Does this Plug & Play exist?

[RJ]

So a co-worker noticed my Atari T-shirt & struck up a conversation about it, specifically a Plug & Play she insists had (among others) Space Invaders, Pac-Man, Centipede, & Asteroids (I assumed the last 2 were Atari 2600 ports).

 

I told her I didnt think it existed since 3 different companies made those games, & it was unlikely they all were on a single P&P.

 

Any thoughts?

[Flojomojo]

There have been many Atari plug and plays.

 

There have also been many Pac-Man plug and plays.

 

There has been a Space Invaders plug and play.

 

There have been Atari plug and plays with "arcade" Space Invaders onboard.

 

To my knowledge, there's nothing with all three except for the Atari Flashback Portable running with an SD card.

 

My best guess is sometimes people join this stuff together in their mind, and Pac-Man is about as "generic video game" as you can get.

 

I don't see any need to call her out as a liar or anything, but it's not as if you're missing out on some rare species of plug and play.

 

Except for that Atari Flashback Portable, that's pretty neat and you should get one.

[Flojomojo]

Best guess: she has/had the Atari Flashback 4 (or 64), which was several years ago, and included Space Invaders in addition to the usual Asteroids and Centipede. Pac-Man is a figment of her memory, but I think you should give your co-worker a break since you likely see her every day.

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_Flashback

[towmater]

Might have been a Jakks Pacific which had expansion "keys" to add games.

[BillLoguidice]

Maybe she has future (2017) vision?

[carlsson]

Don't rule out a generic Famiclone like e.g. the Mega-Joy which in theory could contain any Famicom games. That is assuming there are versions of Space Invaders, Pac-Man, Centipede and Asteroids for the Famicom, of course.

[Flojomojo]

That's a good point -- but that wouldn't quite fit, either. Pac-Man and Centipede (OK, Millipede, but close enough) are there, but not Asteroids or Space Invaders.

[carlsson]

Hm, I find images of a Space Invaders for NES, which is pretty much the same as Famicom. You're correct about Asteroids though, it seems to be entirely missing from Nintendo's catalogue.

[Flojomojo]

Aha, I see a Japanese release of Space Invaders, my mistake. Released in 1985, possibly Japan-only.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aaPU3jaf78

 

In any case, it's conceivable that the person lumped in one common, popular game that goes with the others in people's memories if not in reality.

 

Check out this thread from almost exactly 10 years ago on AtariAge, "why is there no Asteroids for NES?" to which some people reply, "Solar Jetman is kinda like Asteroids"

 

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/97599-question-for-nes-experts/

[S1500]

What's weird is at Target, there's a plug & play just for Frogger. Just one game. ONE game.

[RJ]

No shes an average normal person who's not deep into this stuff as we are- no Famicom clones, no SD cards, etc.

 

she said her mom got it for them when she was a kid (she's 38). i thought she meant an actual 2600 but she said it was a joystick only that plugged into the TV w/ only yellow & white (no red) RCA jacks. No console itself.

[onmode-ky]

she said her mom got it for them when she was a kid (she's 38). i thought she meant an actual 2600 but she said it was a joystick only that plugged into the TV w/ only yellow & white (no red) RCA jacks. No console itself.

I was going to suggest that maybe she had a TV Boy, a bootleg 2600 plug-n-play system sold in Europe in the 1990s containing 126 or 127 games, but that apparently didn't have Asteroids or Centipede (and might not count as "when she was a kid"). According to its old-computers.com page, a revision of it did output composite video, though. Also, it included a game, Mission 3000 AD, renamed as "Asteroid"--but still no Centipede.

 

There has been a Space Invaders plug and play.

Two, in fact. One from Radica in 2004 and one from Jakks Pacific (running Code Mystics' emulation engine) in 2011.

 

Might have been a Jakks Pacific which had expansion "keys" to add games.

No, Jakks Pacific never mixed the IPs that they licensed (the IP owners didn't allow it).

 

What's weird is at Target, there's a plug & play just for Frogger. Just one game. ONE game.

I remember that. Majesco utilized their Konami relationship to release a pair of Konami-licensed plug-n-play systems in 2004. One was Frogger alone; one was Frogger and 5 other games (both were NOAC systems, and the 6-in-1 used 3 existing NES games and 3 newly made ports to NES). Both systems were the same price. The only explanation I can think of that makes any sense is that oddities of their contract required them to do things that way.

 

onmode-ky

[RJ]

Ok my bad, she clarified tonight she wasnt a kid (& looking back at my post, there weren't P&Ps as we know them that far back) when she got it- her mom bought it just recently, but still insists those 4 games at least, were on it.

 

She was supposed to bring it in, but forgot, so now I wont see it til Sat night when I go back...if she doesnt forget again.

 

She says it's NOT a console, just the joystick that plugs in. FWIW she admits she doesnt know the difference between arcade Pac Man & 2600 Pac Man, so asking her which version of that didnt help.

 

Oh, she says the asteroids were blocky (Atari 2600), not smooth glowing lines (arcade).

Edited December 8, 2016 by RJ

[carlsson]

For a moment I was thinking about the Silverlit 35 in 1 plug & play joysticks. I used to have a pair, really awful games that I'm not even sure they were Famiclone games. However it has decent resolution, so no reason to have blocky games. Also no matter how much I search, I can't find a detailed listing of game names on that system.

 

Edit: Aha, those are Jungletac games. onmode-ky can confirm how awful those are.

Edited December 8, 2016 by carlsson

[high voltage]

 

One of those? No Pac Man nor Space Invaders though, maybe they made different versions?

[RJ]

She finally remembered to bring it in to work last night.

 

It's a Flashback 3.

[BillLoguidice]

She finally remembered to bring it in to work last night.

 

It's a Flashback 3.

 

Not surprising. It's funny how our minds play tricks on us when we're not intimately/actively familiar with the subject matter.