74 replies to this topic

[donssword]

it's written by a kid

Sounds great! It would be great to support a budding community gamer, after all, I was a kid once myself.

Uncle Scrooge's Money Bin
Its a tower platforming game. Uncle Scrooge must platform jump to the top of each level as his alarm system activates. A red line chase you up. Some platforms have power-ups (extra time, extra lives), and some will crumble. Graphically is looks really nice, as the background are well made, like all the Disney games from Jakks.

Minnie's Cake Factory
A timing match game. Minnie stands at the end of a conveyor belt, pulling a lever to drop toppings on cakes. OVer the conveyor belt are 4 or 4 boxes with the different cake toppings. Gameplay is more about timing the drop of the toppings and less about matching.

Goofy's Wiseacre Farm
This is a line drawing game. Goofy rides a tractor around the field circling the crops. Each time he circles a crop, it changes to its next state of growth. I haven't played it in a while, but I think it goes: tilled soil, planted seed, sprout, full grown, harvested. It you can get a crop plot harvested you get lots of point. The whole time, chickens are running around like Pac-man ghosts, and eventually grows that downgrade the level of your crops appear. Power-ups appear around the field to scare crows, make you immune to chickens, speed you up, etc.

I'll try and post descriptions of the rest later.

[onmode-ky]

So far, what I know that's coming up in 2012 in the plug-n-play category:

- Jakks Pacific - The Walking Dead - light-gun-style shooter based on the TV show
- Jakks Pacific - Cut the Rope - touchpad interface; based on the phone game
- Namco Bandai (Bandai America) - Pac-Man Connect-and-Play - allegedly emulated collection of 11 Namco games + direct link to Pac-Man board 255 - existing thread for this
- Jazwares - Fruit Ninja - prop-based motion interface; based on the phone game

So, at least two new firms coming into the category this year. Is this the beginning of a resurgence, or will they drop out shortly afterward due to low sales? Speaking of which, Jakks Pacific cited their Golden Tee Golf TV Game as an underperforming title from their 2011 lineup. And, that AtGames iMuga site I referred to in my previous post in this topic has disappeared.

onmode-ky

[BioForceApe]

I think you might be in the minority. From what I've read, Color Dreams was one of those "renegade" publishers of NES games, not actually approved/licensed by Nintendo, and their games were generally considered to be pretty bad. I've never played any of them, so I have no opinion of my own to offer, but the reputation is rather poor. I think they were the ones who had plans for a "supercart," though, with its own CPU (a Z-80?) overriding the NES', so at least they had some interesting ideas (the project was scrapped, however). I read all this stuff somewhere online, but I don't remember where.

I suppose if you're the collecting type, this device from Pelican would have been a good way to get a bunch of Color Dreams' games, though not on original carts. I wonder how well they sold.

onmode-ky

You missed one. The ATGames PlayPal Plug and Play, otherwise known as the POGA and the FunPlay 20-in-1, the "Time "Plug and Play" ", or the "PowerShock" in spain.

[onmode-ky]

I think you might be in the minority. From what I've read, Color Dreams was one of those "renegade" publishers of NES games, not actually approved/licensed by Nintendo, and their games were generally considered to be pretty bad. I've never played any of them, so I have no opinion of my own to offer, but the reputation is rather poor. I think they were the ones who had plans for a "supercart," though, with its own CPU (a Z-80?) overriding the NES', so at least they had some interesting ideas (the project was scrapped, however). I read all this stuff somewhere online, but I don't remember where.

I suppose if you're the collecting type, this device from Pelican would have been a good way to get a bunch of Color Dreams' games, though not on original carts. I wonder how well they sold.

onmode-ky

You missed one. The ATGames PlayPal Plug and Play, otherwise known as the POGA and the FunPlay 20-in-1, the "Time "Plug and Play" ", or the "PowerShock" in spain.

I'm pretty sure the system you're talking about is the same as the one in my list as "sega sms/gg 20-in-1 (js, na) sega **12/09/2006 *12/31/2006 12/08/2007" (which is an abbreviation for "Sega Master System/Game Gear 20-in-1 (joystick form factor, native hardware), known announced on 12/09/2006, known listed for sale on 12/31/2006, known in existence on 12/08/2007"). It's listed under PlayPal, because that was one of the first names under which it appeared, and I never could determine who the original manufacturer was. I'd have guessed known Sega licensor AtGames--and it's AtGames, not ATGames, incidentally--but I don't think AtGames was associated with the very first releases of the system. If they were, they hid it well. Oh, and I know it says "js" for "joystick," while your video clip shows something with a D-pad; the "js" bit is really to differentiate from the handheld version, with the built-in LCD screen. Early shots of the TV-connection-only version had an actual stick, which was topped by a white-gloved fist. The intention was for the whole system to look like Sonic running with his arm extended out sideways.

