Plug & Play Reviews

[MCHufnagel]

I know most people think they suck, but I'm looking for a place where I can find reviews/ratings for Plug & Play/TV games. I have not been able to find anything about all of the games that are available.

[Flojomojo]

Amazon has user reviews of most of them.

Digital Press has a big thread about them.

Google is your friend.

 

My opinions of the units I've played myself (I own these, too):

 

Great, well worth it, bordering on "must have":

Atari Flashback 2.0

Commodore 64 30-in-1

 

OK if you want the games inside:

Jakks Atari Paddle

Jakks Namco Ms. Pac-Man (innovative twist stick control for Pole Position)

Jakks Atari joystick (NES hardware = bad sound but decent gameplay in a good stick)

Taito Space Invaders (great stick, OK software IMHO)

Star Wars Revenge of the Sith

The Batman

 

Poor, with technical or gameplay issues:

Atari Flashback (the original, in a mini 7800 case)

Majesco/Konami Arcade Advance (uncomfortable stick, NES ports)

 

Look OK, but I've either played them to death elsewhere or otherwise won't pay for them:

Jakks pinball

The Radica Sega Genesis games

Jakks Namco Pac-Man

Mortal Kombat, FIFA, NHL, Madden, etc. games.

 

Look awful/have terrible word of mouth and I don't even want to try them:

Radica Outrun 2019 (Genesis port - just one, bad game?)

Radica Menacer Gun games (Genesis port)

Intellivision 25 in 1, 10 in 1

Majesco/Konami Frogger (just one game?)

[SteveW]

I haven't heard anything about the Jakks Pinball one. I've been kind of interested in that one, but I don't know if it sucks or not.

[spikey911]

I haven't heard anything about the Jakks Pinball one. I've been kind of interested in that one, but I don't know if it sucks or not.

943120[/snapback]

 

I have it, and its not too bad..

 

Would have been better if it used actual ":Classic" pinball boards, but its still not bad..

[Shawn]

You got any more info on the Star Wars one? I love Star Wars.

[ATARIeric]

Jakks Namco Ms. Pac-Man (innovative twist stick control for Pole Position)

 

Thanks for this info, I loved pole position & was wondering how it would play using the stick. now I know

[tillenterprises]

Amazon has user reviews of most of them.

Digital Press has a big thread about them.

Google is your friend.

 

My opinions of the units I've played myself (I own these, too):

 

Great, well worth it, bordering on "must have":

Atari Flashback 2.0

Commodore 64 30-in-1

 

OK if you want the games inside:

Jakks Atari Paddle

Jakks Namco Ms. Pac-Man (innovative twist stick control for Pole Position)

Jakks Atari joystick (NES hardware = bad sound but decent gameplay in a good stick)

Taito Space Invaders (great stick, OK software IMHO)

Star Wars Revenge of the Sith

The Batman

 

Poor, with technical or gameplay issues:

Atari Flashback (the original, in a mini 7800 case)

Majesco/Konami Arcade Advance (uncomfortable stick, NES ports)

 

Look OK, but I've either played them to death elsewhere or otherwise won't pay for them:

Jakks pinball

The Radica Sega Genesis games

Jakks Namco Pac-Man

Mortal Kombat, FIFA, NHL, Madden, etc. games.

 

Look awful/have terrible word of mouth and I don't even want to try them:

Radica Outrun 2019 (Genesis port - just one, bad game?)

Radica Menacer Gun games (Genesis port)

Intellivision 25 in 1, 10 in 1

Majesco/Konami Frogger (just one game?)

942430[/snapback]

 

I pretty much agree with everything you said- it's good to see somebody else who likes the Space Invaders stick. I would put the CORDLESS Ms. Pac as a must have since they fixed the control issues on Bosconian and Rally-X from the Pac-Man stick and included them on that stick, so you get 2 more games than the corded version of Ms. Pac, plus the freedom of no cords! I have the first Genesis one, and it's really hard to tell the games from the original games, so it's also a good one to have.

[NightSprinter]

I have the first Genesis one, and it's really hard to tell the games from the original games, so it's also a good one to have.

 

Hey Till, would you believe me if I said ALL of the original codes for the games featured in it still work? (I tried the original Genesis one at a Gamestop, and did the "Up, Down, Left, Right A+Start" code for Sonic 1. Lo and behold, I got the stage-select screen!) Gotta give kudos to Radica for making it to where the original cheat codes work.

[Cybergoth]

Hi there!

 

Gotta give kudos to Radica for making it to where the original cheat codes work.

