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littleman jack

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Posts posted by littleman jack

  5. Posted

    Hello all,

     

    I have a 2600 Vader that is experiencing a slight problem, and I am looking for any ideas to fix it.

     

    Whenever I put in a cartridge, upon turning it on, the picture rolls several times before settling down. Sometimes I even need to turn it off and on several tries before it settles down. It is quite like when you put a PAL game into a non-PAL system.

     

    Any ideas on why it is doing this? It does it with every game that I have tried, except Pac-Man. For Pac-Man, the game looks almost correct, but the ghosts move erratically and the "fruit" appears in incorrect places.

     

    Thanks for any help.

  9. Posted

    Agreed. I played it a ton and enjoyed it. I just wished there were a few changes when I was a kid (black backround, tunnels on the side). But my friends and I were all happy to have it, and to play it. We just figured the differences were due to the limited power of the 2600. When we saw the 5200 version, we guessed that the 5200 must have been that much more powerful. And we went on enjoying the 2600 version. Still, 2600 Ms. Pac-Man really blew us away. And then so did Jr. Pac-Man.

     

    I'm not complaining about 2600 Pac-Man. I'm just wondering in hindsight what the reasons were for some of the odd choices such as the blue backround and low scoring system. One other thread on this topic suggested that Atari wanted colored backrounds in order to show off the 2600's color capabilities. Possibly? I've also read that the original programmer's intent was making the screen like the arcade, only sideways (which explains why the ghosts come out the side of the box and the tunnels are on the top and bottom, if you lay your tv on its side and turn the joystick one quarter, you almost have an arcade screen :)).

     

    I have always liked that it was a unique version, and had funny sounds. But I have whined about the color and the scoring. . .

  12. Posted · Edited by littleman jack

    I know that there has been much debate over 2600 Pac-Man in these forums. Most of the explanations for its limitations have been attributed to the 4K size that Atari granted to the programmer. And on the other side, some poeple believe the programmer intentionally made the game limited in order to stick it to Atari in anger.

     

    When I was a 12 year old kid, I didn't think about any of these things. I just hoped it was like the arcade. I initially was dissapointed in the game and then rejoiced at Ms. Pac-Man and Jr. Pac-Man. But these days I really like all three.

     

    However, I have always wondered about two things concerning Pac-Man for the 2600. Does anyone know why the programmer chose to make the color scheme and the scoring system so different from the original? It doesn't seem like these two features used up excessive space (at least not the backround). There are some small hacks out there with a black instead of blue backround.

     

    Thanks for any thoughts or insights.

     

    ---Edited for spelling---

  13. Posted

    Having never seen a 2600 Jr. except in pictures, I've never seen what one looks like with a cartridge inserted. I'm curious how far into the unit the cartridges go. Do they go in shallow as in a 2600A woody? Or deep as in a 7800 or Sears Video Arcade II? Ot totally different?

     

    Would someone be willing to post a few pictures?

     

    Thanks for any replies.

  14. Posted

    Thanks. That's what I suspected, that they were hacks.

     

    I've seen other hacks around the web, but the best quality stuff seems to come from right here at Atari Age. I've really enjoyed the hacks, homebrews, and repros from the Atari Age Store, for my 2600, 7800, and 800. I'm hoping to be able to snag a few more this holiday season. Holiday Qb and Reindeer Rescue were both excellent past holiday finds, and a number of homebrews have been regulars in my playing rotation. There are still quite a few from past seasons I still hope to buy eventually as well, such as Melbourne Tatty, Squish Em', Blip Football, Fall Down, and Medieval Mayhem to name a few.

     

    Like a kid in a candystore. :) I'll have to patient though, and pace myself. Unfortunately, there's a lot of other places such as bills that require my attention as well. :ponder:

  15. Posted

    Has anyone ever played any of the homebrew 2600 games listed at the 8-bit classics site?

     

    They have no screen shots and a video clip player that doesn't seem to work on my computer, so I'm in the dark about these games.

     

    I am looking forward to seeing some homebrews that may be released this holiday season, hopefully several by Atari Age as usual. The homebrews here at the Atari Age store have been some of my favorite games for the 2600 (Sea Wolf, Oystron, the hack/virtually homebrew Wolfenstein VCS to name a few).

  17. Posted

    I agree with a lot of the previous posters. DK 2600 wasn't all that bad. I was upset the first time I played it upon realizing there were only two boards (after clearing the third screen), but the graphics didn't bother me. Sure, DK looked like a gingerbread man. Still, the game play was good. It just needed two more boards.

     

    And if it had come out a few years later, it would have probably had all four boards. The first screen really looks great, and is not stretched out like every other port that came after. And the second screen does have unpredictable and long duck-like looking fireballs.

     

    But it came out when it did, and we got a pretty good game.

  24. Posted

    It seems like a lot of us hold the controller lefty, as the 2600 controller was designed. I lament the day when Nintendo moved all the buttons to the other side and then all the companies followed suit.

     

    I loved playing games with the button on the left of the stick. It was really nice when arcade games had a button on each side of the stick so that you could choose which way to play.

     

    That is one really nice thing about the 7800 Proline joysticks. You could choose which way to use them because they had two buttons even for the one button games.

  25. Posted

    You can use 2600 controllers with the 7800 version, and I think there may be a coupler for the 2600 (CX-40?) joysticks. I generally use my lap or a pile of books to keep the joysticks together, or play with a friend who shoots or moves.

     

    Both the 5200 and 7800 versions are great. I like the 5200 version just a little more due to the sounds.

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