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Agent X

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About Agent X

  • Birthday 01/14/1972

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  1. I just wanted to say congratulations to @Albert, and I hope to see a lot of good things coming from this alliance!
  2. Firmware 3.0.0 was released for the original Evercade Handheld a few days ago. There's a long list of added features, which are described on this page at the official Evercade site. I installed this update, and dabbled a bit with Atari Collection 1, one of the cartridges that received numerous "fixes" and alterations through this update. With regard to this collection, there's some good news, and also some bad news. Two of my longtime complaints have finally been addressed: 1. The difficulty switches (controlled using the L and R buttons) can now be adjusted freely from B to A, and from A to B. Previously, you could switch from B to A, but after doing so, you could not adjust back to B again, unless you exited the game and reentered it. 2. The paddle knob is now recognized in Canyon Bomber and Steeplechase, as I mentioned in this post from May 2021. I'm very grateful to the team at Blaze for implementing these fixes! Unfortunately, at least two popular games on this collection, which previously played flawlessly, now are negatively impacted: 1. Asteroids had its resolution and/or aspect ratio altered. Now, if you score 10,000 or more points, the leftmost digit is clipped. It seems like they trimmed a fair chunk of the left side of the screen without regard for the score display. 2. Adventure now appears as a "wide" aspect ratio in all screen display modes. The "original" display mode (which normally shows a 4:3 ratio) now looks almost indistinguishable from the "widescreen" mode. For both of these games, they should restore them to their original resolution and aspect ratio, as they were presented before the 3.0.0 update. I also tried several other games (Video Pinball, Missile Command, and the aforementioned Canyon Bomber and Steeplechase), and didn't observe any noticeable graphical oddities with those games. Blaze said that 3.0.0 would likely be the final firmware update for this machine, unless any serious problems were found. I feel that these are very significant and easily visible flaws (which were not present before), and hope that they'll give us at least one more update to restore these games to their former glory.
  3. It's good to see that they're adding DIP switch settings for the arcade games. I was disappointed that they omitted them to begin with, especially considering that some of the digitized flyers mention some of the available options. While they're at it, perhaps they can improve the graphical rendering (see here), and implement all of the Lynx buttons, too (see here).
  4. I have to disagree with you here, for multiple reasons. Although the Atari 2600 version of Defender isn't an especially faithful conversion of the arcade game (compared to Stargate/Defender II on the same console), it's still replicated enough of the elements and play mechanics that it is recognizable as Defender. A game like Chopper Command (which you cited above) has some elements that are likely inspired by Defender (bidirectional scrolling, scanner, protecting unarmed innocents on the ground level), but there are also other outstanding differences in enemy movements and attack patterns. By comparison, 2600 Defender has all of that, along with numerous other more distinctive elements like certain enemies plucking the unarmed innocents off of the ground (Landers and Humanoids), certain other enemies that break apart into multiple smaller enemies (Pods and Swarmers), smart bombs, and hyperspace. If you changed the graphics a little bit, but kept the play mechanics the same, then it would merely become a slightly less accurate rendition of Defender. It wouldn't fool longtime players, and it wouldn't fool lawyers. If you changed the graphics a lot, and then decided to get rid of some of the more distinctive elements (e.g. Landers don't abduct humanoids anymore, Pods don't break into Swarmers, and remove smart bombs and hyperspace altogether), then it would transform into a sort of weird derivative product. At this point, it would probably escape legal scrutiny...but at the same time, it's not the Defender we all remember. It's not representative of accurate Atari works from "back in the day". It would come off looking like some cheesy bootleg "hack". In that case, why bother to include such a product in this collection? If they can't give us the Defender we grew up with, warts and all, then they're better off omitting it altogether. Shoving an altered hack into the collection would dilute the value of the overall package, as it satisfies neither nostalgia nor authenticity.
  5. A collection of TurboGrafx-16/PC Engine games would rate highly on my want list. I'd also be enthusiastic about another Lynx collection, especially since the first two were excellently done. (More on this in a moment.) As far as arcade game collections are concerned, they need to open up negotiations with Warner to produce some collections of games from Midway, Williams, and Atari Games. While there were numerous releases on other platforms around 10-25 years ago, arcade-accurate renditions have been mostly ignored over the last decade. Time to open that vault once again! Speaking of those games, how about licensing the Lynx versions of those arcade games? Many of the Lynx ports differ enough from the arcade games to be worth playing in their own right, and a few of them might even be considered to be better than the originals. Now that they've opened the door to Amiga games on Evercade, I'm looking forward to seeing what fruit that will bear. I think they could start with a collection of the Turrican games, featuring the games from Amiga, SNES, and Genesis. I'd also like to see some of the Amiga games from Psygnosis on Evercade, but that might be a tall order, considering that Sony owns the rights to that library, and they rarely even release those games on their own systems.
  6. Very impressive work! I look forward to reading more about the creation of this game. It's evident a lot of love has gone into it.
