jaybird3rd

I may be overanalyzing things, but I think it's another FB3 clue. Think about it: at the beginning of this thread he was using a "FB2 Engineering Team" image in his avatar. What is his avatar now? A guy building a souped-up Atari 800.

I've seen the AC adapters, but there's no external power jack on the paddles.

I have to agree with a lot of them. The need to run these dedicated TV games off of batteries has always bugged me. It isn't a problem unique to the Jakks paddles, either; TV games in general suck the life out of batteries, and they begin doing crazy things when the batteries get too low. I use NiMH rechargeables in mine so I'm not throwing away so many batteries, but it is still inconvenient to have to change them. When I (finally) open up my set of paddles again, I'm going to try wiring in a connector for an external power supply.

"Freedom of speech" doesn't apply to online discussion forums. The moderators have complete authroity to decide what is permissible and what is not; if you don't like it, you can simply choose another forum. Personally I don't blame them for cracking down. I own an Atari Jaguar and enjoy playing it, but from the looks of some of the threads in here, something about the Jaguar apparently makes people go freaky nuts for no reason. The other forums don't get so nasty nearly as often, which may be one reason the Jaguar forum isn't visible to guests.

I actually think that it compliments the FB2 very nicely. One of the criticisms of the FB2 is that no new paddle controllers were released with it, even though it included paddle-based games. With the Jakks product, you get new paddles that are actually an improvement on Atari's originals, and with the notable exception of games like Kaboom and Solar Storm, just about every paddle-based game released for the 2600. On top of that, you get an implementation of the original Atari Pong coin-op that plays better than anything except the original, and a near-perfect version of Arcade Warlords. So it fills a significant gap left by the FB2, and at the discounted prices the one-player and two-player versions are being sold at now, it's a no-brainer for any FB2 owner. Speaking of which, I haven't forgotten about my idea of making the one-player version into a two-player version through some jumper changes and adding an external paddle. My two jobs and my other obligations have just kept me from taking up my digital camera or my soldering iron recently, but I'll get to it soon.

That's why I added one to my post.

SPLAT! Too late! You've got to be impressed with the music in the 2600 version, though, especially considering the way-cool DPC chip in the cartridge (it's too bad it wasn't used for more games). Until I heard the Activision keynote from CGE2K4, I had no idea that it was originally composed for the Pitfall Saturday-morning cartoon.

What's worse is that hardcore C64 fans will swear up and down that there are no other versions of those games. The 400/800 was where Archon and a lot of other "C64 games" originated, but it never gets any recognition for it. And then there are the pirated hacks (like "Archon III") that C64 people always seem to think were legitimate releases ... Speaking of Archon, I think a 2600 version of Archon II would be difficult because the initial playfield has the players lined up together in one horizontal row. The original Archon, on the other hand, is a more interesting possibility that I'd like to see someone attempt on the 2600.

That's right, Imagic had those eight-color silver and rainbow packages (which must have been REALLY expensive). I'm going to look into the slip-cover option when I finally get a homebrew ready for distribution. Up-front costs are high, to be sure, but with a very large run of generic boxes that can be used for several homebrew games, per-unit cost would be relatively low. And, of course, there's always plastic baggies with stapled-on cardboard foldovers.

I wonder if it would be possible to just build a very large batch of generic boxes for Atari cartridges and manuals, and then print up customized slip-on covers as needed for the games. I imagine this would be a lot cheaper than a custom-printed box for every game, especially for low-quantity homebrews. I think Interplay used to use a similar packaging system for some of their retail-boxed software, so even though it would be different than Atari's original packaging, it wouldn't be too much of a departure.

I actually never noticed that the Jaguar forum isn't open to guests until you mentioned it, but you're right, it does seem a little odd. Sometimes it seems that the Jaguar fan base has more than its fair share of abusive nutjobs, so maybe that has something to do with it.

One thing I've always wondered about these customized, painted Jaguar consoles and controllers: does the paint scratch or flake off over time, or is it the kind of thing I would have to paint and never play again afterward? I'm especially worried about the controllers, since they're always being handled and getting dirty.

I figure that "5200 super" and "7800 pro" referred to the 5200 SuperSystem and the 7800 ProSystem, which are the proper names of those two consoles. I have no idea what "core" means, though; maybe somebody was thinking of popping the chips out of the consoles and cartridges and playing dominos with them.

7800 ProSystem for me. It's got everything the 2600 has, so it can play 2600 games, plus an interesting graphics processor and extra RAM and a two-button option for 7800 games. Plus, the video quality is SWEET once you install a composite mod, and the joystick connectors and difficulty switches are front-mounted on the console.

Oh, great ... who let RCModeler back in here?!

I remember listening to Bill Rehbok talking about this during one of the CGE2K4 keynotes. Apparently Atari Corp. was working with Atari Games and incorporating some of the improvements that they had made to the Jaguar (as part of their CoJag platform) into Jaguar II. He said that original Jaguar games were running on Jaguar II and "magically inheriting bilinear filtering" and other features that were post-Playstation but pre-N64. A lot of those plans came to a grinding halt after Sam T.'s heart attack and the subsequent merger with JTS.

I'll join those who have cited 7800 Donkey Kong. Before listening to that "music" and those sound effects, I never thought I would hear something that would make me want to gouge my own eardrums out with pencils, but I came pretty close. Then I fired up 7800 BallBlazer and recovered instantly.

Yes, I remember that Mike Stulir did a review of the HSC on the Back In Time site in which he included pictures of the plastic bag packages. He must have gotten one of the first ones.

That's funny, I always assumed it got its time from the VMU. When my VMU is either unplugged or with a missing battery on startup, I always get the setup screen, and I assumed it was because the Dreamcast had no internal clock to fall back on. I don't get the screen when I have a working VMU in the controller.

I'm in, too! Bravo to Curt for finishing off these last few cartridges and making them available. Not having a box doesn't hurt my feelings in the least; I'm just delighted to be one of the few to have a HSC.

I'm eagerly anticipating this, too. I'm no 5200 fan, but if this makes it out and is not ported over to the 400/800 computers, it might be enough to make me get a 5200 all by itself. Between David Comstock working on Cloak & Dagger and Keithen Hayenga reportedly picking up 5200 Tempest again, it's so great to see some of the Atari alumni revisiting their old work. I can't wait to see what they come up with!

Same here; I'm working on some 7800 projects and would love to add support for the HSC as well as the MemCard/AtariVox in my games. I've sent a PM as well.

Definitely! Put me down for one, too, if any extras are found!

That's what I love about being single ... I can spend the money I earn on whatever the hell I want without having to ask for permission from the missus. Of course, I'm still too poor to spring for this one. You know, it would have taken only a few more keystrokes to make this post intelligible ...

I don't know how Curt finds the time for everything he does already, so I'm willing to keep waiting. The hardcore 7800 fans have already been waiting for a keyboard component for some 20+ years, so what's another couple of months?