Lazy Game Reviews
Season 2023
A show about retro video games and odd hardware by Clint Basinger.
Where to Watch Season 2023
40 Episodes
- Creative Surround Station: Late 90s Quadraphonic PC Gaming!E1
Creative Surround Station: Late 90s Quadraphonic PC Gaming!In 1999, Creative Labs released the SurroundStation – a metal framework for mounting rear channel speakers onto foldable hollowed-out arms. It's neat! But it ain't much without speakers. So this is also an unboxing and test of the classic Cambridge SoundWorks FPS1000 4.1 speaker kit from 1998! - Sharp PC-7000: $1,795 Luggable DOS PC from 1985E2
Sharp PC-7000: $1,795 Luggable DOS PC from 1985Cleaning up, testing out, and enjoying the Sharp PC-7000 lunchbox-style portable PC! A proper MS-DOS computer that proved quite successful for Sharp throughout the second half of the 80s. It may not be the fastest, most capable luggable of its day, but dang if it doesn't look spiffy. - Motocross Madness 25 Years Later: An LGR RetrospectiveE3
Motocross Madness 25 Years Later: An LGR RetrospectiveA nostalgic review of Microsoft Motocross Madness from 1998! Rainbow Studios is well-known for their MX vs ATV series and related offroad video games, but years prior there was MCM for Windows 95 and 98 PCs. And it was excellent. That invisible out of bounds cannon never gets old! - LGR Oddware: The $400 CrossPad Tablet from 1998E4
LGR Oddware: The $400 CrossPad Tablet from 1998A look back at the odd late 90s CrossPad from A.T. Cross and IBM! An electronic notepad letting you draw on normal paper, automatically digitizing drawings and text, and storing them in memory for transfer to a PC over serial! A fascinating and ill-fated oddity indeed. - This 1996 PC Was Obsolete Before You Got It Home: AST Advantage 622E5
This 1996 PC Was Obsolete Before You Got It Home: AST Advantage 622Opening and testing a minty AST Advantage 600 series! A lower-mid-range Windows 95 desktop computer from the mid 90s that bundled lots of software and games with a 100MHz Intel Pentium CPU and a whopping 8 megabytes of RAM. Let's get this one up and running for (maybe) the first time! - Bryce 3D: Making 'Trapper Keeper Art' on Windows 95E6
Bryce 3D: Making 'Trapper Keeper Art' on Windows 95A retrospective on Bryce 3D from 1997, a classic program letting you quickly create surreal ray traced imagery on your computer. It always makes me think of 90s Trapper Keeper artwork, when school binders and folders were covered in shiny CGI shapes and weird sci-fi cities and things. So let's create a tribute to that style of art using Bryce for PC! - The Bizarre 1999 Commodore 64 Web.it Internet ComputerE7
The Bizarre 1999 Commodore 64 Web.it Internet ComputerA system so strange I don't know where to begin! This is the Web It Internet Computer from Web Computers in 1999. It's effectively a 66MHz 486 PC with 16MB RAM that not only runs IBM PC DOS 7.0 and Windows 3.1, but also C64 software! To a degree. And the closer you look the weirder it gets. - Weird Old Computer Mice: Yahoo, Ballskin, & PistolsE8
Weird Old Computer Mice: Yahoo, Ballskin, & PistolsUnboxing and testing even more weird old mouse devices on a Windows 98 and XP PC! Checking out an 8D Smart Mouse from Yahoo, a smelly and off-putting baseball mouse with a rubbery skin, and an optical mouse for FPS games that looks like a lightgun but isn't. - 1987 IBM Music Feature Card: Is it really worth $3000?E9
1987 IBM Music Feature Card: Is it really worth $3000?The IBM PC Music Feature is one of the rarest, most collectible sound cards for DOS PCs. Sure, you can get a Yamaha FB-01 FM synthesizer that does practically the same thing, but the IMFC! It's a legend! Is it worth nearly $3,000 for one complete in box? Let's unbox and set this one up to find out. - The Sims 4 Growing Together ReviewE10
