Berzerk Enhanced arrived...

[chad5200]

I think Atari should be including a manual.

 

I love all the old Atari manuals.  I cherish them.

 

Remember when you were 11 and driving home from K-Mart with your new Atari game?  What did you do?  You opened the box and read the manual.  What an exciting ride home!

 

I remember being on vacation in Utah and my mom bought me Donkey Kong while we were there.  My grandparents didn't have an Atari so I had to wait a whole week to play it!  But every day, I pulled out that manual and read it over and over.

 

Many of us have VERY FOND memories of our game manuals and I have no doubt that the majority of the users on this forum want manuals included in ALL Atari games we purchase.

 

(Pulling out your phone and reading the manual on a cold screen is not the same thing.  Sorry.  Not a substitute.  We want to hold the manual and flip through it as we read it.)

 

[Ben from Plaion]

I just ran out of time and made the decision to put the instruction manual online.

 

Any future retail game cartridges will include a manual.

[Bill Loguidice]

1 minute ago, chad5200 said:

I think Atari should be including a manual.

 

<snip?

 

(Pulling out your phone and reading the manual on a cold screen is not the same thing.  Sorry.  Not a substitute.  We want to hold the manual and flip through it as we read it.)

 

And again, if they were doing it to be eco-friendly, then that's one thing, but they're clearly just doing it to save some money/increase margins. It's strange they don't even offer the option to add a manual for say $5 more. They could surely print some up for those who want it. While I wouldn't be happy to pay the extra, I'd sure as heck do it to complete the package. And again again, it's one thing if you didn't need a manual, but several of these games do need some type of instruction due to the switch variations, etc. While many Atari 2600 games were incredibly simple to play, getting into the right game variation and difficulty was rarely intuitive.

[Bill Loguidice]

Just now, Ben from Plaion said:

I just ran out of time and made the decision to put the instruction manual online.

 

Any future retail game cartridges will include a manual.

Great, thanks! The store pages haven't always been clear about what's included and what isn't, so if they can improve that as well, even better.

[Video]

Love it, its basically ve from a couple of decades back with diagonal shots added. And it does add a lot to have voice for those who never got ve.

 

"intruder alert, intruder alert" on startup,

"Chicken, fight like a robot" on escaping a screen while there are still robots, and,

"The humanoid must not escape, get the humanoid" when you clear the screen.

 

At sometime ill set up for Otto and see if there's a different sound for escaping that or dying.

[Thran]

27 minutes ago, Ben from Plaion said:

I just ran out of time and made the decision to put the instruction manual online.

 

Any future retail game cartridges will include a manual.

The layout of the page is nice and has a lot of information, but it would be useful to have a copy of the game grid, or a list of the games like on the one for Video Olympics.

 

link included for anyone who missed it before:

https://atari.com/pages/atari-2600-plus-manual

[ChopperCommando]

1 hour ago, tradyblix said:

You can look it up online. You can store it on your phone and look at it whenever. That's what I do. 

 

Think of the trees and our environment please. 

Is a single page manual/matrix that much worse for the environment than a petroleum-based plastic game cartridge that never really needed to be made in the first place?

[JetmanUK]

43 minutes ago, Ben from Plaion said:

I just ran out of time and made the decision to put the instruction manual online.

 

Any future retail game cartridges will include a manual.

Thanks for confirming that we will get manuals Ben. Much appreciated. 

 

I think I'm speaking for the vast majority here, as nice as the mini cardboard cartridge box is, if margins are tight please bin them and give us manuals instead, even if they are black and white, even a single double sided sheet! Many games have multiple modes and A/B settings so manuals are essential. A secondary option would be info on the back of the mini box, but that may be too small an area for some games. 

 

Also, I like the manuals on the website, great idea, that should be continued too, but it does need games modes and difficulty settings information for all games, some info is currently missing from the new releases (without looking I think Berzerk Enhanced doesn't include the game mode info). 

 

Thanks again, the 2600 Plus has given me so much joy so far, it's really been a breath of fresh (old) air, my Xbox and PlayStation are gathering dust! A return to simple times has been brilliant escapism and less stressful. 

[chad5200]

59 minutes ago, Ben from Plaion said:

Any future retail game cartridges will include a manual.

Bravo!!!

[scifidude79]

I find an online manual pretty convenient, but it's nice to know that the manuals will be printed in the future, for those who like them.

Edited December 18, 2023 by scifidude79

[tradyblix]

1 hour ago, ChopperCommando said:

Is a single page manual/matrix that much worse for the environment than a petroleum-based plastic game cartridge that never really needed to be made in the first place?

Well I mean it is additional waste. but I guess it's not that big of a deal.

 

I mean it was just one of the many reasons I was throwing up as to why it's not that important to me. but apparently it's important to a lot of other people.

 

This is one of those things that the internet amplifies to a silly amount.

Along with the whole debacle over the fact that they didn't bother to include a power brick.

 

I would say that I'm glad that they didn't because there's a whole bunch of bricks that I have lying around, but then Ben would probably jump in and say that he's getting everybody a free Atari branded power brick with my luck.😄

 

I hope you guys all enjoy those manuals and don't just throw them away like I'm going to, along with the boxes.(in the recycling bin)

 

P.S. game 3 is the only game that matters LOL

Edited December 18, 2023 by tradyblix

[+Intellivision Master]

16 hours ago, Ben from Plaion said:

Any future retail game cartridges will include a manual.

That's good to know.  It's nice to have a manual to look at.

[ChopperCommando]

14 hours ago, tradyblix said:

 

This is one of those things that the internet amplifies to a silly amount.

Along with the whole debacle over the fact that they didn't bother to include a power brick.

