[SwordQuest Earthworld logic]

Well this certainly hurts my head and scratches my curiosity at the same time.  I did find a wiki page that listed 15 "planets" which maybe corresponds to the items.  Not sure if it will help, but here they are.

 

"Planets" = Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Ceres, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, Pallas, Juno, Vesta, Chiron
 

 

[Season 13 ~ Weeks 13/14 ~ Activision Quickies!]

I just need to put some scores up before I run out of time.  Had a blast playing these when I was a kid. 

 

Freeway = 20

 

Barnstorming = 1:18.54

 

Sky Jinks = 2:44.08

 

Fishing Derby = 99-92

 

[Atari 2600 in movies or TV shows]

The most recent episode of Stargirl (season 3, episode 11) had a set of Atari paddle controllers sitting on a desk.  It is the scene where the nerdy brother and his friend are trying to figure out how to stop the ice man that has come back from the dead.

[What video game system did you buy BITD that ended up being a terrible purchase?]

I can't think of any systems I regret buying, as I still own everything except a Pong unit.  There were a few dud games that I had some mild regret over.  The 2600 Pac-Man felt like a gut punch how poorly they tried to translate it.  Over time it has gained some charm and I think is the most licensed video game sound in tv and movies.

[Any PS5 owners here yet?]

Joined the PS5 ranks today.  Was looking at the demo unit in a Walmart when an employee came by and said we have some in stock, are you interested.  The only other time I saw one was at a Target 6 months ago and they refused to sell it and ran to hide it in the back.

[Best way to play Atari 2600 games on a modern TV?]

On 10/18/2022 at 3:49 PM, GeekDragon said:

I heard you can plug your 2600 into a VCR, then hook that up to a HDTV and that should work.  I haven't tried it yet to see if it actually works.

I just did this.  I bought two items from Amazon for around $10; a connector to plug the 2600 jack into the VCR and a RCA jacks to HDMI convertor for the VCR out.  I haven't played with the settings yet to see if the picture can be improved yet other than switching to standard mode so the picture isn't stretched. It was just exciting to get my original 1977 Sears unit usable again!

 

 

[Season 13 ~ Weeks 11/12 ~ Scary Monsters!]

1st tries to get on the board.  Might read the manuals and give them another shot later.

 

Gremlins = 40,680

 

Alien = 20,355

 

Room of Doom = 5,325

 

 

["2600 Plus" My modernized 2600 console project]

I noticed the desire for composite/S-Video in the first post.  Would HDMI also work with something like this, or is that just not feasible with the TIA chip involved?  It seems like that is the one piece missing for making a modern 2600 console that doesn't use emulation.

[Season 13 ~ Week 10 ~ Raft Rider]

20,202

 

@Jasonhrb tips were very helpful.  Once I understood you could control how far you go up or down, I stopped crashing into things like gold or the shore. 

[Lode Runner™ for Atari 2600]

How do you glide across the gaps in the third level?  Is it playable with just a standard joystick? 

[Arcade Paradise]

Had a blast playing this over the weekend and finished the main story.  Now I'm down to grinding for currency to finish buying the upgrades and working on individual game challenges.  My arcade still has open spots I'd love to fill with some DLC if the developers so choose.

 

Here are some ideas for new machines:

 

Pinball

Joust clone

Dig Dug clone

Up the ladders - Donkey Kong / Kangaroo / etc

Some kind of gun game - Crossbow / area 51 / Terminator

Avenue Aggressor 2 - fighter clone

Gauntlet clone

Defender clone

Centipede clone

Rampage clone

Dragons Lair clone

Golden Axe clone

NBA Jam clone

A twin stick shooter like Robotron 2084

Moon Patrol clone

 

 

[Season 13 ~ Week 9 ~ Challenge Week!]

3bb = 11,869

 

 

[Arcade Paradise]

Started playing this morning and got through the first two days.  I'm hoping I can hire someone to take care of the laundry side of the business eventually as I spent most of the time cleaning and doing laundry and have barely touched the arcade games so far.

