Collecting for the 2600+

[acidbottle]

17 hours ago, JetmanUK said:

I bid on a couple, so far, not won as I am only a so so level of interested, looking for a bargain. Can't believe how many games he's selling CIB. 

 

Ebay is FUBAR at times. On one title I bid just over £12 or so, the error popped please enter £12.00 or more but, as many will do, bid at the last second so could not reorganize the strategy quickly enough, though 100% positive my bid was legit and in time. The cart went for about a tenner so the seller actually missed out on a couple of quid. Pretty sure when someone bids up, even if less than the top bid, it normally hikes up the price to what the second placed bid was? Anyway, nabbed one title cheap but I think many folk paid over the odds for some titles, seen a few of them cheaper (and similar condition) on ebay as it stood!

 

One question I do have, why is there almost nobody selling reproduction card boxes. Found one but its overseas and limited titles. I get that collectors don't want to be ripped off, but even a reproduction mark on the barcode or something would be fair. If you aint sure it's legit you wouldn't buy it, if sold on. Specifically repro Activision boxes are nowhere to be seen. I see tonnes of SNES and NES boxes but near zero for poor old Atari collectors looking to protect and display loose carts.

 

 

 

Edited July 23 by acidbottle

[JetmanUK]

14 minutes ago, acidbottle said:

 

Ebay is FUBAR at times. On one title I bid just over £12 or so, the error popped please enter £12.00 or more but, as many will do, bid at the last second so could not reorganize the strategy quickly enough, though 100% positive my bid was legit and in time. The cart went for about a tenner so the seller actually missed out on a couple of quid. Pretty sure when someone bids up, even if less than the top bid, it normally hikes up the price to what the second placed bid was? Anyway, nabbed one title cheap but I think many folk paid over the odds for some titles, seen a few of them cheaper (and similar condition) on ebay as it stood!

 

One question I do have, why is there almost nobody selling reproduction card boxes. Found one but its overseas and limited titles. I get that collectors don't want to be ripped off, but even a reproduction mark on the barcode or something would be fair. If you aint sure it's legit you wouldn't buy it, if sold on. Specifically repro Activision boxes are nowhere to be seen. I see tonnes of SNES and NES boxes but near zero for poor old Atari collectors looking to protect and display loose carts.

 

 

 

I bought a repro Space Invaders box from a guy on eBay a few months back. At that time we exchanged a few messages within the app and he had listed the other boxes he had available. I messaged him a week or so ago asking if he had any Adventure boxes. He said that he has had to stop selling them, here's his exact words:

 

'I’m sorry to say I absolutely cannot sell any more Atari branded items because they had a lawsuit against me. That’s been dropped now but I’ve now got away with it twice. So no more. My stock will probably end up the same way as those ET cartridges…'

 

Crazy if true (not that I am suggesting that he was lying!).

 

A real shame as his Space Invaders box was really good.

[JetmanUK]

Have you, erm, carried ATARI today? 

 

 

These bags have been on sale for a long time, I had one on my Amazon (booooo, dirty word round here these days) wish list for I do not know how long.

 

I always held off buying one as lots of reviews state that the plastic clips at the ends are weak. I also saw solutions for this, buy metal carabiners, but I didn't buy the bag. 

 

Anyway, I got one for Father's Day and I must say it's a nice bag. I haven't carried a large amount in it, but if it does break I'll just get some carabiners. Its also a nice size to throw in a 2600 Plus too.

 

One thing to note is the colour. I expected it to be red. It's kind of deepest pinky red. Not unpleasant, but not what I'd consider to be red. Maybe I got the PAL version with it's dodgy reds? 😋

 

 

 

[shane857]

4 hours ago, JetmanUK said:

Sit tight, it's got to be a re-release for sure.

Hopefully. Well it's on the Atari 50 collection, so I don't see why they wouldn't.

[shane857]

1 hour ago, JetmanUK said:

Have you, erm, carried ATARI today? 

 

 

These bags have been on sale for a long time, I had one on my Amazon (booooo, dirty word round here these days) wish list for I do not know how long.

 

I always held off buying one as lots of reviews state that the plastic clips at the ends are weak. I also saw solutions for this, buy metal carabiners, but I didn't buy the bag. 

 

Anyway, I got one for Father's Day and I must say it's a nice bag. I haven't carried a large amount in it, but if it does break I'll just get some carabiners. Its also a nice size to throw in a 2600 Plus too.

