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7800

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Posts posted by 7800

  4. Posted · Edited by 7800

    I've tried writing Batari about this, and about the availability for the 2600 version of the Harmony Cart with no reply.

     

    For those that have bought the existing Harmony Cart, were they responsive to the order once money was sent? Are the existing Harmony Carts still in stock?

     

    And is the Harmony Cart 2 a sore subject these days for some reason?

    I just bought one a few weeks ago. They were relatively quick about sending it out. The tracking info was sent directly to paypal so, keep an eye out that way. Also, there are quite a few here who have not embraced the art of responding to PMs. It is what it is.

  5. Posted

     

    Again, I thought the discussion here was if the 7800 were released in 1984, would it have made a difference, and I'm still solid that it would not have. I believe Atari's mistake was not doing the Nintendo distribution deal, because as I said that's where the games were going to come from.

    ...and the decision to forgo POKEY sound in favor of TIA.

  6. Posted

     

     

    Nintendo did a famous disruptive approach. They simply changed the types of games being played. They did it again with the Wii years later.

     

    Before the NES came out, Atari considered its competition to be consoles like the Colecovision and computer consoles like the Commodore 64. A lot of the 7800's initial line-up seems to reflect this approach of "Colecovision like games, but even better graphics" and "the types of games you can play on a computer, without the cost".

     

    They weren't thinking that they needed Super Mario, Castlevania, Zelda etc.

     

    To me, the technical stuff has always been far less important than the fact that Atari didn't react well to this disruptive trend and wasn't willing to invest. Games like the above take time and money to develop. Atari's response at first was to put their money into the XEGS for two years ... then to start to make NES style games when that didn't work. Except by then, they had a lot less shelf space.

    This! As I said in another post... if Atari did some recon and got a feel for what Japanese video game manufacturers were doing, things would have been so much better for Atari and the 7800... assuming they took cues from systems like the Famicom.

  7. Posted

     

    It's widely agreed the NES didn't take off until late '87. My point was that by the time NES got going, it would have succeeded against a Tramiel-7800 or somebody else's 7800, for the reasons I listed.

    This is exactly what I was thinking too. Whether it was Atari inc. or Atari Corp., the decisions made... is why the 7800 didn't come out on top. The 7800 was ready to go in 1984, but was put on the back burner until 1986 for debatable reasons. Within that time period, Nintendo was making strategic decisions that put them in the pole position (pun intended), Regardless of how long it took the NES to get up to speed. I think If Atari made better choices earlier, the 7800 would have dominated the market... at least for a little while.

  8. Posted

    "Joypads didn't test well initially in the States [that's why the 7800 commercials touted that the console came with REAL joysticks]".

     

    Maybe so, but gamepads clearly became the US standard once Nintendo (and Sega) arrived in the states.

     

    "Like just about every other decision Nintendo made, joypads were an economical one. It was cheaper to build them than joysticks which meant more profit for the Big N."

     

    That might be true, but I also believe that Nintendo thought the gamepad was a better choice over the aging joystick. And let's not forget why the 7800 was late to the game to begin with... Tramiel + cost cutting = Nintendo's foothold on the home video game market.

     

    "The standard NES - without the various MMC chips bundled in cartridges and passed on as an added cost to the consumer - is NOT more powerful than the 7800. Not in color palette, RAM, the number of sprites displayed, flickering, clock speed, etc. FACT."

     

    Sounds good to me, I wasn't debating this at all.

  9. Posted

    Hi,

     

    I'm looking for someone who can print me up some professional, high quality labels for some of my 2600 carts. I have the designs... I just need your services. If you have the capability of die cutting them too that would be a plus. :) I can send you the files at your request, just PM me. They are 360 dpi.

     

    Thanks!

  13. Posted

    Regarding the VAII controller, Best still sells them... they are NOS I believe, but they are terrible. They work, but the amount of effort required to use the stick and fire button is ridiculous. This goes for used or new VAII controllers.

     

    The VAII sticks are definitely unmodifiable. The fire button works on the same "sliding" instead of "pushing" principle too. However, if one absolutely requires a combo stick with built in paddle for the VAII, a Coleco Gemini controller works very well with the unit... AND it's 100% a better controller.

  16. Posted · Edited by 7800

    The bottom line, Atari shot themselves in the foot and by the time they realized they needed to play "catch up"... it was already too late. They really weren't in touch with how the home video game market was evolving. The only way the 7800 could have been better is if Atari literally spied on Nintendo to see what they were doing, then not only copy it... but improve upon it. 1986 and Atari is still hell bent on joysticks, meanwhile Nintendo embraced the gamepad for a few years already... just as one example.

  22. Posted

    Agreed, If you bend down the contacts just a bit... it might get rid of the jitters. I did that when servicing a pair of Gemini controllers and the paddle doesn't jitter like it did before I cleaned it... and those aren't true pots, nice design though.

     

    As far as it only occurring on certain games, that's strange. :)

  23. Posted

    I'd have to think over an Atarimax SD, whether there's non-cart games I'd want. $130 is a lot. I might end up being satisfied with the base library and a couple homebrew titles. For $130 I could get a Mega Everdrive and have access to more games overall (Genesis + SMS + 32X).

     

    I didn't say I got a 2600 adapter for $50, I mean it tends to sell for that much and it was very cheap in this system bundle I bought. Even if it's not particularly great, I'd at least like to try it out. Maybe it'd make a good standalone 2600 system, just add power and AV jacks.

     

    How are the Atari ports? Are they more improved than the Activision titles?

    The SD Cart is a little expensive, but it's worth it. You can get every game rom on line and load them onto it... and play EVERY game. :) You can also play homebrews and 64K games that members on here make available.

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