I also have a separate entry under AtGames, "*sega sms/gg 20-in-1 pad (licensed by time co., na) 12/28/2008," which I'm fairly certain is the exact same thing. Any other names under which this system was released I decided not to include separately, because they're, well, the same thing, and in all those cases, I have little doubt that it's AtGames now producing them under an OEM arrangement.

The recently announced NeoGeo X will eventually be in the list, since it's supposed to have the ability to connect to a TV, but it's currently yet another case of my not being sure who actually makes (is going to make) the thing. Blaze Europe is distributing (in Europe) and has so far done the only press announcement for it, but as Blaze's Atari Flashback 3 and Sega Mega Drive products all actually come from AtGames, I'd wager the NeoGeo X is not "really" their own product as well.

By the way, did you quote my 2005 post by accident? I can't see any relation between the quoted text and what you wrote.

onmode-ky

[BioForceApe]

Oop sorry. I tried to quote "your list of games" but I clicked to quote the second post on accident...

Plus, the sound chip on the plug and play game I posted has a different pitch (1 semitone far from the SMS/GG's sound key programming) and I dont know why.

Edited by BioForceApe, Sat Mar 31, 2012 8:25 PM.

[high voltage]

If you search on Digital Press, they got a comprehensive PnP listing, I think it coverd over 150 already. Might be useful.

here's mine:

[onmode-ky]

I've just discovered a few more upcoming systems in Jakks Pacific's TV Games line, from a March 30th blog post. The source is a press release, which I found on Google, but I can't find an actual press date for the document (the file itself has an early January date, but I don't think it was published until at least Toy Fair).

The new systems, like the previously discovered, upcoming Cut the Rope port, use touchpad interfaces. Here's what the press release says about them:

• SpongeBob SquarePants TV Games Touch: For all SpongeBob SquarePants fans, this adventure features Spongetastic puzzle games that are action packed and hilarious just like everyone’s favorite SpongeBob. Gamers can touch, drag, point and tap the screen to control the action! SRP $19.99 (ages 5+)

• Star Wars TVG Touch: Gamers can play classic Jedi battles, fly ships, duel with their Lightsaber and blast away Droids to protect the galaxy. To defeat the Dark Side and save the Republic, simply touch, drag, point and tap the screen to control the action! SRP $19.99 (ages 5+)

• Spider-Man TVG Touch: Sling webs and bash baddies with Spider-Man! By touching, dragging, pointing and tapping the controller, Spider-Man’s fans can battle his most notorious villains like Doctor Octopus, Green Goblin, and more! SRP $19.99 (ages 5+)

Basically, Jakks is launching the TV Games Touch line with their most popular TV Games licenses. Note that these three properties were also part of their TV Games Motion launch (not to be confused with their earlier Ultimotion line).

If you search on Digital Press, they got a comprehensive PnP listing, I think it coverd over 150 already. Might be useful.

You're talking about the really long discussion thread in the DP forum, that had a title like "Unofficial TV Plug-and-Play Games List," right? For some reason, I can't locate that thread anymore, but I do know about it. The last time I looked at it, though, its most recent activity was in early 2009, so it's likely quite out of date. Besides, even if there are over 150 systems covered in it, between my two lists, I cover over 300. :) Thanks, anyway. I don't cover bootlegs/pirates, though, and I think the Systema systems in your pictures are unlicensed collections of pirated/hacked Atari VCS and NES/Famicom games. The sudoku one looks like a repackaging of the sudoku game distributed in the US by Senario.

onmode-ky

Edit: It appears that the 3 Jakks titles mentioned above are re-releases of earlier TV Games systems, adapted for touchpad controls. And, they apparently really were shown off at Toy Fair. Projected release in August.

Edited by onmode-ky, Wed Apr 4, 2012 1:15 PM.

[onmode-ky]

I've kept watch for new activity for 2013 in the plug-n-play games market, looking through CES and NY Toy Fair media online, and my conclusion is: the ghost town that has been the PnP market for years will be nearly a null void this year. The only inkling of a new release I could find was a light-gun-style shooting game from Jakks Pacific, the Star Wars Clone Wars Blaster that had a mock-up product box at Toy Fair. They've done one such game each year since 2009, with only 2010's Toy Story Mania model not being developed by Merge Interactive (used to be known as Super Happy Fun Fun). And, coincidentally, Merge's website reported in December that they had signed a new contract for a project with Jakks.

