Madaracs

Just got my CV back with Bios Skip and AV Mod. Top notch work from the Y-Man!

Wow. And a late arcade game at that! Very cool stuff.

My kiosk wants that NFR cart. Does it have a store UPC on the back? AX I want a lamp shade with that color. MAN that is a beautiful cart. Thanks for the pic.

I think it's cool if someone has a decent cause. Makes me feel like I'm contributing. That said, I'm not going to give any more value to an item because of it... because I'm cheap. So I say, if you have a cause... then go for it. I'll still only pay what I wanna pay... and if I can help... great.

Can someone enlighten us? Was this an arcade title? Strictly homebrew here? I'm sorry--being a bit lazy on the googleness.

My Dad was in charge of design at Coleco during those years. When I bumped into one of Coleco's game artists at a sushi restaurant many years later, he told me that Dad's nickname at Coleco was "Mr. Drummond." I guess this was because Dad was very "square" and looked like the television character. Dad expressed zero interest in computers or videogames until his death in 2009. I sometimes wonder if his attitude may have contributed to the collapse? Guess we'll never know. Hmm. Well, I suppose maybe that could be true but if your dad was involved with Coleco during the pinnacle of it's popularity--I would be proud of that. Your dad was part of something special and though they called him Drummond, I'm sure there was a respect there for him as a business man. The whole industry suffered at that time. The men that took risks in the business rarely benefited from it--except by way of experience. I say kudos to your dad for what did come out of the company!

Cool stuff.

Chris Leach, you're my hero.

Good thing these things don't all come out at the same time. There have been so many releases and so many games in dev-- I'd go broke if they actually all got released on the same day.

Dude. Eduardo. Whatever you make-- I'm interested in it. And welcome back. We missed you. But we keep aimin'.

I'd agree with you except I detest those 5200 controllers. Having refurbed a couple myself I still thought it was a worse implementation than the CX-24. Even though the stem is bent on one of the CX-24s I have at least it still works. Though that isn't saying much when it's nearly impossible to actually control something on the screen without tapping the telekinetic part of your brain. Seems like Atari could have done a lot better with controllers. And for all of it's faults I still love the original Atari joystick even though should have come with a warning about blisters. Does anyone know if the Suncom TAC-2 was a good joystick? It looked like it would be PERFECT for the 7800.

You might invest in another 2 button joystick for those games. There are also Atari game pads that were made fore the 7800 in Europe. They aren't as good as an NES or SMS pad but they're way better than the stock 7800 controllers in my opinion. CX-78 http://www.best-electronics-ca.com/quickguide.htm

Bought NIB Ghostbusters and Star Trek for the Atari 2600. Fastest shipping I've ever had on a transaction and he gave me a great deal. Well packed. Items arrived in better than condition than the photos!

Dude. You're kinda obsessive. Oh wait. So am I. About collecting video game stuff.

Eric Bromley was the leading force behind the ColecoVision finally being manufactured by Coleco. He also played a large role in the line-up of arcade games that Coleco acquired the rights to make on videogame systems... and was the Coleco employee who flew to Japan to acquire the rights to Donkey Kong. There is a GREAT article, where he is interviewed extensively as well as further info on the ColecoVision and some Homebrew Scene items, in RetroGamer Issue #73 and I would recommend picking up the backissue. I wonder if I recently sold that issue. I have Loads 1 and 2 back issues on DVD... but that sounds like a Load 3 number... I'll have to look.

Does anyone have any idea who might have been in charge of game dev at coleco? It would be fun to see the reaction of the person who originally conceptualized having this game in the Coleco arsenal. Great work, RK! Great, I say!

Now that I'm back from my business trip, I'll have a look at YMCK. Thanks for the tip!

I'm in on an XM version.

Just sent one of my favorite CVs off for a Skip Bios mod and AV mod! Looking forward to having this puppy fully tricked out.

