Retro Delights

A Designer Who Built With AI, Here's What Happened

2026-04-07T00:00:00Z

I want to write this carefully, because I'm wary of AI content that's either too much hype or too dismissive. What follows is what I actually did, what surprised me, and what I think it means for designers.

The project

Retro Delights is a personal site I've been setting up with my youngest, Alex. It started as a content site about retro gaming. But over the last couple of weeks I've been using it as a testing ground for building with AI, specifically Claude Code.

I'm a designer. I'm not a developer. I can read code and even write a bit, I understand how things fit together, but I couldn't have built what I'm about to describe on my own, not without it taking months of time I don't have.

What I built

Here's the list, I hope it's more useful than vague claims. You can see a lot of it live on this site:

A full membership system using Netlify Identity and Stripe, subscribers pay, get access to premium content, and their role is updated automatically via a webhook
A newsletter integration, new account signups are automatically subscribed, premium members tagged separately
Several serverless functions handling webhooks, email confirmation flows, and subscription management
A Space Invader easter egg in the footer that toggles the entire site colour scheme, complete with a synthesised retro coin sound using the Web Audio API
A review score component for review posts, circular score, individual score bars, pros and cons, all driven by content data
A full Lighthouse performance audit with a set of improvements off the back of it

That's not a small list. It was built iteratively, in conversation, over a series of sessions.

To be clear, this is a personal project. There's no engineering team, no test suite, no shared codebase, no production complexity at scale. The conditions that make engineering hard aren't present here. But that's also kind of the point, for exploration and learning, those barriers are gone.

What surprised me

The two things that surprised me most were the capability of the AI (Claude Code) and how much of the work was still mine. I'd expected it to be capable of writing code to deliver features I wanted, but it far surpassed what I thought it could do.

The decisions about what to build, how it should look and feel, where things should live, what the experience should be, all of that was still design work. What changed is that I could act on those decisions immediately. I could say exactly what I wanted and it happened.

On a personal project, that's a meaningful shift. The gap between design thinking and shipped product improvements got a lot smaller.

The other thing I noticed is how much the quality of my input mattered. Vague instructions got vague results. Clear, specific, contextual direction got good results. That's just design communication, the same skills that make you clear on a problem make a good AI prompt.

Taking it further, Figma MCP and AI

One of the more interesting experiments was connecting Figma's MCP server directly to Claude Code. Once connected, I shared the live Retro Delights home page design in Figma and asked Claude to replicate it and build it in Figma.

It gave me a reasonable starting point, the layout structure came through, the broad composition was recognisable. But it wasn't production ready. The fonts weren't right, some text overflowed headings, spacing was off in places, and the logo rendered as a plain square. It needed work.

But here's the thing, it was still useful. A reasonable starting point you can refine is faster than starting from nothing. And this is early days; the workflow will only get better as the tooling matures.

My takeaways

I work for AutoTrader and we're looking at how AI can help our designers' workflow. The interesting question isn't whether it's perfect right now, because it isn't. The question is broader than just accelerating the path from design to code. It's whether AI can help earlier in the process too, framing problems more clearly, shaping research questions, stress-testing thinking before any design work starts. And on the output side, whether connecting AI to Figma, our design system and brand guidelines could meaningfully close the gap between design and production, and help designers engage more directly with code themselves. Based on what I've seen, I think the answer is yes, with time.

I think it's important to be actively exploring how AI can help, rather than waiting to see how it plays out. It feels like the right conversation to be having, and the answer is probably going to be more nuanced than most people expect.

What it can already do is make acting on an idea almost as easy as having one.

I've always believed you learn more by doing. Reading about AI tools or watching videos only gets you so far. Building something real, with real constraints, real integrations, real users, teaches you things you can't get any other way.

The designers who'll get the most from this are the ones willing to find out for themselves, and that's why I'd encourage anyone curious about it to just start.

The views expressed here are my own and don't represent AutoTrader's position on AI or any related topics.

Tomb Raider 1-3 Remastered Lara Croft Posters

2026-03-03T00:00:00Z

A set of posters of Lara Croft in the Tomb Raider 1-3 Remastered game have been removed in a recent patch when using the visual mode option.

The pinup posters were in Tomb Raider 3 and located in the 'Sleeping with the Fishes' level and were looked upon as an easter egg to find in the game.

Fans need not worry; it looks like the removal could have been a mistake, the developer has said they were "inadvertently removed" and will be put back in a future update.

The Top 10 Playstation One Games Of All Time

2026-02-10T00:00:00Z

There is no doubting how great the Playstation 1 console was, produced by Sony, released in Japan in 1994 and 1995 for the rest of the world, it was the first console to sell over 100 million units.

It would be another five years before the Sony Playstation 2 was released, in that time we saw the Playstation one produce some of the greatest video games we've ever seen.

10. Tekken 3

Starting off with a fighting game, the third in the Tekken series, Tekken 3 was developed and published by Namco and released in 1998.

Tekken 3 was ported from the arcade version and had all the modes and then some, it pushed the playstation to its limits, you had two punch and kick buttons and move left and right with some great 2d backgrounds.