 

My OCD is bothered that there is a sock in the arcade room that the game won't let me pick up.  Is there a faster way to put money in the safe?  Doing the combination every time is getting old.  I haven't tried staying late and passing out yet because I was afraid I would be robbed or vandalized.

 

Even with some of the nitpicks, I'm still enjoying this game.  It certainly reminds me of some of the jobs I worked in my teen years.

[Arcade Paradise]

I pre-ordered the ps4 disk on Amazon.  Looking forward to playing with this.

[Games you wish had come out on the 7800]

One thing I loved about some games on the 7800 was how they would take a traditionally 1 player at a time arcade game and add a two player simultaneous mode that could be competitive or cooperative.   I was able to play more with my sisters with co-op, so they didn't feel like they were losing.  Some games that I think would do well with the enhanced 2 player modes:

 

1. Any of the Pac-Man games

2. Space Shooters like Galaga / Galaxian / Space Invaders

3. Missile Command

4. Dig Dug

 

Pretty much any game that doesn't have a scrolling screen. 

 

 

[Season 13 ~ Weeks 7 and 8 ~ Bronze and Paper Medal Picks]

Pengo = 82,200

 

Venture Reloaded = 615,600

 

Crazy Balloon = 6,475

 

I've never played Pengo much, but always enjoyed it.  There's something satisfying about crushing things with a block of ice.  I played Venture a lot on the 2600 and Colecovision and this version is excellent!

[Season 13 ~ Week 6 ~ Silver Medal Winner Pick]

Dodge'Em = 246

 

Finally got above 200.

 

 

[Season 13 ~ Week 6 ~ Silver Medal Winner Pick]

One of the fun things about this competition is getting to read the manuals and learning how to actually play some of these games.  Even with that knowledge, these games are kicking my butt this week. 

 

Beamrider = 13,204

 

Dodge'Em = 116

 

I've never been any good at Dodge'Em and the current score doesn't even qualify for a point yet, so I'll keep trying, or maybe not if it's too frustrating.

 

 

[Season 13 ~ Week 5 ~ Gold Medal Winner Pick]

Battlezone = 130,000

 

Combat = 30

 

 

[Cannon Fodder on Jag vs other systems]

I always loved the Jag version but couldn't get past one of the levels because it would crash at the same spot every time.  I'm having fun playing through the Evercade version currently.  Hopefully it doesn't have any game breaking bugs.

[Evercade?!]

After a couple weekends with the VS I've purchased all the cartridges and preordered the EXP.  Although I probably already have most of these games on other devices, there is just something about this that is fun for me. 

 

Here are a couple collections I'd love to see:

 

The ID Collection 1 - Wolfenstein and various Dooms

The Lode Runner Collection

Multiple 2600 companies like Activision and Imagic as well as the great homebrews that have come out.

Colecovision Collections

Amiga Collections

 

 

[Firsts in video games]

I think the first third party video game company was Activision.  Would probably have to exclude computers and narrow it to dedicated game machines only.

[A discussion: What's the most remarkable thing about the 2600?]

Some additional positives for me:

 

1. Simple Controls - especially when compared to the intellivision

2. Tons of variations packed into the early games

3. Loved the variety of controllers also, they better matched what was available in the arcade

[Atari 7800 versus Atari lynx?]

I have and love both of them.  From a straight hardware standpoint I would imagine the Lynx would be slightly more powerful as it came out much later.  I bought and played the Lynx when I was in college and it was much easier to deal with in a dorm environment. 

[Season 13 ~ Weeks 3/4 ~ Games with Balls]

Off the Wall (Peasant) = 5,040

Midnight Magic 1A one ball = 82,085

Mr. Do! = 29,100

 

Love the crazy story in the Off the Wall manual, although the game play is lacking.  It needed to be a paddle game.