Tomytronic 3D Games Retrospective 

Strangely enough, that's one of the bits I've always quite liked too. Chunky, meaty shark bits. Must have been explosive harpoons! 😆

I believe you. I'm always amazed by how resilient some old 80s technology can be.

@@RetroSpectives I know. I have so many 80s n 90s computers, consoles and electronic games. They all work.

I remember taking mine into school on one of those 'bring your toys in on the last day' days. Did you ever have those days at school?

They're good aren't they? 😁

Definitely my favourite 1980s electronic toy.

Got my turbo for Xmas too. Around 82- I think?

It's amazing that you have the full set, especially including the two rarer ones. I've never had a chance to try those two out. I had no idea about the morse code; that's a great bit of trivia. I think my favourite was always Thundering Turbo, with Sky Attack second - what's not to like about a 3D Space Invaders, especially in the 80s!?

We can imagine, I suppose.

We'll spotted! I also have some Buster annuals and a few Look-ins too.

@@RetroSpectives I had a load of Buster, and Corr, and all the others of that camp like Whizzer & Chips, Beezer, Topper, Beano, Dandy, from the about 77 through to early 90s. Sold them all to one lucky woman cheap who came picked up the lot. Had to as didn't have the space for them. Then ended up buying a bunch of them back again years later, probably built up around 80 annuals. Then again, had to part with them just a couple years ago, again space in my flat was an issue. I've literally kept just a few now on the small bookshelf I have

@@mumfnah I just have a couple. I'm not really an avid collector type, so I just like to keep it modest, just for the joy. The annuals I have mostly came from a local vintage/antique shop.

Definitely one of the best vintage handheld toys.

I can imagine being in your shoes and feeling hyper excited about it. 😄

Is that one you had originally?

@@RetroSpectives Sadly no, but I always wanted it. As a kid I was obsessed with the movie Jaws... It's still one of my favourites. Middle aged and I can now finally have some fun with my own Tomytronic 3D game. LOL :)

Yeah, those things really were built to last! Thanks for the commiserations .. 😔😂

I suspect the advertisers were banking on our memories not being that clear when we finally got our hands on the actual machines. I have a brainstorm list for future RetroSpectives, and there will definitely be more coming, I just don't know how often yet as they're pretty time consuming to produce. I have to work around my energy levels after work - days off are great for that. I'm sure you know where I'm coming from. 😩😉

These seem to be the most commonly owned ones. It's the two I first had. Shark Attack and Planet Zeon have never felt as much fun as those other two.

Still working I presume? Those things were built to last.

I never thought about the Planet Zeon (blue one) being a Star Wars ripoff. I suppose it's a lot like flying through a Death Star trench when you think about it.

It is good, tho' 😁👍

Shark Attack was my least favourite, I think because it was a re-hash of Sky Attack. Thundering Turbos was my fave too. Loads of people seem to love that one.

You're welcome. I'm heavily interested in these purely because they were one of my favourite electronic toys growing up. FYI .. The neck straps are often missing when you see them on eBay.

@@RetroSpectives Yeah, that okay. I wouldn’t use the neck straps anyway. :) My sentimental favourite is Coleco Electronic Quarterback which I played back in ‘78. I borrowed one from a friend for the weekend, but unlike your ‘friend’ I gave it back on the following Monday. :) Those red LEDs at night while I was supposed to be sleeping … good memories :)

Brilliant! I have to say, these machines are still my number one favourite vintage electronic toy. I can't believe they still work!

That's definitely a favourite. Racing cars .. What's not to like? 😁

Thanks for the contribution. Glad you liked the end result.

Got a few ideas in the pipeline, no release schedule though - just as and when they're ready. Thanks for watching!

That really is awful. I still remember the sinking feeling when I realised I'd been had. I imagine you felt something similar. I did find him years later on facebook & messaged him. He asked how I'd been and I said good, and can I have my Tomytronics back, please? 🤣🤣

Thanks for looking up the video, Mick. Glad you liked it. 🙂👍

I actually have a PSVR and Dreams, but I've never tried Dreams in VR. Never thought to. I will now though - thanks for the tip! Some great anecdotes there, too. Thanks for sharing that. 👍

@@RetroSpectives You have to! There's many average/nice experiences available in VR - specially if you own a PS5 instead of my humble OG, base PS4 - but there's also a bunch of superb, professional quality ones, too. I mentioned Speedtron for obvious reasons, as it looks, sounds and feels so much like Thundering Turbo that it almost seems like a remake of sorts, but you also REALLY need to look for some other high-quality experiences like Hypercycle (a complete Tron light cycle arena game, complete with every detail), Bionic Revolution, Tria-gone and Jungle Bill, a breathtaking Indiana Jones homage that needs to be seen to believe.

