The Worst Game Visits The So Cal Retro Expo 2025. Additional music: Music: Heart Of Neon (Spectral Grid Mix) - Tony Longworth Late night fuel support appreciated but not demanded : https://www.buymeacoffee.com/intotheverticalblank Thanks for support from: BCB, Atari Legend, Atari Crypt -https://ataricrypt.blogspot.com/ ED Possible, Tony Longworth Daniel Beasley, Barry Burkey David Schmidt, Dave theVelociraptor Jolt7800 wesbrown18 Daniel Stephens All music, audio / video production. writing and g...
Jun 22, 2025•10 min•Season 8Ep. 142
STOS The Game Creator (and like software) might have been seen as silly or non-serious shortcuts for hobbyists, but for many many people it became entry point into the world of professional software development. This is just one such tale, the story of "Zamboozal Poker Dice" Video version here: How STOS Helped People Forge Careers in Software The is a re-edit and and re-master of podcast from season 3. Original Zamboozal on Atarimania.com: https://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-st-zamboozal-poker...
Jun 08, 2025•37 min
If you were a teen, pre-teen, or even a curious adult with an 8-bit computer in the 80’s, you most likely started your journey as a computer enthusiast by playing with the basic language included with your machine. Some typed in a few programs, then moved to games and never looked back, while many of us were so engrossed in the power to control the computer and especially create games, that it became an obsession that we still feed off of today. Eventually many of us sold or traded up to an Amig...
Jun 01, 2025•30 min•Season 8Ep. 140
A lost tape from 2023. Jeff and I sit down to talk about our friend Brandon, the day we found out he passed away. Brandon was with us on our gaming adventures from 1982 to 2023.
May 11, 2025•1 hr 4 min•Season 8Ep. 139
In 2008, when quite literally, NO ONE CARED we published a multi-part series called "Project Save Atari" with ideas and predictions for Atari's future. In 2024 we sat down to revisit it, and see how we did. These are the lost tapes from 2024 and 2008. These were predictions and suggestions to help save the then struggling Atari/Infogrames. In this lost tape from 2024,w e went back to look at the 17 year-old "Project: Save Atari" and see how we did. We also unearthed another lost tape...from 2008...
May 04, 2025•1 hr 24 min•Season 8Ep. 138
In the final episode of "Worse Than E.T. ?" we attempt to, once and for all, find the "worst Atari 2600 game", even if we have to make it ourselves...so we do. Here is the itch.io page for the game when you can download it, get the code, see the box-art, etc. All free, of course. https://intotheverticalblank.itch.io/worst-game #worst #atari #atari2600 #humor Late night fuel support appreciated but not demanded : https://www.buymeacoffee.com/intotheverticalblank Thanks for support from: BCB, Atar...
Apr 30, 2025•19 min•Season 8Ep. 137
What Does It Mean To Finish A Game? Atari 2600, 400/800, 520/1040 ST A lost tape from 2022, finally released. Inspired by an episode of The Retro Hour, We discuss all the games we "finished" for Atari platforms. With gobs of new video for each game. #atari #atari2600 #atari800 #atari400 #atarist Late night fuel support appreciated but not demanded : https://www.buymeacoffee.com/intotheverticalblank Opening 0:00 Adventure (2600) 2:15 Breakout (2600) 5:31 Dragonstomper (2600) 7:31 ET (2600) 10:05 ...
Apr 25, 2025•1 hr 2 min•Season 8Ep. 136
We get together live and in person to talk about the state of Atari and play victim to the C64, NES, and the Amiga. Whoa is us, as Atari fans. Late night fuel support appreciated but not demanded : https://www.buymeacoffee.com/intotheverticalblank Thanks for support from: BCB, Atari Legend, Atari Crypt, ED Possible, Tony Longworth Daniel Beasley, Barry Burkey David Schmidt, Jolt7800 Dave theVelociraptor All music, audio / video production. writing and game play by @8bitrocket and or @fultonbot u...
