Andromeda Stardust

Yeah most of those games I keep seeing in the big MS/Sony commercials do absolutely zero to pique my interest. I loathe First Person Shooters personally and their twin stick mechanic. I believe the last truly good FPS was Goldeneye for the N64. Nowadays its all about getting headshots online. Maybe the games that impress me don't impress the typical "core" gamer. If the gameplay is there, I'll buy it, whether it's blocky rectangles on a 30 year old console or gorgeous HD visuals. Nintendo makes fantastical fun games although they themselves have been slipping lately. I think the Wii-U would be around 20m right now with semi decent 3rd party support had Nintendo used some of it's cash reserves to advertise the crap out of the Wii-U during it's one year head start instead of sitting back expecting the console to sell itself.

Joke...

Staring with most recent: Blazing Lazers (TG-16) Zippy the Porcupine (VCS Homebrew) Beer Slinger (NES Homebrew)

Any sprite that flickers at 30Hz will create venitian blinds on an HDTV. Most cheap upscalers attempt to deinterlace 240p video as 480i instead of line doubling the video to 480p. Further problems result because most websites and many capture devices limit the frame rate to 30Hz. This often has the effect of deleting every other frame often resulting in the flickered sprites completely disappearing as with your twitch video. You need to capture raw footage at 60Hz, not 30Hz, and deinterlace the video manually using a blend filter in post processing. For instance, if I capture a video using my Hauppauge USB (which completely barfs on Atari output likely due to an incorrect timing, 228 color clocks per scanline instead of 227.5, but that is another issue entirely), it stores the stream as 720x480i encoded Mpeg2. If I upload this stream direct to youtube, the conversion software will delete every other frame when converting to 30Hz 480 progressive, resulting in some sprite data being deleted. I have to take the interlaced video and input it into an application like Handbrake in order to manually convert it to progressive 30Hz. For 240p source, you would want to use the blend option, which will preserve the pixels without blurring them during 480p upscale. Since you were live streaming, such conversion is likely impossible. You also used the frame meister or RGB mini to upscale the video output from the Atari so it may be the upscaler or it may be that you are capturing a 30Hz stream instead of 60Hz, tossing out every other frame. In order to get rid of the interlaced artifacts or deleted sprite data, you have to use an external video editing program (I recommend Handbrake) to deinterlace the video by blending the frames. The end effect will be similar to the Alt-P "Phosphor Effect" in Stella emulator. Please note it's likely impossible to perform a proper conversion on the live feed. If your capture device doesn't have the bandwidth to record full 1080p60, you may need to reduce the output settings on the frame meister to 720p or 480p. I hope this helps for future recordings. I know it looks like crap, but pointing a camera at the TV screen is the only way I know to capture Atari since my Hauppauge USB doesn't play nice with my AV modded 7800. You obviously have fancier equipment than I do so hopefully you can find a way to fix the issue. There are also two WIP Donkey Kong homebrews for the 2600, DK Arcade and DK VCS. Both of them use multisprite kernels to display multiple colors so this may be helpful to test video capture with. The DK sprites in both games look horrid with the even or odd frames deleted and must be blended together in post processing.

Pretty much. To the OP: Congrats on your new episode. Cheers!

Perhaps some vigilante justice is in order? Raid the dollar store for some TP and go to town on the seller's house!

