin Scorsese chose this movie. It is a film about a movie director working on making a movie. It is a behind the scenes look that is also a self reflection of the director’s life. This also bends reality in the scene like you would later see in a Woody Alan movie. Also in this movie it looks like Rome has recovered from World War 2. You see more contemporary architecture mix with Rome. Marcello plays Guido the director at the peak of his career struggling to workout his next film. In one scene you have Guido’s family and the movie cast and clowns walking around him like in a circus. This feels like a very personal story from Fellini. This as well as all the previous films are shot so well.0

They have all been black and white and are so beautifully shot. The kind of framing you later see in Scorsese and Spielberg. I was also getting Kubrick vibes at times. 8 1/2 and his others films mentioned here really tell a story at times like a fly on the wall. He seemed to create a personal way of telling a story. So far I am just a few in of this Director’s work. I am looking forward to continuing to watch more of his films. I plan to move forward watching them mostly in order of release date. Here we go.

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Robert Altman so far has been a wild ride watching his films. I came across him digging up old interviews with him somehow. I was fascinated by him. Pulling up different interviews tied to certain movie releases. Then I started to put together a face to the name. I had seen a few of his movies before and now I’m ting them together around this director. I had seen certain movies of his before. They include A Prairie Home Companion, Gosford Park, Cookie’s Fortune, The Player, Popeye, and M.A.S.H. Also I enjoy digging up movies from the 70’s and 80’s. While I might have been around for some of it I wasn’t the audience except for maybe Popeye. This director was so prolific in the 1970. He was Auteur cinema took a real hit in the 80’s but he worked through it. The 90s seems to be a high note in his career. I just felt compelled to visit his body of work.

One of his earliest films I saw was Countdown, 1967. This came out years before the Apollo Missions landed on the moon. This movie stars Jame Cann and Robert Duvall. The effects are very dated. The world changed after the Apollo missions and 2001: A Space Odyssey. This movie was still functioning on concept. A movie that was very of its time a hot space race with the Russians. One signature style of Altman is how he layers audio. You have at times a bunch of cross talk. This is used to create a more natural realistic setting. The Studio hated the audio on top of each other and lead to him being fired form the film.

The next film I watched was Brewster McCloud, 1970. This one intrigued me for a few reasons. One it takes place in Houston Texas and in the Astrodome. Growing up in my early years going to AstroWorld leaves me somewhat nostalgic for the Astrodome. So this excited me to see the Astrodome in its earlier setting. Another reason for me is Shelly Duvall. I found an old interview where she talked about how she was found in Houston by Altman. Soon I found out she was in many of Altman’s films. I would see a ton of her going forward. I grew up watching old copies of Faerie Tale Theatre that and I had seen Popeye before. I saw the Shining rather young I figured at my Grandmother’s house she had HBO. Robin Williams star for me growing up. Birdcage and Mrs.Doubtfire being two of my watch anytime movies. Brewster McCloud is played by Bud Cort. Who I recognized from Harold and Maude that came out a year later. I was also surprised to see Sally Kellerman in this. I remembered her most from Back to School. After all that said this picture for me was a little disappointing at first. I enjoyed it more when I stopped trying to piece it together or make sense of it all.

I moved on to the next film Brewster McCloud, 1970. Altman was hot off the heals of M.A.SH. This movie stars Warren Beatty. His co-star is Julie Christie. This story has aged a little too well. This is one of those films that looks amazing on film. Its recent restoration makes this movie visuals sing. There is some talk that Altman was stoned all the time and Beatty took some control in making the movie. The contemporary folk music is really a big part of the movie. This movie is about McCabe goes to a tiny remote mining town in the old west. He teams up with prostitute to setup gambling and a brothel for the town. They both do well. Then big business takes notice and offers to buy him out. McCabe keep refusing them. Then Big Business decides to just take him out. The movie ends in a big shoot out in the harsh winter in the snow in the mountains. This is just treated like business as usual for large corporations at the time. In reality they are not so different today. The pacing of his films takes some getting used to. Once you do get used to it you enjoy it more.

Next up I watched Brewster McCloud, 1970. This picture stars Elliott Gould as Phillip Marlowe. This is a film adaptation of a novel series. Marlowe is a private eye in LA. This is a contemporary setting. Elliott Gould was on fire in the 70’s. At first people didn’t like the changes Altman made to the character in terms of demeanor and style. LA is a big part of this film. Marlowe drives around trying to figure out the trouble he landed in. From his friend he helped get to Mexico in the middle of the night. To my surprise Arnold Schwarzenegger makes an appearance in this film. This movie had me when it starts off Marlowe loses his cat. Marlowe pieces it all together and the ending for me came quite a shock. Being a fan of P.T. Anderson directing style I was seeing what an influence Altman had on him. This movie really holds up. Being a fan of Columbo and private eye detective films I really enjoyed seeing the different settings in the film.

After that I watch Nashville, 1975. This feels peak Altman. This is a long movie coming in at 2 hours and 40 minutes. I saw in interviews he was planning a 5 hour version for TV. I haven’t found much more on that. This is a full on ensemble film. You have all these different stories and I found myself waiting for them to all connect. They don’t so much connect but overlap and intersect with each other. I saw more P.T. Anderson in this. All the music is original. I learned from an interview that the country stars at first didn’t want anything to do with the movie. Also that the country stars wanted money and control of the movie. Altman ended up using all original music made for the film. This seemed to work best. After the movie came out the soundtrack was popular. The country stars complained that they could have sang their songs for the movie. Some things in this movie are very subtle and others right in your face. One thing Altman got very well was the nature of Nashville and the industry like a small family. This movie takes place over a few days in Nashville during a political convention. The ensemble shows you all different parts of the country music industry. The ones on their way up and the others maintaining. This movie is like if you enjoy people watching you will love this movie. This is a movie that you pickup little bit more each viewing.

