My great and moving find of the day !

[GM1982]

So, right now I am on holiday at my parents' home. When I am there, I sleep in my teenage room, nearly in the same state that when I left 12 years ago.

I was kinda bored tonight so I decided to look at some of the old stuff from my childhood and teenage years. Looking at the top of shelves, I discovered... two loose dust-covered 7800 carts ! There is Double Dragon (one that I've been looking for on ebay since months !!!) and on the other one the label is torn away, but I'm pretty sure it's Commando.

I am so happy right now because I was sure that these carts (the two 7800 games that I bought myself 20 years ago) were lost for years or maybe had been sold in some garage sales. I was so surprised to find them !

 

Now some back story to explain you why I am so happy to have found these two carts :

 

Driven by nostalgia, I started collecting Atari 7800 stuff some months ago.

Back in the early 1990's, the Atari 7800 was my first console. Well actually it belonged to my elder brother, but I played on it. I remember my brother asking my parents for a console at Christmas 1991. I think he wanted the Nes with Super Mario Bros, but he ended up with the Atari 7800 and Mario Bros (my parents didn't know anything about video game consoles and couldn't make the difference between the two, and as the Atari 7800 was cheaper, they bought it instead of the Nes). Then we got also other games to play on our Atari. I can clearly remember the games we had :

- Pole Position II : it was the only game my father (who isn't interested in video gaming at all) played, along with Asteroids (built in the console).

- Donkey Kong Junior.

- Ikari Wariors.

- Planet Smashers.

- F 14 Tomcat.

- some sport game (I think it was maybe California Games or Summer Games).

and also Double Dragon and Commando that I bought myself. I remember that often the games for the Atari weren't exposed in the stores and that I had to ask to the clerk to show me the few Atari 7800 games they had in stock. I remember too that I couldn't decide between Commando and F 18 Hornet. Finally I chose Commando.

A few years later, my brother sold his Atari and all the games (except the two that I bought myself) to our neighbour and it was the end of our story with the Atari 7800. Then we had a Master System, then a Megadrive, a Nintendo 64, etc...

Since some months, I've purchased dozens of 7800 games (CIB), but I must say that these two carts are my greatest find ! I didn't except to find them after so many years, and for some reasons, I thought they had probably also been sold.

They are all what is left of our original Atari collection.

I am in a hurry to come back home to try them on my 7800. I hope they still work.

Edited August 27, 2012 by GM1982

[mmervine]

Best of luck, hopefully they will work ok!

[onthinice]

Thanks for sharing the story and I hope you can enjoy them soon!

[Stun Runner 87]

Just out of couriosity, how did the label get messed up on Commando?

I've never understood how people destroyed the labels on atari games....must of been pretty rough on the carts I see.....did you throw them against the wall or somthing? LoL, just kidding.

But seriously, I hope your carts work so you can relive your childhood.....That's why I got back into collecting retro video games, and Commando was one of my favorites as a youngster......Also its like the only Atari 7800 game with half way decent sound effects as it is one of the only 7800 games that used the pokey sound chip.

 

Also, you should know(and I'm sure you do) that Commando for the 7800 is worth some good money.......I don't know what the value is with the label messed up though.........

[Gorfy]

Commando is the game currently being played in the 7800 HSC!

[GM1982]

Just out of couriosity, how did the label get messed up on Commando?

I've never understood how people destroyed the labels on atari games....must of been pretty rough on the carts I see.....did you throw them against the wall or somthing? LoL, just kidding.

Actually, I think I probably did that myself 20 years ago. I suppose the label was probably for some reason damaged and I decided to tear it away completely in order to make the cart look more clean (if that makes any sense). I can't remember exactly.

 

But seriously, I hope your carts work so you can relive your childhood.....That's why I got back into collecting retro video games, and Commando was one of my favorites as a youngster......Also its like the only Atari 7800 game with half way decent sound effects as it is one of the only 7800 games that used the pokey sound chip.

