kencrisis

I really like that black vinyl on the inside. How did you apply it?

There's lots to get out of this game. I wish you could get points for shooting the spiders or blobs, and I wish there could be at least a couple other mazes (it would be very satisfying to go through the tunnels the enemies come from -- and to risk going through and hitting an enemy coming out), but nevertheless, this game had me going for a good 45 minutes tonight. With each game, I would get just enough further along to make me want to hit restart and try it again. It's a real bummer to lose all your ammo to a blob and have to run and hide, waiting for the next reload to show up, only to miss it 'cause you're on the other side of the maze. Brilliantly frustrating fun.

I'm glad to hear that there's no real cart port. Is it just me, or is anyone else concerned about a whole new huge group of people wanting to buy carts and controllers, creating a much larger demand, and jacking up the prices for our beloved (and cheap) hobby?

So it was my birthday today. I tore open my new sealed Galaxian box in order to get to and complete my Atari Force comics collection and found a "Special Introductory Offer -- Save on Your ATARI Service Contract" brochure. I'm relatively new to boxed game collecting and had not seen this before. This brochure also mentions the 5200. I'm wondering if anyone knows which games included this brochure, how long the Service Contract was in effect, how long this thing was available. Did anyone here actually buy in and try to use it (I'm assuming for joysticks or paddles)? I'm amazed because the 2600 was so dang reliable -- seems like a money-making effort from a company that was losing money and looking to make some in any way possible. (Seems outrageously priced for 1983 at $19.95 for the 2600.)

Thag, thanks for this review. Yet another game I don't have and will be searching for on Ebay now. I'm a huge fan of paddle games and had never checked this one out. Sometimes I have days where all I want to do is play with the paddles -- "screw the joysticks" means I end up playing a lot of Kaboom and Super Breakout. From what I could perceive through the difficult mouse-emulation play, I think this is a game very worthy of my hard-earned cash. And, as you said, after all it's IMAGIC. (BTW, just sat down with my wife tonight with Maze Craze for the first time tonight. We're always looking for fun two-player games and your review convinced me to buy it. We had a blast kicking each others' butts on all the variations.)

Alia Quest is THE one to buy. (Sorry for the one-line review)

Very nice, but I'm curious. Why did you decide on that particular shelf height with all that space above the carts? It seems like you could've gotten another row in there if you had tightened up the space.

When I was a kid in the '70s, a park that had been built over a landfill near my grandparent's house started sinking. They didn't do anything about it but replant grass where the big dirt holes appeared. 15 years later, after reports of abnormally high levels of cancer in the area, the disease problem was found to be caused by the landfill park and it was closed. In a sad commentary on our society and how we take care of the less fortunate, the place is now a down-and-out mobile home community.

I'm a big fan of Activision Tennis, but had never checked this title out. RS Tennis is a pretty great version of similar play. They've added some nice things here, like the "manual" mode where you have to hit the fire button to swing the racket. This makes me feel a lot more "involved" in the game.

The very earliest game that blew me away graphically was Circus Atari. I couldn't believe it when the jumper would smash to the ground, head flattened, legs kicking. We couldn't believe that they could get away with selling something so violent to children. In fact, my brother and I attempted to make sure we never played it in front of my parents -- for fear that they would take it away from us. How times have changed!

Lots of April babies, as usual. I can't wait for my birthday next week. I know a few things I'm getting, including a sealed-box Galaxian (which will be opened so I can have Atari Force #5 and comple my AF collection), Maze Craze + manual for some lo-fi two-player action with my wife, loose carts of Midnight Magic, Off the Wall and Dragonfire. But I'm most excited about my mystery "big" present from my wife. After a few drinks, she let me know that she's spent substantially more money on this birthday than any other (she actually said "I never ever want you to spend as much money on my birthday as I have on this one for you, but you deserve it" -- gotta love her, she's the best). I can only think of four expensive things I've expressed an interest in this last year: a Martin acoustic guitar, a pinball machine, a Tempest arcade machine, or some high-end sound studio equipment.

First of all, I'm glad to see this thing get going. I really missed the Anthony Atari posts. Like this thread, the Anthony posts brought to my attention games I had forgotten or overlooked. Second, thanks for this feature on Maze Craze. I'd seen people posting about how this was a great game but after checking it out in emulation, I didn't see what was so great about it. It wasn't until this thread that I learned how this is a super two-player game -- something my wife and I are always looking for. I just bought this off Ebay tonight, we can't wait to get it. Looking forward to more, keep it up!

I discovered a few years ago that one of my cats goes NUTS over televised horse racing. She stands up and paws frantically at the horses on the tube. Unfortunately, all attempts with Stampede have failed.

Oh yeah, in So. California there was an afternoon cartoon show and they would have breaks for "POW." They would call a lucky kid who had sent in his/her phone number and the kid would have to say "pow" when they wanted someone (likely a poor intern) at the TV station to hit the fire button on the Atari. At the time we thought it was hilarious and a total failure because every single kid would just shout "pow pow pow pow pow" as fast as they could. To this day, my wife and I exclaim "Pow!" to express the futility of something.

I wouldn't show that post to her, it might scare her.

My wife, although she really likes playing Atari games, asked me the same thing recently. My response was, "these things are REALLY cheap and for some reason it makes me happy, isn't that OK.?" That seemed to work for me. Of course, I did get a few beers into her first!

I could see how this would be good for games that don't fit into the "high score" thing. Warlords comes immediately to mind. But in general, I too use the HSC to check out games and am happy with it.

There's an article about it in today's New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/06/arts/des...ign/06game.html

My second most wanted thing is to see a picture of one of these mobiles opened, hung, in action. I asked about this a while ago and no one seemed to have opened one. Post pic PLEASE! My current most wanted item is a boxed, sealed Star Wars: Arcade found for less than 5 dollars. I know I'll be waiting a long time for that one.

Bumping. Thanks to everyone here who's helped me find the manuals I've needed and the completion of my original Atari Force comics -- I'm savoring these! List at the top of this message has been edited for the items I'm still looking for.

Although I don't really follow baseball, that's a cool Atari item! I fondly remember the bat days my dad took me to when I was a kid for the Dodgers and Angels. Do they still have bat days today? I would think that would be pretty ironic/hysterical if they did, what with all the terror phobia and backpack checking. "You can't bring that backpack in, but here's a weapon with a fun corporate logo."

Thanks to some folks here, I've found a number of things I need. I've edited/updated my list at the top with the things I'm still looking for.

I have Seawolf, Starfire, and Space Treat. Although all are fun and regularly make it into my routine, Starfire is exceptional. I always seem to throw it on whenever I play. I've had dreams about it. I find myself playing other games and screwing up because I'm thinking about getting to it.

Oops, forgot one. I also need a Pole Position manual FOUND

I'm looking for the following 2600 game manuals, preferably in good condition of course! PM me with asking price. Frostbite Gyruss Off The Wall Seaquest