MaximRecoil

Aaahh!!! Real Monsters was only released for the Genesis and the SNES. There was no arcade version. There are some arcade games which have console and/or PC ports that are too new to be in MAME, like Street Fighter IV (last I knew, the policy is to wait until an arcade game is 3 years old before including it in MAME). Also, there are some older games that are in MAME, but are not working correctly (such as most of the "Virtua" series of arcade games; most of which had Sega console ports). Most of the Sega NAOMI arcade games are either not in MAME or are not working, and many of those had Sega Dreamcast ports (since Dreamcast was essentially NAOMI hardware in the first place).

There was an episode of "Chuck" last year (season 2, episode 5) that centered around the arcade Missile Command game. I watched it a couple of days after I'd bought a Missile Command arcade machine, and there was a scene in it showing Chuck laboriously wheeling in a Missile Command machine on a dolly. My friend came over (who'd laboriously helped me wheel my Missile Command machine in a couple of days prior; up a steep driveway with a hangover no less) and I said, "Tell me if this looks familiar," and I played that scene...

BMI is a joke. It doesn't take into account anything other than height and weight. Michael Jordon in his prime would be considered "overweight" according to today's official BMI standards. Arnold Schwarzenegger in his prime would be considered "obese". The annoying thing about the BMI standard is that it is used to support the notion that there is a recent overweight/obesity epidemic in the United States. What actually happened is, sometime in the late '90s they moved the goalpost by redefining "overweight" and "obese" with the laughable BMI standards and overnight, millions of Americans were suddenly newly classified as "overweight" or "obese". The way it stands now; ironically, is that if someone exercises to get in better shape, resulting in increased muscle mass; they will end up making the overweight/obesity statistics worse. In other words, if every adult in the U.S. got into the same excellent physical condition that Michael Jordon was in during his prime, you would hear on the news: "100% of American adults are now overweight".

I can marathon this game. The highest displayable score is 999,990, though that exact score is hard to get (I've done it in Super Punch-Out). It is mostly a matter of luck. You could just as easily have 999,960, 999,970, or 999,980 just before the score rolls over. To prove a score higher than 999,990 you would have to show a shot of the screen that also shows the fight number (for example, if it was showing fight #40 and a score of 100,000, you would know that is actually 1,100,000). I have a Super Punch-Out machine along with a regular Punch-Out boardset that I can swap into it, but I don't have a digital camera (though I sometimes borrow one from my sister; when she actually has batteries for it). For starters, here is a score from MAME where I stopped at 999,960 (landing one more punch would have rolled the score):

agreed, and the NES really didn't take off until 1988. it lingered in the "a few cool kids have one" status for quite a long time. if i had to make a definitive date of nintendo going mainstream, i would make it the fall of 1988 with the release of the first issue of nintendo power. I started seeing commercials on TV for the NES and the Sega Master System at around the same time. About two weeks later, my cousin had an NES. He was the first person I knew to have an NES (complete with ROB the Robot), and remained the only person I knew to have an NES for quite some time. It was the summer between 5th and 6th grade for me, which means 1986. About a year later (near the end of the school year, 6th grade, mid 1987), another kid in school told me he just got "Mike Tyson's Punch-Out" for his NES and wanted me to help him with it because he knew I was good at the arcade Punch-Out and Super Punch-Out. This was the second person I knew with an NES. So by mid-87 they were still uncommon. About a year after that I started seeing them everywhere, and even got one for myself. I remember noting at the time the sudden explosion in popularity. My formerly esoteric knowledge of how to beat Super Mario Bros., and the locations of the warp zones and other secrets had all of the sudden become common knowledge. Oh, and back then, every NES worked the first time. My cousin's original 1986 NES turned into the soon-to-be-infamous "Blinking NES" around '88 or so, and I figured he'd just been rough with it; dropped it a few times, or whatever. I had no idea that it would soon become a pandemic.

