geogray Posted March 19, 2002 Share Posted March 19, 2002 Many of you probably know already... I just got the Action Pack #2. I anxiously install it on my XP machine. Of course, all did not go well, but I did manage to install the games. (A collection of 15 Imagic and Activision games including River Raid 2, Barnstorming, LaserBlast, Atlantis...) Anyway, after fiddling around with settings and setting the compatibility to Windows 95, 256 color, 640x480, no visual styles I got the emulator to work. Well, I am less than impressed with the emulator. So, I tried playing the .bin files with StellaX. Well, it worked. StellaX played all of the games perfectly. I was pleased and a little surprised that the .bin files were no different than the few I have for StellaX. I don't really know why I expected otherwise. Anyone know anything about Action Pack #1 or #3? Any more than that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mos6507 Posted March 19, 2002 Share Posted March 19, 2002 Action Pack is the mother of all 2600 emulators. As such I'm willing to give it some slack, as the target platform was for 486 class hardware (pre DirectX btw, looks like it uses plain old GDI graphics) but unfortunately, Livesay, the developer, went on to show his true colors with Activision Classics, which was equally horrible. It's pretty sad that there has yet to be a first-class commercial 2600 emulator package put out by Activision or Hasbro/Infogrames. They had every opportunity to do so, believe me... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Player Posted March 20, 2002 Share Posted March 20, 2002 Yes, avoid the Action packs. As someone who paid full price for Action Pack #1 and #2 and ten bucks for #3, I want my damn money back. Especially since I bought the Windows 3.1 versions right before I upgraded to Win 95. (This was a few years ago.) Now, they don't work in any of the newer versions of Windows, but that is not a bad thing. You can get better emulators and a lot more roms on the net (Z26 is my favorite.) The only redeeming quality of the packages is the history section on each game. But it is not worth actually paying anything for it, the information is too thin. Example: "The current whereabouts of Larry Miller are unknown." Yikes! Guess he should have paid off that loan shark. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geogray Posted March 20, 2002 Author Share Posted March 20, 2002 I only paid $3 for my copy. I have seen one of them (don't know which) for $1.99 at K-Bee. Shoulda bought it then. At any rate, it DOES get you some 'legal' roms if you don't own the real thing. I'm one of those who don't mind paying collections such as this provided the value is there. In this case, getting River Raid and Atlantis legitimately was worth it (even though Atlantis is on my 10-in-1.) I also have purchased both of the Intellivision collections from the Blue Sky folks. Now, THAT'S a great collection: behind the scenes stories, the games, the videos, the extras AND, on volume 2, a wonderful emulator. The Sega Smash Pack was ok. The Atari Arcade 2 volume set (which, for reasons I don't get, was rereleased recently as 'Atari Anniversary' even though both volumes had already been released separately. People acted like it was something great. I got the two volume set from Target...for $10. Go figure) was great. It was much like the Intv stuff. But, I digress. I'd have been p/o'ed had I paid full price for the Activision collection. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joel D. Park Posted March 20, 2002 Share Posted March 20, 2002 I bought the 3 Action Packs for cheap, like 6.00 each. They were kind of fun when I first got them, but my computer hardware quickly passed them up. I tried to install one of them the other day and it GPF'ed. I'll just leave them as an addition to my Atari collection. The boxes are pretty cool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MoonlightKnight Posted March 21, 2002 Share Posted March 21, 2002 You guys actually had to pay for these? I got the first two on one CD for free with a box of cereal, no joke. I didn't even know they were for sale. I thought it was just some giveaway to get you to buy cereal... geez! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geogray Posted March 21, 2002 Author Share Posted March 21, 2002 quote: Originally posted by MoonlightKnight: You guys actually had to pay for these? I got the first two on one CD for free with a box of cereal, no joke. I didn't even know they were for sale. I thought it was just some giveaway to get you to buy cereal... geez! Gosh...what the hell were we THINKING!?! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mos6507 Posted March 21, 2002 Share Posted March 21, 2002 >> You guys actually had to pay for these? I got the first two on one CD for free with a box of cereal, no joke. I didn't even know they were for sale. I thought it was just some giveaway to get you to buy cereal... geez! << I got one too. I suspect the cereal edition will be more collectable than the official one. It's a shame how slowly this runs on today's PCs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BurgertimeBoy Posted March 22, 2002 Share Posted March 22, 2002 I bought Activision Game Vault #3 which has Action Pack 1-3. I have WindowsMe and (I thought) a fairly high grade Gateway computer, but apparently I didn't have an soundcard that is compatable with GV #3 so I don't have sound at all. This sucks becaue I was jonesing for the Pressure Cooker theme music and I can't hear it now. Also, the games are nearly impossible to play on the keyboard. JOYSTICK required. Does anyone know what joysticks/gamepads are compatable with this game when played on the WindowsME? BTW the custome service at Activison is great. They were very helpful in solving my no sound problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geogray Posted March 22, 2002 Author Share Posted March 22, 2002 Burgertimeboy: Download a copy of StellaX and use that. It is MUCH better than the thing that Activision shipped. Sound works too. I agree:Activision was most helpful with a problem I had with another title. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BurgertimeBoy Posted March 23, 2002 Share Posted March 23, 2002 Georg Gray, how do I download StellaX, do you have a link? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geogray Posted March 23, 2002 Author Share Posted March 23, 2002 Burgertimeboy: Try: http://www.redlinelabs.com/stella/ I recall that someone (don't recall who) said that z26 was decent too, but I have tried it in a while. You can click on the '2' at the top of this page and then 'emulation' in the left pane. There are links there to other emulators. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Posted March 25, 2002 Share Posted March 25, 2002 quote: Originally posted by Glenn Saunders: I suspect the cereal edition will be more collectable than the official one. I don't eat too much cereal these days. What cereal was this included with? And which games were included? And is this promotion long past? ..Al Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D.Yancey Posted November 15, 2014 Share Posted November 15, 2014 I'm just curious. Does anyone know who did the voice of the annoying mom in this game pack? Is it the same person who did the voice of Howard's mother on TV's The Big Bang Theory? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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