SmileyDude

Dang it -- I just re-read Eckards post... the TIA appears to be latching a single pixel, not the entire value of PFx, right? That actually makes more sense when I look at it

So, from what Eckhard is saying, it sounds as if the TIA latches the value of the PFx register when it starts drawing, and uses that value, even if the original value changes. Does that sound right? BTW, I've been working off the assumption that as long as the instruction finishes on or before the cycle on the chart, that should be fine. For example, PF0 finishes at 6502 cycle 28, so as long as my STA PF0 finishes at cycle 28 or later, it should be fine. But, I've been waiting for the TIA to finish drawing a particular portion of the playfield (i.e, I'm stuffing the values into the registers as early as I possibly can, and I'm just waiting for the register to be free again), so my assumptions may be completely wrong. And considering what Eckard said, it might not matter anyway So, does anyone know for certain how the timing works for these fringe cases? If I reverse my example above, if I have a STA PF1 that takes 3 cycles, and I start it on 6502 cycle 25, since it finished on cycle 28, will that display properly? Logically, it should work since the instruction is finished at cycle 28, and the TIA shouldn't be drawing until when cycle 29 begins...

Ok, I understand why it wasn't recommended to use the undocumented/illegal opcodes when the machine was still in production. But, correct me if I'm wrong, AFAIK there are no 2600's that have problems with these opcodes, right? And any new hardware/software that can run 2600 programs is going to have to implement these opcodes in the exact same way, right? Personally, I don't see the problem -- unless there are 2600s out there that just won't work with them...

That's odd -- when I lived there, I thought that the string of thrift shops in South O. was the best I've ever seen. I was always able to find Atari stuff there. Now that I'm in the Boston area, I have yet to find anything even comparable. The thrift shops are the only thing I miss about Omaha

You and me both. All signs are pointing to the inevitability of a mod chip for the GC coming out soon. The homebrew scene is starting to awaken for this machine, and once it gets going, you can almost be certain of a NES and SNES emu to come along. Sure, it would be nice to have something like the GB Player for the NES and SNES games, but I think having emulators would be the next best thing BTW -- there already is a NES emu for the GCN -- Animal Crossing has a limited number of NES games included with it, and Metroid Prime has the original Metroid as well (if you have Metroid Fusion for the GBA, that is). I would personally be very happy if Nintendo put together a compilation disc with a ton of NES games on it and the emu. That would be worth quite a few bucks out of my wallet... oh well, I guess I can dream

That would be nice, but I don't think that the GC's hardware is up to doing 4 GBA emulators at once. Especially considering that a lot of PCs have hard enough of a time just handling one GBA emu. The GBA is decepitively hard to emulate -- 32-bit RISC chip, running at 16mhz, and a kick-ass video chip as well. I guess that the PowerPC chip inside the GC could handle it, but it wouldn't be an easy thing, that's for sure Much cheaper for Nintendo to simply put a GBA chip inside the box, and let the hardware do it's thing

I have no problem with this -- pretty nifty, IMO Personally, if I did something like this, I wouldn't be satisfied until I had the keyboard working But, nonetheless, this is very cool stuff And, btw, I think that most people getting choked up over 1 less Atari 800 should be more upset at the people who just throw them away without even thinking about giving it to the local thrift store. I'm sure more 800's (and other Atari hardware) have been thrown away in perfectly usable condition than anyone cares to know

LOL -- so, bright packaging means kiddie? I'm sure you didn't mean it that way -- I mean, adults can like more colors than Black, White and Grey, right?

