tz101
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Posts posted by tz101
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Another option is to buy a CX-40 joystick that is modded to use a USB connection: Legacy Consumer Electronics.
Sweet. Now, if they only offered a USB paddle controller as well...
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Gyruss
Space Invaders
Demon Attack
Enduro
Beamrider
Does anyone know if a mod can be done to make joystick-based 2600 games work with paddle controllers?
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I agree with Zylon. There is a fuse inside the RF switch box that sometimes blows. This is probably the culprit here.
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That reminds me i picked up about 5 broken controllers at a nava meeting at digital press last weekend that i need to repair.
The Best Electronics flex circuts and buttons are 2nd to none.. and i do recommend using them as opposed to the foil method.
What's the foil method? I usually just scratch the carbon dots and pcb with something to make the controllers work but it's temporary.
The "foil method" involves using a paper punch to punch out a bunch of dots from a sheet of good quality aluminum foil. Then you take the 5200 controller apart and use either a small dot of super glue or a hot glue gun to attach a foil dot to the carbon contact on the back of each rubberized button. Presto, this works like magic for making all your rubber fire, start, pause, reset, and number pad buttons work like new again. I did this to my controllers, along with new flex circuits and pots from Best, and my controllers are awesome!
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I think the end of that cable with the shorter center pin is designed to plug directly onto this:
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Remember that this guy's in UK, so they might have some different stuff than what we are used to stateside.
Your pic is cut off, but I am guessing that that VCR has some additional component inputs to the left of where your image ends. If so, then all you need to connect your 2600 console is a RF modulator and a coaxial RF adapter like I showed you in another thread. Basically, you would connect your Atari RF cable to the Radio Shack coaxial adapter, then hook that to the 75 ohm input on the RF modulator. The component outputs from the modulator would then be connected to the back of your VCR via standard r/y/w RCA component cables.
The RF modulator is not needed if there is a 75 ohm coaxial threaded signal input connector somewhere on the back of that VCR. In that case, the RF coaxial adaptor from Radio Shack would screw right onto that and then you are good to go.
I hope this is somewhat helpful.
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None of the Wario games
No Kirby games
Nadda Mario Party title
Nyet God of War (and no desire either)
Never a Grand Theft Auto (won't happen in my lifetime)
Nunka on Super Smash Bros.
Nill Final Fantasy series
Not yet regarding Resident Evil games
Nope on Panzer Dragoon
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Funny, but I thought of making a portable classic console recently, mostly fueled by my picking up a fairly tough looking K-Nex toys carrying case at a GW. It is large enough to probably mount a 2600, NES, or maybe SNES inside of and not have to worry about water or damage because it is also incredibly rugged in design. I haven't investigated it yet, but with a lot of extra NES units sitting around, this will probably be my next project. I will probably rig my composite outputs and power adapter plug mounted out the rear of this case, and it could truly be a gaming survival kit. Maybe something else to consider would be a mini DVD player LCD screen and 12v power inverter. Then I could play it in a car.
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donkey kong for me too, the play was ok, but god, i couldn't stand how much better it looked on the colecovision.
This was done purposely by Coleco. Obviously, they wanted everyone to convert over to their Colecovision console, so by selling graphically terrible ports for their main competitors, 2600 and Intellivision, they could hopefully lure gamers to buy their system. And even if these gamers did not go out and buy a Colecovision for the Donkey Kong port, Coleco still made cash off the deal by selling them these sub-par game carts. It was a win-win situation for them no matter what.
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Superman. Man, those graphics were blocky and horrible.
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So it sits there for weeks unbought til they end up junking it.
I saw the same thing at Salvation Army a while back. They had a few older flatbed scanners for PC that were priced around $10-$20 range. I had been wanting a scanner that would scan legal sized documents and they had one, but it didn't have a power cord. The cord it required was your basic PC or VGA monitor power cord, but they had none of these lying around the store. I planned on coming back another day and bringing a spare power cord from home just to test if it powered on before buying it. I went back a week later and all their scanners were gone. I asked the store attendant where they all went, and she informed me that the manager had decided that none of them were going to sell, and needed the shelf space for other items, so they all went to the trash dumpster. Wow. A couple of the scanners had original boxes and manuals with them. I spoke to the manager and asked him why he didn't simply offer to give some of those goods away and he had no explanation. I would have taken that legal size one without knowing if it powered on or not, but it went to a landfill instead.
