Papa

WOW! That's some really cool stuff! I wish I could get it all but I have no idea what to offer and have a genuine fear of insulting people with wrong/low offering prices.. I was just thinking of getting a Ti/99. I could really use everything here. I just spent all my allowance and my knees haven't healed all the way yet from the last begging and groveling session, so It's probably not possible for me. I guess I'll just wait and see how this goes and if it's still here in a little while I'll hunker down and see what I can scratch up and offer for it.. Great stuff, though..

Excellent! They should have the option to both respawn after the other player dies, rather than ripping out the player after one dies. It looks really great.

You mean Miles Prower!! Luigi is cool, but is really just a clone of Mario, right? He only got lanky after the second incarnation of Mario (for the U.S., that is) came out. I read somewhere that that wasn't even originally a Mario game!?! Tails is a cool companion and offers up a different aspect to the Sonic games, whereas Loogy just does more of the same, and cheats at racing.. I'm a die-hard Sega fan, though. I would buy a Wii so I could download all the best Genesis/Mega Drive and Neo Geo/Arcade games.

I just go back to sleep..

There is a knob in the system to adjust color, I think. Also, this may just be that the original 6-switch VCS systems have darker, sharper graphics than the later systems. I've noticed that the colors on my heavy sixer are different than on my four switch system! This also goes for the 7800. It could just be the original color scheme!?! On this page it shows pictures on how to use a flathead to adjust your color potentiometer.. http://www.2600connection.com/faq/vcs_system/faq_atarivcs.html#hardware8

I used to listen to Nirvana like crazy! I remember that a certain game (pretty sure for the Game Gear) was made where the programmers were instructed to imitate "Smells Like Teen Spirit" in the background music. They copied it directly and got in trouble! I think it had a cartoon dinosaur in it, or something like that.. I (like the band) was not a big fan of "Smells Like Teen Spirit", but pretty much every other song was one I liked or loved! In Utero was a powerful record for me. I had the Rolling Stone from his interviews and when he died and clipped those parts. He was a big influence for me ('cept the suicide part), although I've drifted back into the eighties and seventies since his sudden departure (I listen to a LOT of classical music now, too). I also have speculated (and watched shows about) a conspiracy around his death. Although, to be fair, he was in terrible pain all the time (I guess he had stomach pain, like Napoleon, all the time), and he wrote a song called "I Hate Myself and I Want to Die". Dave Grohl really hit the booster rockets after all of that, although I haven't heard much about Chris Novoselic. I miss their style. Many of my friends thought that the band sold out. I thought they kept getting better.

You can actually write to disks on a PC 3 1/2inch disk drive that will work on an ST! There is a program for the PC that will format them and then transfer ST files over with relative ease. One extremely fun thing you can download is the Automation series of disks. They have compacted games, sweet music, and AWESOME background art on much of the collection.. http://steem.atari.st/automation.htm

Coco 3 has the better versions of: Pacman Robocop Rampage Donkey Kong (with 512k upgrade) Thexder Super Pitfall Dragon Fire ..and a coupe more out there! Yeah, it's not a 68000 and yeah it doesn't have a Video Toaster or Midi! It had a cute little underground following with a theme song and some great carts! It's got better compatibility with the whole range of Trash 80 carts than the Coco 2, it's own assembly cartridge with manual, built in BASIC that's pretty easy to use, aaaand it can save to a cassette! I really enjoy my Coco 3, and I play it about as much as my ST (which is sad, because I have a LOT of ST software..). Rampage is one of my favorite games, and the Coco 3 does it very well. Downland is a lot like Mario, and the funky DK ports from the old days (like the extra-shellacked version 2600 clone, etc..) made the system a joy! It's just a really fun system to own and play. The Amiga and Atari ST systems are totally different than the Trash 80 incarnations and basically stare each other down at the 1 MEG for $1000 period of home computers. The Coco is a following, though! I have all three, and the Coco is just bursting with character. It has some sweet upgrades and analog, 2 button controllers (it's got the others beat there!), clean AV out, and is programmable out of the box!

the website www.2600connection.com had this to say about the original.. "In our experience, the 6-switch models offer a superior picture output, compared to the 4-switch and JR models. Coupled with a coax-to-phono connector, they offer a picture quality that's comparable to any mod, and you can obtain composite A/V output if used in conjunction with a VCR." I was also wondering.. If the 4050 didn't do anything, why was it added to the Jr. version when the 4-switch models didn't have one?