Yes, they were just power switches. Most machines had them, because most machines came with them from the factory, and the ones that didn't often had a switch added by the arcade operator. Most operators preferred the switch to be on the top of the machine in the rear right-hand corner; and if it was on the bottom, then on the right side. The companies that put the switches on the bottom middle of the back of the cabinet were a source of irritation to many operators. About a year ago I added a switch (top, rear, right corner) to my Ikari Warriors machine because it didn't come with one.

Missile Command + Wow, I'd like to try that. The problem is, I haven't had any luck with 5200 emulators (which I think are the same as Atari 8-bit emulators?). In some emulators I've gotten the game to come up but I either can't start the game or can't get the mouse input to work. Any suggestions? (I'm using Windows XP)

I am a technically bright person, but those tech sheets were greek to even me! Same here. If someone could put that into layman's terms it would be great. Also; question for those who understand the 8-bit/5200 hardware a lot better than I do: if an exact copy of arcade Missile Command can't be done, is there any room for improvement on the existing version? For example, 3 firing bases instead of one?

... and Atari 8-bit computer (including the Atari 5200) hardware? Arcade Missile Command uses a 6502 CPU and a Pokey for sound. It has eight 4116 chips which I believe = 16 KB of RAM (correct me if I'm wrong). So, a 6502, a Pokey, and 16 KB of RAM sounds a lot like the Atari 5200 doesn't it? The total ROM size of the arcade game is 12 KB, which is well within the 32 KB ROM size allowed for 5200 cartridges. So the question is, why couldn't the Atari 5200 and Atari 8-bit computer versions of Missile Command have been exact, or essentially exact copies of the arcade version?

"Simplified" is relative. Scott McCloud's drawings go far beyond what the Atari 2600 is capable of. And simplified graphics are fine, as long as they don't go into "abstract" territory. For example, the arcade Donkey Kong and Mario sprites are simple, but they look good. Yes, it does look good, but there are no human or animal characters in it either. The 2600 is fine for games like that.

I like Space Invaders on the 2600 better than the arcade version, especially when double-shot is enabled. The arcade version does have better graphics and sounds though.

15 to 20 hours is a long time to sit there and play the same game. It is a lot nicer to be able to save your progress, turn the machine off, and come back to it later. Super Metroid (SNES) has a save function, and that's about an 8 or 9 hour game the first time through, and the game even encourages you to try for a sub 3 hour completion time. Pretty much all side-scrolling "beat 'em up" type games start you where you last died (e.g., arcade Double Dragon). Pretty much all vertical scrolling shooters start you where you last died (e.g., arcade Ikari Warriors, Commando, Heavy Barrel). There are probably thousands of games out there that start you where you last died.

Yeah, the technology Metcal uses is patented (in 1986). Since there is no bulky conventional heating element like in a typical soldering iron, the handpiece can be made slim and ergonomic, and the tip can be close to the grip. Normally such a design would seem to indicate a weak iron, because it would have to use a small heating element, but this doesn't apply to a Metcal. The main unit is simply a powerful RF generator, and it transmits RF along coaxial cable to the tip cartridge, which gets it to operating temperature in a matter of seconds (which = phenomenal recovery time). First of all, the tips are bulky and brittle, and the two halves of the tip have to be electrically shorted for the thing to work; which means you have to fiddle with how you are positioning it; which results in inconsistent quality of the joints (a deal breaker for me). This paragraph sums it up rather well: Also, it works by passing an electrical current from one half of its split tip to the other; and through the joint to be soldered in the process (the high impedance of the tip results in fast heat). This is a bad idea for soldering delicate circuits and components on a PCB. If you want to solder jewelry with it or whatever, then fine, but a PCB? Metcals for example, are designed to be ESD safe (electrostatic discharge) because even low levels of ESD that can not be seen or felt can damage delicate electronics; and the Coldheat thing actually generates an electrical current at the tip by design.