Sony isn't much better. Say what you will about Nintendo, but I find it damning that over the past 20 years, there has been little innovation on controller design since the original Dual Shock for PS1. Set all four controllers side by side, and there's very little difference. PS3 added accelerometers and PS4 added a touchpad, but besides that they are pretty much equivalent. Don't get me wrong though, the Dual Shock is an excellent controller with a good Dpad unlike Xbox or Game Cube. Paired with a USB adapter, the Dual Shock 2 is my favorite controller for use with PC emulators. Now look at Nintendo for instance. They have done nothing but innovate, and got a lot of flack for it. N64 shipped stock with an analog stick, despite it's issues. Sony added dual analogs to the redesigned PS1 controller, but many early games don't take advantage of it. Nintendo set the trend for motion gaming with Wii. Sony added accelerators to the PS3 Dual Shock at the last minute. After the runaway success of the Wii, Sony tried to copy it with Move and Microsoft with Kinect. Nintendo started with a touch screen in the DS, a good couple years before Apple released the iPhone and iPod touch. Both the DS/Wii were runaway hits which left the century old Kyoto firm with a nice cash flow. The Wii-U kind of combined the DS with console / tablet gaming, and I love the Gamepad despite the poor public reception. But it did seem like for once Nintendo was trying to capitalize on the tablet phenomenon, copying a trend rather than creating it. Point being that Nintendo has been the only company over the past umteen years to innovate. Dpad NES, diamond SNES (which Sony all but stole), analog N64, motion control Wii, tablet Wii-U... But casual gamers have left console market for good with smart phones and tablets. This market segment is gone and not likely to return. But between Sony's 20 year old controller design and Microsoft's and Sony's arms race, there really isn't much to their consoles. Xbone and PS4 are both budget PCs with closed source. NX will likely run on ARM architecture meaning easy ports for mobile and indie developers, but alienate the third party AAA publishers. No surprise there. And with the very likely possibility of downloads only for all three companies during the 9th generation, it will spell the end of the resale market. Gamestop will likely need to diversify and go through a restucture and corporate downsizing. Either way, a downloads only future doesn't bode well for later generations of retro gaming...

Get a flathead screwdriver and insert it into the one of the side grooves adjacent to the card slot. This will open the hinged door and allow you to push back the dust flap. Do not attempt to disassemble the cart as it is impossible to access the screw hole without puncturing or peeling back the label. Check for a name printed on the PCB right behind the contacts. If the PCB is green, no name visible, and has a slightly beveled card edge, it is probably a vintage Atari PCB with an EPROM soldered in place of the Mask ROM. Most newly made PCBs have a sharper square edge. If there is a name imprinted on the solder mask, then it is a new PCB. AtariAge repros/homebrews will have AtariAge printed on it, except for advanced homebrews which use the Melody logo. CPUWIZ has his own boards, and Hozer has his own boards. Most fakes typically use Hozer boards or original Atari PCBs with EPROMs soldered in.

They should care. If eBay had half a lick of common sense, they'd realize this could end badly for them. If their fraud department has to refund the buyer and the seller has already taken the money and run, then guess who's left footing the bill?

Weren't the joysticks essentially two-axis paddles?

Neato. I got a "bomb cart" as well! Upper left corner...

At this point I hope any further bids are fake. The seller deserves it if she gets a non-paying buyer, and no honest buyer deserves to recieve this now broken POS for their hard-earned money.

So? It's a public forum. Let him "lurk" if he wants... I feel bad for him for his loss and I hope he gets his money back. Max, if you are reading this, you're welcome here any time. Please do let us know if you get refunded.

Anyone ever noticed (prior to CD ROM tech and 90s plagued capacitors) it's the weird third party consoles that were commercial failures that seem to break down? Nintendo only used Japanese capacitors in their consoles so the SNES and N64 were immune to capacitor plague. You look at mostly the vintage pre CD era consoles that are known to have reliability issues: Channel F Balley Astrocade 5200 Coleco Intelli Vectrex Turbo Duo / Turbo CD (the base model Turbografx / PCe are extremely reliable but the Duo units had both failed drives and caps) Game Gear Lynx And all of them were underdogs that failed to penetrate the market. Coincidence???

Got a 7800 Klax repro in today from Shawn. Very nice, professional job on the label!