Apr 20, 2025•30 min•Season 8Ep. 135
#134 Atari ST Special: SSI on the ST and a STOS STE game engine Welcome to episode 134 of the Into The Vertical Blank Podcast. Today we have a special treat. It’s the 40th anniversary of the Atari ST this year, so we will be confusing most of the audio and video channels on the Atari computers and especially the ST. First up we have a segment focusing on the Magic of SSI games on the ST. Following that we will have a special on a newly found STe game engine for STOS. The Magic of SSI Games on th...
Apr 15, 2025•41 min•Season 7Ep. 134
Beautiful Disaster: An Ode to Fry's Electronics A story about technology change from generation to generation and the importance of feeling useful with DIY See video version here: https://youtu.be/r78tcGiIzP4 #diy #atari #motorcycles #pcgames #fryselectronics #southbay #memoir Music licenses: Soundstripe Full Throttle: Code: UKYZGYCBOZ5E6MSB 1 Up: Code: FPQITALX8O3ERBZV Written and Created By Steve Fulton Thanks to @JarrodsTech for the video lesson End song "Out Of The Vertical Blank" by Tony Lo...
Mar 31, 2025•19 min•Season 8Ep. 133
There were as many stories as there were people at Vintage Computer Fest So. Cal. 2025. This is Ours Video version of the main story here: Finding Our Story at Vintage Computer Fest So. Cal. 2025 #retrogaming #vintacomouting Links, etc. Panel Attendees: → David from Usagi Electric - youtube.com/@UsagiElectric → Jeri from Tilt Five - tiltfive.com → Sean from Advent of Computing - adventofcomputing.libsyn.com → Evie from Evie's Revue - youtube.com/@EviesRevue → Alex from That Electronics Fool - yo...
Mar 08, 2025•43 min•Season 8Ep. 132
In the 1994, when retro gaming wasn't even really a thing yet, Ed Federmeyer decided he wanted to make his own Atari 2600 software. His drive to actually bring this dream to fruition may have sparked the modern are of retro games. Includes a new 2025 interview with Ed Federmeyer. Late night fuel support appreciated but not demanded : https://www.buymeacoffee.com/intotheverticalblank Thanks for support from: BCB, Atari Legend, Atari Crypt, ED Possible, Tony Longworth Daniel Beasley, Barry Burkey ...
Mar 02, 2025•1 hr 13 min•Season 8Ep. 131
What started as simple "crack the seal" to open and play a 30 year old Windows game, became journey to discover, what might be, the origins of retro gaming itself. Many Thanks to Eclectic Lee for creating the archive page used in this story. See Video Version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_Sge_pELco&feature=youtu.be Music: All Systems Go by used on Cyberlink Power Director license: Code: WTVUZQ8QQU4DGD83 Links: Eclectic Lee's rec.games.vidieo.classic Atari Action Pack Archive: https://ho...
Feb 13, 2025•1 hr 3 min•Season 8Ep. 130
The final, definitive version of the story we've been trying to tell for the past 6 years. Christmas 1983, the Atari 8-bit computer Christmas was, for many reasons, the best *#@! Christmas ever. This new version gives a rounder picture, explains The Vertical Blank, obsesses over Star Wars, and tries to explain the actual result of Christmas 1983, once and for all. #atari #atari8bit #atari800 #starwars #blankgeneration #genx You can watch a movie version here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9Yf...
Dec 18, 2024•1 hr 11 min•Season 7Ep. 129
There is a new Atari related limited podcast out there that blew us away! The Legend Of SwordQuest from iHeartRadio Atariage Thread: Legend of Swordquest podcast - Atari 2600 - AtariAge Forums iHeartRadio Podcast Page: The Legend of SwordQuest | iHeart Jamie Loftus Page: Jamie Loftus School Of Humans: The Legend of SwordQuest — School of Humans Late night fuel support appreciated but not demanded : https://www.buymeacoffee.com/intotheverticalblank Thanks for support from: BCB, Atari Legend, Atar...
