Jess Ragan
@mneko.bsky.social
Game fan, and game designer! Check out my latest release, Operation Hibernation for retro game consoles, on arugulaz.itch.io!
I may dig the ColecoVision PCB out of the trash and take off all the parts, once I get a solder sucker that can actually remove all the parts. It'd be good practice.
January 25, 2026 at 3:26 AM
I may dig the ColecoVision PCB out of the trash and take off all the parts, once I get a solder sucker that can actually remove all the parts. It'd be good practice.
I'm mildly resentful that making ColecoVision games means that you have to test it on actual hardware. The dev environment is cake... about a dozen machines from the 1980s use the same parts the CV has, and have almost identical capabilities. But the ColecoVision hardware is such a headache.
January 25, 2026 at 3:02 AM
I'm mildly resentful that making ColecoVision games means that you have to test it on actual hardware. The dev environment is cake... about a dozen machines from the 1980s use the same parts the CV has, and have almost identical capabilities. But the ColecoVision hardware is such a headache.
I paid eighty dollars for an Atari VCS, which is probably the amount I'd pay for another ColecoVision, but it plays pretty much every ColecoVision game (and every game for dozens of other systems), and it doesn't fall apart when you touch it. Winner? VCS, by a mile. It's just a smarter purchase.
January 25, 2026 at 2:53 AM
I paid eighty dollars for an Atari VCS, which is probably the amount I'd pay for another ColecoVision, but it plays pretty much every ColecoVision game (and every game for dozens of other systems), and it doesn't fall apart when you touch it. Winner? VCS, by a mile. It's just a smarter purchase.
Real game console hardware is not best. Some computers and game systems aren't easy to emulate, but for a cincher like the ColecoVision, the overall experience is a million times better than an actual ColecoVision! No stupid keypad. No shitty mushroom controller. No hardware that dies in a blink.
January 25, 2026 at 2:51 AM
Real game console hardware is not best. Some computers and game systems aren't easy to emulate, but for a cincher like the ColecoVision, the overall experience is a million times better than an actual ColecoVision! No stupid keypad. No shitty mushroom controller. No hardware that dies in a blink.
So I broke down and bought a real solder sucker... one that vacuums out the solder as it melts it. The whole two step process of heating joints with a soldering iron, then removing the solder with a sucker that has all the suction force of a prostitute with lockjaw, got tiresome quick.
January 25, 2026 at 2:45 AM
So I broke down and bought a real solder sucker... one that vacuums out the solder as it melts it. The whole two step process of heating joints with a soldering iron, then removing the solder with a sucker that has all the suction force of a prostitute with lockjaw, got tiresome quick.
I probably should replace the capacitors, as these are a ticking time bomb in all retro consoles, but I ain't doing any system surgery until the electric solder sucker arrives. You get tired of "Ut oh! The solder pad on pin fourteen wasn't entirely purged of solder, so now you suffer!"
January 25, 2026 at 2:20 AM
I probably should replace the capacitors, as these are a ticking time bomb in all retro consoles, but I ain't doing any system surgery until the electric solder sucker arrives. You get tired of "Ut oh! The solder pad on pin fourteen wasn't entirely purged of solder, so now you suffer!"
No matter how much I try to fix it, the ColecoVision is never not going to be a piece of shit. It's got sub-PSOne construction, designed to fail the moment the warranty expires. Yes, it's a very old system, but the Master System is just three years LESS old, and is built like a tank. (From Tron.)
January 25, 2026 at 2:14 AM
No matter how much I try to fix it, the ColecoVision is never not going to be a piece of shit. It's got sub-PSOne construction, designed to fail the moment the warranty expires. Yes, it's a very old system, but the Master System is just three years LESS old, and is built like a tank. (From Tron.)
Will the colors look weird? Yes, but the ColecoVision colors (consisting of barf, earwax, and stale urine) weren't great to begin with.
January 25, 2026 at 2:11 AM
Will the colors look weird? Yes, but the ColecoVision colors (consisting of barf, earwax, and stale urine) weren't great to begin with.
Also, fuck the ColecoVision. I'm probably getting a ColeCoCo, which is an adapter that makes ColecoVision games work on a Master System. (Due to their shared ancestry... the predecessor to the Master System is basically a ColecoVision with the serial numbers filed off.)
January 25, 2026 at 2:10 AM
Also, fuck the ColecoVision. I'm probably getting a ColeCoCo, which is an adapter that makes ColecoVision games work on a Master System. (Due to their shared ancestry... the predecessor to the Master System is basically a ColecoVision with the serial numbers filed off.)
I bought an electric solder sucker. I just, man, the old way of doing things was not working. Mechanical solder suckers are the worst, and braid isn't much better.
January 25, 2026 at 2:08 AM
I bought an electric solder sucker. I just, man, the old way of doing things was not working. Mechanical solder suckers are the worst, and braid isn't much better.
I'd like to go back to 1982, find the engineer who made the PieceofshitVision, and slap him 'till quality assurance became a number one concern for him, rather than, like, 99th. It's garbage. Highly sensitive to static electricity, requires three voltages, has a faulty-by-default power switch...
January 25, 2026 at 1:40 AM
I'd like to go back to 1982, find the engineer who made the PieceofshitVision, and slap him 'till quality assurance became a number one concern for him, rather than, like, 99th. It's garbage. Highly sensitive to static electricity, requires three voltages, has a faulty-by-default power switch...
