NoahsMyBro

I never really liked the CV. It's graphics looked impressive at first, but aside from that the system offered me nothing. It seemed to have lousy controllers (I actually like the 5200 sticks), unremarkable sound (although I didn't think about that at the time), and a slew of second-tier arcade licenses. I loved the 5200, and still do.

You can get brand-new ones from Brad at Best Electronics - www.best-electronics-ca.com : CO18141 5200 Main Console Silver Name Plate -- $ 9.95 CO18952 5200 Smoke Colored Flip Lid ------------ $14.95 I looked up the above from the catalog Best put out a few years ago (10th Ed.) . It's possible the prices/availability have changed. I didn't find an entry for the top cover, but they may have it anyway; it doesn't hurt to ask. The price for the parts is probably more than what you would pay for a broken 5200 in it's entirety, but if your reason for getting the items is to improve the appearance of the console, the parts above would be brand-new and so would look as good as possible. Also, you can charge them to a credit card and have them shipped out immediately, as opposed to having to send a check or money order, wait for the check to clear, and then wait for somebody online to mail the system to you. It's just an alternative to consider. Whatever you end up doing, have fun with your system! If you haven't already checked it out, look into getting Castle Blast & Koffi too; they are terrific!

I have had a pair of Wico Command Controls for my 5200 that I bought *new*. I've never liked them, for exactly the reason you described. The self-centering sliders on my controllers never worked. From day one, they pop out of position the moment you apply any pressure to the stick. If you try to use them in the non-centering position, the handle flops over limply; there's no resistance at all. Not to mention the mushiness of the fire buttons. I just didn't like them. BUT, if you figure out the best way to fix the self-centering switches, by all means post the fix here. I'd love to give the sticks a fair chance once that's fixed.

(FALLS OVER DEAD FROM EXHAUSTION) Today was very blah, in a dreary sort of way. But I've got to thank you, your post made me laugh out loud. Looking forward to any game you bring out, whether it be 1-player, 4-player, or pi^2-players, Steve

I haven't received mine yet either. I was originally number 4, but that was relinquished to Mike Guilliard. Having sent in my money long ago, I don't recall 100%, but I am pretty certain I was still assured one of the original 50 games, I just don't know what number I am to get. To be honest, communication on this project has been poorer than I think it should have been. I don't mean to slam anybody, but the delays have only been occasionally explained on the message board after people ask about them, I was told I'd get #4, and later, after seeing somebody else on the forum claim to be in line for #4 I find out he was determined to have a valid contest entry that pushed mine down (no big deal, but I should have been informed), no contact to let me know if my order was still accepted and if I was to get a game, etc... Everything I've had to find out, I've had to find out through these forums. The game itself is world-class. The special edition packaging and controller look first-rate on the web. Once I receive my copy I'm hoping they are as good as I expect them to be. My only complaint concerns the time it's taking to receive the product, and the spotty communication I've experienced. Steve

Considering they also have a big blurb on their site advertising similar covers for the 8-bit computers, I'd guess they just copied the same advert-copy into the description for the 5200, and overlooked that part, not remembering to remove it. I'm very 'into' the Atari game consoles, and not at all informed on the computers. I've only ever heard or seen the SIO referenced with the computers, and am pretty sure it has no connection to the 5200.

In late-August I got a dead 4-port 5200. Joe Kollar traded it to me, in a deal that went perfectly. He's a great guy to trade with, btw. Well, Joe told me that the 5200 was dead when he got it, and came to him with an Atari 800 power supply. It seems likely to me that somebody plugged the Atari 800 P/S into the 5200, sending 30 volts into a land where only 14 volts is welcome. I obtained the system looking for a challenge. Ya know what? I found one! It took me 2 months, and an unbelievable amount of quality help from sci.electronics.repair denizens, but as of late tonight the system is working again!!!! To be brief, I had to replace 2 transistors and an IC. I still need one small part, though, and I'm hoping someone here with a hopelessly broken 5200 of any variety might be able to help. The top-half of the power switch on the board (underneath the power button on the case) is missing. Consequently, the power button on the case doesn't make contact with the actual switch. I could probably rig something up, but I'd like to repair/replace the power switch. If any of you could find a broken 5200 and remove the power switch and send it to me (or at least the top half of the plastic square around the foil contacts), that would be terrifc. Naturally I'd pay the postage, and if you want I could throw in a common or two. I don't suppose Koffi might support 4 players, Cafeman? Anybody up for making a 5200 Gauntlet? I've got a 4-port! 8-)

Video Pinball.