The Sims 4 Growing Together ReviewGameplay and overview of the THIRTEENTH expansion pack to The Sims 4. This time it's all about fleshing out how sims interact and evolve over each life state. Treehouses to build, infants to parent, bikes to ride, milestones and quirks to unlock... Is it worth the $40 price tag? Let's see! - The 2001 NSYNC Hotline Fantasy Phone GameE11
The 2001 NSYNC Hotline Fantasy Phone GameSoon it's gonna be May, so let's check out this silliness! The *NSYNC Hotline Fantasy Phone & CD-ROM Game for Windows PCs, a 2001 plastic toy cell phone and interactive NSYNC parasocial fan experience... Thing... In hindsight, I have no idea why I covered this, haha. - Building the R2 Toast PC! Vertical Optical Drive Case from 2008E12
Building the R2 Toast PC! Vertical Optical Drive Case from 2008Assembling a computer in a GMC R-2 Toast case! Named for its unique 5.25" drive bay solution, where optical disc drive is mounted vertically along the front so discs are inserted like toast in a toaster. A rebuild of my Altair 8800 Clone PC with unused RAM from the Pyramid PC. - Vacuum Tube 5.25” Drive Bay Oddware! Cooler Master Musketeer IIIE13
Vacuum Tube 5.25” Drive Bay Oddware! Cooler Master Musketeer IIIThe Musketeer 3 is a vacuum tube audio filter thing, intended to add “warmth” to the sound output on your PC. Or something like that, probably. It also has an analog VU meter and just looks neat, and arguably its aesthetic is more impactful than how it sounds! Making this valve device some prime LGR Oddware indeed. - Building the Ultimate Oddware Tower! Twelve 5.25" Drive Bays Full of WeirdnessE14
Building the Ultimate Oddware Tower! Twelve 5.25" Drive Bays Full of WeirdnessFor YEARS now I've wanted to get a huge Antec 1200 case and fill every one of its 5 1/4" drive bays with weird and strange 90s and 2000s devices, creating a sort of Oddware Museum Tower. And it finally happened! Mostly. It isn't quite done yet, but we can still install everything into this monster ATX PC case and power everything on at once! - Exploring the J. Bond A333CD PC – The 99¢ 386E15
Exploring the J. Bond A333CD PC – The 99¢ 386Checking out an early 90s J. Bond Computer Systems A333CD. It's your standard white box clone PC of the time, packing a 33MHz AMD 386, 8 megabytes of RAM, DOS 6.22 and Windows 3.11 and stuff! It also came with a nifty 250MB Colorado tape backup drive, so that's fun. - The Bear-A-Byte PC: Pentium III Teddy Bear ComputerE16
The Bear-A-Byte PC: Pentium III Teddy Bear ComputerChecking out the unique Bear A Byte computer system! I had to have this weird custom machine as soon as I saw it on Craigslist. An IKEA stuffed bear packing a Windows PC running an Intel Pentium 3 CPU? Oh yes. It's rather dirty though, so let's go about restoring and building this rig back even better! - Orpheus II: The Best Retro PC Sound Card in 2023? Perhaps!E17
Orpheus II: The Best Retro PC Sound Card in 2023? Perhaps!From PCMIDI.EU comes the Orpheus 2 – a new 16-bit ISA sound card! Could this be the best one for vintage computers right now? An argument can be made for that I think. On-board Gravis Ultrasound PnP compatibility, plus all the Orpheus 1 features like Sound Blaster Pro compatibility, Yamaha OPL3, and an intelligent mode MPU-401. As far as modern replica sound cards go, this thing is a step above the rest at the moment! - So I Bought Those Weird New AliExpress Retro PCs…E18
So I Bought Those Weird New AliExpress Retro PCs…An LGR review of the Book 8088 and Hand 386, newly-made retro computers on Aliexpress! No emulation here, these are DOS PCs running an 8088 and 386SX processor, using legacy chips on custom PCBs melded with open source projects, off-the-shelf components, and injection molded enclosures. They sure are neat! But lots of compromises, drawbacks, and odd design decisions. - Finishing the Ultimate Oddware Tower! Windows Vista PC BuildE19