9. Wipeout 2097

Wipeout was released in 1996, developed and published by Psygnosis, it was the sequel to Wipeout and was a futuristic racing game with an emphasis on speed.

You controlled a space ship with anti gravity and would participate in races with other ships to the sound of electric dance music.

8. Tony Hawks Pro Skater 2

A 2000 release, Tony Hawks Pro Skater 2 was developed by Neversoft and published by Activision as a followup to the successful Tony Hawk's Pro Skater which was released in just the previous year.

Easy to pick up and play, it had a strong mix of simulation and arcade, with a focus of trying pull off trick, it was fun and also accompanied by a brilliant sound track.

7. Resident Evil 2

Not the only survival horror game in this list, Resident Evil 2 was released in 1998 and was developed and published by Capcom.

You could play the game as either Leon or Claire navigating them through some of the best level design in the Playstation one era, solving puzzles, uncovering the mysteries of the game and generally try to stay alive.

6. Pro Evolution Soccer 2

The Pro Evo series was the number one football simulator before Fifa rose to fame and Pro Evo went to pot.

Why was it so good? Because it felt like real football, the passing, the tackles, the shooting, each player would have their strengths and weaknesses and you could craft a goal in so many creative ways.

The Pro Evo series will hold fond memories in a lot of retro players hearts with the Playstation One showing how good a football game could be.

5. Metal Gear Solid

Hideo Kojima was the mastermind behind Metal Gear Solid, which was developed and published by Konami and released in 1998.

You took control of Solid Snake who navigating his way around a nuclear weapons facility, with the goal not to be detected by terrorist outfit FOXHOUND.

Snake had to use his abilities and the environment around him to stay undetected, it was an original idea full of surprises along the way.

4. Silent Hill

In 1999 we saw the first instalment of the Silent Hill series, a game developed by Team Silent and published by Konami.

You played the character Harry Mason, his wife had died and he was grieving and goes on a vacation with his adopted daughter Cheryl to the town of Silent Hill.

Driving on route to Silent Hill, Harry is left unconscious as he avoids hitting a girl in the road, he wakes to find Cheryl has gone and on foot walks into the mysterious town of Silent hill.

Silent hill was a survival horror game, it involved solving puzzles, combatting the many horrors of the game and exploration, it has a unique eerie feel which really did create a terrifying atmosphere.

3. Gran Turismo 2

Following the success of the original game, Gran Turismo 2 was developed by Polyphony Digital and released in 1999 by Sony Computer Entrainment and was the ultimate driving simulator which improved on its predecessor.

In Gran Turismo 2 you had a wealth of cars and options you could configure, the modes to play in could be arcade or if you wanted to get more serious simulation mode really brought out the options to configure and really got into the dynamics of racing a car.

2. Tomb Raider

Laura Croft the archaeologist adventurer came to the Playstation back in 1996 when Eiidos released it (Core design developed it) to much acclaim.

Tomb Raider was an action adventure game which at its core was about solving puzzles and a bit of action in between, one of the first games to be fully 3D you could walk, run, jump, climb onto ledges and across them, you jump into water and swim, you could interact with your environment.

Laura croft became an iconic games figure and the Tomb raider series is still going strong today.

1. Final Fantasy VII

This wasn't difficult for me, Final Fantasy VII had it all and then some, an absolute classic and way ahead of its time when Square developed it and Sony Computer Entertainment released it back in 1997.

What was good about it? You we're taken on a journey, an epic journey (over 3 CD's) with a unique set of characters that you grew to care about as the story unfolds and you learnt more about their pasts.

Final Fantasy VII was a turned based RPG where you would control different members of the story progressing the games main mission, on the way you would talk to people, do side quests, have battles and continue to build up the characters.

The score that accompanies the game is my favourite score of any game, Nobuo Uematsu worked magic with it, the game wouldn’t be the same without it, its a beautiful score.

Final Fantasy VII was easily the best Playstation One game in my eyes, arguable the greatest video game of all time (thats a discussion for a different day), what a legacy this amazing close left behind.

The Top 10 Arcade Games Of All Time

2026-01-13T00:00:00Z

Arcades are a massive part of gaming history and one of the reasons we set up Retro Delights so we could write about them to help contribute to a golden era not being forgotten.

In this list, we look at what we think are the top 10 greatest arcade games of all time, this was hard, so much so that we nearly changed it to a top 20!

10. Paperboy

Paperboy was a bit different, well, for starters, it had a bike handlebar with grips as a controller, in the game, you were a paperboy who had to deliver newspapers to customers while while avoiding the dangers on the streets.

Released by Atari Games in April 1985, you would have to throw the papers to a customer's door or mailbox, if you didn’t, you would lose customers or gain them if you delivered the correct amount.

9. Dragons Liar

June 19th 1983, was the exact date Dragons Liar became known to the world as the first full animation laser disc video game.

Controlling our hero, Dirk the Daring, to try and rescue Princess Daphne from an evil wizard, which involved pulling off the right move at the right time to complete each sequence in the game.

The game required 200 correct moves to complete, which was no mean feat, it could be frustrating, which ultimately added to the reward if you did manage to complete the game.

8. Tron

Tron was released as an arcade in the same year as the film in 1982 and was produced by Bally Midway in a deal with Disney and sold over 20,000 cabinets.

