BIGHMW

Oh I’m not in it for the money it’s about the fans that matter to me as I want to bring them plenty of content on not only it but also my other 2 YouTube channels, BIGHMW TV, and my Ray Jackson YouTube channel (YouTube.com/RayJacksonBIGHMW), I am a very talented individual who has been in the entertainment business for 28 years and has been an Atarian since getting his first 5200 in 1983 and love both the brand and this business I’m in of entertaining you, the fans!!!

Will I still be allowed to host The Atari Report with Ray Jackson (myself), as I DO plan on bringing back that series on The Atari Report YouTube channel in which I created back in mid 2020 (I own the namesake of the channel) and the various series on it and plan to add even more content to it when I return like a news program called “Atari Today”, as well as “The Atari 5200 SuperReport” and “Atari 2600 - Old School/Nu Skool”, in which I compare the 1980s ports of classic Atari games to their newer homebrew versions like “Burgertime/Chaotic Grill” and “Lock ‘n’ Chase/Lucky Chase” and so much more, or is all that now subject to approval from Atari themselves now???

WTF? No love for Apollo (Space Cavern)??? Space Cavern was the best port Apollo ever put out if they put out good ones but that was the one they put out I have only played due to rumors of how bad the other ports they put out were. It was one I chose in my 110 games I uploaded on an SD card for my old Flashback 9 to go with the built-in 110 and will be uploaded to the SD card in my Top 200 on my Harmony Encore after I get my newly-acquired 2600 Jr. repaired.

As you well know I got my 2600 Jr. Short Rainbow in from Toronto last week, only to find that while she powers up fine the cartridge (Harmony Encore) won't work on her. Now after I get paid on Wednesday I will be getting another (a real) cart (perhaps a cheap $5.00 Pac-Man cart) to see if it's just the Harmony or if it needs repairs but if it's a repair issue after trying out the Pac-Man cart, where do I send both her, and my VCS adapter for my 5200, in which this 2600 unit was to both replace it and also act as my home theater console while my 5200 sets in my home arcade setup. Also my 7800 I got earlier this year has issues involving her powering up too, so I am SOL when it comes to playing 2600 games only my 5200 to get my Atari rocks off on. The rest of 2023 will be a time for me to recover both financially an most importantly, mentally, so I can once again be both mentally and financially fit enough even to the point where I can be back up and running in January on YouTube on all 3 of my channels, but is starts with both me saving my money and also with getting my equipment repaired and taking my meds, I hope most of you will keep me on track and encourage me to do so. My camcorders and other equipment I sold to Quimper Sound will hopefully be there for me to re-buy soon. I'll check in here on AA every once in a while but for the most part my time will be spent, posting wise, away from here on AA in order to recover and also save my dough so I can afford to get my equipment repaired, not just on the Atari front, but also my Sony CDR-W33 CD burner (loading tray not working, perhaps belt issue), and my 2016 iPhone SE and Galaxy Tab A (dead battery on each, no content access available on either due to it) also need repairs done on them too. So so long for a while, I'll check back to see if any of you have any ideas on where to ship my Atari units to get repaired so I can get back in the game so to speak!!! Thanks! Ray Jackson.

It's a good thing I bought a 2600 Jr. I used to do a Flashback 9 but it doesn't work with ARM-based games (Champ Games) and RetroN 77 and this new 2600+ don't sit well with people like myself who happen to be purists that know damn well that no emulator will ever be able to do the same and in the same way as an actual 1970's-80s console. I am proud to say that all of my gaming systems, are actual vintage gaming consoles albeit running off of newer (UpBright brand. slim design with transverse plug blades) power supplies (my 5200 runs on a 5.5 x 2.1 mm barrel) with the necessary dongles (for the 2600 Jr. - 5.5 x 2.1 barrel-to-3.5 mm miniplug, and for the 7800 - 5.5 x 2.1 mm barrel-to-OEM-style plug) on each for full interchangeability and compatibility. My XEGS runs on a newer supply I also picked up through The Brewing Academy, after all you cannot trust those vintage bricks!!!

2600 Chaotic Grill > 5200/8-bit Beef Drop i just enjoy what @splendidnut has been able to do with his 2600 rendition of Burgertime more than I do of the late Ken Siders’ version of it on Big Sexy/XEGS, Chaotic Grill is more colorful and has more fluent motion and a pretty good soundtrack to it as well considering the 2600’s limitations.

....and, yes, I DO (and have even with my old Flashback 9 and now my newly-acquired 2600 Jr. Short Rainbow) have the units in different areas in my apartment. The 5200, along with my ColecoVision, my 7800, and my XEGS, are in my home arcade in the gaming area, while my 2600 Jr. (and the Flashback 9 before her) is hooked up to my home theater system. In fact the only thing I'm gonna miss about not having the FB9 is having total control of all functions through the player 1 joystick with all of those extra buttons on it but it's better to have full 100% compatibility with any and all games (including all of Champ Games' titles including the ARM-enabled ones too!!!) and controllers as well so in a way it is a very good trade-off. But yes, now comes yet another question.... do I get my newly-acquired 2600 Jr. a 4-pole (TRRS) 3.5 mm jack composite a/v mod and use my composite-to-HDMI converter I picked up at Goodwill here in Port Townsend for $5.00 on it or do I get another (that's right, a second) RF-to-HDMI converter like the one I currently use in my home arcade so that I can have all of my units hooked up at both stations!!!

