tyranthraxus

Have you tried Midnight Mutants for the 7800? Its as about as close to a Zelda type game as you can get and apparently its a pretty decent game too. I'm still waiting for my copy to come in the mail. But this Zelda hack sounds pretty fun as does the Evil Dead hack. John

All this talk about the new voice hack of Berzerk (which I want badly ). Has got me thinking about other adaptions of thegame. How faithful is the 5200 version? Did 400/800 or C=64 computers get a port with voices? Was there ever a NES version? Is there a definative port of this classic? John

One thing I just noticed is that Commando is an Activision release for the 2600 and is a Atari release for the 7800. Anyone know why Activision didn't do both ports? John

I recently picked up a bare 2600 Junior system. Unfortunatly the power switch seems to be defective. When plugged in and switched on the power light does not come on, but when I press onto the switch I can get the power to light up for a few seconds. So it seems like something in the switch is not completing the circuit connection. Can a easy replacement for this switch be ordered at Radio Shack or elsewhere? Part number? John BTW I opened it up and noticed some minor rusting inside could this be related or lead to future problems?

Its surprising how many light gun titles there are when there was never an offical 7800 gun. The usual one people talk about is using the one that came with the XE computer, or modding a Sega one. Most people complain that the XE gun is bad so how does the Sega fair? Are there other light gun choices to hunt for? John

Yeah the game is a hand breaker! My experience with it was bad enough that I have not tried it since getting the joypads. I think I will have to retry it with them. Even without the hand cramps, the game is a terrible port. Forget the control issues, worst of all is the music! It is the Atari equivalent of finger nails on a chalk board. My vote for worst game on the system since it is pretty much unplayable. John

Where is the link to this mod? I looked under the "how to" section and there is no mention of any 7800 mods. John

Hi, today I just scored a working 800 at a thrift store. I also own a 800xl. I noticed that the power turns off when you lift the cover of the cartridge bay. Is this suppose to happen? Or is something loose in my computer? What is the use of the right cartridge slot? Was it something that just was not taken advantge of? Other than RAM/ROM is there anything else that can be installed in the expansion bays? John

I'm surprised that no one responded to your post sooner. My first suggestion is to check that the 7800's channel setting is correct. Try switching TV channels on your set to see if that gets you a picture. Second NES style switchboxes will not work with Atari so use the one that worked for your 2600. As for the cable here is a trick. Since you know the 2600 cable is good, you can use that one! How? Well if you unscrew the 2600 (prepare to find a lot of dust) you will see that the built in cable actually unplugs inside the case. So hook that one up and let us know how you make out. BTW the 7800 power supplies are worth about $20 on ebay so that was a great find! John

Considering that the 2 ports won't work with Pitfall, one of the key games of the era. Did Atari know that the 2 port wasn't 100% compatible? If they did, did they make people aware of it like with a pamphlet in the box or perhaps a warning on Pitfall boxes? Or did they just let the buyer find out? John

Well I can't be of 100% help as I am a newbie too. I bought a 800XL last March. It was my first 8-bit computer since I sold my C=64 in 1990. I was lucky to get some cartridges with it. Most people use carts these days to play games because they are reliable. However all is not lost. There is a program called APE which lets you hook up your Atari to your computer where you can download old Atari software off the net. I don't know the website address offhand but do a google search for it or browse the old messages on this board. The topic has come up before I'm sure Other than that check eBay or this sites marketplace for cartridges to buy. John

Hi, I've got the following Atari 400/800 games available for sale or trade: Tutti Frutti MISB Preppie MISB (Frogger clone) Shamus Case II with box, instructions* Zaxxon with box, instructions Shadow World with box, instructions* Slime with box, instuctions* *game box is a bit smooshed All are on cassette format and the open ones look unplayed. I got these in a large lot of Commodore stuff, much of which was unopened so this could be old store stock. I don't have an Atari cassette player to test these on, so they are all untested games. I am not expecting much for these. E-mail me any offers on the lot or individual games. I'll take a cash offer or trades for 400/800/XE 2600/7800/CV carts. John

I collect software boxes, not really Atari so much, I try to get Commodore 64 versions. I think 8 bit era computer packaging is the best the industry ever had. Now we all talked about Infocom, there stuff is true quality, but what about Ultima? Those Ultima games came with a cloth map of the world, and usually a metal token or coin of some sort. The books were well made too, with nice runes on them. I also think EA packaging was tops as well. The LP style gatefolds were really well made. Some even being triple folds. I also appreciate the fact they included a picture of the programmers, a nice human touch. Also what is nice about them is many have the EA company symbol hidden in the artwork. There are other companies that came up with some clever stuff but EA, Infocom and Origin were the leaders. Honorable mentions goes to Daemon Gate which included a promo VHS tape! And there is C=64 company who's name I forget that included a little chip you had to plug into the computer as a form of copy protection LOL! John

