the_wizard_666

You do The Punisher and I'll win it. Just saying

I just purchased a large lot of 2600 games from him. His communication was great, shipping was ultra-fast, and even the small hiccup of a missing cart was resolved with no trouble. I wouldn't hesitate to buy from him again in the future. Thanks for an excellent first transaction on AA!

Funny you mention happiestsellerever...they're my go-to for CIB Pico games, since they ship for a reasonable price and have been known to accept my offers of 30-40% of the listing price. I've never known them to be anything but decent to deal with.

Awesome! I figured it wouldn't last long!

Well, hopefully this clarifies things a bit. First, while the ratings on the individual games is static, the ratings on the overall is not. I won't review a publisher that I don't have at least half the games for because it doesn't give a fair impression. As for the games that I can't play for one reason or another, rest assured that I will be revisiting them, adding a score, and reranking the publisher's overall score if necessary. I will also be playing the multiplayer games with a friend and adding a "second thoughts" section under the original review score. I want to keep my initial solo thoughts as a separate entity rather than replacing them. In this case, I've played 5 of the 9 titles, meaning that I've played enough of the games to have a general idea whether the rest will be good or not...with a 5/10 being average, my thought is that when grabbing a launch game, you've got a 50% chance of having a good time with it. I think I may have to add a separate "multiplayer" score though...as you mentioned, many of the games are designed with multiplayer in mind. That all said, saying that you can't rate them because they're better with a friend is a pretty bad argument when all but Combat have single player modes built into them. If they were only meant to be played with a friend, they wouldn't have those, now would they? Anyway, despite the "low" scores (which I don't feel are entirely bad...as mentioned, some of my personal favorite games will objectively only score a 3 or 4 out of 10), the only game I can't see myself firing up again would be Star Ship. I doubt I'll ever play many of them again solo, but almost every game seems like it'll be at least as good, if not better, with a friend. I fully intend to explore that aspect at a later date, and as mentioned, I will update each listing accordingly with another sentence or two and, if necessary, a second score. These are simply meant as first impressions, not full reviews. Damn near every game has already been reviewed to death, but how many have had someone who's had limited experience with the system give their thoughts on them without nostalgia or other peoples' opinions clouding their views? Speaking of multiplayer, I just got off the phone with a good friend of mine who's really into Atari games and will likely be coming by this weekend. I'll be working on getting a pair of paddles ready to go by then, as well as getting the chance to play some multiplayer rounds on a few games for all three threads. And with luck I'll have a package delivered by then, which contains a couple games for publishers that I've already gone through.

I have a few, it's just a matter of schedules. I'll get there sometime though, don't you worry And yeah, some of these are pretty danged terrible solo.

