Collecting for the 2600+

[Sean_1970]

1 hour ago, JetmanUK said:

A game I've banged the drum for on here a few times, Gas Hog, well I'm here again. 😋

 

Play Gas Hog 🤟🏻💁🏻

 

I just beat my high score, I was gutted to be so close to 10K though. Ah well, next play session. 

 

New high score - 9,920

I could get it at a reasonable price from sellers in Germany and Italy, but they won’t sell to the UK - thank you Brexit! There’s a cart in good nick in Australia; with P+P it’s likely to be over 60 quid, so I think I’m saving that for a hunt in the States 😉

[+Intellivision Master]

This is the multicart.  I do like it.  But I couldn't get it to work on the 2600+.  There seemed to be resistance when inserting the cart.  I didn't want to risk breaking something.

 

The multicart does however work fine on my 7800.  It can be inserted without issue.  Also, the games appear to be the official versions.  

 

[pseudografx]

3 hours ago, DEANJIMMY said:

Commando 7800 is one of the best ports for home systems and I guess the secret rooms are unique? 

It is one of my top 5 games for the system and even I don't collect boxes, this one I kept 😊

 

A possible enhancement would be a twinstick mode. Retro Moe, who designed the unijoysticle, did a hack of Commando C64 to add twinstick controls. Unfortunately it is not based on "Commando Arcade" which added the chopper at the beginning and fixed some sprite issues.

The secret rooms are in the Atari 8-bit version as well.

[+LS650]

17 minutes ago, Intellivision Master said:

 

This is the multicart.  I do like it. 

 

It came with an instruction manual..!  

[+Intellivision Master]

7 minutes ago, LS650 said:

It came with an instruction manual..!  

Sort of.  It's in another language.  I can't read it but I already know how to play these games.

[Alex_813]

On 1/28/2024 at 5:53 PM, MikeM_ said:

I'm now in that challenging place of my collection where most of the games left that look interesting to me are the more rare/expensive ones.

Just bought Tapper, Front Line, Mr. Do!, and Time Pilot on eBay. Front Line and Mr. Do! weren't too bad of a price, but the other two pushed the budget some. 

 

About to install the latest BETA build on my 2600+ to see if my other Coleco games work now in prep for the new ones coming. 

 

This puts my retro games collection at:

138 2600 Games

17 7800 Games

22 5200 Games

29 ColecoVision Games

8 400/800 Games

1 Intellivision Game (Star Wars - thought I was ordering the Atari 800 version. Decided to keep it even though I don't have an Intellivision)

 

I'm curious where the rest of you on here are at. 

 

How many of you are completionists? How many are just trying to get their favorites from their youth?

How many are just looking to have the best games and skip the rest? 

Most of my collection is from the 90's when I used to hit up flea markets and thrift stores regularly. I did get a few games since I got the 2600+.

 

162 2600 titles, plus about 70 duplicates, although some of those have alternate labels

32 boxed or sealed 2600 games

24 5200 games + one sealed

15 7800 games

24 Inellivision games

12 Odessey 2 games

2 Coleco games

[shane857]

11 hours ago, DEANJIMMY said:

I prefer the 7800 version for its game play, graphics and the secret rooms🕹

But I love the legendary C64 soundtrack by Rob Hubbard, it's my ring tone🎶

Yes the Rob Hubbard soundtrack lifts the game to another level.

[Sean_1970]

This finally arrived. Box more crushed than I’d like - probably owing to being posted in a Jiffy bag rather than a box (honestly 🙄) and via Hermes/Evri rather than Royal Mail First Class as the seller indicated (no doubt also accounting for the long arrival time), but the cart looks brand-new. 
 

This is way better than I thought it would be - a lot of the graphical touches and text resolution is pretty impressive, actually and it’s pretty faithful to the arcade despite the 2600s graphical limitations. An enhanced 7800 version with better graphics (obviously no polygons, but you could make it more like the arcade) and the voice would be fab 😁

[8bitwidgets.com]

I just wanted to chime in here that I have good news for anyone looking for a Dual joystick solution for the 2600+. 

 

My coupler is comfortably compatible with the CX40+ joystick.   I got mine in the mail.  The CX40+ is slightly shorter than the CX40 so "as is" is slightly loose, but I have a simple solution using a small piece of soft material that inserts inside and offers a perfect in-between where normal joysticks still fit and remove fine while the CX40+ also can go in and stay in place.  

I've ordered a Trooper joystick as well to confirm if it fits in.  In the past it simply went in backwards and worked fine, but my latest version with the back clip might alter that so I will test first hand to confirm things.

 

Also I do ship internationally.  Shipping is out of my hands, but not outrageous either, just PM me.  You can see other stuff I do here as well.  Multiple purchase discounts as well. 

 

https://www.ebay.com/usr/eightbitwidgets

 

NOTE: for prior owners of my couplers, if you want CX40+ support just PM me and I will mail you the material I use that you can simply super glue inside to give the right added cushion.  