Dec 11, 2024•11 min•Season 7Ep. 128
Late night fuel support appreciated but not demanded : https://www.buymeacoffee.com/intotheverticalblank On the Into The Vertical Blank’s The Essential #atari ST, we investigate, discuss and evaluate #atarist Computers games and try to uncover titles worthy of play by all who are interested in the platform. I will be giving you a history of #timebandit , a personal review and I will also be inserting video and audio with my brother Steve, fultonbot, as we further discuss the gameplay, legacy and...
Nov 26, 2024•44 min•Season 7Ep. 127
In this 20 minute rant, we loudly discuss an incident we recently had at a retro game store, and then talk about how the retro game store experience could be improved for all. https://retrogamesplus.com/ Late night fuel support appreciated but not demanded : https://www.buymeacoffee.com/intotheverticalblank Thanks for support from: BCB, Atari Legend, Atari Crypt, ED Possible, Tony Longworth Daniel Beasley, Barry Burkey David Schmidt, Jolt7800 Dave theVelociraptor All music, audio / video product...
Nov 06, 2024•21 min•Season 7Ep. 126
(Including Sun Su Si and First Samurai) Join us as we take a look at 10 good #actionplatformer games for the #atarist we also briefly discuss them for the #amiga and otjer 80s computers such as the #c64 and #pc I have chosen the #Atari ST as my platform because it was what I had from 1987 until 1992 and also because these games have most likely been explored in detail for other systems multiple times already, whereas the ST versions probably have not been explored as much as they deserve outside...
Oct 14, 2024•17 min•Season 7Ep. 125
#atari #atarst #actionplatformer #amiga #msx #c64 #speccy #amstradcpc #dos The Euro Platformer. Today the term is used with much derision, mostly by console game fans but even by some many 80’s computer games, and well now, now even by me, and we all probably should know better, or should we? Yes, these games had very high difficulty, cheap deaths, a lot of jumping to unknown places and mostly “bad game design” that would have the Retronaughts guys throwing up their arms in disgust. I’m picking ...
Oct 01, 2024•22 min•Season 7Ep. 124
#123: Atari I.P List Found! 23 Atari ST Games They Own! We scour Atari's 2024 IP list (we were altered to it last week by BCB Coffee Boy last week) and discover 23 Atari ST games Atari (probably) owns that could be put into a game pack, DLC for Atari 50, an Atari ST mini, etc. We played (almost) all of them (game play video included). Note: list was first published by PowerDubs on atariage.com who found it on Atari's home page: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1e-tl9Oqwnr78879Lnne_uhlsGkPW...
Sep 25, 2024•48 min•Season 7Ep. 123
Is Atari 2600 Pac-Man worse than E.T. for The Atari 2600? Or does it go deeper than that? Did the timing, release, and quality of the 2600 Pac-Man game combine together to make it worse than the sum of its parts? We explore that in this video. Late night fuel support appreciated but not demanded : https://www.buymeacoffee.com/intotheverticalblank Thanks for support from: BCB, Atari Legend, Atari Crypt, ED Possible, Tony Longworth Daniel Beasley, Barry Burkey David Schmidt, Jolt7800 Dave theVeloc...
Sep 06, 2024•36 min•Season 7Ep. 122
Why do people subjectively choose one game or another to top their "worst" list? It's rarely actually the "worst" game objectively. In this episode I explore why one particular game has topped my own "worst" list for 4 decades, and if that is still the case in 2024. See Video Version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWIc1R8Fg24&feature=youtu.be Late night fuel support appreciated but not demanded : https://www.buymeacoffee.com/intotheverticalblank Includes music from Tony Longworth's song "W...
Sep 03, 2024•10 min•Season 7Ep. 121
Mr. Postman is another game from Bit Corp., the people who brought us Bobby Is Going Home. It's a doozy of game for the 2600, but is it worse than E.T.? Video Version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toxJOrAOklw&feature=youtu.be Dr. Spuds Game Reviews: https://doctorspudsreviewsthings.wordpress.com/2018/12/12/mr-postman-bit-corp-atari-2600-game-review/ Ric Pryor on Old School Gamer Magazine: https://www.oldschoolgamermagazine.com/mr-postman-for-the-atari-2600/ Late night fuel support appreci...
