82-T/A

Why does no one on this planet sell an Atari visor? Seriously... I mean, what's the big deal? I live in South Florida, I like to go in the sun all the time, it's hot... I don't wear baseball caps, I wear visors. I'm a visor guy, not a ball cap guy. That's just how it is. They sell plenty of crap for women in visors... but not a whole lot in visors. Most of us here in South Florida who go to the beach wear visors, and not ball caps. Imagine it being 90+ degrees outside, and wearing a ball cap to trap all that heat on top of your head. EVERYWHERE I LOOK, there are hundreds of Atari baseball caps for sale... I've got dozens of shirts, jackets, whatever... but no visors. Does anyone know where I can get a visor? I'll take one in pretty much any color, although, a white visor with a red or black Atari logo would be cool, or a black visor with a white or red Atari logo would be cool too...

I don't go to Atari Age but maybe 2 times a week, but I was getting a little stressed out Saturday at the thought I wouldn't be able to get to it ever again! I'm relieved!

Yeah, everything is in the box. I also have the silly lappel pin, a mug, bumper stickers, all the advertisements, the huge Jaguar canvas sign, the ad flyers, the Jaguar back pack, the t-shirt, the baseball cap. Every game is in the box, plus I've got them in original Atari shipping boxes (one Attack of the Killer Mutant Pengiun Box (came with like 40 AKMP carts in it) and one for Highlander, and basically a bunch of other stuff. I'm just considering it because it basically takes up half the closet and I'm debating whether or not I need all this stuff. I've got like 4 Atari Jaguars in my closet, and 2 CD units... so who knows... maybe I should start getting rid of duplicate stuff to start off with. No reason to sell everything... It's probably the only system I've bothered collecting EVERYTHING. I'm not about to spend $500 bucks for Battlesphere though... I mean, that's ludicrous. Man... that's harsh... yeah, it's the only thing I don't have... :\ If anyone cares, I'm putting a bunch of stuff up for sale on eBay. Let me know if this is a problem. I'm not really selling this stuff so much for the money as I am just trying to make room. Guess I'm flipping out since my wife is pregnant and I want to make sure the house is ready and I don't have any "crap". I'm probably going to sell my Porsche 944 if anyone is interested too... hahah...

Quick question... lets say you have a complete Jaguar system brand new in the box, with Cybermorph. And then lets say you also had a pro controller (in the box), a rotory controller (the aftermarket one that's made off the pro controller), a CD system, in the box, plus S-Video cables, RCA Cables, and then lets say you had EVERY SINGLE GAME that was every sold for the Jaguar, that includes everything from B&C Computer Visions (Charles Barkley, etc) / Video 61 / Songbird, etc... plus all the normal games that were sold, AND all the CD games... all in their original boxes, PLUS the team tap (whatever it was called) and the network connector device, all in the box. The only thing you didn't have was prototype stuff like the VR helmet, etc, and Battlesphere (or whatever that $500 dollar game was). What do you think it would sell for? Just weighing my options for when the baby comes... hahah.... Thanks,

They definitely had an up-hill battle to start with, but Trameil should have seen that Atari's computer line was dwindling and that he was going no where. I mean, he just came from Commodore that saw basically an obliteration of the entire Commodore line (including, for the most part, Amiga). Atari for a very SHORT while started to make IBM / PC Compatible computers. I recall seeing an 8088 clone made by Atari. That's where they should have focused all of their computer attention. Not necessarily build a custom and semi-proprietary machine like the Tandy (what with their specific Video and Sound capabilities). One of the things I've learned in business is that, you can be forward thinking and a revolutionary... but you must appeal to the masses if you want to make money. A lot of companies have had to learn this the hard way... Porsche, Ferrari, etc...

Yeah, I was really surprised. I've kind of been out of the loop with video games. With everything going on right now, I just haven't had time. I've relegated myself to collecting systems now when they get older, but I was always under the impression that the DreamCast was going to do well. I was REALLY surprised when I eventually learned that it pretty much fell off the face of the earth (and quickly too). I mean, lets face it, Sega has pretty much relegated itself to the ranks of Atari. I'm really surprised because the DreamCast (correct me if I'm wrong) is a solid system that is STILL competetive with the PS2 and the original xBox, is it not? It would STILL, even when compared with the Wii, the PS3, and the xBox 360 be at least somewhat relevant... so how come Sega threw in the towel so quickly? And what surprises me even more than that is how quickly they ditched the Saturn. It seemed the Saturn was only "alive" for maybe a year or two at most?!