This next film really took me for a loop at first. 3 Women, 1977 is about you guessed it 3 women. This movie is not so straight forward. It stars Shelley Duvall, Sissy Spacek and Janice Rule. This movie almost goes full Single White Female. This is one movie I didn’t quite understand what I just saw. Spacek plays Pinky a teenager just fresh out of the house. Duvall plays Millie. She starts off playing like a sister figure and roommate to Pinky. Pinky transforms dramatically. She goes from being a timid teenager to becoming a woman who knows what she wants. She isn’t afraid to take action. Going back watching more films of the 70’s I keep seeing Sissy Spacek pop up. Sure, I knew about and had seen Carrie. However, I was not so familiar with her other films of the 70’s. Janice Rule being the third woman she takes a backseat to 90% of this movie. This is a look at the human condition and the different stages of a woman’s life.

The next movie I saw was a bit more straight forward. Popeye, 1980 was beautiful film. This movie was the end of the 70’s film. I had already seen this movie a few times over the years. Now, I was looking at it more from the director’s style lens. I think this movies reception and talk about the climbing costs hurt this movie at its release. I wanted to like it more but it felt mid. I was not a fan of the songs.

I bounced around Altman’s films so far. I am going back and filling in the gaps of the 70’s then move on to the rest. I am pocketing M.A.S.H. for a future where I want a break from the Altman films I’m watching. Images is my next one. I hear it is a hallucination and distortion of reality. In other words a real trip of a movie. So I know I have to be in a certain state of mind to watch it. Then a few more and I’m in the 80’s output. Then I’ll get into the 90’s. Finally, I will revisit only the last two with my new Altman glasses.

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I fell into movies directed by John Cassavetes ass ended. I had seen him act in movies before. Rosemary’s Baby was one of them I recognized him from. I had also seen him on Columbo. I hadn’t really thrown his name in a search engine or IMDB before. What started this was The Killers. I had noticed all these movies called The Killer. I wanted to watch the Killers both releases. I watched the 1946 release of The Killers with Burt Lancaster. I enjoyed it. Then I watched the 1964 release staring John Cassavetes and Ronald Reagan. There are other actors just not going into them. I enjoyed this version of the film as well. Then looking up that movie in IMDB, YouTube and the web you read more about John Cassavetes.

I was looking for interviews with him talking about The Killers, 1964. I kept finding interviews him talking about directing. Then I learned more about Cassavetes being the father of Independent Films. I didn’t go in too deep for spoilers on his movies I hadn’t seen. I grew up enjoying Columbo with my mom. I had thought about watching all his movies he directed for the most part. I thought I would start with his final movie he directed Big Trouble, 1986. The cast on paper sounds amazing staring Peter Faulk, Alan Arkin and Beverly D’Angelo. I was thinking like this could be their final masterpiece. I wanted it to be good. I found it very disappointing. Thinking there is too much past work Cassavetes directed before he made Big Trouble. There has to be a better example of this director. I decided to pick another film of his and one that with a high critical rating.

I landed on Gloria, 1980. Wow!, What a movie. Gena Rowlands is giving a powerhouse performance. I will never forget this actor again after seeing this. I had also remembered her from an episode of Columbo. Turns out she was the wife of John Cassavetes. I have said before that Gloria is like Leon The Professional. Instead of hitman you have a middle aged former mistress to a local mobster. Anymore will spoil it. I was also thrilled to learn she is in most of Cassavetes films.

Cassavetes talked about how he became a director out of the need to have one to make his films. He said that he acted for others to fund making movies for himself. Cassavetes is an actors actor. He started out with a bunch of friends in New York that struggled finding acting gigs. So he rented out a place for his friends to use as a space to audition and rehearse. However no one came. So he opened it to the public and it was packed. He became a director out of necessity. He created a space where actors would come to act for the joy of acting.

After watching Gloria and watching more interviews with Cassavetes I felt energized to continue. This is the father of Independent film. I owed it to myself to watch more. I decided to watch them in chronological order with the remaining films of his for the most part. That thinking lead me to Shadows, 1960. This movie was made twice and released once. Cassavetes with canisters in hand went to local theaters to rent out space to show his movie. Shadows is a look into the scene in New York with all this young talented musicians and actors socializing. This not your typical boy meets girl movie. Well lets just say it is not Guess Who is Coming to Dinner. Well it is 7 years earlier, almost a decade earlier. Boy meets girl and finds out later that she is black. This movie dives into this and all the problems of 1960 had to deal with race relations.

Next, I watched A Child is Waiting, 1963. I had previously watched I Could Go On Singing released that same year. This movie is a studio picture that Cassavetes is directing. A Child is Waiting Stars Burt Lancaster and Judy Garland. This movie Judy Garland goes off to teach at an orphanage. The orphanage is filled with children with learning disabilities. One particular boy bonds with Judy. This movie was a tough movie to watch but only for its content. The time flew by watching it. You could feel the constraints for Cassavetes as a director. He is a professional and delivered. I am not sure how well any of his movies where financially.

I relish when I come across a movie that stars a character actor that I am very familiar with. I and I have heard other quote tons of times. I am writing about the actor John Marley. I know him from The Godfather. The Hollywood producer that wakes up with a horse head in his bed. It is a small part but a very quotable part. Well the next Cassavetes film I saw was Faces, 1968 starring John Marley and Gena Rowlands. This movie is also in Black and White. This movie revolves mostly around these two peoples lives. John Marley plays a cheating husband that seems to cheat with ease and experience. This movie seems to be very contemporary for its time. This normalizing infidelity is just to get such raw and emotional performances. This is a movie where is is mostly shot in apartments and inside. The conversations feel so natural and you can feel that the actors are really leaning into their roles. This is another human condition on full display.

Now for the latest Cassavetes film I have seen is, Husbands, 1970. I was really excited to watch this. Peter Faulk is in this. I know him from Columbo and Princess Bride. I saw the three men that star in Husbands on the Dick Cavett show interview promoting Husbands being all silly. This film is in color. John Cassavetes is also acting in this. The chemistry between Cassavetes and Faulk you can feel it through the screen. This movie is about 4 husbands. They are longtime friends and one of them dies and the surviving three meet up at the funeral. They keep the reunion going by pulling an all nighter. Then go off to London. They all three evaluate their life. The third husband stars Ben Gazzara. This film really takes you along with these three guys like a fly on the wall. This one really delivers for telling what feels like a really personal movie.

