Flack

I have one that blinks yellow. I would be glad to dig out the serial number later if that would help track anything.

There's also the arcade version, which I have sitting in my game room. I've always liked this game, it's like the battles of Pirates mixed with Tetris. The arcade version was available both in a trackball mode and a joystick version. The trackball made it easier to shoot attacking ships, but tougher to fix your castle IMHO. And by the way, SpectreVR was a bit of a stinker on the SNES, but was pretty decent on the Mac back in the day. In fact, I think it may have been the first LAN game I ever played. Capture the flag, woo woo!

Man I would love to get one of those cabs and MAME it! /me ducks

I think they wanted it to look and behave as different as possible from the Atari, Coleco, and Intv consoles. Exactly -- all those consoles behaved RELIABLY.

Yeah, I think this shopping trip took care of most of the commons I was missing. I'd tried several of the homebrews and stuff on that A26 cart and they all seem to work great (I bought it before I knew about the Krokodile Kart, but I don't regret the purchase at all). I remember those early days of emulation as well. Sitting there, trying to play NES in some 240xwhatever Window, with Japanese menus. Good times.

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeell ... I guess so. I was born in '73 and we got our first Atari the Christmas of '77 I believe. I was big into the 2600 until around '81 or '82, at which point personal computers began taking over (first the TRS-80, then on to the Apple and C64). I still have that same Atari 2600 (along with half a dozen others) and most of the games I had from back then (30 or so), but the problem is that the Atari 2600 is so easily emulatable that while I've loved playing the games, I never really got into buying them again. My Dreamcast, PS2, GP32, and of course my PC (and even my MAME Cabinet) all play Atari games pretty well. BUT as you all know ... there's no substitute for the real thing and sooner or later the bug bites everyone. That puts me in a middle of the road position -- all the commons are cheap for me to gobble up, but now that the market's established and rarity has been noted, I doubt I'll ever pick up any of the more expensive carts. For those games, my A26 Maxicart (or my laptop) will have to suffice. I just counted, and I currently have 171 Atari carts, not counting the 20-30 that are in my trade pile. My goal isn't to own them all, but to simply have all the classics so when people come over and go, "Oh MAN I remember that, I used to play (game x) all the time", I'll have it. I doubt anyone's going to come over and request a round of Air Raid or whatever anytime soon.

I haven't had any problems with this ... as long as the marker is applied to the top of the disc. As for the CD-Rs wearing out Dreamcasts ... I don't know the technical hoo-hahs or anything but my launch 'cast is still going, and it's seen a lot of CD-R time.

D'oh, I refreshed, and the pic appeared. WOW! That's RED!

Oops, can't see the pic, but glad to hear the cab is getting some (much needed) love and attention. How did you paint the cabinet? Did you use the auto booth like we talked about or did you do it in your house? I have several cabinets that need painting. The sanding I can do, the bondo/woodwork I think I can fake, but the painting, I have no idea about. I've read mixed results between rolling on paint, and spraying on paint. I've never used an air sprayer before but I do have a nice air compressor that, if I used, would really impress my father.

Where is the BA Vintage Stock? I thought there were only two around that area? I totally missed the Laserdisc section in the 41st street location. I just had 2600 games on the brain. Plus, apparently Saturdays is Yi-Gi-Oh tournament day in Vintage Stocks, so the huge crowds of 8 year olds shouting "I OWNED YOU!" and flipping cards over wasn't helping my concentration level at all. Gardner's was pretty cool. It's like a big strip mall kind of thing that it looks like they've slowly taken over like cancer and spread into all the adjoining stores. It reminded me of a house that had been built on to like 20 times. There were two or three very large rooms of books. Then it looked like one wall had been knocked out which lead to the VHS/DVD area. In that room, another doorway in the back led to one of the toy sections, plus the vinyl/CD/tape area. There was another doorway on the right which opened up into a Mexican restaurant. My friend and I went different directions in the store, and it took me a good 10 minutes to track him down when it was time to go. I just recently picked up a Game Gear for my son to play with, so I mostly just flipped through the box quickly, picking out all the $2 Sonic games. In the box I would say there were about 100-150 games. I should have known and picked up those APF M100 carts. They had no prices on them and that place was really scary so I really just wanted to get out of there alive.