I don't have access to the Star Road. I remember it from years ago, but I don't remember how to access it. Well, the game does offer infinite lives; you just have to do boring and repetitive things to get them each time you power up the game (it would be so much nicer if the game simply did a real "save state" at save points). I never suggested that you should be fully powered up when you respawn (that wouldn't even make sense); only that you shouldn't lose linear progress. In any event, I did beat this game last night, for the third time in 17 years. I didn't find a lot of the hidden areas however; only enough to progress in the game. Maybe at some point I'll go back and look for the Star Road; but for now, I've had just about enough of that game. The game should stay saved for a long time to come, given that I replaced its battery a couple of years ago.

I think I've been to most of the areas in the game, including plenty of hidden places; but the last time I played was in 1995. I don't remember much from it. If once you get there you can save lives/status then that would be nice. Maybe I'll cheat and look up how to get there on the internet. I don't have a GBA (I don't care for handheld game systems). Edit: Okay, I've definitely been there. It is one of the first secret places I found after figuring out how to fly back when I first played this game in the early '90s. In this particular game that I started a few days ago, I didn't even bother going to Donut Plains 2 and Donut Ghost House. I simply headed the other way and forgot about it. So does this mean my status and lives will be saved now even when turning the machine off?

Most of the castles don't have a midway marker, and the levels that do have them don't grant them to you automatically at the midway point through the level like SMB does; you have to jump on the them (some of them are placed a bit out of the way). The typical lack of midway markers in castles is especially irritating, because they tend to be among the more difficult levels. Also, I disagree with your claim that 99% of the levels are extremely easy. If that were true, then you could hand the controller to most anyone off the street and on their first time playing, they could zip through 99% of the levels with extreme ease. Obviously this is not the case. It takes more than 20 seconds just to get to some other spot on the map that's more than a few points away. Why did they make Mario walk so slow on the map? In SMB3 at least he moves quickly on the map. Also, if you're burning up lives and need to go somewhere else to save, there is a good chance that you don't have the cape, and you'd have to go somewhere to get one if you wanted one to make a save level go quicker. Rather than do that I usually go to a level that I know has some 1UP mushrooms, but given the slowness of the map, it is usually an annoying trek to make. Speaking of saves, it doesn't save your power-up status or the number of lives you have. When you reboot the machine, you always start off with the default 5 lives (even if you had e.g., 20 lives when you last saved) and small Mario (even if you had e.g., the cape). Thanks for that great "feature", Nintendo.

I've never had the patience to get very far in SMB3. That's probably because I never tried it as a kid. I first tried it somewhat recently and I've only tried it a few times since then. When I realized there was no save function or password system, I wasn't interested in putting any time and effort into the game only to have it lost as soon as I turned the machine off.

[quote name='Shquata' date='Sat Aug 22, 2009 7:42 PM' timestamp='1250984571' post='1821900' Hey, I have alot LESS technical knowledge than most of these guys here , maybe this is a simple one , if you are trying to input thru the Yellow RCA Video input on the TVs , it will never work. The (rf) signal from the Atari needs to go into the Antena input. The Old Guy Exactly. Try it again on the standard CRT TVs, but do not try to connect it to the RCA jacks despite the fact that it will physically plug in to them. You need to connect it to the TV's antenna jack (RF), which is an F-type connector on most newer TV's, or two little screws on TVs from the era that the Atari 2600 is from. The Atari 2600's TV/Game switch box was designed for the older 2-screw RF connection, so you'll probably need one of these adapters: Alternatively, you can ditch the TV/Game switchbox altogether and simply use an RCA to F-type adapter in place of it: Make sure your TV is in the correct mode to watch over-the-air television broadcasts, and then tune to channel 3. Make sure your console is set to channel 3 also. Now your Atari will be able to broadcast the audio and video of the game using radio waves over coaxial cable.

The challenge lies ahead not behind. Behind is where you've already been; a challenge you've already overcome. The second, third, fourth, etc., times through it is less and less parts challenge and more and more parts irritation. This is especially true of the annoying forced [slowly] scrolling levels that you have to simply wait for rather than being able to go through at your own pace.

