StickyNote

For the Atari 800 it was Asteroids hands down. Why? Because it had four player simultaneous action! Whenever a bunch of friends or relatives came up, we would have Asteroid tournaments that would last for hours on end.

After about 6 months of non-use I go to fire up my Atari 800 only to find it completely dead (ie- no power light, no response on the television, no nothing.) I have opened the system and nothing appears to have come undone in the way of circuitry. The adapter is making the same "humming" noise it always has so I don't believe that to be the problem. I don't actually have the equipment to test the adapter, but I assume humming means working. The system was stored on a shelf in the same room it has always been in, and has not been subject to any major jarring or movement otherwise. Any ideas on what the problem may be?

Alright. I've added concept pics (drawn by yours truly). I had actually drawn better ones in the past, but they got thrown out in my annual end of the school year backpack clean out. Now that I look at these, I may want to scale down some of the objects in Pen. I had originally planned for the supplies to be delivered by a truck (shown in pic), but it looks a little big for the VCS now.

Over the last few months, I've been trying to read up on Atari code on and off. During this time, I've come up with two game ideas, both of which I think are pretty good). Here they are in a nutshell; GAME ONE --------- Name- Assassin Genre- Arcade Action Players- 1-2 simultaneous Melee Concept (there are two, depending upon your character, three including 2P mode.) 1- You are a bodyguard trying to keep the leader of the Mafia (in some other alternate world), Alfredo Riffaduchi, alive. Equipped with the best in body armour, you are positioned outside of this leaders most recent hideaway. The problem is, this boss has done some bad things to the wrong people, and their goons are constantly sending snipers over to attack the house! Knowing that the boss could be in any of the rooms in this house (represented by seperate windows), you must throw yourself in front of all bullets coming towards coming towards the house until your goons show up to take care of the assassin for good (shown as a time limit, splits up levels). Your only saving grace is that the windows are semi-bulletproof, and can take three shots before shatering. (this is var. A, an infinate game) 2- Three years ago, the current leader of the Mafia, Alfredo Riffaduchi, had your father killed for the sake of lining his own pocket. You want to avenge his death by assassinating the fiend, but he has set up many decoys anticipating your move. You have narrowed it down to just 50 locations, and must try each house until you eliminate Riffaduchi (other houses may or may not actually have people in them to kill, I haven't decided yet). In any case, holding still for too long will make you sitting bait for Riffaduchi's goons, and you must make short work of each house. (var. B, a winnable game) 2-Player mode would have one round. Either Riffaduchi dies, or he doesn't. Layout- Six windows on top, guard directly below windows, assassin (represented by gun) on bottom. Concept Pic Alternative Plots - Instead of Riffaduchi, make protected the president. -------- GAME TWO -------- Title- Pen Genre- Action Players - 1-2 simultaneous co-op Concept- Your bothersome neighbor, Jeff Halenburg, has just bought a bloodthirsty pitbull to keep you off his property. To make matters worse, your picket fence separating the two estates is in dire need of repair, and Jeff keeps his dog on a very breakable chain in his back yard. instead of taking the obvious choice of calling Animal Control, you opt to mend your fence before Jeff's dog can mangle you into bits, screen by screen. You have called a supply company in advance, and they will be delivering you fence parts periodically. Can you fix the fence before Jeff's dog breaks free and rips your limbs off? Layout- Dog atop (chained to something offscreen), fence in middle (with broken parts) you on bottom half, parts delivered somewhere along bottom. Each screen of fixed fence represents one level. Concept Pic ------ Are either of these any good, or are they too complex for the Atari VCS? If both sound decent, which should I actually try to create?

oh..... well, thanks anyway.

Awhile back, I decided to open up a few of my Atari 800 carts. While most of them looked pretty standard, my Dig-Dug cart had a red PCB instead of the common green. Is this significant in any way whatsoever, or were red PCB's common?