Hi Ron! I've been excitedly looking forward to Koffi! for a long time, and I was thrilled to read you rpost this morning. I wanted to reply to acknowledge the post and show some appreciation for your hard work, but I have been just too busy today. But be assured, I for one am very interested in your progress, and I will be ordering a copy as soon as they're ready. judging from the # of views your post received here and over at DP, I'm confident I'm not the only one. Steve

OH MAN!! Assuming the cabinet looks as good as that picture, and assuming the game works fine, I'd buy it in a heartbeat for that price! I wouldn't give it a second thought! Unfortunately, Seattle is just too far from me, and shipping/insurance has got to be expensive. -- Steve ....bummed in New Jersey....

I use The Bat at home, and I registered it! It's very good. At work, I use the mail client built-in to Opera 5.12. It's also very good. As a matter of fact, I liked Opera so much (for the web browser primarily, but the email client is pretty good also) that I registered it as well. OTOH, the Opera newsreader is embarrassingly bad. But that's why I have Gravity. They didn't even request money for their product - it was completely free. Too bad they folded... Just keep in mind, with respect to the above comments, I have not tried Opera 6.x, only Opera 5.12, so I can't really comment on Opera 6.

I may have missed this info somewhere along the way, but I've been wondering, how are the special/programmed modes selected? In other words, suppose I want to activate 'Frogger Mode'. How would I do that? And then how would I return the controller to normal?

OK, I'm stupid. I just downloaded MESS, along with the 5200 BIOS rom. Every time I try to start the emulator/game up, I get a traditional 5200-looking BIOS screen, but the copyright field just says "Copyright 19 Atari" (last 2 digits of year are blank), and nothing happens. I've tried pressing different keys, I've put the cc52e.rom file wherever I can think of, I've tried entering the command to start the emulator with the .rom extension and without the .rom extension, etc... I'm running W2k. Anybody care to share with the dunce in the corner?

*BUMP* It's September 6, no Thrust+ yet. Any updates/news guys ? I'm trying to be patient, but I'm getting a little nervous about this. Has anybody else received their's yet? I honestly don't suspect any deception. I'm actually more concerned that my order somehow fell through the cracks. If nobody else has received the game yet either, than I'm willing to be patient and wait longer. If, however, everybody else received their copy and is already done with the game, than I want to find out what happened to mine. -Steve

While I am in no way faulting Sean or the rest of the guys that brought these games out for not producing color manuals, it is disappointing to me. (And, for the record, I haven't recieved my copy of Pick Up yet (it is ordered though), so I'm only basing this on what I've read here.) I think the boxes & labels look terrific, and a black & white manual does seem a little cheap to me. As for Atari doing it too, well, when they began doing that I thought it smacked of cheapness! I had been buying their products for as long as I could remember, and the first time I saw a cheap, one-page-folded-over, b&w manual I was slightly disgusted and annoyed at such an obvious cost-cutting, who-cares-about-the-finished-product maneuver. My Space War & Superman manuals were multiple pages, full color, etc... Now, I understand Sean & the gang haven't got mega-corp resources and again, I don't blame them. They did what they had to do. I'm just saying that I share the same disappointed feeling as those complaining about it, and that I don't think the fact Atari themselves (such management geniuses to begin with) did it is reasonable justification. I think the fact that it was simply too expensive to pull off is reasonable justification. I also think the fact that Leonard is making the full color source freely available is a classy gesture too, and helps remedy any disappointment.

The RCA Studio II didn't beat both of those C consoles to the punch?

I found an old email address for Dan Kramer and sent the below question to him. I figured he probably would know as much about the 5200 circuitry as anybody else I could find. Unfortunately the email address was (I think) from 1998, and dkatari.com isn't loading, so I don't know if he'll receive it. It might be a simple question, and maybe you guys might know the answer, so I'm posting it here and on the newsgroups as well. Thanks, Steve --------------------- .......I have a dead 4-port Atari 5200 I'm trying to revive. I strongly suspect a previous owner connected a 30-watt Atari 800 power supply to the 5200. The unit doesn't power on. I've so far found a pair of 7805a (transistors? regulators?) components where the schematics specified MJE-210s. I replaced the 7805a-s with a pair of new MJE-210 transistors. The unit still doesn't power up, but if I short the Collector & Base of each of the MJE-210s it will power up. For the most part, it seems to operate fine after that, with one exception - the controller (in jack 1, all I've tried) doesn't seem to be calibrated quite right - in Pole Position I could not upshift (Joystick UP), in Defender I could turn Left, but not Thrust left (wouldn't go far enough left?), and in Missile Command I could move the cursor right, but it would not go all the way to the right side of the screen, stopping maybe 2/3 of the way to the right. I had the pins on the MJE-210s shorted by simply placing the tips of 2 multimeter probes between the legs. It was not a secure connection, and inserting/removing a cartridge or plugging in a controller obviously caused the power to fluctuate as the probes momentarily made and lost contact. Is it likely the various controller issues were just due to flaky power (like what people coined 'frying' in regards to the 2600) ? Thanks for any help, Steve

