128bytes

Can you believe I have never touched an NES, never mind played one? The only Nintendo systems that have touched my hands are a N64 (played Banjo-Kazooie 3 times), and my family of GBA's (my GBA (and SP, and micro) was my first - and only - non-Atari console (handheld or otherwise!) though I played all the NES minigames in WarioWare and loved them). Maybe it's time I fill in this missing hole in my gameplaying resume...

Go is cooler on the 2600 than Ataxx IMHO because it has the strategic position called the "atari", which is the inspiration for the naming of Atari Corporation. That's why I love the avatar that Zach created for me (see earlier in this thread), which is truly an atari running on an Atari! <-- see, that's an atari running on an Atari

Here's the link from Nintendo Here's a snippet with some interesting DS sales figures:

I am falling behind in keeping my CC2 updated, too. I loved the Q*bert WIP and can't wait to try out the new enhancements. I really like the new name, btw, Kenfused!

Best: 70's - Adventure - blew my mind and so many others' - no score, no clock, no typing commands at prompt lines! 80's - H.E.R.O. - gets so much gameplay by so many people, young and old, on my VCS. The ultimate easy to learn, hard to master game. 90's - Oystron - very influential to so many homebrewers and just plain good. I got hooked onto it, in all places, on my Game Boy Advance while playing Activision Anthology. 00's - Marble Craze - Brought paddle gameplay, head to head gameplay, great music, and lots of Atari trivia together into a really deep and entertaining whole. I need to go further and see more levels! Most influential: 70's - Space Invaders - started the boom (technically released in January 1980 IIRC, but I had heard rumors about it in 1979 - in any event, Space Invaders fever in the arcades in 1979 was one of the main reasons the Atari VCS was such a huge success in Christmas 1979) 80's - E.T. - started the bust 90's - Okie Dokie - opened so many eyes to possiblities of homebrews 00's - Thrust+ - the whole package -- incredible gameplay, packaging, continued improvements after release - seemed to raise the bar for so many.

I second EA and Infocom, and will add in the early Lucasfilm and Maxis games. And let's not forget Paul Slocum - his 2600 music is awesome and we all wish we had a chance to play the Homestar Runner RPG. But I am happy that treewave appears to be so successful!

Yeah, I use the SimpleTech RS-MMC. It works perfectly.

I would spend an interest check on 7800 Pac-Man!

This is one of the largest non-issues known to man. I submit files for download all the time, and the best way to do it in almost all cases is to send them in .zip format, whether there are space savings involved or not. And there are usually bandwidth savings involved. And anyone with a website (more or less) pays for bandwidth. This is especially helpful with executible or batch files, as they are "neutered" and made non-executible while they are zipped. BTW, there are numerous free unzippers out there. For instance: free pkware zip reader for windows free stuffit expander for windows free stuffit expander for mac lots of linux ones out there, plus every other platform known to mankind.

Yeah, things speed up really fast at this difficulty. It's all worth it when you finally get to the space bar - my favorite level. Here's a new score: 73,025

Wow - exactly the same story for me, even the 1995 part!

I will start things out with a score of 43,050. Some tips: - Remember that we are playing using the ARCADE difficulty -- left difficulty switch on "A", right on "B". Arcade difficulty gives you 5 lives, and fast moving customers. - Yes, you start off with 10,000 points using the Arcade difficulty. - The gameplay is incredibly similar to the arcade, so most of the arcade strategies translate to the 2600. They include: - When you run to grab a glass, don't run back! Either press the button to serve another drink at that table, ro move up or down to change to another table. - If you move up at the top table, you wrap around to the bottom table; and if you move down at the bottom table - When starting a round (after the first few), shoot off two glasses to each row. If you can somehow keep the patrons from coming in too far, you have a much better chance of finishing off the round early and getting your 1,000 point bonus for ending the round. - During the bonus rounds, don't watch the bartender tapping his knuckles on the bar - he's trying to distract you! Those 3,000 points are very valuable, so keep your eyes on that unshaken can! 2600 specific tips: - The customers do not leave tips on the bar in the 2600 version, so don't look for them. - I believe there is a limitation where you can have only 2 of your full glasses moving toward the customers at any one time. It really doesn't affect gameplay; however, if you press the button a third time, that third glass will shoot out as soon as one of the customers grabs one of the first 2. - If you are unsure you are on your last life, move your joystick up or down. Don't press the fire button, or you will lose your high score... - It sure seems to me that the bartender is serving water.

I bought my GBA specifically to play Activision Anthology, and upgraded to a GBA Micro to enjoy Advance Wars and Wario Ware.

Man, that is bad news. By the way, Cybergoth, your Seawolf is excellent (blue case or no blue case)! A few days ago, I actually got to play *arcade* Sea Wolf for the first time, with the (squeaky!) submarine periscope and all, in all it's glory! Fantastic game and fantastic idea for the port (to use a nautical term ). I love those old games like Seawolf (from 1976!) and Space Invaders that use mirrors and color overlays to supplement monochrome screens (although the blue overlay was missing from this machine).

My Flashback 2 joysticks are sort-of third party, and are 100% compatible with the 2600 and 7800, and they are my current favorites.

I agree. Also, at the time Vectrex was released, the most popular (non-vector) arcade game was Pac-Man, which had a vertical monitor. So the Vectrex had that "Arcade" look and feel, even though the true vector games out there weren't vertical. I still wish that Vectrex would have come out with the proposed handheld version in 1988...

Yet, some games do. Agreed. However, it's still "almost" nothing. 128 bytes just isn't much to work with. I really don't have anything to add here, since I never owned an Intellivision, and none of my friends did either. I always was offended by the George Plympton ads, because I thought the Atari sports games were still very good (so I played the heck out of Pele's Soccer and thought it was great -- by the way, it is better than you think!). To this day, I have never played a game on INTV. [bad username joke] I have to say, though, that lots of people tell me that I'm not much to work with, but I get started right away and always get the job done![/bad username joke]

Coolest video game character? Pengo, no question.

[namedropping] I play Party Mix and I don't own a freaking supercharger.... ...But I do own a Cuttle Cart 2, which plays all supercharger games. Party Mix rocks. But it belongs in the "Best 2600 FOUR player games" category. [/namedropping] My favorite 2600 two-player games, if I limit myself to the top 2, are Mario Bros. and Joust.

$1.25 I bought a slik stik from someone known as "CPUWIZ" almost 3 years ago, and I swear I paid more than $1.25. I must have been ripped off! ;) Dude, you totally got ripped off. What an ass.

$1.25 I bought a slik stik from someone known as "CPUWIZ" almost 3 years ago, and I swear I paid more than $1.25. I must have been ripped off! ;)

I agree. That being said, though...noone has mentioned Tapper, which is surprisingly accurate in terms of gameplay (no tips, but all the other elements are there)

I voted early but held back on letting everyone know. It's Ms. Pac Man - no contest. It is the 7800 game I like the best (Food Fight is #2), and the one game everyone likes to play. The 5 lives and "nice and fast" gameplay on the default settings is just perfect! As LarcenTyler said, "who can resist Ms. Pac-Man"?

Wil's latest review is up - it is for Cosmic Commuter Here's a snip:

Just got some time to play last night. 43,000. I need to refine my application of some of the tips to try to avoid enemy fire -- so far I'm toast whenever a tank fires. Back in the day, I had Robot Tank but not Battlezone, so I find Battlezone much more challenging and less 'cartoony'.