gdement

<NPC>, <sentence> eg: MAX, EAT PIZZA as I recall, I think one of the useful phrases is "tell me about"... like STILES, TELL ME ABOUT LINDER so you can get that character's opinion about something.

I didn't see this one above, so I've uploaded another Centipede 5200 commercial. This one is "Club Centipede": For some reason youtube cut off the last 2 seconds when they converted it. Atariboy: feel free to move that into the top post if you want.

Well, the YM2612 was heavily underutilized by Sega. For example, earlier games that used sound samples would dedicate the Z80 to playing back sample data, while the 68k would handle the rest of the FM and PSG channels. Later games moved to a Z80-only driver, which lowered the quality of the sample output. This is especially why SSF2 has such horrible sample output. I'm confused about that. Altered Beast and Golden Axe both stop playing sounds when they're busy playing speech. I figured this was because the Z-80 was occupied full time with the speech, and so the rest of the sound got dropped. If the 68k handles the other sounds, then why does it drop out? Maybe this is just unique to those games, I don't really remember which other games, if any, behave that way. I've often thought that the older games had better sound, but I figured that was just my imagination. Maybe not.

After reading about it on the internet, I've learned that the Genesis has bad sound. I never felt that way when the machine was current. This attitude seems to be based on comparisons with the SNES, which is almost 2 years newer. The SNES' wavetable sound was one of it's most eccentric features and really doesn't diminish the Genesis in my book. The Genesis sounds like a 16-bit era arcade machine. As such, it sounds a bit unrefined, but it's very fitting for the kind of games Sega had in mind. The SNES is prettier though, which works well for Final Fantasy.

Technically, I think this might wear out the pins a bit more. Of course, if you're going to play the game again anyway, then it's probably better to leave it there, rather than putting the pins through another loosen-tighten cycle. I don't think this is an issue on most systems, I wouldn't worry about it. However, I do think this could be a problem on the NES. Leaving a cart in there with the ZIF lever down might wear out the pins over time and cause the blinking problem to develop sooner. Ever since replacing the connector, I don't leave carts in my NES anymore. The only top-loading system I've ever had problems with was my Genesis, and those problems went away with some persistent cleaning. The pin tension was apparently not the problem.

On that note, you should try to get leaded solder. 60/40 or 63/37 are the easiest to use. Lead-free solder takes more heat to melt, so it's harder to work with. Radio Shack sells these, but places like Home Depot might only carry the lead-free stuff.

Rush 'n Attack Ikari Warriors Top Gun Golf Kid Icarus Double Dragon Kung Fu

On top of those horrible videos, they also would endorse any product that was desperate enough to pay them. They not only endorsed the 7800 against the NES/SMS, but I noticed recently that they also gave an endorsement for the "Freedom Stick" - an infrared joystick for the NES, 7800, SMS, and C64. I had one, and it broke the first time I threw it on the carpet.

The first thing I should say is I'm not very experienced with electronics either, so I might not be the best person to get advice from. Yeah, to check the voltage, you just need to put the negative probe on some grounded piece of metal, something safely outside the famicom would be fine. Put the positive probe on the point you want to check, taking care not to arc anything. Make sure you're in VDC mode. Vcc is the label they use for the supply voltage input on the IC chips. If you test the Vcc pin on any of the chips, you should get a reading of about 5V when compared with ground. The pins are numbered starting from an indentation or circular marking, and moving counter-clockwise. On a DIP chip (the rectangular type with pins that go through the board), Vcc is *usually* the last pin. However, you can't really be sure without checking the datasheet for the chip. Nothing bad will happen if you test the wrong pin though. At least I'm 99% confident of that... I looked up the datasheet for the 6502, and noticed that chip is one of the exceptions - they put Vcc somewhere in the middle of the first side. RAM chips though are very likely to have the voltage on the last pin - that seems to be the convention with RAM.

I don't know about hooking up an LED, but I guess what I'd try is use a multimeter to see if you can find any voltage. You could test on a capacitor or one of the Vcc pins, or maybe there's a convenient place to test coming from one of the ports. You could also do this on a game cartridge rather than the machine itself. Just find a spot that you feel confident you won't accidentally short anything.

If I'm not mistaken, I think the 455 is a Pontiac engine, completely separate from the Chevy 454. That was before GM unified all their divisions to use the same engines. Actually I think Oldsmobile also had their own engines back then, but I don't know anything about that car in particular. But yeah, I agree that the Chevy small-block, and really all the classic iron V-8's, should definitely be eligible for displacement changes. Variations of bore and stroke exist both in production as well as aftermarket mods for all the Big 3's V-8s. I was a bit annoyed when GT2 gave my Camaro a 3-speed transmission. Not sure what they gave it in GT3. There's no 3-speed transmission on that car. Back in the 80's, sure, but by the time of GT2 that car had long since been offered with buyer's choice of either a 4-speed automatic or 6-speed manual. I don't know where they got the 3-speed from. At least the transmission is easy to upgrade in that game regardless.

