5200FoxFlash

As long as there's not something seriously wrong, for me, carefully cleaning all the contacts with an eraser and then rubbing alcohol does the trick. The weird thing about the 5200 controller though is that the buttons tend to not work the longer you don't use it. So, even after a successful cleaning, after a few days of non use I find I have to work the buttons in during some practice runs before I can seriously game. Perhaps using the aluminum foil trick eliminates that problem, I don't know as I haven't tried it yet. Still, one of the big issues with the controllers is that the rubber buttons are so darn mushy and their placement makes them a little uncomfortable for longer periods of play. Not much you can do about that though.

Squeeze Box from US Games had a pretty big sprite in the middle of the screen. Too bad the game was nothing to write home about.

I'd argue that people didn't get tired of overly complicated games, they got tired of garbage games at bad prices. Ones that weren't fun to play or were based on stupid licenses. And, in the middle of the crash, the home computer market took off which had games that were much more complicated than anything on a 2600. Also, let's not pretend the NES didn't have it's fair share of games that left no clue as to what to do, Castlevania II immediately comes to mind. And the epicly bad Deadly Towers. It doesn't get much more cryptic than that.

Didn't get my original 2600 till 1980, but Combat was still the pack in game. And we played the heck out of it. So, I guess I will go with that. Indy 500 was a close second though.

My first thought while watching Band's video was, "Looks fake." And then when he stated the price, that sealed it for me. Kudos to this guy for showing the proof.

Just discovering this as well and I think it's pretty amazing. For one, I love the music and sounds, they're awesome! And to see those graphics for DK at the top and he's animated?! Mind blown. And, I actually enjoy the scaling. To me, it makes the game seem grander, like a bigger adventure. Terrific work, can't wait to follow it's continued progression.

I don't know about worst overall, but I can tell you the worst game I had back in the day. Racquetball by Apollo was an unplayable mess.

I never liked it, mostly because I was never any good at it. I have it on the 5200 and the trak-ball makes it more interesting, but it's still not a favorite of mine. As for River Raid, now that I think about it, I was never a big fan of that either. Though I can understand why many people like it.

I like it too. I think the randomness of the screens and the flickering graphics put many people off though. But think about it, they put in Clark Kent, Lois Lane, Superman, Lex and his cronies, the Daily Planet, kryptonite, x-ray vision and Superman could fly. And you had to repair the bridge and capture Lex and his goons. All of that in a 2600 cart in like '78 or '79. Most of the Superman games that followed just had you beating up guys.

I'll be honest and say Demon Attack. Good game, but I have more fun with Phoenix and Space Invaders. I do think there's quite a few people here listing games that I never thought were highly regarded at all. Certainly not Outlaw, and I had Superman back in the day and that game used to get tons of abuse from my friends.

Interesting, I've never tried this before, but I will now: 1. Phoenix 2. Berzerk 3. Space Invaders 4. Asteroids 5. Adventure 6. Pitfall 7. Ice Hockey 8. Warlords 9. Starmaster 10. Air Raiders

I got my first one in late summer of '85 at a flea market. I was there with my father and the guy selling was packing things up and getting ready to leave. He had in a box, an original 4 port model with one joystick, power supply, switchbox and a handful of loose carts. Seeing that the guy was in a hurry, my dad made his move and offered him $20. The guy also had a six switch 2600 and a couple games and said, "Here, might as well take these too." At that time, after the big crash, people at flea markets were always unloading the stuff for practically nothing. Around that time I can remember getting an Intellivsion for $3 and Colecovision and a few games for about $10. Anyway, I remember reading back around 82 or 83 about the negatives of the 5200 and I was thinking that I wouldn't get much use out of it. But when I got it home and hooked it up, I was amazed that Pac-Man had the intermissions. And I loved the Joust conversion on it. And the sound on most games impressed me, like Vanguard and later Mr. Do's Castle and Gyruss, two games I picked up in stores that were unloading their old game stocks. I also liked the feel of the analog controllers. If only they made the stick centering and didn't cheap out on the buttons, I think they would have had a controller that was universally praised instead of panned like it turned out. The switchbox was different, but I got what they were trying to do with it by allowing you to not have to go and switch it back to TV when you wanted to watch television. Sure, in today's world, that's useless technology. But back then, it made sense. It was also cool that you could swap carts without having to turn the unit off. Overall, it's a system that gets an unfair amount of criticism IMO.

My 4 port serial number: *203 0188145

I've got one too. It was originally my brother's. Funny thing is, I didn't even know about the asterisk models until about a month ago and checked this one and there was the asterisk.

I have an early 4 port system and a later "asterisk" 4 port model. Only have 1 switchbox and power supply though. I have three working controllers...well, one isn't quite 100% as the stick is kind of tight and funky. I have a very good condition trak-ball. For games I have 20, 9 CIB and 4 duplicates. Also have a box for one of the 5200s and the trak-ball in OK shape. I do have mostly common games, though I do have Gyruss, Wizard of Wor and my rarest would be Mr. Do's Castle. All 3 of which would be some of my favorite games of all time.

I always hoped for something more like a PS3 or X360 controller in which there was a Dpad and analog stick. But with there being so little in terms of options for the 5200, any new controller is good news.