Tempest Posted January 22, 2010 Share Posted January 22, 2010 I've managed to clear off enough space on my desk to setup another computer in my upstairs game room. I have a choice of three machines (they're setup in the basement now, but I want to move them upstairs because it's COLD down there): Vic-20 Macintosh Plus (with CD and HD) PCjr Here's how I see them: PCjr - I have some interesting games for the jr that I'd like to play around with but I have most of the games for it on better platforms. You can only play Mine Shaft, Zyll, and Trivia 101 for so long. Macintosh Plus - I have fond memories playing games at school on one of these. The problem is that I don't own any games for it right now. I think I can hook up my CD 150 to it and transfer some games to it (after first burning them on my Powerbook), but I need to find them first. Is there a page dedicated to old B&W Macintosh games? If I can't find the games then setting it up doesn't do me much good. Vic-20 - I've always avoided the Vic-20 because I always thought of it as an inferior machine. However now I have a multicart so I can play around with every game and not just those in my collection. Still, that doesn't mean that they'll be any good. Suggestions? Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GroovyBee Posted January 22, 2010 Share Posted January 22, 2010 Easy! Choose the one that you are currently having the most fun using. If you get bored, swap it out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+save2600 Posted January 22, 2010 Share Posted January 22, 2010 Early Mac's looked cool, but pretty worthless to play games on (IMO), a PCjr (skip) - which leaves us the Vic! Great little system with interesting conversions of games. Highly useable, fun and different enough from the C64. I've got one of those Megacarts coming and will be in retro computing gaming goodness here pretty soon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted January 22, 2010 Author Share Posted January 22, 2010 Early Mac's looked cool, but pretty worthless to play games on (IMO) Really? Why is that? Those high resolution graphics make games look interesting, even those I've played on other systems like Bard's Tale. Then again I don't know how WELL they play. Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+save2600 Posted January 22, 2010 Share Posted January 22, 2010 (edited) Really? Why is that? Those high resolution graphics make games look interesting, even those I've played on other systems like Bard's Tale. Then again I don't know how WELL they play. Tempest Oh I dunno... the tiny 9" b/w screen maybe? lol Yeah, there's a certain cool retro rock steady refresh rate thing going on AND it's easy on the eyes, but of course it is - it's in b/w! lol Are you really running out of space yet? I saw your basement with those nice long tables. You should be able to wedge that Mac in AND the Vic (maybe even share a Commodore monitor between a Vic and a C64). Edited January 22, 2010 by save2600 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted January 22, 2010 Author Share Posted January 22, 2010 Are you really running out of space yet? I saw your basement with those nice long tables. You should be able to wedge that Mac in AND the Vic (maybe even share a Commodore monitor between a Vic and a C64). Oh that's downstairs, I'm talking about upstairs. All these systems (minus the Mac) are setup downstairs but I want to bring one of them upstairs. I never seem to get around to playing around with the machines down there. Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desiv Posted January 22, 2010 Share Posted January 22, 2010 Early Mac's looked cool, but pretty worthless to play games on (IMO) Really? Why is that? Those high resolution graphics make games look interesting, even those I've played on other systems like Bard's Tale. Then again I don't know how WELL they play. Tempest For me, it would be a question between the Mac and the Vic. First choice, I'd say the Mac. I love the old games for the Mac. Continuum (I've mentioned this before, great game!), Dark Castle, Daleks, etc.. They have a specific feel to them, and I really like it because they are so different. That said, you have a multicart for your Vic-20. That makes having the Vic-20 being set up (and it has some great games) very tempting... I'd try both and see what happens. I'm not a huge Mac person in general. (Although I somehow managed to inherit several :-) But the Mac games are just different and I think I really appreciate them for that reason. And it looks a bit like my favorite console, the Vectrex! desiv Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted January 22, 2010 Author Share Posted January 22, 2010 For me, it would be a question between the Mac and the Vic. First