 

Now THAT I can agree with.... I had like two or three power bricks laying around, and I have no idea where they came from.  That was a decision Atari made that didn't bother me.

[Ben from Plaion]

14 hours ago, tradyblix said:

 

I would say that I'm glad that they didn't because there's a whole bunch of bricks that I have lying around, but then Ben would probably jump in and say that he's getting everybody a free Atari branded power brick with my luck.😄

 

lol, no I agree with you.

 

Its expensive to put a brick in. I believe we are at the ceiling of a 'better' product at a relatively mass market price point.

 

There are complications like having different ones for different regions. Then there is extra compliance costs.

 

Then it is true that USB bricks are ubiquitous in any average home.

 

And finally, every modern TV sold comes with a USB socket.

 

And extra finally, people just generally have a desire to find something to complain about. I'm not moaning I do it myself with anything I buy or use.....immediately I'm looking for something to criticise. Human nature.

[scifidude79]

20 minutes ago, Ben from Plaion said:

And finally, every modern TV sold comes with a USB socket.

That's all I've ever used to power my 2600+. With the included USB and HDMI cables, I was ready to go out of the box.

 

Another thing is, a lot of surge protectors are coming USB ready now. I work at Walmart and we sell several with USB ports built right into them. It might seem like an added expense, but if you're running a surge protector anyway (as you should be) and you buy a $10 to $25 (USD) one with 2-4 built in USB ports and however many outlets you need, you can swap that out with the one you're running already and that's money well spent, in my opinion.

[YonderVittles]

I agree on not including power bricks. When we moved a couple of years ago I made sure to set my game room up with power strips that also had USB ports. It’s been really handy for stuff like the 2600+ and my Analogue systems. And so far I haven’t ran into compatibility problems. 

[+Intellivision Master]

26 minutes ago, scifidude79 said:

That's all I've ever used to power my 2600+. With the included USB and HDMI cables, I was ready to go out of the box.

Same here.

[Emehr]

How about this: get rid of the box entirely and make the cardboard sleeve gatefold to include extra space for instructions, artwork, game matrices, etc. It would be neat to see the creative solutions when working with minimal space and maybe the cost savings from not having a box could justify the gatefold. The sleeve is the box...and the instructions! Please pardon the crude sketch.

[Ben from Plaion]

7 minutes ago, Emehr said:

How about this: get rid of the box entirely and make the cardboard sleeve gatefold to include extra space for instructions, artwork, game matrices, etc. It would be neat to see the creative solutions when working with minimal space and maybe the cost savings from not having a box could justify the gatefold. The sleeve is the box...and the instructions! Please pardon the crude sketch.

I KNOW WHAT YOU DID THERE!

[Mockduck]

I've never understood why we as a world didn't just switch over to USB plug in direct power strips. You can get them, but you still see the old plugs in the store, which server no real purpose when you could just have a line of USB charging ports. Sure, folks needing to plug in old lamps and such would need to buy the old strips, but c'mon!

[tradyblix]

29 minutes ago, Mockduck said:

I've never understood why we as a world didn't just switch over to USB plug in direct power strips. You can get them, but you still see the old plugs in the store, which server no real purpose when you could just have a line of USB charging ports. Sure, folks needing to plug in old lamps and such would need to buy the old strips, but c'mon!

Well you could do it now that USB C is a ubiquitous plug. and there are protocols you can run over it like USB power delivery.

 

We finally stopped making horrible keyed One Way connectors that nobody likes and that break so now that we have a decent connector that everybody can agree on I would be happy if it lasts as long as the RCA connectors did in terms of being a de facto standard.

[Ben from Plaion]

1 hour ago, Emehr said:

How about this: get rid of the box entirely and make the cardboard sleeve gatefold to include extra space for instructions, artwork, game matrices, etc. It would be neat to see the creative solutions when working with minimal space and maybe the cost savings from not having a box could justify the gatefold. The sleeve is the box...and the instructions! Please pardon the crude sketch.

 

[tradyblix]

This is probably the wrong topic to raise this in because it's so far off topic already, but has anyone noticed in berserk enhanced how sometimes you will shoot robots and you'll have to shoot them twice in order to kill them?

 

This may have been a problem in the original berserk too but I am not sure. I know it's not just a very short shot that I'm canceling out from the robot, because it happens on the first screen as well once in awhile where the robots never shoot...

[Emehr]

15 minutes ago, Ben from Plaion said:

 

It's...it's beautiful 🤣 Also, wow! you got to it before I could! I was still planning my photography session and a trip to the grocery store for some grapes!

[Emehr]

43 minutes ago, tradyblix said:

This is probably the wrong topic to raise this in because it's so far off topic already, but has anyone noticed in berserk enhanced how sometimes you will shoot robots and you'll have to shoot them twice in order to kill them?

 

This may have been a problem in the original berserk too but I am not sure. I know it's not just a very short shot that I'm canceling out from the robot, because it happens on the first screen as well once in awhile where the robots never shoot...

I seem to remember, while playing Berserk in the late 80s/early 90s with my rapid-fire module plugged in, that you could get close to a robot and rapid-fire shoot it and glean either two "explosion" animations or two "pop" sound effects from one kill (or both?). Memory's a little fuzzy. I'd test it now but I'd have to dig for my rapid-fire module.

 

I found my rapid-fire module and tested and no, there is no double-explosion in Berzerk. My memory is indeed fuzzy and was recalling what can be done in Empire Strikes Back with the rapid-fire module. You can get a double explosion if you keep hammering away at a walker after it explodes. And I think you get some extra points but I wouldn't quote me on that.

Edited December 19, 2023 by Emehr
Updated information