I am about halfway through John Cassavetes’s films. I am really loving his eye in telling stories he wants to tell. In his films you really feel like the actors are in his movies because they love acting. Cassavetes directing style seems with actors was a very relatable and gave his actors room to explore their roles. Gena Rowlands is a powerhouse performances are such a joy. I am really looking forward to watching the rest of his work. Then re-visit his interviews.

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Three Directors that I have been going back and watching. I was not really familiar with them except Altman. I had seen a few of his movies before. It has been sometime and I have seen 4 or more movies from each Director. I plan to dig into those movies in another article. There are some things I want to express with these three directors.

I grew up mostly having not really seen these movies from these directors. When I grew up, these movies were not really for kids. However, I would have watched them if it were the right place and right time. Like I mentioned earlier some Altman movies I had seen over the years. I was not really seeing them as a particular director’s body of work.

I think learning about Director’s favorite directors or their favorite movies lead me to these three. I thought I had a good understanding of film. However, I love learning about films and directors I am less familiar with. I also have been watching other movies but these three directors has been a real journey of discovery. These three are real Auteur’s. Also looking at them now I have a new perspective. One way I am looking at these as their life’s work. I have also moved slowly watching these and not just binging the movies. I have given time between movies to live with the film. Really let it hold a time in my life before I move on to the next. It has been a rewarding experience.

I have also enjoyed digging up old interviews from these directors. I have some documentaries in line to watch when I complete a directors filmography for the most part. Watching old interviews with directors has influenced what movies I look up. Fellini I came about from Martin Scorsese’s love for 8 1/2. He talked about wanting to share it with his daughter. He explained that he needed to show her some earlier works of Fellini’s first. This would help her better understand how Fellini tells a story on film. I decided to adopt this as well. I came across Altman by Paul Thomas Anderson talk about him. Also I started watching interviews with Altman first and was really intrigued.

I watched videos discussing films from the 1980’s. This led me to watch more films from the 1970’s and 80’s. What happened in the 1980’s in film related to Heaven’s Gate. Studios going bankrupt and Auteur Cinema was going away. Even Scorsese talks about this time and him scaling back on projects and went back to school. I am the kind of person that watches a documentary about film. I create a watch list to look up after the movie. DePalma, I loved this documentary film. I thought I was familiar with his movies but really dug into his earlier work after watching it.

I enjoy going down these rabbit holes in film. This is just discovery in a very organic and proactive way. When a director I really enjoy talks about another director or film they love I pay attention. Steven Spielberg has said many times that his favorite movie is Laurence of Arabia. He watches that movie every time before he goes out to film one of his films. I watched that movie Laurence of Arabia after hearing that not too long ago and loved it. If you read this far, thank you. I look forward to exploring each director in more depth. I’ll also dive into the films of theirs I have seen so far. I felt I wanted to write about it before I finish either of their filmography. I know I have said a few things on some of these movies before. I do not plan to repeat myself too much.

Here are the articles I go into each of these Directors further.

My Journey through the films of John Cassavetes part 1

My Journey through the films of Robert Altman part 1

My Journey through the films of Federico Fellini part 1

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I have been exploring older films. Here are some real heavy hitters. In no particular order. Well that is not true. This is a list for me that tells a story. If you went straight down the list This would be a wild ride. Only really one comedy. There are some real tough guy films. Then you have some real emotional roller coasters, These are not family films. They range from late 60’s to early 80’s.

• The Swimmer (1968) – Burt Lancaster great film had a limited release and since got remastered. Powerful film. The premise is simple. A man at a friend’s house decides to walk home. He cuts through the neighborhood, swimming in all their pools along the way.

• The Silent Partner (1978) – Elliot Gould, Christopher Plummer. An exciting film about a bank heist and the fallout. This is an exciting caper film that really takes off after the heist. I don’t want to give much away. It is filmed takes place in Canada and has an early cameo of John Candy.

• Local Hero (1983) – Burt Lancaster sends a man to Ireland to buy land. You can enjoy this one even on mute great sights. This is a movie you could watch on mute the sights are so nice. A young Dr.Who is in this as well.

• The Long Goodbye (1973) – Elliot Gould. A contemporary look at a classic California private detective this Inherent Vice before Inherent Vice. This is a Robert Altman directed classic.

• Get Carter (1971) – Micheal Caine. It’s a classic British gangster film. Micheal Caine’s brother dies, and he is going to cause trouble to find out who did it.

• The Long Good Friday (1980) – Bob Hoskins another British gangster film Helen Mirren also in this. Hoskins performance put him on the map and sent him to Hollywood. This movie kind of works backwards. Bob Hoskins plays a head gangster. Someone is making a run at him. He tries to figure out who before they get to him.

• The Hit (1984) – John Hurt, Tim Roth in his first movie. Another British gangster film. A road film. Quinton Tarantino hired Tim Roth from seeing this movie. This cast is mostly 4 people in a car where one person is certain they will not walk away.

• Rolling Thunder (1977) – William Devance plays a former POW who returns home. It turns out to be a revenge film. Tommy Lee Jones plays his bad ass I will walk into hell for you friend. Real tough guy movie. You see this movie a 70’s style hardcore revenge film that others used as blueprint.

• Gloria (1980) – Gena Rowlands stars in this. It is like a reverse Leon the Professional. Except she not a hired hitman. She a middle aged woman that can be real tough when she needs to. Strong female lead great time. John Cassavetes is the independent film director knocked this one out of the park.

• The Driver (1978) – Ryan O’Neal This is the version you haven’t seen maybe. Great car chase scenes. They had to do it all in camera and it looks great. Aged so well. Exciting The cinematography is top notch and acting is solid.

• The Deep (1977) – Robert Shaw, Nick Noltie and Jacqueline Bisset in a white T-shirt you will never forget. From the author of Jaws. A couple on vacation find sunken treasure and drama begins. This is Into the Blue before Into the Blue.

