hepcat

Hmm, the last time I played the sped up version was about six months ago. (A couple weeks ago I just walked away from the game...) I got over 300,000 having lost two of four (wo)men and then quit out of boredom. The only "challenge" is learning to control Ms. Pac-man at the faster speed. I still think playing Ms. Pac this way is like playing basketball with the basket 5 feet off the ground instead of 10. --Jason

If I had to choose one game to own for the 2600 that I don't already have, it would probably be Ebivision's Pac-man. --Jason

You MUST have the special controller to have a fair shot at this game. I have beaten it; I'm pretty sure there are 36 levels, three more than the arcade. And yes, it's very hard even with the special controller. --Jason

I got Cannonman in a huge lot about three years ago, then sold it for about $35.00 IIRC. I snagged it again via a $13.00 BIN about six months ago. That auction wasn't up for very long. CS, I do have an extra Poker Plus pic label, but I have not been able to get it to work despite multiple cleanings. Hence, it's not on my trade list. You have any ideas on this? The label is in good shape. --Jason

You sure none of the ones you need aren't on my trade list above? --Jason

[bump] In what may be my first legitimate snipe, I just snagged a Sears picture label Night Driver with two seconds to go. So now I need only two more Sears pic labels: Basketball Gunslinger I'm almost there! --Jason

Yeah, I agree with this. 2600 Super Breakout rules. Even if you could use paddles on the 5200 version, the 2600 would be better. Most amazing is the 2600's sound effects. They're clearly superior to the 5200 version. --Jason

Ms. Pac-man seems to be in my price range, I just don't know how I would move the thing around if I ever leave my current apartment. --Jason

61 Basic Math is the rarest. A complete copy sold on Ebay for about $70.00 a few weeks ago. 01 Combat and 02 Air-Sea Battle seem to be the most common. The other six seem to pop up with equal frequency. --Jason

I spent the Christmas holidays at my parents place in upstate NY. Last Friday, I went to the local mall to use a gift card I received the previous day. As I walked by the arcade, I noticed the Ms. Pac-man/Galaga 20th anniversary combo. Cool! Here was an unexpected opportunity to play Ms. Pac-man the way it was meant to be played for the first time in a couple years. Hope rose within me as I saw from the attraction screen that Ms. Pac-man was moving at a normal speed!! I paid my two tokens, but sure enough, as soon as the opening tune ended, the Missus began zipping around the maze like she was on crack. Once again, I had been foiled by the dreaded Ms. Pac-man speed up chip. Variations on the above story have been happening to me for over a decade now. It is true that Ms. Pac-man is probably the pre-1985 game you’re most likely to see in an arcade these days. However, it is almost impossible to find one that does not have the speed up chip! I’m hoping one of the experts here can explain this phenomena to me. Why do arcade operators insist on perverting the game play of one of the best games of all time in this manner? Is it because they think it’s too easy when Ms. Pac-man moves at normal speed? I think just the opposite is true. It took me nearly 10 years to break 200,000 on Ms. Pac-man at normal speed, but I’m pretty sure I got 200,000 the very first time I played with the speed up chip. Any other ideas? --Jason

I almost always start my video game auctions at $1.00 and just wait to see what happens. That 7800 auction is especially ridiculous as it does not seem to include a power supply. How is it supposed to work? Solar panels? --Jason

You're not missing a thing. Laser Blast is probably the worst Activision game. --Jason

Looks like they have good prices on some things. Have you bought anything from them before? Yes, I've bought from them many times. I highly recommend them. Great call sku_u! I just got a Sears Adventure Picture label from them for $4.00. So now I only need Basketball, Gunslinger, and Night Driver. --Jason

Let's review my high scores on a few classic games: Dig Dug: 1,500,000 Mr. Do: 776,000 Donkey Kong Jr.: 497,000 Ms. Pac-man: 232,000 Defender: less than 1,000. Each of the first four games is controlled with only a joystick or a joystick and one button. I don't think I've ever gotten an exceptional score on a game with more than two controls, which is one reason I don't enjoy most of today's overly complicated games. --Jason