 

One thing to note is the colour. I expected it to be red. It's kind of deepest pinky red. Not unpleasant, but not what I'd consider to be red. Maybe I got the PAL version with it's dodgy reds? 😋

 

 

 

Nice Merch. 👍🏻

[shane857]

Bought this earlier on Ebay for £20/$25. I've never owned a 7800, so I was curious as to how comfortable it is to use/or not.

Looking forward to testing it out on the 2600+.

 

[JetmanUK]

4 minutes ago, shane857 said:

Bought this earlier on Ebay for £20/$25. I've never owned a 7800, so I was curious as to how comfortable it is to use/or not.

Looking forward to testing it out on the 2600+.

 

I will be interested to hear what someone totally new to this stick thinks of it. It seems to be pretty much disliked by... everyone.

I have never tried one myself.

[2LTIME6100]

22 minutes ago, JetmanUK said:

I will be interested to hear what someone totally new to this stick thinks of it. It seems to be pretty much disliked by... everyone.

I have never tried one myself.

These sticks were included with the 2600jr in Germany back then. I didn't find them very comfortable for long periods of play, but because we had no other choice, we played with them throughout our childhood. Holding them in our hands today brings back nostalgic feelings.

[Maztr_0n]

1 hour ago, JetmanUK said:

I will be interested to hear what someone totally new to this stick thinks of it. It seems to be pretty much disliked by... everyone.

I have never tried one myself.

 

 

I am basically waiting to just get one and a coleco controller to find out myself

[Brad_from_the_80s]

1 hour ago, shane857 said:

Bought this earlier on Ebay for £20/$25. I've never owned a 7800, so I was curious as to how comfortable it is to use/or not.

Looking forward to testing it out on the 2600+.

 

I don't know, but the only verdict I've ever heard is "not".

 

The CX-78+ however was working a cinch with Dark Chambers, and I even gave the thumbstick another try.

[shane857]

2 hours ago, Brad_from_the_80s said:

I don't know, but the only verdict I've ever heard is "not".

 

The CX-78+ however was working a cinch with Dark Chambers, and I even gave the thumbstick another try.

The CX78 is comfortable to use, thou the d-pad is a bit.. spongey with games that require more directional force. Even with the thumbstick.

That's why I wanted to try the pro-line. To see if it's actually as bad as people say, or is it just bad rap?

I'll give my verdict when I actually try it for myself and not based on other people's opinions.

Personal preference I guess. Different sized hands and what controllers you're used to using usually...

[Brad_from_the_80s]

38 minutes ago, shane857 said:

The CX78 is comfortable to use, thou the d-pad is a bit.. spongey with games that require more directional force. Even with the thumbstick.

That's why I wanted to try the pro-line. To see if it's actually as bad as people say, or is it just bad rap?

I'll give my verdict when I actually try it for myself and not based on other people's opinions.

Personal preference I guess. Different sized hands and what controllers you're used to using usually...

With me and 7800, if it doesn't require 2 buttons I'm pretty much still using CX-40.  And that covers a lot.  If for no other reason than I might swap between a lot of 2600/7800 games in a session and am not usually messing with the controller unless I need to.  Maybe the CX-24 will work for you as a happy medium, will be interesting to hear.

[shane857]

10 minutes ago, Brad_from_the_80s said:

With me and 7800, if it doesn't require 2 buttons I'm pretty much still using CX-40.  And that covers a lot.  If for no other reason than I might swap between a lot of 2600/7800 games in a session and am not usually messing with the controller unless I need to.  Maybe the CX-24 will work for you as a happy medium, will be interesting to hear.

I'll give my honest opinion. Trying it with 7800 and 2600 games. 👍🏻

[Maztr_0n]

5 hours ago, shane857 said:

Hopefully. Well it's on the Atari 50 collection, so I don't see why they wouldn't.

Exactly! Plus i got the 2600 version so i'm kinda hankering for a physical cart of the 7800 version, and it'd probably be much more approachable lookin to any visitors who happen to come in while i'm gaming.

[JetmanUK]

Today I joined the SECAM cart owners club. 😎

 

Don't ask me how much it cost. 😬😱 But we did do the back and forth negotiation via eBay make an offer, so I didn't pay the list price at least, I actually got a good discount, but yeah, not cheap! 