choice, I'd say the Mac. I love the old games for the Mac. Continuum (I've mentioned this before, great game!), Dark Castle, Daleks, etc.. They have a specific feel to them, and I really like it because they are so different. That said, you have a multicart for your Vic-20. That makes having the Vic-20 being set up (and it has some great games) very tempting... I'd try both and see what happens. I'm not a huge Mac person in general. (Although I somehow managed to inherit several :-) But the Mac games are just different and I think I really appreciate them for that reason. And it looks a bit like my favorite console, the Vectrex! desiv Yeah that's sort of how I feel. It's a tough choice. Then again if I can't find a site where I can get old Mac games it becomes a moot point. Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+save2600 Posted January 22, 2010 Share Posted January 22, 2010 (edited) Oh that's downstairs, I'm talking about upstairs. All these systems (minus the Mac) are setup downstairs but I want to bring one of them upstairs. I never seem to get around to playing around with the machines down there. Tempest Oh - duh! lol A little side story for 'ya... When I was in my late teens, my Dad had a friend that was an Apple rep. He was a really neat guy (think revenge of the nerds type, with the glasses, short sleeved white shirt, black glasses and all) that ALWAYS had a Volvo full of Mac products in the mid-late 80's. He'd always try to show off the stuff (original Mac, SE and Plus models) and I was always impressed with the sound digitizing capabilities of 'em. Could never get over the tiny B/W screen, but for music - it didn't matter. Anyway, one day he brought over the latest and greatest model (whichever had the built in floppy & HD), set it up on our kitchen table and showed us Flight Simulator. lol Needless to say, I wasn't really impressed. Screen was too tiny and even though the scenery disks were supposed to be "realistic", b/w outlines on the screen just weren't cutting it. lol See, I had just gotten my second Amiga then; an A500 and Bill was such a biased Mac geek, that he had this prejudice against anything but. Long story short, I finally convinced him to check my system out. Showed him a Flight Sim (think it was F/18 Hornet) and a couple of Cinemaware games: Sinbad and The Three Stooges. Guy was floored! Tried to say that the Amiga was "just" a gaming machine, so I let him putz around with the OS. Showed him how easy it was to sample sounds with an external digitizer too, just like the Mac. I remember him being uber impressed with how smooth the mouse pointer rolled across the screen. As if that was an impossible task for a monitor sync'd at 15khz to do. lol Seriously, he sat there for what seemed like minutes trying to get the mouse to stutter or something. lol He was in shock and awe at how fluid animation was on the Miggy. My modest little 1mb system w/ no HD and 2 floppies. Well, that concludes this fond Mac/Amiga memory BTW: Have you checked these sites out yet? http://www.oldgames.nu/Mac/13/ http://www.d4.dion.n...tohiko/game.htm Edited January 22, 2010 by save2600 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted January 22, 2010 Author Share Posted January 22, 2010 Ahh found a good page: http://www.macintoshgarden.org/games Looks like the Mac wins (unless I can't get the CD to work). What OS version should I be running on it for maximum game compatibility? It's a Macintosh Plus with the memory upgrade (4MB?) Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+save2600 Posted January 22, 2010 Share Posted January 22, 2010 (edited) I'll take a stab and say System 7 would be the way to go. System 8 might have been for the next gen on up from the Plus. I bought a Mac Classic (had an 020 in it) brand new once for $150 when I worked at Sears. Wish I would have kept the damn thing. It'd be mint today if I had. Just be nice to see it sitting there, along with the rest of my "junk". lol Edited January 22, 2010 by save2600 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted January 22, 2010 Author Share Posted January 22, 2010 It appears most games need 6. Maybe I'll start with that and see how it goes. Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+save2600 Posted January 22, 2010 Share Posted January 22, 2010 It appears most games need 6. Maybe I'll start with that and see how it goes. Tempest Yeah, I've got 6.02 on floppy here if you need it. Sounds like you've already got one though? Entire OS fits on one disk! lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted January 22, 2010 Author Share Posted January 22, 2010 It appears most games need 6. Maybe I'll start with that and see how it goes. Tempest Yeah, I've got 6.02 on floppy here if you need it. Sounds like you've already got one though? Entire OS fits on one disk! lol Actually I could use that. My Mac Plus came with a HD that has either 4 or 5 installed on it. Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desiv Posted January 22, 2010 Share Posted January 22, 2010 Ahh found a good page: http://www.macintoshgarden.org/games That's a great site! Thanx! I know I had some games that required older Systems, and some even required disabling 24-bit addressing? (Something like that. It's been a while) Just something to keep in mind. desiv Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted January 22, 2010 Author Share Posted January 22, 2010 Ahh found a good page: http://www.macintoshgarden.org/games That's a great site! Thanx! I know I had some games that required older Systems, and some even required disabling 24-bit addressing? (Something like that. It's been a while) Just something to keep in mind. desiv Yeah I figure I might need a few copies of the OS laying around for some games. I'll just have 6 on the HD and keep the others around if need be. I don't see a point in installing 7. What's the HD support like for games? Do they all support it? Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desiv Posted January 22, 2010 Share Posted January 22, 2010 What's the HD support like for games? Do they all support it? I don't have a bunch installed, but as I recall, it's excellent. Most games I've run across prefer you to work from a HD. There was almost an assumption that all Mac users had HDs. And if you've run any apps from floppy, you know why. :-) The only floppy games I had were the REALLY old ones that wanted an old system. desiv Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted January 22, 2010 Author Share Posted January 22, 2010 I *might* be able to get both the Mac and Vic-20 up stairs since the Mac is fairly small. We'll see. I'd like to play around with the Vic-20 as well. Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtariLeaf Posted January 22, 2010 Share Posted January 22, 2010 I have a quick vic-20 question (sorry to hijack) but does it use standard 9-pin joysticks? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted January 22, 2010 Author Share Posted January 22, 2010 I have a quick vic-20 question (sorry to hijack) but does it use standard 9-pin joysticks? Yes. Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+save2600 Posted January 22, 2010 Share Posted January 22, 2010 I have a quick vic-20 question (sorry to hijack) but does it use standard 9-pin joysticks? Yes and curiously - there's only ONE joystick port on those things! Guess there were hardly any two player simultaneous games or if there was, the other guy would just use the keyboard. lol Atari Paddles also work as they should on the Vic for paddle games of course. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesD Posted January 22, 2010 Share Posted January 22, 2010 If you like RPGs, set up the VIC20 and play the new game Realms of Quest III. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted January 22, 2010 Author Share Posted January 22, 2010 If you like RPGs, set up the VIC20 and play the new game Realms of Quest III. Looks nice. I might have to look into that. I don't have a disk drive though (how many Vic disks got released anyway, everything was cart or tape). Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtariLeaf Posted January 22, 2010 Share Posted January 22, 2010 Thanks for the response. That vic-20 multicart looks fantastic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted January 24, 2010 Author Share Posted January 24, 2010 Well I managed to get them all setup this weekend. My breakthrough came when I saw a picture on one of the TI-99 sites where someone had their PEB on its side. I never thought of doing that before! So I put the PEB in the space on my computer desk that a computer tower would normally go in and freed up space on the top for the Vic-20 (the TI itself is now on the keyboard drawer and fits perfectly). The Mac Plus is on my other computer desk because I forgot how small of a footprint it takes up and I had room there all along. Now I just need to figure out where to put all those TI cartridges! I was playing around withe Vic-20 multicart last night. There are some nice games on the Vic! I was really impressed by the Vic version of Donkey Kong. It's no Atari 8-bit, but it's still a great version. Two questions though: 1. Is it worth getting a disk drive for the Vic-20? I know where I can get one, but how many games came on disk? Are most of them on the Megacart? 2. Is it worth keeping a tape drive hooked up to the Vic? Are most of the best ones on the Megacart? Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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