Last year, Toy Fair revealed new plug-n-play products coming from Bandai America (the Pac-Man Connect-and-Play), Jazwares (a Fruit Ninja tie-in that, like the Fruit Ninja electronic accessories that were simultaneously announced, never released--so maybe Jazwares' license collapsed), and Jakks Pacific (their Walking Dead light gun game and their touchpad TV Games did release, but not the Cut the Rope model they announced). This year, in contrast, nothing at all from anyone besides Jakks, who has just one. Sure, later this year, maybe AtGames will do yet another set of Atari Flashback and Sega Genesis/Mega Drive emulation units, but those are becoming like the sports games of plug-n-play. This looks the deadest year for plug-n-play since the resurgence ~10 years ago, by far.

It's kind of a pity, too. In 2011, systems from Jakks Pacific proved that the relatively new Generalplus chips were powerful enough to do not only fairly good emulation of older arcade hardware (Code Mystics' Taito Space Invaders TV Game system--remember that everything else retro from Jakks had been ported, not emulated), but even polygon graphics. Really, I played the 2011 Golden Tee Golf TV Game system (developed by HotGen) recently, and the course landscapes in that are polygon maps (trees and shrubs are size-scaled sprites, though). Radica's Golden Tee Golf from about 5 years earlier was all 2D, overhead views, aside from tee-off. The tech is so much more capable now . . . but the market has moved on. C'est la vie.

onmode-ky

[raindog]

I think with stuff like GameStick becoming available for under $100, in a year or two we might see another wave of plug-and-plays with HDMI, a wireless stick, and an Android-based emulator and/or licensed games. You can roll your own for about 50 bucks right now, but not with an arcade stick or any sort of legitimacy.

If there is another wave, I doubt it'll succeed... 20-25 years is usually the sweet spot for nostalgia. Space Invaders turns 40 in about 4 years. It's no longer the game today's kids' parents played.... it's becoming the game their grandparents played. But who knows, those Victrola-style CD players were doing pretty well for a while there.

Still hoping to get one more great Namco-collection-on-a-stick, though.

[onmode-ky]

A correction to my previous post: 2011 was actually not the first time polygon graphics appeared in a plug-n-play game system. It has come to my attention that the 2009 Star Wars Clone Wars game I described in the fifth paragraph of this post actually used polygons, not just sprites, though I completely did not notice at the time I wrote the post. At any rate, it was built on the same hardware as the 2011 Golden Tee Golf system, and it's apparently not the only 2009 Jakks Pacific release that had polygon graphics.

I think with stuff like GameStick becoming available for under $100, in a year or two we might see another wave of plug-and-plays with HDMI, a wireless stick, and an Android-based emulator and/or licensed games.

You're not the first person I've heard make this prediction (or at least a similar one), but I'm skeptical of the chances that will happen. HDMI will increase the cost of the product, as would wireless, and I don't think it provides any increased incentive for a consumer to buy a plug-n-play system. If there are already very few people buying them now at the $20 to $40 range, would a widescreen and progressive scan image really convince them to buy otherwise equivalent products for more money? There would likely be no increase in resolution, simply due to the limits of what the rest of the hardware could do, so it would probably be 480p at best. The nature of the games content would probably be about the same (licensed content based on established gaming genres--retro game content has not done well in plug-n-play lately, so we could probably forget about that), so with that element being unchanged and without the incentive of downloading new games that things like Ouya and the GameStick promise, I don't see HDMI-capable dedicated systems successfully reopening the market.

But maybe you'll be right, and the toy companies will try the idea out. They're certainly looking for some way to fight the invasion of tablets into their space, and last year's "app toys" attempts were 90% failures, based on an estimate I read at a toy industry news site.

onmode-ky

[onmode-ky]

I've done another of my periodic updates to my plug-n-play info website, as well as attaching an updated pair of pnpgames*.txt files to the first post in this topic. However, the new content is either disappointing (only one new 2013 plug-n-play product discovered since the last update, for a total of just two upcoming products* I know of) or likely of interest only to data-hoarders like me (newly discovered details about a few unreleased projects from years past). The main reason I'm writing this post is to share a photo.

I know there are some people who collect plug-n-play games. My own collection can't possibly compete with theirs in size. However, I've never known of anyone putting their plug-n-play boxes into any kind of display--anyone besides me, that is. Here's what I did with several of my plug-n-play boxes:



From left to right, forming a backdrop for a great battle between Duel Maid factions, we have boxes for:

