Cootster

Did this ever happen? If not, I'll do it starting Monday. I, too, am intrigued by what would transpire.

1. Galaga 2. Do! Run Run! 3. Beastie Feastie Honorable mentions: Sinistar, Hat Trick, Half Life 2(OK, so that's probably not possible...)

Is this about the possible marketing of a plug-and-play SMS unit (maybe an NTSC version of the Brazilian ones that already exist)? That would rock. I'd definitely buy one that still had 100+ games on it. I've never been into collecting the SMS, though, because I already have a Game Gear and it has many of the same games in the same form or better.

Bah, he's still way better than Seanbaby, although that's not saying much. And Wesley Crusher (which was basically Roddenberry's attempt at self-insertion. Neither Wil nor Rick Berman are really at fault here, it was just a bad idea from the word go) isn't the most annoying Trek character if that holographic lounge singer counts. He did a good job on Keystone Kapers, probably because it's actually fun and he played it enough to do a decent review. Personally, I've never cared for Midnight Magic due to the lack of targets. I'd take Bumper Bash or the Intellivision's pinball game over it any day.

Frostbite could actually fit in either of those last two categories . . . There would be a "Catch game" (can't think of a better name) category that would include Kaboom, Eggomania, Beat 'Em and Eat 'Em, Music Machine, Lost Luggage, Taz, arguably Stampede, and also arguably Popeye (maybe it is more of a platform game, but catching is rather important to the mechanic). Warlords would belong with Breakout. It's much more complex than its predecessor, but the core is the same. Come to think of it, Tapper would be pretty much a catch game also, with the difference being that you also have to deliver the glasses in addition to catching the ones that come back. Pressure Cooker is an action puzzle game and fits best with Klax, Qb, Save Mary, Acid Drop, etc.

#30 would be Circus Atari, which isn't listed as having a numbered label variation . . . If it exists, that would be a find. I have a 51 Blackjack and a 41 Surround myself. I don't have a numbered Combat, although I have a gatefold Combat box (which was just laying by itself in the furniture section of the thrift store, someday I'll find the cart to match).

I thought it was something like Blockade. Though Dominoes was more-graphically-interesting version of the same game. Tron didn't come until later. 930719[/snapback] Dominoes seems the more likely inspiration for Surround, IMO. I don't guess the nifty topple effect when you lose would have been doable with what they were working with at the time . . . Oh, and Kaboom = Avalanche Arcade Golf/Miniature Golf = Video Mini Golf Video Pinball = Video Pinball

There are so many companies that released the same pirate games and hacks that catching up to the original source now 22 years later would be difficult. Nothing can distinguish a loose Zellers cart from a Taiwan Simple (and often hilariously misspelled) cart. They shouldn't even be a separate category, as the only added value of a Zellers boxed cart comes from the price sticker, which may no longer be on the box or may have never been placed there in the first place. However, all Zellers titles have properly spelled and comprehensible names (no Sparker Gardon, Reever Raad, or Peetfal), which may hint that the company didn't just purchase a bunch of random carts, but somehow influenced their production. Also, it appears the people responsible for these carts only manufactured hacks of games by major producers (Atari, Activision, Coleco, US Games, PB, Imagic) and didn't sell the Homevision/Suntek/whoever unique titles like other pirate companies.

The thread I started about that game months ago Nobody knows what the point is . . . I'm still convinced that it involves getting all the letters in order, but I've never managed to do it. And apparently only one copy exists and no one has the manual.

Perhaps just shortening the long stripe on the left and right arrows to make it match the one next to it and look more like the up and down arrows would work...

It was put out by Sega, not Activision. 928665[/snapback] Yes, but Activision published Shanghai for most other platforms. It was ported to pretty much every system: NES, SMS, GB, GG, Lynx, SNES, Genesis, C64, Atari 8-bit, PC, and I think the Mac as well. And there's an arcade version, too.

YAY! I can't wait! Cyplix is a great hack and I'll enjoy it immensely on real hardware.

There's no such thing as a SECAM game. The scanlines and framerate are the same as PAL, therefore no company ever made localized SECAM titles (that we know of, anyway). Coleco/CBS labeled their carts sold in France as SECAM, but they were just the same PAL programs inside. 927743[/snapback] But I wonder why some manufacturers went to the trouble of adding secam stickers to the carts themselves? 927810[/snapback] For marketing reasons. It makes it look like the companies localized for France, even if they didn't.