Well most Colecovision carts sold in Canada came with a second label that was in French that could be applied over the English one if you wanted to. Was the same done for Atari games? It might be a solution for those ugly carts. The few french labels I have seen are very basic. Generally instead of Donkey Kong it would say le Donkey Kong and unless you carefully inspected the label you wouldn't notice it. Just an idea, since Activision did port Pitfall to the CV, however, I am not sure if 3rd Party carts had the second label or if it was just offical CV ones. John

Breakout is one of my favorites on the 2600, even though I am not very good at it. So I am wondering what is the difference between Breakout and Super Breakout? In other words is it worth getting when I already have the orginal? Also how does the 2600 version compare to the 5200? John

I was wondering what you guys thought about making repo labels for those particularly soiled carts. In particular the evil bane of the collector Actiplaque! Its just a shame that all those great Activision games havn't aged well, so I have been considering printing high quality scans to replace the uglier labels. Also on the subject of Actiplaque, has anyone opened any sealed Activision games lately and found the labels were affected? I am curious as to whether exposion to light/UV rays has anything to do with it. John

Since this series started out on the 2600. What was the reasoning behind this game being a 5200 game? I am not up on the history of the series but was Airworld orginally intented to be launched on the 5200? John

Probably the weakest thing about the 7800's delayed launch was the large crop of old arcade conversion in its inital game lineup. But today what attracted me to the system were those great conversion of oldies. So what I was wondering is what games do you wish had been ported to the 7800? I myself wish that Frogger and Burgertime had come out, Miner 2049er would have been great as well. And from a more modern standpoint Tetris would have been nice. Updates of Pitfall, Missle Command and Breakout I'd have liked to see but the 2600 versions of those are amongst the most playable today and wouldn't necessarily have been better. Although I'd trade all of those in for a beatable version of Impossible Mission John

I just looked in at the auction and it finished at $610. I've bought cars for less! I expected this auction to go for 900-1100. Considering the BIN was 1200 I wonder if the seller is dissapointed? The buyer must be pleased. John

While I don't have a tape player to test them on. I'd debate whether they are a sturdy medium or not. I have a number of old 80s tapes some of which have been battered around in my car for years and they still work. If a tape can withstand the extreme temperatures that a car can experience then a few computer tapes stored in a closet for 20 years have a good shot at working. I'm not really one for collecting them either. I am more intersted in carts and disks since those are what I used as a kid. Though I recently stumbled upon a cache of boxed Atari tapes some still sealed. There are some good titles too like Zaxxon and a Temple of Apshai sequel that I'd like to try but I have no tape player! Ironically a few weeks ago I saw one at a thrift and passed it up because I never thought I would find any tapes! John

If the Atari version is anything like the Commodore 64 version then I wish you bon chance. You have to time it so that you start moving toward the door as he jumps so that he will be at the highest point as you enter. Sorry that I can't be of much more help. I can only thing of 2 occasions where I beat that game. Once in the 80s and once last year I used to know a kid who could get by the marshmellow with no troubles. At least console yourself in that you can get that far. Since I had a pirate copy in the 80s, it was years before I learned how you could use the ghost bait to keep him from crushing buildings John

So aside from being a museum piece does the 1090 have any functionality today? I mean can the few lucky owners of them hook them up and take advantage of the ports? Or does the lack of drivers make it a display piece only? John BTW what is the Commodore One that was mentioned?

Unless they have been stored in water they should work just fine. Cartridges have an amazingly long shelf life. If they do not work it usually means they need a little cleaning or perhaps your console needs cleaning. John

I am not one who is ever up to speed on prototypes so the recent 1090 auction was a pretty interesting revelation. So for the sake of discussion and Marvel comics tradition. What If... the 1090 made to stores? My personal opinion is that it would have bombed. Like the Commodore 128 developers would not program for the extra power because that would cut out the larger number of C=64 owners. So only diehard Atari users would have got it. Unless Atari came up with some hot software to utilize the expansion, it would have been like the C= 128. However, while I don't think it would have sold well, it is an intriguing piece of hardware. If it caught on, I wonder if the 8-bit market could have lasted longer with the ability to upgrade it. I imagine Commodore would have eventually come out with their own version and perhaps the Apple II as well. Being able to upgrade a few components could have stretched their life. John

I was browsing the rarity list here and they listed the red label variant of Ballblazer as a 5. Is it really that rare? I recently got a 7800 and last week was able to find a local seller with a whole bunch of sealed common games which I proceded to tear open And my copy of Ballblazer is that red label version. One thing that was strange was when I first played it I got that electrical burning smell coming from the cart. It still works so far... Regardless if the red label really is rare I am glad to have it. One of the drags of 7800 collecting is that most of the game labels look the same. So its nice to see a bit of colour amongst the grey. John