- Namco I (Pac-Man - this is the original cardboard box design, with the long "lip")
- Namco II (Ms. Pac-Man - one of the first units to use the short "lip" packaging)
- Classic Arcade Pinball (3 proprietary tables)
- Atari Paddles Deluxe 2-Player
- Dragonball Z (can't say I'm very familiar with the manga/anime, but this unit has the best ball-and-paddle game design I've seen since Warlords)
- Capcom
- Namco III (Super Pac-Man - I'm fortunate I got one of these in the cardboard box packaging, just before Jakks Pacific switched them to blister packs)
- [Sakura Taisen GB, Pocket Sakura Pack, with Pocket Sakura on top - not a plug-n-play game, obviously, but going from left to right, this is what's there]
- Kenshin Dragon Quest (there's actually a second box behind the visible one; the first one of these I got had a dead sensor array and thus was unplayable--and the second one now has the same problem, actually :( )
- Taito (Jakks Pacific's model, this plastic box is in front of the Kenshin Dragon Quest; the little white knickknack on top of it, behind its white handle, is just something I put there)

There are also some PS3 and PSP special edition game boxes stacked atop the boxes described above. The boxes for my C64 DTV (plastic pyramid box) and Atari Flashback 2 (large cardboard box) are stored elsewhere, not in a "display" environment, and my Namco IV (blister pack) and Namco V (plastic box) are kept at my parents' home.

Overall, a row of vividly colorful boxes, fronted by a vividly colorful diorama. Looks good to me.

onmode-ky

*Both of the upcoming products are light-gun-style games developed by Merge Interactive for Jakks Pacific, a Star Wars: The Clone Wars title and a Duck Commander (Duck Dynasty) title.

[onmode-ky]

I've made what is likely to be the last update of 2013 to my plug-n-play info website, including the latest pair of pnpgames*.txt files (also attached to this thread's first post). The main updates of note: all post-2007 AtGames Sega Genesis/Mega Drive systems are now identified as running their games natively rather than through an emulation layer (and the chips AtGames uses for its Sega products have been added to the CPU data table); both of Jakks Pacific's 2013 models (Duck Commander and Star Wars Clone Trooper light-gun-style games) are now dated with actual retail appearances; AtGames' Intellivision announcement is included; some older AtGames systems have had their game lists added to the Retro Contents page; a nifty easter egg in a (non-retro) new release has been added to the hidden codes section. As usual, my site's revision history lists all the changes in detail.

So far, it still looks like 2013 will only have 2 new products in the plug-n-play category, the gun games from Jakks. AtGames announced the Intellivision tie-up, but it was revealed so recently that I think there's a good chance there won't be an actual release from the venture during 2013. They also have other products in the works, but given that they haven't been revealed yet at all, it's difficult to say what might arrive before the end of the year. All in all, the Intellivision announcement spices things up a bit, but 2013 is still on track to be the deadest year for plug-n-play since the market's revival.

onmode-ky

[raindog]

I've never known of anyone putting their plug-n-play boxes into any kind of display--anyone besides me, that is.

 

Missed this post the first time around -- see below. Not my complete collection -- lost about a dozen to a flood a couple years ago, and half a dozen others are MIA somewhere in a huge pile of unmarked moving boxes. But close enough at this point. I realized I'd never be a completist when they started doing the children's movie license stuff, so it's simultaneously incomplete and, in retrospect, excessive.

 

 

All in all, the Intellivision announcement spices things up a bit, but 2013 is still on track to be the deadest year for plug-n-play since the market's revival.

 

That's the first plug-n-play I've been interested in since that last Pac-Man one. I'd be pretty surprised if they got Intellivision emulation up and running (unless the Intellivision Lives guys did an ARM port or something), so I just hope they find a way to do justice to the original controller, and not just replace it with a generic Famiclone-style pad again.

[brojamfootball]

Hmmm, I have not seen that Commando/Ghosts and Goblins before.

[raindog]

Found it in (I think) Target years ago. It's by Jakks, is "GameKey Ready", and also includes 1942. It survived the flood but I've never opened it to see what it's like.

 

I think it's this entry in onmode-ky's list:

capcom (gk)			hotgen						**02/18/2004

[onmode-ky]

Not my complete collection -- lost about a dozen to a flood a couple years ago, and half a dozen others are MIA somewhere in a huge pile of unmarked moving boxes. But close enough at this point.

Wow, an entire bookcase! Are any of those opened (all of mine are)?
 

That's the first plug-n-play I've been interested in since that last Pac-Man one. I'd be pretty surprised if they got Intellivision emulation up and running (unless the Intellivision Lives guys did an ARM port or something), so I just hope they find a way to do justice to the original controller, and not just replace it with a generic Famiclone-style pad again.

AtGames might not be using ARM-based chips anymore. Given that their current Genesis systems are all GOACs, they may have switched architectures for other projects, too. But, I'm just nitpicking here, and I do think it's likely that the Intellivision will be emulated, ARM or whatever. Bill Loguidice feels they're going for a fair amount of authenticity with the project.

Personally, the last plug-n-play that got me really interested was the 2011 Taito one that Jakks did, which you also have. The fact that Code Mystics developed it with their emulation engine played a big part in it catching my eye. More recently, I was also rather interested in this year's Star Wars Clone Trooper game (enough to drive half an hour into unfamiliar territory to find one), but that was more out of curiosity regarding certain technical aspects of it rather than personal interest.
 