JESUS H. CHRIST!!! Solaris is even better then some of my games on my 5200!!!

Nothing right now until my power adapter comes in but yes I DO have the Qyx demo (and all the other Champ Games demos) ready and rarin' to go on my Harmony Encore when it comes in and I can finally dig into my newly-acquired 2600 Jr. Short Rainbow (got it back on Wednesday out of Toronto) for the first time since my 5200's VCS adapter took a dump on me earlier this year, I's also like to get going with Galagon, Gorf Arcade and Wizard Of Wor Arcade too!!! maybe the adapter will be in on Monday, if not then Tuesday at the latest. I was mailed out back on Thursday morning from Long Island. FINALLY NO MORE GODDAMN FLASHBACK 9 BS!!!

I've always wondered back in the early 90s when I found tons of Atari, INTV, and Coleco units and carts as gear readily available in thrift stores and second-hand shops (yes even here in tiny little Port Townsend!!!), I picked up many units and among them when it came to the Atari units were a long-rainbow 2600 Jr. and also a few Woodys (there was also a Vader or two but I passed on those) but they had either yellow or orange bezels (I always liked the looks of the orange bezel Woodys better so when it came to having only one 2600 I kept the orange one) but were there, besides the obvious trim color difference, any technical differences that distinguished the two or were they just the same???

When it comes to "OEM"-style sticks, I like the AtGames Flashback CX40-style sticks the best, unlike the others the shaft screws on and off for easier storage after gameplay and even though they break a bit during really aggressive play down the line, if you have a few in stock the shafts are easily replaceable. They also have more play, a bit more throw, and a slightly better response than the tried and true OG CX40s from the 80s Of course NOTHING (and I mean NOTHING) beats a good third-party stick especially those from either RetroGameBoyz or the old Wico Command Control series or even the legendary Triga Command stick but when it comes to OEM and OEM-clone sticks nothing beats a Flashback stick.

Got a 2600 Jr. Got Flashback CX40 joysticks. Getting CX30 paddles. Got CX80 trak-ball. Got Harmony Encore. Got power adapter coming in the mail by Tuesday if not by Saturday. Got RF-to-HDMI converter. Got my perfect replacement for my Flashback 9. Got what I need... for now.

Nope, I was only 17 back then but I DID watch it after it went into syndication and KTLA was airing it in th L.A. market, it was exclusively on SuperStation WTBS before being picked up for syndication.

My third Jr. came in 30 minutes ago, she had been previously chipped but the silver bezel I am proud to say had the factory plastic foil on it in which after I peeled it off revealing nothing but pure beauty, I got the power adapter mentioned in my last post on eBay and it will arrive by Tuesday at the latest!!! here are the pics, after emptying out the loose fragments in her and cleaning her up as well. CAN’T WAIT TO DIG INTO THOSE ARM GAMES!!!

I think that we must clarify for those who may not know already (and I was one of those who just happened to stumble onto this thread) that this "Defender III" is not affiliated with the Williams Defender series as Robotron: 2084 was the third part in the official trilogy but rather a homebrew for the 2600 of the same namesake, much like Stern's version (never released) of Journey for the arcade (as featured in the 1983 game show Starcade both in gameplay, in the bonus round in one episode, and in another episode as a grand prize for winning the bonus round), is not the same version featuring the 80s supergroup Journey that Midway put out in 1983.

The power adapter I intend to acquire for my newly-obtained Jr. https://www.ebay.com/itm/225085962741

My third 2600 Jr. just like the others I had in 2016 and also in 2020, a Short Rainbow version, is coming in to BIGHMW.com World Headquarters from Toronto tomorrow afternoon, picked her up on eBay last week for a mere $40 shipped from Toronto, all I need from her now is a power adapter, mainly I intend to get one of those slim-built ones with those new transverse-mounted plug blades so it can fit in a cheap 10-dollar Safeway-bought PRIME power strip in a slimmer form factor like most power adapters are made like nowadays, YAY!!! now I can ditch my Flashback 9 and get to those ARM-based games from @johnnywc John Champeau's Champ Games again!!!

Please enough of this farce, at this point I have a better chance of finally meeting and being reunited with Cindy Margolis for the first time since 1984 and giving her a BIG HUG for keeping me going in the entertainment business for another 20 years back in 2003 than we ever do of seeing this snooze-fest of a thread finally coming to an end, and the game actually being released as a cart or a .rom, as evident by David Hasselhoff's look on his face above in the previous post, C'MON MAN!!!