 

Well, it's the original software runinng on a Genesis-On-A-Chip, so that's precisely what I'd expect from such a unit

 

Greetings,

Manuel

[Room 34]

I had avoided these things like the plague for a long time, but the other day I finally decided to get the Jakks Ms. Pac-Man stick, since it was on sale for $15 at Target.

 

And I have to say... it's pretty darn good! The games are not 100% accurate, but I'm pretty picky and they're good enough for me. Decent selection of games, too. Ms. Pac-Man, Galaga, and Xevious are all must-haves. I'm not a HUGE Pole Position fan, but it's a pretty good implementation (the twist stick works great!). I had never played Mappy before this, but I think it's the big surprise in the set... it's actually pretty fun!

 

The only problem I have is that sometimes the controls are a little flaky, especially moving down in Ms. Pac-Man. I'm not sure if down just doesn't work well, or if it's just a quirk of the stick mechanism and the way I'm holding it, etc. But I'm getting used to it.

 

Plus... the cord is nice and long. Most of my consoles are hooked up in my "game room," but I've got this stick hooked to the TV in the living room, so I can be watching TV, then switch over for a quick game between shows, etc. I don't even have to get up! (Now if this thing would just bring me some chips and another soda from the kitchen, I'd be all set.)

[Kokovec]

 

Plus... the cord is nice and long.  Most of my consoles are hooked up in my "game room," but I've got this stick hooked to the TV in the living room, so I can be watching TV, then switch over for a quick game between shows, etc.  I don't even have to get up!  (Now if this thing would just bring me some chips and another soda from the kitchen, I'd be all set.)

954465[/snapback]

 

 

Try using picture-in-picture.

You can watch TV and play simultaneously.

[kencrisis]

You got any more info on the Star Wars one? I love Star Wars.

943196[/snapback]

 

 

Yes, anyone? I was thinking of getting this but would like some opinions.

[Dreamwriter]

You got any more info on the Star Wars one? I love Star Wars.

943196[/snapback]

 

I worked on the game, whaddaya wanna know? Aside from opinions of course. It's got five games on it, all original, no classics - a kinda-Time Pilot game taking place in the opening battle over Coruscant, a kinda Smash TV game trying to rescue Palpatine, a kinda spy hunter game trying to chase down General Grievous, a kinda Choplifter/strategy game (generic clones vs droids), and a space invaders/breakout mix. The first gamekey adds a 2D platformer (play as Yoda trying to reach his spaceship and escape) and a "Sabotage" clone (you control a gun turret shooting at droids being dropped down and the dropships dropping them).

 

I will give one piece of advice: if you can find one, get this:

Jakks Starwars with Gamekey

 

That's the only sign we've seen of any of the Star Wars Gamekeys anywhere, and it comes packaged with it (and an AC adapter, apparently - the older versions are battery-powered only). Also, chances are that build of the base games has a few bugs fixed. If you can't get one with the Gamekey, at least get the one that says "Gamekey Compatible!" on the package, as the other one doesn't even have a key slot.

 

The Gamekey games, BTW, are generally higher quality, because we had more cart-space and dev time for each game than the base 5-in-1.

[Justin42]

I just picked up the C64 unit last weekend, and while I am generally impressed with it, 2 'problems' come to mind: 1. The joystick is INCREDIBLY sensitive, it is very hard to go one single direction without it reading diagonals or the like (which makes it very hard to play certain games like Pitstop, I can't easily move the pit crew without them going all over), and 2. there seems to be static in the display. Not HORRIBLE "snow"-like static, just like an almost RF quality to the video (which I assumed would be crystal clear due to the AV cables)

 

Is anyone else seeing those kinds of issues? I got it during the Toys R Us buy-1-get-1-free sale, and I'm afraid returning it for a new one might cause more trouble than it's worth.

 

(Oh, this was funny, my batteries were running out on the C64 stick and it started just booting up straight to the BASIC "READY" prompt.. too bad I haven't done the mod to make it a full C64!)

 

I also got the Jakks/Atari Paddle unit, that one is a lot of fun, even if it's not true 2600 hardware it's close enough (I never really got into the paddle games so my frame of reference isn't as good as it is for like the Flashback 2.0)

Edited November 6, 2005 by Justin42

[J.Max]

The ones that I've tried that I like:

 

Flashback 2

Commodore 64 (The stick does take some getting used to.)