I've survived the whole 20 minutes several times, but I don't think I ever broken 100,000. As for Pitfall II, it's not too hard to finish, but getting a perfect score is a challenge. --Jason

[bump] Here’s my updated Sears want list: Basketball (picture label) Gunslinger (picture label) And this time I’m including a list of carts and other stuff I have available for trade.... The following are all Sears games. Everything is good to excellent condition with all labels intact unless otherwise noted: Target Fun (with gatefold box and instructions, very nice shape) Tank Plus (with gatefold box and instructions, top of box is a bit rough, otherwise very nice) Football (with box and instructions, very nice shape) Baseball (with box and instructions, box is a bit rough, cart and inst. are in very nice shape) Breakaway IV (with box and instructions, cart and inst. are very nice, box is pretty rough) 3D Tic-Tac-Toe (text) Arcade Golf (text) Blackjack (Picture label–the large label is a bit scuffed and has some writing on it.) Brain Games (text) Brain Games (text–has a small sticker on it) Canyon Bomber (Picture label!, very good condition. This is one of the hardest Sears games to find) Capture (text) Circus (text) Demons to Diamonds (picture label) Dodger Cars (text) Missile Command (picture label) Missile Command (text) Othello (text) Outer Space (picture label) Pac-man (picture label) Space Combat (picture label) Speedway II (picture label) Spelling (text) Star Raiders Stellar Track (text–both labels are there, but the large one has some bubbles on it) Tank Plus (text) Target Fun (text) Yars’ Revenge (picture label–with instructions which are a little rough) Help me out here everyone! --Jason

I've had very positive trades with the following... Bob Dodson (I got at least 30 of my carts from this gentleman) Pitfall Harry (Ben Valdes) Joel Park Ianoid Cassidy Nolen --Jason

Does anybody know what's up with this site? I remember e-mailing several months ago about a game I wanted and never hearing back from them. This week I've called several times and left a message and still nothing. But it looks like at least part of the site has been updated within the last 10 days. Very strange. I've ordered from them before and am very happy with what I got. --Jason

Anybody notice the seller's ID: atarigenius? --Jason Edit: Guess I'm not the only one who noticed.

None. I play Stargate which is 100,000,000,000 times better. Defender isn't that bad. Donkey Kong Jr. and Skeet Shoot are the only two games which I feel merit such a precaution. --Jason

I still say that Suncom's Slik Stik is the best controller I've ever used. I use them almost exclusively on my 2600, and on all Mame games that only require a joystick and one button. --Jason

[bump] I'm updating this since I just won a picture label Pong Sports. My Sears pic label want list is now as follows: Adventure Asteroids Basketball Gunslinger Night Driver Baseball (the one I have now has a mangled label. ) --Jason

Yeah I feel the same way some times. The hardest to find Sears pic labels are: Pong Sports Canyon Bomber Baseball Superman Tank Plus These are the ones most people are missng and thus assume don't exist. There may also be a Sears picture label Backgammon, but I haven't been able to get any confromation on that. Tempest Wow, I got the Canyon Bomber pic label very soon after I started collecting in '99. If I remember correctly, it was only a 3 or 4 on the older 2600Nexus list, so I didn't think much of it. It's in very good shape too. Never heard of a Backgammon pic label. --Jason

You mean there's a Tank Plus pic label too? Every time I pick up a Sears cart (I just won a Pong Sports Pic label) another one pops up that I have to find. Yeah, I'm a big Sears collector. I've got 5 of the gatefolds now, and about twenty CIB total. Guess I'm back up to six now in terms of label variations I need. I also want a new Baseball pic label since the label on mine is pretty messed up. --Jason

Then he is gonna be mega pissed right now because I just told him what I would have paid for it. What a great idea! I ought to do the same thing to a guy who ended an auction I was looking at a couple days ago. --Jason