Gabriel
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Posts posted by Gabriel
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Definitely get the following protos from Atari Age:
Super Pac Man
Pac Man Jr
Millipede
For released games try:
Star Raiders
Defender
Missile Command
Centipede
Countermeasure
Qix
Megamania
Berzerk
Popeye
While some people will disagree with these games, I also recommend:
Q-Bert
Star Trek: Strategic Operations Simulator
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I put it off for quite a while, but tonight I played Centipede with the trak-ball. I've been distracted lately by long Defender sessions, and Berzerk has been demanding my attention as well.
But tonight I popped Centipede in and all I can say is, "WOW!"
The only way Centipede could be more arcade perfect is by playing the actual arcade game. The 5200 was DEFINITELY the home arcade machine of its era.
I drool thinking of how awesome Tempest would have been. Short of a special spinner controller, the trak-ball would have provided the closest control to the arcade game.
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I feel that something is missing from this story as well. However, I'm not inclined to disbelieve Greg Zumwalt's story. In fact, it is a distinct probability that the story is exactly as it is being told.
IMX, the vast majority of people on this planet are merely waiting for a chance to dick you over, especially when a situation like this presents itself.
In all likelihood Jason Wagner was looking for a way to weasel into a situation. The story makes Mr. Wagner sound like he appears out of the blue with neighbor recommendations. It seems as if Mr. Wagner sucked up enough to get what he wanted out of the arrangement.
That's what people like that do. They suck up just enough to get what they want, and then, after they've achieved their goal, they disregard or "forget" any agreements which weren't written in blood and notarized by God. They also tend to tell everyone to "fuck off" afterwards.
Looking at the alleged destroyed collection, there isn't much of anything in there a mainstream person would consider valuable. Even if Wagner did examine the collection, it is important to realize that such people really don't recognize value in things. If it doesn't have direct value to them, or have leverage on someone else, then it is worthless. And, I'm sorry to say that Wagner didn't need leverage on Greg Zumwalt. Wagner had already acquired what he wanted, the house, and needed nothing further. Therefore, the collection in the garage was merely junk taking up space. Because of this, it is extremely likely that all of it has been destroyed or is buried in a city dump somewhere.
I'd be wary of Mr Wagner having a relationship with someone on the State Police force. It's doubtful, but such a relationship would make this whole situation like a minefield.
Barring direct relations with authorities, people of the type I'm talking about can seldom effectively defend themselves legally. When confronted with authority, they tend to reveal themselves as the loons they are. The drawback is there likely won't be anything you get out of the situation. You'll tie yourself up in court for a very long time and tie money up in legal bills, and, in the end, you still won't get your items back and the person you're trying to get justice against will never pay you or will disappear from the face of the Earth (to pull the stunt against someone else).
In the end, you really have two options. You can forget the situation and move on with your life, which would be extremely difficult in this instance. Or you can pursue legal action against Jason Wagner and probably get nothing out of it other than financial strain and extreme inconvenience. About the only satisfaction you may get is that Wagner may end up having to pull up stakes and move to greener pastures.
Then again, people like what I think Wagner is don't have very good track records on actually paying their bills and things. So, it's likely they'd end up fleeing the area within a year or 2 anyway.
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Ah well, it seems my only option is to try to find the CD where I burned VSS, download Stargate, and see what it runs like.
No one has played the Stargate proto on a real 5200?
Anyway, does anyone know at what point Defender rolls over? I know for a fact that it can handle 7 digits.
Also, what kind of controllers do you use to play? I use the good ol' stock 5200 sticks (well, the ones I have now have gold flex circuits and contacts).
Tonight I did a practice run on Normal difficulty. I decided to max out the level counter.
For those who don't know, waves 87, 88, and 89 are waves full of nothing but pods and bombers. The Wave counter maxes out at wave 99, and every wave cleared from then on gives you a new planet.
"Normal" maxes out at the same difficulty as "Hard", but takes longer to get there. By wave 30 or 40 I couldn't tell any difference anymore.
My score tonight was 2,017,900. I didn't bother counting how many extra men I had left when I gave up, but there were enough that I almost cleared a level without even playing the game anymore.
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I've thought about it.
On an actual Defender arcade cabinet, I'd be having a brilliant game if I got 10,000 points. On the PS1 emulated version, my best score is 35,000 or so. So, on the real game, I'm not even a marginal player, much less a decent or good one.