Neither of my systems are modded in any way. I'm pretty sure they've never even been recapped or anything. I've done this comparison on other TV's, too. The color palette of the six switch system is different than on a four switch. It's always been this way! I could hook them up (both of mine are fed through VCR/DVD combos RF and then into the projector TV.) to an HDTV to avoid brightness or saturation issues, although the difference really isn't that big. This wouldn't change the colors themselves. I've noticed that there is a bit of a staleness to the four switch systems when compared to the six switch. For instance, in Pacman the character looks darker yellow and seems more solid. I've compared the six switch system to several others and found that the original color palette is only found on the six switch system! I used to have a Colecovision with a converter and an Intellivision with their converter but didn't have a six switch at the time to make comparisons. Now I have a Gemini, a 7800, a 4-Switch system, a Flashback 2, and several emulators. The Six switch system has the original color palette. I'm not making this up and it's not my TV.

I'm pretty sure Heavy Sixers only work on channel 3. The later ones got a switch for the channel, but the originals are stuck at channel 3 only!

It is a 3 lens projector TV, so it was mainly to identify the color differences. The camera doesn't like to focus and has a hayday with the brightness of the colors, yeah. It looks so much better in real life. These comparisons were taken one after the other with the same TV under the same conditions.

I want one, too!!

Here is what I'm yammering on about, just in case you thought I was crazy.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQitehRncGg I LOVE ATARI!!

I mean the colors, themselves. There are different (arguably better) colors on the Heavy Sixer (and 6-switchers in general). The palette is different. This may be due to the 4050 buffer chip only found in 6-switch variants. Some feel that the colors on the later systems are dimmer and appear lessened to a degree. The original palette was changed after the first system. I actually program with the 4-Switcher and it's cohort clones in mind rather than the original as more people own and are familiar with the latter color scheme. The six switch models are sharper and have different colors!

I put flipper buttons on all my cabinets for video pinball games! I read somewhere that an unreleased Neo Geo game actually was a video pinball game! Those new pinball machines that run with giant screens and have hundreds of virtual tables based on real ones can run you five grand!!

It's so it doesn't pop up if you look for it, so it doesn't blatantly spell it out, showing respect for those reading the message, and showing a sense of reservation (something most don't understand). Just over a hundred years ago you never heard higher minded people use bad language. They didn't write it or speak it. A sign of being educated was ones use of expression and not just filling in every other word with swearing. My wife doesn't swear much and I don't either. I reserve it for cheap/bad comedy or personal discussions where I see it fit. I don't think children should be exposed to things for their 'benefit' so the 'true world' isn't 'hidden' from them. Perhaps if we raised our children without exposing them to sick, cheap, and stupid things then those things would thin out and eventually disappear. My children are all high ability students and score in the top two percent in the nation (the ones in school, that is). My two year old talks with precise enunciation and knows her alphabet and draws, practices writing, and plays video games! I was deeply disturbed by porn, violent, and sickening movies ("oh, it's fake! It's no big deal!" was my own mothers excuse) when I was a child. People that God damned each other verbally hurt me deeply, as I had read quite a bit on the subject of damnation as a child. My wife and I watch everything before my children see it and have turned away many things that others might see fit for young viewers. I don't subscribe to television, my children read as their primary form of entertainment, and it makes a BIG difference! I have six kids and have extensive knowledge in how to raise them, having a daughter about to turn sixteen that actively volunteers to help at the school where my wife works on days when her school is out. She is extremely creative and has read hundreds of books. I've heard several teachers say "If only there were more Caraways in this school.." and "She's the smartest girl I've ever met.." about all three of my school age daughters. My son has won awards in science and plays games like Alpha Centauri and Freedom Force (having beaten FF several times)! Just because people treat it likes it's part of our culture doesn't mean we can't refine things for future generations.