My friend The Stranger hit me up with a plan for today. He decided today would be a great day to gas up the car and head to Tulsa. His main interest was hitting all the used bookstores in town; mine was to hit all the game stores. Both of us had tons of fun and bought tons of stuff -- here's how the trip played out. Gardner's Bookstore in Tulsa. Despite the fact that they're mainly a bookstore, Gardner's has CDs, vinyl, toys, VHS and DVD movies, and even a Mexican Cafe -- no kidding! We also discovered that they have a pretty decent videogame section! Here were the loose Atari carts. Nothing too exciting, but they were all marked a buck or two. Next to the Atari carts were boxed and loose Odyssey II games and a few boxed Atari Jaguar games. The boxed Odyssey II games were $15 each. Xbox games, boxed N64 games, and in the next cabinet, Genesis games. Behind the counter was one really nice looking boxed Odyssey II. $109, ouch. Also, note plenty of Power Joy III's on the right. More loose, random carts under the glass. These were all Game Gear games, priced between $2-$5. Anyone need a Xizor figure? Gardner's had plenty. The next stop on the trip were Tulsa's two Vintage Stock stores. Vintage Stock kicks so much ass it's not even funny. Unfortunately for me, there's not one in Oklahoma City; Tulsa (2 hours away) is the nearest location. If you've never been to a Vintage Stock, they specialize in vintage toys, comics, and games. The store is much bigger than this picture makes it look! This is just the "vintage" toy section. Man, check out all those cool, classic Star Wars toys, still in the box! The NES counter had plenty of boxed goodness. The loose Atari 2600 area kicked plenty of ass as well. You want N64 stuff? Vintage Stock has that too! The Stranger checks his printed out Mapquest maps which guided us from store to store. Flack and The Stranger, in a moment of road trip stupidity, head over to the other Vintage Stock location. Before we made it to the other Vintage Stock, we happened across this Coney place. Three Coneys and a Coke for under $5. The Stranger seems pleased with his hotdog and fries. Here's the loose NES section at the second Vintage Stock. Next to the NES games were more Genesis games, both boxed and loose. 32x! Vintage Stock has more than games. Those are N64, Sega Master Systems, Super Nintendos, and other systems in those boxes. From Vintage Stock, we headed next door to a small, indoor flea market. Flea Market isn't really the right word; it was more like a flea-ridden thrift store. They had a few cool items inside though! More Odyssey II stuff -- how cool is that! I don't even know what system these carts are for. Anyone? I know what this is! Vintage metal Dragon's Lair lunchbox. $20. Our final stop (that wasn't a bookstore) was this Antique Mall just outside of Tulsa. I found a few more Game Gear games here ($2 each) and a laserdisc so I can test my laserdisc player. My kitchen isn't really red -- I don't know why this picture looks like this. This is the first half of my pile. This is the second half -- all Atari 2600 games. And here's one final shot of it all together. ----- NES 10 Yard Fight - $3 TECMO Super Bowl - $3 Burgertime (Boxed) - $4 Atari 2600 (About $60 Total) Activision Decathalon (R1) Dragster (R1) Fishing Derby (R1) Football (R1) Grand Prix (R1) Human Cannonball (R1) Keystone Kapers (R1) Megamania (R1) Missile Command (R1) Pole Position (R1) RealSports Baseball (R1) RealSports Football (R1) Solaris (R1) Starmaster (R1) Target Fun (R1) Tennis (R1) Adventures of TRON (R2) Baseball (R2) Crystal Castles (R2) Fast Food (R2) Gorf (R2) Indy 500 (R2) Infiltrate (R2) Q*Bert (R2) Robot Tank (R2) Seaquest (R2) Space Cavern (R2) Space Chase (R2) Space War (R2) Spider-Man (R2) Tank-Plus (R2) Wizard of War (R2) Zaxxon (R2) Breakaway IV (R3) Circus (R3) Front Line (R3) Math Gran Prix (R3) Omega Race (R3) Pressure Cooker (R3) Worm War I (R3) Gangster Alley (R4) Stellar Track (R4) Wabbit (R4) Game Gear ($2-$4 each) Sonic Chaos (R1) Sonic: 2 (R1) Sonic: Triple Trouble (R1) Super Columns (R1) Chuck Rock II (R2) Shinobi (R2) Terminator 2 (R3) Sonic Blast (R4) So there you go. A friend, a car, some maps and a credit card = one good day of shopping.