 

Also, you should know(and I'm sure you do) that Commando for the 7800 is worth some good money.......I don't know what the value is with the label messed up though.........

Actually, in the last months I had already purchased on ebay one loose cart of Commando and one Commando CIB (and still sealed). All are PAL versions so I don't know if they are worth that much. Commando is indeed a very good game, but a bit too difficult (Ikari Warriors is more satisfying on that point), I remember being very impressed by its graphics when I first played it 20 years ago, and also amazed by its easter eggs (the caves).

So I don't know if the loose cart of Commando I just find back is worth something, but being my original cart, the one that I played when I discovered the game, it's still special to my eyes.

As for Double dragon, I am particularly happy to have found it back because, contrary to Commando, I didn't have find any at a decent price on ebay since I've started collecting some months ago. Double Dragon seems to be quite a rare game for the 7800.

Edited August 27, 2012 by GM1982

[Stun Runner 87]

Yeah, I used to have all the games when I was a teen in the late 80s early 90s, but I had no idea that these individual carts would be worth as much as they are now.

I sold all my games and 7800 system for like 100 dollars for it all in 1998.........10 years later I regretted it, not just for the value, but because I sincerely missed the old games........I. recollected everything that I used to have starting 2 or 3 years ago......I accompolished my goal a couple months ago, but it sure cost me, LoL.......but its worth it to me......

 

Funny you say Commando is too hard....LoL, I breeze right through it and turned it over time and time again.....For me, I think Ikari warriors is harder...........

 

Anyway, Peace be with you and good luck in your retro gaming playing and collecting....you are at the right website for certain.

[GM1982]

They still work !

 

I didn't remember that Double Dragon was so incredibly hard !

[mmervine]

They still work !

 

I didn't remember that Double Dragon was so incredibly hard !

 

Great to hear...congrats!

[Atarifever]

I didn't remember that Double Dragon was so incredibly hard !

It's not. Here you go:

http://web.archive.org/web/20080820021759/http://www.flipsiderunner.com/7800/doubledragondc.html

 

You're welcome. You should basically be able to finish the game at will now. I certainly can, and I'm not very good at games.

[Jinks]

I didn't remember that Double Dragon was so incredibly hard !

It's not. Here you go:

http://web.archive.org/web/20080820021759/http://www.flipsiderunner.com/7800/doubledragondc.html

 

You're welcome. You should basically be able to finish the game at will now. I certainly can, and I'm not very good at games.

I never can the end boss shoots me to shit...game over!! elbow gets me to the end level every time though..I consider myself slightly above average atari gamer. no hsc game wizard material anyway those guys must play these games for hours every day??

[thegamezmaster]

Sweet find! Hope it all works for you!

[GM1982]

I didn't remember that Double Dragon was so incredibly hard !

It's not. Here you go:

http://web.archive.o...ledragondc.html

 

You're welcome. You should basically be able to finish the game at will now. I certainly can, and I'm not very good at games.

 

Thanks for the tips. But even with that, I have hard time just passing the first mission. I'm probably not a very skilled player...

 

On another note, Commando is not so hard after all. I just finished it for the first time.

[GM1982]

OK, I've just made to the mission 3 (in the woods) in Double Dragon, for the first time !

Tips are useful, but the game remains hard. Nevertheless I am somewhat proud of myself because I can't remember going farther than mission 2 when I was playing the game in my childhood.

[GM1982]

OK, after one more try, here is where I managed to get :

 

 

The good news is that I go farther and farther at each try.

[Atarifever]

OK, after one more try, here is where I managed to get :

 

 

 

The good news is that I go farther and farther at each try.

Trust me, you'll get it. Once you get the timing and spacing down on that elbow, and get so you don't miss with the weapons you get, the game gets too, too easy. You'll see. Someday you'll wonder how you ever couldn't get there. IIRC, the last boss doesn't even end up difficult so long as you get him in the right location.