Here we go with round #3. You all know what the idea is - these are my first thoughts upon playing these titles for the first time. There are no preconceptions of the games here - I have no nostalgia glasses to work around. Also, I haven't played any of these long enough for them to "grow on me." The average play time per variation is around 5 minutes or so, enough for one or two runs through. So if I slag on one of your favorites, feel free to tell me! Also, I'm playing solo, at least until I have a friend willing to play some of these games, so I do accept that some may be infinitely better when not playing against the computer. With regard to the scoring, remember again that 5/10 is a plain old average game, and as such even a 3 or 4 out of 10 isn't necessarily terrible, so please don't take a lower score as hatred for the game. Even some of my personal favorites on other systems would only warrant a score of 3 or 4. Anyway, here's my take on the Atari launch games! AIR-SEA BATTLE: I actually had a lot of fun with this one. I didn't like the Polaris vs Bomber variations much, so that would hinder the score a bit, but overall the Anti-Aircraft and Torpedo variants were a ton of fun, as were the Polaris and Bomber modes. Even Shooting Gallery was sorta okay. Note that I played the Sears version, Target Fun, although as far as I'm aware there are no real differences involved. I would also really like to play this with a buddy sometime...could be great fun! Overall: 7/10 BASIC MATH: I don't currently own this. I can't imagine it'll be much good, but in fairness I will hold off rating it until I can actually fire it up. BLACKJACK: I fired it up thinking I was gonna play it for a couple minutes and stop. An hour later I was still going strong! While it's nothing spectacular...it IS just a game of blackjack after all...it does a pretty good job. Props as well for the only game that my wonky paddle controllers would co-operate with, being that it doesn't require precision movements or anything. It's far from perfect...there's no option to split your hand if you draw pairs, for example...but overall it does what it sets out to do. Overall: 5/10 COMBAT: Oh man, I really was looking forward to firing this one up. Alas, there's no solo variations, and I don't have many Atari-playing friends. I'll update this whenever I have a friend willing to play it. INDY 500: I think the best thing I could say is that at least I know my driving controller works. Not a very good solo experience, although I do think the variations where you chase down the dots could be interesting with a friend. Alas, I only have one driving controller, so it may be some time before I can try it with a friend. As it is, I'll probably never fire it up again, unless I get another driving controller. Overall: 3/10 STAR SHIP: I really wanted to like this one, but alas I just can't. It plays decently, controls are responsive, and everything works as it should, but it just wasn't very fun. The Lunar Lander varation was alright, but not enough to bump up my overall score by much. Overall: 2/10 STREET RACER: Unfortunately, unlike Blackjack, this won't work very well with wonky paddles. I'll have to come back to it once I get around to repairing some paddles. SURROUND: Now, this isn't a terrible game, but it's just kinda blah. I mean, there's nothing here that stands out and makes me say "Yes, I like this!" It controls decently, and everything works as it should, it's just not much fun. Overall: 4/10 VIDEO OLYMPICS: Again, my borked paddles are preventing me from firing this one up. That said, it looks like just another Pong clone. I'm not expecting much, but I've been pleasantly surprised before. OVERALL: I was hoping to have a near-complete overview of the launch titles, but I just couldn't get a good set of paddles working. Add that to Combat's multiplayer-only setup and I'm left with only 5 of the 9 releases to go by. While every game I played looks positively archaic, they all played reasonably well. Even games that I didn't particularly like were solid enough that I can't say to avoid anything. Even Star Ship, which I personally didn't much care for, still plays well and likely has a few fans out there that thoroughly enjoy it. While the lineup isn't stellar (at least from a solo gaming perspective), it's not terrible either. I honestly think there's something here for every gamer, which makes for a decent, if unremarkable, lineup. Overall: 5/10 So what do you think? Do you agree? Disagree? Have a suggestion for the next batch of games for me to fire up? You know the drill! Previous threads: #2: CBS ELECTRONICS #1: COLECO

I bought two media shelves from Canadian Tire. One I used to hold VHS tapes, which gave me extra shelves to put on the other. It houses my loose Atari, Coleco, Intellivision, and Odyssey 2 carts quite nicely. I'm not sure the exact model, but any sort of adjustable shelve DVD/CD stands should work. The big benefit when compared to using a bookshelf is that they're all horizontally arranged, rather than being stacked. That doesn't seem that important until you go to play a game. Being able to pull one off the shelf and play without having to restack the piles is a HUGE boon. Definitely the way to go with a larger collection of carts. For a smaller collection, there are always cartridge stands. The most commonly found one in my neck of the woods holds 12 carts and has a slot for manuals. Grabbing a couple of these may be an option for you as well. Or you could always custom build something. My advice though, before deciding on how to store them now, is to decide how many carts you plan to collect. Are you going for a full library, or a short list of fun games? Are you planning to collect variants, or only one copy of a given title? Are you planning on collecting loose or boxed games, and if loose, do you still plan to collect manuals? Knowing what your end goal is will allow you to plan out how much space you will need to display everything, thus allowing you to decide on the best option to store them long term. There's no sense in making a huge shelf if you only want 20 or 30 loose carts, but if you want to get every game complete in box, you will most certainly need a shelf or two, and should plan accordingly. There is no right or wrong way to go.

