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Yeah, some food is definitely more effective than others. Some stuff intuitively isn't worth much (like grapes). I think I remember that book with the point values of different kinds of food. I assume that's the same book you found. To camp, you need a bedroll. I think it's in your inventory from the start of the game, but I don't remember. Put it on the ground, then double click it to open it, then double click it to sleep on it.

You could just use an SVideo -> composite adapter, so you're getting the signal from the svideo output. In fact I'd do it that way anyhow, rather than having to install 2 separate output ports.

Yes, that's the typical setup: +this: You only want male connectors on the RCA cable. The console port is female, and the receiving end of the RCA->F adapter is also female.

That's disappointing. S-Video is really the most practical and effective mod for most older consoles. Most of them natively output chroma/luma from their video chips but it's rare to have any component or RGB signals to tap into. That's also the situation with the 7800 Maria chip. It outputs chroma on 1 pin and uses 4 pins (binary signal) to control luminance. If possible, I'd be inclined to trade that TV with another one, so you can have SVideo for your game systems. No, but if there's no SVideo port available, then converting it to component is a decent workaround. At least it would maintain more quality than downgrading to composite.

Cool, just making sure since they aren't mainstream. Forsaken Land is awesome. That was the first Wizardry I played in recent years. It got me interested in tracking down the older Wizardrys recently. It's more forgiving about death than the older games but it's a lot of fun. Wizardry 1 (NES) slaughtered me as a kid but I'm enjoying it now. I'd go for it. I don't know if there's any inaccuracies, but it seems well made. Many people call this version their favorite RPG ever.

There are enough data outputs on a parallel port (. According to the below link, it outputs at TTL voltage levels. Not sure if that matches the Atari but it would probably work. They're both 5v systems at least. I don't think you'd need a complicated box but you would need a custom cable to adapt the wiring. Parallel pinout: http://pinouts.ru/ParallelPorts/ParallelPC_pinout.shtml Atari 2600 controller pinout: http://pinouts.ru/Inputs/JoystickAtari2600_pinout.shtml Off the shelf Serial 25->9 pin adapter pinout: http://www.lammertbies.nl/comm/cable/RS-232.html If only it was so lucky/easy, but it looks like a common 25->9pin serial adapter (connected to a parallel port) won't work. It would tie a permanent Ground to the Atari's Right signal. There would also be a bad connection at Atari pin8, where Atari tries to drive Ground but the adapter would hook that to a data pin. If they fight each other it might damage a port. It looks like Up/Left/Down and the button would connect to usable data lines though. If you always ground (logic 0?) the unused data bits then I suppose it wouldn't damage anything at pin 8, but the Right signal would still be stuck with no way to control it. To work more properly you'd have to modify the cable. I'm not an expert, and I haven't studied this beyond looking at those pages above, and I could have missed something. Don't trust me. If you do try hooking up to a parallel port this way, use junk hardware you don't mind the risk of damaging.

I have no experience with the computer versions so I can't comment on how accurate it is. But just make sure you know what to expect from a Wizardry game. They're extremely difficult, by design, and not big on cutscenes or storytelling. Some people reviewing games like this will slam them because it isn't like Final Fantasy.

I like Ultima 3 on the NES, but from what I've seen on youtube Ultima 5 NES looks pretty awful. I think you'd have more fun with the PC version. I don't see anything better about the NES version, even graphically. Ultima 4 on the NES is a good game, but quite different from the source material, to the point I'm not sure it really counts as the same game. It's redesigned in the Japanese console style like Final Fantasy/Dragon Warrior, not much like the original computer versions. But if the original computer style turns you off, then U4 NES is an alternative. If you want the authentic U4 experience on a console, I suggest the SMS version. I haven't played through it but from what I've seen it looks very faithful, with good graphics/sound relative to other computer ports. The only problem is that it's programmed for 50Hz PAL, so the music plays fast on NTSC.

Some stuff from that article and from the current ebay listing that bug me a bit: No, apparently this was #11. Nobody knew about this copy before. The owner obviously never told anybody, seeing as she didn't even know it was worth anything. And from the current sealed copy eBay ad: Wow. So this person finds a sealed copy that they didn't even know was worth anything until a few days ago. They then look up an article about the game, and find that only 1 sealed copy is known to exist. So the seller assumes it's *their* copy that the article's author saw through a crystal ball somehow. No, there are obviously at least 2 sealed copies. Nice try at insulting people's intelligence, but this is at least half as rare as they tried to imply. They retracted this later when revising the ad (below the horizontal line), admitting that there's 1 other separate sealed copy out there. But I don't get why they attempted to imply otherwise in the first place. It won't fool anyone who puts up the big bucks for this stuff.

For whatever reason, SMS Fighting Falcon uses an SG-1000 video mode. It works on the Master System because it supports those modes, but it doesn't work on a Power Base Converter because they dropped SG-1000 support from the Genesis.

Here's the audio portion of the motherboard schematic: Both TIA channels are tied together (AUD1 and AUD0 on the left side of the diagram) They go through an 18K ohm resistor at R6. The external audio from cartridges (POKEY) goes through a 6.8K ohm resistor at R5. If either of those sources is too loud, you could check those resistors with a multimeter. Unfortunately the resistors cover up the board markings, so it's not easy to tell where these resistors are located. The TIA resistor (R6) could be found by checking for continuity with TIA pins 12 and 13 (which are the sound output pins). Based on the last photo in this post Looks like R6 is immediately to the left of the red coil, and R5 is to the left of that.

was it the genesis version? I feel really sorry for you! I talked a friend of mine back in the day into buying that game.... I played it for a short time at a local amiga dealer and thought is was a great game... i guess i should have played it a little longer. He still, to this day bust me for talking him into getting that bomb! -rick Yep, it was the Genesis version. A friend was visiting from out of town (we had moved). I had enough money saved up for a game, so naturally I wanted to buy something while he was visiting. I wanted a fighting game but there wasn't much to choose from back then. Streets of Rage was announced but not yet released. I decided on Sword of Sodan from the box screenshots - big mistake. It didn't take more than a few minutes to admit that my purchase was a disaster. I still had some money left, and my parents took pity on me and gave me an advance so I could buy something else. My friend suggested Moonwalker... I never would have bought it otherwise. It was okay but I didn't love it. At least it held some value, and it's a more interesting game to have today. I sold Sword of Sodan for $4 at a garage sale a couple years later. Now I sort of wish I still had it, just to laugh at the bad memory.

