Tartfox

Incorrect. I have a Sony 42" LCD Bravia TV and a LG 37" TV from 2008, both of which have S-Video. I also have family with HDTVs bought long after 2003 with S-Video slots as well, so I wouldn't consider it dead tech. Matter of fact, I find it hard to believe that people are finding so many TVs without S-video whereas for me, it's the exact opposite.

Thanks for replying racerx. What you found appears to be one of the very few (if not the only one!) pages with content on this pinball machine. Do you by chance happen to know anything else about the machine? I'd be interested in further pictures or videos to see it in action, and if it looks fun enough I'd like to acquire one. I used to have a Generation 2 Zizzle pinball machine but after playing it for a few days I had to sell it- it was poorly made and is a very disappointing machine with its questionable design/gameplay mechanics. Believe it or not I found far more enjoyment with playing the Tomy tabletop machines (American Pinball, Pirates Treasure). Though the Tomy ones are more simplistic they're better constructed, more fun and do not have the issues that plagued the Zizzle machines.

You can use the paddles to move left and right in the 7800 version of Ms. Pac-Man... but obviously not up or down, Lol. I'm unaware if there's any 7800 paddle specific games for the system though...

Hi guys, I'm hoping to get some assistance here. I enjoy playing pinball but for the time being I'm interested in a home machine small enough to meet my space restrictions. For me it doesn't have to be overly advanced- even simple gameplay such as merely keeping the ball in play is suitable provided the playfield and its mechanics are entertaining and challenging. With that said, I came across this Pinball Machine on Shopgoodwill that I'm very interested in- http://www.shopgoodwill.com/auctions/Williams-Getaway-High-Speed-II-Pinball-Machine-29695959.html It appears to be a home version of Williams 'The Getaway' pinball machine. I compared pictures of the commercial machine with the one on Shopgoodwill and the machine's construction, as well as the playfield, is not identical the commercial version- it's much simpler. There's a lot of pictures of it on the Goodwill page but beyond this I'm unable to find ANY information about this home version anywhere. Can someone take a look at the pics and confirm that this is a home model of 'The Getaway'? And if it is, does anyone know where I can acquire this machine? I'll also directly post the pictures from the Goodwill page here in the event the above link doesn't work for whatever reason. Thanks in advance!

Zippy The Porcupine is definitely within my top 10 best homebrews- wonderful graphics, music and game play. It has it all. As a matter of fact, it ranks as THE best one for me.... since it's the only one I own.

Sorry, no more info on this. I was just as surprised as you when i first saw the HDMI option! But, we might have to contact the seller to see if they can offer any advice on how they did it.

What type of video mod are we talking about here? Component, S-Video, or HDMI as shown here- http://www.ebay.com/itm/ATARI-7800-Console-HDMI-upgraded-with-720-1080-crystal-clear-picture-PAL-/121887285059?hash=item1c610c5f43%3Ag%3AWPIAAOSwvUlWtc0G&nma=true&si=OAioDBXL2t4T5i5Z1osT8zssujc%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Thorough video, I enjoyed watching it. I think you would genuinely enjoy American Pinball from Tomy- it will provide more challenges, has more going on in the playfield, and the playfield artwork is a joy to look at. By the way everyone, I did manage to acquire a generation 2 Marvel pinball machine- and absolutely hated it. It is not worth picking up, due to how unplayable it is. Even though the Tomy machines are less advanced, they wind up being immensely more enjoyable to play. So my advice to everyone looking for a home pinball machine- avoid the Zizzle machines at all costs unless you plan to spend time in seriously modding the machine to remedy its numerous problems.

Clock Tower for the SNES was a surprisingly well done survival horror game. With multiple endings and various surprises at every corner, I'd highly recommend it. The sequel for the PS1 (also titled 'Clock Tower') is quite good too. I also liked Obscure 2 for the PS2- enjoyable game mechanics and you genuinely want to know what happens to the characters. Commendable soundtrack as well. Forbidden Siren 2 is also a good one, albeit a bit complicated to play. Deep Fear for the Sega Saturn is also a favorite of mine. It's more action oriented- not truly terrifying, but the soundtrack is incredibly cinematic and it gets you emotionally attached to the characters. And, of course, Resident Evil 1 and 2 has some decent jump scares.