I'm distinctly tired of the MotherfuckerVision doing everything within its power to confound and frustrate me. IT HAD TO DIE.
January 25, 2026 at 1:35 AM
I'm distinctly tired of the MotherfuckerVision doing everything within its power to confound and frustrate me. IT HAD TO DIE.
It was hours of de-soldering. HOURS. Hours of dragging braid across a motherboard so old, its original owner was Mumm-Ra the Everliving. Hours of using a solder sucker that sucked more than it sucked, leaving tiny crumbs of solder behind that cemented the chip on the board.
January 25, 2026 at 1:34 AM
It was hours of de-soldering. HOURS. Hours of dragging braid across a motherboard so old, its original owner was Mumm-Ra the Everliving. Hours of using a solder sucker that sucked more than it sucked, leaving tiny crumbs of solder behind that cemented the chip on the board.
It's been a constant struggle to get this machine to work, and I've grown to really dislike it. Maybe throwing the whole damn thing in the garbage can will free me of it entirely.
January 25, 2026 at 1:25 AM
It's been a constant struggle to get this machine to work, and I've grown to really dislike it. Maybe throwing the whole damn thing in the garbage can will free me of it entirely.
Welp! Got angry after fruitless hours of de-soldering, cut off the offending VDP, and in the process, cut up the PCB too. So much for that ColecoVision. (howls with impotent rage)
January 25, 2026 at 1:24 AM
Welp! Got angry after fruitless hours of de-soldering, cut off the offending VDP, and in the process, cut up the PCB too. So much for that ColecoVision. (howls with impotent rage)
www.fightersgeneration.com/characters/d... I don't get the complaints about Dan Hibiki in the new Street Fighter movie. He's always been goofy and tacky! Half his attacks in Pocket Fighter are based on karaoke and disco!
www.fightersgeneration.com
January 25, 2026 at 12:07 AM
www.fightersgeneration.com/characters/d... I don't get the complaints about Dan Hibiki in the new Street Fighter movie. He's always been goofy and tacky! Half his attacks in Pocket Fighter are based on karaoke and disco!
Is it possible to desolder an integrated circuit without buying a desoldering machine? Because haven't been able to remove the damn 9918 from my ColecoVision, in spite of nearly an hour of braid and sucker work.
January 24, 2026 at 10:30 PM
Is it possible to desolder an integrated circuit without buying a desoldering machine? Because haven't been able to remove the damn 9918 from my ColecoVision, in spite of nearly an hour of braid and sucker work.
Did anyone else get an extra thousand dollars in their bank accounts?
January 24, 2026 at 7:39 PM
Did anyone else get an extra thousand dollars in their bank accounts?
Friggin' Bob Barker asking every female contestant if she's Nude Miss America. Good grief, and I dismissed the rumors of him being a sex pest in the 1990s. Now it's like, "Oh yeah, I definitely see it now."
January 24, 2026 at 11:48 AM
Friggin' Bob Barker asking every female contestant if she's Nude Miss America. Good grief, and I dismissed the rumors of him being a sex pest in the 1990s. Now it's like, "Oh yeah, I definitely see it now."
www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGRB... I like the 1990s. I miss the 1990s. I don't miss this, though. Tootsie Roll gave their classic ad a hip 1990s update, and it's just kind of painful to watch.
How Many Licks Tootsie Pop Commercial
YouTube video by Tootsie Roll
www.youtube.com
January 24, 2026 at 8:01 AM
www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGRB... I like the 1990s. I miss the 1990s. I don't miss this, though. Tootsie Roll gave their classic ad a hip 1990s update, and it's just kind of painful to watch.
Hey, I like this "what's up?" thing they're doing now. Makes it easier to post. Nothing will be as good as Tweetdeck from pre-Lon Twitter, but alas, that's gone now. Gone with the age of the dinosaurs.
January 24, 2026 at 6:45 AM
Hey, I like this "what's up?" thing they're doing now. Makes it easier to post. Nothing will be as good as Tweetdeck from pre-Lon Twitter, but alas, that's gone now. Gone with the age of the dinosaurs.
Anyway. (Heavy sigh) Why aren't there any good ways to play Zanac on a Switch? This machine (and all recent machines) are stunningly Compile shooter deficient. Zanac for what amounts to a Japanese version of an N-Gage isn't cutting it, homeys. And Aleste III is a cramped Game Gear game.
January 24, 2026 at 6:42 AM
Anyway. (Heavy sigh) Why aren't there any good ways to play Zanac on a Switch? This machine (and all recent machines) are stunningly Compile shooter deficient. Zanac for what amounts to a Japanese version of an N-Gage isn't cutting it, homeys. And Aleste III is a cramped Game Gear game.
ICE agents will die for Trump. Let them. Do no harm, but also offer no help when they endanger themselves with their own actions. They were dangerous before; they will remain dangerous after they recover.
January 24, 2026 at 5:52 AM
ICE agents will die for Trump. Let them. Do no harm, but also offer no help when they endanger themselves with their own actions. They were dangerous before; they will remain dangerous after they recover.
If our government officials won't take charge and hold criminals accountable for their actions, the revolution will. And guillotines don't pay attention to the R or D after a politician's name... the blade falls either way.
January 24, 2026 at 5:34 AM
If our government officials won't take charge and hold criminals accountable for their actions, the revolution will. And guillotines don't pay attention to the R or D after a politician's name... the blade falls either way.