• Murder by Death (1976) – Capote, Alec Guinness, Peter Sellers, Maggie Smith, and Peter Falk. This is a comedy parodying all the different murder mystery films before. It is Clue before Clue. If you haven’t seen Clue, see it and also see this. You might think you would have to be familiar with the movies this parodies but that is not true. The humor is delivered straight like Airplane and Naked Gun.

• The Late Show (1977) – Art Carney and Lily Tomlin in a great detective murder mystery. They pair up to solve a murder of a friend. Great duo the over the hill PI and the young energetic intern. Art Carney plays a role of a lifetime. Also a young Lily Tomlin plays a great partner. This is the unlikely duo that really gel.

• The Sorcerer (1977) – Roy Sheider. This gem had the bad luck of releasing in theaters at the same time as Star Wars. Also the title is confusing. It is a name of a truck. This is a road trip movie. Four men in South America are hiding from the world. They get pulled into a near suicide mission. They transport old and temperamental dynamite 300 miles through the jungle. This is to help put out a raging oil well fire. This is amazing film. A real nail biter. I had to go with the screenshot above to help sell this intense film. This film suffered in the theater because it was up against Star Wars.

Those are some great but some lesser known today. I understand to some these are not hidden just older films. Hidden only to those that are not in the know. These movies are very much worth a watch or re-watch if you haven’t seen in a long while. I hope you enjoyed this As I plan to list more films that are deserving of viewing. These movies are not ranked. I would say if you want to group some in here to watch one after another. I recommend watching 3 British Gangster films in this order. Start with Get Carter. Continue with The Long Good Friday. End with the Hit.

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I recently got a new arcade stick. The 8bitdo Arcade Stick to be precise. This is my first wireless arcade stick. All my others are wired. This can be either and has 2 options for wireless (Bluetooth or 2.4Ghz). I got it to play mostly on my Analogue Pocket. I also have a Hori and other older arcade sticks.

Playing on an arcade stick again reminded me of how much I love it. I enjoy both arcade games and console games with it.

My first video game memories was playing at the arcade. I grew up in the 8 bit and 16 bit generations. However, the Arcade was still the cutting edge of video games. We got ports at home. Some better ports than others. Like I said I have great memories playing arcade games.

I didn’t have an NES advantage but I played on my friends. He even had an Arcade cabinet to hold his TV. It hooked up to his NES. You could play it like an arcade machine. It was very cool.

The Genesis was my first 16 bit system. I got the stick for it and ended up playing everything on it. It was my preferred way to play. I even played my Sega CD games on it. Sega was great at porting their arcade games over. The stick just felt like a premium experience.

Street Fighter 2 came out on the SNES and it was a nice port. This was an era of special moves like fireballs and dragon punches. I wanted the arcade stick for it badly. Capcom delivered. They had the ultimate stick designed for Street fighter in mind. It was expensive. Getting it meant not getting another game. So I was happy renting for a while. Also this controller came with an adapter to use it on my NES. So I could go back and play my NES games on this controller. After getting this controller I played everything on it. I loved the turbo options. I really liked that all the time playing Street Fighter 2 at home paid off in the arcade. However, I was never very competitive. Just like to play to see how far I would go. I played everything on this. Zelda, Metroid, and games like Batman Returns for SNES were a dream on this stick.

The 32 bit generation I wasn’t playing Street Fighter and didn’t pickup sticks then. Next gen I almost bought a stick for the PS2. The Street Fighter 2 Anniversary Stick. My friend said it was bad but neglected to mention it was salvageable. He was a pro Street Fighter player. I later found out he bought that stick and swapped parts. If I knew he ment you could get it and make it better I would have pulled the trigger then.

The fighting genre I have to say it what kept my love for arcade sticks alive. This was with the PS3. I was playing a bunch of Tekken and picked up other fighters and bought a Hori Stick.

Then when SF4 came out I bought the MadCatz TE fighting stick. I love this stick and have handled it with kid gloves. It is my favorite stick I have ever had. Since I picked up a Hori stick. it is ok I’m not a fan of the buttons but that is an easy fix these days.

I have picked up a stick for my Saturn and I love playing the arcade perfect ports on it. I have a Neo Geo X USB controller that I enjoy using from time to time.I never had a Neo Geo but played them in ports and at the arcade.

That is some of my history with the arcade stick. Playing it again with all these arcade games and consoles. I was surprise how at home I am playing Genesis, NES and SNES games with an arcade stick. Of course over the years I have gotten a little snobby with my sticks. I would never want to use that first Hori stick over nearly anything else I have these days. However, I use it if I need a player 4. I like a certain way a button press feels. Good news is it is cheap and easy to fix these days. The TE stick spoiled me and now I love Sanwa buttons.

Some of my favorite genres are from the arcade like Beat’em Ups and Shoot’em Ups. Playing on the stick is like going home. It is a very comfortable feeling. Also it is easier on my thumbs. I love playing the CPS1, 1.5 and 2 boards with a real stick.

My next steps are to swap out some buttons. I also picked up a MayFlash adapter at controller adapters for more compatibility with this and other sticks. They work on my PS5 and Analogue Pocket. My TE stick for PS3 is my favorite. I want to play it on my Analogue Pocket. I’m also interested in using it for anything else I can get it to work for. Seems like a MayFlash adapter fits the bill. So I picked up the MayFlash Adapter. It has breathed new life into some old controllers like my TE stick. It also made some old consoles easy to use with modern controllers.

These days don’t put a lot of time in a fighter unless I have a stick. One benefit is that my muscle memory remains intact. I’ve played on a stick for generations of video game consoles.

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Summer before last I really jumped into the deep end of retro handheld gaming. I had pre ordered an Analogue Pocket and while waiting picked up a Miyoo Mini Plus. If you want to know which to me is better? Well will save you the read it is the Miyoo Mini plus. Well if you want to know more about my take and time with them please keep reading.

