JB

Assuming I have what you mean down right... PAM and MARIA aren't CPUs. 6502s are CPUs. If I recall, MARIA was the graphics hardware of the 7800, and PAM was the dev name for the 5200.

GameBoy Advance. I REALLY like handhelds.

Someone correct me if I make any mistakes here, please... If I recall, the 5200 and 7800 use the same CPU, so it comes down to everything else. The 7800 very clearly has superior video hardware. The 5200 very clearly has superior sound hardware. I have HEARD that the 7800's VCS compatabilty results in the prcessor having to reduce speed when accessing the VCS hardware, which is used for sound and input even in 7800 mode. So from a purely technical standpoint, the 5200 SHOULD be more powerful, because it doesn't have to slow down for input or sound. On the other hand, it's games won't LOOK superior, because it has inferior video hardware. But they'll sound better. Of course, hardware limitations can often be bypassed with software trickery. Power isn't everything.

I convinced an NES cart to work once by threatening it. ... It's not a very reliable method.

Green is copper oxide. The dreaded rust. That was a REAL bad cart, if you were stripping visible quantities off.

Picking up cheap used games is how I got into the Atari.

The headphone jack is true stereo. The Gen1 CAN generate stereo, it just can't output it off the AV port.

Ah, but Super Mario Brothers for the 7800 on a Pokey Cart...

The America's Funniest Home Videos principle.

Yes, but William's Arcade gets you original Defender AND Joust, as well as a half-decent Robotron and a less-than-stellar Sinistar.

Ball release angle is random. Muy mucho random.

Like I said, this IS the chain that asked 30$ for NES games well into the N64 era.... My local one did, anyways.

*thinks* Combat? Or is the direction you come out of your spin after being hit random?

That's what this discussion always turns into. Why do we have to condemn others that do things differently? Just game & collect on, everyone and enjoy! Cheers, Marco Sorry. Got a little carried away there. What was meant to be a little good-natured teasing turned into ... well, just mean. Just to clarify, I'm not some psycho that burns boxes in a big bonfire. I usually save everything that comes with the game. I like having the book and the box. And I'm not actively screwing the "gaze with wonder upon the great wall o' factory-sealed boxes" crowd, since I won't PAY massive amounts of cash for a game just so I can rip it open and play it, which automatically reduces my offenses to rather common games. But I will admit that the blood of the collector does not flow through my veins. I see an old factory-sealed toy, and think "I want that! I want to rip the box open, slap the stickers on it, and play with it! When I'm not playing with it, it'll be proudly sitting on my shelf, waving it's... Wait a second... I can't pay that much for a friggin' toy! Certainly not that one. Now where's the slightly-damaged die-cast Voltrons? Those'll look pretty sweet by that old Jetfire with the rust stains from someone's garage." Same with games. I view them primarily in their intended purpose. A crap game is a crap game is a crap game, and will forever be worth less to me than a Combat with a peeling label(except I've managed to acquire 3 Combats, and I don't need but one). On the other hand, I'm a packrat. A crap game won't wind up in the trash. It goes in with the other games, to rest untill I forget how bad it is and go to play it again. So fear not, for Chase the Chuck Wagon shall never meet the dumpster should it wander into my posession. ... Though it may meet eBay, because I'm no fool. Mucho dinero is better than a game I don't really want. Especially when someone else DOES want it. Heck, it'd pr'ly get away from me relatively cheap if I knew it was getting a good home. Again, my apologies to anyone I offended. I'm not actively buying and destroying collectables to spite people, breeding a bacterium that eats shrink-wrap and label glue to damage mint collections, or building a secret factory off Costa Rica to manufacture mass quantities of reproduction carts that look just like the real thing(wasn't that a Bond film?). ... Oh, and you can't make soup with dinosaur bones, beause they're actually rock.

I play. Every game I've ever bought has been bought with the intention of introducing it to the hardware needed to play it. I see no point to buying something I'll never use. I bought a mint-condition factory-sealed game, and OPENED THE BOX! MUWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!! I pity all those poor cartridges that will never be used, because someone decided that it's more important to own all the games in their boxes than it is to enjoy the games. Now you collector folks enjoy Chase the Chuck Wagon. I'm gonna go play Super Breakout.

The only GBA Defender I have is a port of the arcade game in the William's Arcade cartridge.

I'm not sure whether the emulator or HalfLife statement is more blasphemous.

Well, there's manual scans present on this very site. I figure if manuals were good enough then, they're good enough now.

Yah. That's what I heard when it came out. Never played it myself.... Though it was probably more like Centipede than 3D Frogger was like Frogger.

A feature lacking in all home versions except the TI computer one, as far as I know.

But if YOU own it, some psycho won't gut it to put a sub-par IBM-compatible in it.

*bows* Always thought that one'd be fun to do. Activision's take with the PS/PC version was kinda blah. I wanted something more dramatic. Atari knew the gameplay was what really mattered, but some of their stories(which were very obviously an afterthought) really bit.

'Kay. 'S been a while since I loked at it.

Are you sure? I SWEAR I looked the specs up and the DC and GameCube were both 64-bit chips internally. The XBox, on the other hand, is very obviously a 32-bit CPU, as it's an x86-class chip, and there are no 64-bit x86's in manufacture yet. No one actually MAKES bittage claims anymore, aside from Sega claiming the Dreamcast has 128-bit graphics. Which is true. Their video chipset was 128-bit. As I recall, the PS2's emotion engine is a true 128-bit CPU. It's not really a very good chip, but that's beside the point. Except the Jag was all over the map. MOST systems only have one main processor, or 2 identical ones.

Asteroids: You are test-piloting the Space Defense Forces newest fightership. Model CX-2600, it's the most advanced vessel built. Faster and more nimble than any ship before it. A pulse cannon capable of reducing even the most dangerous objects to space dust in a matter of seconds. Phase disruption shields, capable of making your vehicle completely intangible. And most revolutionary of all, a miniature hyperspatial anomaly generator, capable of reducing lightyears to a few seconds' travel. It was supposed to be a simple flight. Once around the solar system. Weapons test out by Pluto, then hyperspace back to Earth. The phase shields were removed from the test due to risk of generator overload. Everything had gone perfectly. The weapons systems exceeded all expectations, and the ship really was as maneuverable as they said. One last step, and you can take some downtime. You program the coordinates in, press the hyperdrive button... The lights flare. Sparks arc across your controls. You look out the window. Earth isn't there. The computer's down, but you know enough astronomy to know the stars aren't right. Wherever you are, it isn't the Sol system. The daignostic panels come up as the system reboots. Your heart sinks. The navigation systems are fried. You have no way of knowing where you are, or how to get home. Even if you did, the hyperdrive was damaged. It's only good for short untargeted hops, and there's a chance you won't come through the jump in one piece. You drift as systems test out and come online, one at a time. Life support, online. Thrusters, online. Sensors, online. There's not enough power to power everything up! The generator must have been damaged. Inertial dampers, phase shields, or that accursed hyperdrive. Only one can be brought online. And to top it all off, you've just drifted into an asteroid belt. Swiftly you pick a system, activate it, and grab the flight stick. Activating your distress beacon, you wonder where you are and when, or even if, help is coming. Well, it certainly won't do you any good if you get crushed by those asteroids while you're worrying. Let the Defense Force worry about the rescue mission. Your mission is one of survival.