karokoenig

You may want to get rid of those contollers, though

Out of curiosity... is that an analog version of the C-Pro?

Here's my contribution for this week. Lots of Game Boy again. It's funny - when the Game Boy was released, I thought I was too old for such a stupid kid's toy. Now I'm approaching 40 and start messing around with that toy. Go figure... Atari 2600: - Action Force: 12 minutes - Circus Atari: 9 minutes - Jungle Hunt: 6 minutes - Moon Patrol: 14 minutes - Pitfall: 4 minutes - Reactor: 15 minutes - Smurf: 9 minutes "Action Force" is the european version of "G.I. Joe - Cobra Strike". It was renamed because... well... no one in Europe gives a flying fornication about G.I. Joe :-). Awesome two-player co-op game - one of the best paddle games I know. Got to give the unusual gameplay a little time to sink in, though. It's worth it! Four minutes of Pitfall ain't that much. My plan was to do one complete 20 minute run, but I screwed up twice in a row so early that I got sick of the game. Not my day... I sucked. Game Boy Classic: - Donkey Kong: 5 minutes - Mega Man: 10 minutes - Nemesis: 21 minutes - Power Racer: 6 minutes - Solar Striker: 18 minutes "Power Racer" is in fact a jazzed-up port of Atari`s "Dodge'em". Great fun :-) "Solar Striker" is a vertical space shooter. I was very impressed by the music. Definetly a tune that stands out in the Game Boy universe. "Nemesis": horizontal shooter. Wholly shit, it's hard. I really need a joystick for that kind of games. Game Boy Advance: - Disney's Treasure Planet: 55 minutes - Rayman 3: 25 minutes - Rayman Advance: 22 minutes "Treasure Planet" is a cute action adventure. However: the first level is quite huge already. Took me almost half an hour to find my way around and finish it in order to get a password for the next level. Not a game to pick up and play for a few minutes. The two Rayman games are on a single cart called "Rayman 10th Anniversary". I got this dirt cheap on eBay. Definetly a good bang for the buck.

I've got to go check if it was ported to the GBA...

That Pirates remake looks interesting. Loved that game on the C64, and Pirates Gold was awesome on PC. Now all I need is a PSP for 5 bucks... :-)

Short question in between... can we make suggestions for games? If yes, I'd love to see a round of "Reactor" - if it hasn't been done before.

1. Phoenix 2. G.I. Joe Cobra Strike 3. Super Breakout 4. Circus Atari 5. Missile Command 6. Frogger 7. Return of the Jedi Death Star Battle 8. Jungle Hunt 9. Enduro 10. Vanguard

I'd say go even further. Attach a servo to the pot and make it RC. Looks more Borg when it moves all by itself.

Well, I dunno. I suspect a large degree of sample bias here. I would say that only the negative cases are being reported and throughly discussed, as it is happening right here and right now - while all the times everything goes fantastically well don't get attention. Who in his right mind would start a thread with the title "Got a game from venezuela and everything went fine". Not trying to sound like a Venezuelan Game dealer commercial here. Just feeling obliged as a scientist to point out the sample bias :-)

As hideous as the Chrome translator is - one word to its defense: the seller had a few spelling errors or typos in his text. The stick went for almost 30 Euro in the end. That's pretty expensive, especially untested. It does show, however, that some people are really fond of this piece of metal.

About the Competition Pro... There are numerous USB Plug and Play Competitions around these days for 15-20 Euro a piece. A few years ago, I bought one that came with a load of (crappy) Amiga games on a disc. The mechanics of that Competion aren't quite as awesome as the old ones, but still very decent. I wonder if those can be rewired to work on the old systems...

You remember the arcade-style joystick/paddle hybrid I posted here? I just stumbled across one on german eBay - which doesn't happen very often. Maybe one of you guys wants to give it a shot. It is sold untested, though... http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-53200-19255-0/1?ff3=4&pub=5574883395&toolid=10001&campid=5336500554&customid=&mpre=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.de%2Fitm%2FMicro-Handler-Joystick-fur-Commodore-Amiga-Atari-Amstrad-Schneider-Sinc-%2F151004452826%3Fpt%3DKlassische_Computer%26hash%3Ditem23289117da I would say if you can get it for $25-30, shipping included, it's worth it... if it works.

Hmm... I believe you keep track of your weekly highscores over the years. Did you ever hack them into excel and plot it? I'd be interested to see that

This week's early bird entry: Atari 2600: - Dschungel Boy: 5 minutes - Ms Pac Man: 5 minutes - Warlords: 10 minutes Dschungel Boy is a german clone of Ptfall!. It is not bad, controls are precise. But the graphics are clunky and the sound is... spartanic. That game and Ms Pac Man were my flea market finds today. I had them both already, but for one Euro per cart, I had to save them from harsh weather and a slow death at the bottom of a seller's box. I'm sure I'll find a good home for them sooner or later. NES: - Duck Tales: 8 minutes - Kirby's Adventure: 45 minutes - Kung Fu: 5 minutes Found Kung Fu today as well on the same flea market. A good day, I'd say. The cart looks like it was run over by a truck and the label is fubar, but it works fine. Glad I'm a gamer, not a collector :-). Game Boy: - Kirby's Dreamland: 4 minutes - Mega Man: 28 minutes - Wario Land: 62 minutes I did come round to trying my (undeveloped) Gameboy skills on Mega Man. Man, this game is hard. Well, either that or I am still too new to the Game boy. Kirby is the last flea market find of today. I only had time to quicky test if it works.

