pocketmego

I can't even get Miner Willy through the first stage of Manic Miner. Little touch sensitive bastard. You calling it easy impresses this Yank considerably. maybe you have to be a Brit to be super good at that game. I dunno... -Ray

Well no, at least Popeye looks like Popeye and not some horrid brown blob of Feces. -Ray

I'm pretty sure the Joust ad was like that Big Budget Computer animated "What Wil We Thinkof Next" ad. Meaning it aired on movie screens before it ever aired (if it ever aired) on TV. It's a bit to long to have been a regular commercial. Unless it aired durring the Superbowl or something. -Ray

Great stuff thanks for the post. -Ray

Here is a Video of a Discovery channel documentary about the early history of Video Games... It covers atari, then the British Micro revolution featuring the Oliver twins and the darlings and then goes into Japan and finishes up with Nintendo and Tetris. Its pretty interesting to see these people on camera... http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=36...Atari&hl=en -Ray

Here you go... http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=36...Atari&hl=en It's a pretty neat little TV special that Discovery aired on the early history of Video Games and it focuses heavily on Atari's early years. The facts get a bit muddled here and there (such as the idea that Atari got the rights to Space Invaders prior to the Warner deal), but all in all it isn't too bad. -Ray

Now, I find this very interesting. I never knew they were rivals. Especially given their games are so different from one another. Jet Set Willy and Manic Miner are TOUGH platformers. Makes me want to toss my machine out the window, actually. But, Minter's games are Twitch shoot 'em Ups , more akin to 2600 games. -Ray

Buy our game and impress your friends by turning into a hideous mutant. also available on the 5200. -Ray

I posted a couple of these back when I first came here. I love these and I find the narrator's voice hilarious. The Demon Attack one is GREAT. But, my favorite line is from Defender... "Shooting the hostages is considered bad form." There is a statement that works well in any situation. -Ray

How about that Chopper Command! LOL. I have to admit that before discovering Stargate I was a BIg Chopper Command fan. But, it has lost its luster since discovering a pretty solid re-working of Defender on the 2600. Now, I still love Chopper Command, I think its an awesome game in its own right and it gets some pretty regular play. But, Demon Attack has replaced it as my once favorite 2600 game. -Ray

I agree with everythig you said except the shot fire. Even if its just an Asteroids type dot, something needs to be there to represent fire. Only because Robotron would be hard to play without some way to trace your shots. -Ray

I am pretty sure this was the only version Sega made. Sega much like Nintendo and many others seemed to forget about the Left handed player in those later years of home gaming. I'm not a tech, guy so I don't have the foggiest about Leaf Springs. But, it feels and moves very much like my Wicco if that helps. -Ray

Nope this is even more disturbing - I want whatever the producer of this commerical was on. -Ray

Huh? The arcade Reactor is a raster game, not a vector one. Holy Crap, I just looked it up and you're right. I guess I was making assumptions (stupid of me really). Every other game the guy did was a vector. I guess I assumed reactor was as well. I never really got a good look at the screen. Wikipedia had a link to the coin-op museum and sure enough its a pretty raster game. Well then the 2600 is a BETTER port than I thought it was. -Ray

Could Robotron be a similar playing experience using the same number of sprites per room as Berzerk (maximum enmey rooms of course). Or does that game only work because all the enemy sprites look exactly the same. Basically, I guess I'm saying is wouldn't Hacking Berzerk into Robotron work? -Ray

Yeah, I would have liked to see Choplifter for the 2600. I tried out the unfinished Intellivision prototype version of Choplifter via emu (don't ask me how I found it and the rom of the later version of Lock 'n Chase. I just found them by accident when I was looking for a couple of the homebrew games, though I found those too) and I was quite impressed with it. The control works quite well with two buttons. I don't know how it works with the disk, but the smooth control is a good sign. The C64 version of the Choplifter managed to do ok only using the one button joystick and its the version I leartned to play that game on. Basically you pressed the button while holding the stick to turn. Frankly I'd cut out the turning all together and just make the chopper flip back and forth like it does in Chopper command, but otherwise keep the same copter physics used in the Computer versions of Choplifter such as the nose turning downward when flying forward. It would be a cool 2600 game to be sure. Perhaps one day we'll see it. -Ray

Here is a creepy ass centipede commercial I found... I'm not sure it makes the game seem all that appealing and any kid watching this at the time, probably wouldn't have been too compfortable with it. -Ray

Actually, you made me think of something Aussie. The one thing I love about the current good ol' days vs the ones that i actually grew up in, is that now I can access all sorts of different machines and most importantly i can talk about this stuff with all of you from all over the world. That ROCKS and its something that i can't say about when I was younger. -Ray