This all got put into motion when a few years ago my Gamecube started to have trouble reading discs. So for me this was bad news. I also use my Gamecube to play all my GameBoy games form OG to Advance on the TV. I even picked up a Gamecube to SNES controller adaptor. I have a memory card reader SD adaptor. I use it to load teh Game Boy Interface for near perfect gameboy playback. It is great. However like I said trouble reading discs. So I wanted a replacement to playing my off GameBoy games on TV.

In 2021 Enter what to me seems like a perfect replacement the Analogue Pocket with Dock. This is an FPGA device. So the result is very accurate gameplay. It emulates systems at a hardware level. They are called Cores. The Analogue Pocket itself is great with the dock it is more like a switch type device. It plays GameBoy, GameBoy Color and GameBoy Advance games from the cartridge port. There are cartridge adaptors now finally out. They are for the Game Gear, Atari Lynx, Turbo Grafx 16, PC Engine and Neo Geo Pocket. It took years for the Analogue Pocket to get most of the adaptors. My first handheld is an Atari Lynx I was so looking forward to play on this and the TV. So the Analogue Pocket is great if you have a big cartridge collection. I really enjoy playing Lynx Surfing on the big screen.

Besides playing cartridges the screen is the biggest feature of the Analogue pocket. They really did something unique and smart when it came to the screen. So many retro handhelds and screen replacements are often like 480 or older lower native resolution. Instead this is way higher resolution. Whit the resolution being so much higher than the native game resolution for these old handheld devices it replicates the sub pixel layout to give an authentic look. It really is stunning. Now if you don’t like one look many have choices. This cool display feature recently was added to Open FPGA cores.

After the Analogue Pocket came out it later added Open FPGA cores. This was a huge improvement. Now you can play games off the SD card. On top of that console games and arcade games. There are a great amount out now and more being developed. Even with a big of a cartridge collection I have I prefer to play off SD card. Having all the games on the device and not having to make more room in you bag for games is great. There have been some nice additions feature and cores made available since I got it last summer. It is nice but I still want Ms. Pac-Man and no idea if that will ever happen.

The Analogue Pocket is nice but is bulky and big. It is not like in the name pocketable. While it mimics the SNES controller scheme it is a design love letter to the GameBoy Pocket. While that was small in the 90s it is huge today. This is fun to play but I just don’t play it for the longest stretches. I find I play it at home and on long trips. I enjoy playing the arcade games on the TV with my Arcade sticks. It is a great alternative than getting an arcade board and a supergun and arcade controllers but the closest thing.

There is one thing that the Analogue Pocket can do that so far the Miyoo Mini Plus can’t do. That is sub folders. It is mostly my issue in setting these two devices up with game. So while work arounds exist it is an ill elegant solution. SD cards are cheap and most of these old games are tiny. So no issue if a game is duplicated not and issue. I have folders of games by name by genre by year by developer. Also folder with sites top lists. Folders for fan translations hacks and others.

Analogue has still promises left to keep like the DAC Digital to Analog Converter. Also the ability to customize the button layout for players 2-4. As Cool as Street Fighter 2 on an arcade perfect core. Without a correctly configured player 2 it makes it hard to play. These days their site is removing references to the DAC and controller customizations is fine as long as they need to be the same as controller 1.

So you made it this far and I haven’t said much about the Miyoo Mini Plus. This thing is great. It is a Linux based software emulation handheld. No cartridges. This also has a great screen not as high resolution though. Also there are some consoles the Miyoo Mini Plus is capable of. Notably PlayStation and Sega CD games and some others. You wouldn’t think PlayStation would be so great on this but it really is a joy. The Miyoo Mini Plus has Wifi. This is great because once you have it setup you can update it over wifi in the future. so nice. This has had some updates since I got it. So nice that it is so easily updatable. This can also play now DS games.

So if you like me and Love Castlevania Symphony of the Night then you’ll love this device. I even got a rom hack that have it fill the tiny screen. I wouldn’t use that hack on a TV but on this it is great. Hell you can even put movies on it. I have watch shows on it. I even spent some time making a custom boot screen and I’m looking at making a custom UI. Playing Sega CD games on this is also great.

The Miyoo Mini Plus is so pocketable. I love taking this out with me. Goes in the pocket with my phone. I wish it had Bluetooth. Since this is software emulation save state is there for everything. Makes it easy to pop in and out of games. I find myself wanting to constantly tinker and add games. The Miyoo Mini is a tinkering device. I have learned a little about Retro Arch. The Miyoo Mini Plus is great hardware but you have to do two simple things. You buy a known SD card and install Onion OS. The install is so easy you copy the SD card contents and the Onion file. Boot it up and it installs. Once you get it setup little need to tinker.

Both Devices have USB C and for some that is and should be a given. It is too bad it is pretty much just charging via USB. The Miyoo Mini since software emulation is not always perfect. However software emulation has come a long way. The buttons are slightly too close for me but I am a gamer and I adjust. The D-Pad is solid on the Miyoo Mini Plus. That was one of its strongest attributes. I found out early that if the controls are bad you will not spend much time playing. The battery life on these seem good. I haven’t felt like I had a problem. I keep going back and forth to each. I just use each for their strengths and there is a lot of overlap.

I’m glad I have both and I really love the Miyoo Mini Plus. Thank you for reading this stream of thoughts.

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I have been on a hiatus because I have been playing a bunch of wow classic. Also for a while I didn’t have the same equipment for capture but mostly all gaming and free time went into wow. I have since acquired a newer computer to capture and edit on. Capture card still compatible. Most of the living room setup is working. I need to clean the laser on my Gamecube and hope that solves it. Even to just play GB and GBA games on the TV. I might end up in a different route.

I have thought about an intro that I wanted to do but wasn’t sure how to do it. Well with my newer computer I solved it and made it where I thought it was nice and shiny. I was feeling good about the challenge I put on myself and the creative solution. Then I still don’t get any new videos out. I have shared the intro to some family and friends. It was very generous feedback. Over all it is a huge upgrade from the first.

ThenI still didn’t continue working on videos. I really enjoyed working on the graphics but failing to write the scripts. I keep playing wow classic. These days it is wrath of the lych king. I can’t wait for ICC. I have been streaming wow these days. I was glad I spent time on some graphics.

