kennetzel

It is the experiences we have as a child that mold us into who we are. To forsake them because you supposedly grow up is forgetting part of yourself. it made you, why forget it. My house is full of collectables besides the atari. People have accused me of hanging on to my youth. Accuse all you want, but that is all part of me. To reject any of it is rejecting me. If you truly love me as a husband, father or friend, then you love what I do and collect, for to think it stupid, you must think I am stupid, and therefore your feelings are a farce.

I ordered my Flashback back in October, got it, but never received the paddles that do NOT come with the game. They keep getting delayed and it is very frustrating. Half the system can not be used until the paddles come in, and I still wait. THey have to get their stuff together because this is bad business practices.

For me it was when I pulled out the old system for nostolgic reasons, fired her up, realized she still works, and started buying the games I missed out on back in the day. I would not call myself a "serious" collector, but I look for certain games, buy them, play them, enjoy them, when others think I am insane and trying to recapture my youth. LOL. Then I found myself hanging around this place...which made me realize it's more than a "like" for me, but a passion. I wanted to learn all I could about the system, its history, its origins and its popularity. So I suppose wanting to learn more about something that goes beyond a casual appreciation makes you a "serious" collector.

Thanks guys for the quick response. Wow, who would have thought they would be so expensive when a VCR can do it cheaper. I was concerned about space...I have a small area to put it in that a full sized VCR will take up a lot of space along with the Atari. It doesn't make sense to charge so much, but oh well, I'll have to figure something out. Thanks again guys.

I got my system just to play Space Invaders. I was hooked on the game back then and looked into getting it for the house and Atari was the way to go. So when I bought the game I picked up Space Invaders with it, which was an expensive prospect back then. But I no longer have that game...I ended up with a Sears Telegame. What happened was...for some reason, the fire controll on the right controller got stuck...it didn't matter if a joy stick was plugged in or not, it kept firiing. So I looked into getting it fixed, and Sears said they would take it and have it repaired. So I took it to my local Sears store and with tears in my eyes (well, almost) I handed it over. That was the last I saw of that unit. Weeks went buy and I never got it back. I finally called Sears and they acted like I never brought it in. Finally they found their copy of the receipt and acknowledged they received it. More time went by and still no game. So I got fed up and contacted Atari myself. They said they never received that shipment of games for repair. Turns out, Sears lost the whole lot. They said they didn't...they said there was a strike at Atari and they basically had no clue as to what they were doing. Atari adamantly denied it saying there is no strike and that Sears lost the games. Sears was tap dancing all over the place trying to place blame on Atari, but Atari had nothing to do with it. Sears was irresponsible and lost like twenty games in need of repair. Finally after months of arguing, Sears knuckled down and decided to distribute new games to all who had their games lost for free, so that is how I ended up with my Telegames despite the fact that I bought an Atari. However I now own an Atari Darth Vader system I found on Ebay, so once again I am playing an actual Atari system and it feels good...LOL.

People here talk about using a VCR to convert the signal of an Atari to composite. But is there converter that does that. I just got one that does the opposite for a different game system I had to hook up to an old TV...It takes composite video and audioi and converts it to a Cable TV Cable to screw into the set. I need the opposite of that. Does anyone know of one out there, who maybe has gotten one themselves? I have the flashback and I hate it and would love to hook up my Atari to my big screen LCD set.

Oh, I agree. I love Asteroids now and I remember bringing Missile Command home and complaining about that too. But now it is one of my favorite 2600 games, as I posted in another thread. In it's own way it is a great game for the system. I too have several that I was let down on but truly enjoy now.

All this talk about what a let down PacMan and ET were...they were not the only let downs. I remember when I first got Asteroids I was HUGELY let down...the asteroids were colored blobs, the movement was basically verticle with a slight horizontal movement, the play itself...I think had that come out around the same time Pac Man came out, Asteroids would be blamed for the crash. Lots of games were let downs...I think ET and Pac Man were a victim of timing. I think the interest in the system was starting to wayne, it was getting obsolete as far as technology goes, and the computer was coming out, then Atari put out more carts than consoles sold. Some games played great like Centipede, Phoenix, etc...but quite a few were just not what we hoped for in home game releases.