 

Photos from the auction, I'll share screenshots when it arrives. 

 

I will also share the debug info so that it runs with the correct colours too. So curious to see psychedelic River Raid. 🌈🤣🤟🏻

[Sean_1970]

19 hours ago, JetmanUK said:

Have you, erm, carried ATARI today? 

 

 

These bags have been on sale for a long time, I had one on my Amazon (booooo, dirty word round here these days) wish list for I do not know how long.

 

I always held off buying one as lots of reviews state that the plastic clips at the ends are weak. I also saw solutions for this, buy metal carabiners, but I didn't buy the bag. 

 

Anyway, I got one for Father's Day and I must say it's a nice bag. I haven't carried a large amount in it, but if it does break I'll just get some carabiners. Its also a nice size to throw in a 2600 Plus too.

 

One thing to note is the colour. I expected it to be red. It's kind of deepest pinky red. Not unpleasant, but not what I'd consider to be red. Maybe I got the PAL version with it's dodgy reds? 😋

 

 

 

I got one of these last year and used it on holiday as my carry on baggage with enough stuff that I needed to unzip the expansion panel. Clips survived fine, however the shoulder pad is too small (easily shifts off your shoulder) and not padded enough so it became really uncomfortable in a short period of time. You can find replacement pads easily enough, so I’ve bought one on Amazon and swapped it out (black instead of red, whatever) and will give it a trial run on my next trip to Chicago in November 🤞

16 hours ago, Brad_from_the_80s said:

I don't know, but the only verdict I've ever heard is "not".

 

The CX-78+ however was working a cinch with Dark Chambers, and I even gave the thumbstick another try.

Buttons on the side are lame and awkward; especially for arcade style games. The Colecovision, Intellivision, 5200 and proline controllers were very poorly thought out. I can only assume the remit for engineering in all cases was “must fit in one hand so other hand can use stick” meaning the only notion that they could conceive of was that the hand holding the controller would press buttons (though with Intellivision the keypad buttons are the only ones really accessible by your other hand, so…?).

 

The dpad seems obvious - that’s effectively what the Intellivision has (with four extra directions 🤪), so why nobody thought, “turn it sideways” before Sega and Nintendo is beyond me. The pro controller for Colecovision uses stacked triggers - also bizarre - with the only face buttons being a keypad which is barely used for most games. They colour-coded the trigger buttons, but given you cannot see them when playing you have to remember which one is which by touch. Nice joystick, but the size of the thing and button placement is daffy as hell.

 

CX78 should have been the controller for the 7800 everywhere or maybe a CX40 with an extra fire button at lower right, though for jump/fire it would have been pretty awkward 😂

[JetmanUK]

On 7/21/2024 at 11:04 AM, JetmanUK said:

Well look at this, not true... This is the one I won on eBay yesterday, it's PAL.

 

These photos are from the auction, I can verify when I receive it. 

This arrived today, I just tested it. Yep, it's the one in the photos and it is PAL.

Edited July 24 by JetmanUK

[+Intellivision Master]

17 hours ago, shane857 said:

That's why I wanted to try the pro-line. To see if it's actually as bad as people say, or is it just bad rap?

I'll give my verdict when I actually try it for myself and not based on other people's opinions.

I had the proline controller.  I found it awkward to use and didn't care for it.  Looking forward to your verdict.

[acidbottle]

23 hours ago, JetmanUK said:

I bought a repro Space Invaders box from a guy on eBay a few months back. At that time we exchanged a few messages within the app and he had listed the other boxes he had available. I messaged him a week or so ago asking if he had any Adventure boxes. He said that he has had to stop selling them, here's his exact words:

 

'I’m sorry to say I absolutely cannot sell any more Atari branded items because they had a lawsuit against me. That’s been dropped now but I’ve now got away with it twice. So no more. My stock will probably end up the same way as those ET cartridges…'

 

Crazy if true (not that I am suggesting that he was lying!).

 

A real shame as his Space Invaders box was really good.

Ahh well that explains that then. Well lets home Atari have plans to re-release all of these as they are getting rarer and rarer to find at not only a good price, but in good condition!

[shane857]

2 hours ago, Intellivision Master said:

I had the proline controller.  I found it awkward to use and didn't care for it.  Looking forward to your verdict.

As soon as it arrives this week, I'll give it a test. Yeh, the majority of people say it cramps the hand after long use. So does the CX40, so We'll see...

