Speaking of Contra - there is a new Contra out March 12, 2024 (today! or tomorrow depending on timezone), Contra: Operation Galuga. I haven’t played the game yet, but the trailer looks amazing!

Some ‘getting started’ suggestions:

Telnet BBS Guide has over a thousand BBSes listed, most are accessible by telnet. Syncterm is a great terminal program for BBS use, with Linux/Mac/Windows versions available. Other telnet clients can be used, but many BBSes use ANSI and CP437 and not UTF8. (other BBSes use other standards like ATASCII or PETSCII, Syncterm supports many of these.)

There are a bunch of interesting BBSes, one I’d recommend is 20 For Beers, connect to it at 20forbeers.com:1337. Plenty of great ANSI art and active message areas and a huge file collection too. I also recommend checking out the fsxNet message areas, they are shared across many BBSes and have an active community.

This is so cool to see posted here! I’m the guy that broke my usual don’t-post-on-reddit rule to share a keygen for Buccaneer. It really is a fun game, too, even if it can be a bit brutal (this is the third day in a row my ship got sunk!).

There continues to be a thriving community of BBS users and sysops, there is a mix of new software and mods along with the old (there are CBBS systems operating - that is the original BBS software created in the late 1970s!). The fsxNet echomail network is great, linking a lot of active BBSes together and with good conversation and lots of help for retro-tech issues and projects.

If you’re interested in playing Buccaneer online, The Fool’s Quarter BBS has the game online. Another interesting BBS to check out is 20 For Beers reachable via telnet at 20forbeers.com:1337.

Clever photo, great idea. The “flame” effect is brilliant. Thanks for sharing!

I like this, the tilted camera adds a “fun” aspect, the low perspective captures the bird well, pretty colours in the background, the softness of the background is great as well, nice separation of foreground and background without destroying the background. Also, the bird is not smoking, so it is nice to see it following the rules. Good balance of chaos and rules. Thanks for sharing.

The animation with the C:\ prompt is great! I hadn’t seen this before, but that’s one of the all-time greatest game openings!

Very nice composition, the lines of the guard rail and of the highway trailing into the distance, the balance of the sky and the ground, mysterious beauty of the fog, the glowing sun, I really like it all. The bare trees in the near-distant fog are wonderful too.

Thank you for sharing.