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Karate does have 2-player simultaneous action but you won't enjoy it, that's for damn sure.

No Mortal Kombat-style games? What about the amazing Karate by Froggo? It looks and plays just like Mortal Kombat. If you've taken a great deal of LSD, that is.

That is flat out not true. The CV, Supercharger and 5200 were all released in the fall of 1982. By the time the SC price dropped, other games had dropped as well so it was more four times the typical cart. Communist Mutants was also competing with good vertical shooters like Phoenix and Megamania, which were far more interesting. So for the price of Starmaster, Parker's Frogger, Megamania and Asteroids you could get a Supercharger with Phaser Patrol. Not a wise deal.

That political party sure sounds like it's going places (cough cough) . . . and now would you like to hear about the wonders of Scientology? We all joined after discovering a super secret message hidden in A-Team. Known to the ancients as the Cart of Infinite Knowledge, you must obtain this forbidden device and decipher the clue. And then you too will be one of us. ONE OF US! ONE OF US!

Let's be honest, how many times have any of us played Atari with even two people, let alone four? Consider our overall playing history and I doubt that any one of us played solo less than 90-95% of the time. Again, a nice feature which didn't justify the expense back then. I understand why people want them today, collectability and conversation piece and all and the Stella CD is way cool. But I hope that none of the kids get mislead into thinking that the average gamer cared about the Supercharger whatsover back in the old days. It was a marketplace failure, the wrong gimmick at the wrong time.

It was just a gimmick. With the exception of the multi-load games, they all could have been squeezed into regular carts. The idea was to sell people the add-on, making them feel obligated to buy tapes for it instead of spending the money with other companies. But it had nothing special to offer. The 2600 programmers were doing impressive things even with 4K at the time and the new systems blew it out of the water. It was actually a fairly rare item in the day, only carried by video and a few toy stores. It's totally the 32X of Atari

Oh Flesh Gordon, where art thou?

Yeah, you're talking about the Family Fun Center on 70th and Dodge. Good arcade by today's standards. The EB is next door and Gamers is nearby on 72nd Street south of Dodge. And the Best Buy is on 76th and Dodge, which is where pretty much everyone I know chooses to shop for video games.

Actually, the Supercharger came out just about the same time as the CV and the 5200. It was also going up against killer 2600 releases like Pitfall, Vanguard and Turmoil. So the question at the time was wheter or not the Sc was worth the extra expense. Sure Phaser Patrol is cool, but is it THAT much better than Star master to warrant the expensive add-on? I like Asteroids better than Suicide Mission, but even if you dont is it THAT much better? While Dragonmaster and Mindmaster are cool for the 2600, these games are firewood examples of their overall genres. The Supercharger was a lousy idea. It was the 32X of its day.

Last week I said Phaser Patrol while talking about Planet Patrol, to the horror and amusement of all. Flubbing a game name around here is like wearing a Stormtrooper suit to a Star Trek convention.

The Supercharger games were all right, hit-and-miss. They weren't worth the extra money back then and they aren't worth the extra money now. The question isn't if the games are good or not, the question is whether they're so much batter that they justify the added expense. No way in hell. Dragonstomper is good stuff if you're into RPGs, Pasher Patrol is cool, Frogger kicks ass, the rest are pretty blah. I understand why today's collectors want them, but for the rest of us we can get more game for our dollar if we skip the Supercharger. The same held true back then, which is why it was a flop in the market. I knew a hell of a lot of 2600 gamers back then and no one had or even really wanted a Supercharger. There were better ways to spend the money, especially as the 83 crash started up.

So it's pushy employees at Gamestop/EB or idiot teens at Gamers. I guess that's why Wal Mart and Best Buy are selling so many games these days. The old school (pre-90s) video games stores were so much cooler. There weren't many back then.

Best game containing an exclamation mark? River Raid, no contest. If you don't get it, you shouldn't admit to it.

Notice that Centipede is the only shooter that a large number of women seem to like? Gotta wonder what that's about. Chicks usually don't like bugs. Centipede was Ed Logg's follow-up to Asteroids, with Donna Bailey doing the graphics.

And 2600 Bosconian would be different how?

Prefer the 2600 sticks to the CV ones? It's a good thing that the two are totally compatible then, huh? Plug an Atari stick into one port, a CV into another to select the game and go to town. Now that we've settled that, what else does 2600 Mr. Do have to offer? Horrible graphics? A small number of cherries on a shrunken playfield? Hooray. It's a decent enough game, but it doesn't compare to the CV edition. This situation calls for the dreaded F-word: FANBOY

No sane person could prefer the 2600 version to the CV version. I suppose that the 2600 had a better version of Zaxxon as well?

Count me in the "homebrews are an entirely different subject" camp. Today's 2600 programmers aren't straitjacketed like the old school ones were. I'm sure that Kitchen would have loved to have 8K for Donkey Kong, but 4K was all he got and he had to deal with it. I'm sure that HSWWSH would have liked to have a year to create an awesome ET game, but he didn't have the option. The battle between the programmers and the companies and the resulting creative successes and failures is key to the fascination with this scene. Homebrews are great, lots of fun and imagination, but there's nothing of historic interest about them whatsoever. That's why homebrews and classic creations do not mix and why 2600 discussions are assumed to be about the classics unless otherwise noted.

Reactor? You mean the "DUN DUN DUN?" Frogger was the impressive one back in the day. Whether live, in the studio, or on a video game . . . Journey sucks.

It took five posts to get a mention for Pitfall II?

Easy. An "iron maiden" is an old torture device. The original one is still located in Nuremburg if you Germans want to go take a look at it.

Bingo. The attributes needed to be a good collector are some of the same attributes needed to be in a good relationship. Take me and my best pal MegaManFan for example. He and I are practically indentical in many ways: political views and taste in entertainment and sports for example. But we differ in our way of life. He's a stable guy with a regular job and routine. He's the sort of person who has the time and level thought to both collect games and maintain a steady relationship. Meanwhile, I'm all over the map. I have multiple weird jobs and I'm always running from place to place. I don't have his stability. So instead of amassing a sweet collection and marrying a cool woman like he did, I play my old games and run around with bimbos. I'd trade places with him in a second. I'm just not wired that way at this point in my life I probably never will be.

Does anyone remember Spare Change? It was similar to 5200 Gremlins in that you could turn machines on and off to manipulate the bad guys. Spare Change had an arcade theme. Good stuff.

Most of the jokes are based on the word "made" which is pronounced just like "maid." "Maiden voyage" is a term used for the first launch of a boat. In this case, the word "maiden" is synonymous with the word "virgin." So a ship taking its maiden voyage is losing it's sea virginity.

"Maid In Voyage" is corny as hell, but it works. The game itself keeps getting better as well. I smell a homebrew hit. Maid For Action?