But when I play the Atari 2600 or 5200 versions, I can do no wrong. The only reason I die off is because of getting bored with the game. And I know this isn't just me. The Atari Defender carts are just way too easy.
2600 Stargate was another matter. It would kick my butt soundly. I wish I still had a copy.
A big part of the ease of Defender is how quickly you accumulate extra ships. For the home version of Defender, 10K is too low of a point threshold. Having extra ships awarded every 25K or even higher would be much better.
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I hate you all::cries::
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Tonight I sat down with Defender on Hard difficulty and, on a lark, decided to run it up to a million points. I love 5200 Defender, but its laughably easy.
Is the Stargate proto to the same level of completeness as Super Pac Man or Millipede? Is the difficulty pumped up a bit compared to Defender?
I've read that the Stargate proto has massive slowdown problems. Is it really bad?
I'd check this out in an emulator, but a 5200 emulator just doesn't give me an accurate idea of what the game plays like on real hardware. Most games don't control right. And slowdown tends to look much worse than it actually would be on a real console.
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Get Soul Calibur 2. It is easily the best fighting game of all time, and the GameCube has the best version of it, hands down.
Even people who don't normally like fighting games LOVE Soul Calibur 2.
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I am pretty disappointed in it. Here are a few random observations.
The games don't come with any documentation. The user is directed to a website to learn how to play the games. This may work for some people, but definitely not for me. It's been years since I've played Utopia, and I could barely get the game started, much less play it.
I know for a fact that at least Armor Battle is emulated completely wrong. The buildings were not even remotely like they should have been. And Armor Battle is a game I've played within the past few years. If that one is wrong, I'd venture that the others are pretty messed up too.
Armor Battle kept crashing the "emulator" when a friend and I tried to play it. After a few tries, and several crashes, we gave up.
Good = The keypads are displayed with their overlays when you bring them up on screen. This is a vast improvement over the PS1 version of the disc.
Bad = The keypads take up a full half of the screen when you pull them up.
Was control in Night Stalker really that bad? I've never played it, but goddamn was it slow and unresponsive. In fact, control in most of the games is absolutely atrocious.
I think I'm eventually going to break down and buy an actual Intellivision and a few select carts. These "emulated" ones just don't cut the mustard, and they are forced to leave out critical games of the Intellivision's library (Burgertime, Tron, and AD&D).
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I'm one of the biggest Robotech fans there is.
Even I couldn't find any redeeming value to Robotech: Battlecry.
Bad graphics (even people who LIKE cel shading tend to agree the graphics of the game are well below acceptable standards)
Bad control
Vague mission success targets
Total detachment from the action
It was already on sale for $30 a mere 3 days after the launch date. That should have warned me right there that it was a bad one, but it was Robotech, so I bought it.
I can't say it was a total waste of money. I suppose you could use it for a cup coaster. And the case could be used to protect more valuable discs. Beyond that, it was pretty pathetic.
The only game in recent memory that I can think of as being worse was the Defender remake.
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Sorry to dig this thread up again, but I finally found Double Dragon Advance the day after Christmas and bought it.
I have to say that it's one of the happiest purchases I've made for the GBA. I've already logged several hours on it and I'm still enjoying it.
I've always loved scrolling beat 'em up games. I still semi-regularly play Streets of Rage 1 and 2 with a buddy. This genre has been dead for quite some time, and its really nice to see the game which started it all resurfacing.
Even better was seeing the classic updated in such a way that didn't make it suck. It's a very, very good update of the game.
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Today saw the fulfillment of a 20 year old dream.
For two decades, I have wanted to play Missile Command with a Trak-Ball on an Atari 5200. About a year ago, I finally managed to get a copy of Missile Command.
Today, I got my beautiful Atari 5200 Trak-Ball.
It was worth the wait. Everyone who has an Atari 5200 owes it to themselves to get one of these controllers. I may never play Missile Command any other way.
I am one happy bastard today.
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Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance holding a spot as one of the greatest games of this console generation while Soul Calibur 2 doesn't even make the list is the very definition of screwed up.
The fact MK:DA even made this kind of list is a sad testament to the writers of the article, or this generation of games. Take your pick.
All in all, a very poor list geared towards driving sales of certain games at Gamestop.