Finishing the Ultimate Oddware Tower! Windows Vista PC BuildThe LGR Oddware Tower continues! Every one of the Antec 1200 case's 5.25" drive bays are filled with weird 2000s devices, all it needed was... everything else, ha. So I got an AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ and a Foxconn AM2 motherboard from 2006. Let's install everything into this monster ATX PC case and get it set up – with Windows Vista! - LGR Oddware: Installing an Apple II in a PC! 1980s Diamond Trackstar CardsE20
LGR Oddware: Installing an Apple II in a PC! 1980s Diamond Trackstar CardsExploring the Diamond Trackstar cards on LGR Oddware! Effectively Apple 2 computers on an 8-bit ISA card, bringing near perfect compatibility to DOS PCs by slapping a whole computer inside of another computer. The fact that these were out during the heyday of each platform is wild, so let's test the 1984 Trackstar and 1989 Trackstar Plus in an IBM PC XT and PS/2 Model 30! - Opening 8 Months of Vintage Tech Oddities & LGR Mail!E21
Opening 8 Months of Vintage Tech Oddities & LGR Mail!Likely the only LGR donations unboxing of 2023! Opening up tons of vintage hardware, software, oddware, computer games, and retro tech. Massive thanks to everyone who contributed this awesome stuff — and made offers to do so! - SideWinder Force Feedback Pro – 26 Years LaterE22
SideWinder Force Feedback Pro – 26 Years LaterRevisiting the 1997 Microsoft SideWinder Force Feedback Pro joystick for PC! This started off as simple FFB stick nostalgia, showing off a few Windows 95 games, annnd ended up going down rabbit holes on gameport adapters, DirectX, patent trolls, and the quiet demise/resurrection of force feedback flight sticks. - The Sims 4 Horse Ranch ReviewE23
The Sims 4 Horse Ranch ReviewGameplay and overview of the FOURTEENTH expansion pack to The Sims 4. This time it's all about HORSE ranching. And some goats and sheep, too. Riding, breeding, competitions, cave diving, nectar making, mustaches, denim... Is it worth the $40 price tag? Let's see! - i-Opener The 1999 computer with a PIZZA KEYE25
i-Opener The 1999 computer with a PIZZA KEYEver wanted a PC with a dedicated pizza button? Well the Netpliance i-opener from 1999 has you covered, press it anytime to order pizza online! At least back when it was still an active Internet Appliance that connected to the web via dialup. But that won't stop us diving into this oddity on LGR! - This 1999 Digital Camera Uses Tiny Clik Disks! Agfa CL30E26
This 1999 Digital Camera Uses Tiny Clik Disks! Agfa CL30Checking out the world's first (and only) digital camera using Iomega Clik disks for storage! Each disk held 40MB and cost just $10, a tenth the price of CompactFlash. Quite impressive in 1999! But this odd diversion in the late 90s digicam market was short lived, and its impact on digital photography is... well, no one remembers it. But it sure was neat! - Upgrading the Pentium III Bear PC with a more bearable GPUE27
Upgrading the Pentium III Bear PC with a more bearable GPUGraphics performance on the LGR Bear-A-Byte computer was unbearable, it really needed a GPU upgrade. Or a GPU at all for that matter! So say goodbye to the integrated SIS chipset and hello to the Diamond Stealth III S540 video card from 1999. It's still a 500MHz Windows Me system but this has to be an improvement, right? - 90s CompUSA Ads: Maximum Computery NostalgiaE28
90s CompUSA Ads: Maximum Computery NostalgiaOriginal Title: Achieving Maximum Nostalgia with 1999 CompUSA Ads Relaxing with Comp USA newspaper insert catalogs from the late 90s! These flyers always made Sundays a bit better back in the day, and somehow they're even more enjoyable decades later. I have a bunch of them, but this time we're specifically looking at one from February of 1999. When the colorful iMac G3 was new and 300MHz Toshiba laptops cost $2,800! - Computerific Chaos! Vintage Computer Festival Midwest 2023E29
Computerific Chaos! Vintage Computer Festival Midwest 2023Checking out VCFMW 18 near Chicago in Elmhurst, Illinois! Somehow it's even bigger and busier than ever. It's a full weekend of classic computers, retro tech, hardware and software sales, panels, gaming, and great conversation with awesome folks. Let's go conventioning! - Mad Catz Tried Making the Ultimate FPS Controller: Panther XL from 1997E30