I've played GT1-3. My favorite was 2, but it suffered from being on such a weak platform. I wish they made that same game for PS2. The reason I like GT2 is because it has a lot more of the types of cars I care about. The Gran Turismo series is very Japan-oriented, and I'm not into Japanese cars. The thing that got me hooked on Gran Turismo, of course, was the simulation mode. But the upgrades in these games are often nonsensical, and that annoys me sometimes. It's a great idea, but they implement it just badly enough to be irksome. I get the feeling that to some extent, the strange equipment/upgrades on some of the vehicles may be due to the developer trying to keep the cars even. That's the politics you get into when you want to use "real" cars. Is there a single vehicle, in any of these games, on which you are allowed to get a displacement upgrade? Why is that option in the menu? I thought it was just an oversight in GT1. Then the same option remained on GT2. And it's there on GT3 also. I'm missing something I guess. Simulation mode seems to get too easy too quickly in my opinion. You don't really feel like you're clawing your way up for very long - a few races and you can afford almost anything you need. I think GT3 improves on that, if I remember it correctly.

I'd participate, at least with games I own. Since many NES games aren't really scoring oriented, they may require more creative ways of winning the contest. Perhaps contests like "How far can you get in X amount of time" would be most appropriate for many games. We could also have a "lowest score to beat the game" contest on SMB. Maybe even some pure speedrun contests. A lot of NES games are long, so the rules may need to be tailored so time isn't as much of a problem. There may need to be some discussion in the preceding week about what rules should be used for a given game. I'd like to see season standings somewhere. Unless I missed it, I think some past HSC's have been devoid of rankings, and that just doesn't make it feel like a competition. Competition is fun.

Just about every game ever written can be discredited with the argument that it's a ripoff of something else. Video games are a gradual evolution, just like any other art form. Good execution of a fun game is more impressive to me than being able to claim "I was first." Nobody is ever "first". Whatever you did, somebody did something similar before you. And somebody else did something similar before them. It never ends.

This was a plain Duck Hunt cartridge.

I don't know any great Atari ads outside of Warner ownership, but I think the best they had were the ads that just showed the games rather than dopey spokesmen. My favorite Warner commercial is this one. Overacted, but that's advertising. I like that ad because, back then, many families really did play Atari together in the family room. The older generations never picked up on the NES or anything newer. Here's hoping the Wii becomes the next 2600.

I'd love to see a NES high-score contest, but I'm not sure how that could be done with Duck Hunt. The difficulty depends entirely on how close you are to the TV and the size of your screen (the latter would be difficult to compensate for). I recently picked up 5 games, one of which was an original Duck Hunt. I was interested to note that the Duck Hunt contacts were far more dirty than all the others. For all it's simplicity, this game obviously gets a lot of play. "Top Gun" lost the contest as it was the cleanest cart by far. Of course my sample size is only 1.

Oops...misspelled...thanks. what's up with the OK bashing? You didn't know your neighbors make fun of you? Everybody has a neighbor state they joke about. When I used to live in Kansas, we made fun of Oklahoma. In Florida, we made fun of Alabama. In Illinois, we made fun of Wisconsin. Here in California... I think everybody makes fun of us.

Yup, I always thought it was FAR worse on the NES. It could be pretty bad on the Master System too - Double Dragon for example. Got that right. Flicker is so bad on SMS Double Dragon as to make the two player mode...UNPLAYABLE. I am convinced this is why the 2 player co-op moder was left out of the NES version. -Ray This almost ruins River City Ransom also. If it wasn't such an awesome game I wouldn't have been able to stand it. RCR 2-player runs a lot better in emulation. On the Atari, I agree with the earlier poster that flickering makes many games, like Asteroids, feel more eerie.

I'd remove the board and wash it in clean water. Sugary drinks could cause corrosion. When electronics get something spilled on them, I believe the best thing to do is remove all power, disassemble it, and wash it. I've washed motherboards several times and haven't had anything die on me. I wash them in the shower, then rinse them with distilled water to remove mineral deposits. Tap water will leave some residue as it dries. This is probably harmless, but rinsing it in distilled water will prevent that. I give boards about 24hrs to dry, even though that's probably overkill for an exposed board. The primary concern is water trapped underneath sockets and other places you can't see (and where there isn't much air), so I prefer to put the board over some heat (like on a lampshade) to help it dry.

What? No 5-screw Rygar? In 25 games I somehow have something you don't.

Was this interview broadcast live? Any debate that is "pre-recorded" means it will be edited. Only a live debate has any credibility. I haven't watched it, but just want to point that out.

Wow. That's by far the highest-profile I've heard yet for these things. I was surprised just to see them being sold by the sheister vendors at major shopping malls. Now they're at Walgreens? What's next, Sears?

Ultima 7 was the best RPG I've played. This was really the peak of the "We Create Worlds" mindset. The world in Ultima 7 felt like a real place populated by real people. There are countless subplots and details tucked in every corner of that game. It's a masterpiece. If EA had owned Origin during the development of Ultima 7, then it probably would have shipped 6 months earlier and been rather unremarkable. But great things happen when the people running the company are emotionally dedicated to the product. Ultima 9 just feels like an incomplete prototype. Most NPC's don't even move! As much as I want to get into that game, it's impossible to become engrossed in it. U9 vs. U7 are a great example of why graphics have little to do with making a game world feel "real".

Agreed. I had an Apple //c, and I'm still fond of it, but I really think the Apple II's are overrated. They suck compared to the Commodores and Ataris. I'm not sure what they're good at, honestly. I guess they had slightly more memory at a critical moment in time when Visicalc came out. I really liked the IIGS though, and always wished I had one.