 

Edited February 3 by 8bitwidgets.com

[Sean_1970]

And then the postie came soon after and delivered this! Obviously 3D printed shell is a little rough looking, but the faceplate looks quality and the rubber caps on the thumb sticks finish it off nicely. The cables are ridiculously long. The cables don’t sit as deeply as the CX40+ so I had to reseat the left one as it wasn’t working (fleeting moment of concern), but after that it was fine.

 

Pretty good control; in fact it revealed how easy Robotron 7800 is compared to the arcade: barely any tanks spawned during the tank waves on intermediate and I didn’t lose humanoids on brain waves until the third one. I got to wave 20, over 500K with four lives in reserve and then the game crashed - frozen screen, no responses to switches or buttons - don’t know if that’s a feature of the software or hardware 😂. Fired it up again and selected “Advanced” difficulty and that was more like it. Overall I can recommend this pad - the wee display logo was a nice bonus 😁👍

[Dr Karnov]

1 hour ago, Sean_1970 said:

And then the postie came soon after and delivered this! Obviously 3D printed shell is a little rough looking, but the faceplate looks quality and the rubber caps on the thumb sticks finish it off nicely. The cables are ridiculously long. The cables don’t sit as deeply as the CX40+ so I had to reseat the left one as it wasn’t working (fleeting moment of concern), but after that it was fine.

 

Pretty good control; in fact it revealed how easy Robotron 7800 is compared to the arcade: barely any tanks spawned during the tank waves on intermediate and I didn’t lose humanoids on brain waves until the third one. I got to wave 20, over 500K with four lives in reserve and then the game crashed - frozen screen, no responses to switches or buttons - don’t know if that’s a feature of the software or hardware 😂. Fired it up again and selected “Advanced” difficulty and that was more like it. Overall I can recommend this pad - the wee display logo was a nice bonus 😁👍

What was the total price including postage for the controller?

[Dr Karnov]

The postman has been:

 

 

[scifidude79]

15 hours ago, Ben from Plaion said:

It may not be for everyone but for me, nothing nothing! compares to clunking a cartridge in and booting up a game. That doesnt apply only to 2600 and 7800, but SNES, Megadrive and all the others I so fondly remember and still play to this day. I think that also extends to Gamecube and PS2 discs. Playing them on a PC via whatever just aint right, however I am very biased for obvious reasons, but even so I think that if I didnt have a job in this industry I'd still think think the same.

It's a more interactive tactile experience. I love my PC, but just clicking to start a game doesn't have the same effect. When you load that physical media into a classic console, it's just more interactive. Having to press buttons on a console to turn it on, reset it, sometimes pause, or whatever functions they have, really makes it a more complete experience. For modern games, I'm done with physical media on anything but the Switch, and that's due to storage restrictions on the Switch. I didn't want to stop buying physical, but the idea that there's either no game on the disc, a partial game on the disc or at least there's a huge update to download right away really took the fun out of physical media for modern consoles for me. PC is even worse than consoles these days. I think the last PC game I bought physically was Wreckfest, and it was literally just a DVD case with a Steam code in it. 🙄 The good old days of putting in that cartridge or disc and it loading straight from the media into a complete game just can't be beat. Plus, collecting those games is fun and exciting, whether it's something you once owned or something that's completely new to you. Aside from the interaction with the console, getting these games sent to you also makes getting the mail more fun. 😁

Edited February 3 by scifidude79

[+Intellivision Master]

26 minutes ago, Dr Karnov said:

The postman has been:

 

 

Did you know that in Junior Pac-Man, there's an easy mode where only one ghost pursues you?  I like that.  It's good to have an easy mode.  Not that I don't mind the normal difficulty.  Both Junior Pac-Man & Crash Dive are games on my list to buy.

 

Also, I found something interesting about Crash Dive.  There is an enemy that resembles another enemy in Advanced D&D on INTV.

You'll notice the dark red creature on the left looks similar to the green one on the right.  But they're just different colors.  Not sure if that was done on purpose or what.  But I thought I would share. 

Edited February 3 by Intellivision Master

[Dr Karnov]

2 minutes ago, Intellivision Master said:

Did you know that in Junior Pac-Man, there's an easy mode where only one ghost pursues you?  I like that.  It's good to have an easy mode.  Not that I don't mind the normal difficulty.  Both Junior Pac-Man & Crash Dive are games on my list.

 

Also, I found something interesting about Crash Dive.  There is an enemy that resembles another enemy in Advanced D&D on INTV.

You'll notice the dark red creature on the left looks similar to the green one on the right.  But they're just different colors.  Not sure if that was done on purpose or what.  But I thought I would share. 

I love that game (D&D / Cloudy Mountain), I play it on the Evercade all the time.