These tabletop games from Tiger are in fact more advanced than their usual LCD handhelds- their sound and graphical capabilities noticeably trump their lower end LCD handheld games. These tabletops interest me because they have similar tech to Tiger's Game.com console and should provide more replay value thanks to their advancements. The Q-Bert one for example not only provides the classic original arcade mode but also an adventure mode with new levels. And because Tiger's usual LCD handheld game tech would not be able to include all the features from a Q*bert game due to being limited by the amount of fixed static images on a single screen, the tabletops have a dot-matrix screen that allows a wide variety of backgrounds and different gameplay elements for a single game. The tabletops are in fact, dedicated consoles. There's really not much of anything about them online, not even Tiger Electronics' Wikipedia page mentions them but that page funny enough mentions their 99x Game Series which are also obscure. Here's a pic of the Q*Bert one. I would've added this to my original post but I can't seem to edit it. So who here has played or owned these games? What can you say about them?

Couldn't find a place to discuss non-console handheld games, so figured I'd ask my questions here. If the mods feel this is better suited for the 'Classic Gaming General' forum, then feel free to move it there- In the year 2000, Tiger Electronics released a series of Pixel LCD games under the brand 'Arcade Games', which all resembled arcade cabinets. They were small enough to play in the hand or serve as a tabletop device. The tops of each game could close down for easy storage and portability. Each of their 'Arcade Games' had a detachable joystick, A-D labelled buttons and additional buttons to pause the game, reset the game, toggle the sound and toggle the games on/off. 5 titles were released under the 'Arcade Games' brand which just so happened to be games that all appeared on the Sega Dreamcast- Q-Bert, NFL Blitz 2000, Ready 2 Rumble Boxing, Hydro Thunder and Sonic Adventure, essentially making these Dreamcast handheld ports. Thanks to the display (which was similar to Tiger's Game.com tech), all the games were capable of displaying various animations, multiple stages, enemies, etc. They even had genuine sound effects taken straight from the original Dreamcast Games! I wanted to know if anyone here owns these unique Tiger games and if so, what do you think of them- are they still enjoyable games despite their limitations? How much content from the original games were they able to port over to these devices? What is their replay value? And, if you do own any are you willing to share photos and/or post videos of them in action? Research on Google pulls up very little information on these titles besides what I could find on Sonic Adventure (video link to see it in action is at the bottom of this post). These games are hard to come by and as such I think they're unique and rare enough to warrant the interest. Here's some photos of what the various ones look like- Ready 2 Rumble Boxing Sonic Adventure Hydro Thunder As promised, here's a YouTube video on the Sonic Adventure Tiger Game. For a Tiger Handheld, it's not a bad novelty piece!

You mean a Midnight Mutants 2 for the Lynx or Jaguar?

Hi Trebor, your guide with the visual walkthroughs was actually the one I was referring to. I LOVE the detail you put into it and it has saved me from getting lost (and from ripping my hair out) in the caves and pumpkin patch. Matter of fact, to everyone else reading this I wholeheartedly recommend Trebor's supplemental guide, it is essential. By the way Trebor, did you figure out the routes entirely on your own? If so, how long did it take and how much of hair did you pull out before figuring everything out? :-D

Recently acquired Midnight Mutants and Sirius, so been playing them both. Sirius is quite fun, the difficulty just makes me determined to acquire the highest score possible. As for Midnight Mutants, I'm loving it for the most part but it's far too easy to get lost in certain areas (like the caves and pumpkin patch field) because the areas tend to merge/warp into each other as you leave and enter another screen. Thank goodness for visual walkthroughs!

I can definitely vouch for the shielded cables as they do provide better video quality in comparison to the RCA video cable + RF TV connector (at least for me). The one I use comes with a EMI RFI noise filter attached to prevent RFI and EMI interference to give you better audio and picture quality. Have a look here, it's probably the best quality you'll get using RF route- http://www.ebay.com/itm/ATARI-2600-JUNIOR-RF-CABLE-HIGH-PERFORMANCE-FULLY-SHIELDED-GROUNDED-NEW-/201496432385?_trksid=p2047675.l2557&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&nma=true&si=IejvkKLMjR%252Bkq5duYzBhmrXG7Mo%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc *Note*- even though it's sold out, you can at least have a look at the cable to see what it looks like, plus the seller appears to have the same cord for the Commodore 64 for sale. You can always email them to ensure that it'll be compatible with the 7800 too.

