slapdash

Just an update... I didn't get this going as soon as I'd have liked, even at the end (since now Thanksgiving is in the way), but the issue will be going to the print shop soon, and sent a couple/few days after that.

Zaxxon was actully part of the Video City set, which included Turbo, Frogger and Donkey Kong Jr IIRC. There was also Dragon's Lair!

Actually, I'm pretty sure that frying Phoenix gives you 255 free ships, not unlimited. But that's from memory, and it's been quite a while...

Got a funny story, that kind of involves Mark... He was selling Tour De France, which was still a pretty new discovery, at CGE 2001 (IIRC), but only had 10 copies. I'd been helping Joe et al set up, but I realized that with the show about to open, I should probably have a badge, so figured I'd better go get mine. But, since Mark only had 10 copies, and I figured they'd sell out fast, I bought one first. So, there I go, walking OUT of the hall before the show opens and get in line for my badge. And inevitably people look at/ask what's in my hands, and it's Tour De France. Envious looks and many questions follow. What larks...

There are probably hundreds of chintzy LCD "sorta" cartridge-based systems (like the Game Child) but trying to list them all would be madness. Two others I can think of off the top of my head are Mega Duck and the LCD Projection System (actually, I THINK there are at least two different kinds of this one, and maybe more!), though that may actually fall under the above. Oh yeah, and the Romtec Colorvision. Oh hell, and you may or may not want to count all the Tiger "Game Show"/etc handhelds, like Jeopardy, Wheel Of Fortune, Name That Tune, Stop, Quiz Wiz (oh, and Coleco Quiz Wiz too maybe), Price Is Right...

I buy pretty much all homebrews, many/most repros (well, those that aren't available in another form, so typically only repros from prototypes, not from rares), and some hacks. I definitely have the idea of supporting the scene in mind, but when there are too many to afford, then I will probably start buying based on quality.

I'm maybe interested in any monster trucks or 59 Caddys you have... But for trades, mostly I have some handhelds available, and nothing too interesting.

Even though I think this question has been adequately answered, I'll offer this analogy -- are all V8s the same?

Not only that, but I TRIED to extend my backorder, but they only extended one out of 11 games. They couldn't fix it of course, so they suggested I order them again. But NOW they say "sold out"! I am SO pissed at them right now...

Note the dangling "[/code]" bracket... Luckily he didn't upload the Polybius source properly, or this very forum would be causing amnesia!

ROM chips are only cheaper by the 10s of thousands... You can get one EPROM for a couple of bucks, but one ROM would cost $10,000 (really rough estimate) due to the setup cost -- the first mask is where the cost is. You can only provide ROMs pennies-cheap if you make thousands and thousands of them to eat up the cost of the mask.

You have to be very sorry, because you obviously haven't played the game as much as you should! Well, I do have three other versions to keep me from this one... (On the other hand, you're quite right -- I'm not finding the time to play ANYTHING recently)

of course it has, and it was my mistake that you didn't get any ... i'll be sending you another one in a few days .... Cool, I appreciate that. Sorry I didn't notice earlier.

Heh, if I'm not mistaken, that handwriting is Jim Redd's, of Pleasant Valley Video. That, and the little hint of a circle under the sticker on the chip, makes me think this is probably a homemade game.

Is this version supposed to have instructions? Mine doesn't seem to have any...

Note the upper right corner of the end label -- it is cut at a slant. Also, note the white line around it -- that's what happens when you cut out an ink or laser print; the ink doesn't soak in very far, so you get a noticeable white "halo" where bits of it come off when cut. Seems fairly evident to me (though the lower left corner of the front label is what first would have made me suspicious -- it's too rounded, yet not actually perfectly round).

Even if there was an MSX version (and the 3xx series SVIs were similar to MSXs), the carts wouldn't be mistaken for A8 carts. I agree with Mindfield -- almost certainly it's an SVI cart.

The game is based around dodging arrows; and technically speaking, the squaw is not being raped. Would she be smiling if she were? Too bad the game's programmer didn't make the effort to have Custer untie her and then she jumps his bones... A lot of the scandal would have gone away on this one.

Got a picture?

If a mask ROM is dead, it's dead. Arcadia almost sounds like it's for another system. Could be, or it could be Arcadia as in the prior name for Starpath...

Yes, as far as the mechanics go, that would work. It would still require tons of coding changes though, possibly not doing in the size of the original cart, and possibly requiring a whole new kernal.

@MMF: In Europe, the G7400 does, the G7000 doesn't. Unfortunately I don't know about the U.S. consoles. There is no equivalent to the G7400 in the US, unless you count the unreleased Odyssey3.

I am surprised. We ran into similar disinterest with the Stella At 20 stuff too. It strikes me that very few people are interested unless they've done it themselves, or at least commissioned you to do it. That's just stupid, but apparently the way things are. Oh, and for the record, I brought up the problems that I was having with OUA Chapter 4 on my Nuon DVD player as a "caveat emptor" to others, not to dis the content or anything. It's a fun show! (And Howard, a coworker tested the disc on their player and had no problems, but that being said, I still wouldn't mind a pressed one if you make a run of them, as I'm hoping that might solve the problem, though, pft, it's still not guaranteed).

I don't know if you have a different version than I have, but the one I have certainly seems incomplete -- there are lots of graphical glitches (overlapping sprites for instance) etc. On the other hand, the gameplay sounds fairly complete, so maybe there were in the "polishing up" phase. I wish this one had been finished. It showed a lot of promise, I thought.

That's exactly it. I mean, I COULD be less far behind on the newsletter, but I'd be behind on other things in my life, and some of those things I couldn't afford to be behind on. Also, I have content, because I DO have people helping me out. But trying to put it together -- especially nicely, with themes behind them, which sometimes I'm good at, sometimes I'm not -- is the hard part, and finding someone else to help with THAT isn't going to do me much good. Maybe if I charged enough to make a living at it I could be more regular, but it would cost so much that I wouldn't have any subscribers. Tell you what though... I've been thinking about giving the newsletter up, though out of a sense of symmetry, I'd like to make it to issue 100 before I did so, and I'm just shy of halfway there now. But, who would be interested in taking it over if I did give it up? Any volunteers? Send a "resume" explaining why you're the one. Barring that, I could potentially take on a list of people who'd be interested in writing reviews (especially of newly released homebrews and hacks) and/or articles, and a list of people who might be interested in compiling the News & Notes. Anybody interested can email me at the address given below. I'm not saying anything will happen with it, or happen soon, but at least I'll have an idea how many people would be willing to help. (And I should note that I have plenty of people who've asked in the past if they could write something, but I'm not going to be full of ideas, so if you DO, you're going to be more sought after than others who don't probably).