[GM1982]

Thanks for the encouragements, but it seems that I can't pass the two Abobos just after the woods level. I managed to get this far several times, but only to end up getting killed by these two big guys.

I don't use the elbow, but essentially the reverse jump kick and the simple jump kick.

[Atarifever]

Thanks for the encouragements, but it seems that I can't pass the two Abobos just after the woods level. I managed to get this far several times, but only to end up getting killed by these two big guys.

I don't use the elbow, but essentially the reverse jump kick and the simple jump kick.

Elbow. Always hold up to the top of the screen (don't let go until you want them to move) to make them stop moving and elbow them. They are helpless. They honestly can't fight back at all. It's a glitch. If you're always holding the controller in the up position and only letting go when you want them to move, you completely control the fight. They can't do anything.

[SlowCoder]

I think finding something like that is just awesome. If I found my 2600 console and games from my kidhood, I'd clean it all up, and find some way to display it all. I don't know if I'd even want to play it! Though, at this point, I'm POSITIVE it was all thrown out before we moved 20 years ago.

 

I was lucky enough to find that our old ADAM was recovered from my grandparents attic a couple years ago after having disappeared in the early 80's without explanation from my parents to me. A good cleaning and it works! But never gets used. Actually, it never gets used because I don't really have a place to hook it all up, and all of the original software was apparently lost/trashed a long time ago.

[GM1982]

Elbow. Always hold up to the top of the screen (don't let go until you want them to move) to make them stop moving and elbow them. They are helpless. They honestly can't fight back at all. It's a glitch. If you're always holding the controller in the up position and only letting go when you want them to move, you completely control the fight. They can't do anything.

 

Thanks you. This has been very useful. I reached two times the last screen, but unfortunately I still haven't beaten the game.

I've been victim of a painful bug a few times : the game can freeze when you are on the bridge just before entering the boss' castle. You just can't advance, like if there was an invisible wall. It's particularly frustrating, like this other time when I reached this bridge with three lifes left (I had never done so perfectly before), just to be blocked by this fucking bug.

Edited September 29, 2012 by GM1982

[Atarifever]

Thanks you. This has been very useful. I reached two times the last screen, but unfortunately I still haven't beaten the game.

I've been victim of a painful bug a few times : the game can freeze when you are on the bridge just before entering the boss' castle. You just can't advance, like if there was an invisible wall. It's particularly frustrating, like this other time when I reached this bridge with three lifes left (I had never done so perfectly before), just to be blocked by this fucking bug.

There's a cheat for jumping the bridge I think, or for walking across the top of it or something. I'll have to fire this one up again tonight and see if it all comes back to me. Last boss can be managed, IIRC, by working to dodge him until you clearly get him right where you want him. Never attack him head on. Make him get himself into that back elbow position over against the left wall if I'm remembering right and keep giving him the ol' beatdown everytime he tries to get back up.

[Atarifever]

Thanks you. This has been very useful. I reached two times the last screen, but unfortunately I still haven't beaten the game.

I've been victim of a painful bug a few times : the game can freeze when you are on the bridge just before entering the boss' castle. You just can't advance, like if there was an invisible wall. It's particularly frustrating, like this other time when I reached this bridge with three lifes left (I had never done so perfectly before), just to be blocked by this fucking bug.

Ok, I played it tonight and remembered a couple things.

 

1) Always try to position yourself so they are against a wall or something when you elbow them. Do this just right and they can't escape. They stand right back up into the elbow. You can basically have a pallett swap enemy elbow fest there. It looks like their colours change, but they're just each taking their turn to get an elbow before falling and letting the next guy get up and get hit again. Good times.

 

2) The bridge trick is simple. Go right up to the top of the bridge. Leap onto what is essentially the rail. Leap forward again to scroll the screen. Walk across the entire bridge, even over the hole. Works every time, and I've never had that bug you mention while doing it this way.