DamonicFury

I'm not a huge Q-bert expert, but I usually have luck going all the way down one side, working on getting the corner completed, hop across the bottom and get the other corner completed, then hop back up to the top and try to fill in the middle. Usually Sam makes this difficult, but getting the corners fixed early before the board fills up with enemies seems to help for me.

As an admirer of the amazing work that PacManPlus has done with the 7800 system, I just wanted to start a thread where other fans of his work could express their appreciation for all he's done. This is emphatically NOT a thread to rehash and re-fight issues that have recently happened, but just for expressing thanks to a guy who's contributed so much to the 7800 and this site. Just as a reminder, this is the man who programmed: Pac-man Collection Super Pac-man Junior Pac-man Super Circus AtariAge Meteor Shower CrazyBrix Asteroids Deluxe Space Duel Space Invaders 7800 FailSafe (possibly others, post them if I missed something!) I don't know Bob, haven't ever even interacted with him, but reading through some recent threads, it's clear he hasn't been receiving the kind of recognition that he is due as one of the superstar programmers of this community. So many thanks to him, and I hope everyone who's enjoyed his work can use this area to express their own appreciation.

Finally got to play some Megamania (quite a bit of it, actually), as well as make another try at Galaxian: Megamania: 96,610 Galaxian: 11,400 The dice rounds in Megamania are game-enders for me. I lost all my ships repeatedly during the 2nd dice round during most of my games, then finally got past it once, and of course, lost the last ships on the third dice round.

Haven't had a change to play Megamania yet, but here's my opening Invaders and Galaxian scores: Space Invaders: 7559 Galaxian: 9650

Depending on condition, somewhere between $50-100 for a boxed 5200 seems about right. Things to look for: Do you want a 2-port or a 4-port? The 4-port allows 4 players for a very few games, and is compatible with all 5200 software. However, it's usually incompatible with the 2600 adapter (which can be fixed with an internal modification.) The 2-port typically has problems running 3 games - Pitfall, Mountain King, and Krazy Shootout (the problem doesn't always exists, and can be fixed with a BIOS replacement.) Also, the 2-port uses a typical kind of RF switchbox, while the 4-port has an unusual switchbox that incorporates the power as well as RF ... it actually performs the switch from channel 3 to the 5200 when you power it on. Also, be aware that most standard 5200 controllers won't work (even if they've never been used!), unless they've been reconditioned. This is due to the kind of buttons Atari used with these. There are various solutions to the issue, ranging from gluing foil to the buttons to increase conductivity, to replacing all the buttons with gold contacts from Best Electronics. There are lots of threads on this forum about how to refurbish these controllers. You might also want to be aware that many (but not all) users aren't happy with the controllers even when they do work. The issues cited are typically the non self-centering joysticks, the mushy fire buttons, and possibly hand cramps from the non-ergonomic design. There are numerous alternatives, but sadly none are easily available. My personal favorite is the Coin Controls Competition Pro joystick... it gives you a stick vaguely similar a 2600 stick (but with two buttons), but you still need a standard 5200 stick to have the needed Start, Pause, and Reset buttons. Other alternatives are the Wico stick, the Masterplay or Redemption adapters to use standard 2600 sticks, or a homebrew adapter to use old PC gameport joysticks. Again, many threads exist about all these options here on the 5200 forum. Hope this helps!

New scores: Expert: 78,650 Skilled: 257,850

Those are some great choices! I'll have to think about this one.

First shot at "Skilled" level Joust: 134,300 That pterodactyl definitely gives this game its challenge!

I'll take those under consideration, though Qbert hasn't gotten many votes the last few times around. No way I could vote for Q-bert, as the 5200 controls make it nearly unplayable. Too bad, as I love the same code running on a 8-bit computer with a standard controller. I'm certainly up for some Pac-Man (or Ms. or Jr. or Super) Looking forward to some Joust-ing! I was happy to provide one of the two winning votes that it got.

Looking at the AA rarity guide, Death Star Battle is my rarest cart. Odd that BBSB and Meteorites are the same rarity... it's clearly much easier to obtain Meteorites than BBSB!

68,000 I'm having a rough time with the guided missiles... they seem harder to shoot down in this version.

I believe all the available 5200 ROMS can be found in this thread.

Unless you're trying to build a collection of unopened 5200 games, I say go ahead and open them. Neither is super rare, and both are fun to play.

Played this last night and didn't do much better... 37,000

A major part of my Defender strategy is using bombs to get out of situations that would otherwise be certain death! The trick is to only use them in those situations, so that you have them when you need them! I was able to bump up my score just a bit this weekend... now at 477,275.

I remember a vintage tip book saying that the saddest sight in Defender was the Game Over screen with a full set of Smart Bombs. :-)

427,325

Big fan of Defender here... one of my first 'true loves' of video gaming. I also love this port, but so far it's not being quite as easy I remember (if still MUCH easier than the arcade game.) 262,975

Congrats to zylon... couldn't beat that score. Got to 35,300 thanks to the one time I scored a lucky hit on that mothership.

Seriously hard game! I got past (but didn't destroy) the mothership once, but my best score came when the damn thing blew me up each time. 27,630 (just a hair more than zylon... sorry, man!)

The "bullets" are actually bombs, and they are used to hit the ground targets (and, if you're really good, the boss ship)

I haven't been able to beat the boss, either. In fact, I'm pretty sure I've never been able to beat it on any version of Xevious (and I remember trying particularly hard on the 7800 a long time ago.) 21,280

On vacation for the past week, but had some time to put into Sinistar tonight: 284970 For the first several levels, it seems like it's just luck whether the asteroids will you give you enough Sinibombs to get through a given level. But by the time I got beat, it started seeming like the arcade game... so many enemies that survival becomes nearly impossible.

That's very cool... would have saved me lots of pain back in the day!

Might be off by a system or two, but this is close to right: 3 4-switches (2 broken) 1 Vader 1 Heavy Sixer 1 Light Sixer 3 7800's 2 5200's 1 800 1 65XE 1 600XL 1 800XL 4 Atari Lynx 1 Video Pinball 1 Atari Missile Command arcade 1 Atari Star Wars arcade 1 Jakks joystick Plug N Play 1 Jakks paddle Plug N Play 1 Atari Flashback 1 1 Atari Flashback 2 I should probably sell off a few of the duplicate systems, but haven't got around to it yet.