johnny_boy

Too bad the DS hasn't got GB Color compatibility. There's a terrific remix of "Space Invaders" by Activision on it. I recommend anyone to at least try it out. The extras aren't too superfluous and the overall feel is very well done.

This is something Apple and Commodore understood well, early on in their battle for market share. In a way, I feel for the Atari management's decision to stick with their trademark - it was such a recognizable brand. It wasn't the right choice, but the appeal for sticking with your guns all the way through is hard to resist, and might have sounded back then like a safe bet. I believe they envisioned Atari growing as an expanding multi-market business with mass appeal. Warner certainly wished for it to be, so as to plug them into their portfolio.

For me, the most entertaining part of this thread is the news that atarski is apparently a 40-ish guy who double-dipped in this forum as a cross dresser trying to pass for a sweet sixteen. Almost makes up for the political schoolyard pettifoggery that landed midway in. About the ban thing: Albert seems like too much of a nice guy. It's hard to let the hammer down when you're good-natured.

How about when talking about the good ol' 2600? Evidently, we'd all call it "twenty-six hundred", or VCS if you're an early owner from the early years or an old-school "hipster". Being a québécois, I sometimes bring the subject up with my entourage, and we all seem to call it "deux mille six cent", which would be "two thousand six hundred" in the shakespearean tongue. "I'm playing Asteroid on the twenty-six hundred(2600)" --> "Je joue à Asteroid sur le deux mille six cent"

Imagic were known as one of the first to hire and put graphic artists to work on their products. It would make sense to highlight this fact by presenting some of their most accomplished titles: Fathom, Demon Attack, Cosmic Ark. I also particularly enjoy comparing the different ports side-by-side, since they usually made an exceptional effort to bring character to each platform, tailored to their respective strengths. Homebrewers in recent years have really kicked ass on the 2600, defying the expectations of what could be done on the old machine. Some titles I enjoy for their visual panache: Juno First, Lady Bug, Medieval Mayhem, Panky the Panda, Bee-Ball.

I strongly dislike the art direction in All-Stars. The graphics are uninspired rehashes of the originals, with little effort taken to the console's strengths. Same for the music - largely identical orchestrations pasted over bland instruments. I understand the reason for the collection is to offer the classic titles on a new platform, but it tastes like a tv dinner. The NES originals, though not very fancy given their time and technical constraints, taste like a carefully prepared hamburger. Nothing fancy, but done so well. If I may say so, "All-Stars" lacks soul, lacks devotion, lacks meaning. It is technically sound, but feels second rate. The only way this could have been avoided IMO, and "All-Stars" could have found a true voice to sing, would have been to refocus this project as an ambitious "remix" of all previous games, with stuff moved around and important additions added in. But the beans counters could hardly have justified such an idea. Why invest so much when a simple port + new layer of paint would suffice to bring the dollars in?

I've never seen an emulator maintainer so consistently dedicated to keep a high level of polish & functionality to his product. Stella is awesome, and therefore so are you.

International Cricket Otocky (by Electroplankton's Toshio Iwai!) Quarth Deadly Towers Fire Hawk

Answer Software's games, such as Malagai, seemed to be programmable with something called a Personal Game Programmer (PGP-1). Some kind of product they sold, that you would have somehow used through your 2600. Seemed like they had ambitious ideas, but ran out of steam, and liquidity, like everyone else at the time. It would be interesting to learn more about this company, especially since they made one of the few decent + rare 3rd party games.

Beoran, You succeeded at packing a decent amount of quality gameplay in this one, taking me back to my NES wonder-years, with its Zelda/Crystalis action-RPG play. It's a great example that hardware doesn't have to dictate the limits to game rules. Your YouTube video is very informative, but I personally feel a short trailer with an appropriate soundtrack would help "sell" the game even better. The dedicated website is a good idea.

I do appreciate the vast visual improvements, but I personally feel the flicker caused seemingly by the player's multi-colored sprite is too distracting for its own good. I'd personally prefer a plain grey body, perhaps keeping the red-tipped nacelles. Still, a stellar effort. I amused myself comparing this version with the original and the "Galaxian Arcade" hack for a short while. Yours definitely comes on top.

Very clever! If this solution is actually doable, it could manage to satisfy both the emulation and real hardware camps. This is shaping up to be a smashing release!

It has a sort of "Jet Set Willy" madness to it. Very english. So, this extra level, was it to be an ADAM exclusive?

A friend of mine thought for the longest time that "Digger" for DOS was an original game, before I told him about "Mr. Do!". I'm sure he not the only one who got confused. Its graphics make fairly good use of its limited CGA palette, but it's not as good as the real thing. http://www.digger.org/

The other challenging thing about Jr. Pac-Man is the absence of warp tunnels at each side. There's no extra feature to save your ass in this one, except for the power-pellets -- and you still shouldn't count too much on those.

The japanese version of Street of Rage 3, Bare Knuckles 3, is widely regarded as superior to the american one. There's also a translation patch, but it's not really necessary.

Weird... works fine here. Maybe you could try emptying your browser cache and try anew?

I was bored and curious, so I checked out the link, and the latest full version, "Kong 1.5" is available from there. Seems like it's the best choice. http://www.champ-em.com/download.htm

"BeebEm" seems to me like the safest bet. Website looks full and seems to have been kept updated, which is a good sign when looking for any kind of software. http://www.mkw.me.uk/beebem/

I was subscribed to GamePro when they downgraded the page binding from glue to staplers. Loose pages started to fall around after a few months of normal use. That definitely had a negative impact on my feelings for the magazine. I was too young to know any better.

MadCats had ample chances to redeem themselves in the past, but I can't seem to shake the feeling that they just don't ultimately care about sturdiness and offering a quality product that will last a long time. Heck, even Logitech have their lemons. When I bought a PC gamepad, I felt it better to play it safe and go with the 360 controller, even though the d-pad is indeed fairly poor. Those Saturn USB pads on eBay look pretty sweet, but quality is all over the place, from what I've read. Gotta be careful which vendor you go for.

The original Wizard was released for C64 and ported to the ZX Spectrum, but the sequel, Ultimate Wizard, was a C64 exclusive as far as I know. An old magazine scan says that the original was going to be released shortly after for the Amstrad, but I can't find any other mention of it.

Didn't know Nintendo was acting so protective of the N64's core differentiating hardware assets. That would definitely had contributed to the cold and meager 3rd party support. Sony did so many things right in those crucial PSX years.

Well, there was "Clock Tower" for the Super Famicom, and "Sweet Home" for the Famicom, but perhaps they weren't as effective as later offerings.

Take all the time you need. I'm just grateful that there even exist such a good and well-supported 2600 emulator.