There's no such thing as a SECAM game. The scanlines and framerate are the same as PAL, therefore no company ever made localized SECAM titles (that we know of, anyway). Coleco/CBS labeled their carts sold in France as SECAM, but they were just the same PAL programs inside.

Played this for like 2 solid hours last night, and it's rare for me to play a single VCS game that long. Highly addictive and great game. Don't think I'm that good at it, though, my high score on Invasion was only 633. . . The arrows (particularly the left and right ones) are kinda off-looking. . . Would the arrow designs from the unfinished DiscoTech work in this game?

I'd have to consider it at least a bit over-rated myself. I mean I like it, but I wouldn't put it on my top 50, and it was the 3rd (or 4th) game I ever owned, so there is some sentimental value there. . . I think the love it gets around these parts has a lot to do with the randomness and intricacies of the program. It has more hacks than any game other than Space Invaders or Pac-Man because people like to fool around with the engine and expand it. Some of those (such as Haunted Adventure, Indenture, etc.) are great and would have been my favorites if they'd been on cart back in the day.

Hey, you could always replace the scientist with CPUWIZ the Sea Cy-Ghost . . .

Of the ones that have such a feature, Solaris is the best. Of course, it'd rule even if it weren't random. Motorodeo, Ikari Warriors, and Obelix are all pretty good and highly rare, at least in NTSC. River Patrol is even better than the arcade and equally impossible to find. Actually, isn't O'Connor unretiring now so that there will only be one opening? And I nominate and confirm Squeeze Box. You're a crook in the middle trying to beat back an onslaught from the left and right, sounds like a perfect political metaphor to me. Well put.

Atari Video Cube uses that Freecell-type randomness. It's been a while since I played Okie Dokie, but doesn't it have a similar puzzle select? As far as random Activision games go, Pressure Cooker is the only one I can think of offhand. Is it totally random or are there a certain number of preset patterns there as well?

I don't see how they have anything in common with each other and I like both. Solar Fox would most likely belong in the maze category w/ Pac-Man, Jawbreaker, etc. MASH is unique since no other game on the 2600 really plays like either of its stages.

Sucks that they're not doing this in the US yet. I'd surely be devouring the Cheerios if that were the case, even though they've lost me to the sheer blissful goodness of Malt-O-Meal Blueberry Muffin Tops. . . Didn't one of their previous similar promotions involve those awful Hasbro updates of classics like Pong, Frogger, Centipede, etc? Pretty sure that's where I got Pong from. I have a complete set of the board-game ones and a couple of the Disney ones.

This list is inaccurate and a half. . . I could spam them silly just adding all the locations in St. Clair Co., Alabama that have classic games other than Ms. Pac and Galaga (sadly, the largest collection, including Lady Bug, Demolition Derby, Beastie Feastie, Elevator Action, and Millipede, is no longer open to the public and you have to be an Elk or know one to get in). Every bar, laundromat, etc. usually has something. ATS usually has at least one working and for sale out front, too (most of which have ended up in the Elks Lodge, actually) I'd have bought that 2-player bootleg Simpsons in a Targ cabinet if I'd had a place to put it. Oddly enough, only one of Wunderland's four Portland-area locations even got a listing, and I know all of them had plenty of old games mixed in with the new the last time I was there.

1: Frankenstein's Monster 2: Bermuda Triangle 3-5: Any other one used as: A floor hockey puck A storage place for intoxicating substances of one's choice A prop to keep the TV level

Sea Hunt isn't the worst game ever once you figure out the timing. . . That said, it's still not really all that good. Karate is playable. . . barely. I kinda like it just for being almost the only 2-player fighter on the system. But, damn, it's ugly as sin. Racquetball and Wall Ball don't deserve mention either. And I won't even get into the mis-guided "Pac-Man and ET as worst games" thing. It's a common newbie mistake. . . Firefly and Miniature Golf, OTOH, are the worst two video games I've ever played . . . on any platform, not just the 2600.

As much as I love RS: Tennis, I have to vote for Boxing here. . . It looks, sounds, and plays great and you have to go all the way to the 16-bit era to find a better 2-player boxing game.