candiru

Well I can't help but feel a little bit like a jerk for taking advantage of another's ignorance, but I went ahead and picked up that Waterworld cart. I had asked before about value because I'd noticed Waterworld in a blurry photo in a CL listing. The cart is in good shape. It also has the manual, comic, complete poster + entry form, and the hint sheet. The hint sheet is a little beat up, but not bad. None of the Waterworld paperwork was visible in the photo, but there was a goodly stack of manuals in the pic that made me hopeful they'd be there. Along with that it came with a light sixer, 8 misc controllers, including a Spectravideo Quickshot VII, and 19 other games + manuals. Asteroids Breakout Bump 'n' Jump Centipede Combat Football (Atari) Football (INTVl) Frogger Kung-fu Master Jungle Hunt Maze Craze Missile Command Pac-Man (Sears) R.S. Baseball Skate Boardin' Space Invaders Space War Star Raiders Super Breakout Not too shabby at $35. I didn't really need any of it but Waterworld though. I don't really have any plans for selling the Waterworld cart. At this point I'll probably just sit around and feel warm and fuzzy inside for having something fairly rare.

Thanks for the answers folks, much appreciated.

I see the loose cart seems to be in the $70 range these days. I'm having trouble finding an approximate value of the comic and manual. I think atari2600.com says something like $100 for cart plus pack-in documents. Does that sound about right? Thanks!

One thing to be aware of on those fireproof safes is that they're really only designed to protect papers for short durations like half an hour. Any games in there are bound to get a little melty.

Maybe I'll get flamed for this, but speaking as a graphic designer, depending on how design submittal works I'd encourage people NOT to submit actual designs. Saying you'd like to see a certain kind of shirt is one thing. Working up and sending actual designs on the off chance they might want to pay you for it is known as speculative work. Spec work devalues the design industry. In many cases, companies seeking these kinds of design submittals have it in their contract that they legally own the design even if they choose not to use it. The most unscrupulous companies will go ahead and use the design anyway or modify it somewhat and claim it as a new original work. (I'm not placing you in this category JoysticJunkies, just saying what some companies do.) 99 times out of 100, spec work is giving your time and talent for nothing. The proper way to hire a designer is to look at their portfolio to see if they are qualified and capable of creating the kind of style you are looking for. From there, work out a price agreeable to both parties and commission the design. If you're just sitting around with some time to kill and want to kick some designs their way, no one can stop you. But at least think about what you're doing, how much your time is worth, and just who you're giving that time to. I should add that I'm not against the label contests AA runs because that's hobby rather than retail oriented and it supports the homebrewers that are also giving of their time and skills for the community.

Thanks for the info on the zapper. It'll be nice to have a NES that's more reliable and a smaller footprint.

Haven't been thrifting in a good long while. I guess I was due! I couldn't find the rest of the other attachments though. Most unfortunately no dogbone controller. Ah well I can't complain too much to get a NES toploader for $4.65. It's a filthy old thing, but isn't scuffed, scratched, or discolored at all. Just needs a good scrubbin'. Fired right up too. I also picked up a gray NES gun for $1.65 that was with it. I only had the silly looking orange one up till now. Am I right in thinking that the toploaders originally came with the orange guns since they were later releases?

I guess it's possible there was something good there, but not likely. I've been there maybe a dozen times, but it's probably been about a year since I visited. I never saw anything but some common Nintendo and Sega stuff. Come to think of it, I'm not even sure if I ever actually bought anything.

Try this one.

Heh, just saw this myself and was checking if it had been posted. I was also disappointed in their listing of the title of Final Fantasy as a mystifying title choice.

Maybe he thinks they're actually full of magnetic tape??? I'd still lean toward him being a pissant for the sake of being a pissant — an honorable teenage pastime with a distinguished history.

That is most definetely Copperplate. Looks like they might have squashed it vertically a little bit.

I had a 2600 as a wee lad, but I don't think any of my original games had endings. The first ever would have been on the TRS-80. I don't even remember the title. It was an exploring/adventure type game where you went around a haunted mansion to collect items needed to escape, maybe a bit like a very primitive, very short Shadowgate. I've tried to figure out what it was, but can't ever find it on any sites or game lists. I'd love to have another go at it for old times' sake via emulation. It was very simplistic, but at the time I was proud to have finished it. For the NES, the first game I ever beat was A Boy and His Blob. I didn't own the system or game back then, but own both now. Anyone here probably has a passing familiarity with this game. It's just one of those weird ones that people seem to love or hate. I remember it fondly and would recommend it.

This thread from digitpress lists a few names. Welcome to AtariAge!

I don't know, I grew up "deprived" in a rural area and I wouldn't change a single thing about my childhood. Builds character is what it does. OWWW! I just felt a twinge . . . must be my children hating me from the future!

Get off my lawn!

So is it true that you had like every game system from 1975 to 1990?

Ballpoint pens can be very handy! I've rebuilt a few joysticks that had shattered internals with copious amounts of epoxy and bits of wood for reinforcement. Any missing springs are furnished from ballpoint pens, cut down if necessary. The Atari branded cartridge holders with the levers that push the games forward are often broken on the inside so that the levers don't work. I've fixed some of those by dissassembling and recreating the necessary internal pieces with plexiglass, epoxy, and tubes from ballpoint pens. A 7800 with a finicky power switch also got donations from a ballpoint pen. I didn't want to replace the switch if it could be avoided. A good cleaning helped the switch some and I noticed that a FIRM press of the button worked most times. The external button activating the switch didn't have quite enough downward travel to reliably activate it. IIRC all it took was making a small endcap (furnished by the guts of a pen) to slip over the pin that extends downward from the bottom of the button. That shim gave me just enough extra travel to hit the switch more firmly. Years later it still works perfectly.

I keep a 3-ring binder tucked in beside the TV where my systems are hooked-up. My wife DOES laugh at me. I've gotten her to write down her top scores on the handful of games she enjoys, but I can tell her heart's not in it.

I'm not crazy about the Intellivision. Granted, I don't have a ton of games for it, fewer than 30, and am missing some of the "must haves." So far, the only one I really enjoy playing is Burgertime. It's certainly one of the best home versions available, and the weird disc controller doesn't hamper it too much. The Inty is part of another trifecta. The telephone-keypad-sidemount-fire-button-let's-see-how-badly-we-can-screw-up-simple-directional-input-trifecta. Namely, Intellivision, Colecovision, and Atari 5200. I actually really enjoy playing Coleco and 5200 though.

I'd do it for a one-time flat fee of $2,000. I'll have to subcontract out the whole "code" part though. Any of the programmers here interested in being that subcontractor? I'd be willing to pay as much as $1,000!

Ed Salvo turned out some good 2600 games later. Mountain King being the best of the lot. Thanks Big Player, good to know he redeemed himself! Mountain King is one that I haven't ever really sat down and played enough to get into it.

I've got to tell you NE146, I'm glad to see this type of response from you. I was a little worried that you've been slipping lately.

I feel kind of guilty picking on the early games, but I think Home Run, Miniature Golf, and Slot Racers have worse graphics than they should. Oh, and somebody a mentioned in another thread that Skeet Shoot doesn't get kicked around as often as it should, so Skeet Shoot. (There's one programmed by an amateur in a cash-grab by Apollo!) Any of our more learned Atari historians know what happened to the kid that programmed Skeet Shoot?

Wow, so many lists without the 2600? Personal preference lists, I can accept that, but ALL TIME GREAT lists without the 2600?