SIO2

Beautiful game Bob. Nice that Jin decided not to really embarrass me there.

Nice job Jin. I probably won't challenge that score. I about hammered my buttons to death last time.

Voted for Jag. Just feels to me like the one. At least the 5200 and XEGS could parasite some from the 8 bit lines. Jag was out there on its own.

Prepare yourselves. The end is not near! Atari lives!

Observant Aren't I? Thanks for pointing me to it.

Games I want to see for 5200 = all of them. Especially Rainbow Walker. A few years ago, I asked someone (I think Steven Tucker) about the possibility of converting Rainbow Walker to 5200. He said he had started on it but the code was some sort of convoluted mess that defied unraveling.

90,460 to get started.

You just have to switch your TV to channel 1 like and put in your special ATARI cart like in the photo. Those Sony TV sets always did have a better picture.

I don't know how rare it is but it seems odd that the back of the box says it contains no product yet there is a cart that the seller says works.

Gunsmoke

A feast for the eyes.

1,493,100 wave 60 Round ends now with my unbeatable score. Ha! Just kidding. Better see what Mr. VCS says.

941,700 A little better but had hoped to at least break a mil. Just to tired right now.

XEGS and a flash cart gets my vote. XEGS keyboards were not great quality but the 5200 is an investment by the time you do an AV mod, get a flash cart, figure out a workable controller. Then you can only play a small portion of the games the XEGS will.

You just cut some paper clips, lay the pieces on wax paper, pour some epoxy over. When the epoxy cures, bend the legs down. Maybe not. Someday we can 3D print them.

Gunsmoke

Be sure to rub the rod with rabbit fur. Moose fur is way too coarse.

879,575. Got a little rusty I guess.

Because eBay is such a pain to deal with it is worth more than $15 extra. Just buy from Albert. He does a fantastic job and has reasonable prices.

I put this in with the other pins before I mailed the cart.

I put Boulder Dash in the mail to King_Salamon today. Enjoyed participating in this very much. Thanks. Looking forward to seeing the moose.

XL = 40 Four naught Which if you had an 800 and and bought an XL is what you spent your money for.

Not much for landmarks around here so I took Boulder Dash where everyone likes to hang out and party - the math and science building at the local college. When we got thrown out of there we went to the Mari Sandoz Center. Mari wrote a book about her dad called Old Jules. Nearest thing to a local celebrity we have. I thought I heard a snake rattling around the native grass at Sandoz Center so we moved over to the art gallery. Now where did I leave that cart?

I notice an error message at the bottom - too large for available flash. Never mind. I see after I posted you picked up on that also.

An interesting but little known fact is that Boulder Dash owes its existence to the BASIC programming language. When Peter Liepa who programmed the original Atari 800 version of Boulder Dash became inspired to write a video game, he first contacted a software publisher to inquire what sort of game might be in demand. The publisher informed Peter that they had received a demo of a game from Chris Gray written in BASIC which had potential if it could be sped up and and improved. So, Peter Liepa and Chris Gray collaborated on the original Boulder Dash which Peter then wrote in assembly language for the Atari 800 home computer system. Once the game was complete, Peter felt he deserved the most credit and lawyers had to be brought in to sort out what percentage of the royalties Peter and Chris would each receive. Well fortunately, years later when Andrew Davie and Thomas Jentzsch came together to produce a version of the classic Boulder Dash for the Atari 2600 they got along much better. Perhaps that was due to the fact there was not much money involved. We may never know. What I have learned though in researching this game is that it takes no less than two programmers to create something like this. For those who don't know, Boulder Dash for the Atari 2600 is a 2 dimensional vertically and horizontally scrolling game where the player guides the character (Rockford) while he digs his way through a cave filled with boulders that can fall on him and cause him to explode. Explode? Maybe the boulders are sulfur or something. The goal of the game is for Rockford to collect a set number of diamonds which thanks to the 2600's incredible graphic resolution look like pizza slices. BTW, if the "diamonds" fall on Rockford he will also explode. Boulder Dash 2600 was released in 2012 after 10 years of development. Only 250 game cartridges were produced. It has long since sold out making a copy hard to obtain and costly. For whatever reasons, there will be no more produced. Andrew Davie however, has generously offered up his personal boxed copy of the game to travel the world so that those who were not lucky enough to own one of the 250 copies but still wish to play Boulder Dash 2600 may have the opportunity. Visit Atariage.com 2600 forum to read the rules and request the loan of the cartridge. I did and am honored to have had Boulder Dash to play and experience however briefly. As one of the conditions of borrowing the game, the authors request that the player write a brutally honest review of the game and highlight any faults with it. This is my review and the faults are... blah... hmmmm.. uh.... not many. After playing the game for several nights, the only things I could come up with that I didn't like are things that others may like or consider features. The first is, that when Rockford must push a boulder out of the road (not often as most just fall when he digs out under them), the player must press and hold the joystick button for a moment. Because this game is timed and because it plays fast and is better played as fast as possible, that delay to move a boulder seems very long and cumbersome especially at higher skill levels. The second thing is the all time high score which can be saved to a save key device is for practical purposes not viewable until the end of a game. The high score can serve as a motivational factor for the player presenting a goal to exceed and can influence the decisions a player makes if they know what the high score is ahead of time. Now, you could just start a game and kill Rockford off right away to see the high score in the information displayed at the end of that game. There is a way, just not a convenient way. The final thing is the creative method by which the game informs the player they have earned a bonus life. The screen glitters with tiny dots to visually signal to the player that there is one more Rockford. Every time it happens I think the system glitched or someone plugged in a vacuum cleaner. Overall though, the game is a marvel of sights and sounds and fluid motion that challenge the mind and entertain for hours upon hours. Any serious 2600 fan will want to experience Boulder Dash 2600 for themselves. I would give it five stars on a five star scale or 97 percent on a 100 scale.