No thanks. No Harmony Encore/ARM/PlusCart/homebrew/third-party controller/trak-ball compatibility, HELL NO!!! RIP-OFF!!! Got a REAL 2600 Jr. Short Rainbow coming in tomorrow from Toronto, have tons of controller options for her already and a Harmony Encore, that'll do for me, my RF-to-HDMI converter does the rest. As for the 7800 and compatibility with her, I simply need to get my Lil' Sexy into the shop for the powering issues she has and reacquire the Concerto cart for her., I've already got the 5200 and tons of gear for her already. Got the XEGS, just need either an AVG Cart or an Ultimate Cart for her, and I also have a ColecoVision and just need to reacquire the Atarimax Ultimate SD for her too.

I originally wrote off the 2600 because of the original Tod Frye 1981 version of Pac-Man, and got a 5200 instead back in 1983. I didn't even bother getting the 2600 adapter (my first 5200 unit I got was a 4-port with the automatic switchbox and I couldn't afford the modification needed). BUT, in 2015, I was browsing YouTube videos and ran into Pac-Man 4K, produced in 2007 by Dennis @DEBRO, THAT, prompted me to give the 2600 a chance to earn her way into the gaming lineup, and so I bought a Flashback Portable, and then a 2600 Jr. QUITE IMPRESSIVE what could NOW be done with just a mere 128 bytes of RAM as opposed to back in 1982!!! Then, @DINTAR816 blew us all away with Pac-Man Arcade, in which used 8K of memory, BRILLIANT!!! The homebrew community brought me to the 2600 knowing what can now be done is INFINITE!!! Look at @johnnywc John Champeau's Champ Games with their stellar lineup of 2600 titles that rival if not equal those of my 5200, like Galagon, Gorf Arcade, Wizard Of Wor Arcade, Qyx and Super Cobra Arcade and Scramble!!!... and @Silvio Mogno's brilliant Ruby*Q which blows away the original Parker Bros. version of Q*bert by a country mile!!! And we should not forget about games like Donkey Kong VCS and @PacManPlus Bob Decrescenzo's brilliant Defender Arcade and Starpath/Arcadia's Frogger Arcade and also the homebrews of Galaxian Arcade and Galaxian Invincible too and Star Castle and Star Castle Arcade and @SpiceWare's Space Rocks too among others!!! And the trak-ball hacks for Centipede and Missile Command too!!! INDEED the homebrew community is responsible for the retrogaming revolution we are enjoying right now!!! All of these folks should be commended!!!

Is there a hack for us Flashback 9 or 5200 VCS adapter or "normal" 2600 users that can deliberately emulate that onscreen result??? I kinda like the idea of being able to distinguish one player's score/ship from the other or the amount of lives left, you know, custom-tailor one's displays to their own liking, much like the black background hacks I have of games like Ms. Pac-Man and Vanguard I rock on an SD card on my FB9, they're better than the original blue background versions that's for sure!!!

I did MY OWN review on my old Atari Report YouTube channel and had great things to say about this game as well as Scramble and also Galagon before shutting down my operations due to poor view/subscriber count on not only The Atari Report but on all 3 of my channels (BIGHMW TV, Ray Jackson, and The Atari Report), it seems like the algorithms YouTube uses nowadays are RIGGED and suppress the smaller channels like my 3 in favor of the bullshit corporate content, otherwise I would've had more views and a larger subscription base to cater to with more content. No sense putting up anything if nobody is ever gonna ever find out about its existence, that's why I ceased operations a few months ago. But as for my review, here it is for yourself to enjoy!

I once scored 7 million points in the easy mode, sometimes in the beginning of later waves, I'd actually lure as many enemies on the screen as possible, shoot the pods, and clean up both the pesky Swarmers and the rest with my smartbombs, max points with that!!! BTW , since it's been established that the smartbombs are activated by the space bar on the XL/XE/XEGS how do you warp into hyperspace mode???

Yeah but there are significant differences between 8-bit and 5200 versions when it comes to the options that are readily available on the CX52 controllers as opposed to the digital stick with only one fire button, on Defender for instance I wouldn't know what key on the keyboard to hit for the smart bombs where as on the 5200 stick it's the top buttons, also, how about hyperspace? Yes the 5200 lacks certain titles but the controllabilty is certainly on the 5200's side. Plus with Redemption or the Retro-Game-Boyz Masterplay and the vintage Wico 5200 analog self-centering sticks (i have a couple of them too!) as well as many digital options the 5200 can't be beat!!!

I also, have both the Q*bert and Frogger "no button" hack and I myself use digital sticks with most of my games on my 5200 (using Redemption 5200) and am fully aware of the drawback of this hack so I use a very light touch, whenever I play Frogger with this hack I just nudge the stick as opposed to hitting it full-on, that way I don't inadvertently hop twice and get myself killed but yes we could sure as hell use a fix of this. As for the Q*bert hack, if you use a digital controller you have to be spot-on, in other words it's kinda like the diagonal hack I had done for the A8 version, you have to have BOTH directions dialed in in order to be able to move, now I myself am used to it, I like this diagonal hack because that way I don't have to hold the joystick in an awkward manner (45 degrees off to the right) as the tendency is to hit the wrong direction either way.