NoahsMyBro

40,850

I never heard of the plus version until this week's game was posted here. Last night I tried to find info online about the plus revision and couldn't find anything, anywhere about it. Where did you see the above?

37,400 And I haven't compared them side-by-side, but I'm pretty sure the bdplus.bin version has different playfields than the cartridge. It may be my imagination, but I think there is less flicker using bdplus.bin with the emulator (as compared to the Beef Drop cartridge in the 5200) as well.

36,550

For a few months I've participated in the 5200 HSC, so I've been playing a lot of 5200 lately. Personally, I prefer playing on the real hardware as opposed to using an emulator, so most of my playing has been done using the stock 5200 controller. Last week we played Berzerk, and starting last night we switched to Beef Drop. The transition made me notice something I hadn't previously. I *think* part of the reason Berzerk is so good is the unsurpassed smoothness of the controller responsiveness. It seems to me that in Berzerk, Pac Man, and maybe Star Raiders, the responsiveness to controller inputs is simply smoother and more graceful than most of the other games on the system. Maybe this is my imagination. I'm not a programmer and don't know the detailed specifics of how the inputs are read, but there seems to be some sort of intangible something that makes the control feel better in those games. Why couldn't/wouldn't programmers simply re-use the controller-read routines already written for those early games when writing new games, rather than doing something different? (MODS - If you think this should be moved to the 5200/8-bit Programming topic feel free to move it. I wasn't sure about that.)

27,500 No picture tonight. Is it OK to use the Beef Drop cartridge (i.e., NOT Beef Drop+) ?

11,740 And with that, I'm probably done for this round. Happy Purim everybody!

2 Quick Notes: 1) Ever since the 10k+ score I posted above, I've been struggling to even come anywhere close to that. And after several days of trying to improve, it seems like I have a lot more trouble getting diagonals to register, which doesn't even make sense considering the way the stick works. Maybe I shouldn't stay up so late. 2) In a previous post I wrote that the robots can only fire one shot at a time. I was wrong, and got nailed last night during a good game because I believed that.

Odd - I can't edit posts in this forum? Is that new? Anyway, if anybody cared to read the 8-year-old Usenet thread I linked to up above, I've just found the follow-up Usenet thread, without which the above just sort of ends abruptly - http://groups.google.com/group/sci.electronics.repair/browse_thread/thread/cb1a63113d838e5f/d3c886c9be428735?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&q=stephen+jacobs+sci.electronics.repair#. That's all.

I've probably posted this story before, but here goes... During the time of the VCS/Intellivision I was a very, very socially unsuccessful kid - few friends, the target of every bully in the state, etc.... So pretty much every waking minute that wasn't spent suffering through school, Cub Scouts, or Little League was spent either playing videogames, reading about them in magazines, or riding my bike to various videogame stores or arcades. We had a VCS at my house, at my Dad's house, and at my Mom's boyfriend's apartment - I was covered. As soon as the 5200 hit the streets I wanted it. I'd read about it in magazines, played with it in stores, and WANTED it. A chance to play Star Raiders, exactly as it was on the Atari 400? Gimmegimmegimme! But times were tough. My folks were divorced, we had a really crappy Datsun B210 (my environment was otherwise filled with Buicks, Oldsmobile 98s and Cadillacs, so this car was really living hell for my insecure young self), and my Mom often couldn't even get our home air conditioner repaired due to our tight budget. Times were tough, and my spoiled self couldn't appreciate or understand the situation in a mature way. So I whined, begged, pleaded, cajoled, endlessly. But my Mom convinced me that we simply couldn't afford a 5200, it just wasn't going to happen, sorry. I bought it, hook, line, and sinker. Then, the last night of Chanukah (1983 I'm guessing?) there was a very large gift for my brother & I. It certainly looked like it was the right size and shape to be a 5200, but I was sure we weren't getting one. As it turned out, the gift WAS a 5200 - a two port with Super Breakout. I *also* received the VCS adapter, and I think Countermeasure as well. I'd been completely suckered! Over time I accumulated many more (& better) games, including my favorites - Star Raiders & Space Dungeon. I collected another couple of 5200s at garage sales over the years. I always wanted a 4-port with the auto-switchbox though, and finally acquired one back in 2002. ( http://groups.google.com/group/sci.electronics.repair/browse_thread/thread/2ec4095195828c10/ba1fca1a4dd4d8a5?q=atari+5200+schematic+steve+repair+regulator&lnk=ol& ) Over time I nursed the dead 5200 back to health and finally had my 4-port 5200, only about 20 years after it hit retail shelves. Later I added the 8-bit domain AV mod, and use that 5200 regularly to compete in the 5200 HSC. So that's my story. :-)

Is that your avatar-- Evil Otto? Nope, Evil Otto is Digital Press' avatar - http://www.atariage.com/forums/topic/157708-atariagedigital-press-retro-rumble-at-cge-2010/page__view__findpost__p__1935702

The ball is Evil Otto. He is indestructible.