There's a thread that discusses hacking Defender 2 into Defender. I still need to integrate my awesome title screen (too many things to do in this world!) but I posted a patched version which includes an enhanced scanner (in color!), an improved planet, and an improved planet explosion. Damn I just read through all 5 pages and wen through the various evolutions. Great job from all you guys Supercat. Its simply amazing the talent we have here. I want one of those carts when y'all start selling them. -Ray

Supercat turned me on to this THREAD. THIS IS PRETTY FREAKIN' AWESOME work Amigos. Great job from all involved. I just want y'all to count me in when you start selling these carts, because I'm gonna be a wantin' one. -Ray

This is the Sega Genesis Arcade Power Stick... It has a a built in perfectly molded hand rest to the left of the stick, which is almost perfect arcade size and shape. It has built in megafire (with adjustable speed), and it rests compfortably weighted on any table or surface with no unecessary movement during play. It is without question ne of the finest and ergonomically perfect home gaming joysticks ever constructed. I got this as a Christmas gift and hated using it for my Genesis. It never seemed right. But, I was young and stupid at the time. Recently, I found mine in storage and used it on my Atari 2600. it is the finest controller I have ever used for the 2600 and I will probably hunt down an extra one just in case this one breaks. Or to have one for port #2. Sega started life as a an arcade company, they KNOW how to make Arcade sticks. This is something every 2600 owner NEEDS. If you can find one, you should. You'll love every moment with it and if your like me, you'll find some extra gameplay succes with it as well. HIGHLY RECOMENDED!!! Oh and the fire button is "B". -Ray

IMO, the 2600 port of Galaxian is much better than the 800/5200 version. The 800/5200 one doesn't feel much like the arcade. I found it odd how the 2600 one plays much closer. The border is odd and the boss galaxians still look like the regular Galaxians, but I love how the 2600 version plays. I looked up the specs for the 5200 and 7800 before I edited my previous post. I should have looked up the specs before asking about Missile Command. I was just shocked becuase the 2600, 800, and 5200 have good ports of it and 7800 often has better graphics than a stock 800/5200. I always wondered why there was no 2600 version of Choplifter. This game could have been done fairly easily, especially with Chopper Command actually being a more complex game in some respects. Ballblazer on the 2600 would have been awful, like something from Hell. -Ray

I can't add anythign to the great reviews most others have given. Spider-man is loads of fun and I remember REALLY wanting this when I saw the commerical for it as a kid. Popeye looks like HELL, but plays great and they nailed the game dead on. As for Reactor, once you figure out what to do its loads of fun. Tim Skelly one of the great Vector game makers of all time original wrote it as a Vector game in the arcades and it was going to be called Ram-man because you rammed stuff with the character. When he finally got the game all worked out in his head it became reactor because it takes place inside a reactor. For a raster translation the 2600 does an excellent job and it really is a LOT of fun to play. -Ray

I like both Defenders for the 2600. The original I grew up with and when it came out I had to have it, because I played the arcade machine every single time I went to get a haircut, which was the only place they had one. The problem is at a quarter borrowed from Dad everytime I played, the games didn't last too long, because Arcade Defender is one rough game, especially when you are like 6. I found Defender on the Atari to be better and being so young I never had issues with its accuracy, although the disapeering ship thing bugged the hell out of me, even as a kid. My imagination kicked in and in my mind the ship cloaked (or I supposed had I known the terms at the time "phased")out of reality when the lasers fired. Defender 2/Stargate I just now discovered was on the the 2600 and I freakin' LOVE it. It plays better than the C64 defender which I learned to REALLY play Defender on as I got older. I always though no home version could beat my C64 version, but Defender 2 is a work of art and easily beats the Commodore one. -Ray

Here is my problem. My attempts at finding Speccy Emulators from the WOZ site have lead me to some real stinkers. I got the one that is a trial version that takes foreve rto load and then goes bananas after a few plays, because the guy wants to you to buy the full version. It also doesn't play all formats. The other one I haven't gotten working at all. Plus, I never owned a spectrum. So unlike my commodore emulator, I haven't the fogiest how to use a Speccy Emulator that doesn't autoload games. Plus, i can't use my joystick on any of the Speccy Emulators I've found. Believe me, I like the way Speccy does some games. I actually like the look and sound of Speccy's Bruce Lee quite a bit more than the C64 one. I certainly think games like Head over Heals and Rasputin are better on Speccy than anywhere else. Finally, if you are not playing Jet Set Willy on a Spectrum then you're not really playing Jet Set Willy. I will never understand my love for this machine, having never properly been exposed to it. There is just something funkadelicly cool about the rubber keays, the kitchy sound, the garish colors, and the tape deck that make this machine such a cool bit of retro funk. So, if you guys can recomend a decent emulator and some usage tips for a deprived yank, I'm all about it, yo. -Ray