You may be right there, I'm afraid. On my joystick the brand name is "Micro Händler" - which is german for Micro Merchant or Micro Trader. I guess it's an obscure small german company... That brand name is not printed on the one I posted, so there may be even different versions. To be honest, I don't even have a clue where I got a hold of that thing. You know how it was back in the days... a lot of diffusion going on between friends. Some games lent to someone, a joystick lent from someone... I lost a lot of my old Atari carts that way, but gained this joystick :-). Oh, and... Competition Pro is awesome! I also have one of those from the 80s. I only plug that precious in when I'm up for a very serious game of Phoenix - or something similarly brilliant.

I always have this one here plugged into my Atari: It has a strong metal case - basically unbreakable. The stick itself is not extremely robust, so it needs a bit of a light hand. But so far it has survived in my possession since the end of the 80s with no problems. The great thing about this thing is the two paddles, which you can activate by flicking a switch. They are surprisingly accurate despite their small size. I love this thing because I don't have to strain my system's sockets by changing controllers all the time. I got this picture from a german retro online shop. I was amazed - they want € 99 for that thing! While I don't think it's worth that much at all, I highly recommend you grab one of these if you happen to stumble across one in the wild. (edit) the third potentiometer regulates the turbo fire speed.

Introducing this week's flea market find: my new Game Boy Advance SP... Game Boy Classic: - Wario Land: 28 minutes. I got this game as a little extra gift from a really nice eBay seller. And now that I have an GBA SP, I can even play it. It's a nice little game. I like Wario's cartoon bully acting. In fact, I think I like Wario much more than Mario. See below. Atari 2600: - Alpha Beam with Ernie: 7 minutes - Cookie Monster Munch: 12 minutes - Crystal Castles: 10 minutes - Missile Command: 10 minutes - Ms. Pac Man: 12 minutes - Sorcerer's Apprentice: 9 minutes - Time Race (Goliath): 8 minutes For the record: the standard keypad controllers work well with the Ernie and Cookie Monster games So, if you are more the "player", there is no need to annoy serious collectors on eBay with your bids on kids controllers . That doesn't make the games good, though... My short visit to Crystal Castles was a result of the current High Score Club. I still couldn't stand the game, though - so I didn't try to compete seriously. One more thing about Time Race. It's a clone of Space Jockey. There are different Time Race carts (I have three), which have some small differences (sprites, background colour, etc). The Goliath version is by far the most awful. NES: - Faxanadu: 125 minutes - Super Mario 3: 12 minutes Finally I am getting some decent playtime into my NES adventure games. Faxanadu is really a nice little-known classic. It usually goes cheap on eBay, and it's worth it. Super Mario...? Meh, I finally got it because everyone seems to regard it as a mega-classic. I don't get it. Never found any Mario game appealing so far. See above under "Wario"

Nice plan. Has a tiny catch, though. I am in Germany, so shipping would be about $16. The game alone goes for around 2,50 Euro on German eBay. You see the numbers in your calculations are a wee bit off :-).

Hard question actually... would be a bit of a shame to waste any C64 cartridge. There may be C16 or VC20 carts around with really awful text adventure games. You could also just paint a floppy disk and make every contestant copy his most hated game onto it - which might be a story in itself worth telling. Not too hard to take out the disk part before spraying the outside. I can also, on the top of my head, think of a gazillion Atari 2600 games worse than E.T.. But I guess one Atari 2600 trophy is enough.

The Trophy of Shame already done? Maybe something C64 related this time...

When you gonna do the Barbie episode? (edit) ...or seriously now: a new "I hate you"

Thanks for all the answers. I just dug out my keypad controllers and tested the games. They are kinda cute, but I doubt they will get a load of playtime on my Atari in the future. But still - a nice unusual addition for my collection. I really wonder why that controller is needed for the games, though. I wished I had a joystick when I played them. And man, am I happy that Cookie Monster starts eating faster after the first few cookies :-).

Thanks. Does that mean the keypad controller definetly doesn't work?

So, I got Cookie Monster Munch and Alpha Beam with Ernie in a lot. It says I have to use Kids controllers to play them, but those are kinda pricy. I researched a little and found some vague information that keyboard controllers work as well.´I have a pair of those somewhere in one of my hardware boxes. So... do they work?

Now, THAT's an idea. An Atari 2600 Nomad.