Another one of the must-have games for the system, IMO, is Star Raiders. I think Star Raiders works very well with the analog sticks, and I find the keypad much more convenient than trying to find the right key to hit while playing on an 800, for example.

10,810

This game is hard, that's all. It just takes practice. The only tips I can offer are probably obvious, but: * I always try to move left-to-right, so that I begin a room on the left side. * Allow the robots to kill themselves off whenever you can. * ALWAYS try to clear an entire room. * Let Evil Otto kill robots for you. Otto moves the same speed you do, so as long as you are moving in the same direction he is he won't overtake you. With that said, my newest score: 8,840 EDIT - I noticed this morning that the robots seem to only be able to have one shot on-screen at a time. This provides an opportunity sometimes to get in line with a robot and fire before he can get off another shot at you. I also forgot to mention above the possibility of letting a shot pass through your neck. I can't do it, and don't try, but my recollection from years ago is that the enemy shots will pass through the slot in your neck and not kill you. In my opinion this ranks up there in difficulty with trying to spear the Pteryodactyl in Joust.

MUCH better, and MUCH more comfortable, using the genuine 5200 sticks. I know Cafeman is just waiting to blow me away, but for at least a few minutes I'm King o' the World, Ma! 8,290

3,870 The CX-40 is painful. The next time I update this score, I'll be using the real hardware.

For over at least a decade I've considered a generic wireless controller adapter of sorts. My thought is that there is a pair of black boxes - one transmitter and one receiver - that connect to the controller and the console. At the connection port of each end there are exposed contact points or contact traces. (Obviously if this was ever a 'real' product various connector adapters would be used.) Each contact would be connected to one of the contacts at the controller port/plug. So, for example, you'd connect Pin 1 of the controller port to Wire 1 on the receiver, and Pin 1 from the controller plug to Wire 1 on the transmitter, etc... The wireless components would have no intelligence; they would just create a wireless bridge between the controller plug and the controller port on the console. Provided there are enough contacts, this would work for any controller you want - the NES had what, 4 contacts? The 5200 has no more than 15, and if memory serves it doesn't use all 15. (I'm too lazy to look that up right now.) I don't think any controller has ever used more than 15 pins. If you wanted to use the wireless adapter with a different controller you'd just connect the transmitter and receiver to different controller plugs and ports. I envision building various adapters/plugs with manufactured disconnects for easy switching, without needing to solder or twist wires together at every change. I can follow instructions and very simple schematics and do simple repairs, but am otherwise ignorant regarding electronics. I'm sure there is something obvious I'm oblivious to, but I've never understood why my idea can't be done. I assume it can't be as easy as it seems to me or else somebody would have already done it and made the info available online. Basically I'm suggesting the wireless do nothing but relay signals from the contact on the controller plug to the contact on the console port. Why wouldn't that work?

8400. Haven't decided how to approach this yet. Try to punch out the monkeys? Try to get to the top as quickly as possible, to maximize time remaining? Just keep collecting fruit bunches? (This is what I'm trying to do at the moment.)

41,030 Damn. At 12:35 I remembered about this. Sat down to try and get something respectable, and scored 30,000+ on my first life. Then died real fast after that. But this score is the best I pulled down all round, so it will have to do.

I've never ever had any urge to cheat before for anything I can recall, but I'm thinking I need to try and very quickly learn PHP, Apache, general hacking, or whatever else it takes to rig this poll. Kangaroo? Really? Have any of you that voted for that ever even played the game? Kangaroo, especially on the 5200, is spelled EEWWWWWWWWW, with a capital YUCK. Really????

I thought you were in Philly. Oh well. Pitt (well, Carnegie) would be about 7 hours, actually. I never heard of Groovy, but it sounds neat.

Ron, I assume the 2-3 hour drive isn't worthwhile (I'm in West Orange, NJ - 07052), but I'll give you a copy of Pac-Man if you want to pick it up. Fwiw, I'm about 20 minutes from the DP store so you could check it out too if you've never seen it. -- Steve