That's tough to gauge properlly -- the GBA has a 16mhz 32-bit RISC processor. The added registers that comes with a RISC chip is very handy. A good assembly programmer can get a lot more out of a ARM chip than a similarly spec'd 486. The problem is that the 486 isn't similarly spec'd -- they are much faster in the megahertz deptartment (well, depending on which 486 you are looking at ). But, then again, the graphics chip in the GBA is much more capable than any PC video from that era -- so, for a lot of games, the difference in video alone can make a big impact. Another limitation on the GBA is RAM -- I don't remember exactly what was standard on 486s back in the day (4 megs?) but whatever it was, it was more than 256k + 32k + 96k -- that's all the GBA has RAM wise. And the 96k chunck is video RAM, so it's not exactly usable for game data. This is certainly going to be a factor in keeping track of those dead bodies

The best I've been able to find was a G&W Gallery 2 for the GBC for $2 at one yard sale, and a box full of N64 games for $5 apiece (this was 2 years ago). Those were both on the same day, nonetheless. Since then, it's been a complete washout I sure miss the thrift shops of Omaha... I had a bunch of good finds back there.

I'm more interested in the homebrew possibilities for the GCN than for piracy. Most of the games I buy are first party titles anyway, so I have no problem spending money to support Nintendo -- especially since they've done pretty well at making the games Anyway, it's already possible to run code on the GCN -- it just requires using PSO and exploiting a network bug to fool it into running arbitrary code. I've already seen some demos written for the GCN -- I guess now we just need a set of Atari emulators to make it complete I know I'd love to have a disc with a 2600, 5200, 7800, and 8-bit emu and a ton of games on it.

Wow -- I'm impressed. This is good stuff -- both the original and the new version. As far as a vote goes, I'm more impressed with the newer version. It makes me want to go out and get a 130XE to add to my collection. It's a shame that at least a 64k version couldn't be made, but I completely understand why.

Well, my six year old was pretty dumbfounded when Hamtaro poped up on TV one day... he was pretty much convinced it was a baby show. It would be pretty tough to get him to play the GBA game after that. It's a shame that there are a number of good games that have some sort of license attached to them. The same goes for Pokémon -- most people who play it say that it's not a kiddie game, and that it's really good. But anyone who hasn't played it is gonna say it's too kiddie. I'm just happy that games like Advance Wars were released without some kind of licensed name. Can you imagine how popular the game would be with the older gamers if it had the characters from Yu-Gi-Oh in it? Sure, they would've gotten a bunch of sales because of the license, but on the otherhand, they probably would've sold less copies overall and less systems, since I'm sure that game has brought in quite a few older gamers.

LOL -- I only laugh because I almost did this myself last weekend Luckily, I remembered to grab it before leaving the house. That would've sucked... especially since on the flight back, we sat on the runway for 2 hours (for a 2 hour flight). I'm sure that my battery would've died a horrible death if I hadn't charged it the night before. Besides, I'm sure that as a parent, you were a little bit happy to have your son away from the GBA for a bit BTW -- I know it doesn't help for that trip, or anytime you might be on a trip, but you can order spare parts directly from Nintendo. I picked up one of those handy headphone adaptors (what's up with that? First the omit the power adaptor connector on the original, and then the headphone jack on the followup ) from there along with a replacement screen and battery cover for the original GBA. Not too bad if you're in the states -- go to http://store.nintendo.com to check it out.

Man, I had just about forgotten about that Best Buy -- it's been over 2 years since I lived in the Omaha area... Oh well, to add something helpful to this thread, KB Toys sells them... well at least some of them do. I went to a KB Toys in Stoneham, MA, and they said they won't/can't sell them. I then went to EB in Burlington, and they said the same thing. I went to the KB that's right next to them in the mall, and they sold it for $9.99. BTW, the first I had heard about these discs was one of the E3 releated announcements that said it was going to sell for $9.99. Then later it was announced as a bundle with the GCN. Best Buy is just wacked... I saw the $40 price while on a visit to Cincinnati... I had assumed that it was a mistake, but after hearing the reports of other stores with the same price, it looks like it was some bone headed decision at the corporate level. I'm just curious as to how many copies they've sold at $40... and of those, how many were parents that didn't realise it was only a demo disc and demanded their money back?

