fiddlepaddle

or buy a PAL SNES, a PAL TV, and appropriate AC adapter(s)...

True, but until the Playstation/Saturn/N64 arrived on the scene, polygons were mostly used as a novelty graphical effect in home releases. Hunter ( Atari St and Amiga ) was the rare exception that couldn't be done on a sprite based engine, I can't think of any others off hand. It's the gameplay that matters to me - or rather, the emotions we bring into it. Walking into a cave and seeing the entrance rise up around you is a different experience than seeing a sprite walk into a tile on the bitmap. So too is being able to look your character in the eyes, and experiencing what they're feeling as well. These are moments that simply don't exist in most 2d games - and it wasn't until after the 16 bit era that they were fully explored. Virtua Racing, Race Drivin'/Hard Drivin' (Genesis) Star Wars Arcade (32x) and virtually all vector graphics games were based on polygons (albeit wire-frame) including Vectrex titles from 1982-83. also I think polygon graphics were used to produce the "boing" demo for the Amiga computer that drove it's initial sales before Commodore bought the company (about 1985).

Disgruntled spouse at 2 or 3 am.

Yup...

It's so you can easily tell the difference between a crappy Electronic Arts game that doesn't fit in a cassette holder from a crappy Accolade game that doesn't fit in a cassette holder.

You'll be able to buy a used, good quality CRT TV for many, many years. At least as long as you'll be able to find a good used VCS, Genesis, or even N64. There are soooo many extra TVs out there, I don't have any worries about that issue. Regarding RCA, I bought a 25" about five years ago... it's a real POS. Regarding Sony? POS, POS, POS! But PS2 is proprietary, so what are you gonna do? Bite the bullet and get a new one every time it breaks, at least until it's emulated.

I was just playing Centipede on my 7800 (7800 version) for the first time in several years and having a ball. Then, on my third or fourth game, all the bad guys slowed down to about half or one-third speed, the game is really easy and I get over 300,000 points. My first thought: What's this? a bug in the software? I figured I hit the scorpion in a weird way or something and it got stuck in slow mode. Then I realized what was really happening: I'm using a Genesis stick controller with autofire set to automatic (so I don't have to hold the button down). At the end of the game, the fire button automatically restarts a new game. Ok so far, but without realizing it, I'm holding the stick left at the end of the game and it switches to Novice mode between resets without me even seeing it. Nope, bug in the game player. Ever spend time investigating something that's "obviously" a software bug, only to find out you did it to yourself?

I also like the Virtual Boy, play it occasionally, and have had no adverse reaction from playing with it. My favorites are Red Alarm and Galactic Pinball. And Mario Tennis is kind of fun too, even though I'm not much of a fan of Sports Games.

If I didn't have one and I wanted one, ten bucks would be OK with me. Of course, if you are willing to wait and you plan on going to lots of flea markets, thrift stores, garage sales, etc. then it's likely you'll find one eventually for less, possibly including some games. I wouldn't sweat it...enjoy it.

I didn't think LCDs could burn in either, until I got one. After about a year, I made some changes to the way I had my desktop configured and was unhappily surprised to see some apparently permanent lines in my display where the old panel was. On the other hand, as long as the image does not stay static for significant periods of time, there should be no noticeable burn in, but if you play the same game over and over, and it has some images that do not move (like the playing field in PONG, for example), those images will burn in to your display on a projection CRT TV. Atari actually got sued for this and that's why the VCS games change colors every few seconds when the game is over.

Good Job. I didn't realize the Intellivision II controllers were compatible with Atari controllers. Have you tried using an Atari controller to play Intellivision games or vice versa? (I picked up two Intellivision II's a while back, but never got either one to work; assume the 'chip that burns out' is burned out in both).

Will OOC allow me to upload my existing Word file into it w/o re-typing everything? Open Office Calc (spreadsheet) will read Microsoft files, including Word, but you may have to play with it a bit to get the formatting the way you want it.

How about this:

I always enjoyed the arcade Super Breakout when it was around (and usually played the Progressive option), and where on the paddle you hit the ball DID affect the angle, similar to Pong. I was always disappointed in the 2600 game for that reason.