 

You're right, that enemy looks almost identical 

[Dr Karnov]

6 minutes ago, scifidude79 said:

It's a more interactive tactile experience. I love my PC, but just clicking to start a game doesn't have the same effect. When you load that physical media into a classic console, it's just more interactive. Having to press buttons on a console to turn it on, reset it, sometimes pause, or whatever functions they have, really makes it a more complete experience. For modern games, I'm done with physical media on anything but the Switch, and that's due to storage restrictions on the Switch. I didn't want to stop buying physical, but the idea that there's either no game on the disc, a partial game on the disc or at least there's a huge update to download right away really took the fun out of physical media for modern consoles for me. PC is even worse than consoles these days. I think the last PC game I bought physically was Wreckfest, and it was literally just a DVD case with a Steam code in it. 🙄 The good old days of putting in that cartridge or disc and it loading straight from the media into a complete game just can't be beat. Plus, collecting those games is fun and exciting, whether it's something you once owned or something that's completely new to you. Aside from the interaction with the console, getting these games sent to you also makes getting the mail more fun. 😁

Agreed. Anyone can download a romset and play 50 games once each and never go back to them, but for me, seeking out a real cart, cleaning it up and playing it for real can never be beaten. Especially with a little booklet to record hiscores!

[+Intellivision Master]

Just now, Dr Karnov said:

I love that game (D&D / Cloudy Mountain), I play it on the Evercade all the time.

 

You're right, that enemy looks almost identical 

I have D&D on my INTV collection for the Evercade as well.  When I played Crash Dive a few weeks ago, that's when I noticed the enemy design looking just like the one from D&D.  Then when you posted about the game, I had to bring it up. 

[Dr Karnov]

1 minute ago, Intellivision Master said:

I have D&D on my INTV collection for the Evercade as well.  When I played Crash Dive a few weeks ago, that's when I noticed the enemy design looking just like the one from D&D.  Then when you posted about the game, I had to bring it up. 

I'll let you know how the games play when I've had a chance to have a decent crack at them 

[+Intellivision Master]

Is this from Retro Game Boyz?  Because the image on their site looks better.  

[+Intellivision Master]

3 hours ago, Sean_1970 said:

An enhanced 7800 version with better graphics (obviously no polygons, but you could make it more like the arcade) and the voice would be fab 😁

Having a 7800 version would be nice.  I've played this game, it's unique.  

[+Intellivision Master]

16 hours ago, JetmanUK said:

To be honest I think I'd stick to Atari re-releases, Atari Enhanced and Homebrew games, keep it simple.

Yes, I agree.  More enhanced versions are welcomed.  And definitely more homebrews too.  The homebrews are good because it's a new experience.  Also, it's a new game for old hardware.  It's nice to see older systems still being supported.

[scifidude79]

27 minutes ago, Intellivision Master said:

Did you know that in Junior Pac-Man, there's an easy mode where only one ghost pursues you?  I like that.  It's good to have an easy mode.  Not that I don't mind the normal difficulty.  Both Junior Pac-Man & Crash Dive are games on my list to buy.

It's really nice to have modes like that, especially when you have a young child learning to play the game. They might find the experience more enjoyable if they can start with one ghost and then work their way up to all four. Of course, it's also good for people who just like an easier and chill gaming experience.

[+Intellivision Master]

1 minute ago, scifidude79 said:

It's really nice to have modes like that, especially when you have a young child learning to play the game. They might find the experience more enjoyable if they can start with one ghost and then work their way up to all four. Of course, it's also good for people who just like an easier and chill gaming experience.

A lot of the older games can be challenging.  For me personally, I like an easier way to play the games.  Another example is Dig Dug.  I found out there's an easy mode where only 2 enemies are on screen.  And they don't chase you as ghosts.  I was able to get father using that mode and my score was near 40,000.

[scifidude79]

1 minute ago, Intellivision Master said:

A lot of the older games can be challenging.  For me personally, I like an easier way to play the games.  Another example is Dig Dug.  I found out there's an easy mode where only 2 enemies are on screen.  And they don't chase you as ghosts.  I was able to get father using that mode and my score was near 40,000.

Oh, believe me, there are a LOT of 80s and 90s games that I play on Easy. Especially fighting and beat 'em up games. Hell, sometimes I'll play Food Fight on "Beginner" just so the chefs can't throw food at you. Then you'll only have to avoid them touching you, falling down a hole and the cone melting as ways you can die. Plus, the unused food (except watermelon because it's unlimited) all flies up to the top of the screen at the end of each level and you get points for it. The food the chefs waste with their terrible aim doesn't give you any points.

[+Intellivision Master]

1 minute ago, scifidude79 said:

I'll play Food Fight on "Beginner" just so the chefs can't throw food at you.

I don't think I knew about that.  I've always played the game on normal.  Maybe I did play it on easy once but can't recall.  When I get the game, I'll have to try the beginner mode.  It's still fun though when the chefs are trying to take you out by throwing food at you.