One happy accident was in making the video game collage I had the original soundtracks from each clip. The sounds all together reminded me of the arcades and I like them piled all on top of each other.

have always wanted to have a logo that can also work black and white. So I went back at it and finally feel I sorted out a design problem I was trying to figure out the N in a NP logo. Ok so NP for Nostalgic pixel is not an accident. NP is also Nintendo Power, Nintendo PlayStation and Now Playing. There is an X in Pixel so if it was NPX but that is used already it would be Nintendo PlayStation and XBox I wanted a retro feel with the logo. RGB in the logo has been important as well. I also liked they where similar to subpixels. I like pixels because it can be reference to anything on a screen digitally. so our TV and computer screens are all made of pixels. Pixels are also a type of art in games.

Well I revisited the logo and made a new one. I really like it and I need to make more content to get more use out of it. Funny I think it makes also a great logo in print and I need to figure what printing looks like in 2023. I have enjoyed posting on Instagram but I feel a creative block on what video game content to share. I think it flows more from video projects I work on.

So I took some inspiration from Sal Bass and the WB logo he created in the 70s. I know it is close but I really like it. That logo has some resurgence in use. I feel I created a unique but familiar logo that goes with the nostalgic feel.

I recreated the logo and switched up some fonts. Then I had a internal agitation. I made this cool intro that is built on the old logo and I just redesigned it. I spent all this time figuring out which game and where to capture to get a more red green or blue composition. I loved the old animation studios logo screens and the short into videos HBO would make. It reminds me of visiting my grandmothers. I even wanted to figure out how to use a video watermark or some screen. I really liked this intro but again old now logo.

Last year the James Webb Space Telescope started sending images. It is really amazing to me as what pictures it comes back with. Also Space and looking at the stars is looking at the past. Again nostalgic comes into it for me. Also last year AI really seemed to gain steam. I couldn’t think about how to animate the old log morphing into the new logo. I found morphing apps but most where about human faces. AI to the rescue. I found a website that solved this complex animation. I could solve the simple animation.

I solved it I was able to use the newer intro I made with a video collage and end up with the new logo. I really like how it turned out.

So I have been doing more research on you tube videos. I am noticing that intros seem to really lose viewers. I am even looking at changing up the format a little. I know I have thought of many more episodes on Memory Lane. I’m still trying to convince a friend over to record a new Friend Zone episode. other Nostalgic Pixel prime episodes I am really wanting to get my all time favorites done and fun kid friendly/ quirky Japanese game. Something for my cousins to watch with their kids. They can watch most but I want to talk more quirky games. More puzzle games and beat’m ups and shoot’m ups.

I’m writing this to push everything forward. this site I wanted to work out ideas for videos an just improve my writing skills. videos seems to hit all my creative outlets with the thumbnails and graphics. I have been thinking of revisiting my old videos and do like a commentary track type where I talk more about making it and other thoughts after the video. I could recut the intro and maybe give them like a second life.

All these ideas then I play wow so much. I also have other things I need to spend time on. I’m on a writing block for a next video but I need to get writing so I can finish game capture and finalize a shot list. I also plan to make a new channel trailer after I finish next video but before I publish.

Well this is like an update and where my head is at.

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For many years even decades my SNES went yellow on the bottom half. I bought it the first year the SNES was available. I have been wanting to restore the color on my SNES. Finally, I have decided to do it. The SNES is known to yellow because of the fire retardant treatment that is on the plastic has a chemical reaction over time that causes the yellowing and breaks down the plastic making it brittle. While my SNES is not a 1 chip model it is my original SNES. As amazing as it has been running still, I want it to continue to run for a few more decades to come.

Retrobright is a formula figured out by others online. There have been also some discoveries in making your own and other products on the market already made that will achieve the desired results. This can be found at beauty supply stores. I bought and used Salon Care 40 Volume Creme Developer.

 

I first put the SNES out uncovered at first. The picture above is when I first put it out then an hour later and then 2 hours later. You can see what a change a few hours can make.

Then I flipped it over and wrapped it up. I checked on it each hour and mixed it up so that it would get even treatment.

 

There is before and after. The difference is amazing. Here is two another 20 plus years.

 

After that I went and picked out some controllers. I knew one in-particular I bought a few years back knowing I might be able to remove the yellowing. Well I did retrobright the controller but after I did the one yellow controller I noticed the other two could benefit. Here is a look at my PC Engine controllers.

Here is the yellow controller at the beginning ready to go.

Here is the finished results. I went back and retrobright my other controller because after the first one was done the other looked yellow. Now they both look next to new. This looks good and I’m not going to open up my Duo-R and retrobright that one. It looks good as it is. Although I’m sure if I opened my Duo-R open it would be a nightmare to see the epoxy and plastic bags that likely make up the mod work. Someday I will send it to Voltar to fix up. The controller on the bottom was the original yellow controller.

I learned a few things I would recommend. I recomend cleaning the parts well before and wrap in cling wrap to trap the creme in so it will not dry out in the sun and keep its effectiveness up. Also check every so ofter to avoid spots and unevenness. Also to help the sides get more UV light use a tin basket or tin foil to help reflect lights on the sides. Also the first run will be good but go back and run it again once more to address any unevenness and also finish it off.

 

All in all I am really glad I did this. I plan on trying out a few more controllers and I will think twice when buying old yellow video game consoles and controllers. Maybe next I will pickup a really yellow PC-Engine or Famicom.

 

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I love emulation. I remember when I first saw and found out I could play all my old consoles on my mac was a great day. The challenges for me was getting the right controller and managing game saves. I could never get that to be 100% reliable. I love the ability to discover new games I missed growing up. I also enjoy revisiting old games I have nostalgia for.

However emulation is not perfect. There have been major advancements in emulation. Emulation has also contributed in enhancing the visual fidelity of older games. Sometimes emulation is not perfect. Still having all my old consoles I wanted to play these games on the original hardware when possible. This journey with RGB has aided in my going back and playing old consoles. Also I enjoy the feeling of the original controllers and authentic experience of playing on real hardware.