I've gotten lucky with the CX78 PAL controllers. I've been able to acquire two, each for under $28 (and that included shipping) on eBay from international sellers. It's all about keeping an eye out for good deals, and don't be afraid to ask a seller if they'd be willing to accept a lower price because sometimes they will accommodate you (provided that the lower price is still reasonable). The CX78 controllers are good for two button games, for one button games I"d recommend the Gemstick Joystick controllers- they're comfortable in the hand with a responsive button and joystick. Again, it's all about keeping an eye out for good deals on eBay because I've been able to acquire the Gemstick at very affordable prices as well.

This actually came to mind this morning. Earlier this week I played the Battlezone arcade game for the first time and was impressed with its vector graphics, and that was from 1980! Today I thought "It'd be pretty awesome if there was a Starfox type game for the 7800 using the vector graphical styling of Battlezone".

So I decided to pick up some Gemstick controllers for the 7800. Ms. Pac-Man plays BEAUTIFULLY now, I'm quite pleased. I also bought Sirius (a horizontal space shooter). Looking forward to having that delivered to me.

Played some Ms. Pac-Man tonight after picking up a couple of Gemstick controllers. These controllers are pretty good, and Ms. Pac-Man is tons of fun.

This is an awesome thread, it's good to read the comments by fellow pinball enthusiasts. Full size pinball machines are quite big, difficult to transport and are more complex to maintain. Tabletop units and the mini standing machines from the likes of Saitek, Zizzle and other manufacturers are very convenient. They are more simplistic but depending on the types you pick up, can still offer great gameplay that feel like the real thing. I'm loving the larger Tomy tabletop pinball machines- American Pinball, Pirates Treasure, Astro Shooter etc. These machines all share the same playfield but thankfully the graphical themes for each are so drastically different that they provide great visual variety while you're playing. The Tomy machines are also, in my opinion, the closest that one can get to a full size pinball machine thanks to them having most of the perks you'd see from a regular sized machine- lights on the playfield, slingshots, reactive bumpers, kick out holes, circular impressions above the drain that changes the direction of the ball, and a left orbit that leads to a cellar hole that shoots out your ball after you rack huge points. There's also mechanical scoring, which is more reliable (as in, longer lasting) than electronic scoring screens. There are no missions except one- keep the ball in play to get the highest score, which works for me. The Tomy machines may also need maintenance on rare occasions but there are far easier to fix should you come across any problems. American Pinball and Pirates Treasure are the ones I own and I thoroughly enjoy playing them. One day I would also love to get one of the Generation 2 Zizzle machines. Hopefully in the near future one will pop up at an affordable price somewhere.

While the Atari 2600 was my first ever console and I thoroughly enjoyed it, it's the SNES that holds a special place in my childhood's heart.

Pokey enhanced homebrews are also my preference. NEED to have the best audio possible! Patiently (but anxiously as well) waiting for this cart release with Pokey/Hokey sound.

I'll have to check back periodically to see if Electronicsentimentalities.com's installation services ever return for the 7800, even today it's still out of stock. Also, I may actually go with an Atari 2600 controller for games like Ms. Pac-Man since they are the least expensive sticks to acquire.

Ebay is seriously your best bet.

Congrats on getting a 7800 console. I'm a new owner as well and the members here will definitely have great advice for you to get you started. If it's a PAL console I'm guessing it came with the CX-78 controllers (which are much better than the American released controllers). You may also want to pick a joystick controller- Atari 2600 controllers work in the 7800 console. For Ms. Pac-Man and games of that nature, you'll want the precision that a joystick provides. Since you're coming to the USA here's a list of NTSC games that work on PAL consoles, it's useful to read- http://atariage.com/forums/topic/65424-ntsc-games-that-work-on-pal-machines/ Hopes that helps!