Yet another reason they should've gone with Panther release in '91 as originally planned instead of rushing forward with Jaguar, which was still in the building/planning stages. Yeah, it was progressing ahead of schedule...but they should've taken that opportunity to build it better, with better components, and wait for the price of said components and manufacturing to drop, then release it later at a lower price. And why do I say the ST coders thing is another reason for Panther in '91, as planned? Panther apparently had a bit in common with the ST. And the ST, at the time, was still a pretty damn impressive gaming PC. At the very least they would've gotten ST ports when ST ports would've mattered, and best versions of the 16-bit console titles when that would've meant something. Yeah, Jag got some of the better ports of SNES and Genesis games...but it was a 64-bit system according to Atari. Ports of 16-bit titles, no matter how much better didn't have a great impact on Jag sales. In fact, I think it had a negative effect on Jag's image, and therefore the sales. I think it would be all too awesome to have had the Panther platform be released. I mean, imagine a system from Atari meant to compete with the Super Nintendo and the Sega Genesis? I KNOW they had a lot of awesome games from developers over seas that they could have easily ported over from the ST. And... I'm sure there would have been some other great games from in-house as well as local US publishers. The only thing I wonder though is that... Atari was clearly on it's way out one way or another. There were too many blunders (unfortunately), the market had changed too drastically, and there just wasn't as much support for Atari (from developers and non-fans) to really build a quality following. That being said, I think that the Atari Panther probably would have ended up being the last system, and the Jaguar would probably never have been. In a perfect world, I'd love to see Atari come out with a new system, but I think the time for dedicated systems is nearing an end. I think most people will still want a dedicated system, but what possibly could Atari offer in today's day and age that an xBox or a PlayStation III wouldn't have? I mean, developers would much prefer programming (for one) on a system that's easily portable to a computer (99%), and second, a system that already has a following. When it comes down to business, you do what you need to do to make money, not make games for Atari when it's questionable.

I still remember when I was a kid... we had our 2600 for a while, and I think I was like 5 or 6 years old and my parents bought my brother an Atari 5200 for christmas. It came with Pac Man. We hooked it up and started to play it, and within like 15 minutes of playing it, something went wrong with the controllers. We literally couldn't get Pac Man to move in certain directions. I was pissed. My mom said she was going to return it and sure enough, she did, but she never got a replacement for it. :\ So, I didn't end up getting a 5200 until maybe 7 years ago. From what I understand, this happened to a LOT of families. The controllers were just bad from the factory. I was sooo man, because the 5200 just sounded so superior in every way to the 2600 that I was used to playing. I quickly forgot about though because a year or two later (I think in 1987) I bought a Nintendo 8 bit for $174 bucks. My parents wouldn't let me have one, so I mowed lawns and stuff for a year, and went to Toys R' Us with my bike, $80 bucks in mostly ones, fives, and tens, and the rest in a change (in a big zip lock back). They closed down that isle and spent the next 10 minutes counting all my change. My parents were so pissed when they came home and I had one. But... they let me keep it since I had worked for it. hahah...

Son of a b***h, did I say washing machine? I always do that. No, sorry... I mean dish washer. I put the parts on the top rack (glasses) of the dishwasher and run a load. They come out absolutely spotless! Damn, I really should watch what I write... imagine if someone had taken my advice of LITERALLY putting it into a washing machine as apposed to a dish washer. Yeah, I'd imagine the washing machine would totally destroy it! hahah....

Take it off of the beginner's settings. On the pro setting, with all manual control, the speed of the cars takes a dramatic upturn. Pretty fast, and intense (for the time, of course) racing action. As much as I think the game is a tad overrated, fact is that it's far better than any racer that appeared on the Jag, and far better than just about any racer that appeared before it that wasn't made by Sega (or Atari in the arcades). That said, it ain't Sega Rally, and it ain't (wait for it...wait for it) RRRIIIIIIIDDDDGGGEEEE RRRRRAAAACCCCEEERRR! lol I still get a chuckle from Sony's debacle of a PS3 unveiling. The stuff of legends. Man, you guys are forgetting Power Drive Rally. That game was awesome!