  7. Why not both? The programmer should include multiple control configurations, and allow the user to choose whichever one he prefers.
  8. I've got a Fire TV Stick, and have been able to pair a Sony DualShock 4 (PlayStation 4 controller) to it. I have been able to use the DualShock 4 with Luna (Amazon's streaming game service), and I can also navigate the Fire TV user interface with it. If you've got a DualShock 4 lying around, you can put it into pairing mode if you press and hold the SHARE button for at least one second, then (while still holding SHARE) press the PS button.
  9. I agree with both of the above comments. I'd love to see a modernized version of the 2600, with the ability to connect to HDMI for a crisp, clean image on today's TVs. (Maybe toss in 7800 cartridge compatibility, too.) They could also remake the controllers (e.g. joysticks, paddles) with modern components so they are more durable and reliable, and less prone to wear or "drift". The new controllers could be used with the original consoles as well. I'd also like a modernized Lynx that's more compact, with a high-quality screen and long-lasting battery, with the ability to use the original cartridges.
  10. Although these games have been released in multiple compilations for modern systems, the point of these products is that they are official Atari cartridges that are usable on original Atari hardware. I myself also have the games on several compilations (including the Evercade cartridge that @Hydro Thunder mentioned above), and I'm not terribly interested in getting these cartridges for myself (especially if they don't drastically improve the boxes and labels from the renders they've shown). I do think it's good that the current Atari felt inspired to engage in such a venture. I just hope (like others here have already said) that they are able to work with longtime members of the Atari fan community, who have already demonstrated that they can devote the effort and skill to producing a polished and attractive product. This should hopefully carry over to future products as well.
  11. I'd say that's an understatement! I agree. So many of the AtariAge releases have done an excellent job of reproducing the various box and label styles that Atari used during the 2600's production run. If you consider that Aquaventure and Saboteur were supposed to be 1983 or 1984 releases, then it would be appropriate to use the style of box/label from that period. I've got a Saboteur similar to the one that @sramirez2008 posted earlier (also autographed by Howard Scott Warshaw), and I think it looks great. That's the kind of care and attention to detail that fans want. It would give buyers the confidence that they'd receive a high-quality product that they'd be proud to have in their collections.
  12. The only obstacle to getting an Activision collection would be that Activision is a huge company now, and they might ask a lot of money for the licensing rights. If Blaze could negotiate the rights, then I'd certainly be in favor of seeing this happen. Until that day comes, if you want to play some of Activision's classic 2600 games on a portable, then I recommend that you hunt down the excellent compilations that exist for Game Boy Advance and PSP.
  13. If the Jaguar had an integrated CD drive at launch (1993), then you would have been looking at system with $400 to $500 price tag. And it still wouldn't have had enough games on the shelf. Atari made the right decision by selling the system as a cartridge-based unit for $250, with the CD drive as an optional add-on. They were targeting a mass-market price, and they hit it. This was another huge problem. They kept playing the "64-bit" card even after the release of Saturn and PlayStation. At that point (late 1995), their strategy should have simply been "we have an affordable console with a great range of games". Their ads should have promoted some of their best games, instead of harping so much on the "64-bit" factor. Also, as you pointed out, Atari had some terrible dealings with developers, both internal and external. I've read some very revealing stories in recent years about how Atari (under the Tramiels) treated some of their developers. It's quite tragic, and explains much of why Atari had such a difficult time lining up quality developers for all of their game consoles during that period of their history.
  14. Right, and we saw that the strategy of stressing the system and bogging down the games' performance didn't work. That strategy certainly didn't produce better playing games, but I suppose Atari hoped that having pretty screen shots for ads and magazine previews would produce better selling games. In the end, those games neither played nor sold particularly well. There were still some big-name 2D games that were selling. Atari fought to license Mortal Kombat 3, and they did. However, the PlayStation version of MK3 came out in late 1995, and Sony secured an exclusive time window for 32-bit/64-bit consoles. This meant that no other 32-bit/64-bit console could have MK3 for a certain length of time (6 to 12 months). The PlayStation version was great, but even if the Jaguar somehow managed to get a superior version 6-12 months later, it wouldn't have mattered by that time. The Jaguar really needed that game in late 1995 (alongside PS1, SNES, and Genesis), not 1996. Even the 3DO version of Super Street Fighter II Turbo did reasonably well. I believe that was one of the best selling games on that system. If the Jaguar had a comparable version of the game around the same time (and not a year later), then it probably would have done well there, too. Unfortunately, Atari couldn't sign Capcom on as a developer. On the bright side, the Jaguar did get an excellent version of NBA Jam Tournament Edition. It came out about four months later than PlayStation and Saturn, so it had no impact in moving the needle for Jaguar sales. At least it was a moral victory for the Jaguar, and a highlight for the few loyal Jaguar players remaining at that time. There were a lot of 3D fighting games that flopped, because the market for that type of game got saturated very quickly. Even Sega struggled to sell 3D fighting games on the Saturn that didn't have "Virtua" in the name, and some of those games were legitimately great.
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