Great question. Maybe that's why Atari didn't sell too many of these things. I had some once, but decided they weren't as functional as the wired controllers, especially since I switch games a lot and since, as you noted, you have to use the console for reset and difficulty switches anyway. Then, there is the battery thing...

Defender, Scramble, Choplifter...

I always wondered who bought those silly things... MY shoes don't even fit.

The Amiga, another bright spot on the technology front slowly squandered away by inept management.

Ahh... so they moved. I thought they went bust. There's another junk place nearby that is still there. On the corner of Lawrence and Central If I recall. It's called Happs or HSC or something like that. give yourself at least an hour to go through the place. I may be way off on the name... Yes, Lawrence expressway and Central expressway in Santa Clara, very unique. They take old electronics apart and sell all the innards. I've found video game stuff there from time to time, including a 32X cable. I always go there first when I need a weird cable. Last I looked, it was called "Haltec", but maybe they use HSC now...

I played a game called "Snake Pit" by Bally/Sente (featuring an Indiana Jones-like character whipping snakes) that was put in an arcade in Sunnyvale in the eighties to test the game. I later learned that the gimmick ("impressive new technology") was that the hardware for these arcade games was intended to be upgradeable easily for new software. At the time third party companies had been able to sell "upgrade kits" to arcade cabinet owners which made new games out of old cabinets and Nolan's idea was to take this idea mainstream...kind of a modular cabinet. That way, the game developer wouldn't need to ship out a big cabinet every few months when games stopped raking in the quarters. When he first announced the product, while on stage, Nolan reportedly doubled the price (from $2500 to $5000) due to his perception of enthusiastic reception of the products' features at the trade show.

I moved away last year, but I lived in Mountain View (next door to Sunnyvale) for over 20 years. I got some fantastic plastic game cases made for storing (two each) Atari or Coleco game cartridges and instruction books at Weirdstuff Warehouse when they were located on Lawrence Expressway (maybe ten years ago) for 25 cents each. They had so many, they might still have some. When I first arrived in the area, being enamored with Atari, I drove down Borregas avenue (irrationally half expecting to see Nolan Bushnell walking down the sidewalk). Not much to see, really, even when Atari was still there, just another industrial/warehouse district. These days it's more like a ghost town with all the companies out of business since the dot com bust. Be sure and check out the Capital flea market (best on Saturday, go early) and the Berryessa flea market (later is OK) in San Jose; they're both huge and I always find games.

Well, if you don't pay it, they won't sell it. If you do pay, you just set the new market price. At least until some fool with too much money comes along and says, "Wow! Only five dollars each!" and buys them all.

I use OpenOffice spreadsheet for all my games in one big sheet with console type, title, publisher, box, instructions, notes on condition or other enclosures or overlays or whatever. I occasionally export it as text, then import it into a .odt (open document text) file which formats it in a tiny font in four columns so it all fits on a few pages to keep in my car. OO lets you sort your database by whatever criteria, and to search for stuff, like those from activision with no box, or those called "NBA Jam", or just about any combination of things. Very useful if you have a huge collection. It's possible to add pictures, but way too slow, so I'm waiting until either the software gets faster or I get a faster computer that makes it worth it (I've been waiting a long time...I first started this project back when my Amiga 1000 was new). I use linux, but OO runs under windows too. You'd think a good picture/text database would be easy to find, huh?

I have one like that in a box that says "Power Adaptor for Video Pinball, also for Video Computer System, Stunt Cycle, Tank II" It came with a "Factory Reconditioned" VCS.

Because so few people had recording equipment back then, I'm sure many are lost forever, never to be heard again (except maybe by aliens, and they might not understand what they're hearing.) I know the same thing happened to many early TV shows. But, thanks to piracy and emulation, most Videogames will be preserved as long as global thermonucelar war doesn't break out. (or interplanetary thermonuclear war, if we colonize other planets.) Fortunately, video games are not the only thing people preserve: http://www.archive.org/details/oldtimeradio