Hmmm, I have not seen that Commando/Ghosts and Goblins before.

Sure you have! It's in my picture up above, in post #61! :) It's at a different angle in my shot, though, and I only mention it in my picture's description as "Capcom." raindog is right; that one is the "capcom (gk)" line in my list. I remember that when I saw the press release about it in 2004, I was very excited, because 1942 was the exact title I was really hoping to see in one of these retro plug-n-plays. Little did I know it would be nearly 2 years before it was actually released--and then when it did, it seemingly was restricted to Canada for many months. I gave up waiting for it to show up in my local stores and asked a relative in Vancouver to get me one from a Future Shop/Best Buy (thus, mine has a bilingual box). I think I only ended up seeing it in a store myself one time, in a Toys 'R Us a long time later. Thankfully, it fully lived up to expectations when I finally did get and play it. The ports of the 3 games play very well. I think you should open yours up, raindog.

Incidentally, while some Capcom games for the Genesis have seen plug-n-play releases, no other Capcom arcade plug-n-play ever got released--but Jakks Pacific had plans for more. As noted at my site, ports for Mega Man, Section Z, Gun.Smoke, and Mega Man 2 were all worked on, by two different studios at different times, and the latter pair were even completed and ESRB-rated. The former pair, meanwhile, seem to have been started on even before the games that did get released.

Say, if anyone here has a Flashback 3 or 4 (the AtGames Flashbacks), would you mind opening it up and posting a picture of its PCB? One of my first clues that AtGames had switched processors on their Genesis systems was from a picture of a recent model's PCB, which had some ID data silk screened on it. I'd like to see if the Flashbacks may have that as well.

onmode-ky

P.S. I recently took a photo of the PCB in a Bandai Pac-Man Connect-and-Play (2012). It has an 8-MB SDRAM module (overkill for those games?), 2 glob tops (presumably ROM and MCU), something I think is an EEPROM (save data), and no useful text printed anywhere. :( Bandai implied in its PR statements that the system ran on emulation, but I still don't know what chip it uses.

[raindog]

Almost none of the blister packs are opened... which made it all the more disappointing when I found the 3 mini Atari pnps (on a keychain) I had, floating in water, only to discover that water had still gotten into them and corroded everything. (Several of the Atgames ones with the weird asymmetrical packaging and styrofoam inside, the same shape as the Sonic one next to the Commodore in my picture, were floating too, but there was no question they were toast.) I opened the C64 one the day I got it because it was just plastic and cardboard scotch-taped to a styrofoam base. I opened the early Namco, Atari and Activision ones that weren't in blister packs, then lost the packaging for the Activision one which is why it's not on display (not even sure where it is).

 

Most of them are unopened. Not because I think they'll be worth something someday, but because there are a lot of things I just haven't cared about as much since my partner died six years ago. He and I liked playing things like Kaboom (sadly never adequately represented in pnps since it wasn't included in any of the paddle collections) and Pong and every once in a while, Pac-Man or Ms. Pac-Man. Since then I've gotten a few pnps out of habit, but missed a bunch of them during his illness and several years afterward. (The other thing is, having lost some clients during his illness when I didn't adequately balance billing hours with taking care of him, while I'd drop 40 bucks after tax and shipping on a pnp in 2004 the way most people would order a coffee, spending 40 bucks is a decision I have to actually think about even now, making impulse buying something I used to do.)

 

These days I'm happy enough playing emulators on my Android TV stick with a wireless controller and HDMI output, our TV being big enough to represent even portrait mode games bigger than they were in the arcade. My girl plays console games as far back as the PS2 -- as I type this, she's having a conversation with someone in the "Honest Hearts" add-on to Fallout New Vegas -- but having been a PC gamer till we met, even N64 games seem primitive to her, so "old arcade games on a stick" isn't something we can enjoy together. So I haven't opened any more of them in his absence. I don't know that I ever will. But they're brightly colored and to me, fun to look at (well, except for that mini-golf motion controlled one up on top that was in the back of my station wagon for a year and a half between two moves; that one's not so colorful anymore).

 

PNPs are something I used to be excited about. Now I'm merely interested.

[onmode-ky]

We've come (pretty much) to the end of 2013, and it was indeed the deadest year in plug-n-play in a long time. After Black Friday, Jakks Pacific's Duck Commander and Star Wars Clone Trooper light gun games were joined in the 2013 new product lineup by two AtGames releases, the Atari Flashback 64 and a 60-in-1 version of the Sega Genesis Classic Game Console (both being wired-controller, fewer-games versions of 2012 AtGames products, namely the Atari Flashback 4 and the 80-in-1 Genesis, respectively). So, at 4 new systems, 2013 matches 2003, when Jakks Pacific also released 2 products (the first Namco and SpongeBob SquarePants TV Games systems), as did Techno Source (Intellivision 10 and 25).