You could choose from four digital areas, which were based on the film: Battle Tanks, Light Cycles, I/O Tower and MCP Cone, if you completed all four, you would go again, and it would get more difficult each time.

The cabinet had an iconic look and feel, with its backlights and translucent blue joystick in a dark arcade, it stood out and added to its appeal.

7. Donkey Kong

The first game in the Donkey Kong series was released in 1981 by Nintendo; Donkey Kong was also one of the first games in the platform genre itself.

Donkey Kong is the villain in the game and has kidnapped the girlfriend of none other than a now well-known plumber appearing in his first game, Mario.

The game had four different stages, and Mario would make his way by climbing up ladders whilst avoiding or destroying obstacles with his hammer, getting to the top of the platform, and then moving on to the next stage.

6. Star Wars

The Star Wars arcade allows you to reenact Luke Skywalker and the Death Star trench run, as a kid, this was a big deal.

Star Wars: A New Hope was released in 1977, but the arcade didn’t follow until 1983, the same year as Return Of The Jedi, it had 3D vector graphics and speech samples from the film, which created a real feel of the film.

5. Gauntlet

Gauntlet was released in 1986 by Atari Games, inspired by the Dungeons and Dragons board game; you could have up to four players taking the role of Thor the warrior, Merlin the wizard, Thyra the Valkyrie or Questor the elf.

The game played like a shoot 'em up within a series of mazes; you had to find the exit to each level whilst avoiding/killing the enemies on each maze.

4. Bubble Bobble

Bubble Bobble was released by Taito in 1986 with two players being able to take control of the dragons Bub and Bob to help them find their kidnapped girlfriends in a charming platform game where you would fire bubbles at the enemies and then burst them on each level to progress.

Accompanied by one of the catchiest sound scores to grace a game, Bubble Bobble was a big hit and went on to have many sequels and many platforms.

3. Outrun

Released in 1986 by Sega as a stand-up and sit-down cabinet, Outrun oozed cool and set the standard for driving games.

Driving a Ferrari convertible with your girlfriend by your side along the coast with some of the best musical scores to be heard on an arcade, Outrun was a joy to play and still is.

2. Pacman

You can't mention arcade without PAC-MAN coming up, the game was released first in Japan in July 1980 and was licensed to the Midway Manufacturing company in the United and released a few months later in October 1980 in the United States and worldwide soon after.

PAC-MAN became more than a video game; it became an Icon, designed in the Japanese style Kawaii, which some would say is cute. Toru Iwatani who directed the game, wanted it to appeal to women as well as men.

Iconic graphics, iconic sounds and simple addictive gameplay control PAC-MAN in a maze with the objective of eating all the pills to progress to the next level. In the process, you must avoid the ghosts that accompany each maze, with the caveat that if PAC-MAN eats one of the four power pellets on each stage, the ghosts will temporarily flash, and PAC-MAN can eat them (if you can catch them, that is).

1. Space Invaders

This game needs no introduction, created by Tomohiro Nishikado and released in Japan in June 1978 by Taito and worldwide a few months later in October 1978.

The aim of the game, controlling a laser cannon, was to protect Earth from the waves of alien invaders that were coming down towards you from the top of the screen.

You had three lives, but the game would end if the aliens managed to reach you and the bottom of the screen, you had to avoid shots fired by the aliens either by moving out of the way or hiding behind bunkers.

Special mention to the iconic sounds of Space Invaders, from the firing of the laser to an invader being evaporated after being successfully hit to the prominent sound of the mystery ship, always accompanied by the continuous beat, which got faster and faster to add to the tension whilst playing the game.

Honorable mentions

Galaga
Frogger
Operation Wolf
Double Dragon
Super Mario Bros
Ghosts 'n' Goblins
Ms Pacman
Missile Command
Joust
Golden Axe

Pacman Quarter Arcade Review - A 1:4 Scale Replica

2026-02-17T00:00:00Z

No introduction needed

PAC-MAN needs little introduction, born in the golden age of arcade games, PAC-MAN was the superstar, an icon in the gaming world.

It’s no surprise then that 44 years on from its first release in 1980 by Namco in Japan, the franchise is still in demand.

Numbskull designs

Numbskull Design has created a fully playable 1/4 scale replica of the original PAC-MAN arcade, in short, it’s great.

Getting the replica out of the box straight away, you are struck by the quality and attention to detail of the cabinet.

This is what the original PAC-MAN arcade looked like to the tee: the cabinet shape, artwork, controls, and even the coin slots all scaled down to a 1/4 of the original size.

The cabinets have been built from solid wood, it feels premium, it's been well made, you can see Numbskull are passionate about arcades and understand the details matter, this is a proper replica.

The dimensions are 16.92 inches tall by 8.27 inches deep by 6.3 inches wide.

You also get a certificate of authenticity, only 10,000 copies have been built, so you’re personal unit number will be included on the certificate, which is a nice touch.

Also included is a lovely PAC-MAN metal collectable coin, which comes in its display box.

Turning it on

The cabinet is powered by a rechargeable lithium battery (4 hours per charge), and the on/off switch is located at the back of the machine.