According to what some people have said, the graphics chip in the Genesis doesn't support SG-1000 video modes. That's the reason F-16 Fighting Falcon doesn't work on it. So it wouldn't be able to run any SG-1000 games.

I had Ultima 6 as part of the "second trilogy" set. At first I played Ultima 4, planning to go through the games in order. But I couldn't resist the better graphics and sound of 6, and by the time I got a Sound Blaster I started playing 6 instead. I think I got pretty far into 6 and really enjoyed the realism. It was the first game I saw with NPC schedules, day night cycles, such detailed dialogue, and realistic world details in general. It's a very cool game. My only complaint was the tedious interface. It was the first Ultima to support a mouse and it wasn't done very well. After receiving Ultima 7 as a birthday gift, I really didn't want to play 6 anymore and never beat it. U7 is still the only Ultima I've actually beaten. Others have always defeated me with some combination of boredom, difficulty, or bugs. Even U7 was on hold for a couple years while I had a glitchy computer that couldn't run it without crashing.

I originally had 3 button pads, then when the 6-button came out, I ended up getting those. I'm not sure why, and I prefer the 3 button today. I like the size better, most console controllers are too small. I can only think of 1 game I own that uses a 4th button, and that's the SegaCD version of After Burner, which hardly needs it and sucks. I'm sure the later fighting games use 6 buttons, but I don't play those and never was a fan.

Prohibited is the right way to flag them. This is from the craigslist flagging help page: From craigslist terms of use:

I finally opened this thing up. It's probably been opened before, because 1 screw was missing underneath. The bottom extent of the spring is flat on one side, but on the other side it curves upward to go up the coil. So on that side the joystick doesn't have much recoil. I don't know if the spring is deformed, but it looks like it was designed this way. It doesn't look damaged, it just seems like a badly shaped spring for this job. I rotated the spring, and now the problem has moved accordingly, so I'm sure the spring is the problem. Overall it centers a bit better than before, but it's not what I'd call "good". It's generally a squishy and squeaky joystick. The buttons are too light and have a tendency to bind. I'm not impressed with it. But it's old and maybe new ones were better. Is there a known standard replacement part for the spring? Incidentally, I noticed the serial number looks pretty low: I'm assuming this is the 6,429th joystick they made? I have no idea how many of these were sold, but that number seems very low.

Nowadays, youtube videos are an awesome way to check out a game. Watching a vid is worth more than 1000 opinions. Especially if it's a case where my taste differs from what's popular (RPGs especially).

I paid $50 for Sword of Sodan.

Harassment and libel are both prohibited under the craigslist terms of use, so I flagged them as "prohibited". Hopefully this guy fizzles out soon. I'd document the libel/slander/harassment when possible, in case you eventually have to get nasty with him. What he's doing is illegal, but if you're forced to go down that road then you'll need proof.

Does the SNES have a separate video bus on the cartridge slot, like the NES? If so, it could be a connection problem on those pins.

I wish I still had that "101-in-1" kit that was given to me when I was a kid. I think it came out of the Sears catalog. That thing had an LED, solar cell, speaker, everything. It was over my head, I just copied the circuits but didn't really understand them. I'd probably have more fun with it today.

I've only had cheap irons so far. At first I went through a couple cheap retail Weller irons (~$15-$20 types). They sucked and didn't last. For at least a couple years now I've been using a pair of Xytronics 200PHG irons (40W and 60W) from Jameco. Those were noticeably better irons despite being cheap. The replacement tips are also cheap enough I could replace it for every job, but I haven't needed to. My only complaint with those irons is you have to be careful with tightening the tip into the iron. The allan wrench they include is a loose fit and if you overtighten it will start to slip. A slightly larger wrench fits better than the one they give you. I certainly would like to move up to a proper temperature controlled iron, but for somebody who wants a bargain basement iron that's decent, I recommend those Xytronics at Jameco. Also get a 10-pack of tips (they're barely over $1 each). I'm actually thinking it might be more worthwhile to spend on a good desoldering station before I spend on a soldering station. I can get by with a cheap soldering iron but desoldering is what I struggle with.

I used to be an early adopter (when possible), but not anymore. I don't take enough interest in modern games to keep up with them. My earliest adopted console was the Genesis. And that early build caused me lots of hardware trouble that people with later versions didn't have. I was also lucky enough to get a launch SegaCD as a Christmas gift - and it died twice in the space of a few years. And the early library for it sucked anyway. I used to happily pay $40-$60 for new games. Basically once I saved up the money I'd buy something. Now I think it's silly to pay that much when I know it'll be $20 later. Besides, I can't run most new games when they come out anymore. I don't have a new computer or a current console. My newest game is Oblivion, which came out in 2006. And that still strains my computer. I can't remember the last game I bought full price. I think everything I bought on the PS2 was in the $20 range. I *might* break my streak and buy Elder Scrolls 5 when it comes out. Maybe.

I don't have one, but it's something I'll look into. Might be a handy thing to have.