horizon2374 Posted May 20 Share Posted May 20 The Sanwa joystick from TechDungeon is amazing! Was able to achieve a new level of high score with it, this time 314,000 when the killer satellites got me coming out of a refueling tunnel - just too fast! 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+OLD CS1 Posted May 20 Share Posted May 20 I am envious, jealous even, of your cartridges trays. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary from OPA Posted May 20 Share Posted May 20 5 minutes ago, OLD CS1 said: I am envious, jealous even, of your cartridges trays. Mee too... Nice clean setup... My ti99 systems are jammed up together too much, the problem is these days no one sells computer desks deep anymore since everything is flat screen, no room for proper setup with the CRT monitor. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
horizon2374 Posted May 20 Author Share Posted May 20 Thank you! Yes suitable desks are hard to find that are deep enough. This one I got really lucky on, it was purchased from Big Lots few years ago (think it was around $150 or so). The gray top is modern and the legs match the side panels of the PEB. My plan was to keep the PEB on the floor mounted sideways on CPU stand… but the noise of the fan was just too loud for my taste as I’ve gotten older. I know that you can install a quieter fan but the sound of silence trumps that. It would’ve been nice to run programs from disk but the only way to do it in silence is with Corcomp micro expansion or Myarc MPES-50 (which I am envious of Gary!) The cartridge trays cost a lot of money .. don’t ask! A few of them from another country. 😊 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ksarul Posted May 20 Share Posted May 20 5 minutes ago, horizon2374 said: The cartridge trays cost a lot of money .. don’t ask! A few of them from another country. 😊 That is the general problem with those trays--they are generally few and not in the same country as the folks looking for them, and the prices are thus a bit crazy. I have exactly one of them that I found about 15 years ago (it was in Canada)--and stopped trying to buy more unless I saw them for a reasonable price, but that hasn't happened, LOLOL. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhataKowinkydink Posted May 21 Share Posted May 21 Congrats on the hi score! B) Beautiful setup as well 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrewmacattack Posted May 21 Share Posted May 21 20 hours ago, Ksarul said: That is the general problem with those trays--they are generally few and not in the same country as the folks looking for them, and the prices are thus a bit crazy. I have exactly one of them that I found about 15 years ago (it was in Canada) I bought my holders from Canada and one from the USA. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ksarul Posted May 21 Share Posted May 21 9 hours ago, Andrewmacattack said: I bought my holders from Canada and one from the USA. Nice! You also have almost as many of the Scott Foresman cartridges in the smaller black boxes as I do. Bravo! That is a hard set to build. I also have several of them in large box (teacher set) format and about a dozen of the large manuals. The reading cartridges were originally released in blue cartridge cases, and the math ones were in red cartridge cases. They didn't maintain that through the entire teacher series though, as the later ones in the big boxes were in black cartridge cases. The teacher versions of the six games were in three plastic library boxes, with two games in each module (Cartridge A, B, and C). The library boxes are really HTF (I have a complete set and I know of a few folks out there who have one of the three), although it is possible to find the three cartridges with a determined, years-long search. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
senior_falcon Posted May 22 Share Posted May 22 On 5/20/2024 at 1:19 PM, horizon2374 said: The Sanwa joystick from TechDungeon is amazing! Was able to achieve a new level of high score with it, this time 314,000 when the killer satellites got me coming out of a refueling tunnel - just too fast! 314,000! I bow down before my master. Back in 1985, I wrote down my high scores in the manual 82,900 on 1/2/85 129,100 on 1/4/85 174,300 on 1/8/85 298,300 on 2/22/85 I never got close to that score again, and now I'd be lucky to get to 20,000. Always used the keyboard because of the need to select lift 1, 2, or 3. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrewmacattack Posted May 22 Share Posted May 22 14 hours ago, Ksarul said: The reading cartridges were originally released in blue cartridge cases, and the math ones were in red cartridge cases. They didn't maintain that through the entire teacher series though, as the later ones in the big boxes were in black cartridge cases. The teacher versions of the six games were in three plastic library boxes, with two games in each module (Cartridge A, B, and C). The library boxes are really HTF (I have a complete set and I know of a few folks out there who have one of the three), although it is possible to find the three cartridges with a determined, years-long search. I have a few colour cartridges, those are extremely hard to find. I missed the opportunity to buy one of the plastic library boxes back last year. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+OLD CS1 Posted May 22 Share Posted May 22 8 minutes ago, Andrewmacattack said: I have a few colour cartridges, those are extremely hard to find. I missed the opportunity to buy one of the plastic library boxes back last year. Oh, pretty! 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhataKowinkydink Posted May 23 Share Posted May 23 19 hours ago, Andrewmacattack said: I have a few colour cartridges, those are extremely hard to find. 3 decades in this hobby and I'm still learning new stuff about my favorite old machine - never knew those existed: beige carts - sure, funny shaped carts - sure, frankenstein carts - even those too, but red and blue - now that's something different... As OLD CS1 says- they are sharp. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
globeron Posted May 28 Share Posted May 28 The score is 3x higher than Jan 2016 high score! I will put it in my docx. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rgjt Posted June 15 Share Posted June 15 On 5/20/2024 at 5:19 PM, horizon2374 said: The Sanwa joystick from TechDungeon is amazing! Was able to achieve a new level of high score with it, this time 314,000 when the killer satellites got me coming out of a refueling tunnel - just too fast! Wow, what a score. Are the Sanwa joysticks still available and if so, where from? The stock TI joysticks don't offer enough control when trying to pilot through the refueling tunnel. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
horizon2374 Posted June 15 Author Share Posted June 15 Thank you! The refueling stations are indeed challenging, especially the 3rd and final iteration. The Sanwa joystick for TI-99 is available on eBay from a company called TechDungeon. Here’s a link: https://www.ebay.com/itm/335279514663 TechDungeon is an extremely well-run and professional business, ran by a couple named Michael & Diana. They have both eBay and Etsy storefronts. The joysticks themselves are put together with precision, and custom built. They are 3D printed, so they have a few different colors to choose from. The Sanwa stick is precision made, with a nice audible ‘click’ sound on every movement. Bonus: you won’t need an Atari style adapter, you plug this right into your console! The joystick is made for single player use. It’s a great stick, I highly recommend it! Almost certainly I wouldn’t have achieved this high level score without it! 3 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retrospect Posted July 3 Share Posted July 3 Regarding Parsec High Score ... I didn't screenshot it but I recently got my highest ever Parsec score which is just over 90,000 ... might not seem a lot to some seasoned players but it's the best I've ever had ... I got to the Saucers on level 4 and died as I couldn't keep up to shooting them 3 times each and their speed was too fast..... The Killer Sats at the start of the level took two of my ships they're naughty! 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rgjt Posted July 4 Share Posted July 4 I bought the Sanwa joysticks from them. Very nice compared to the TI ones, so much more comfortable. I retro-fitted the old TI units with micro-switches making them work so much better than even when they were new. However, they do hurt the hands playing longer games. The best that I've managed with Parsec after decades of not playing it, is a little over 20,000. I'm stiff figuring out the old sneaky attacks that the "ites" do like going invisible as they continue to blast away. I had to dig up the old Parsec manual to figure out how to refuel as I had totally forgotten about the 3 "lift" levels. Regardless, it's all coming back to me as I'm slowly building up my high scores everytime I play the game. BTW, the Sanwa joysticks are awesome playing the Tennis game. Very surprised as to how much more controllable the ball becomes as compared to the TI units. Might have something to do with the 8-way, which I'm not sure any TI game was capable of using. Would be interesting to hear feedback from other users on that aspect of the Sanwa joystick. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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