Atari2008

That's awesome. I love hearing from people who actually owned one of these less popular systems back in the day. People seem to have enjoyed the bowling game, I've played it, it's actually pretty fun.

Sorry to hear of your collection that got water soaked! I had a lot of stuff I collected in my childhood in a shed that got wet and moldy so I know the feeling. Sometimes Studio II's come up on eBay without the switchbox, you could add one of those to your collection if you wanted.

Do you still have your Studio II Gamemoose? I saw a switchbox only for the system go on eBay for $25.

I bought an AV modded Atari 2600 Jr. from Bradd here in the Marketplace and he's an excellent person to do business with. He answered all my questions quickly and thoroughly, and he shipped super quickly. Everything was packaged perfectly, and the 2600 Jr was in perfect condition when it arrived. Would definitely do business with again and highly recommend!

Sorry realize I didn't search for his name properly and his user feedback thread already exists. I'll post it there, but please delete this. :-) I bought an AV modded Atari 2600 Jr. from Bradd here in the Marketplace and he's an excellent person to do business with. He answered all my questions quickly and thoroughly, and he shipped super quickly. Everything was packaged perfectly, and the 2600 Jr was in perfect condition when it arrived. Would definitely do business with again and highly recommend!

Fun with Numbers Blackjack TV Schoolhouse Tennis/Squash Space War All commons, right? The console doesn't come with the box but it has the switchbox and power supply, and everything looks to be in good condition. The system doesn't have scratches and the numbers on the keypad aren't faded. The game boxes are very nice, no creasing or anything like that. And the seller said it works and will accept returns for up to 2 weeks. I like your price range much better as I'm cheap as well. Can't envision paying $100 plus the $16 shipping. You got a good deal! I agree...the Studio II is more of a $10 console.

I'm thinking of adding an RCA Studio II to my collection, and I want to know what is a reasonable price to pay for a complete and tested unit (both boxed and without the box)? I'm looking at one now that doesn't have the box but is complete (has the switchbox and power supply) comes with the owners manual and 5 complete, boxed games. It's been tested and working and the seller offers a 2 week return. It's $100. Is that a good price? Thanks!

Congrats on your sale. Yes if you ever sell your other RCA Studio II, just please let us know.

I was impressed by that as well. As soon as I had noticed it, it was gone.

There are some pretty good games on the Fairchild. I enjoy Dodge It, Drag Strip, Spitfire, Alien Invasion, and Sonar Search. The games on the Channel F are better than those on comparable lesser known systems. Good luck with the Studio II clone, there are even some that display in color and have joysticks instead of keypads. Not much of a fun system by most standards but I enjoy its quirkiness. In terms of rare systems, I'd like to get an APF MP1000 at some point.

Thank you for the heads up, I would've never thought to check archive.org, very cool!

Didn't realize Cat Trax was an obscure arcade game. That's interesting! Makes sense, since the Arcadia 2001 seems to have gotten quite a few lesser known arcade ports since Atari had the rights to most of the major hits. Emerson probably feared that Atari would sue them like they sued Philips Magnavox over KC Munchkin. I do the same thing, if I find a rare article or ad for an obscure console, I save it, in the hopes of archiving it for the future. Sometimes I feel like joining one of those newspaper subscription sites and seeing if I can find old newspaper articles related to early consoles or ads. Sounds like you have a nice collection of early European systems! Do you play them as well? I'm quite the fan of the Channel F and one of my Swedish friends has the Saba Videoplay and Nordmende Teleplay along with many other European clones. The Chess cart fortunately made it onto the Multi-Cart. I'm fascinated by the number of clones that some of our lesser known systems had. I know that the RCA Studio II is another one that had quite a few clones.

Thank you for these, I love reading old video game articles from the 70s and 80s as well as ads.

That's what I was looking for! Something along those lines. Now there's a Pac-Man clone if I ever saw one. Same sound effects as Cat Trax. It does seem to be a good version of Pac-Man too. Thank you for that video! I like some of the changes they put in - 3 ghosts and Pac-Man is pink. Wondering if that was their way of avoiding any legal trouble.

