Supergun

And btw, IMHO Pole Position (1 & 2) both play exceptionally well and have perfect play control with the joystick. No need to mess with them.

What about the reverse? Just curious if it’s less complicated to hack a paddle game to use the joystick? Reason being the Zellers release of Circus Atari uses the joystick and it actually plays exceptionally well. Makes me wonder if there were any other paddle games besides Circus Atari that were re-released with joystick control.

For me personally, neither right difficulty speed setting (just like the left difficulty being music on/off), is really a “difficulty” adjustment, but more of an option setting. It’s merely a personal preference for the player, I feel.

The re-released carts were by Atari during the 1986-1990 revival period. The red label cartridges. CX26143 Donkey Kong CX26144 Donkey Kong Junior CX26145 Venture CX26146 Mouse Trap CX26147 Frogger CX26148 Turbo CX26149 Zaxxon CX26150 Q*Bert I’m not aware of any known documentation explaining how they came into Atari’s control nor why some were released and some were not. (same thing with Imagic and Activision with Atlantis, Demon Attack, and Moonsweeper.)

Well, Atari didn’t make Donkey Kong, (Coleco obviously did), but they did end up re-releasing it under the Atari brand several years later. But the time period when Atari used those circuit boards was much earlier then when Atari released it. So if I had to guess, I would say that what you have there was most likely an Atari employee back in the day making himself a Donkey Kong cartridge using parts that he had access to while working there. (also the date code on the hex inverter is from 1981, consistent with parts laying around being sourced by the person at Atari)

Thanks for clarifying if it was ROM or RAM. And I will admit that 128K is most impressive! Very nice indeed! So I will definitely want to see and play this one. And to be clear myself, I agree that the price point is more than fair. I don’t have a problem with that per say. But what I do take issue with and don’t want, is for the technology progression to head in the direction of emulator and aftermarket hardware functionality becoming the standard, and compatibility with original hardware becoming a secondary after thought and/or simply abandoned. Because in scenarios such as that, what is the point? Why limit yourself as a programmer when you don’t have to? Just go and make your game on the latest console or system instead.

I also remember them stating this very early on as well. And it’s the second time something like this has happened. As I recall, the original harmony couldn’t run a larger then 32k or 64k rom. (such that “Zippy the Porcupine” did not run on the original harmony.) Then the “harmony 2” or “encore” was made and it could run the larger rom size and the zippy game. Now turbo arcade has what, too much Ram is it this time? And so it won’t run. And so what do you think will happen? Yes, a “harmony 3” no doubt.

There are several alternate titles there that I don’t immediately recognize. Once you get it running with a clean playable signal, as Rom Hunter said, please triple check and visually verify any game that you aren’t completely certain is a clone.

Some serious false advertising in there; as they describe the Atari 5200 as a “compact” game system.

Thank you sir. I will certainly be checking it out this coming weekend. I have always reluctantly dealt with the “bugginess” of this game whenever I play it, and this will certainly improve the fun factor.

The original owner must have been a huge Xonox fan! They must have really liked their games to have bought so many. Or maybe perhaps they (or someone they knew) worked for the company.

For many years now, the way that I play checkers (and to some extent chess as well) against computer controlled opponents (and sometimes humans as well) has been to force their moves. I do this by setting up trades on the playfield one after another. I basically move pieces around the playfield on strategic suicide missions, over and over until the number of pieces left dwindles down to a more manageable number. (or easier for me to process I should say) This makes the game go much faster and inevitably leads to either a stalemate, which as far as I’m concerned is NOT a loss, or to a mistake made in haste which leads to a victory. Either way I tie or win. And while it is considered “cheap” by most opponents and kind of takes the fun out of the game for most of them, there are no rules against my playing these games in that way.

Jaws and Star Wars, obviously. But must confess, can’t identify the other one.

Hey Rob, before I watch the video, and even if this question is actually answered in the video, did you ever test the cart on at least both of the 2 most common console variations? (six switch and four switch)

I play mostly the original USA/NTSC releases. (1977-1990). Secondly, I play the pals and protos from that same time period. In third place, at times when I’m bored, I might “dabble slightly” with “checking out” the hacks and Homebrews that have come since.

It’s unusual to say the least. One label appears to have been torn off, but the other one has clearly been even sliced or cut off. For reference purposes, Xonox released 8 games for the Vic-20, and all 8 were made available on 4 Double Enders. And Motocross Racer was the game paired with Tomarc the Barbarian.

Well, the key point here is to take notice how all of these joysticks place the second button on the left hand side near the first button. Having it on the right side looks great and is more symmetrical, but is impractical. It’s just impossible to reliably push the button as needed during intense gameplay.

What’s also interesting is how the original sticker on the double ender cart itself is actually the same game twice? Very strange indeed.

OMG! Eureka! Quite literally exactly what I envisioned!

I really like that joystick. And I would be very interested in having one just to try it out. Back in the day, I actually envisioned modding one of my spare 2600 joysticks by “adding” a second identical button on the other side just like that. And even adding a toggle switch so that I could place that second button into 7800 or ColecoVision mode. Fast forward to present day however (being older and wiser) and when you really process the idea and give it some thought, you soon realize it actually isn’t practical. Reason being there is no comfortable / convenient way of actually pressing a button over there. Granted, in a slow paced game where you only press it every so often, maybe so. But in a fast action game where you need to press it almost as often as the other button, it’s simply in a bad place. You simply cannot use any of the fingers on your right hand to press any button anywhere on a 2600 stick because you need it to hold the controller itself. Ideally, placing a second button on the front left edge of the controller, where your left hands index finger naturally rests, would be far better.

For decades we had to endure all those stupid fake happy birthday songs sung by staff at restaurants.

I’m sure whatever you decide to include or not include, will suffice either way. So long as the cart itself, right out of the package when plugged into an Atari system, displays “something” on screen, even if it’s just 1 line of text that says “no files detected”, whereas so the buyer knows it “works”, everything else can then eventually follow. It’s such a unique item that I think most of us here who have been following it and expressed interest in it, really just want to see it finally come out. Personally, yes, I would like it to come with “some” kind of “movie” as a “pack-in” title. (I mean getting a “movie cart” with no actual moving picture on it feels silly.) It could even just be a short television commercial; specifically the “have you played Atari today ad” would be ideal. But if it’s not feasible, oh well. I just hope it’s not rocket science figuring out how to put a movie on there. Because then it will sadly just become another dust collector buried and forgotten on a shelf.

I feel confident that we will know very soon. Because even if he chooses not to provide a scan or pic of the manual, he would certainly be willing to type out the text for us of what it says.

I’ve always played on an older style unit. 6 switch, 4 switch, heavy, light, wood grain, vader, no matter to me, so long as it’s that style. the junior is crappy. Doesn’t feel like I’m playing Atari.

Hey Rom, just curious, but from the pics of this that we do have of it so far, is the format and layout of the artwork, screen shots, and text fonts consistent with other Sancho releases? (trying to understand if it looks more like a mock up / retailers sample or a production copy.)