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I wish I could narrow it down more.
There were no bosses. It was definitely an old school game with level upon level of one hit wonders.
Gaplus looks like a promising match. But I seem to recall the player's ship being more squat. And I don't remember being able to tractor beam enemies to help my firepower.
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I need to know the name of an arcade game. My information is spotty, but hopefully someone can help me with this.
I played this game in the summer of 1989, of that part I'm certain. I THINK the copyright screen on the game said it was made in 1987. I'm not certain about that last part.
The game was a Galaga-like game. The screen was vertical. You controlled a ship which faced and fired upward. Enemies would appear on screen and you'd kill them all to pass the wave. I think some of the enemies were ball looking things, but I'm not entirely sure of that either.
One major difference is that your ship could move anywhere on the screen. You were stuck facing and firing up, but otherwise you had free reign of the playfield.
Graphics were similar to and at about the detail level of Gyruss, maybe slightly more pastels.
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I bought a Playstation on its launch day.
I got Battle Arena Toshinden as my first game. Extra controllers weren't available on launch day, so a friend and I kept alternating playing. Before the first week was over, I had conned my friend into buying Ridge Racer for me. I think he bought a memory card too, but I don't remember for sure.
I loved my Playstation.
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Right now, I have a 2600, Intellivision, Colecovision, Genesis, NES, SNES, and Playstation. Can anyone recommend a better version? What do you guys think is the best "Popeye"?
There's a PS version of the Popeye arcade game?? And a SNES version too?
I'd have to say the NES version is the best adaptation, followed closely by the Atari 5200 version.
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You people are crazy. I played the DC version of Soul Calibur last night to see how it stacked up against the new one. I was remined how hard the controller had to be fought every inch of the way. The controller is more of your opponent on any of the DC games than the enemy AI just because of how awkward it is.
To reiterate: Real Joystick > Control Pad.
My vote goes for the Atari 2600 stick.
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Unlike the last one, this is a very easy decision for me.
Real Joystick > Pad
The Atari 2600 stick all the way.
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On the one hand we have the fucking uncomfortable Dreamcast pad with it's screwy analog mushroom and shoulder buttons. On the good side, it has 4 buttons on front so your thumb doesn't get overloaded.
On the other hand, we have the purely digital Genesis 6 button pad, which is decent, but your thumb has to deal with too many buttons, and they're all a little bit too close together. In addition, the top buttons just never feel right.
I'm going to go with the Genesis 6 button. It has less of what I dislike in a controller. No gimmicks (no memory card in the controller, no rumbling shit). No stubby and unresponsive analog controls. And overall, it just feels better in my hand. I'd like it a lot better if it moved X and Z to shoulder buttons, and had A, B, C, and Y in a diamond pattern, but I guess you can't have everything.
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Even though Xbox vs SMS wasn't one I was emotionally invested in at all, I think it does kinda point to general screwiness in people's voting. I mean that one was the screwiest of all with all the "none of the above" voting...(I was guilty of that myself.)
I started the non-vote voting. Even though I am fairly certain I would have voted against the SMS controller due to its similarity to the NES pad, I didn't feel using the controller in question for 5 minutes over 10 years ago was sufficient exposure to cast a vote against it.
Whether others cast a non-vote for the same reason, I have no way of knowing.
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Jaguar
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SNES. I find the Genesis 6 button awkward with any game which uses all the buttons.
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I had Qix for my original 5200 I owned back in the day. I played it all the freakin' time. I never had any problem with the controllers with that game.
Now that I'm all growed up, and have a new replacement 5200, I can play some games I didn't have back then. One of these is Pac Man, constantly ridiculed for its horrible control.
Oddly, I had no problem whatsoever despite not having used a 5200 controller in somewhere near 15 years. The control was pinpoint precise, and it was the same way on Jr Pac too.
Now, Super Pac had some control glitching going on. Super Pac controls VERY loose, but that is the only 5200 game I've played where I feel the control is really poor. And I'd ascribe that one to the way the controller was programmed rather than the merit of the controller itself.
However, the 5200 controller does deserve its reputation for unreliability. Then again, there are other controllers out there that are equally unreliable.
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Galaga?
in Atari 5200
Posted
Was an adaptation of Galaga ever planned for the 5200? Does Galaga exist in any form (even an unlicensed copycat) for the Atari 8 bits?