Atari Paddle

Ms. Pac Man Wireless

Taito Space Invaders

Mortal Kombat (don't like the game that much, but if you're into it, it's great)

Street Fighter 2

Sonic

Sonic 2

 

Ones that I don't like but aren't horrible:

 

-Jakks WWE

-Outrun 2099 (at least it's real Genesis Hardware)

-Menacer (not a fan of light-gun games)

-EA Spots Madden/NHL (old sports games? not so cool. Should have done a Mutant League version instead)

-Namco Pac-Man

-Jakks Spider Man

-Jakks Star Wars

 

Abominations that should be taken off the market:

 

-Atari Flashback 1 (I know Curt, we don't blame you)

-Atari Joystick

-Either of the Intellivision ones

-Any of the Konami "Arcade" ones

 

A special place in hell is reserved for the guy that designed:

 

-The Coleco Head To Head (That's nice. Let's whore out the name "Coleco" by making a bad NES-on-a-chip sports games and then package them in replicas of the RCA Studio II controller keypad. Everytime someone buys one of these, I lose a little more of my faith in humanity.)

[TrekkiELO]

The ones that I've tried that I like:

 

Flashback 2

Commodore 64 (The stick does take some getting used to.)

Atari Paddle

Ms. Pac Man Wireless

Taito Space Invaders

Mortal Kombat (don't like the game that much, but if you're into it, it's great)

Street Fighter 2

Sonic

Sonic 2

 

Ones that I don't like but aren't horrible:

 

-Jakks WWE

-Outrun 2099 (at least it's real Genesis Hardware)

-Menacer (not a fan of light-gun games)

-EA Spots Madden/NHL (old sports games? not so cool.  Should have done a Mutant League version instead)

-Namco Pac-Man

-Jakks Spider Man

-Jakks Star Wars

 

Abominations that should be taken off the market:

 

-Atari Flashback 1 (I know Curt, we don't blame you)

-Atari Joystick

-Either of the Intellivision ones

-Any of the Konami "Arcade" ones

 

A special place in hell is reserved for the guy that designed:

 

-The Coleco Head To Head  (That's nice.  Let's whore out the name "Coleco" by making a bad NES-on-a-chip sports games and then package them in replicas of the RCA Studio II controller keypad.  Everytime someone buys one of these, I lose a little more of my faith in humanity.)

961418[/snapback]

 

Agreed, except for the original Atari Flashback, I'd put Namco Pac-Man under abominations in place of it, also Jakk's Activision, Sonic 1 & 2 and Street Fighter 2 would be under your second category!

 

My favorites:

 

Mammoth C64 DTV

Atari Flashback 2 (2600)

Jakk's Namco Ms. Pac-Man Super Gamekey Combo

Atari Flashback (7800)

Jakk's Atari Paddle

Radica Space Invaders

 

Signed,

 

Rick Vendl II

Edited March 25, 2006 by TrekkiELO

[JimmydelaKopin]

What is this?

 

No one playing the bootleg plug-in controller games?

 

What's with all this honesty, people?

[ferrarimanf355]

I have:

Flashback 2 (I think it's safe to say that the Flashback 2 is the bar by which other plug-and-plays are judged by. )

EA Sports 2-in-1 1 player (not bad, but I regret not getting the 2-player one)

Mortal Kombat (the graphics are different, but the gameplay is arcade perfect)

Radica Space Invaders (not bad, but Qix is nearly unplayable, IMHO)

Konami Arcade Advanced (not bad, but not great, either. All of the games are playable, though)

Frogger (I don't know why I have this one, since Arcade Advanced also has this game. I'll probably give it to someone for Christmas)

You got any more info on the Star Wars one? I love Star Wars.

943196[/snapback]

 

I worked on the game, whaddaya wanna know? Aside from opinions of course. It's got five games on it, all original, no classics - a kinda-Time Pilot game taking place in the opening battle over Coruscant, a kinda Smash TV game trying to rescue Palpatine, a kinda spy hunter game trying to chase down General Grievous, a kinda Choplifter/strategy game (generic clones vs droids), and a space invaders/breakout mix. The first gamekey adds a 2D platformer (play as Yoda trying to reach his spaceship and escape) and a "Sabotage" clone (you control a gun turret shooting at droids being dropped down and the dropships dropping them).

 

I will give one piece of advice: if you can find one, get this:

Jakks Starwars with Gamekey

 

That's the only sign we've seen of any of the Star Wars Gamekeys anywhere, and it comes packaged with it (and an AC adapter, apparently - the older versions are battery-powered only). Also, chances are that build of the base games has a few bugs fixed. If you can't get one with the Gamekey, at least get the one that says "Gamekey Compatible!" on the package, as the other one doesn't even have a key slot.

