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4-Player Combat would be epic! -Allen

Personal lessons from Ben Heck! On a more serious note, all the above advice is great. Practice, practice, practice. Like anything, equipment used can make a big difference as well. Some good 60/40 rosin core solder (I use Kester in a 0.031" diameter). Diameter of solder can make a big difference. You do not usually want too big or too small for most things. This is a good dia. for me. The biggest difference I noticed in my own soldering skills came when I purchased my Hakko FX-888D soldering station. A good multi-temp iron w/ some tips (only need maybe a couple chisel tips, a hoof tip, and a small conical tip) made a huge difference. I did have multiple Weller, Ungar, etc irons previously that I either inherited from my Dad when he passed, or that I purchased on my own. All these were single temp irons. They were OK, and I would just choose a different iron for different applications. But, I did find myself struggling as well with those. Not so with my Hakko. You do not need to spend for a Hakko (this is just my choice). But having a decent multi-temp iron w/ the above mentioned range of tips will certainly help you. De-soldering is important too. I have both a spring-operated suction pump and solder wick. And I use both depending on which works better at the time. I dream of having a nice de-soldering iron. Something like the Hakko 808 mentioned above, but it will have to continue to wait. -Allen

Very informative post. But, I do not believe this part to be entirely accurate. I have a Heavy Sixer w/o channel select switch and it tunes to channel 3 (I have not put a scope on it to check the output, but all my TVs tune it on 3). I believe the Heavy Sixers w/o the channel select switch overall varied what channel it tuned to. It would be interesting to compile the data from the Heavy Sixer serial number list here to see the variance. -Allen

Couple of cool pickups from Half Price Books this past weekend (20% off). And, some great swag from NWC 2017! -Allen

Or, you could always just put an addition onto your home like John

It's not the size, it's how you use it We have a modest collection compared to most, considering we've been collecting for about 5 yrs or more seriously. But we have enough to enjoy. -Allen

Definitely would be interesting to know the status. I was under the impression that Imagic was an abandoned trademark at this poin. But would be nice to know the status for sure. It would be cool if someone could reboot the company. -Allen

Wow, lots of good info on the CVS Gameline. I have the first flyer, but have not seen that additional mailer stuff. Thanks for sharing! -Allen

Glad to see your doing better Waggie, and this will be back on track. I too am waiting for this w/ anticipation. I will order at least a few copies here. -Allen

Latest Pickups (Saturday) for me were Batman and A Boy and His Blob for the NES, and Shenmue for the Dreamcast. All picked up from the same local game store. All 4 discs are there for Shenmue and are mint, and it has the passport book. However, the main instruction manual is missing - so, if anyone has that -Allen

Right!? But, for what amounts to essentially less than 50 cents per game and a free vader console, you can't really go wrong. I'd probably pick it up, but I'm currently at my gaming budget atm. So, I thought someone else would be interested. -Allen

Just stumbled accross the following. Thought someone might be interested. Looks like a great deal. Not mine and not affiliated. https://eauclaire.craigslist.org/vgm/d/original-atari-with-over/6229837473.html -Allen

Purchased some boxed games and loose carts. Packaged well, shipped fast, very accommodating.

