Hannacek

You can only hack in a few wires before it gets too messy and the buttons get in the way, and you can't close the back of the case. You will need to make a custom pcb to include all the features you want in a single controller. Your other option is to have two or three controllers, each with only one or two extra functions, which limits the amount of extra wires so it would fit inside the case. I wouldn't waste my time with those junk China 3rd party controllers. The original Nintendo branded controllers are 10 times better.

This port is better than Great Gianna Sisters. However, if they had spent 7 years working on Gianna Sisters back in the 80's, then that would have been better as well.

The only thing you can do is put a watermark on your pictures and shame the ebay seller into not using your pictures. But even then they will just crop out the watermark, or use the picture with the watermark. AtariAge is the only one who can contact ebay to do anything about this, and ebay usually doesn't do anything about this.

Ben originally sold these for around $350. In the 2600 portables, the screens alone cost in the $100 to $200 range because he had to hack up a pocket TV because you couldn't just buy an lcd screen online in those days like you can now. It wasn't worth the amount of hours it took him to make these compared to the cost he sold them at, so he wrote his book that tells you how to make one yourself. He makes single handed Xbox One controllers for $350. It is a similar issue where it takes him too many hours to make it to justify the time, except he has been able to simplify and speed up the process for making single handed controllers, and helping people with disabilities makes it more worthwhile.

With most old TVs (and all computer monitors) of the time, you could adjust the picture to center it and fill the whole screen. This is helpful for something like a Commodore 64, but doesn't really help for Atari 2600, because it doesn't make sense to readjust the picture for every game, and then adjust it when you go back to watching broadcast TV.

You should play the same game using rf to compare with that same game on s-video. A lot of (or maybe all non-black border?) 2600 games have different borders, don't fill the whole screen, and have uneven edges. It has to do with how some games were programmed, because they can use areas where nothing is drawn on the screen to run game code.

It's really not worth repairing Atari joysticks if they are just regular with nothing special. The only thing that makes sense if you wan to repair is to harvest parts from something else broken. Best thing is to take a broken joystick with a cord that is fine, and use that to replace this cord. Or you could take the cord from a broken Genesis controller.

What do you mean by out in the wild? You mean unknown games in a garage, attic, storage locker, or somewhere else. These would have to be unreleased or prototype games, because all the released games as known. The people who worked at Atari in the 70's and 80's are getting older and older. There probably will be some new games found when these people die and the families go through their garages and attics. Someone will buy a box of Atari stuff thinking it is just a bunch of common games, but find an unreleased or prototype game. The owner probably worked for Atari back in the day and didn't care, or didn't remember what they had.

What are you going to print? Birthday cards and certificates? Even something like the Gameboy camera and printer people don't want. It would be fun for a few minutes, but you would quickly get bored and realize everything you can take a picture of looks basically like the same pixelated mess.

I sold a C64 Okimate thermal printer on eBay for $100. The buyer said they were a set dresser for Modern Family. A few months later an episode aired that features a commercial from the 80's for Ed O'Neil's closet business. They bought a few printers for the episode, but ended up using a different one. Outside someone who needs an 80's prop for their game room or TV show, there are a few collectors and users that want a printer. But printers really have no value, because no one wants them.

He set the price at $395 hoping someone will pay that, but it seems like he is eager to haggle down to $295. Considering this is sold at a store that needs to pay employees and rent, $295 is a fair price. You would probably pay $295 on ebay if you include shipping. The monitor probably weighs around 40 pounds, and the other stuff probably weights 30 pounds, so you could be spending $100 easy on shipping.

My Colecovision has the same diodes on the controller ICs. I assume that this was done at the factory to pass quality control. Or the console was brought in for this repair. This is known as a bodge, where they add in stuff later to fix a problem or issue they found at the last minute. I assume they redid the board on later consoles to fix this problem without a bodge, or the bodge was just a precaution, and not necessary, so they didn't do it on later boards.

Yeah, he added the diodes to make it function properly. I think Tutankhamun and one other game has that feature when pressing both buttons at the same time does something. There are a few other games like Cosmic Avenger where you can't drop a bomb and fire simultaneously unless the diodes are in the controller. But, even then most people wouldn't notice that you can't drop a bomb and fire simultaneously unless you told them. And I think there are some games that are programmed in a way to where you can't use both buttons at the same time, even though you should be able to.

Each action button needs a diode so they work like the standard CV controller. Diodes are less than 5 cents a piece, but he could have gotten rid of them to save time in making them (or save money) . You should ask about that if you want to buy anything from him.

You can watch plenty of videos on youtube to learn how to solder. Soldering tutorial videos will cover the basics about soldering, wires, and desoldering. You can practice on a broken VCR, or whatever you have that doesn't work.

Easiest thing to do is get a Sega genesis extension cable and a DB9 y adapter. You need the extension cable because the y adapter wont fit in the Colecovision controller port. You plug a standard CV controller in one end of the Y adapter, and you can plug an Atari 2600 controller, Atari 7800 controller, modded genesis controller, whatever you like in the other end.

