Papa

I still get teary eyed when I hear the 'Jaga' music. Just like when Optimus Prime died... *hair standing on end! ..and..tears. And here's a bonus that never came here... MIND BLOWN!!

The Genesis kicks A$$!! It knocked the NES and the SNES down. The SNES got a few solid hits, but the NES went down like a Blister Canyon HO!!

I believe that as technology uses less of our imagination and provides more of a virtual reality then 1rst person games will divide into a different form of entertainment and the old stuff will possibly be sought. Using ones imagination is an exercise and very few iconic and popular systems require this more than the VCS. When people buy carts without the boxes in a way that is more for playing than collecting then I would hope that this comes with a resurgence of that system and it's games rather than it being a popular fad for collection, which may be the case. With the landfill dig drawing attention to the value of the unopened and rarer games I would think that an increase in purchasing complete games would be linked to this. If a noted increase in purchases of opened games without boxes or less valuable games is the case then we may be having a wave of popularity for the older styles of games. With pixel-heavy graphics being found in many Android and DLC games I could see how some would go back in time to the precursors of this style to enjoy it's caveman days. I happen to love using my imagination and find much of the content today too all-consuming and life-replacing when compared to old five-minutes-and-your-done games like checkout line Pacman machines. I also find it conservative to play a 5v system that still works well after forty years and has a pile of worthwhile games. If a noticeable divide happens then I'll be on the side of the 8-bit, 16-bit, 24-bit systems that still evoke my imagination.

Pretty cute! It's quite bouncy and has it's own feel. Good start!

The XBOX is just a computer. It's what I would consider the Dreamcast II. The DC used a proprietary GD-ROM that ran with Windows CE. The XBOX is just a 733 Intel P3 with 64 megs of RAM an 8-10 Gig hard drive, Nvidia graphics, etc. I put a chameleon mod chip in mine to use the EvoX front end and a bigger hard drive. I have a ton of emulators and games on the drive and hundreds of backgrounds and fun programs. Many of the launch titles were by Sega and I just feel like the correlation between Microsoft and Sega makes it seem like the Dreamcast II that never was (4 ports, online, Sega launch titles, DOA III, odd analog and thumpad placement, etc...). Resident Evil Code Veronica is excellent, as are so many other DC games. It's such a great system. I even have an NES emulator and tons of roms for the DC. It plays very well. There was an SNES emulator made but it only ran well with overclocking, which I wouldn't recommend on the DC.

My brother and I had an Action Max and several, uh..cassettes. I thought it was creative and fun! The Top Gun rip off was probably my favorite. I think we had all the games (only a handful, right?). Now what really was a total blast and was just like the Action Max only one step better was...CAPTAIN POWER! You shot at the screen, there were multiplayer modes (three vehicles with the ability to tag the screen), and you could fire the ships at each other without using tapes or a VCR!! After one ship got hit too many times the pilot would be forcibly ejected from the ship! Laser Tag with toy ships, so to speak! Action Max Games (Wiki): "In all, five VHS cassettes were released for the system: .38 Ambush Alley, a police target range; Blue Thunder, based on the eponymous; 1983 Motion Picture. Hydrosub: 2021, a futuristic underwater voyage; The Rescue of Pops Ghostly, a comic haunted-house adventure; and Sonic Fury, aerial combat, bundled with the system. A planned sixth cassette, Fright Night, was unreleased at the time Action Max was discontinued." Captain Power Games (Wiki): " Future Force Training As you prepare for your flight training as one of the Soldiers Of The Future, Captain Jonathan Power himself takes you on a simulated flight mission aboard the PowerJet XT-7. This tape was included in some editions of the XT-7. Bio-Dread Strike Mission This is the real thing! Your target is a massive Bio-Dread military industrial complex—which is manufacturing robotic troopers. Corporal Jennifer "Pilot" Chase and Captain Jonathan Power will be flying with you. Human survivors are depending on you! Raid On Volcania Soaron is leading the attack, backed up by hundreds of Interlockers and Phantom Striker jets! Captain Jonathan Power, Major Matthew "Hawk" Masterson, Corporal Jennifer "Pilot" Chase—and you—seem to be hopelessly outnumbered. In desperation, the team targets the battle computers in Volcania. "

I use a wood base and plexiglass top. It's a tad easier to cut. Pretty much anything is better than those mushy 5200 side buttons! MEH!!! The 5200 would be such the bomb if not for those faily-arsed craptastic controllers. I don't know what they were thinking. I suppose they were trying to get the most out of porting the home computer carts. Those didn't use the paddles so they needed something with more space in the joystick throw to give you something to imitate paddles but no return to center is ridiculous! I really like the system the couple of times I've owned one, but the controllers always broke and It was too much upkeep. A 5200 to XE/800 adapter would be dope!!

DUDE! SWEET!