There's no way to know how full or empty 2014 will be for the plug-n-play market right now, but at least the outlook seems bright for retro video games fans. AtGames will have the original 3-way video game battle on stage, with their Intellivision and ColecoVision plug-n-play systems joining their Atari Flashback series. With any luck, those will be executed well. Also of note, AtGames will be releasing phone apps for Intellivision and ColecoVision, thus covering both home and mobile arenas. As for other plug-n-play systems besides AtGames', well, I'd like to see something besides just light gun games.

Incidentally, coming shortly after my 8th AtariAge anniversary, this is my 500th post. :) It took 4 years to reach my 100th post, so I seem to have pushed the Turbo button somewhere along the way.

onmode-ky

[TrekkiELO]

We've come (pretty much) to the end of 2013, and it was indeed the deadest year in plug-n-play in a long time. After Black Friday, Jakks Pacific's Duck Commander and Star Wars Clone Trooper light gun games were joined in the 2013 new product lineup by two AtGames releases, the Atari Flashback 64 and a 60-in-1 version of the Sega Genesis Classic Game Console (both being wired-controller, fewer-games versions of 2012 AtGames products, namely the Atari Flashback 4 and the 80-in-1 Genesis, respectively).

onmode-ky

 

Could you please post a link for the 2013 AtGames Sega Genesis Classic Game Console with 60 games and wired controllers? I've yet to see it!

 

Edited by TrekkiELO, Sat Dec 14, 2013 1:24 AM.

[onmode-ky]

Unfortunately, I can't post a link because I can't find any reference to it anywhere online. I described the contents of the system in this post in the Atari Flashback 64 thread (kind of strange that the only Sonic game is Spinball). It's available at Walmart stores, but I couldn't find a listing for it on their website. I can tell you that the box doesn't look markedly different from AtGames' box for the 80-in-1, just with the number "60" on it instead of "80," and wired controllers in the photo.

And in looking for a picture of last year's box, I've found two more AtGames Genesis systems that I think are new for 2013--sort of. This 90-in-1 (whose listing appears to have been around since early in the year) and this 92-in-1 have the word "Deluxe" on the box, but they appear to be just the 80-in-1 packaged along with a 10-in-1 or 12-in-1 cartridge, respectively. And the contents of the extra carts are not more Sega games (so you still only get the 40 that the 80-in-1 had), nor any other retro content, but rather just generic unlicensed stuff; the 12-in-1's titles are "dino games," yay! I'm not sure if I should add these two to my list. Sure, I tracked Jakks Pacific's "system + GameKey" bundles back in the day, but the extra carts here just contain random shovelware, rather than actual new content.

onmode-ky

[onmode-ky]

Over the years, when investigating recent plug-n-play systems, I have occasionally come across something on the Internet that sounds like a system not recorded in my files--but then when I go to add the system, I realize that it's actually already in the list, albeit with a different name from what I just saw. This has happened enough times that I finally decided to make a reference list for alternate names by which certain systems are known. For many of these entries, the alternate name just adds a subtitle which may or may not be written on the packaging. Now, this info is likely of interest to very, very few people, but I figured I ought to make it available just so future confusion can be avoided, even if only by me. So, here is the list (left side is how the system is recorded in my files; right side has the alternate name(s)):
 

- jakks pacific alternate names
blue's clues			blue's clues coloring with blue
winnie the pooh			disney piglet's special day
scooby-doo			scooby-doo and the mystery of the castle
power rangers			power rangers spd escape of the five fugitives
avatar				avatar the last airbender book one challenges
thomas the tank engine		thomas & friends right on time
sesame street			sesame street beat featuring elmo
go diego go			go diego go rainforest animal rescue
namco pac-man arcade gold	arcade gold featuring pac-man
pirates of the caribbean	pirates of the caribbean islands of fortune
cheetah girls			cheetah girls passport to fame
dora smart cookie		dora the explorer dora saves the mermaids
go diego go smart cookie	go diego go aztec abc adventure
thomas smart cookie		thomas the tank engine learning circus express
hannah montana			hannah montana one in a million
hannah montana deluxe		hannah montana best of both worlds
disney princess sleeping beauty	disney princess sleeping beauty tales of enchantment
spider-man sharp cookie		spider-man great math caper
high school musical		high school musical all together now
scooby-doo sharp cookie		scooby-doo smart cookie (misnomer), scooby-doo the pirate's puzzles
g2 hannah montana guitar	hannah montana pop tour
namco pac-man retro arcade	retro arcade featuring pac-man
disney princess cinderella	disney princess cinderella once upon a midnight
taito space invaders		retro arcade featuring space invaders

I will be replicating this info at my plug-n-play data website, and like much of the plug-n-play data I post at AtariAge, any subsequent updates will be made there only (since I'm not inclined to go requesting indefinite edit privileges on a bunch of AA forum posts). Speaking of updates, if anyone has further name equivalences they think should be added to this list, please let me know.