Well, in all fairness there's only a couple more titles that I can see myself actively hunting. Most of my games have just come by happenstance...I got Metal Slug with the machine itself, and I bought a pile of cheap games when I got it home, one of which was Metal Slug 2. I enjoy a few of the cheap games I got, but have just as many that I won't really ever play in the bundle. The only game I have that I actively sought out was King of the Monsters because who doesn't want to smash Tokyo as Godzilla (I know the names are different, and I don't give a crap ). When the board crapped out, I got a cheap replacement and it came with Metal Slug 5...although it's a bootleg, it's still playable, so I don't care much Really, the only games I'd like are King of the Monsters 2, Bust-A-Move, and Neo Turf Masters. The rest of the Metal Slug games would be sweet, but they're not mandatory.

Fair enough. I've seen elsewhere though that people are wary of new users for various reasons. Also, even if you're covered in the event of fraud and whatnot, some people won't want to deal with the hassle in that eventuality. Not saying it'll happen here, just that it can and does happen elsewhere. That's the world we live in these days. But yeah, I think the number of people that both want the game and can afford it is fairly small at this point. I know I would love to add it to my collection, but I just don't have the funds, or any way to GET the funds in a reasonable amount of time to try and work something out. I'm sure I'm not the only one. OP, I wish you luck! It's a tough time to be a seller, but hang in there and someone'll snag it for sure!

Generally speaking, I don't emulate much. I have in the past, and I probably will in the future at some point, as emulation has it's place, but I much prefer the real thing. That said, not everyone has the desire to have thousands of games on the shelves, so I totally get it. It's just not for me. Other than MAME and DOSBOX of course, but even those are used sparingly.

Warlords is a given. When I bust out the Atari with people that have little or no experience with the system, I bust out Beat 'Em And Eat 'Em for the lulz. Pretty much any Mystique games are good in that way...just don't play too much of them, because there's not many other ways that they're any good Aside from that, I usually just let people pick what they want to try. Keep the multiplayer staples handy of course, but when those run their course, just let your friends pick something. You never know what they'll want to play.

I think it's the "new user" thing that is holding people back on this. OP, if you have feedback on another forum or something, that might help you out big time. People tend to be wary with new members, especially these days with so many scams going on. All that said, I'd probably take the gamble myself if I had the funds. It's not often a rare title like this comes up for sale publicly.

There most certainly was a crash. The only thing about it that can even really be debated is how severe it was, but even then, how much can one topic be beaten to death?

Yeah, I've thought about getting a multicart myself, but I still like the original carts. That said, I may get one eventually just for ease of use...my MVS is a single slot, so it can be a real pain in the arse to change games. And the carts take up a TON of space...

I will eventually. I need to snag a copy first though Sorry #3 is taking so long to do...I've been trying to clean up a bit around my game room...I've long since run out of shelf space, and the boxes are piling pretty damn high.

I like these kind of threads. It allows me to focus on the most interesting items I own rather than the most expensive ones! So my five favorites, in no particular order: 1. Fantastic Adventures of Dizzy hint sheet for the NES - The nondescript envelope that contains this would be easy to miss in a game collection if not for the Camerica logo stamped on it. It seems to have been sent out as a response to someone's request for help, as it's just a stack of printed sheets stapled together. Some of the tips are pretty basic, but would've been great to a kid playing it back in the day...and it even had a sheet of Game Genie codes at the back! Gotta love cross-promotion! Anyway, I've never seen another one, and it's got a neat story, so it has a prime spot in my collection. 2. CIB X-Band for the SNES - Pretty much everyone knows the story behind this one. The basic gist is that it's a way to facilitate online gaming for the SNES. There's also a Genesis version, and they were bloody terrible according to the people that actually used it back in the day. Now it's nothing more than a curio, but people seeing my collection for the first time get a kick out of it. Still not sure how it ended up in Red Deer though... 3. Canadian variant CIB Action Set (NES) - Now I'm not listing this because it's a CIB Action Set. This is THE CIB Action Set. The one I got for Christmas in '89. This is what started it all. If it wasn't for this one item, none of the rest would be here right now! 4. Neo Geo MVS cabinet - Every gamer's dream is to have an arcade cabinet or 20. Unfortunately I only have room for one. Fortunately, the one I have gives me access to a ton of great games. All my friends get a kick out of Neo Geo Double Dragon as well, so that makes it worthwhile. 5. My console Wizardry collection - I'm cheating here, but I think the collection is greater than the sum of it's parts...even considering the rarity of a few of them. I have all US released Wizardry titles, around 15 Japanese released titles, the mail in guides for both US NES games, the ultra-rare Wizardry V mail in guide for the SNES, tons of Japanese guides, and since the PS3 game is a digital only release, that makes my PS3 technically part of the collection as well!