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My first real wow moment was playing Space Invaders for the first time in the late 70's. It made Pong (which I was already playing often) look primitive at the time and started me down the gaming path.
I lived through the same time period but never was amazed by Space Invaders. I think it is due to the fact that I could never get very far on that game. One or two waves of invaders and I was usually dead.
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Has anyone besides me noticed the general lack of classic gaming knowledge of the average thrift store employee? Now, before anyone bashes me for dissing the disadvantaged, let me also state that most charity thrift store employees I see look much better off than the handicapped people shown on their ads, but also please take my comments in proper context. All I am saying is that they need to maybe put a bit more thought in their pricing and system packaging practices as it pertains to classic gaming items. All would benefit from it.
For instance: I went to a GW today and bought a pirate plug n play system called a Maxx Play 85-in-1 system. From the Chinese sweat factory, it came as two controllers, one of which plugged to your TV via RCA cables, and the other which plugged into the first controller via a 9-pin Atari 2600 type plug. Basically, the first controller contained all 85 Famicom pirate ROM's on a chip and a menu system, along with a start and reset button. The second controller looks similar to the first, except for the different cable coming out of it. There was nothing more to this "system" as in a console. The GW had these two controllers rubber banded separately and priced at $4.50 a piece, and the proprietary battery pack was over in a bin of power adapters to be sold separately. I took the two controllers up to the register along with the orphaned battery pack, and the cashier proceeded to tell me that she would have to charge me separately for each item. I explained to her that it was all one game system, and she called her manager who promptly told me that the items were for separate sale. Now, come on: Controller one with the games on chip would work fine as long as it had the battery pack inserted, but controller two? Maybe I should have left that one behind since I don't play many two-player games anymore, but how would they have ever sold it? Probably would have sat around until they finally threw it out for the trash man.
Another instance: I saw a pieced out N64 system at another GW store one day priced for the reasonable amount of $15. Here is what it contained: one N64 console and its power pack. The top hatch where the memory pack goes had been removed and some thief had stolen the RAM expansion module. After looking up and down a few aisles, I saw the remainder of this system. They had two N64 controllers listed for $3 a piece, and a SNES/N64/Gamecube AV cable in the bin for spare cords listed for $1. The memory expansion module was nowhere to be found. Come on, why not package the entire system to make it worth somebody's while?
Repeatedly, I see PS1 consoles sitting on shelves with no cords or controllers, listed for ridiculous prices like $20. Then I go down another aisle and find the controllers and cords thrown in spare parts bins for separate sale.
Does any of this make any sense?
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I picked up this cheap Chinese plug n play gaming unit from GW today. It is called a Maxx Play 85-in-1 and appears to be made by some company called VS Maxx. Seems to be one of the infamous pirate units with NOAC architecture, but I have never seen any of the games on the thing before so am guessing they are Famicom titles, and not US NES releases since I have a substantial NES cart library and would recognize those games.
In any case, the unit has some problems. Mainly, when I power it up it goes through the intro screen fine, then progresses to a screen showing a layout of the controller button functions. After that it goes to a scrolling menu screen whereby the user is supposed to be able to select which of the 96 (?) games he/she wants to play. This scrolling menu is messed up in that I cannot see the cursor as I move it over the different game titles. I can hear an audible dinging noise, but no visual to know exactly which game I am over with the cursor.
Finally, after blindly selecting a game, the unit goes to that game's Famicom start-up screen. On that screen, again, I cannot see the cursor that I am moving over the various menu options (1 player, 2 player, options, etc.). So I blindly hit the controller's "start" button but once the action starts I cannot see my onscreen avatar to know where I'm going. All the background graphics in each individual game seem to be fine, along with audio, but my character is nowhere to be found. So obviously I die an early death.
I took this controller/game console apart, thinking maybe there would be something obvious I could see, but it is not so easy to tell. For starters, this is a Nintendo on a chip console, but there is no chip that I can tell on the system board. Just a PCB with some resistors, controller button contact points, and a fuse.
Does anyone have any insight into NOAC type pirate game systems and how this might be fixed? Thanks.