Turning it on lights up the marquee and the PAC-MAN iconography at the top of the cabinet and kicks off the original ROM of the PAC-MAN arcade game.

If you press the coin return button under the coin slots, it inserts a credit for you accompanied by the same sound bite you would get inserting a real coin in the full-sized cabinet.

Then press the one or 2-player buttons to kick off a game, as soon as you do, the iconic sound of PAC-MAN starts up, the speakers blare it out, and the sound is spot on.

You have a 5-inch screen to play the game; it’s bright and colourful, and it represents the port faithfully.

The joypad is obviously small, but it plays nicely and functions as expected, it replicates a game of PAC-MAN well.

Its about the experience

As a designer myself, I’m passionate about a user's experience, and this is where the PAC-MAN quarter arcade comes into its own.

With all the minute details that go into replicating the experience you would have got playing the original arcade, it is insane; you won’t get this experience playing on an emulation on a different device!

Summary

I couldn’t be more complimentary about the PAC-MAN quarter arcade; it gives a feel of the magic arcades like PAC-MAN provided back in the 80s, I can’t ask for more than that.

Galaga Quarter Arcade Review - A Classic in 2024

2026-01-27T00:00:00Z

The Galaga arcade machine was released in 1981 as a sequel to Galaxian by Namco; it was created by Japanese developer Shigeru Yokoyama.

A classic fixed space shooter from the golden era of arcade machines, it’s now been re-created as a 1:4 scale replica of the original arcade, let’s have a look.

Unboxing

The packaging is lovely with a see-through front cover; you get an instruction manual, which is tastefully done with sprites from the game and the Galaga branding.

Also included is a plug charger to charge the lithium-ion rechargeable internal battery.

Attention to detail

This is the second quarter arcade I’ve purchased from Numbskull Designs, and it doesn’t disappoint, the attention to detail is where it's at.

Made from solid wood to give a premium feel, every painstakingly minute detail has been recreated, from the shape of the cabinet to the light-up marquee, the detailed side art and the air vents its all here in a QTR of the original size.

The dimensions for the cabinet are 430mm/16.9in (h) x 160mm/6.29in (w) x 210/8.26in (d).

The game

The cabinet includes the original arcade ROM on a bespoke emulator; this proves a 100% accurate emulation.

On starting a game, the nostalgic Galaga theme plays and sounds better than ever with through the cabinets good speak quality (3W speakers).

The screen is good quality, and bright multi-coloured stars shimmer beautifully against the black backdrop to reinforce you’re in space without distracting from the action.

This is Galaga feels and then some, it is an enjoyable game to play with its simplicity, and it still holds up in 2024, controlling your starfighter, shooting the aliens to complete the stages and pushing for your highest score.

I’ve already mentioned the theme music of Galaga; I’d forgotten how great the sound effects are in general, from the diving aliens to the firing of missiles, their iconic sounds.

The controls

As per the original, you have a left/right microswitch joystick and fire button to fiend off the alien onslaught, one-player/two-player start buttons, as well as the coin operating buttons at the front of the cabinet.

The controls feel responsive, I’ve played micro arcade machines before, where that’s not the case. I think the 1:4 scale is the perfect size where you get the portability size benefits, but it's still playable and a good user experience.

Verdict

I couldn’t recommend the Galaga QTR arcade any more highly, with the Numbskull quarter arcades, you get premium top quality, it’s all about recreating the original arcade experience but to a quarter of the size.

With this comes the premium price tag, but these machines are aimed at the retro gaming fan who is more willing to pay the price to get that best-in-class retro gaming experience.

Super Pocket Review - Retro Handheld

2026-01-06T00:00:00Z

Imagine having a device that fitted in your pocket and allowed you to play over 500 retro games back in the 80’s, damn.

In 2024, this is commonplace, the latest, the Super Pocket, lets you do that for under fifty quid, but is it any good?

Introduction

Super pockets are an Evercade product, which means out-of-the-box compatibility with over 500+ game cartridges, that's not a bad start.

The initial releases come in two editions, Taito and Capcom each have pre-installed games from the publisher.

The launch price is £49.99 for each edition.

Design

I’m a designer by trade, I have high standards, and the super pocket exceeded my expectations.

For the price point, It's a lovely thing to look at, the first two releases each bring a modern, chunky, but simple look.

The colours are bold and vibrant, Capcom comes in blue and yellow, and Taito green and black (I prefer the Taito colours).

It’s a good size, 10.46 x 1.09 x 16.81cm and weighing in at 90.72g, it's true to its name and will fit in your pocket.

They charge by USB-C (cable included), with each charge giving you 4+ hours of play, they also have a 3.5mm headphone jack.

Screen and sound

The screen is 7.112cm in size and 320px by 240px resolution. It’s bright with decent colours, and it does the job.

It's all about compromise with the size and resolution of the screen; some games will look sharp, some less so, but all in all, it works well.

The sound was louder than expected and packs a punch, the catchy Bubble Bobble soundtrack on the Taito edition sounded great.

Controls

Controls feel nice in the hand; you have a D-pad, four face buttons, as well as start, select and menu buttons.

There are back buttons as well, which give flexibility to more advanced games in the future.

