wavelflack

It's more like buying a used car that came with OnStar, and sending GM a check to continue the service.

Space Invaders at the YMCA. I was there for swimming lessons, and so was my brother. He was in a different class, so I got to hang around for an extra 30 minutes and play space invaders. I also remember they had a "Pepsi Light" machine. It had a big lemon in the logo. Not that it's relevant to this discussion, just that it's part of my etched memory.

More than I few times, I felt a small flare of hatred erupt in the direction of the SMS design team. This is for their outstanding achievement of placing two indistinguishable buttons (one for pause, one for reset) about three inches apart. Fond memories of the SMS days: 1. "Hmm...JJ's about dead, time to switch over to Champ" *booooop* 'SEGA MASTER SYSTEM' 2. "But Mom, I'm on the last boss! Okay, fine. Hold on a second!" *booooop* 'SEGA MASTER SYSTEM'

That actually makes me sad. I saw where someone found the actual original location, it is currently being gutted for renovation. In the interim, it was an italian restaurant, etc. Seems odd that it would be easier to recreate it from scratch, plus cgi, rather than restoring the original. Anyway, here's the original location. http://storyboredom.blogspot.com/2007/06/flynns-arcade-from-tron-beforeafter.html But wait!! There's no mention that it wasn't an arcade, just that it's the "historic Hull Building. To be quite honest, I've seen more than a few local "historic buildings" whore themselves out to whomever would pay rent, in order to keep the wrecking ball away. Seems possible there would be an arcade occupying it during the boom years. I would think a filmmaker (or the production designer) would opt to shoot at an existing arcade, with a few modifications, rather than populating an empty building with 100 games and decor. I think I'll contact the Culver City public library, and ask them to look up the address in a "crisscross" directory, circa 1980-ish. See if someone beats me to it. Does anyone have an idea, based on the games in the arcade, what is the least recent date the scenes could have been filmed? In other words, if Ms Pac Man is present, it's at least 1982 (right?) That would narrow down the directory searches.

I've wondered for some time now if "Flynn's" (the arcade in Tron) was an actual arcade. In other words, was it an existing arcade that got a change of signage for the movie use, or did the producers ship a bunch of games, etc. into a vacant store somewhere? I'm hoping someone might have played there before Tron came out, and still remembers it. For some reason, that arcade has always represented the "ideal" arcade to me. "Joy Sticks" is closer to the arcades I frequented in the late 70's/ early 80's, but I always wanted to find one like in Tron, and I have since hoped that it was at least a reality for someone. It's not cavernous, it's in a real building (with a corner entrance!) and not a converted gas station or pizza joint, it has high ceilings (maybe even a mezzanine, I need to rewatch this), just the right amount of crowding, great lighting! Obviously it has plenty of games, but so does D&B and I don't find that an appealing place to go. There is more to a great arcade than just the machinery stock. There was just something right about "Flynn's", from what I could see and hear. I hope it turns out that it was a real arcade.

What are the details of the video mode?

Hmm. I think the rarest game I've played, in my experience, was Top Secret. We used to make fun of it because it had 8 segment led displays all around the bezel. It seemed half-assed to us, and I never saw another unit. This was at a MGP in Overland Park, KS.

Am I missing something here? Did Imagic make any Channel F games? What's the deal with the controller offer?

It will be a special edition Wii with a blinking red light, that sometimes erases your saved games. Unless, of course, you remembered to hold "reset" when powering off. *blows into Wii slot, wiggles disc back and forth*

I didn't realize, at the time, that a crash had happened. I was 9 or 10 at that point, and all I knew was that Atari games (my system of choice) were getting cheaper to purchase, so I had an easier time getting them. The arcades didn't change at all, in my experience, and I was still buying new (to me) Atari 2600 games into 1986 (when I bought my NES). That also happened to coincide with my "collector" beginnings, because starting in late 85, friends were offering me shoeboxes full of 2600 games for $10-$20. It was a very cool time for me, because I could finally play all of these games I had seen in the Atari/ Imagic/ Activision catalogs! I remember clearly that I was very interested in Space War, but none of my good friends had it, and it was not on sale anywhere. Once the second tier friends started unloading their stuff, that was one of the most exciting titles I found! After I played it, I didn't find it quite as rewarding as I'd hoped it would be.

I used to think about rescuing this game or that, but nowadays I have nearly everything of intangible significance digitized on two external HDs, 1tb for photos and other historical stuff, one 2 tb for digitized home video and super 8 film. I always have them disconnected and ready to snag when the weather alerts are broadcast. I would get a preferable deal on an insurance settlement, almost certainly, than I would trying to sell things openly, so I don't worry much. There is a lot of personal attachment to my first 2600 and such, but they are not distinct and I would be able to to replace them fairly painlessly.

I don't remember anyone being confused by Sega's ad-ons. As kids, we ENVIED anyone whose parents had plunked down the cash for those things. Sega never introduced an ad-on, while dropping support for another. That simply didn't happen. I am sick to DEATH of this dead horse.... Good god, there is a kindred spirit in the world. I have never understood the complaint of "confusion" about Sega's peripherals and systems. It seemed very simple to me. Game "X" was available on system "Y". To play Game X in your home environment, you must own system Y. Cut and dried. I wanted to play Sonic CD, and rightfully so, therefore I purchased a Sega CD 2. I thought Virtua Racing Deluxe and Star Wars (plus Doom to a lesser extent) looked awesome (vindicated), so I plunked down $160 for a 32X. The idea of confusion about anything in the videogame arena reeks of grandparenting. If "videogames" and "systems" are too complicated to follow coherently, you might need a new hobby.

Also, in my experience, the manual was what you read in the car ride home from the game store. It was a bit like an appetizer.