tyranthraxus

Please post here or put up on your site your alternate graphic. I'm sure I'm not the only one who'd like to see it. John

What 10 games would you consider to be titles that best represent the capabilities and history of the 2600. I DO NOT mean your favorite games. But a list of titles that represent the history of the Atari VCS heyday of 78-83. For fun I put together this list of 10 games that I think represent everything that was good and bad about the VCS 1. Space Invaders - the game that sold the system 2. Pitfall! - Not just a classic game of the era but the launch pad for Activision and indpendent devoplers 3. Video Olympics - On here because Pong started it all! 4. Yars Revenge - Showed that arcades didn't have all of the best games. 5. Asteroids - Arcade staple of the era and a damn fine port. 6. Pac-man - Yes its a bad port but Pac-man was a phenom back in those days. It sold copies even though it stunk! 7. Atlantis - Here to represent Imagic and the great graphics their programmers managed to squeeze out of a few kb. 8. Missle Command - Another arcade staple that rocked on the VCS. 9. Swordquest Fireworld - Here to represent the ill fated Swordquest contest. 10. E.T. - A symbol of everything that was wrong with Warner-Atari and a lead up to the crash.

Sorry. Double post.

I think that there will always be a flow of the rare games. 10,000 copies is not very rare compared to the rarest stamps or baseball cards. There will always be hardcore collectors who sell. Some people lose interest, finacial reasons, having children, other people reach 5 or 6 hundred carts and decide to scale back a collection to just sentimental picks, there are many reasons. However how many of that 10,000 survived today is another question. Other pop culture collectables like sports cards and comics have been around longer and have better estimates on the truly rare stuff than we do. Game collecting is just in its infancy. It took the growth of the internet to get it organized. How many of us would be very knowledgable about what's rare and not without the net? And its still very much a niche market. Part of the problem is the variety of systems and the bulk in storage. That hampers the chances of a store using valuable shelf space to devote a section to classic games. Its only worth it for a store to stock the rare games yet to grow a market you need to have a few decks and common games around to draw in newbies. The interesting thing will be how Atari games are viewed and collected in say 50 years. When most of today's nostalgic collectors and retrogamers will be dead and the only people who remember Atari are hardcore collectors. Will the Quadrun's and Chasewagon's still hold their value? Or will the treasured games be the games that made a splash with the public like Space Invaders or Yars Revenge? John

Yeah this guy really got lucky. The sad thing is that this guy is a "power seller" who makes his living off of ebay. It would have been nicer if it was the original owners who sold it off cuz now this guy is going to look at Quadrun and then Rubic's Cube and think their is easy money in Atari and go around buying up a lot of stuff and overpricing it. Still it goes to show that finds are still out there. John

I was wondering whether the Spider-man movie had any impact on the value or availability of the 2600 game? I'd been looking for a boxed copy of this for a while but have decided not to go after it until this movie hype has gone away. So for you regular ebay hunters did you notice the price go up or a glut of sellers with "rare" Spider-man games. John

I think you ideas for gameplay are rather poor. The movie was about how far society would go to prevent violent crime. The main character Alex gets brainwashed and becomes unable to defend himself. Your game should have your character have to avoid contact with enemies like police, old rubbies, other gang members, the dude in the wheelchair and his bodyguard (who BTW is the same actor who played Darth Vader in case you wanted to know what he looked like). Since Alex is also brainwashed where he can't touch women, throw in a few chicks that will drain points if he goes near them. After avoiding the baddies and escaping the maze he gets unbrainwashed and you can throw in a crude 2600 style orgy scene. Or pehaps your game could be where he is capture by the writer and his bodyguard you have to escape his house. John

Yes Lee I got my copy from you. First class job all the way. The interview manual was quite interesting and a nice addition to the package. However the only complaint I have is the label. While it is a great replication of Atari's grey 7800 labels that is my complaint. I find all those grey labels that they made to be really boring. Since Klax is an unreleased game I think it would have been cooler to have come up with a different background colour like red or black to make it stand out a little more amongst my other carts. John

I have yet to break the seal on my copies of Jinks or Realsports Baseball but after reading this thread I might just have to see for myself I nominated the recently bashed Karateka. The controls are bad, the game is hard and the music is awful awful awful! What is that song that plays during that lame introduction? Since there is only a handful of marital arts games this lemon stands out even more. Its a shame its so common because that means that a lot of kids got ripped off all those years ago. I'd have to say that the two Donkey Kong's are the biggest dissapointments for the system. Most of the old arcade converts are really well done. But those ones have the poor music, which I can live with, but the colours look bleached out. But it is cool that Jr has all four levels, yet why does DK only have 3?For the ultimate in home Donkey Kong play it on the Atari 400/800 computer. It has all the levels PLUS the correct between level animation, an almost perfect translation, its only misssing the 5th layer on screen one. The Gameboy version is also good since it has 100 unique levels that are mostly puzzle oriented. John

Go to ebay and buy the joypads. As someone else mentioned there is this guy in Germany called Yiddel who sells them for $20 which is about as cheap as you can find them. There is a guy in the US who wants $25 but with shipping the German seller is still cheaper. The joypads are a cheap Tramiel era product but they are much much better than the orginal sticks which gave me terrible hand cramps. But I found that if the thumbsticks are screwed in they are not as easy to control. Otherwise do the mod for a Sega controller its a lot cheaper but it is kinda cool to have Atari pads since few people have seen them outside of Europe. John

I just got my copy of Klax in the mail today and it is a great lost game for the system. Of course the sound is the weak spot and this game gets around it by using as little as possible! Luckily the game is quite addicting, it starts off easy enough and then starts throwing stuff at ya. Be sure to get a copy while they are available or at least try out the ROM here at atariage and check it out. I only have about half the games available for the system but it is easily in the top 10 for the system IMHO. Its too bad in never got released as scheduled. John

Just what defines a "jittery" paddle? I am assuming that you guys mean that it moves slightly when you are not touching the paddle. On my set of paddles I noticed that you often have to give them a good twist or two for them to work properly on Video Olympics. I've thought of doing the cleaning trick reccomended here but the problem is just not bad enough for me to do it. However, I did have to open them up to take out a plastic piece that was ratttling around inside. Has anyone else experienced that broken piece in a paddle set? John

There have been a couple recent ebay auctions that were just the box, no console, each came with a common cart or joystick as I recall. I think they sold for $10-15. Getting boxed 7800 stuff is not hard, there are several online stores that sell brand new 7800 consoles, they probably come with the orginal box. John

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

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