Don't worry, I have a Gorf pending in already. First transaction on AA

You know, I still prefer the Nintendo version of Tetris. The Tengen one is closer to the arcade game, but I never liked the arcade version either. It's still fun because, well, it's still Tetris, but given the option, I choose the Nintendo one every time. All that said, the BPS version is absolute crap. The poor Japanese, having to play that crap version instead of either of the far superior ones Stateside.

Thanks! The next installment is forthcoming, I'm just debating whether to hold off for a friend on a couple of games or just skip them for the time being due to the 2-player only nature. Wait, it has multiple levels? You're blowing my mind here! I thought it was just the one repeatedly I think it comes down to two things - first is that these are first impressions. I game each game one or two plays and rated accordingly. The other thing is personal taste. Solar Fox and Wizard of Wor are styles of games that I'm not particularly keen on. With Blueprint and Mountain King, they're games I can see myself playing far more frequently. I do think though that if I were ranking two player games, Wizard of Wor would be significantly higher. It just seems like it'd be more fun playing with a friend to help clear the monsters, only to have one of you stab the other in the back for the easy 1000 points. I think as a competitive co-op game it would really shine, but solo it's not something I see myself firing up often.

Oh, the local market here is retarded. Some shit I've actually seen sell (not just sit for sale, they actually SELL): $50 for ET (CIB at least, but still, come on!), $20 for CIB Combat, $5/each for damn near any 50 cent and under title. Defender is a $10 cart. Same with Missile Command, Asteroids, Space Invaders, or really anything with name recognition. I've never seen a cart for under $5, but frequently see common titles at $30+. I'd hate to see what people would be charging for something legitimately rare! On the plus side, I see Zellers games reasonably frequently, and they're usually in the $5-10 range. I even snagged a couple CIBs for under $20, even though I collect loose carts...when I have a buddy going CIB, it's nice to throw him a bone once in a while It would just be nice if deals were a bit more frequent around here though.

Yeah, that's about how I felt. It was a solid effort, but not enough to make it stand out. The 5/10 I rated it was because while it could have been much better, it also could've been much worse. Had I got it back in the day, I don't think I would've been disappointed by the effort...unless I also had a Colecovision or something that had a much better port of course. For what it is, it fills the void. I think the same about Pac-Man actually...it wasn't a great port, but it was serviceable enough to scratch the itch until something better (Ms. Pac-Man) came along.

I'm both a gamer and a collector. While emulation definitely helps with the former, it doesn't scratch the itch of the latter. I don't think emulation is the devil or anything, it's just not for me. And that has nothing to do with monetary losses for the developers or anything. And while you think it's unreasonable to scrounge for carts, I think that's part of the fun. To each their own I suppose. I will when I get some reasonable cash flow. I'm not working, and the government doesn't even give me enough to live on. I am working on a large purchase using the remnants of my PayPal funds though, so my owned games will hopefully be getting a substantial boost soon. I take it that the Harmony cart is kind of like the NES/SNES Power Paks? Great idea, but not really for me. I'd still rather have the originals. I do agree that the CV is better for arcade ports though, but I'm not trying to explore the library just yet...hell, I only have around 15 games or so, so there wouldn't be much to explore just yet

Well, I'm working on acquiring Gorf right now (among others)...funny how much cheaper it is compared with what I can find locally. I don't think I've seen a copy for less than $30 locally...granted that's Canadian, but even when factoring shipping and the exchange rate, that's just stupid expensive. Hopefully the deal gets hammered out soon so I can try it out within the next couple weeks

Your gut feeling was probably accurate. I opened a sealed copy a few years back, and it definitely came attached. The attached letter can get a few extra bucks, but it's not like you lost a fortune by taking it off. And since you didn't know to advertise it as such, it really doesn't cost you anything.