Vlogger Spotlight: The 8 Bit Guy Is a Fantastic Retro Tech Channel

Do you fondly remember the days of simply gaming when experiences had to fit on tiny amounts of memory aboard a floppy disk? I have a YouTuber for you!

We’re taking a look at another YouTube channel covering stuff that is definitely fun. This time it’s the 8 Bit Guy and retro gaming!

About a year ago, my son introduced me to a channel called the 8 Bit Guy. Hosted by David Murray of Dallas Fort Worth, Texas, the channel is a love of all things retro computing with a heavy emphasis on education. I personally have been blown away by the 8 Bit Guy’s knowledge of everything from transistors to light guns used in Duck Hunt. I don’t know how useful information is about how controller ports worked on old computers and consoles, but it doesn’t seem to matter because David’s calm, yet enthusiastic narration is mesmerizing.

Here’s how the channel describes itself:

A computer video series focusing mainly on retro technology from the 80’s, 90’s and 2000’s. However, once or twice a year I’ll create something totally “out there.” My main goal at this point is to make educational content about retro technology that is interesting and engaging. Some people will be re-living their childhood, while others will be experiencing the technology for the first time.

It’s also a fantastic channel for looking at not only retro video games, but also the community of people who work on making games still to this day for older computers and consoles. When I say older, I’m talking about Amigas, Ataris, and Commodores. Yes, the kind of stuff that made the NES look powerful (and it was for its time). As someone who spent my twenties on an Atari ST, these videos take me straight back to a simpler time when you could understand the programming behind the games you were playing and they were often fully designed by a small team of developers. Do you remember when games came on multiple floppy disks inside a huge box where the cover art showed you what you should imagine the blocky pixels to represent?

But 8 Bit Guy isn’t just about retro games and computers, he also does other topics from time to time… such as a recent video in which he talks about backup electricity plans for when you have an outage. It’s just as interesting and educational as the other stuff he does. I love it!

Or take for example, one of my daughter-in-law’s favorite videos from him: the cat tree construction project.

Maybe one day I’ll take a trip down to Dallas or to a convention and meet David in person. Part of the appeal of the channel is that he just comes across as the type of person you’d like to share a coffee with and talk about the old days. The eighties were so much fun! Maybe that sort of a time is just ahead yet… and hopefully 8 Bit Guy will be covering those fun times yet again.

One of the coolest things about the YouTube channel is that David has been programming a retro game that works on many very old personal computers. It’s call PETSCII Robots and is available for purchase… just make sure you have a working eighties computer to be able to play it on. It might not be Defender of the Crown, but it’s not half-bad either!

For all the latest news that should be fun, keep reading That Park Place. As always, drop a comment down below and let us know your thoughts! And, if you so choose, make sure to subscribe to the 8 Bit Guy for retro gaming fun!