No option to votes apple? The fanboy inside me would not permit me to select Nintendo so I voted evil Microsoft. I hate their consoles and still can't believe people trust them to make hardware after the 360 RROD and Xbone's pre launch "diarrhea of the mouth" regarding game ownership. I can't support that type of BS. Sony still makes good hardware though. The Wii-U has sold poorly despite the good times I've had with it. I get the impression the Wii-U is Nintendo's Saturn and NX will be it's Dreamcast. 3DS is still going strong but lets face it, mobile has greatly deminished the market share of handhelds, so a successor isn't likely to fare well. And Nintendo is currently testing the waters with "free-to-play" 3DS games that include microtransactions as part of the game. Sorry, I don't want to wait 4 hours to earn more free play credits, or buy a bunch of them right now for 99 cents. If I spend real money in a game, it had damn better well be a permanent unlock with something that adds value. The two extra cups in Mario Kart 8 for $11.99 was DLC done right. Call me old and cynical, but I remember a time when buying a game meant it worked right out of the box, no online update bullcrap or losing access to key features or even the entire game when servers inevitably get pulled. Not have DLC shoved in our faces or free games nagging us to spend microtransactions for in game disposables. When you bought a game, you got the whole game and nothing but the game. Buy it, sell it, trade it. Bury it in a landfill. Set it on a shelf for thirty years and it will wait patiently, ready and willing for someone to play it.

Got my Blazing Lazers in the mail today. Played for a while earlier tonight. My gawd, this game is awesome! Made it to the first boss several times; haven't quite beaten stage one yet. I think my SHMUP skills have really improved since I first downloaded it off Wii VC in 2007 and felt underwhelmed, likely because I didn't understand the powerup mechanics. By far my favorite powerup is [iII] with all the wild lazer shots. Update: Beat the boss on stage one. I left it on the continue screen overnight (only turned off the TV) to get another whack at stage 2 tomorrow. Two continues remaining... Unless you count the original releases, Pitfall I and II by Activision for the Atari, as sucky games also. Both are far, far better than Super Pitfall NES.

You know, random incompatibility among various revisions of 7800s almost made me not get a 7800. PMP multicart homebrew changed my mind and I picked up that Best AV modded console when I did! So far I've had zero issues with any 7800 game I've tried, retail or homebrew. Food Fight was a common problem game or so I heard. I do most of my serious 2600 gaming on my 4-switch woody, unless the 7800 is already set up under the CRT, I'll use that. I didn't crack my cart slot for the first time until 2015 when I inserted Activision's awesome Spider Fighter. Now with a 1mm gap in the slot, it accepts everything in my collection except for Imagic shells. But I've never done extensive testing on mine with problem games. All I can say is it doesn't have an indent for the expansion port anywhere on the MB or case.

I'll save you a couple of clicks. Here's the link: https://atariage.com/store/index.php?l=product_detail&p=1051 Please note it's not live and you cannot purchase it yet. It's just a placeholder currently, but you can see "Zippy the Porcupine (Boxed) - Atari 2600" in the title bar.

Rosa is such a klutz; she broke the Air Raid trying to authenticate it before she sold it. Assuming this was real, I'd be pretty steamed if the seller damaged it before she could even get it in the mail.

Single axis games like Space Invaders and Galaxian might as well use paddles instead of trackball. Even though the originals used a joystick, I think it would be fun with a paddle. Zip across the screen at warp speed so I don't have to outrun the mothership.

Beautiful, ain't it?

Because SMB2 USA is the better game.

It's been reported many times already by multiple members. eBay employees are hardly experts. Borderline incompetent.

I think the blue glued on PVC pipe in recent the eBay auction was provenance enough that it was fake. I heard that the blue plastics was left over from a batch of baby bottles and a test run of 25 carts was all that was made. Menavision loaned out the blue carts to retailers. A few store owners clearanced the odd ball carts or kept them as souvenirs. None ordered any from Menavision. Had there been an actual production run, the carts would have been black plastic like everything else, and Air Raids would have been yet another $50 crappy R8 or R9 rather than a holy grail. The poor guy that made them probably went bankrupt paying for the molds alone.