Well, correct me if I'm wrong, but the Jaguar was completely axed in 1995. And Atari, as of that point, was basically officially "done". I mean, I might be mis-understanding it, but I believe JTS was nothing more than a hard drive company that bought Atari for the naming rights and left over assets. I'm pretty sure that 99.95% of the employees were laid off when Atari was sold to JTS. (or at least within a month of the sale). I had a friend that worked for "Atari". He originally started out as a MicroProse employee, then MicroProse was bought by Hasbro. Shortly after that time, Hasbro bought Atari. Then InfroGrames bought both Atari AND MicroProse and they quickly (within like 6 months) decided to make Atari the major branding. So, while people might be upset with InfroGrames right now... I've got to say that Atari was pretty much gone. And... you owe all of that to JTS just as much as you do the Trameils. JTS did NOTHING with Atari except sell off the rights to various patents and game licenses that they had. So, they did NOTHING, absolutely NOTHING but liquidate the company. You could say that by 1994 Atari as we knew it was gone... but, the fact is... by 1997, Atari as EVERYONE knew it was totally gone. I mean, they don't even own a building, or rent an office, or have a single employee left from any point in the company during the 80s or early 90s. :\

I have to disagree with you here... All the fighting games that they did manage to release were highly flawed: Kasumi Ninja - Terrible controls (Holding C button to do moves makes you a sitting duck), poor animation, silly character design. Fight For Life - Slow gameplay, poor textures, and poor 3D models (Decent for the Jaguar I guess, but other systems were already doing much better). I like how you can learn new moves though, that was a nice touch that really helped the game. Primal Rage - While the animation and graphics are all there, they botched the combo system... so none of the combos that worked in the arcade work here. There's no reason this couldn't have been arcade perfect (I'm willing to overlook the "loading for fatalities" issue even). Ultra Vortek - I'd say this was actually the best of the bunch, but the controls are kind of funny here too. Could have been a good replacement for Mortal Kombat if they had tightened it up a bit. Double Dragon V - This game is just crap. Terrible controls, and laughable character design. Dragon - Stiff gameplay, and just not very fun at all. The sad thing is, back in the days, I was REALLY envious of Way of the Warrior on the 3DO. I kept wishing the Jaguar would get a fighting game as good as that instead of this Kasumi Ninja BS. It wasn't until about 10 years later that I actually PLAYED Way of the Warrior... Kasumi Ninja didn't seem so bad after that Hah... well, I actually thought for a minute or two before I put that sentence in there. The ONLY reason I put it in there was because of Ultra Vortek, which basically was JUST as good as any Mortal Kombat or similar game that came out during the time. That, plus the fact that Primal Rage (at least in my opinion) was actually pretty good. Also Dragon was pretty decent too, once you get into it. Double Dragon V to me, seems like it's missing 3/4ths of the game. Where is the side scroller part? I really don't understand the point of that game. I was SOOO expecting that I was going to get a continuation of the Double Dragon series... But, when you consider Ultra Vortek, Dragon, and Primal Rage, it really had some decent fighting games. Fight For Life was /OK/, but as you say, it has slow game play. Because of that, I find it hard to play. I mean, it's not the best, but I think this is ONE area where I felt that they actually at least met the mark. For 1995 standards. You can't REALY consider Fight for Life, since, didn't it come out RIGHT after the Jaguar died?

Yeah, it's kind of funny. I wonder if it would be worth anything other than the cost of a normal Atari 2600? Does the 2600 Rarity Guide include systems? That would be neat...

I only own Three! One NIB jr model. and two 4switchers, black one and woograin one. NTSC machines. I sold a 4 switch sears model and boxed 6switcher I also have 35 cart slots/ guides for modding 35 FB2 units when they come out I wonder how many slot/ guides keilbaca possesses Must place another order, Im trying to dry out my supplier Hey Atari Eric, I live in Fort Lauderdale too. You wouldn't happen to drive a yellow Ford Ranger pick-up with the Atari logo on the back window, would you? I stole your idea and put an Atari logo on the back window of my Pontiac Solstice.

Guys, really really simple. Take the thing completely apart, and put the two halves in the washing machine. If it has a sticker on the bottom that you don't want to damage, then just put the top half of the shell in the dish washer. It will come out 100% brand new looking... seriously... I've done this with everything I've got (that doesn't have stickers on it).

Hey guys, Sorry for the bad picture. I'm going through my closet and trying to get rid of duplicate stuff. In any case, I've come across these Atari 2600s on the far side wall of my closet that I had which I forgot about. I was wondering if you guys could tell me anything. I apparently bought these at an auction like almost 10 years ago. Some local video store had gone out of business and they had something like 100 of these or so. As it was explained to me, these Atari 2600s were sold AFTER the release of teh Atari 2600jr. What's contained in these boxes are "Darth Vader" Atari 2600s. (or whatever the technical name is for them). They came with an all black 2600 except for a silver 2600 logo, an all black controller with the single red button, the Atari 2600 adaptor, the Video / TV RF Box, and Asteroids (I thought it was pac man but I'll find out when I take them out of the closet). The guy who I got them from told me that Atari had a huge surplus of these 2600 units in a warehouse and when they were liquidating their stuff, they brought these out and made these crappy boxes for them (they aren't much thicker than pizza boxes) and blew them out so to speak. Any ideas? Thanks!