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I own a lot of systems, but my favs go in this order:
1. NES - Nonpareil game system above all else
2. Gamecube - Great system that gets dissed a lot by the general public
3. 5200 - The stock controllers are great, and the games are better
4. Dreamcast - Very nice system that everyone needs to try
5. 2600 - My first love, but its been surpassed
6. PS2 - Extensive software library makes for lots of fun
7. Genesis - never was a Sonic fan, but lots of good ones on the best 16-bit console
8. Xbox original - The graphics surpassed PS2 and I loved the original large controller
9. SNES - Super Mario Kart and Donkey Kong Country, along with Starfox FX were great fun
10. Jaguar - I love the first 64-bit system
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Maybe another dumb question, but did you use one of the RF to coaxial adapters pictured below to connect to the 75 ohm input on the rear of your VHS/DVD unit, or did you just connect the RF coaxial cable from the 2600 to the yellow RCA input jack on the back of the same unit? The adapters are available at Radio Shack.
Reason I ask is because the second arrangement will only deliver the video portion of the RF signal from the 2600 console. That would certainly cause you to get no sound output to your speakers.
One other thing: Are your speakers powered? I believe you will need either a pair of powered speakers ala PC audio, or a stereo receiver with auxiliary input to feed the audio from your VHS/DVD combo deck. FYI.
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Looks promising, but is there another that doesn't require removing the RF unit from the main board?
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I dunno how easy that label is gonna be to get off. Just from the looks of my two Tiger carts, I really don't care to try removing their labels.
If it's totally dead perhaps you can have a reproduction board made for it.
Heat gun used wisely makes easy work of removing any and all labels. Then just use some Elmer's to put it back on later.
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Why are they like $20 or so
like the SNES/Wii Converters
NES/Wii Converters
I think some of it has to do with relative scarcity of orders versus the need to recover these companies' manufacturing tooling/machinery investment. Of course, I also believe this is abused by many companies, and maybe the number of orders would indeed pick up if they only lowered the price to begin with. If you think those are expensive, check out the price of the Stelladapter for using original Atari 2600 controllers on your PC with emulation software. AtariAge currently lists these for $39 in their online store.
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Y, this is going to really dwindle the number of 2600 carts over the years as they die off. I have had two carts go over the years, along with buying a dead Telesys game a while back at Goodwill.
Eventually, we will be stuck with the emulators whether we like it or not.
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The setup you propose will work, assuming you have some powered speakers or a stereo receiver with auxiliary inputs fed off of the composite switch box.
I don't understand though that you say that you don't have room for a larger CRT television, but you are thinking about adding a VCR to your rig.
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Ah well, No Hyperscans at the other store. I did pick up a GameWave for $16.99 though, that will be for another thread though!!
Curious, isn't the Game Wave essentially a DVD player w/ 4 remotes?
CG2010
Gamewave is made by Zappit Games, and plays CDs and DVDs as a bonus, but is at its heart a "click in" type of family oriented party game system. Very similar concept to buzz-in quiz show game concept in some ways. It comes with four remotes, but two can be added for a total of six players on most games. I got mine with four remotes, CIB, and four games at a yard sale this past summer for $10. It was a great purchase as my family loves it.
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This looks fairly straightforward to do, but the only problem is I would prefer stereo sound output. This mod only outputs mono sound.
Why not just get an RCA Y-cable and split the audio to both channels?
Doesn't function the same. All that gives is identical sound to both channels. I did a stereo mod to my NES a while back and ended up with distinctly different sound to the left ad right speakers. That is why an RCA Y cable will not suffice.
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RF modulator should do the trick, and they are readily available at Radio Shack, K-Mart, Wal Mart, etc.
While that would let me connect to the antenna/cable jack on the back of the TV, the quality would no doubt be worse than using composite. I was hoping to find a hookup that preserves the (relatively) high quality of the s-video signal.
I misunderstood your original intent. You stated that your new TV had composite, HDMI, and component hookups, but did not mention a 75 ohm cable connector. The RF modulator I suggested takes 75 ohm cable inputs and outputs them to component outputs. My suggestion would allow you to play really old consoles like 2600, Intellivision, Colecovision, SMS, and Genesis that depended on your TV having 75 ohm input. My experience has been that even using component input from my 2600 or Intellivision improves both the audio and video feeds.
It now seems that you are only needing to connect more modern systems like PS2 and Xbox 360 to your new TV set. Worst case for any of these would probably be component hookup, but I do not know that there would be a very noticeable difference over S-video.
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RF cable
in Atari 2600
Posted
Do you have any knowledgeable electronics shops in England? Maybe you could take your VCR and Atari console in and some tech could set you up right. Just a thought.