davidbrit2

It's kind of fun, once you actually know what you're trying to accomplish. From what I remember of the Colecovision version, the two have almost nothing in common, though.

The arcade Krull is definitely much more enjoyable. It doesn't require as much inhuman dexterity and timing.

Definitely Decathlon. Why they didn't make it Nonathlon without the 1500M suicide is beyond me. I can remember playing that event at my cousin's house once, and we were laughing our heads off at how self destructive it is. The rest of the game isn't that rough though. I don't know why everyone complains; I still play it now and then myself.

He he, I've got an Activision Boxing that's got the top half of the plastic case shattered right off. There's some pretty nasty jagged edges remaining, and I think a good sized piece of plastic shrapnel held on only by the label. I didn't think I hit it that hard. . . :-) But it still works!

I would have to agree that the gameplay scores about a 10 on the annoying meter. "Okay, I've got enough pieces of gold after five minutes of falling off ledges because of the controls. Now I have to get to the crown. That should only take another five minutes, provided I don't get eaten by the spider like monster. Okay, I've got the crown, now if I can just make it back up. Climb, climb, fall, climb, fall, fall, climb, climb, climb, fall, fall . . . Oh bugger! The bat took the crown! Back to the beginning." It's not a fun game to try and beat, but putzing around in the "secret world" is what earned the game most of its merits. Plus, it's rather impressive from a technical point of view.

That looks like a really cool idea for a hack! If that works, I know what would make it even cooler. Since Donkey Kong is a 4 KB game, put the hacked version into a second 4 KB bank after the original version, implement a little bank switch at the end of the second board in both versions, and you've theoretically got a 4 board Donkey Kong on the Atari. I've never programmed the Atari, though, so tell me if this is all nonsense.

I can totally destroy anything in the Magical Drop series. If you think Bust a Move (Puzzle Bobble) is intense, you haven't seen anything until you try these games - the popular bubble tossing game will look as slow as Dr. Mario after you see Magical Drop's insane pace. Now if only MD3 didn't speed up the game to unplayable levels because I kick its ass so badly...

Entombed never gets any attention. That surprises me, considering the action could get pretty intense if you play it with two players. It's a very fun game, and it goes from a nice lazy speed, to a mind blowing pace in the higher levels. You almost have to be moving down constanty just to keep up.

I kind of always wanted to see a port of Super Mario Bros, just to see how it would have turned out. Sonson might have translated well, too, but it's kind of an obscure game anyway.

Flag capture scores highest in the mediocrity category, but Froggo Boxing is especially ugly.

I know I've made it well into the hundreds, and possibly to 200, but I can't remember for sure. It was quite a few years ago. My guess is that if something weird does happen at higher levels, it probably does it at around 255. Maybe it wraps around to 1, or something like that.

I was always kind of pissed that we got that nice trackball, and I couldn't even use it to play a proper game of Crystal Castles. It's really quite crappy in joystick mode, but on the 8 bit Ataris, it plays a mean game of Missile Command.

Generally, I find the suburban garage sales with middle aged folks running them to be the most profitable (especially if they have teenaged kids.) I'll never forget that huge bag of games I got, which included Alien Brigade... There are exceptions to this rule of course. The places that are pointless to bother with are houses or apartment complexes which are very new. The odds are that they will have sold their old video game stuff before they moved. Trailer parks sometimes work well, in addition to suburbs. These guidlines will only narrow it down, however, because you'll still be digging through empty garage sales until you get a hit. These tips just might increase your odds a little, though.

I tend to have more than my fair share of Atari related dreams. Presented here, for your enjoyment, is a very hilarious excerpt from my huge text file o' weird dreams... I had just found a major haul of rare and unheard of Atari games, when I started realizing that I was only dreaming. I began doing everything in my power to escape the inevitable reality that they would not be present upon awakening. I was riding in the car, and my mom was driving. We pulled into the parking lot of a gas station. It was night time, and a fair amount of snow blanketed the ground. A suspicious man was nearing our car, when I realized I had better act fast if I had any hopes of outsmarting my brain, and getting away with the Atari stuff. He tried to carjack us, but I fended him off through some means which I unfortunately cannot recall. We began pulling away, but I yelled "Hold it!" I figured that my brain would have tried ditching the Atari games by having them fall out of the car. I opened the door, and saw that I was right. I scooped the cartridges back into the rear of the car, and we pulled away. Those comedic escapades are all that I can remember of my mind versus itself. The funniest part of this is that I had this dream after countless dreams in which I realize I'm just dreaming and won't wake up with my new found pile of Atari merchandise. Apparently I was getting a little fed up with it. He he.

At a local Goodwill, I actually saw a couple of cable modems for about $100 each. Judging from the folks they advertise to, those things aren't going to be sold any time soon. Of course, I sometimes get really cheap stuff too, like that Primestar tuner box for only $5.

You know, speaking of the dot trick, I once found a way to get the easter egg without the dot. I grabbed the magnet, and positioned myself inside the bridge so it moved up and down with me as a walked. Essentially, I could walk freely up and down the screen. (You can get to some weird places with this.) Then it was just a matter of finding the right place to go up off of the screen to end up to the right of that line.

Head over to http://www.jameco.com - they have just about every piece of electronics equipment known to man. I'm fairly certain that they carry the burners, and probably about a hundred other things you'll realize you need badly once you see the listings. Ah, to be a geek. :-) Be warned, though; the EPROM burners don't come cheap.

I'm still just amazed by my realy good find, although it's not strictly Atari related. Perfect condition Vectrex Joystick (in the same condition) Hyperchase Blitz Clean Sweep Bedlam Scramble This was at a local flea market, and the guy was asking only FIFTEEN DOLLARS! I scooped it up faster than he knew what hit him, and I was just in a jackpot induced haze for the rest of the day. Ah, summer.

If you don't have any tuner cleaner, WD-40 seems to work okay. Just yank off the black knob and squirt a little into the potentiometer. Wait a few seconds for it to sink in, then twist it around a little bit.

Usenet is one of the best kept secrets on the Internet. As for Atari ROMs, look in alt.binaries.emulators.misc like Ze_ro said, because there's a nice flood on there right now. (1500+)

Man, Neo Geo Mr. Do is just friggin' crazy. Maybe it's the fact that the title character can undergo spontaneous sex changes that makes it more than just a little bizarre.

Hero is definitely the better of the two, but they both play very well. Personally, I prefer Hero's faster pace and slightly more linear gameplay when it comes to wasting a few minutes. Still, I like them both.

Spy Hunter! More weapons, more variety, etc. It's funny that the C64 version of the game was mentioned, too, as I personally view it as one of the least fun and visually appealing versions. If you Spy Hunter fans really want a treat, go play the Colecovision version. I used to spend countless hours playing that on my old 486 laptop with ColEm. Those were the days.

He he, it sounds pretty cool. Do you have any screen shots or (not likely) a ROM dump yet? I would love to see this game.

Wow. I think that should probably have one of those biohazard stickers on it. What exactly is that stuff on the labels, anyway? I've never been able to figure it out.