See, here I kinda disagree with you on the use of FGPA. I like the fact that they're using original components that were manufactured back then. It thus is "true" retro through and through. Or, at least mostly. I'll get to that in a moment. First, though, I'll state that my feelings on the XM are not looking at it as an "add on" that extends capabilities so much as an add on that puts in one module what might've been put in each individual cartridge had Atari Corp. not been so cheap. I'll also state that even with the money I don't think they would've made an add-on for 7800. But what they would've done had they not been so cheap is allow for devs to add RAM and POKEY onto the carts as the Warner led Atari and GCC had originally intended. So that's what XM is: it is, in one product, something that could've been added to each individual cart. So what does this mean? Well, it means that we (developers and retro game consumers) won't have to pay more for cartridges that would use those things, as now we have something that puts those things into place without having to put them into each cart. And that's why the $100 isn't so much in that light. Individual devs now can add POKEY and a bit of extra RAM to their carts, but that would drive up the cost for them which would raise costs for us. And that's why I think more devs now haven't added POKEY or extra RAM into their games so far: it's too costly. Curt and the rest have developed something that takes that issue away. The biggest things that XM "adds" are extra RAM and sound chips, and those could've been added into each individual cartridge so it's not really an "add on" that extends capabilities anymore than the mappers on NES cartridges. HOWEVER... ...I have to agree with you here. It seems to me, at least, that part of the "issue" (notice the quotes...i'm at a loss for a better term, so please don't anyone take offense) for me is that while it seems in the realm of what was technically feasible back in the early '80s, it may not fall in the realm of what was really financially/economically feasible at the time. That is, the amount of RAM may be too high for the time and so too does the inclusion of the YM2151. Perhaps the folks behind this were thinking like programmers/developers, still going for retro, mind you, but letting the need for more RAM and better sound (a "dream" scenario for them as developers, perhaps) temporarily "blind" or at least override the thinking that early '80s business execs with only so much of a budget would be willing to actually spend. I don't know if a less overall expensive (and smaller) add-on simply consisting of, say, 16k of RAM and just a POKEY wouldn't have been a "better" (notice the quotation marks) option in terms of going for that true retro "feel". But that's in keeping with my feeling that XM takes the place of add on components within the cartridges themselves. Again, it's not really "fair" to think of this as an add-on so much as a module that takes the place of stuff that could've been put on each cart, so XM in that light becomes a less expensive and more economical alternative for us (both devs and gamers) now. BUT...IMHO, the project could have gone for not only what the devs would have wanted back then, but what the execs would have been willing to spend. I don't think back in '83/84/85 they'd have been willing to pony up for 128k of RAM or an FM chip. It's great for us NOW as we'll have "closer to arcade" offerings and much larger games...but would it have been something they really would've done back then? I'm not so sure. I still have a bit of a feeling that the amount of RAM is perhaps a bit too high if one looks at what would have been feasible business-wise back then, and same goes for the FM chip. 128k of RAM and FM sound is great...but is it something Atari would've really done? And looking at it JUST as a cheaper alternative to POKEY and extra RAM in the carts...would 16k and just POKEY have been a better and more "true" retro offering? Would that have been less expensive overall? Just, basically, 16k of RAM, POKEY, and the HSC thing in one package. That, to me, would've been more feasible business-wise back then. You might consider opening a new thread for your discussion as this is still an off-topic conversation. For those of us who read this thread for the updates and not for the ancillary "woulda coulda should-they-have-uh" statements and conversations, this kind of posting doesn't contribute to the cause but rather irritates many members. See above posts for more details. Not saying you can't play in the sandbox or anything... just kindly repost somewhere new and let these conversations take shape elsewhere.

I thought it might be fun to have a thread where we could discuss music and/or point other members to music that may be of interest. This thread isn't to share music illegally, but rather to talk about music you kick it to when you're gamin' or maybe even music you've made yourself. There is an internet radio station out there that plays a bunch of really cool techno and old skool gaming related music and there are countless arcade and video game inspired songs out there to gab about. Talk about them. Let us know what you think. To kick it off, I'm gonna share a track I made using Garage Band and a bunch of Atari VCS samples. It's nothing spectacular but you might find it good background music if you're playing games or whatever. Right-Click on the image below and click "Save Link As" to download: Enjoy.

Paid up! Smurftastic! I'd like the white label cart, please. Can't wait, can't wait!

Looks great! When you spoke of how difficult the game feels now that it is more playable it had me thinking that you might consider slowing down the enemy train for one of the difficulty levels. Of course, you probably thought of that already. But the game looks fantastic!