Thank you Buttons! LOG OUT NEXT TIME... BAD KITTY!! I happened to have the dream machine for Bleem! They got sued by Sony for showing a real pic of what Gran Turismo looked like on the PS1 compared to the PC with a good graphics card. My games ran great! What it did for me was raise an eyebrow to what eventually would be the Sony marketing strategy for many popular titles..switch up the resolution and paint on some new textures and rebox and resell the same game again, and again, and again. The reason they hated emulation so bad was because when you put a game like Tekken 3 on a PC with a Voodoo 3500 and a good processor you saw details in the characters eyebrows, etc. that couldn't even be seen on a PS1! Why put detail there that the user can't even see with the intended system? The signs in Gran Turismo are another example, as well as the sheer detail of the car models and backgrounds! You can read all the signs as they fly by in high resolution with a PC and Bleem!, whereas on a PS1 you can barely make out what they say and the fine print is illegible! This proves that they programmed things with a higher resolution future in mind and the blatant recycling of software for the user. Some people might view this as a rip off and back away from the console market in favor of PC's. I remember a friend of mind saying, when the PS1 was still kicking, that he was under the impression that console systems were superior to PC's. To this I could only remind him of how everything was first programmed on a PC and then set up for a console. There are slight graphical enhancements for old systems that curve up or soften pixel edges in emulation giving the user a different experience, much like Bleem or PCSX but to a lesser degree. Beyond the PS1 we still find that emulation has a long way to go. I have yet to see acceptable levels of performance for most systems beyond that. N64 can be okay, but the original system is so much fun and reliable that I always prefer that. Even the lower end emulation is beginning to deflect me. I'm hunting down ways to try and fix the audio on the At-Games Genesis. At first I thought that the instrumentation was better and so it wasn't bad. Then I heard a LOT of off-sounding and wrong tuned notes doting games. I wondered if they couldn't give us the real music or if they just couldn't afford to emulate it properly and still make a profit. What gives? My 2 year old doesn't mind and I don't mind running those games on my Everdrive with real hardware even if I don't own the cart. I bought the games somehow, so I own them! There are mods for the earlier dye-drop emulators and so I'm waiting for someone to figure out how to mod that system to fix the audio.

Again, I ask! Is there anything beyond the Heavy Sixer that has the original color palette? As far as I know, the only way to get the original colors (seemingly more diverse than others) is with the Heavy Sixer!!

I think if you can prove that you owned the game and it got stolen then I personally would have no problem sympathizing with that, but I still think that too much piracy happens today. Don't get me wrong, I think that if you download a game to try it out (usually within the rules, I guess) then you may seek out the real game and the world of collecting gets free advertising. I used to back up all of my DVDs and only play the backups. I later pawned much of my DVD collection and sold it. I kept the back ups for a long time, but then realized that I rarely, if ever, watched the backups and then destroyed it all and threw it away. I felt a lot better about that and haven't really felt like ripping things too much since. I think the law is pretty smoky on what is legal with downloading and playing ROMS. Many media licenses were only fifteen years back in the day (I'm pretty sure I read that somewhere..), so even though a lot of titles aren't declared abandoned, they couldn't be pursued in a court. I used to argue that it was free advertising for the game and that a true collector or enthusiast would buy something that they otherwise may not even know about, due to emulation. Now I think that people can just find whatever they want pirated and it has a negative impact on the industry. Emulation can be fun and all, but there really is a high level of piracy involved today. I bought a few movies recently and found out when they arrived that they were bootleg knock-offs. Sometimes it's cute, and it doesn't mean much. In at least one case, though, the movie didn't play worth a crap and it was a big rip off. I've purchased games thinking they were rare and found them to be knock-offs. Really my gripe is more about the performance of the game itself. The original hardware seems to play better, in my opinion. I use emulation every day when programming and then try the game out on real hardware to settle how I feel about it. The real hardware always makes me happier. Back when I did much of my gaming on an Athlon 600 with a Voodoo 3500 with TV-Out and a SB Live! I would not have agreed. SNES emulation was very fun and I really loved finding extra details in Playstation games using Bleem!. To each his own! I hope they found your stuff!! Let's see pics of your collection after you get it back from the cops!!

Here are some contrasting views of emulation vs hardware. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnF9mMEpwaA I think that emulation makes piracy into child's play. Too many people just snatch and grab titles that may or may not still have a real license behind them. Colors will never be perfect, the screen will never be exact, controls will never be totally 100% the same as on the original hardware, and side by side you CAN tell a difference. Your supposed to own the game that you're emulating or it must be abandonware/freeware. People don't care anymore and just like with Napster and music, everything went downhill from there! I care about the authenticity of my experience to the degree that I would rather have the real processor and cartridge or disk playing on the screens that they were intended for. The only thing I think emulates better than it's original is the Playstation with big enhancements that are only available through PC emulation. Gran Turismo cranked up to high resolution (you can read the signs!), or Tekken 3 with all of the extra details popping out that can't even be seen on the PS1 make it worth it in those minor cases. NES with the wrong colors, screen tearing, jittering and sloppy controls doesn't even come close to the real thing. I can't even believe they put SNK Classics out with the amount of crap emulation that is going on in that game with the PS2. It's nice to be able to play a lot of arcade games all at once and some emulation is 'alright' I 'guess', but I really love the original stuff!!