Maybe it's just me, but if I were to make a list of problems with the current generation of gaming consoles, "graphics" and "not enough processing power" wouldn't crack the top 10. I just recently started picking up Gamecube games and I've been amazed at the graphic quality. I have hundreds of PS2 games and dozens of Xbox ones and very few if any are simply "too ugly to play". Personally I'm in no rush to buy the next generation of consoles. Are the driving games going to drive any better? Are the fighting games going to fight any better? For guys like me who don't care for (and get headaches from) first person shooters, the future looks pretty bleak. And blurry. By the way, could someone archive this post and PM it back to me when I'm camping on a sidewalk, waiting to buy the PS3?

Yeah there are walk-thrus for it on gamefaqs.com as well. I originally had this game for my Apple II but then later also got it for the Commodore. I remember the game had an actual plot, but for the most part I would just wander around, talking to people and doing odd jobs. It was kind of like the Grand Theft Auto of its time, without the violence. And it took place in trees.

I think the older, text labeled carts are worth more, but I personally like the newer, picture labels (newer being relative, of course). When I have one of each version of a game and try to decide which to get rid of, my brain gets into a fight with itself and I can never decide. So to answer your question, I have tons of "pairs" (is what my wife calls them) of games with upper/lower end labels, etc. Stupid brain.

No. Below the Root is more adventure than RPG, as there's no fighting to speak of. It was based on The Green Sky trilogy by Zilpha Keatley Snyder. It's more about exploring, solving simple puzzles, etc. Windham Classics also released an Alice in Wonderland game using the same engine.

Below the Root.

STORES IN OKLAHOMA NO K*B STORES FOUND Great.

Feel comforted -- here's another. For me, it also seems to be related to the newer consoles. Not sure if it's a framerate issue or what, but I can play THPS2 all day long on the PSX, but any version of Tony Hawk for the PS2, Xbox or Gamecube sends me to the floor with a headache quicker than free Tequila night at Club Rodeo does. I also agree about the 1st/3rd person thing. I can play Star Wars Battlefront in 3rd person mode, no problem, but any 1st Person Shooter feels like someone's got their finger in between my eyes and pushing really hard. Anyone who's never had the pleasure of experiencing it should try crossing their eyes and spinning in circles for two weeks. It's kind of like that, except it comes on quickly and leaves slowly. I guess it'll become a bigger problem for me after I'd beaten all the 2D games. I've still got a few to go ...

Just go buy one at an auction while your dad's at work. Then pile power tools all around it and spread some sawdust around the room. When he gets home, squeeze a drill trigger a couple of times for effect and when he walks in the room throw your hands up in the air and shout, "DONE!" He will be none the wiser and you will have saved yourself a lot of work.

Also, I can't say it enough, check local auctions (and the SuperAuctions.com website) for local auctions. I've been to two different auctions now where dead cabinets sold for around $5 at the end of the auction. There might be some putty and paint work going on, but (in my eyes) sure beats building one from scratch. The $5 ones I saw had lights, control panels, and some had coin doors.

Everybody who's ever built a MAME Cabinet has their own opinion. My personal opinion is that I will never build another MAME machine without an IPac. Well, that's not entirely true; I might buy a JPac instead, but the point is the same. The money spent versus the time involved in hacking a keyboard just makes sense.

I'd say a 19" television is too small for that -- your CP is going to be huge with all those buttons and spinners and doo-dads, and that monitor's going to look mighty small on top of it. As for cabinets, there are plans (and empty cabinets) out there. Just pick one and get started!

I bought one from VulcanJedi on Digital Press for $6, shipped. Tough to find one cheaper than that. The cable was here within 48 hours.

At the flea markets around here, it would be a news story if there was a booth selling something *legal*. I remember going to one booth and listening to the seller explain to people why the new movies were on 2 discs instead of one (they were downloaded VCDs). Another seller had a laptop set up and a large selection of MP3s. You could actually pay for your own mix CD (a buck a song, I believe) and the guy would burn it for you while you were inside shopping. Talk about low overhead! Then of course there are the powerjoy sellers, which now outnumber the places to get legit old school games in most of the flea markets around here.

There are tons of pawn shops around here that sell games. One pretty close to my house sells NES/SNES games for $5 or less, N64 and PSX games for $7 or less, and then current gen titles from $10-$20 usually. While they're all a little overpriced, sometimes you can find good deals since the people don't really know the value of individual specific games.