Pretty interesting, I guess Emerson was looking to save money with the development of this system. They were known for cheap consumer electronics, right? I see they expected it to sell well.

So perhaps Pac-Man became Cat Trax because Emerson in the end wasn't able to release the official Pac-Man and changed the graphics in order to stave off a lawsuit from Atari? I was wondering if anyone ever found an actual programmed version of Pac-Man with all the original graphics before it became Cat Trax for example. Seems the Arcadia 2001 while underpowered compared to its contemporaries of 1982 - Atari 5200, Colecovision and Vectrex - would be capable of decent ports of popular arcade games of the day. I know the system gets derided and is widely panned by gamers, but are there some standout titles on it that are fun to play? I know that Cat Trax gets mentioned often as a fun title. I have the Arcadia 2001 in MESS so it would be interesting to try out some of the games. CatPix, interesting theories on why so little is known of the early European systems. I looked up some of the ones you mentioned the Radofin and Interton - I like the look of the consoles. It's funny you should mentioned the Spectrum as being one of the more widely known ones, even I know of that one and my knowledge of European systems is sorely lacking. Have you ever thought of building a website that could house all this information? Seems a shame that most of this would be lost to the sands of time. Do you collect any of the early European systems?

Interesting. It sounds like Emerson had big plans for the system. I always assumed it was just a cheap system designed to cash in on the video game craze. I agree, I like the graphics from what I've seen in emulation. Colors are bright and the detail level is nice. I agree, more detailed than an Intellivision but not as detailed as other systems of that year - Atari 5200 and Colecovision. Also I like the Intellivision style controllers with the joystick attachment. Seems like a system with quirky charm. Has it seen any homebrew action? That is a shame that the documentation of early European consoles is not that good. Any idea why? I do take it for granted that Jerry Lawson and Ralph Baer are week known especially among retro gamers and collectors. I'm even learning that even the obscure consoles have a devoted fan base that documents and preserves it. Oh yes and the sound is quite terrible. I had to lower the volume. I did chuckle at the attempt at ominous music at the beginning of the Space Invaders clone.

This is pretty interesting. I'm surprised by the number of arcade ports that were released on this obscure system. That is true, many of the released games you can tell what they're a clone of. I was just intrigued by the prospect of an official release of a major title like Pac-Man. Another interesting note, I learned that the console shell is the same as those used for the also rare APF MP1000.

I've been reading up on the Emerson Arcadia 2001, and I found it surprising to learn that Emerson had programmed versions of Pac-Man, Galaxian and Defender for the Emerson Arcadia 2001 but due to Atari owning the rights they were shelved apparently. Have these ever been found and dumped? Would be interesting to see what those games look and play like.

Awesome!!!! He deserves to be played often.

I've just started researching the Vectrex, so I couldn't help but look at this thread, amazing work! Like the cut scene and the music is awesome.

Yes I think so. At the time of it's release there was the Channel F and RCA Studio II. While I love the Channel F, the Atari 2600 blows it away and completely obliterates the RCA Studio II, it was a huge tech leap from both systems. The O2 which came after doesn't have the flicker present in many Atari 2600 games but it also can't display background graphics and has a built-in set of blocky characters giving most games the same look. The Astrocade was more advanced but as has been said here the early games weren't all that impressive and it also had lots of hardware issues. The Intellivision was more advanced but again it came down to games and accessibility. The Inty with those crazy controllers and all those buttons is not as user friendly as the simple 2600 joystick. Also, it still has a huge homebrew scene so yes the 2600 is a very impressive game system.

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So I'm trying MESS and I'm encountering an issue. When I try the latest version of MESS version .152 and I use MESSUI as the front end but all I get is a black screen. When I randomly pick a much older version out of a hat like version .140 (from 2010), it works flawlessly. Is my laptop too old for MESS or am I doing something wrong? Anyway I can see if I a newer version will work without trying all of them?

I'm actually getting excited about taking emulation more seriously. I got a USB gamepad from Best Buy to test it out, see how I like emulation with a pad. If I find it enjoyable, I'll look into an adapter so I can play with a PS2 pad. I think emulation will go a long way in scratching that itch I have about other consoles.