CDS Games

Ah, Space Port and Chew-Chew at the Oxford Valley Mall. I couldn't have a better Saturday than that in 1982.

Looking through some old AtariAge magazines, I was showing my son how the new games hovered around $30 back in 1982. I plugged it into an inflation calculator and got $77 in 2018 money. Crazy Climber was one of my favorite arcade games... I've just been balking at spending $70-$80 on a cart. But it's actually kept even with inflation. Guessing the wife won't buy that logic though, will she?

Not sure....it's all pie in the sky at the moment, but I'll PM you.

Any Colecos in those extras? I could use 'em.

Nice. And pleasantly surprised to see the cost comes down nicely with 10 or more. I could actually use Coleco shells in quantity, but I'm guessing it wouldn't be worth getting the molds done for those.

Edit because I got the chips in the mail and thought they weren't working. But let's just say....they are working and I am an idiot! I'm starting to make up the second batch of carts so keep an eye on the thread for updates. I also have a few extra if anyone still wants in. Just let me know.

Oh I wouldn't say it was just coincidence. I think the similarities are more than just chance, and based on what you're saying with the other sprites you seem to have a pretty strong case where they came from. I'm saying even so, it's not perhaps as much of a faux pas. I posted some sprites for Double Dragon that KevinMos3 liked and partly incorporated into his own hack. I really didn't think anything of it and actually I was honored he did that. Of course he posted as much on the thread, so maybe that open communication helped me not take it the wrong way. I'm a pixel artist too and you're right, there are dozens of ways to depict something even in 8 bits across. But I've spent enough hours on sprites to know there are only a handful of *good* ways.

Sprybug's sprites are not the same as yours. Yes, there are very close similarities. The hair is pixel exact, the hands almost so. The color divisions closely match. But you were also both working off an existing model. Sprybug's face, body and legs are pretty different. If he borrowed some concepts from your sprites--even if he started by copying your sprites and then tweaked them into something he liked better, well, ok, but I'm not sure that exactly qualifies as "stealing sprites". With an 8 pixel width and a single-color line there are only limited combinations that work right. And if something "works" artistically it's no wonder that everyone starts using it. It's like discovering a kernal trick that everyone then uses. I can understand the confusion between this and Zippy is frustrating, but there's a ready answer to that. Keep working on this. Finish it, and the confusion will disappear. This will be your baby, and Zippy will be Sprybug's. How many Pac-Mans do we have now? A couple of Donkey Kongs? Fans of Sonic will not complain about another take on it, I'm sure.

Or even diverted people away from consoles entirely. This is easy for the Gaming Press to miss. I bought an Atari probably around the same time my dad got a Timex Sinclair ZX-81. Then Commodore offered a games machine and a serious computer in one. So dad got us a C64 and we played Gauntlet and Double Dragon and Julius Irving and Larry Bird go One on One. But there were some great creative options also: Adventure Construction Set, Movie Maker, Arcade Game Construction Kit. We learned to program...first year of college in 1989-90 I brought a C128 and was writing papers on a word processor my brother wrote from scratch. My dad eventually got a Mac SE for his engineering work. We spent a lot of time on Deluxe Music Construction Set. There were Nintendos on my hall in college and I remember the Sega commercials but I never had the slightest interest in any of that stuff. And I definitely spent way too much time gaming in the 90s--but it all happened on whatever Mac I was using at the time.

Those are nice...are they open on the label end? I need something that'll let me pull carts from the middle of a stack and not mess up the stack in the process.

Welcome! Just FYI, I am not sure that anyone has ever completed a 2600 collection. I wonder if it's even possible. A more modest goal would probably be your best bet if you don't want to end up frustrated and poor chasing Red Sea Crossing and Air Raid and all those foreign knock-offs. I'm guessing I'm a similar age as your mom. I generally enjoy playing those games I enjoyed back then, ones I always wanted but never got, or fun new homebrews, rather than obscure Holy Grail titles that might not even play well. Tapper definitely sounds like a great goal to start with. Good luck!!

Heh. Just bought Kaboom...hopefully my kids will enjoy it. I started my youngest on Air Sea Battle. Over two minutes of play, impossible to die, and you really only need to hold down a button to score.

I had that red Atari catalog, and the "Adventure Territory" section sadly only had three games in it. Always hoped that would be more fleshed out someday, because it was my favorite kind of game. I'd love to see more RPG style games on the system. I keep wondering about how you could do Bard's Tale.

Dark Chambers has some RPG elements.

Given Nintendo's zealous protection of its intellectual property, I don't see how it could.

I was in fact looking at sold games. I could send links but I've already spent more energy on this than it's worth. I appreciate your experience as a longtime seller. The bottom line, as we've both said, is pricing is quite game specific.

Obviously not. Admittedly I could've phrased it better, but I was just throwing out an example based on my immediate memory, not giving an extended dissertation on the pricing of Star Wars games. By the way, ebay has more than a few loose copies of Empire Strikes Back selling in the 8-12 range. High for AA, sure, but not out of the question for a seller.

Seems like a good plan. I was just emulating for a good while and then I decided what the heck I will pick up some games for me and the kids to enjoy on real hardware. And now I'm increasingly getting into making carts, so I buy commons for that. Al will buy your Atari text labels and picture labels for 50 cents of store credit also, if you can't get rid of them.

Return of the Jedi just went for $10 in one of the Marketplace loose-cart-lot threads. That's what i had in mind. As far as PriceCharting....dunno, it seems a bit unreliable. It has Smurf at like $10-$12...no one asks that much for it here. If I want to get a general read on what something is worth I check ebay completed listings to see what percentage of them actually sell and at what prices. But I've also been watching lots here in the Marketplace threads...first for commons and now increasingly for stuff I don't have.

No way $20. You have 46 games pictured, then galaxian and millipede, so even if they are all bargain basement commons at $1 that's $48. And a few are definitely worth more than $1....like Smurf which you only see occasionally. I just bought it at $2 and thought I got a great deal on it...I've generally seen it for $5-$7.

Gauntlet needs SARA RAM, which my current EPROM supplier doesn't offer. I am looking into other options for that.

Great question....I just checked and yes they do. There are 2 Boss Willys (!) on the last level. If both brothers survive the round they then face each other with a bat in the middle. Whoever wins gets the girl. FYI, the pics below are from KevinMos3's hacked version...he has invincibility and weak enemy hacks to make game play easier. And then I also changed RAM address $AC to start on the final level (12) as well.

Ok great. I am ordering more EEPROMs so there will be a limited second run. I'll contact everyone with payment info...post here or PM me if you would like a copy.

For example, if you have Star Wars games, those you could probably sell for $10. They are pretty popular, and whenever people list loose carts they tend to be snapped up quickly.

I keep an eye out for carts I don't have, and my target price is $1 a game for commons. Like teh_lurv said though, most people on here already likely have most of the carts that are in your collection. You may get bites for less common ones, and those you could charge more for. Its pretty game specific. Good thing is at a buck you may unload commons to people like me who already have the games but need the shells for homebrew or hack projects.