I am 54 and played my Atari in my adulthood. I was in my twenties, young enough to enjoy it, but too old to get so involved. I had a life...LOL. But all I remember was, when the crash began, everybody said "the game console is dead...people will be playing all their games on these fancy new computers. So it seemed the public was now taking the next level and was ready to embrace computers not thinking there was room for both in this world. You do other things on a computer. For the kid who wants to spend hours gaming, they couldn't because Mom was doing the budget or something...so eventually Nintendo proved the game console had a place in the video gaming world allowing kids to still play, while the parents embraced the computers. I think ET and Packman were just a victim of cercumstance...when you can plug in a floppy and play a version that looks like the arcade version and then look at the Atari version...they don't compare, so Pacman was an example of the inadaquecy in the current consoles of the time. That's the way I saw it anyway.

That is really seet. Congrats.

Impressive.

I get it. It's two different signals. Composite is a direct feed while what the unit has is basicallly a cable for a TV with the wrong end on it.. Oh, and I am fairly new here, so sorry for not seeing the originals posts on this subject. It just seems easier to ask someone that dig. I appreciate the responses I did get.

I am curious...has any one hooked up their old 2600 to a composite TV using a splitter adapter. I mean getting a Y composite cord that you would plug in the "rca" jack into the one end, splitting it in two, then putting one end in the video plug and another end in the yellow audio jack. Would that work? It seems to me both signals travel on the one line and the video plug would read the video, and the audio plug would read the audio. I was thinking of trying it, but I figure maybe one of you have tried it already.

I spent hours on this game back in the day...it does rule as stated above.

Didn't Superman come packed with a wallet once? I seem to remember that...having the wallet around the time I got the game.

It happened again and I got a picture of it. Really wierd. Like I said, I have seen this when a cart is not inserted all the way. Funny it would show up on this system. So if it is common, just a warning to everyone out there...look out for this glitch.

Is anyone else having problems with their new Flashback 4 while playing Fatal Run? I can be in the middle of a great game, and suddenly the screen goes black with gray verticle stripes, and a high pitched tone sounds. It reminds me of when a cartridge pops out in the middle of game play. It's a bit frustrating...I got hooked on the game and it seems whenever I start doing fairly well...this happens. And so far it is only in Fatal Run.

I still have the "Tip Sheet' for Raiders of the Lost Ark with the manual. For a while there, all I thought I had was the tip sheet, but then found the book in a different pile.

I hate angry bird...seriouslly. But I mentioned I liked it because it was easier. I wasn't thinking of the technical aspects of the game. I am sure all that stuff mentioned is why it is loves so much. But as a casual gamer, the home version was fine for me. Maybe because I didn't hit the arcades as much as most of you folks have...but I relied on the home versions for my entertainment than the arcades and I really liked the 2600 Missile Command. Sorry...IMO.

I actually liked the Atari Missile Command better than the arcade version. I always hated the fact that there were three seperate bases and you had to think about where you were going to fire from in the arcade...Yes, I am a moron. I think for a beginner player, it can get complicated. Like stated above for Asteroids...the home version of Missile Command was easier than the arcade version, and that is probably why I liked it so much more.

Well...I am a loyal Hot Wheels customer...I buy a lot of their stuff. Ever since they put out the classic Batmobile in various configurations I became hooked. The detail is fantastic and it looks like they took over the top spot from Matchbox. I know they are probably other vehicles with new paint jobs...but that is what you pay for. Being a collector, I realize it is the simple things on something that can make them highly collectable and valuable...and a paint job is pretty major. I did open mine and promptly placed them under my tree in my village, and saved the cards. Being a collector of lots of things, to me it was worth the five dollars per for what they are.

Mine arrived a few days ago. A very nice set...as stated above, all metal. No plastic. Kudos to Hotwheels for not cutting corners on these. I was impressed.

I just got the game a couple of months ago and found it fun...never had it back in the day. But like posted above, it can be hypnotic. I just got the flash back. Turns out in it;s normal state, the difficulty is set high. Suddenly there are holes iin the bottom of the play field that I keep losing my balls in. It took me a bit to figure out it was the difficulty setting.

I just ordered mine. Very interesting tie in.

Thanks for this. I just got the game and was totally unaware it was this involved. I didn't get a book with it, so I am totally lost...until now. Thanks again.