Incidentally, a few weeks ago, I added a new pnpgames.*.txt file to the first post in this topic. Its only differences from the immediately prior file are a few AtGames systems (including the addition of their upcoming ColecoVision system) and the data I scrounged together recently about SMS/GG systems from around 2006/2007. I'm already working on the next pnpgames.*.txt file, what with the research I did on alternate names having also resulted in a few updates and new-old finds.

onmode-ky

[onmode-ky]

The annual American International Toy Fair was a few days ago, and after poking around the Internet for news from it, I finally did find some news related to plug-n-play . . . but not related to classic gaming. AtGames doesn't seem to have announced or shown anything relating to their Intellivision and ColecoVision projects, but Jakks Pacific did reveal a new branch to their TV Games plug-n-play line: Hero Portal. As noted in a press release shown in this February 15th blog post (text search the page for "hero portal"):
 

New from JAKKS Pacific comes the next generation in Plug It In and Play TV Games: Hero Portal! Select your favorite hero, place them on the portal and instantly punch, kick, and jump your way through 6 levels of an action-packed video game. Swap in different heroes to complete different challenges, discover secret levels, and unlock special powers. As with all of JAKKS TV Games titles, the Hero Portal simply plugs into the A/V jacks of any standard TV and contains all the games with no additional consoles or software required. Choose your hero and get started! (SRP $39.99, Ages 8+)

I found pictures and a brief video showing the product (or rather a prototype) in action at Tom's Guide. It looks like the initial rollout this summer will consist of (cross-incompatible) editions based on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Power Rangers, and DC Universe properties. Basically, these are budget renditions of Skylanders and Disney Infinity, built on other IP; the Mattel Hyperscan concept returns to the toymaker arena, with newer technology.

At this point, I haven't found out who's actually developing these games and what kind of hardware they run on, but I'll be on the lookout for that info. Incidentally, I added some newly discovered info about a pair of finished but unreleased ~2007 plug-n-play projects to my website yesterday.

onmode-ky

[onmode-ky]

I thought I'd make a post with all the ToysRUs.com links for AtGames 2014 plug-n-play system preorders (originally first referenced in the Intellivision section's topic for their Flashback):

- ColecoVision Flashback

- Intellivision Flashback

- Atari Flashback 5

- Sega Classic Game Console 2

Each product entry has our first public picture of the system and the box (in the case of the ColecoVision Flashback and I think also the Sega CGC2, the box shown is a placeholder, not final). Also, we didn't know how many games were going to be in each system before these box images popped up. Amusingly, the CV Flashback is the only one that attributes manufacturing to AtGames--but even then, it's written as "AT Games" instead. The others claim Mattel, Atari, and Sega for manufacturer.

onmode-ky

[onmode-ky]

Several of 2014's scheduled plug-n-play releases have now appeared in stores (some earlier than intended, in the case of AtGames' Flashbacks), so I thought I'd add a new post about the new developments to this thread. Incidentally, this is my 600th AtariAge forum post.

On the retro gaming front, the ColecoVision Flashback, Intellivision Flashback, and Atari Flashback 5 (possibly also the 2014 edition of the Sega Genesis Classic Game Console, though I'm not sure if I just have some crossed wires in my memories; can anyone confirm?) showed up at Toys 'R Us stores over a month before AtGames' planned release date. As told in one of the main Flashback threads (the CV FB one or the INTV FB one), by a store manager to one of us (nurmix?), the Flashbacks had the October 1st release date marked in their databases, but unlike most "hold until X day" products that TRU deals with, no warning notices were on the shipping boxes. Therefore, the systems were put onto the shelves, with only the cash registers flagging them as pre-release when someone tried to buy one. I surmised that maybe the warning notices were missing because AtGames, being new to picking a specific date of release for their products (as far as I can recall, they've never done this before), didn't know about the protocol.

