Episode 935: Spinning Vertices at High Speeds – Radio Free Nintendo

It’s kinda funny, but the internet’s buzzing over this old piece of hardware — the Konix Multisystem. Seriously, if you do a quick check, like 99.99% of gaming folks have never even heard of it. This oddball British console? It’s like hearing about some mythological creature.

Honestly, feels justified. This guy GX, who emails me way too much and kinda moonlights as a game guru, compared the trailer to an episode of—get this—The Simpsons. No clue why, but that just sticks with me.

Now, Konix was known for making accessories that were, um, let’s say “questionable,” right? The trailer just screams that. That motion chair? It’s infamous. Yet, it’s kinda fascinating—back when the world felt a little less intertwined. We were like islands back then.

Their marketing was squarely aimed at the good ol’ home computers of the UK like the Amiga and the Atari ST. Remember those? Gaming didn’t live in consoles then. Nah, it was snug in your computer. Weird to think about today, huh?

And then you had companies like Konix and Atari trying to launch systems that were really just dressed-up computers. Like, remember the Atari Jaguar? Total repack of a Konix prototype. Funny how things just try to be something else sometimes. Is it innovation, or are we just constantly playing dress-up?

The world was shrinking, getting smaller ideas, and all of a sudden, Japan’s consoles swept in. Sega kind of ruled Europe, right? And Microsoft? Oh, they just waltzed in and took over home computing. It’s called Galapagos Syndrome, this idea of being isolated in your own bubble, though usually it’s about Japan. Just a bit ironic.

Anyway—wait, where am I going with this? Oh yeah, on to New Business. Greg and James are deep into Donkey Kong Bananza, and they have way more to say now. James thinks it feels like early works from Ultimate Play The Game when Nintendo had a piece of them, you know, before they cranked out those nearly unplayable oldies like Knight Lore.

James hits pause, hands off to Guillaume, who’s been Mario Karting non-stop. He’s got some scathing words for anyone daring to suggest Mario Kart 8 in 4K was a better idea. He’s carefully unwinding this game called Balatro but isn’t going back to Final Fantasy VI Pixel Remaster just yet. Instead, he snagged another Atari classic, courtesy of Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story. It’s quite the ride.

And Jon? He’s deep-diving into retro territory with Gaiares on the Sega Genesis. Ah, nostalgia. But then, a bomb drops—the Movies and TV store on Xbox just poof, gone. He’s not thrilled, let’s put it that way.