Mad Catz Tried Making the Ultimate FPS Controller: Panther XL from 1997Checking out the odd Panther XL by Mad Catz! While they largely made goofy third party game console controllers, they also made goofy PC hardware. Like this trackball and flight stick fused together supposedly creating the ultimate FPS input device, backed up by radical 1990s John Romero magazine ads. Prime LGR Oddware indeed! - $4,750 Laptop From 1997: HP OmniBook 800CTE31
$4,750 Laptop From 1997: HP OmniBook 800CT166MHz Pentium MMX CPU!| 48MB RAM! Windows 95! Sound Blaster compatibility! All in a slim, lightweight 1997 system that cost... $5,000 or so, yikes. Let's dive into the quirky Hewlett Packard notebook computer that was once their top of the line subnotebook – the Omnibook 800CT model F1360A - The Printer With a Floppy Drive! Sony Mavica Printer from 1999E32
The Printer With a Floppy Drive! Sony Mavica Printer from 1999Unboxing and testing a late 90s Sony Mavica Printer!| Which as the name implies is a photo printer with a floppy disk drive. Just cram a 3.5” diskette full of JPEGs inside, press print, and get photo quality dye sublimated prints! No computer required. Although it does require a TV... and an original PlayStation is nice to have, too. - Cities Skylines 2 ReviewE33
Cities Skylines 2 ReviewReviewing the long-awaited sequel! Is Cities Skylines II worth the upgrade? Lots of fresh features, quality of life improvements, and logical additions make CS2 feel like a proper evolution. But there's a weird amount of stuff currently worse than before, or missing outright. So let's dive into my first impressions and all the details! - Unboxing a NEW VHS-C Camcorder! JVC SXM250 from 2003E34
Unboxing a NEW VHS-C Camcorder! JVC SXM250 from 2003Unboxing a new old stock Super VHS video camera! This JVC GR-SXM250u is pretty similar to the original camera that I used to record LGR back in the day, and it was a real treat to experience one that was unused. So let's get this electronic treat opened up and tested out, and record some video tapes decades later! - SimCity 2000 30 Years Later: An LGR RetrospectiveE35
SimCity 2000 30 Years Later: An LGR RetrospectiveCelebrating the 30th anniversary of SimCity 2000 with an LGR retrospective review! The sequel to the classic Maxis city builder was a true game changer in 1993, improving nearly every part of the game and adding so many things that would become staples of the genre. So let's take a look at the MS-DOS version, the many ports and releases, and its legacy decades later! - Duke Nukem 1+2 Remastered 30 Years Later! Evercade Collection ReviewE37
Duke Nukem 1+2 Remastered 30 Years Later! Evercade Collection ReviewIt's December! And while that usually means Christmas LGR things, these two Duke Nukem Evercade Collection cartridges were just released and there was no way I was gonna miss out on covering remasters of some of my favorite games. Especially since I got to be involved in their creation, just a little bit at least! - Christmas Flash GamesE38
Christmas Flash GamesIt's December! And on LGR that means Christmas video games. This time we're taking a dive into the vast pool of seasonal Flash games. It's a nearly endless source of holiday themed games from the 2000s and thankfully it's easier than ever to play with the Flashpoint archive! And if you do play the LGR Christmas Game Tropes Drinking Game... have fun but be careful - The Sims 2 Holiday Edition is HIGHLY ConfusingE39
The Sims 2 Holiday Edition is HIGHLY ConfusingA retrospective look back at what I consider to be the MOST confusing Sims release: The Sims 2 Holiday Edition. All of 'em! There were a good half dozen or so individual releases of this in 2005 and 2006, so let's get to the bottom of all this Christmas simming silliness.