 

The Gamekey games, BTW, are generally higher quality, because we had more cart-space and dev time for each game than the base 5-in-1.

960750[/snapback]

Hey, if it's possible, can you put in a request to make as many games possible from the Namco Museum series available for the Gamekey Ms. Pac-Man? I'd love to see a lot of old-school Namco titles available.

Edited November 16, 2005 by ferrarimanf355

[Laner]

I just picked up the C64 unit last weekend, and while I am generally impressed with it, 2 'problems' come to mind: 1. The joystick is INCREDIBLY sensitive, it is very hard to go one single direction without it reading diagonals or the like (which makes it very hard to play certain games like Pitstop, I can't easily move the pit crew without them going all over), and 2. there seems to be static in the display. Not HORRIBLE "snow"-like static, just like an almost RF quality to the video (which I assumed would be crystal clear due to the AV cables)

 

Is anyone else seeing those kinds of issues? I got it during the Toys R Us buy-1-get-1-free sale, and I'm afraid returning it for a new one might cause more trouble than it's worth.

I didn't really notice the joystick issue, but the image quality definitely wasn't as good as I expected.

 

Also, I've tried three of those sticks, and they all have a problem with the SID emulation... the music in the Hot Dog event in Winter Games sounds horrible... there are other examples, but that's the worst offender.

 

It's a good effort, but it could have been better.

[rexreed]

"A special place in hell is reserved for the guy that designed:

 

-The Coleco Head To Head (That's nice. Let's whore out the name "Coleco" by making a bad NES-on-a-chip sports games and then package them in replicas of the RCA Studio II controller keypad. Everytime someone buys one of these, I lose a little more of my faith in humanity.)"

 

 

 

Too bad this was not posted before I went to Wal- Mart. This is the worst pile of garbage I have bought in my life. When I was a kid I saved up a bunch of money and bought a Cabbage Patch kid. I brought him home and showed him to my friends- they would not stop laughing and as a consequence I ended up abandoning my child and had my sister raise the kid. I felt horrible that day, but would repeat it a thousand times before I would play another piece of garbage from the COLECO head to head. It is being distributed exclusively by walmart.

[JimmydelaKopin]

Rexreed, that's why they sell the bootlegs at Wal-Mart. I doubt this level of rage wouldn have happened if you bought either the Maxx10 or the KidConnection (in the red box generic toy aisle) plug0in controllers.

 

The reason the bootlegs make money is not just because they're cheap, but also because the bootleggers only target good games for their thefts.

[Flojomojo]

[onmode-ky]

If anyone is still interested in plug-and-play reviews, I wrote some mini-ones (or at least just opinions) at this thread on 12/12/2005.

 

onmode-ky

[jbanes]

I just got my wife an Atari 2 Player Paddle TV Game for a gag gift for Christmas. (We usually open our gifts early.) Hot damn is that ever fun! Pong is smmmooootth, Warlord comes in two (fun) variations, and Breakout is as bad as ever! The rest of the games are so-so, but you can play most of them in two player mode, making the games a lot more fun! Sure, they may not represent precise emulations of the originals, but they're more than good enough for enjoying yourself in a head-to-head with your spouse, friend, or sibling.

 

The downside is that there are a few minor glitches.

 

1) The Pong paddles can go part-way off the bottom of the screen.

2) Sometimes you can't quite get the Pong Paddle to the top, and the ball goes right on by.

3) The Breakout Paddle "sticks" for a few moments when your turn starts. (Don't launch the ball until you're unstuck!)

 

None of these really bother me much, and I would recommend these paddles to anyone who is looking for head-to-head TV Game play. Oh, and the picture is much cleaner than the FB2. (Not surprising since it's probably Nintendo hardware.)

[jefffulton]

What is this?

 

No one playing the bootleg plug-in controller games?

 

What's with all this honesty, people?

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

 

I purchased a SuperJoy 72000-in-1 unit a couple years back. It is filled with about 100 different classic NES games - Super Mario, Galaga, Zelda, etc. The unit comes with a strange gun - looks like a cap gun I had in the '70's and a second controller. The primary controller has what looks like a NES cart slot of maybe an expamsion slot. Since I don't own any NES games I have never tried it.

 

The controllers / hardware are of a moderate quality, not great, but not bad. The games play very very well and look great.

 

I can't find these units at any mall kiosks anymore, they have been replaced with legit units filled with lame games ...very much like the VSMaxx 50-in-1 unit. Don't bother with this at all.