Earlier last month, also on TRU shelves (legitimately :P), the first 2014 Jakks Pacific products began showing up. The TMNT Hero Portal TV Game system appeared first, followed by the DC Super Heroes model, and the final, Power Rangers model is at least available from TRU's online store. More recently, these showed up at my local Walmart. I picked one up, and lo and behold, the processor was not under a glob-top, but rather what looks to me like a Quad Flat Package--with the chip model number printed on it! It's a Generalplus GPL32612, meaning that Jakks' plug-n-play video games have moved from 16-bit, unSP-architecture microcontrollers to 32-bit, ARM-architecture microcontrollers: plug-n-play's equivalent of a generation transition. Elsewhere on the PCB was a 128-MB NAND memory chip, double the secondary storage of Jakks' previous largest sizes (Jakks' gun games this year--of which I've seen the new Walking Dead entry on eBay so far but nowhere else--are also using 128-MB NANDs, so it's across the board for the TV Games line).

Still, even with the technology having been updated for the first time in 6 years, the Hero Portal games don't really look a ton more advanced than recent products in Jakks' TV Games line. Maybe this is because their go-to chip for the last half decade, the GPL16250, was already pretty capable, with VGA resolution, a large color palette, hardware sprite scaling, and basic 3D capabilities. At any rate, these Hero Portal titles aren't really an ideal demo for any new capabilities; the main games are 2D beat 'em-ups. I think the foreground graphics are polygonal, but the camera is always a side view, so it's not easy to tell. The main clue is the high animation frame rate. In some of the mini-games, you do get to see some objects from multiple angles, though. Speaking of the mini-games, it appears that all 3 Hero Portal games use the same set of mini-games (with different graphics, of course), including shooting gallery and infinite runner types, as well as vehicular combat types with viewpoints similar to OutRun and Space Harrier. Similarly, all 3 games seem to share level layouts to some degree, plus certain background graphics. I guess that's how they could build 3 new games on completely new hardware in a short time. :/

onmode-ky

P.S. I've updated the first post in this topic with the CPU details for the ColecoVision Flashback and DC Super Heroes Hero Portal system, as well as a new packaging evolution entry for Hero Portal.

[onmode-ky]

In my most recent update to my plug-n-play games information website, I added some information which I think will be useful in years to come: in the Retro Plug-n-Play Video Game System Contents page, I've begun adding notes beside game titles if there are significant bugs in the games as reproduced on that system. It's important to note that I don't mean characteristics and behaviors that are the result of inaccurate porting, but rather actual unintended elements, clearly not meant to be that way. Here are the specific entries from my page so far:

# jakks pacific
- capcom - commando (bug, still playable: attract screen incorrectly claims bonus lives beyond the first are given every 500,000 points; is actually every 60,000 points)
- namco pac-man retro arcade - xevious (bug, still playable: enemy mapping incorrect, only in this release; note: 4-way stick)

# atari
- atari flashback 2 - millipede (bug, not fully playable: first fb2 revision, using gcc's millipede prototype instead of later revisions' atari millipede, can lose vertical hold on some tvs)

# atgames
- atari flashback 3/4/64 - battlezone (bug, still playable: radar and sound dropouts)
- atari flashback 3 - secret quest (bug, not fully playable: no status screen access due to absent color/b&w switch)
- intellivision flashback - tower of doom (bug, not fully playable: no enemy encounters)
- colecovision flashback - the heist (bug, still playable: half-speed gameplay)

If anyone knows of any other major bugs in plug-n-play recreations of retro games, please let me know! Also, as seen in one of the examples above, I've taken to flagging games which are meant to be played with an 8-way stick but are on systems equipped with a 4-way stick. Please let me know if you know of other examples besides certain Jakks Pacific renditions of Bosconian (not shown in the bugs list above) and Xevious. For the record, there are a few Jakks Pacific models which let you play Bosconian and Xevious with an 8-way stick.

Another part of my website update is the discovery (by me, anyway; it seems some other people at AtariAge knew of this already) of a separately sold Namco GameKey, ca. 2005, containing Pac-Man and Bosconian. What's particularly interesting about this is that both of these games are already on one of the Namco GameKeys I had already known about; one year, there was a Walmart-exclusive holiday bundle for the Ms. Pac-Man (Namco II) Namco TV Game system which included 2 GameKeys, and one of those contained Rally-X, Pac-Man, and Bosconian. So, in total, there were at least 3 Namco GameKeys released, of which 1 was available outside of bundles but whose contents were a subset of the contents on one of the bundled keys. A decade later, and I'm still finding "new" stuff!

In the way of new new stuff, the ESRB recently revealed something I'm rather interested in. Do you like side-scrolling shooters? Do you like How to Train Your Dragon? If you're like me and answered yes to both of those questions, keep an eye out for Jakks Pacific's fourth entry in their Hero Portal line, as described in this ESRB rating. :) While I'm not that excited about having to buy 2 pairs of separately sold figures to gain access to the full game (Hero Portals are like Skylanders and Disney Infinity), I might make an exception for a side-scrolling shooter based on DreamWorks Dragons. No idea when it releases, though.

onmode-ky