So the path I took is not the path most traveled to playing these old games but it is a path I’m very happy with. I took the long way round. For most people the best option to playing old games is to get a raspberry pie and make a retro pie out of it and just emulate all these games. The market for retro games has changed quickly and still continues to be harder to get into with the rapid rising costs of games. Having all my systems and games since I was young I have had a head start. Also picking up retro games here and there my whole life helps. I keep saying I wish I was more aggressive picking up older titles but I then remember that I never stopped picking up games for one system or another over the years.

Also a major catalyst in playing on original hardware was the discovery of flash cartridges. This was a dream as a kid having a cartridge that I could load up nearly any game for and play it. This was kind of reverse emulation. With emulation comes the access to the whole library of games for a system. With most Flash Carts you can get the benefit of playing nearly any game for the system the cart is for. Flash Carts seem like a nice way to play games on original hardware without emulation and enjoy hacks, homebrew and translations. You would think that getting a flash cart would replace seeking out original cartridges but it really helped formed buying decisions. I have really been enjoying more the hacks and translations these days.

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Growing up I knew some about video resolution. There was always talk about HDTV when I was young. Reading about HDTVs is where I learned about resolution. That and using computers is where I first learned about resolution. I knew about how TVs in the US had a 480i resolution. Interlacing I had grouped with scanlines. HDTVs I read about had progressive signals like 720p and later 1080p. 480p was the DVD resolution I first associated it with. Game Consoles later provided 480p. I didn’t get to truly experience 480p until I had an HDTV and at that time there where HD resolutions to take advantage of. I only knew of 480i resolutions for my old consoles. I had no idea that they output a 240p signal. Progressive signals I first experienced with HDTVs and my computer. Knowing that these old systems output a 240p signal it was great when I was able to display and upscale that progressive resolution.

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Growing up I had access to many different video cable types. Each one an improvement from the previous. When I was young I hooked up my Sega Genesis/Sega CD to my GameGear through the TV turner. I was so excited that I figured this out. This was not the ideal setup but the TV in the hotel room didn’t have composite connection and I didn’t have an RF adaptor nor did I want one. Also convincing everyone to let me monopolize the TV in the room seemed like another challenge not worth it. Also just not being able to connect via composite to the TV made that conversation null and void. My dad had a similar interest in gadgets. While he was not interested at all in video games he enjoyed watching movies. Well this moment of accomplishment was very short lived playing my Sega CD on a GameGear. My dad’s reaction was of surprise that I owned a GameGear. This lead to my end of playing video games until college. After the trip I had to pack everything up and not get to play them at all. The reason was I had to many.

Still I used my knowledge of video cables and helped wire the house and home stereo. At the time S-Video was the best that was available to me. We had an SVHS player with S-Video and later a LaserDisc player late in its lifespan because it was also a karaoke player. I was happy to find out the nearby Blockbuster rented LaserDiscs. The first TV I had a composite connection and I used that with my NES. I could see the difference then over RF. Later I upgraded to a TV with S-Video. Then the last CRT I bought had Component. I first learned out when DVD players first came out. So even from an early age I was aware of differences in video cables and could see the benefits like lack of color bleed and accurate colors.

VGA, DVI and HDMI was the next round in video connections. This was a short race to HDMI. These days HDMI is the standard. Only that there have been upgrades to the format with 3D and 4k signals going through HDMI. HDMI is digital so this is simple that it carries the signal digitally and it is just 1s and 0s. I know not cables are the same but HDMI made things simpler.

Another thing with all these different video cables also has another part to it. That is not all video cables are equal. There are varying degrees of quality in analog video cables. Running cables through the house I learned more about this with signal degradation and shielding. Having some experience I really looked at not just getting to certain cable types but quality cables with shielding and quality components in cables. Gold tips and thicker video cables with shielding became the desired features of cables.

SCART is a format I have learned about over the past few years. This format carries an RGB signal. The benefit is that it separates out the different components of the video signal. The separation provides the more RAW and complete signal an analog format can provide. While all the consoles are digital they convert the image to analog. There have been some great developments in tapping into that digital signal and converting that to HDMI these days I kind of jumped in prior to these options to be available.

Looking at Component you see the video cable go from one single cable to three color coded red, green and blue. Playing DVDs and PS2 was my first experience with an RGB format. My love for movies and DVD really drove home this desire for component. VGA was also some kind of RGB signal but I never had a VGA monitor with my mac so I never used it. SCART is also an RGB format. Used primarily in Europe and JP21 used in Japan is the newest video format I learned about next. Knowing the principles of different video cables and the more the signal was broken into the different components providing better picture quality this made since to me. It wasn’t until I really saw a side by side comparison did I really appreciate the cable. I had been using component prior to going HDMI. Knowing that my old consoles had a component type signal coming out of most of them straight out of the box was an exciting discovery. I learned out this when researching upscalers.

For the most part I have gone RGB when possible. My systems cables are using SCART, S-video(N64), Component and HDMI these days.

I have been chasing this better video signal my whole life. I’m very happy with where I am with all this these days. Only one console I have uses S-Video and that is my N64. I’m not too interested in getting it RGB or HDMI modded currently. Maybe I will change that but these days that mod scene is active in developing and I am not in a hurry and will wait till some of this settles down.

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I keep thinking about what to write. This one topic keeps coming back up in my head. This will be my journey into RGB. I would say mid 2000s is when I got my consoles out of storage and play them again. I had picked up other consoles along the way but these where the consoles I had before college. Well connecting them to my first HDTV it was fun but not the same or great experience. I thought the fix would be a receiver that would upscale like some DVD players out there. I still have my old now CRT. I plugged the systems into that and it works great at the time. My last CRT I bought has component inputs and I really enjoyed that. Well I even looked online for a solution. I came across a website that talked all about this stuff but at the time I just didn’t understand how to digest this information. Many of the devices where out of production. There was one at the end of the list. It was the Framemeister. I was looking at this. I couldn’t at the time really understand the problems that these scalers attempt to solve. Two major challenges upscalers attempt to resolve is accurate scaling and low latency in doing so. Lag is the invisible enemy in gaming. Growing up this was not a thing and it wasn’t until TVs went digital.