The back buttons do feel a bit cramped; there's no getting away from this, though, because of the size of the device.

Games

I was drawn to the Taito edition. First, it comes preinstalled with 18 games:

Bubble Bobble
Space Invaders
Space Invaders 91'
Operation Wolf
The New Zealand Story
Rastan
Puzzle Bobble
Cadash
Chack'n Pop
Don Doko Don
Elevator Action
The Fairyland Story
Football Champ
Growl
Kiki Kaikai
The Legend of Kage
Liquid Kids
Volified

I started with Bubble Bobble, it played well and was an enjoyable experience. On the other hand, Operation Wolf was a weird one. A light gun game on a small handheld is not a great match. Still, it brought back nostalgia.

Space Invaders on this screen is always going to be a compromised play. For me, it’s OK, and I like having such a classic to be able to pick up and try to beat my highest score.

Other standouts for me on this list are The New Zealand Story, Puzzle Bobble, Elevator Action and Rastan.

The Capcom edition comes with 12 pre-installed games:

1942
1943
1944: The Loop Master
Bionic Commando
Captain Commando
Street Fighter II’: Hyper Fighting
Strider
Wolf of the Battlefield: Mercs
Mega man
Final Fight
Ghouls ‘N Ghosts
Forgotten Worlds

On this edition, I was straight into Ghouls ‘N Ghosts, this looks good and plays well, although it's still rock-hard!

Mega Man had bypassed me back in the day; this was the first time I’d played it, it was enjoyable on the Super Pocket.

The 1942 games are vertical shooters, so obviously, they don’t look as great on the small screen but are still playable.

Street Fighter II’ and Bionic Commando are also stellar games, although there are not as many games in this edition, it is still an impressive selection.

Verdict

For under £50, the super pockets offer good value; the massive 500+ Evercade cartridge library brings a unique angle.

Yes, there are better handhelds out there, but these don't play official roms, so no faff out of-the-box retro gaming with the Super Pockets.

The golden age of arcade celebrated on Atari

2025-10-13T00:00:00Z

The publisher and developer ‘PLAION REPLAI’ have announced they will release four arcade classics as ‘Unlocking 1982’ for the Atari 2600+ and Atari 7800+ on 21st November 2025.

The four titles from the iconic year are GALAGA, PAC-MAN Double Feature, Dig Dug and Xevious and will be available individually costing £24.99 each.

Ben Jones, the commercial director of PLAION REPLAI has said:

“These games aren’t just nostalgic releases, they’re cultural touchstones. With GALAGA as our flagship, and PAC-MAN, Dig Dug, and Xevious completing the set, we’re celebrating 1982 as the year that defined the golden age of arcades. We want fans old and new to unlock that moment in time and experience it all over again on Atari consoles”

As well as working on the new HDMI based Atari 2600+ and 7800+ the cartridges will also work on the original Atari 7800 system.

Have a watch of the announcement trailer .

The demand for retro gaming doesn't seem to be easing off, which pleases us immensely at Retro Delights!

Atari Game Station Go

2025-10-03T00:00:00Z

My Arcade’s Atari Game Station Go handheld looks a decent offering, especially if you’re an Atari fan (like me) or a retro gaming fan in general (also like me).

It comes pre-loaded with over 200 classic Atari titles from the 2600, 5200, 7900, some arcade classics and 5 games from Atari's Recharged series.

It has a 7 inch display, HDMI-out (so you can play on your TV), USB-C charging, microSD, blue tooth, Wi-Fi and a rechargeable battery with up to 4- 5 hours per charge.

My Arcade have gone all out with the controls with an integrated paddle, trak-ball and keypad, this should help to get the most from the games on offer.

It could be a tricky one to get hold of in the UK and will cost a small fortune in shipping, let’s hope we get a stockist over here.

First reviews look promising, it could be worth the wait, for more info on the Gamestation Go have a look at Atari's website.

Evercade Announce Giga Cart - Bigger Retro Games

2024-04-15T00:00:00Z

Today Evercade announced a new cartridge, the Giga Cart, which will hold bigger and more modern retro games with its larger capacity.

We've got the Evercade XP and Super Pockets which are great, the new Giga Cart is the same shape as existing cartridges so will work with current devices.

More modern Retro Games

Evercade have said the new cartridge is for larger modern retro games that we're released on consoles, which is promising.

Giga Carts will cost £22.49, which seems fair considering the extra storage and not much of an increase from the £17.99 of the normal cartridges.

Two Giga Carts coming in 2024

More good news is we will have two Giga Cart releases in 2024, so will keep our eyes peeled for what game collection will come with the initial releases.

Evercade is developing its offerings with the Giga Cart a good example of this, what a time to be a retro gamer!

For more info on Giga Carts, look on the Evercade website.

Three New SNES Games On Switch Online

2024-04-12T00:00:00Z

From today, if you have a Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch Online, you will be able to play three classic SNES games!

The games are:

Amazing Hebereke
Super R-Type
Wrecking Crew 98

Amazing Hebereke

Released in 1994 and developed by Sunsoft in Japan, this was a fighting-style spin-off to the Hebereke series, which you could play in single-player or up to four players.

