this post was submitted on 24 Nov 2024
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Cassette Futurism

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Welcome to Cassette Futurism Lemmy and Mbin Community.

A place to share and discuss Cassette Futurism: media where the technology closely matches the computers and technology of the 70s and 80s.

Whether it's bright colors and geometric shapes, the tendency towards stark plainness, or the the lack of powerful computers and cell phones, Cassette Futurism includes: Cassettes, ROM chips, CRT displays, computers reminiscent of microcomputers like the Commodore 64, freestanding hi-fi systems, small LCD displays, and other analog technologies.

See this blog to know more.


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It was like holding the future in your little 10 year old hands.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mattel_Auto_Race

Mattel Electronics Auto Race was released in 1976 by Mattel Electronics as the first handheld electronic game to use only solid-state electronics; it has no mechanical elements except the controls and on/off switch. Using hardware designed for calculators and powered by a nine-volt battery, the cars are represented by red LEDs on a playfield which covers only a small portion of the case. The audio consists of beeps. George J. Klose based the game on 1970s racing arcade video games and designed the hardware, with some hardware features added by Mark Lesser who also wrote the 512 bytes of program code.

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[–] [email protected] 27 points 2 months ago (2 children)

No, wait, I also had the Tomy Digital Derby Auto Raceway. It's funny bc the only visible "digital" part of it was the light that lit up when you crashed, the rest of it is all mechanical. It was pretty fun tho, and looked cool.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 months ago

Ohhhh, actual pictures of cars! So much better!!
πŸ˜€

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago

I was just thinking of this one when I saw the post. Everyone who was a kid back then either had this, or knew someone who had it.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Tandy 3-in-1 SportsArena was what I got. Wasn't that great TBH. Killer idea, though.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

I don't remember this one but it looks fun and having those extra overlays would be cool.

From that video: "You are the brighter dot". Lol, yes!

Yah, the creative things they came up with, using very primitive electronics was amazing. Even looking back at them now I appreciate their designs.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 2 months ago

I had the Electronic Football game too. That one was more fun.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 months ago

I had a newer version, it was black and had a β€œscreen”. The play area was much larger and all of the controls were on the bottom. Fun game.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago

I didn’t even know these existded.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

I had this exact one. Even back then, it got boring really fast. Edit: Typo

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

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