That sounds awesome! Do you know when it will be coming out for the Jaguar? I have a 3D0 also, but I'd really rather play it on the Jag. I don't suppose it will be cartridge based, will it? I know I can't have my cake and eat it too, but I definitely prefer games on cartridge... I'm just not a fan of load times. I have a mint Jag-CD, and then a rather used one (which I actually use when I play games). But... I wonder if there's any consideration for making an aftermarket Jaguar CD? I would seriously doubt that the Jag-CD is 52x read-speed? If anything, it's probably a 2x speed CD drive (which was rather standard, though still expensive back then). If someone could make some sort of a replacement Jag CD system, something by which it was nothing more than a basic 5.25" enclosure with a 52x CD drive in there, and then a custom connector of some sort that goes between the Jaguar and the Memory Cartridge, that would be awesome. I still have 2 years left before I get my Electrical Engineering degree, so I'm not looking forward to the idea of trying this myself... but I can't imagine it would be too difficult? I know the VLM is on there, but what other programming exists on the Jag-CD drive that we couldn't duplicate some-how?

I use the Sega Master System controller. It's basically identical to an NES controller in pretty much every way except it's from Sega.

Hey Bubsy, I've got a Dreamcast, but I've never actually plugged it in or played it. What would I need to do to be able to play 5200 games on my Dreamcast? That would be pretty cool.

I would say E.T., but since they made more of them than they did video game systems, I'd probably have to retract that. but it looks good!

Yeah, I see what you're saying... it just bums me out to no end. I'll just have to get over it. But, I like everything about the Jaguar. I like the feel of the controller (seriously), I like the speed of the machine. By that I mean, you can tell which types of processes in the Jaguar are lightning fast, and which ones are acceptable. I think all things aside, the system itself with all of it's capability was absolutely perfect for a good solid RPG. For example, something as simple as say, one of the AD&D gold box series games, but with full VGA. Or even something like Eye of the Beholder, or even a game like Final Fantasy. Games like that would have run perfect on that system.

Hey guys, Don't know if anyone cares, but I took some pictures of my 7800 in the box and my Atari 2600jr in the box. They are both "NIB" (New In Box). They've both been opened, as I've done that for no other reason than to inspect them, but they're both new. The boxes aren't in AS good a shape as I'd like, especially the 2600jr. The box on the jr looks a little bit abused, but the inside, everything is completely unopened and new. The consoles may look like they have some wear on the metal, but it's actually because they both have that plastic sticker / seal over the metal. I've got a bunch of other stuff... 5200s in their boxes, and I've got 3 "Darth Vader" style Atari 2600s also brand new in the box. They came in these really plain and simlpe card-board boxes. They came with PacMan. It's a white card board box, not much more complex than a pizza box. Really weird. I'll take a picture of those too when I get the chance.

I can understand it from all the different angles. I think it depends on the person, but for me, I clearly buy them first off because I like Atari (and other game systems). I hope / pray for the day when I'll actually have time to sit down and just play them all... but at the same time, I like knowing that I have the original hardware, in the original boxes (to some extent). I understand that in some cases I can expect a decent monetary return... but when it comes to investing, I would consider video games a very small portion of my portfolio. Maybe... in 35 years when I retire, I can sell my nearly mint Missile Command Arcade machine for a decent amount... but right now, it's the nostalgia of just owning it. Same goes with cars... many of the cars I own, most people would consider pretty cool. But no single one of them has any real substantial value. The VW Bus, my 81 Trans Am, the Porsche... they're all probably worth no more than $5,000 each. Of course I paid much less than that, but I didn't do so with the intent to make a profit or return on them. I suppose some people do that, but they deal more with things like Ferraris. Just like with Atari... my VW Bus might be like Big Bird's Egg Catch, but the people doing it for money are hoarding prototypes (more on par with like a vintage Ferrari 275 GTB). I relate everything to cars, I think it's how my brain works, but I hope you guys understand my analogy. In any case though... I definitely consider myself a collector, again, I don't own anything like a prototype Atari 7800, or a Jaguar VR helmet, but I like to get as much as I can. If when I'm $65, someone offers to trade exorbant amounts of money for them, then maybe I'll sell... but until now, it's nice just knowing that I can go into the closet and pick out a system and play it. Maybe that's some sort of psychological disorder that hasn't been given a name yet! hahah...

Yes, yes... definitely. I started with Ultima 4 though, I wasn't really into games that early. But yeah, there were several dozen awesome PC games back in the day. Even the AD&D Gold Box series games (which I still play), but at least on a console, the Nintendo just had everyone beat.

That is very cool! But it's clearly a 2600jr.