Yeah, those hinges do look like a source of trouble -- mine have gotten looser, but still not that bad. I'll give it a few more months before getting worried. Besides, there is a 1-year warranty on them Also, you forgot about the other feature of the SP -- rechargable battery. It certainly is nice to have a built in rechargable battery as opposed to the set that I was rotating through the old GBA. Plus, the battery seems to last a lot longer than those rechargables ever did. My complaint about the GBA SP is horrible colors they choose. Sure, they look nice at first, but then they start dulling up and getting scratched. Horrible looking. I can't wait until the black SP comes out... I'll be replacing the Cobalt one that I have.

In black ink

If I wasn't so attached to my Atari gear, I could probally make a killing of clueless people on eBay. Rare Atari 2600 joystick for sale -- starting big $20

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...&category=41009 Why would someone bid up one Atari joystick to $15?? Man, if people are this stupid, I have a box of joysticks in the basement to sell... Unless, of course, that there is a big shortage of joysticks that I just didn't know about

See what I mean? People get pissed off because it doesn't have a DVD player -- silly me, I thought it was a game machine (Not talking about you, MegaManFan -- just the people your list refers to ) It's a good thing our beloved Atari's didn't have to deal with this. I can see it now: Salesman: This here is the Atari 2600 video game system. Plays all the cool games like Space Invaders. All the kids want one of these. Buyer: But does it play VHS tapes too?

What is this "one single good game" mentality about?? Last I checked, there have been quite a few good games to make it worth while to buy a GCN -- Zelda: WW, Super Mario Sunshine, Metroid Prime, Animal Crossing, Super Monkey Ball (1 or 2), and more that I'm sure I've missed. On the other hand, I can't think of any games that make me want an XBox or PS2... maybe it's because I don't look at those consoles much, but even when I'm browsing at the local game shop, nothing makes me think "wow, that looks cool -- I think I need to buy an XBox now" On top of the games, the console is nice and cheap ($150 with a game), the controllers are excellent (Wavebird is awesome), and with things like GBA connectivity and the GB player that's coming out, it's even better. Damn, I'm beginning to think that public perception is going to kill Nintendo. From where I'm sitting, Nintendo seems to be doing everything right, and they're still getting blasted by everyone. Everyone bitched about the N64 because it was cart based, and once Nintendo moved to optical discs for the GCN, people find something else to bitch about. They're probably upset because there hasn't been a mod chip yet for the GCN and they can't just warez like the PS2 and XBox groupies can. I better stop -- I'm getting bitter just thinking about this. Gotta go play some more Advance Wars 2...

You're probably back in the states now, but as I recall, GBAs are more expensive in the UK than in the US. Also, if you pick up a GBA SP instead of a regular GBA, you'll need to buy another power adaptor for use back home.

AW is a great game -- AW2 looks like it's going to be another must have as well, even though the novelty has worn away a bit. AW is the kind of game that you hope to see more of for the GBA -- the SNES ports are good, but not very much fun if you've already beat them. BTW -- another good game not on your list is Metroid Fusion -- when I got that game, I couldn't put it down until I beat it. Classic SNES action but with a new story -- excellent game

Maybe time has clouded my memory of the GBC screen, but I really didn't see much difference between the GBA and GBC screen except for the extra glare that you get with the GBA. Why they still haven't made the screen anti-reflective is beyond me....

I love this game -- I started playing it with the Japanese version. Man, some of those micro games can be really tough if you don't know Japanese The bad part about this game is that it is quickly finished. I was able to beat the game in about 2-3 days. And I unlocked all the mini-games a day or 2 later. Once that's done, you have the challenge of earning the little badge for each of the mini games. Once you do that, everything is pretty much unlocked. BTW -- Pyoro 2 is much better than Pyoro, IMO -- definetly worth going through the hassle of unlocking and earning the badge for each of the microgames Another good challenge is to max out the score on Sheriff -- you can get a max of 999,999,999 points on that game I just hope that there is a followup to this game -- I would love to see something like this for the GCN as well. Maybe next time, they can include some Atari games as well