I'll go looking for those, but I'll have to be cautious - I'm one of those people that gets bad motion sickness in some VR experiences.

@@RetroSpectives Contrary to popular assumptions, that means that your vestibular systems works exactly as it should. Ironically, people who try strong VR experiences for the first time and not get sick are either motion sensitivity-trained beforehand - be it consciously, like sailors, air pilots, etc. or inadvertently, like car passengers who are used to travel over complicated, meandering roads very frequently - or have some sort of malfunctioning issue with their sense of equilibrium which they aren't actually aware of. Anyway, the vestibular system can be easily trained. The only trick is to use voluntary, steadily increasing exposure. Start with apps that provide mostly passive experiences with fixed points of attention inside the virtual environment and no involuntary camera motions, like, say, watching movies in virtual theaters or the giant white shark bit in Playstation Worlds, and spend a couple of hours there with relative frequency. You'll get used to those very quickly. Then, move over to mild experiences with little drift and gentle camera motions, Myst-style, like Torn, Red Matter and the sort. Make sure it's stuff you really like, as you'll be doing this for fun and it's not supposed to feel like a chore. Remember to turn all comfort settings on at first, and stop playing as soon as you notice any kind of dizziness at all; you'll notice, as sessions go by, that it takes a bit longer for said dizziness to kick in. Again, as you feel increasingly more comfortable, go and try some cockpit sims, as those provide close points of spatial reference - the cockpit of whatever vehicle you're piloting - for your brain to focus on while everything 'outside' of it in the virtual environment twists and turns under your command. Again, try the safest options first, i.e. terrestrial vehicle sims, before going for the truly intense, 360 degrees of manoeuvring experiences like the Ace Combat or Star Wars ones, or worse yet, the infamously stomach-churning outer space game in Playstation Worlds. Rinse and repeat. You can start dabbling with comfort settings by this point, too; just make sure to keep enforcing the stop-when-dizzy rule at need. Anyway, from there on you can go and finally try stuff where you move inside complex virtual spaces with full range of motion and freedom like Skyrim, Hitman, Sniper Elite and the sort and see how well you fare. Eventually you'll end up turning off every comfort option in every game by default, as you'll no longer need them and they'll become instead a nuisance getting in the way of immersion that you'll be eager to get rid of. Sorry for the wall of text, but I'm guessing that, even if you're not that interested in VR and it all sounds a bit too complicated/tiresome and not being worth the effort for you, which would be totally fair, those advices might end up being useful for someone else regardless.

Nah, no worries. That's some pretty solid advice. It's been difficult because as soon as I feel sick in a game, the nausea stays with me for a long time afterward, to the point where I gave up trying. Luckily, I can play some games without any trouble - Moss and Astro Bot being two of them. I tried Minecraft and it was immediate, extreme nausea. 🤢

No worries. 👍 I can relate to the buttons thing. My mum used to complain about the sound of my joystick moving when I played computer games late at night.

A VR conversion could work well I reckon. By the way .. that footage that came out really well; it was a mobile phone blu-tacked to one of the viewfinders! 🤣 (plus a little editing magic to enhance the quality)

Yeah - don't get shot! 😂 Seriously though, I'd say be patient, bide your time and use the cloud loops to allow the enemy to go past you so you can fire shots behind them. Strategic use of the speed button helps too.

I have a PSVR now and I do feel a sense of wonder from some of the stuff on there, but generally I just can't be arsed to get it all set up! Like yourself I have some good memories of mucking about on my bike in the local parks and generally getting up to mischief, but I also remember spending a LOT of time in my bedroom, playing on and programming on my Spectrum. It's all about balance I guess.

@@RetroSpectives I spent FAR too much time playing rubbish speccy games in my room and being rubbish at those games. Only games I was ever any good at were Jetpac and Manic miner.

Oh, definitely a great 3D effect. It's still impressive even now.

I first played on Shark Attack years after I played on the Sky Attack that I had when I was a kid, and I was quite surprised when I realised they'd reused the same sound effects from Sky Attack, in the Shark Attack game.