For like a dollar more you can get the same ones from a US seller with regular shipping time. For me it's worth the dollar to actually get the item, rather than wait months and it never shows up, and you get a refund, then you have to order it from someone else. They are usually sold under the Retro Bit brand name, but the same ones are sold under a few different brand names. I use them for the same thing to easily swap joystick out of my consoles. Sometimes they break, but they are so cheap I just throw them out and don't care.

Genesis extension cables are plentiful and cheap, but stay away. Stay away from these Retro-bit and the other China made Genesis extension cables. They are usually sold under the Retro Bit brand name, but the same ones are sold under a few different brand names, or generic with no brand name. They are such low quality, I would only use them as extension cables. That way if/when they break, you can just throw them away. Those extension cables are very cheaply made, and the connectors on both ends often break with limited usage. You don't want to solder in a new cable, and have the connector break later on. Your best bet is to buy some broken Genesis controllers on ebay and use them to get the cables. Often you get can a bunch of untested Genesis controllers for $3-$5 each (including shipping), which is usually cheaper than the extension cables. You can even get the 3rd party Genesis controllers for even cheaper if you feel bad about cutting up a Genesis controller. Just remember to get a 3rd party Genesis controller from back in the 80s/90s. New 3rd party Genesis controllers are just as cheap as Retro Bit extension cables, so you may as well just buy the extension cables at that point. Each manufacturer uses different colors for the different wires, so if you are replacing an Atari 2600 controller, don't assume the colors of the wires are the same color on the new cable. Don't buy this item pictured below. It is just a Retro-bit extension cable with one of the ends cut off. I told you not to buy the Retro Bit extension cable, but if you choose to buy it, don't pay 2 or 3 times as much from this seller who just took the extension cable and stripper the wires on one end. You can strip your own wires for free.

First try adjusting the pots in the rf box (see picture below). There are two pots, one is for video, and the other is for audio. If that doesn't work, your only other option is to do an AV mod. It is not worth it to try to fix the rf modulator, because it is too complicated and not worth the time. If you do an AV mod (and follow the directions that come with it), and still have no sound, then you need to get the sound directly from pin 7 of the sound chip. Ben Heck has instructions for that. https://www.benheck.com/bens-colecovision-composite-video-mod/ Most of the time the problem is with the rf box, and can be fixed with an av mod. If the problem is with the sound chip, then the AV mod won't fix the problem, but usually the sound chip is not the problem.

Chris Hansen was arrested for bouncing a $13,000 check for T-shirts and mugs he ordered to send to his Kickstarter backers. Quite possible the single dumbest thing anyone has ever done. It is a crime to pick up $13,000 worth of T-shirts and mugs without paying for it. But collecting millions of dollars in crowdfunding money, and delivering nothing is perfectly legal with zero consequences. How did he expect to pay the money for the shipping? By committing a federal crime and not paying the Post Office? https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/chris-hansen-arrested-catch-predator_us_5c3f84eee4b027c3bbbd7f7a

Unfortunately companies destroy all prototypes. The only ones that are around have survived by accident or some set of unusual circumstances. If you want to know why, just look at the only known Nintendo PlayStation prototype that survived. Both companies would rather forget that endeavor happened. Or look at the Atari Jaguar injection molds. It hurts your reputation as a company to have your old products running around so anyone can use them to put whatever they want in them. In that case Atari went bankrupt, so they couldn't destroy the molds as is the normal procedure, they had to sell the molds (and everything else) for whatever money they could get to pay the creditors in the bankruptcy.

Most of the early carts advertise 112 Games! 90 Games! Of course that is just 112 slight variations of Space Invaders or Pong. It was a selling point that there were so many versions. Didn't Atari initially assume there would only be like 10 cartridges released for the console. They didn't seem to get what the 2600 could be.

Today you can buy a lot of dozens of 2600 games for cheap on ebay, or get great games at the dollar bin at every convention or retro game store. Back in the day, a lot of people only got new games for birthdays and Christmas because the games were expensive. So you would read the manual, and play the game for hours and learn every aspect of the game, because it was months before you would get a new game. The developers probably assumed you would start the game on easy, and later progress to the other difficulties. The manual explains everything about the game. The manual used to be mandatory reading. Now, the Angry Video Game Nerd never reads the manual, because he wants the game to be confusing so he can rant and curse out the game.

Ebay, game conventions, if you are lucky you might be able to find some at retro game stores.

Do you mean like when arcade machines have "attract mode" to get people walking by interested in playing the game, it shows a demo of the game. I don't think any CV games have that, because the game stays on the menu screen until you select a level and difficulty to start the game. And I think some if not all CV games glitch out if you wait on the menu screen too long without selecting a level and difficulty. I know some 2600 games like Space Invaders and Ms. Pac man do have an attract mode. And Sonic 2 for Genesis does as well. Some homebrew games definitely have an attract mode, but they were developed using modern technology, and given the constraints of rom chips at the time, they didn't want to spend the money and development time for extra features like that.