Super R-Type

R-Type needs no introduction, released in 1991, this classic shooter was based on the arcade version of R-Type 2, taking some of the levels from that and adding new ones as well.

Wrecking Crew 98

The sequel to Wrecking Crew came out in 1998 and featured Mario and Bowser in a game that was around puzzles in a Tetris and Puyo Puyo style.

Nintendo Switch Online & Expansion Pack

We think Nintendo Switch Online offers good value, for retro gamers, the expansion pack unlocks even more retro games to play, for more info on what you get with membership, have a look at Nintendo's website.

Fallout Series Pip-Boy Die-Cast Replica By Bethesda

2024-04-12T00:00:00Z

I was introduced to the Fallout series with the third instalment, Fallout 3 on the Playstation 3 when it was released back in 2008.

Starting in the underground vault 101, creating a character and heading off into the post-apocalyptic world gripped me.

Survival in this dark world depended on a few things, most notably the Pip-Boy 3000, a wearable personal information processor (PIP), worn on your left arm in the game and central to developing your character.

A Die Cast 1-1 Replica from Bethesda

Bethesda has created a Pip-Boy Die Cast 1-1 Replica which is based on the Pip-Boy seen in the new Fallout Amazon Prime TV series.

The front casing is made from die-cast metal, is wearable with a foam insert to make it more comfortable on the arm and has a functioning TFT LCD screen.

This replica looks like a big improvement over the pip boy that came with the Fallout 4 game limited edition release back in 2015.

Pre-order your Pip Boy

You can pre-order the Pip Boy Die Cast Replica by going to Bethesda gear International.

Hello From Retro Delights - Our Very First Post!

2024-04-08T00:00:00Z

A warm welcome to Retro Delights in the first post on our brand-new website!

I’m Lee Murray and in partnership with Alex Murray, we have set up Retro Delights to create quality content on retro games and products.

We’re both passionate about retro gaming and retro stuff in general, so why not join us on our journey to become the number 1 retro gaming brand in the UK?

So this is the very start of Retro Delights, we’re learning as we go, and the only rule we have set is to have fun creating, what we hope to be delightful retro content.

Lee and Alex Murray.

The Away Controller

2026-04-19T00:00:00Z

It would have been '99 I think, a weeknight and lads' night at Keith's. Bring your own booze to the main event: the ISS Pro Evo tournament.

I'd drawn Argentina; Batistuta's shot power was the best in the game, and I knew it. First round, Croatia. Decent side, but I was fancying my chances.

Then my first opponent, incidentally Keith himself with a glint in his eye, handed me the player 2 controller.

The away controller.

The controller had seen better days. It went beyond being 'well worn'; the left analogue stick was 'sticky' and the R1 button didn't always register. The away controller was the equivalent of a rainy away night at Stoke.

The boys knew but nothing was said, it was the luck of the draw. For now the challenge was to be on my absolute A-game to defeat Croatia and get off to a good start in the World Cup tournament with it, an achievement in itself.

Keith's bedsit

Keith lived in a bedsit above a restaurant in Sale, Manchester at the time. I remember when you went in, on the left wall he had a big Trainspotting poster with the 'Choose Life' dialogue from the film on it. The room was smoky. Usually there would've been about 6 of us, sometimes the chef from downstairs would join in, everyone squeezing in and making do with sitting on the sofa and chairs or floor.

The game kicked off. I made a strong opening, keeping the ball well. I tried to overwhelm opponents with quick play and my fast reflexes. A big part of Pro Evolution was knowing your player and their strengths, so with Batistuta and his shooting prowess it was about getting it to him and in the right position and letting his shots go.

We both had chances but it was pretty tight for most of the game. Keith had a couple of shots but I pulled off decent saves, which I let him know about. My controller nearly let me down as I tackled a player and it went too hard; Keith wasn't happy. The controller nearly cost me a red card, but I survived it.

The moment

The game, which we used to set to 10 mins of play time for each match, was nearing its end when I suddenly got the ball to Batistuta on the left-hand side, a few yards outside the box; perfect to cut in on his right foot.

This was it, the moment I'd been waiting for. I held down square and R2 to get the power just right, a goal was a formality…

Clunk went the R2 button.

And the shot flew way over the bar. Keith chuckled and then went on to score at the other end in the last minute, to earn a close, well-fought 1-0 victory. I'd been done by the away controller, proper done. I was wounded but I took my beating, opened another can of Stella and looked on to the next game.

The nights that stopped happening

There were a lot of those nights. Before everyone had a mobile in their hand, before the group chat replaced Keith's room, before we'd all drifted into our separate lives. Just mates, a telly, a PS1 and a shitload of alcohol, ripping it out of each other.

We haven't done one of those nights in over 20 years. Nobody decided. It just stopped happening.

Wayne, Martin and the Indestructible Spectrum

2026-04-18T00:00:00Z

This has got to be my favourite post title up to now for Retro Delights. It's an intriguing one, I'm sure, and has a certain feel of a Roald Dahl story about it.

So what's this all about then? Well firstly, Wayne and Martin are both my cousins. They lived on the same road as me growing up, literally across the road a few doors down in Sale Moor, Manchester.