That was a lucky break! Sky Attack was the first one I had but my favourite has always been Thundering Turbos.

Yeah, that's one I didn't even know existed until I made this video.

@@RetroSpectivesgood news I found a boxed Sherman Attack from Germany. Perfect condition and worth the wait all these years 😃

Oh that's brilliant! Maybe a review is in order? 🙂

I've seen a few repair videos on YT. Might be worth a quick search.

Get yourself on eBay! They go for about £20 unboxed. Such a lovely piece of gaming history to have in a collection.

I was lucky enough to buy mine just before they started rising in price. They still work now .. those little buggers were built to last.

@@RetroSpectives When I re-bought them I thought the 1st one wasn't working properly & then I realised you needed a light source for the top! 😂

@@stephenrobinson9709 🤣🤣 Easy to forget the details after all those years.

@@RetroSpectives Those 40 yrs seems like 5 minds ago, but I can't remember last week! 😉

I've had that problem too. Try leaving a small gap for the "eye juice" to escape. 🤓

Those'll be Thundering Turbo, Sky Attack, and Planet Zeon, respectively.

There are definitely worse ways to pass the time.

Truthfully, they look amazing now when you see that 3D effect through the viewfinder. You kinda forget that it's basic graphics and bleepy sound.

I'd love to have had a go on one of those. Pretty much the only one I haven't played.

I guess the modern equivalent would be VR headsets. A version of these games in current VR would probably sell like hotcakes.

Sounds expensive, but I've seen stranger things made as pet projects.

@@RetroSpectives Expensive? An Arduino or Pi Zero are only about $15, Battery & BMS $10, LCD screen/s probably $20-30

Yeah, feel free. I'm glad you appreciated the screenshots. I couldn't find any decent footage before I made this video, so I decided to try it myself. It came out really well thanks to the Blu-Tack I used to firmly attach my phone to the Tomytronics! 😆 A little post-production editing helped refine the final results, too.

@@RetroSpectives Good on you, if no footage or screenshots existed, make 'em yourself, that is the way to go. Your editing is very professional as well, I visited your Twitter page too, very informative and interesting. Stay safe and well, oh and thanks for the reply.

@@Nige031077 Thanks, that's a nice compliment as I've had no training. Just an obsessive eye for detail! 😆 Take care ... 👍

If he does ever stumble across the video, keeping schtum would probably be the best option. 🤣

My parents blamed me for lending them out (which is how they interpreted "temporary swap"). My own fault, apparently. 🙄

They could make a killer version like that for current VR headsets.

@@RetroSpectives True but redoing what made us love the original, you know they will ruin it by complicating things. It’ll look nothing like the original & you’d go blind for nothing.it’s the simplicity that made old games fun when we were kids.

Yeah, the old trading standards would probably have a field day with this one. 😂

Yeah, just. One of the tabletop electronic arcadey type games, wasn't it?

@@RetroSpectives Yes it was. So expensive to buy now though.

My favourite of all the Grandstand games. I have that one and a Caveman. Not the ones I original bought back on the day, but had to have them

@J Hayes I think you're referring to the Atari game called Firefox. Based on a Clint Eastwood film. But the OP here I believe is referring to the Grandstand tabletop VFD game, called Firefox F7

@J Hayes the Grandstand Firefox F7 is not based on film that I'm aware of, though does have copy of Tie Fighters from Star Wars on one level, and music is definitely a famous piece of classical music, which probably is used in film too. But game is not directly linked to any film no. Firefox F7 is good fun

They were impressive for the time, but even now I'm not sure if they were really CGI or since kind of animation.

They are definitely CGI. I was a kid around that time - 8 or 9, depending on the exact date - but our parents were quite nerdy for the time's standards; we'd just gotten a C64 as a step up from our old Telstar Pong console and our folks signed me and my sis up for computing classes to go along with it. The academy was full of Commodore and MSX machines and our teacher was an outgoing computer wiz in his early twenties who, apart from teaching, also worked on computer graphics for TV credits and such, and he used to share with us some bits of WIP footage from the stuff he was working on. Truly cool times.

Yes, time flies. 👴

Fat chance! 🤣

From very distant memory, I remember the ones that were bought for me in the department store were about £19.99p, reduced to half price. I think they were selling them off. Lucky find, I guess.