Mad Scientist

I'll start it off with 34,355. -Eric

Improved: 36,790.

That's actually the normal appearance for Raiden (and Fat Bobby) cartridges; there isn't an external chip. I don't have any great tips on getting it to work, though. The eraser contact-cleaning would have been my suggestion. IIRC, these carts are a bit thicker than normal Lynx carts... I might expect that to give better contact in the cart slot, but perhaps it's just a matter of fitting differently. If you have a cleaning kit for your systems, you may want to scub the slot's contacts, as well. -MadSci

{score excised} ***edit: change to 12,470. I was on the wrong difficulty before. The comments below still stand, though...*** Like Keir, I also do not understand how the difficulty progresses. It ramped up rapidly on my first game, but on my second game the lower-left number remained at "1" until I was around 20,000 points. When it started to advance, it rapidly did so. Once I had my first death, I only managed to take out one more enemy... there wasn't time to see them before my vault was struck. The explosion/ death throes also seem to be quite long. I'm using Stella; is this also the way that the game behaves on real hardware? -MS

1. All of mine work... I'm not aware of incompatibilities (aside from a 32X getting in the way of the CD door for multi-CD games) 2. I think that's correct... but it does have better jacks than RF. 3. As JC wrote. 4. Any Genny-compatible controllers; I mostly use the 6-button pads, myself (prefer the D-pad on them). 5. They seem reliable enough, although I've only had experience with mine and my brother's. 6. RAM cart is a good idea if you can find one; as noted, some game saves gan be quite large. 7. Maybe? I have an original. 8. Sure. It works (for 1-CD games). As a bonus, it uses one less wall wart. I think it looks fine. 9. It won't work. It's not just a matter of physically fitting; I've taken apart a PBC and gotten everything to fit, but it doesn't function. Interestingly, PBCs do not work on all Gen I systems, either, due to changes on the board. I believe that the split coincided with one of the changes of the pack-in game; you can probably find more information on the issue if you search. *[edit... or was that changes in the Gen II? I haven't though about this for some time...]* I know that my PBC definitely could not work on my Gen II (which is why I traded a new Gen II for a used Gen I years ago). This incompatibility is the main reason that my X'Eye is not currently connected... I don't want to resort to my Game Gear for all of my SMS games. 10. CD-Rs work on mine (although I've only tried audio CDs) -Eric

960

...but was it a REAL BOY? I don't wanna know who their market was...

I've been out for a few weeks, but here's a token last-minute score: 840. The super-sensitive Stella paddle emulation is reminiscent of a flaky paddle (except my paddles work better). Maybe I'll have more than 5 min. to spare one of these weeks... -MS

You may want to keep that soldering iron in hand and out of a 360... I don't think that the light is always green. Developers can actually specify what color it isplays at a given time (red and yellow are the others, I think... someone here probably knows). As for your faceplate mock-up, I think it looks pretty good. It's also not that strange of an homage, at least for Minter fans. -MS

I haven't been to a flea market for years... but I used to live on one :!: In the early Eighties, my (now late ex-)step-dad moved the family to Farmington, New Mexico. We rented a house that was located on a flea market outside of the city. It was a neat childhood experience for the year that we lived there- isolating, but memorable. It was a typcal sprawling desert lot, with burning barrels, tumbleweeds, goathead thorns that pop your bike tires, an irrigation ditch, the whole bit. There were huge sales on Saturdays and smaller ones on Sundays. We'd check out the wares most weeks; the Navajo frybread was a staple for Saturday morning cartoons. The house was bizarre, though: heat was from a fireplace, a coal stove in the room I shared with my brother, and one electric heater; you locked the place by placing a big metal grate over the front door and using a padlock; Matilda the black widow lived in the bathroom window; grass and cacti in the small yard... that sort of thing. For a little kid from a town of ~100 in Minnesota, though, it was fun. [Oh, we also received our VCS for Christmas while living here. And the arcade at Pistol Pete's Pizza truly rocked! It was a good time for video games in my life.] Sorry for the rambling trip down memory lane. You may now resume your fearful discussions of the flea folk. -MS

105,170. Starting to get it on second try, but no more time to spare. -MS

This thread just reminded me to finally join my local Freecycle groups... thanks. With luck, it'll help me get in line with my wife's "simplify our lives" (read: get rid of lotsa stuff) kick. -MS

95,000. Grant deadlines suck. -MadSci

70,000. Time to develop my sniping strategies (too bad a mountain of mulching, chores, cage/ tank cleaning, D&D night, work deadlines, weekend company, softball, and pregnant wife requests are conspiring to keep me out of the Dark Caverns. Bad week for a contest. ).

Token score: 4,163

I finally found some time to play this tonight... and does it ever take some time. This is a real test of obstinance, and I don't know if I am "pig-headed" enough to give it another round. I'll probably stick with 343,700.

I can see why others are calling the level 2 Morphuls "frogs," but am I the only one to make this connection? = ? Yup yup yup yup yup uuhuh uuuhuh... Bbbbringg! (no phones in the game, but there are crocodile-staplers around 8K for me)

Finally! 12,130

Updated: now @ 9,600. That bonus life is in reach...

Updated score: 5,090.

He listed the design time as 4 _days_, but still... very impressive to me. I've had enough hassle just trying to keep my Lynxes in working condition. -MS

My recommendations: Bust-A-Move Shockwave, SW:OJ, & Shockwave 2- great series The Need For Speed- great gameplay (and sound) Wing Commander III- very well done; plays well even w/o the flightstick Return Fire & Maps o' Death Lucienne's Quest Flashback/Alone In the Dark/Out of this World- great versions (esp. Flashback) Zhadnost: The People's Party (I prefer it to Twisted) D and Hell- I'm a sucker for adventure games Star Fighter- fly anywhere, tight control, good music (mostly... what's "Death by Stereo" supposed to mean?) FIFA Soccer Phoenix 3- a bit choppy/ low-budget, but I dug it I've enjoyed many others, but those are probably the highlights. The Wolf3D version is good, the D&D games are fun, Gex and Soccer Kid ("Get off my laaand!") are good platformers, Icebreaker is a good action-puzzler, Ballz plays well, Olympic Summer Games has fencing fun... there are lots of good games. The few stinkers include: Mazer Cyberdillo (even w/ the screen @ postage stamp size) Seal of the Pharaoh (they meant well, and it was an early title, but still...) As for the adult titles, I've only played Neurodancer, with played being used loosely. There's almost no gameplay, and I've seen animated gifs here @ AA that look about as good as your "reward"... but it still beats Mazer and Cyberdillo as a game -Mad Sci.

3,200. Too bad there isn't a way to coax the fuel pods into your crossfire... some of them can only be hit in game 2 mode, I think. -MS

26,736. Another emulation-only game for me. I switched to Stella, since I couldn't figure out how to set the difficulty switches with MESS. Perhaps I'm in the minority (or the less-vocal majority, your guess), but I actually liked the game. -Mad Sci

Ping-Time is still open on State Street. Aftershock is closed for now. You probably remember it from its location near Warner Park. Well, it moved from there to Williamson Street (the Bohemian sector of Madison) within the past year, sharing space with a place called The Attic. Unfortunately, The Attic has closed, and it dragged Aftershock with it. You can read about it here. The owner hopes to reopen the arcade somewhere, but I have not heard of any progress. BassGuitari is right about their inventory being overpriced, but the arcade games were certainly worth a trip. Please note that the State Street Arcade is, ummm... something else entirely. I think it's illegal to handle a joystick in there... -MS