Norannyo

thanks guys. absolutely love these Atari games..

ok , so i've probably got to open the machine up and look at the select button? what should I look for specifically? does anyone know? Also I just got some more pickups from the flea market.. although I remmeber playing Atari 2600, and 7800 when I was a kid, i'm still quite new to the setups.. So I picked up some paddles.. I don't actually understand how they work, even after reading Dauber's post. So For instance, Let's say I put in Centipede. As Dauber mentioned, I press the buttons on the paddes, one paddle button goes left, one goes right on the other paddle. Confusing to be honest. Is this right? Or is it just a game mode that it's defaulted to because my select button may not be working? I was expecting me to be able to play a one player game with just ONE of the paddles.. is this possible? by selecting a different game type? if the button worked? Also side note: I just bought and played Food Fight for the first time, it's awesome!

ahh yes.. you are correct. Although I knew this ahead of time, I made an assumption it was just "recommended" to play with the paddles. So I guess I'll be on the hunt for a couple of those. One thing I noticed was when I pressed the reset button, Infiltrate worked fine.. Combat works, but I am unable to choose anything other than Tank levels. How do you select the planes, or different options. I tried select, and reset, but they don't really respond. Perhaps something wrong with the select button?

Hey guys, I'm really starting to like these forums,, like minded gamers. anyway.. I got a few thrift store pickups today, I got 4 2600 games to play on my 7800. Actually since I'm new to collecting for the 7800, I only have 2600 games, as they are somewhat easier to come by. All my 2600 games work, except the ones I got today. I got Super Breakout, Combat, Street Racer, Infiltrate. I put each one in, every time they showed up on the screen.. I could see the game, but I could not control it. Put some of the ones I knew worked before back in, like DigDug, and it fired up fine and works with the awful 7800 controller. So I put the genesis controller in, and same thing.. no controls.. for example, Super Breakout comes up looks alright with some noise, but it doesn't control, nothing I do will control it. I then thought perhaps it was dirty? So i used the NES repair kit I bought, cleans the connectors really nicely.. always fixes dirty nes, genesis and snes games every single time. I cleaned all 4 Atari 2600 games, put them in, and still nothing. Street Racer for instance, shows the cars moving up and down, but it's like it's on a demo mode. Infiltrate does the same thing, it shows the colors and platforms, some tiny movement in the color changing, but nothing comes up. Combat just shows the 2 tanks on either side of the map, and a constant changing background color, as if it was also demonstrating or something. But no controls. So my question is what is going on? could it still be dirty even though I really cleaned it good? this has to be pretty common for getting old Atari games from thrift stores. All my other games, like centipede, Pacman, Mouse Trap, they all work fine with both controllers. But not these new ones. any ideas guys and potentially gals?

yes good point, i'm braid dead today.. I thrift shop quite a bit.. one store has a plethora of cords, wires and adapters. Side note (any time you get a chance to use the word plethora, you use it).

Yes, good advice. Are there specific types I should look for? or ask for? I mean I have a few of those yellow/white/red cables. But I certainly want to have the best. Where can I find these?

Great.. I'll just get it from the AtariAge store then. By the way guys, I just hooked up the Atari based on GorfCadet's post. Through the VCR using composite cables to go out, not sure why I didn't really think of that. The quality got better for sure, but it's still got some noise on the screen.. and this is likely because of the old 3DO auto switcher that is still in the hookup scenario. As I used that to go into the vcr then composite out to tv. So, I have confidence that the adapter will solve the problem thank you guys. Also one other thing, when I get this adapter, plugging just one RCA end for examplle yellow, from the Atari, into the female-coax adapter should be ok? or do i need a specific cable?

I'll take pictures later.. I know you guys follow me, but it might make it more fun to have pictures of the exact setup.

hi, thanks for the replies. The TV is a tube tv, big and it's nice for it's age good color and perfect for retro gaming. the cable I'm using from the 7800 to the TV looks sort of like this: http://www.knightdiscounts.com/VideoGames/16bitrfports.jpg Except it has a box on it where the coax side is. but same thing really. Believe it or not, I don't have a cell phone or camera lol.. otherwise i'd just quickly take a picture and upload it. I can probably use one later perhaps. I'm just hoping that if I get this: http://tinyurl.com/cqu4axs the picture quality will improve. The cable I'm using is kind of old and I assume that is what is causing the issue. I love doing projects, I just want to make sure I have a quality adapter and cord so that I can get the best picture on something that is what? 30 years old. I guess I could hook it up with JUST a yellow rca video cable to video in on the tv and see if I get an improved picture? i know I won't get any sound that way though.

Hi guys, My question is about video quality on my Atari 7800. I bought my 7800 from the flea market for $35, came with original power adapter and 1 controller. Turns on works fine, but there is a little noise on the screen, and it's not unplayable, but it's fuzzy enough that I feel it can be improved. I'm wondering about that adapter I've seen, locally there is no place, as in Canada we no longer have Radio shacks, they are called The Source now, and my local one doesn't carry this adapter at all. So I'll go on ebay I guess. But is this adapter going to improve that quality.. Also I should mention how I have it setup right now. I got the 7800 home and started to hook it all up, and realized quickly that I didn't have the tv box thing it originally came with way back. So I searched around my cord collection (we all probably have one.) I found my old Panasonic 3DO cord, that is rca on one side, and coax on the other, and the image came up and I was able to play around and have some great memories. But could this older style 3DO adapter be causing the noise? and should this new adapter help with that? man I'm bad at summing up questions, look how long this beast is.

I paid $35 Dollars for an Atari 7800 with 1 controller, power adapter, and original rf cord with no games. Got this at the local flea market. He wanted like 4 bucks per game, and at that point I had already spent most of the money I came with.

nice, ,I'm going to start saving now lol

comfort food for the gamer soul, nice i like that

is it wrong that I love Retro gaming this much? the last 5 years I've been wrapped up in childhood nostalgia, it's a little freaky.. you guys the same?

Well I have good news, I just went down to a few thrift shops and managed to get Mouse Trap, Infiltrate, Pitfall, and Dig Dug.. and it all works now.. I'm more than confused to be honest. Do you think it was my resolding that did it? or was it always working because of the Baseball game thinking 2nd controller port is actually 1. it's odd, but I'm happy. Although Can I ask about that Modded ColecoVision? was it like a composite video mod? I've been in the search for a ColecoVision for a while, and In the next little while if Yurkie is reliable as you mention, if the price is right I will probably just get one from you Yurkie.. Loving this forum guys.