Robert M

Well it looks like "PONG" is an LIVE tradmark owned by Atari. So a simple name change should be all that is required to rerelease Mondo Pong and Joust Pong. The Castle Crisis one is trickier. I assume they are complaining that it looks too much like the original Warlords, which it is supposed too. I actually doubt they could win a case going to trial about it, but it would cost so much to find out. So a simple graphics mod may be enough to shut atari up, and we can continue to enjoy Castle Crisis. Good-luck to those under legal pressure from Atari. Cheers!

Definitely, the Escape Velocity series from Ambrosia. Completely non-linear do what ever the hell you want, space adventure!

Bryan, My family had a get together, and Castle Crisis was a big hit. The last 2 death match games with 4 players had multiple players at 4 wins struggling to get a 5th. It was great fun ganging up on the leaders. It is an excellent homebrew. Great job! If you ever consider making a Gold or Platinum edition , here are some ideas: - In death match games offer a mode that counts castles destroyed by the player rather than rounds won. - Have the dragon come out to launch fireballs that are added to the game because there has been no damage for 8 seconds. That cool dragon needs to spend more time on the screen. - Offer a deathmatch mode where each round starts with 4 fireballs, one heading toward each player. - Have colored fireballs, where when you catch and throw a fireball it changes to your color. You can not catch a fireball that is your color. Just some ideas we batted around to make a stellar game into an unbelievable game. Cheers!

Reply sent. Thanks!

Ah yes. There it goes. Very nice. Yes, I am afraid the blinking block is caused by the P1 repositioning routine because the room shape must be symetrical on the 2 kernel lines used to reposition P1. Nice work!

Hello, My Atari 7800 console has died and all attempts to revive it have failed. I am looking to buy a new console. I do not require a power supply or controllers. I have lots of those. If anyone has an extra 7800 console they want to sell. Send me a PM with the asking price. Cheers!

Hi, I am glas to sse someone benfitiing from my disassembly. I suspect I can diagnose the blinking pixel problem if I saw it in action, but I can not uncompress the file you have attached. Which compression tool ddid you use? The blinking is most likely due to the P1 repositioning within the frame. You must design the room to be symetrical for the 2 kernel line pairs where P1 is being repositioned. Cheers!

All that matters is that you like the idea, and you want to make it happen. This is all just a hobby, so if you aren't enjoying it then you are wasting your time. Lead and others will follow. Cheers!

Would anyone be interested in an empty Commando box with instructions? I know where I can get one. Its in pretty good shape too. I thought I hit gold, but then the cart was missing. PM me if you want me to pick it up. Cheers!

Thanks for the scans. Very enjoyable. I must take issue with the reviewer giving Keystone Kapers a 2. The "reviews" for Mario Bros. and Pitfall II sound and look more like press releases with screen Mockups. The Mario Bros mockup is overly optimistic for a 2600 game. Cheers!

It was 25 cent day at one of my local thrift stores. I got 12 common 2600 carts, 3 genesis games (incuding Mortal Kombat, and Ecco the Dolphin), a game genie for Genesis, a boxed 6-button Genesis controller, a Genesis cartridge storage rack, and Carnival for Colecovision. All for $5.06. I love 25 cent days! Cheers!

I have a prototype of an analog joystick for the 2600 working. It still needs some improvements but it works fairly well. It makes Marble Craze a blast to play. After I finish Wolfenstein for neotokeo, I will finish the design for the analog stick. Patience... Cheers!

That rings a bell. I seem to remember seeing TI/4A on it now that you nmention it. Thanks!