I feel sorry for you, then. People this day and age have no respect for one another. I am currently having problems with people booming super loud music up and down the street all day and night. They were playing it at 1 AM in the morning. We have a city-wide ordinance on noise, fireworks, power tools, constantly barking dogs, etc..but just see if you can get it enforced! We also just had over eight armed robberies and quite a few shoplifters in stores recently. The shoplifters got busted, but the armed robbers are still on the loose! It would seem that if the place has their own security (cameras and workers) then the culprits get busted. I think the lowest of the low are the ones who attack Village Pantry stores and gas stations. These workers barely make enough to live off of and rarely have very much money in the register. The past few armed robberies were near our street and we had cops in our yard and around the block looking for the thief! My wife and I were rolling up our bad-mitten net when it all happened and the cops came up and asked if we saw anyone. We didn't. I'm fixing the cameras on the back yard, as there is a big woods behind us that someone might be able to hide in to get away from the cops. I think these little punk wannabe gangsters riding around terrorizing everyone are probably up to all of this. I've been here for over eighteen years and we never had this much crap hit the fan until recently. The quality of people is falling rapidly. My wife works in the school system and said that based on how the kids are acting as of late it's only going to get worse. I wish the best for you and your new collecting endeavor! The only positive from this would be that you get to pick what you want from the ground up (although that probably doesn't help much.)! A PS2 would probably be the first thing to get, as you can get big collection disks and there are lots of games for it everywhere. You've got your Arcade, Pinball, Sega Genesis, Neo Geo (although the emulation is shoddy), Activision, and Atari right there! Too bad they never made a 5200 compilation disk, huh?

That's why I have night-vision, closed circuit security cameras and I'm at my house, raising children, all day every day! They wouldn't just need the time to rip off games or systems, they would need to disconnect things bedded deeply within giant, heavy arcade cabinets. My wife is trained in locksmithing and has set the locks herself to be as hard to pick as possible and there are several doors between entrances with chains bolts and sliding locks on all. Our house has a naturally confusing layout, and that helps. I have guns, swords, knives and can throw pretty much anything from a knife to a screwdriver with deadly accuracy. I've been trained in martial arts and have had military training and wake up at the slightest disturbance (6-kids and a wife to protect) while using microphones throughout the house. Everything is well documented and photographed. I put things in the pawn shop and then get them out, so they are very familiar with me and all of my belongings. Getting my stuff sold to a local shop would identify a thief immediately! Placing special markings on or inside your belongings can help! It might have helped to have someone there all the time that you can trust. That you haven't commented after the assumptions that you are begging for free stuff doesn't sit well for the authenticity of your claim. On emulation.. I still think it sucks when compared to real hardware ('cept BLEEM! with PlayStation games). Your using a lot of wattage on a PC to play something that otherwise would have used very little power. A hard drive is going to fail and so all of your stuff should be backed up on disks or solid state drives if this is your method. Games look different on monitors than on original intended TV's and controllers can have lag and perform differently than on original hardware. Emulation is simply NOT the REAL GAME! Plus, saving states (although fun and great for the time crunched lives we live today) is cheating! If you have a save state and claim that you beat a game you're claim is nothing when compared to the work of someone winning on real hardware with the same limitations intended by the programmers. I often play on emulation (Capcom Classics, SNK classics, Taito arcade, Midway collection, Atari, etc..), but I always will prefer the original hardware and the original cartridge or disks. I use arcade controls, though.

Hey, I'm just west of there and it sounds like fun! I know I won't be able to make it to Texas, so this might be a worthwhile alternative.

I've beaten Legendary Axe several times. I REALLY love Legendary Axe II, though. It's far superior in my opinion. I got the TG-16 instead of the Genesis when it first came out because my friend got a Genesis, so I was always playing with him. When he came over and played China Warrior and Ninja Spirit, he wanted one. I eventually got a Turbo Duo and a region adapter with a six-button pad and Street Fighter Championship Edition. Now I have a region modded PC Engine Duo and a SuperGrafx. I totally dig Lords of Thunder, Gates of Thunder, Alien Crush pinball and most of the library. I know it's an 8-bit CPU with 16-bit MOS chip, but the system is just so good! Diamakaimura for the SuperGrafx is STUNNING!! I like to compare as many versions as I can at once. I have the Master System hybrid playing next to the Genesis one, next to the Capcom Classics arcade version, next to the SuperGrafx version. SuperGrafx looks best (some parts I even like better than the original), but I'd have to side with the Mega Drive/Genesis one for play mechanics.