Aug 14, 2024•18 min•Season 7Ep. 120
Overscan: Cracking Seals and Proving Life In this over scan we discuss a few new home brew games we have obtained for the #Atari2600 and #NES. #ChampGames https://champ.games/ #AtariAgeStore https://atariage.com/store/index.php?l=product_detail&p=1045 #MurderintheMaze https://t1lt.itch.io/mitm #mrrunandjump https://atari.com/products/mr-run-and-jump-2600 Late night fuel support appreciated but not demanded : https://www.buymeacoffee.com/intotheverticalblank Thanks for support from: BCB, Atar...
Aug 07, 2024•15 min•Season 7Ep. 119
Worserer than E.T.? : The Games Of Mythicon In our continuing quest to find games that are "Worse Than E.T?" we have arrived at the bottom of the stinkiest barrel imaginable, and there rests the games of Mythicon. Enjoy! Video version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufSlqW9MjU4 Links: DP Royal Archives - The Worst of the Atari 2600 (digitpress.com) https://www.digitpress.com/archives/arc00135.htm The Story of Mythicon.. How cool is this. https://forums.atariage.com/topic/55115-the-story-of-myth...
Jul 31, 2024•21 min•Season 7Ep. 118
Airlock A game that takes "worse Than E.T." to a whole new level. Did Data Age make games worse than the supposed worst game ever, E.T. for the Atari VCS? Were they also one of the culprits responsible for the North American Video Game Crash? Have we found the worst Atari VCS game ever made? Watch and find out. Plus: Embarrassed by my poor play of Airlock, I went back and tried to figure out what I was doing wrong. What I found was a combination of user error, RTFM and a flaw of the 2600+ that a...
Jul 23, 2024•22 min•Season 7Ep. 117
In our 2nd installment we play the notorious Atari 2600 game "Bobby Is Going Home" and decide: Is it worse than E.T.? Video Version here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjtcqOVvPA0&feature=youtu.be Ambient music in this video is "GUL-ee-SUCK-uh" by Tony Longworth "Bobby Is Going Home" By Flanders '72: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pc517DXJiSo Flanders 72 on Band Camp https://flanders72.bandcamp.com/track/lucy-moved-to-london Bobby Is Going Home review from AtariMania.com: https://www.atar...
Jul 17, 2024•10 min•Season 7Ep. 116
In the first in a series, we play notoriously "bad" games and figure out if they are "worse" than the supposed worst game ever, "E.T. The Extra Terrestrial" for the Atari 2600. This first episode is a bit rough, but I promise you, they get better. Video version here: Worse Than E.T.? Tax Avoiders for the Atari 2600 (youtube.com) Thanks for support from: BCB, Atari Legend, Atari Crypt, ED Possible, Tony Longworth Daniel Beasley, Barry Burkey David Schmidt, Jolt7800 Dave the Velociraptor All music...
Jul 13, 2024•16 min•Season 7Ep. 115
Overscan # 8 #114 Yep. Another of these STUPID @#$%!! Podcasts. Plus...Atari Hidden Gems In this episode the brothers find a hidden gem for each of Atari’s classic systems and even a few divisions like the Arcade division and APX. As always they decide in the middle if they want to keep going with the podcast and we cut out a lot of infighting and cursing/ Steve edited this episode. #Atari #atarist #atariste #atari8bit #atariarcde #atari2600#atari5200 #atari7800 #atarilynx #atarijaguar #atarisof...
Jul 04, 2024•54 min•Ep. 114
This week we discuss two of our favorite weekly retro gaming podcasts and compare and contrast them to one another. There are no losers here as both pods are excellent weekly doses of what make us tick here at Into the Vertical Blank, We also have our usual assortment of news and have added even more segments. Contents 0:00 Intro 1:35 News 6:45 Book Club 8:45 Retro Ad of the Week 14:00 PC Dos Game of the Week 19:02 Crack the seal! 22:20 Feedback 26:50 Creator Spotlight 29:30 Ancient Video Game a...
Jun 26, 2024•49 min•Ep. 113