With Retro Delights I wanted to include retro gaming memories, so I was writing a list of them and this came up.

Across the road

It brought a smile to my face thinking about it. Both mine and my cousins' families didn't have loads of money growing up. We went out on adventures on a daily basis, roaming the streets doing things we probably shouldn't have, but that's what kids did back in the 80s.

So as I said, money was tight. But I was very fortunate to get hold of my very first computer, a Sinclair Spectrum 128k. This was a result of saving up my paper round Saturday jobs money. It had taken an age to save up.

The Spectrum wasn't my first choice of the computer I wanted. That was an Amiga, like my mate Keith's brother Alan had, but that was a step too far and way too expensive. But I was well happy to get the Spectrum.

I told Martin all about it, the games and how it worked, and said he had to get one so that we could lend each other games and share them. My auntie got Martin a Sinclair Spectrum 48k for their first computer. We borrowed each other's games because the Spectrum 128K would play 48k games as well. They tended to be cheaper, which we were thankful for at the time.

So yes I remember this, but my standout memory around their Spectrum 48k was, as my title suggests, something different. That crossed my mind thinking back to this.

The throw

The Spectrum 48k must have been a pretty sturdy piece of hardware. Very sturdy in fact, because what I haven't mentioned up to now is Martin, like me, was an amateur boxer at the time. And Wayne, who was a couple of years older, was a bit of a unit and liked to scrap himself.

Basically it was kicking off with the pair of them, as brothers did on a regular basis. The thing is Wayne had a temper, and on this occasion I had come round to see them mid-fight.

I'd opened their front door, and Wayne was at the top of the stairs screaming at Martin with the Spectrum in his hands. He defo wasn't happy. Anyway all I then remember is him throwing the Spectrum down the stairs. It came down in slow motion, step by step, the keys from the keyboard coming off the unit with each bounce.

It finally reached the bottom of the stairs. The keys were everywhere. My thoughts were it's game over for the Spectrum, Wayne's had our Martin right over there. Martin quickly followed the Spectrum, he held it together well to be fair, and started picking up the scattered keys.

The brick

So you might see where this is going now. But yeah, amazingly the Spectrum was fine. It was more than fine, it didn't even have a scratch on it. Yes the keys had come off, but they were simple to put back on.

The Spectrum, a.k.a the brick, was as sturdy as they come. Imagine how a PS5 of today would have fared in the same scenario. I'm telling you now, there's no way they build 'em like they used to.

Tartarus vs. Mementos: A Persona Dungeon Debate

2026-04-15T00:00:00Z

GUEST PASSNO. 1644

Sarah Murray

POWER LEVELPersona Superfan

Alex's mum and my wife. Sarah has clocked over 400 hours across the Persona series and considers Persona 5 Royal to be the greatest JRPG ever made. She will fight you on this.

SARAH-MURRAY-2026

The Dungeon Debate

We sat down for a quick chat about two very different approaches to dungeon crawling in the Persona series.

Lee

OK so here's my hot take — Tartarus in Persona 3 is underrated. People call it repetitive, but that grind is the whole point. It's supposed to feel like an endurance test. You're climbing a tower with no idea what's at the top.

Alex

I get the vibe they were going for, but after 50 floors of the same green corridors I was falling asleep. Persona 5's Palaces are actual places with actual themes. Kamoshida's castle, the bank, the space station — every one feels completely different.

Lee

Sure, the Palaces look incredible. But Mementos is basically Tartarus with a subway skin. And nobody talks about how tedious Mementos gets. At least Tartarus owns what it is from the start.

Alex

Fair point on Mementos — it's the weakest part of P5 for sure. But the Palaces make up for it. The puzzle design, the set pieces, the way the environment tells you something about the villain. Tartarus doesn't do any of that.

Sarah

Can I just say — you're both wrong. The best dungeon in the entire series is Shido's Palace. A sinking cruise ship? The cognitive version of a corrupt politician's mind? That's peak Persona.

Lee

I'll give you that. If we could get Persona 3's atmosphere and tension with Persona 5's level design... that would be the perfect dungeon. Maybe Persona 6 will finally nail it.

Sarah

Persona 6 needs to bring back Social Links properly. The Confidant system in P5 was good, but P3's felt more personal. Less transactional.

Social Link Rank Up!AlexKnowledge

▲ ▲ ▲

The Magic Of Bubble Bobble

2026-02-24T00:00:00Z

The beginning of a fantastic story

It would have been around 1987ish, I was about 12, me and my pals would head off to Sale swimming baths at the weekend to cause mayhem and have fun in the pool.

The pool had a colour timing system, so your wristband would be a certain colour, and there were corresponding colour sirens. When your colour Siren went off, it was time to get out of the pool, but the best bit was yet to come!

We'd get changed and be straight into the cafe to get some chips; the swimming baths had a canny way of making you hungry.

Chips and arcades

It was the activity after bolting the chips down, which was my favourite, playing or watching other people play the arcade in the swimming baths.

In my time going to the baths in that period, it had five arcade machines that I could remember these were Pac Land, Double Dragon, Golden Axe, Robocop and the one that stood out above all, the magical Bubble Bobble.