No, that's not it. It had no stick, D-pad, or buttons. Just 2 ports to plug in 9 pin controllers, and a single 9 pin output to plug into a console/computer. The box was just beige with rounded corners. Thanks

Hello, At a flea market on Saturday I saw a strange device. It was a plastic box about 4"x 6" x 1.5". It had 2 9-pin ports on one side which could take Atari 2600 style connectors. The other side has a foot long cable terminating in a plug that would fit into a 2600 port. It said "Wico Command Center" on it or something similiar. The vender wanted $15 for it, but didn't know what it was for or if it even worked. Has anyone on the board seen this item before? Do you know what it does? Is it worth $15? Thanks, Rob

Getting better: 196,580 TIP: To build on the paddle idea stated earlier. If you have the foot pedal controller you can use the foot pedals to launch the ball and the paddle buttons to operate the flippers. The only downside is the code does not support pushing both buttons at the same time (!?!?!?! an unfortunate oversight by the programmer) So you need to use the foot pedal to operate both flippers at the same time.

25,965, thanks

These 2 are standard low-power TTL logic chips. 74LS10 is a Triple 3-input NAND gate chip: - There are 3 logic gates on this chip. Each gate has 3 inputs and 1 output. The output is low only when all 3 inputs are high. 74LS244 is an Octal 3-state Line Buffer/Driver chip: This chip has 8 gates with 1 input and 1 output each. The output equals the input. Every digital chip ouput has a fan-out rating. The fan-out is the number of inputs that can be connected to that output before the amout of power the inputs need exceeds what the output pin can provide. By using a buffer, you can effectively increase the fan-out of an output at the cost of some system speed. These are both standard logic chips that can be bought for less than $1 Cheers!

It is my understanding that there are 99 levels. The Master Xybot shows up several times in the game. The best way to try and beat Zybots is comlynxed with another player. The reason being that as long as one player gets off of a level the other player can die and be reincarnated with full health. I have managed to get into the 40's with my brother-in-law. It gets pretty nasty. A map of the warps would be highly valuable, as well as what resources are available on each level.

It is my understanding that there are 99 levels. The Master Xybot shows up several times. The best way to try and beat Zybots is comlynxed with another player. The reason being that as long as one player gets off of a level the other player can die and be reincarnated with full health. I have managed to get into the 40's with my brother-in-law. It gets pretty nasty. A map of the warps would be highly valuable, as well as what resources are available on each level.

Its a fine idea, but I think you are going at it backwards. Programming it should be the last thing to worry about. You need to design the simulation on paper first. I am assuming there is some interactive quality to the simulation you want to make. Get a set of index cards and write the text you would want to see on the screen onto each card along with the user interaction choices at the bottom. Each card is numbered, and the interactive choices list the corresponding cards displayed for each users choice. Think of it like hyperlinks on a webpage. If you need to remember a previous choice for later in the game make note of if on the card. Now you can playtest the idea using the physical model and refine it. Once you have something you like on paper, then you can worry about putting it into a cartridge. Also, you can send the card version to the programmer so that they can clearly see what's trying to be done, and not waste any time implementing features that are not needed or desired. Alternately, you could do all this design work on a word processor or presentation software like Power Point, Keynote or Hypercard. Oh, and don't pay attention to negative ninnies that don't provide constructive criticism. There is always someone who won't like your idea and will make fun of it because it gives them joy to hurt others. Cheers!

That is very nice. Congratulations! I have a theory for you. I suspect the unit could be locked originally, but that the lock mechanism was removed when the previous owner cut the wedge of wood out of it. That hole in the plexiglass looks like just the right size for a lock mechanism. In fact, it may have been locked with the key missing, and the previous owner had to cut in from the bottom to get the unit open. Great find! Cheers!

As neo said, I am still tweking Wolfenstein. I have changed the corpses so touching them no longer kills the player. Also they change into white skulls that fade away. My work schedule has been killer this spring and summer. I will get the code changes done soon and hand it off to neo, promise. Rob

Stan, If you have 2 consoles you could pit the 2 game versions against each other. Head to head. Find out which one is king. Probably need to do a best of 7 series to be fair and alternate which one goes first. Cheers!

My best for this week is 23,400. TIP: When you reach 10.000 points you gain an extra life, now go into space and use your shield to drop your score just below 10,000. Shoot a flare to get back to 10,000 and get another life. Repeat. You can get all 9 of your potential extra lives doing this trick. Cheers!