LynxVGL

To this day, a generic "video game" sound used in sound libraries and heard on TV frequently is the 2600 Pac Man.

Go here: http://www.atarimani...her_21_2_G.html Mattel was involved in the ports of Burger Time, Bump 'N Jump and Illusions for the Colecovision.

You are correct sir! Sloppy thinking on my part.

Just finished my order for "Quest for the Golden Chalice" from Pixelboy. Really looking forward to this cart. Still blows my mind that I'm ordering a new cart for my Colecovision. My wife's mind will unfortunately not be so blown away by it, I'm sure. This is my first Homebrew title that I've purchased, and from what others have said, I'm looking forward to the quality of a Pixelboy cart. Next up: Opcode's rerelease of Mario Bros.

Star Raiders. The XEGS w/Keyboard is a better interface for Star Raiders, even though the 5200 has the game "fixes."

(Long rant, and sorry, I wander a bit in this too.) A focus by attendees at the latest CGDC was companies abandoning Console development. The business model is flawed at this point and the market is changing. Track back to 2600/Inty/CV development in the 80's. How big were those deve teams? One, maybe two principals on a project. You have a HUGE margin on your project at that point. Now look at the average size of a dev team on a current gen title, 50-100 depending on how you limit who is actually on a team. The overhead has crept to be the size of small movies, with limited return for the devs. The nature of the post listing all the closed studios leans towards this, but also to the business model of staffing up for a project, and then laying the entire staff off after the project ships. MS for example, built internal studios, and then disassembled them as projects complete. Some staff are reassigned to other projects while others are let go. The Industry has been facing a growing problem for years, that being how they deal with labor. PS3 & 360 Dev teams have to be huge for the amount of content that has to be created for triple A title. Benefits can be a joke and there is no job security once you ship. Only the small core designers and coders at any studio have anything like job security, and that is questionable at best. The lower cost of development for mobile devices means that some devs can go back to the early days of small teams with a higher potential for profit. Except we get endless shovelware crap to flood the market. I think some correlation can be made to the Great Crash. 2600 titles before the crash were being cranked out with a wildly different quality level. Look at a Huge percentage of the junk on the App store or on Facebook for that matter. How many variations of Bubble Bobble, Columns, or Tetris can people shovel out there? The games are free or of such a low cost that the "perceived" value of the titles is disposable. Yes, there are a few diamonds in the rough in the mobile arena, but I contend it is harder for the average user to find them. I've recently started to get more aware of the Homebrew scene for Classic consoles, and any system that is later than the 16 bit era is truly dead once the parent company moves on. I doubt you'll see any homebrews for an Xbox, PS2, 360, or PS3 in 2023. But the entry level for older systems for a small team to develop on will still be there. This is indicitive of the problems of the industry. With rumors of PS4 and Next-Box (720, whatever) being online all the time also point to closed systems. Nintendo, Sony, and Microsfot are dependent on a closed platform to reap the most rewards. That actually hurts the devs. I wonder if the Android Console or a Steam-Box would have the marketing leverage to compete with the big 3. If Apple ever gets it's crap together and releases a Console that is integrated with the Apple App store, running iOS would further dilute the market, but these consoles may be much more casual gaming centric. It truly is a weird place for the industry.

Aren't both the 5200 & the original 8-bit Star Raiders relatively small programs? The video effects for hyperspace and explosions are they direct calls to the 5200 hardware? I doubt that the Zylon sprites are scaling for a piece of code written in what, 1979? I'm very interested in what calls would have to be rethought as I have zero experience on either hardware. My Atari programming dates back to my first computer classes in Middle School, and later trying to figure out mysteries of the GTIA chip and player-missle-graphics. Needless to say, I'm no coder. But to another point, isn't Armegeddon basically Missile Command? I hate to suggest that a similarly themed game with a different title would be enough.

Please? Pretty please? Blockade Runner just does not cut it. Star Wars Arcade and Star Trek: Strategic Operations Simulator only go so far. I mean if the Intv have have a decent game in Space Spartans, why can't the CV? Starmaster on the 2600 is close, but the 2600 Star Raiders just isn't up to snuff IMHO. So just play Starmaster on Expansion Module #1, you might suggest? No. A better version that supports the keypad is ASKING to be made. At least by me.

What genre of "arcade games" are you looking for? Many posts highlight the Neo-Geo, Saturn & Dreamcast from the last couple of generations. If you like arcade fighting games, I would whole-heartedly agree. If you aren't a fighting game fan, maybe not so much. This goes for the Neo-Geo especially. (Besides Metal Slug, and a handful of shooters, is there anything else really on the platform?) For classic 80's era arcade ports, I'd lean to the PS2 actually. Midway (Atari titles), Capcom, Konami, SNK, and Sega all have arcade collections on this system that are really an affordable solution. For the early 80's retro Systems, I'd go with Colecovision for the Arcade ports.

Albert, I PM'd you about an item I don't see in your collection. ;>

Email sent.

Is "Quest" available for purchase or are these beta test reviews? I love 2600 Adventure and can't wait to pick this up!

Centipede wasn't written to support the Roller Controller in "native" track ball mode. It must be played in joystick mode. Atarisofts only major fumble.

Excellent! Now I need to reprint my 2049'er UGC. Yours is WAAAY better than mine.

I'll chime in on this as well. Back in '82 I thought that ET was an ok game. I also never had problems with the controls or gameplay. The REAL issues with ET (as previously mentioned in this thread and others) is the licensing fees Atari paid for the title, and the over production of the carts. These 2 items set up the "failure" of ET so Atari could never have made a profit on it. Timing is everything and I think ET's failure plays into the lore of the crash. Plus people like a scape goat. ET's biggest legacy is licensed movie properties and the risk for developers and gamers. Financial risk for the developer, and entertainment risk for the gamer. Licensed titles like this now are timed to hit with the release of the film, so they have rushed development cycles. Sound familiar? The gaming industry needs to remember it's roots in more than one way sometimes.

Every play "Illusions"? Sure looks a lot like this.

I LOVE your website, BTW. Any hope of new scans being added soon? I've used several of the scans on your site to make my UGC's. Thanks again!

I'm confused then, Ben. The mine level IS the Nomad level, no? Nomad appears, drops mines thoughout the level that explode like proton torpedoes. This is just like the arcade version.

I think you'll be hard pressed to find a new Wii title that was released THIS holiday season. Nintendo "formally" announed they will continue to support the Wii, but don't hold your breath. They do seem to be pushing the new stripped down, no internet/no GCN compatibility unit. But I think that's to cash in on really really late adopters who can get a ton of shovelware. My Wii has been reliable for the last 3 years, but his fall I got the laser issue. I'm torn on buying a cheap replacement, or biting the bullet and sending it into Nintendo. I don't want to lose my VLC titles (since you can ONLY transfer them to a Wii U) and I am NOT sold on being a first adopter for the U. In a word, "meh".

The CV version has the Nomad level.

"Unholy War" was released for the PS1 and was an "unofficial" sequel, with one of the original developers on board for it.

Dark Tower, man... A GREAT fantasy RPG-ish game for the 80's. Didn't Coleco have a relationship with Milton Bradely too?

I know that Rellik is on these forums, and I wonder if he actually makes sales on these auctions. That is an awesome margin if he can find the right buyer.