I think that games on home systems are in many ways better (not graphically, usually) for several reasons. I also have arcade machines and have found that having endless credits has a big impact on whether or not the game is alluring. Arcade ports for home systems then become more challenging. They also offer more levels, refined gameplay, different modes, or are (such as in the case of Pac-man, Asteroids, Defender and many others) often very different games altogether. Standing in an arcade with a pocket full of quarters or begging my mom at the checkout line for change to participate in what would have been minutes per game (until later in life when I was willing to spend five or so dollars to get 'somewhere' in an arcade game) is quite a bit different from having a bucket full of tokens or a credit button as many of these M.A.M.E. cabinets have. I think this sometimes lets skill take a backseat to frantically slapping the credit button. I'll admit that it's very fun to be able to complete those old arcade games that I never had time, patience, money, or the skill to beat back in the day. I find that searching for arcade-perfect home ports at all is a bit naive. SEGA sure knew it was a selling point with their systems, though. They designed their later hardware to play arcade games with half the RAM and therefor had easy ports (The Dreamcast and Saturn were full of arcade ports that used half the RAM of the machines). The Genesis may have had a bit more programming involved with color reduction. Tweaking gameplay and adding more levels, modes, usually made up for this (IMO). I think it obviously helped SEGA greatly to build their systems around the Z80 and the 68000 which were in most of the best arcade games from back then. With the Atari we are looking at a totally different story. They fit what would have been considered relatively large games into tiny ROMs that were feats of programming! Pacman (notoriously different than the arcade) was a tiny game and I believe respect is owed to the programmer who had to jam as much as he could into the smallest of ROMs. I'm sure they had no illusions about it being accepted as some kind of carbon-copy of the arcade game. I think there is an art to minimalizing a game and keeping the necessities intact. I'm pretty sure only a small number of console games (excluding the Neo Geo) could be considered arcade perfect (or near). Even if they are they lack something that all M.A.M.E systems and multicarts have...ENDLESS CREDITS!! MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!

..and in the NARDS! OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AGAIN! It's like a video stress ball!

In Stella you can check your scan count with Alt+L. This will pop up a little counter at the top left of the screen that informs you of how jumpy-rolly-jittery your game may be. I've tested Atari games from the past that are roms of the original games that freak that counter out like crazy, so it's not absolutely perfect in detecting what your screen may do (obviously real hardware is a must and a Harmony cart is just the right tool)! Another thing to consider is what TV you test with. I have a CRT that will usually not jump or roll no matter what the scan count in my game is (I don't break the count too bad, though), and other CRT televisions that will jitter or jump when the others won't. I would recommend testing on at least one CRT and an HDTV. You may also want to consider testing on a few systems as there are often color differences between the older systems and the newer ones.

Cheap and easy would be a Sega Genesis pad (look closely for a slightly raised thumbpad as there are two versions of the same pad. One is stiff, the other is perfect.). The very, very best (..and, of course, this is my opinion) is an arcade joystick... ...Wooden box, drilled top & plexiglass, Atari joystick PCB, video game hot chick art (optional), minor soldering skills. Not hard. I have both original and aftermarket power supplies. I've found no difference between them. There are also stiff and not-stiff Atari sticks so it can be hit and miss with those, too. I have a ton of Atari sticks and they all look pretty much the same but that is where similarities end.

Sega games are pretty fun on the Atari, too! Star Trek is excellent! I would also be a goon and recommend Spy Hunter, Rampage, Ghostbusters, Tapper, Buck Rogers (pretty good graphics for Atari), Congo Bongo, Kung Fu Master, Commando, Gyruss, and (I know it's been said, but) H.E.R.O (Actually has multicolored bad guys whereas the C64 version has single colored ones!)! Emulation is forgivable when choosing IMO, but I agree heavily that the feel of a real cart in the actual hardware is the very best. I sound like a finger wagging mom when saying this, but, a computer often uses a whole heck of a lot of electricity for what is whittled down to only a few volts on real hardware! Homebrew games are also a great choice!!

What I do (and this is just me..I don't know if this is 'normal') is I take the PCB from a 2600 joystick and wire it to arcade controls and then make a little box out of wood, drill holes into the wood and a sheet of plexiglass, put a piece of colored paper with cut outs of video game gals, and use that for most of my games. It's really not that hard. Arcade controls make Atari games extremely easy to play and fun! I also wired the 'up' and 'down' buttons to the arcade buttons in case a game uses the 'up' for accelerate or jump.

There are quite a few games I and my wife prefer on the VCS/2600. She likes Pacman a lot. I'm sure she likes the VCS one better than the original or the other 'superior' ports. I think Asteroids on the VCS is the best. I prefer Ghostbusters on the VCS over the NES version by far (NES puts too much emphasis on driving....meh), and the Master System has vertical proton streams which are a bit of a put off for me (although I like the Master System version better than the NES one, too). I like Pole Position on the VCS (no steering wheel required), and as a kid I would have totally picked Donkey Kong for the VCS over the arcade or other versions as I could actually play it continuously for quite a while! There are plenty of great Atari games when you consider the options and fun factor and forgive the often single color 'sprites' and less graphics.

Uh..it's WORST system. I agree with you, though. I always loved my Master System and Genesis over pretty much everything else. I couldn't afford an Amiga at the time but I could get Road Rash and so many other great titles for the Genesis that were otherwise only available on home computers. I played Double Dragon for the 7800 and the Master System and was like, THAT is DOUBLE DRAGON, YESSSS! I watched my mom play Mario and Duck Hunt (did everyone play Duck Hunt right in front of the screen? My step dad was a hunter, so he had to sit as far away as possible...ha haaaaa) while I was in my room playing Safari Hunt (birds turn to cooked..he heeee), Shinobi, Pro Wrestling (the Master System version), Phantasy Star, Hang On, Out Run, and so many other extremely fun Master System games. We mostly rented for the NES and it was the system in the living room. The 7800 and the Master System were in the bedroom getting played A LOT!