Back in the mid-'90s, it was an exciting time to be a gamer. New consoles seemed to be coming out of nowhere on a regular basis, and while most of them failed, there were some interesting experiments which still have their fans, even today.
One example is the Casio Loopy. A 16-bit system released in 1995 and aimed at female players, the Loopy came with a built-in colour printer which allowed users to create stickers from screenshots. It was not a commercial success, and only 11 titles were ever made for it (including the video capture accessory Magical Shop).
Given the tiny size of its library, you'd assume that there was little need for a Loopy flash cart, but when you consider that getting a full set of Loopy games today is quite a challenge, it's little wonder that someone has produced one.
That someone is Roger Braunstein, who has created the Floopy Drive, a $90 flash cart which not only allows you to 'enjoy' the Loopy's full selection of games but also allows you to run homebrew applications on it – and potentially develop your own software.
Boasting 32Mbit of flash memory, 1Mbit battery-backed SRAM for save data and a USB-C connection for data transfer, the Floopy Drive is likely to be a big hit with hardcore Loopy fans – and it's clear that Braunstein is aware he's selling to a very small audience, as his first production run is 15 units – which has sold out already.
It's wonderful to see that even the most obscure console can get its own flash cart. Let us know if you'll be investing in one by posting a comment below.