Its catchy theme would draw you closer; I can still hear it clearly in my mind, the arcade cabinet had illustrations on the front of the main characters from the game Bub and Bob, who were both dinosaurs.

Released in 1986 from Taito, it was a two-player game, complete with two joysticks and corresponding push buttons, the 20p (2x10ps) coin slots had a red glow encouraging you to insert a coin and get started.

The game aimed to rescue Bub and Bob's girlfriends and, in the process, venture through the cave of monsters, which consisted of over 100 levels and different caves.

Bub and Bob weren't you're normal fire-breathing dragons; they fired out bubbles which would be directed at the many monsters that were in each platform level, once a monster was in a bubble, you could then burst it to kill it.

Burst all the monsters in a level, and you would move on to the next, along the way, you could also collect various power-ups, and you had a time limit as well; the words 'Hurry up' would appear if you didn't meet it and everything got a bit quicker and harder.

What was the appeal?

Bubble Bobble had charm and bucket loads. I've always been big on film and game scores, and this one was so catchy it was defo a part of the appeal for me.

It was also full of hidden secrets, and strategic play was important between two players, it was more fun to play with someone else, and the pacing was good with the time limits to make things get hectic.

The game was quirky as well; the character design was non-offensive, and Bub and Bob were a hit with a more unisex appeal.

For your 20p, you could get a decent amount of playtime out of a game. It was addictive, and the play was varied enough to keep you coming back, Bubble Bobble was also one of the first games to have multiple endings.

A success for Taito

Bubble Bobble went on to become one of Taitos biggest hits, with other games being released over the years on different platforms.

As an initial post to get content on Retro Delights so we can get it live, it felt only right to do a one on Bubble Bobble, I've enjoyed going back to the 80s to Sale swimming baths and the magic of Bubble Bobble.

Don't shoot the food - Gauntlet

2026-02-03T00:00:00Z

Arcades in the 80's

The golden age of arcades for most was in the 80's, what a feeling stepping foot into an arcade in that period.

You’d be greeted by a funky carpet, the different iconic sounds playing over one another would hit you, the imaginative cabinet art, neon lights, marquees lit up, the attract modes encouraging you to come and spend your coins.

Dungeons and dragons inspiration

Gauntlet was a popular game from that time, developed by Atari from the mind of Ed Logg and was released in 1985. It was originally titled Dungeons, which was inspired by the Dungeons and Dragons board game, but to avoid legal issues, Atari went for Gauntlet instead, and the rest is history.

The arcade was a four-player cabinet, which at the time wasn’t a common sight in arcades, you could choose from Thor the warrior, Merlin the wizard, Thyra the Valkyrie and Questor the elf (you can see the influence from Dungeons and Dragons).

Each character had its strengths and weaknesses; my go-to's would be Warrior or Wizard, it played like a shoot 'em up within a series of mazes, you had to find the exit to the level.

In every level, you’re character's health would always be counting down, so killing/avoiding enemies whilst looking for food and magic made Gauntlet a bit different to other arcades at the time, it was lots of fun.

Sound snippets to die for, literally

You can't mention Gauntlet without bringing up its sound, it had some classic soundbites, from the chime when you inserted a coin to the sarcastic "Who shot the food" or the warning "Wizard is about to die", for more sounds from Gauntlet have a listen at Basements Arcade.

Gauntlet games

Gauntlet (1985) (Deeper Dungeons expansion released in 1987)
Gauntlet II (1986)
Gauntlet III: The Final Quest (1991)
Gauntlet: The Third Encounter (1990)
Gauntlet IV (1993)
Gauntlet: Legends (1998)
Gauntlet: Dark Legacy (2001)
Gauntlet: Seven Sorrows (2007)
Gauntlet 2014

The creativity of magazines - A Passion Ignited

2026-01-20T00:00:00Z

It started in the 80's

It was around 1984, and I would have been about nine years of age, at that time, my family lived on a council estate in a place called '7 Ways' in Stretford, Manchester.

At the top of our road, we had a row of shops, your typical, a corner shop that sells a bit of everything, a hair-dressers, a chippy, but the stand-out for me was the newsagents.

The magazine rack

Whenever I ventured into the newsagents, I would head straight over to the magazine rack and look for the video game section.

My only experience of playing video games at this point was in arcades on family trips to Blackpool and Cornwall, but now video games are well-established in people's homes.

Video games in the home

Because of the massive popularity of video games and magazines about them, we're also flying off the shelves, for me as a 9-year-old, the pages ignited my imagination of what the games we're like to play.

More creativity

I think there has always been something special about the written paper format and the possibilities it brings, too many times in digital, we go for functional, tried and tested, and we see ‘samey’ designs all over the web and less creativity than the in paper format.

Digital is getting better, though and keeps evolving. The new CSS grid is now widely supported by web browsers, and it does open up more possibilities with more advanced designs on websites and more opportunities for creativity.

A passion ignited

Going back to those early years, I did look forward to looking at the magazines to see the latest computer and video games that had come out.

In later life, I ended up choosing design as my career, but from an early age, I had an appreciation of the use of type, colour, illustrations, game screenshots and art-directed stories, which helped bring the games to life for me.