BEFORE EVERYBODY STARTS FIRING OFF A VOLLEY OF EMAILS TO SEAN: Just a week or two ago I sent Sean an email asking about his Multicart upgrade procedure/policy/whathaveyou. He replied that he doesn't simply upgrade the carts when people ask him to. The process is very time-consuming and labor-intensive. When he decides he's got plenty of new material to put on new carts, he will *then* put out a call for interested parties to contact him. Until then, you can't just send him your cart for the upgrade. And naturally there is a small cost for the service. IMPORTANT NOTE: I am NOT Sean, nor am I his rep in any way. I am simply relating, from memory, what he told me recently. Don't try to hold sean to anything I've said here, he has nothing to do with this post. I'm just trying to impart info here guys.

**---Jah Fish, Thomas, & Mike --> Shortly after the contest ended, I was told I was getting #4. Truthfully, the number doesn't matter that much to me (although it was kinda cool having a low # like that), but I did send in payment, and was hoping & expecting to receive the same copy as the other pre-orders (#'s 1-50). I'm not trying to make waves, but am I still to get a copy? And will it be the same edition as the others? Thanks, Steve (NoahsMyBro)

Forgot to mention - back when it was current, I was a Space Dungeon god, able to play pretty much as long as I wanted without ever running out of lives. I loved that game. It definitely ranks up there as one of my alltime favorite 5200 carts. I also liked: Realsports Football & Baseball, Miner 2049er, Dreadnought Factor, Joust, Pac-Man, STAR RAIDERS!!!!, and others I can't remember. Honestly, until the Dreamcast the 5200 was my favorite system ever. I preferred it over everything else, including newer systems like the Playstation, Saturn, Jaguar, etc....

I'm fortunate that I got Space Dungeon new, so I have the dual-stick holder. I'm also lucky that it's still in one piece. Actually, as a kid I left it out, it was stepped on and broke in two. My Mom must have used some sort of witchcraft, because at the time it happened she found some sort of glue that she used to put it back together, and to this day the holder still works great! Anyway, for a long time I've wondered how people new to the 'scene' can play a game like Space Dungeon or Robotron 2084 without those holders. Do any of you do this? If so, how do you hold the sticks? DO you fabricate some sort of bracket of your own? I'd imagine there has got to be some way to keep the sticks in place, completely immobile, or else the game would be unplayable. And I haven't ever seen the brackets available since I've been into the videogame collecting community, probably the last 4 or 5 years.

Never saw the first, but I'd definitely be interested in a re-released copy. Obviously whether or not I could get one would depend on price. If it stays under $15 I'd definitely get one. As it hits $20 or $25, I'd have to think about it. I'd still want one, but I don't know if I could justify the purchase as it increases in price. I did buy Phoenix 3rd Ed for $25, though, so you never know....

Just felt a need to interject (to butt in) - A) TBird - whether or not he thinks it, I have to say, I do think you have an attitude. B) BUT, when you're right, you're right. In this thread, you're completely right. (Well, with a very minor exception. I think your products and Songbird's are both of exceptionally good quality.) C) Finally, I must point out to Jaghammer, if you don't want to buy something, don't. Nobody is forcing you to pay whatever the cost is for BSG. I want it. I have the original Battlesphere and think it is an excellent title of the utmost quality. When I read about BSG, before it was sold out, I very much wanted to buy a copy or two. Unfortunately, it was simply out of my price range. I didn't bitch or whine (except maybe to my wife, completely unsympathetic videogame-ignorer she is...), I didn't go online to rant about how unfair it was, or how the folks at Scatalogic were somehow preying on me. Nope, I just learned to go on with my life content that I have a job, a wife, a house, a car, and the best son this world has ever seen, content even though I can't have Battlesphere Gold. Get a grip, and stop complaining that the game is so expensive. I want a convertible sports car too, but I can't even afford to insure a 1992 Saturn SL for occasional Home Depot runs, so I just do without. You can also. -Steve

Very cool. Great job. You should get yourself a MiniDV camera and do some motion video as well. I have a feeling you'd be good at it.