I'm guessing that's why Atari went with the CX78 as a re-release and not the pro-line?

[JetmanUK]

A couple of CIBs, both NTSC.  

 

 

Pressure Cooker is Overcooked before Overcooked existed. Fun game. 

 

With Starmaster I am glad to have a manual now.

Who likes Starmaster more than Star Raiders? 🤔 Of course Star Raiders is not currently playable on the Plus. 

[Maztr_0n]

30 minutes ago, JetmanUK said:

A couple of CIBs, both NTSC.  

 

 

Pressure Cooker is Overcooked before Overcooked existed. Fun game. 

 

With Starmaster I am glad to have a manual now.

Who likes Starmaster more than Star Raiders? 🤔 Of course Star Raiders is not currently playable on the Plus. 

Pressure Cooker jogged so Diner Dash could run on rocket fuel for the 2008-2012 app store.

[tradyblix]

On 7/22/2024 at 5:32 PM, Maztr_0n said:

i did not know this existed... although i feel like i'm too late to get it for a reasonable price...

and i mean i use an AT-LP60, my velvet underground album doesnt even play properly on that, beautiful one though, nice blue record...

But point being i feel like even if i got this, my turntable could have issues with the record if its super high end

but niiiiice...

The AudioTechnica design, which seems to be used by both AT and Pioneer DJ for some of the decks, has a problem with the tonearm height adjustment, it's too low at it's maximum height. you can kinda fix this by doubling up on a few slipmats to get the tonearm more level. it should be level. Other than that, I've had a decent experiece with it. It's too bad the choices for turntables are 1.) junk 2.) boutique expensive audiophile belt drive decks or 3.) expensive pro dj direct drive decks with not much in between these days, unless you have a decent piece of legacy hardware from the 70s

[tradyblix]

3 hours ago, Intellivision Master said:

I had the proline controller.  I found it awkward to use and didn't care for it.  Looking forward to your verdict.

It's better than the CX40 but yeah. When you got brand new CX78+ out there and amazing custom controllers on etsy people make for more arcade like experiences, we are in a golden age of options. not to mention the hyperkin stuff for 2600. (they don't have a 7800 controller yet) 

[Brad_from_the_80s]

7 hours ago, Sean_1970 said:

I got one of these last year and used it on holiday as my carry on baggage with enough stuff that I needed to unzip the expansion panel. Clips survived fine, however the shoulder pad is too small (easily shifts off your shoulder) and not padded enough so it became really uncomfortable in a short period of time. You can find replacement pads easily enough, so I’ve bought one on Amazon and swapped it out (black instead of red, whatever) and will give it a trial run on my next trip to Chicago in November 🤞

Buttons on the side are lame and awkward; especially for arcade style games. The Colecovision, Intellivision, 5200 and proline controllers were very poorly thought out. I can only assume the remit for engineering in all cases was “must fit in one hand so other hand can use stick” meaning the only notion that they could conceive of was that the hand holding the controller would press buttons (though with Intellivision the keypad buttons are the only ones really accessible by your other hand, so…?).

 

The dpad seems obvious - that’s effectively what the Intellivision has (with four extra directions 🤪), so why nobody thought, “turn it sideways” before Sega and Nintendo is beyond me. The pro controller for Colecovision uses stacked triggers - also bizarre - with the only face buttons being a keypad which is barely used for most games. They colour-coded the trigger buttons, but given you cannot see them when playing you have to remember which one is which by touch. Nice joystick, but the size of the thing and button placement is daffy as hell.

 

CX78 should have been the controller for the 7800 everywhere or maybe a CX40 with an extra fire button at lower right, though for jump/fire it would have been pretty awkward 😂

I feel like every controller that shipped with consoles before the NES/Famicom was terrible in some way.  Of course any controller is going to have people who don't like it.  The CX-40 is iconic of course, and even though it is not exactly ergonomic, the truth is with regular use you can acclimate to it within a few days, even find it borderline comfortable.  I do anyway, and enjoy gaming with it.  However if I get out of practice for a few weeks it will go back to causing mild hand pain/cramps.  But most of the rest from that era just doesn't hold up very well, and that is likely when the Pro-Line was originally designed.  The CX-78 is an odd, stylized, almost transitional design, but it works fine and makes a reasonable peer to NES and SMS controllers.