Thank you. When we decided to do a dedicated space for the collection so we could actually use it, we were tight on space. It is a landing at the top of the stairs (about 6' x 10') w/ 3 doors for two bedrooms and a bathroom, and of course the stairs. There is also a bump out for the chimney. So, I had to think a lot about the functionality and space. The shelves were custom built w/ cheap 1" x 6" pine boards (perfect size for games, btw!). Each shelf was sized for the systems games that were going to be there. Also, whenever I door decor I always like to one piece as a "sow piece" to really set things off. And space being what it was, I wanted to keep things as open as possible. So, that's how I cam up with the design of the console shelves in the middle between the TV's. The back only comes out about 1.25" from wall and all the cords are run through the back panel. The empty bottom shelf is for the 7800 and I do have a gen 1 Sega CD unit that I'm going through. Colors were left to kids and gf to pick out and was a great combination. I have two commercial A/V switchers that came out of a Louisiana public broadcasting station. Each one can have 16 devices hooked up and the buttons light up when selected. I have the logos for each console as indicators for the buttons. One switcher for each TV. I have everything (except 2600) hooked up via composite for ease. Every console is split and then goes to each switch box. I can have any console on either TV, or one console on both TVs at once. All with the push of one button. I do also have all the poer going through two power switchers so I can leave the consoles plugged in all the time, but have power completely disconnected when not in use. Consoles I have: For the center console stack: NES N64 Sega Genesis / CD Atari VCS (heavy sixer) Atari 7800 In console TV Cabinet: Original Xbox PS2 Fat GameCube On console TV: Dreamcast SNES Under little TV: Coleco Flashback Intellivision Flashback I also have a Xbox 360 (R2D2), Wii, Gameboy Advance, DS Lite, Game Gear, Sears Video Arcade II, Commodore 16, VIC-20, C64, Retro DOS/WIN 98se PC.

Yes! Just ordered my copy. Thank you Albert and all involved. Exciting -Allen

I'm still just as excited for this. Can't wait. Hopefully, I'm still on the list -Allen

Goldeneye is usually thought of as the best, and it was great but.... Usually the real high marks received for it are for the multiplayer on the console. At the time, this was not that impressive to me as I am an old PC Gamer. Single player is awesome. I have sadly never played the original Atari version. I did love the heck out of From Russia w/ Love. It just brought you back to classic Bond and Sean Connery was there! I have not played Agent Under Fire yet though - I do have it

I've been a member for a while now. Only getting on here when I have a chance which can be sporadic. But, it's about time that I finally share our collection. It all started with great a Craigslist pickup of a Heavy Sixer, w/ all 9 original gatefold box games and both original heavy joysticks and paddles, and driving controller. The lot also included about 4-5 other games (some boxed) and other joysticks for the low-low sum of $30! I was wanting to get another Atari for a few years at the time - I grew up w/ a Vader model w/ about 30 games. Now we have about 150 individual Atari games and I'm still missing a handful of titles from my youth. Now we have 12 consoles (more if you include multiple variants of 2600), and over 500 games, and a Coleco & Intellivision flashback. We also have a retro PC (DOS / Windows 98se) and 3 commodores (VIC-20, Commodore 16, and C64) with a slew of games for all. Most of these pics are from the old game room. I just moved a few months ago and don't have everything setup fully as I'll only be here for a year. Gotta play some Zork PICKUPS FROM MGC2016: Church sale pickup for really good deal: First Supercharger game - found at local Savers thrift store:

PM sent

Holy horde, Batman!! Just watched the vid. That's quite the epic haul, and all in excellent condition. Congrats. -Allen

As a fellow fan of the older PC games, I am definitely going to have to watch this later. I'm intrigued. I have occasionally found a couple point-click adventures (one of my favorite genres) at local thrifts here. Most notably, that's how I acquired my big box The Longest Journey. Nothing of any big lots of PC games, though. That sounds like nirvana! -Allen

Thanks for the good video John! My son and I watched it last night. I just sent an email to get our own copy. -Allen

I picked up my Arcadia Supercharger at MGC2016. I did not have any games for it, however, until this passed Sunday, when I picked up Escape from the Mindmaster in the box from our local Savers thrift store. It even has a sealed envelope inside that states something tothe effect of "why we changed out name to Starpath". I'm assuming the manual id's in that envelope, but IDK. Maybe someone can enlighten me as to what the contents of said envelope are? I would also love to have homebrewfor the unit. As stated above, there's something about having things with the technology of the time. -Allen

If we see a spike in price, and I think we have seen a SLIGHT upward trend over they last couple years.......I blame Metal Jesus

So, we have success. I loaded the 568 build last night and we played a little last night, and then my son had playing with it today. No more adding file/directory location when dragging the spirits over. And code has been compiling and running fine - thanks mostly in partto us watching the proper indentations. Thanks Random for your assistance. We will continue to read and learn. Allen