So chances are if you know what the Framemeister is then this is nothing new to you and we both having been going on similar adventures in retro gaming. There was some confusion about the Framemeister for me. I couldn’t really see the lag that was talked about online. Also I could recognize not all the inputs to this device. Having looked for component cables for the Gamecube in the past I had run across the D-Teminal. Once I saw the Component cable to D-Terminal I understood how I could use it. The RGB port was a mystery. It seemed important but the cables that it used where foreign to me. I knew the Framemeister was the best upscaler on the market at the time. I started to understand the evolution of these scalers. Then thanks to My Life in Gaming’s YouTube channel for demystifying this elusive RGB port. This was a nice clear visual explanation of the benefit of RGB and how it can be used. I understood Component so RGB was not a big stretch to comprehend. After that first video I now understood why the Framemeister was the king of upscalers. Then I started to review the information I had found earlier but know with a better understanding of what was being discussed.

I understood that getting the Framemeister would turn out to be the beginning of a new adventure in retro gaming. Once I got the Framemeister I started ordering SCART cables. Short story there are two ways you can go with this RGB SCART or JP21. They look identical and junction the same. The difference is the pin layout. SCART is used in Europe and JP21 is used in Japan. This was sort of like choosing a camera and then getting locked into lenses. I choose SCART because it seemed it would provide the most options for cables since an entire continent had been using them. Even though most of these consoles came from Japan. Video format is bigger than video games alone. Also knowing about PAL video signals and finding out that SCART can transmit NTSC signals with out an issue.

As I started to order one set of SCART cables after another I was also looking at what consoles didn’t support RGB out of the box. I quickly pickedup my first RGB modded console. there was always one console that I played growing up but didn’t have that I really wanted to play more. It was a console that had huge success in Japan and many great japan only games. One game I wanted to play since I first heard about it in game magazines at the time was Castlevania: Rondo of Blood. This was the driving force to get a TurboDuo. I got my TurboDuo a few years prior but hadn’t picked up this game yet. Well I quickly picked this game up shortly after getting the Framemeister. So I turned around and picked up a PC Engine Duo-R RGB modded.

After picking up more SCART cables for my consoles I really fell back into retro gaming more than modern gaming. The NES was the next console that can’t support RGB out without modding. Learning about the journey to getting RGB out of an NES I found interesting. It seemed to at one point was to use the Arcade PlayChoice systems to mod to an NES was a method. Time Worthington’s NESRGB mod seemed to really set the standard for getting RGB out of NES. I still have my original NES. Playing most of my other old consoles in RGB going to the NES really pointed out the low quality of the composite signal. Well it seemed complicated to find a modder and send out a system and wait a month or more and get your system back. That doesn’t seem so challenging these days. I knew about the difference in appearance the Japanese and European consoles compared to the US versions. The NES in Japan came out there in a very different way. For starters it is called the Family Computer. There was a keyboard and a floppy drive for it. Learning about the extra sound channels and the Famicom Disk System games had me leaning to getting an AV Famicom with an RGB mod. I thought if I’m going to buy another NES why not get something different and have the option to play Japanese NES games. With a simple cartridge adaptor I can play my NES games. I couldn’t see a downside. I’m really happy with this decision. NES with RGB has really provided a clean image that makes it for me even more enjoyable.

The next system that I needed to get an adaptor to work with my Framemeister was my Dreamcast. The Dreamcast supports VGA. VGA is another type of RGB signal. The Dreamcast can output a 480p signal through VGA. Many games support VGA on the Dreamcast and some can also be forced. Not all VGA adaptors are equal. This is what I was learning about while researching. A wrinkle about VGA and the Framemeister is that the Framemeister doesn’t support VGA. I found a solution to this problem. The Toro made by the BeHaro Bros solves this problem while also being a great VGA adaptor as well. This device cleverly takes the VGA signal and remaps the wiring to output 480p through SCART as well as VGA. This was great. This was another console that uses SCART.

Two years after getting the Framemiester the consoles that I am using SCART has grown. Now there is a pile of cables I’m swapping out into my Framemeister. The next thing for my Setup was to attempt to tackle cable management with Switchers. I have used Switchers since the 16 bit generation when I had my NES, SNES and Genesis hooked up to my TV through Composite then S-Video and later Component switchers. I think I looked at SCART switchers for about a year. Looking at switchers confirmed to me I made a good decision early to go with SCART over JP21. I finally pickedup a SCART Switcher. The gSCARTsw is what I now have. It has 8 inputs and 2 outputs.

The more I ventured into Getting RGB cables for my consoles to hook up with my Framemeister the more I kept seeing more about PVMs and BVMs. I am still looking into utilizing the component input of my CRT with an SCART adaptor or flirting with getting HD retrovision’s component cables. It wasn’t until I saw a PVM playing retro games with the same SCART cables to an RGB BNC adaptor that I remembered about these monitors. I had seen these before in High School TV and film class in the editing station. The PVM looks great and with RGB connections it handles the clean signal great. I had been looking online for them for about a year off and on. Stalking Craigslist for them. Recently I got my first PVM. Now I can play on the HDTV or on my PVM.

Well that is a long and also condensed version of my journey into RGB gaming. I plan to revisit and expand on some of these and talk more about what I didn’t cover here in the future. I feel in some way I have gone full circle.

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This is the first post. I thought I would write a little post about what I’m thinking about posting on this site. I plan to write about video games and sometimes movies and art. I’m thinking about sharing my journey in playing video games and focus on retro games. I still play everything so new games maybe talked about. I also hope to share stories I found around the web with you. Videos also are something I want to put together and share here. I hope an added benefit is a outlet to write.

Well the YouTube channel has begun and it is about time to get this off the ground. Twitter is the place I have been the most active. I will tweet out my posts from there. I also have a Facebook page where if I remember to post there I will. I also think that I can work out ideas here before I make them a video. Some ideas don’t need to be videos as well.

I know this first post will not be perfect and this site will be in a state of change but it is time to get this up and fill it with content.

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