The Punch-Out games are easily the funniest video games I've ever played, particularly the SNES version of Super Punch-Out. This is a good example right here: Also in Mike Tyson's Punch-Out, the way some of the fighters' knees would buckle and they would wobble from left to right with the "wa-wa-woo" sound effect for each wobble before they fall down was quite comical too.

Perhaps the original dumb moment in video game history = The Frogger frog can't swim!

For the time being, Blu-Ray is the cheapest media for 50 GB of storage, unless you get something like a 1 TB hard drive for $75, but that's overkill for a single game at this point in time, even though the price per GB is cheaper than a Blu-Ray disc. Flash memory is still quite expensive, on the order of $150 for a 64 GB thumb drive. However, I don't think games need to be that big. DVD-5 capacity (4.7 GB) is still a lot, and that's about $10 worth of flash memory. Yes it is far more than the mere pennies that a DVD costs, but for the load times, lack of moving parts, and the just plain cool factor of cartridges, it would be worth it IMO. Just think what could be done with a new console that was specialized for 2D games along with 4 GB cartridges. The hardware for the console would be cheap; all you'd need would be something like a Motorola 68000 CPU or similar combined with capable graphics and audio chipsets. Something like this would be a true successor to the consoles of the "16-bit" era; which was the last era that I cared about (3D games can go pound sand). Some amazing 2D games could be produced for such a system.

Me neither, but I more readily accepted it as a kid. Now I'm far more likely to say "screw this" and shut the game off.

I bought an SNES when they first dropped to $99 in price (for just the console and one gamepad, no pack-in game). I bought it specifically for the Street Fighter II port that had just come out, but I'd have to wait another week before I had the money for that (I was 17 at the time, making $64 a week working weekends). I figured I'd borrow a game from my neighbor, or rent some games in the meantime. My neighbor lent me Super Mario World which he got as a pack-in game with his system, so I went home to fire it up. I ended up playing the game pretty much steady for a few nights in a row until I beat it. I have positive memories of that, and it became a new favorite of mine. A few years later, in '95 or so, I rented the game and played it through again until I beat it. I have generally positive memories of that too, but mingled with more negative memories than the first time I beat the game. I bought the game on eBay a few years ago so now I actually own it. I dubbed around with it a few times, but never got around to sitting down and seriously playing it. The other day I decided to sit down and give it another go, for the third time in 17 years. Now it is just irritating me more than entertaining me. Things that I used to accept with an attitude of "Well, that's just the way things are" now annoy me. For example, upon dying, having to repeat areas that I've already completed. Why would I want to do that? The only thing I can think of is the programmers simply wanted to be jerks; because there is no way in hell they could believe that most people would find that amusing. Have you ever known of anyone who actually likes such a "feature"? For example, imagine someone is playing a game that always starts you right where you left off after you die. How many of those people do you think would wish that the game had been programmed to start them off at the beginning of the level they'd already gone through, or worse yet, a few levels back (that can happen in SMW if you lose all your lives and continue)? Super Mario Bros. 3 is even worse because it has no save function at all! Who wants to sit down and try to play that behemoth of a game through in one sitting? You're obviously not going to be able to do it the first time you try, and not the second time either, and probably not even the tenth time (discounting the use of a walkthrough guide). So unless you want to leave your NES on pause for extended periods of time, you're going to have to be doing a lot of level repeating before ever beating that game. Maybe I would have been up to it as a kid but now when thinking about it I just say, "Yeah right". Do any of you find your patience wearing thin with some of these old games as you get older? Maybe I'm becoming a "grumpy old man".

There were some great multiplayer games for the Atari 2600. My favorites are Combat, Warlords, and Pong (Video Olympics). A group of people can have as much fun playing those games as any video games ever made IMO (I'm not much of an Atari 2600 fan either). Unfortunately, their greatest strength is also their greatest weakness; i.e., you have to have other people around to play or they are useless games. Artillery Duel is another game like that (I especially like the ColecoVision version).