Nostalgic

My choices... - Adventure 2 (I spent many, many hours playing Indenture) - it could be huge in a 16k cart! - Pac-Man Plus - Donkey Kong 3 And as for a non-sequel game but something that would be nice... - I, Robot (really! there couldn't be perspective changes, but the platform game could survive intact)

I have a six-switch (though not the "heavy" kind) Atari 2600. For the last ten years, at least, the reset switch has been somewhat stubborn. In order for the 2600 to register that I've pushed the switch, I have to actually hold it to the right, push down, move it left, then pull it back up. Most of the time I'll have to repeat this a couple of times to get it to work. For a long time this was only a minor annoyance. Now, though, it's getting harder and harder to make this trick work successfully. How can I fix my reset switch?

Is there any way to tell from the box or label of a cartridge that you have PAL instead of NTSC? I picked up Mario Bros. at CCAG last weekend only to find it is probably PAL (screen rolls and the colors are wrong). I took a closer look at the box. Atari's name is given as "ATARI, CORP. International Division" rather than "ATARI, CORPORATION". The copyright statement also says the trademark belongs to "Nintendo of America Inc. - Western Hemisphere; Nintendo Co. Ltd. - Other Worldwide Rights." Strangely, the original price tag on the box lists the price as $32.95 - definitely not in European currency!

Since my original Atari sticks gave out, I've had two TAC-2 joysticks as replacements for years, using them with both my 2600 and 130XE. They're solid, have a small throw (distance needed to generate movement), and are comfortable.

Your ASCII drawings came through just fine, Tempest. I have Q*bert's Qubes and spent many an hour in my younger years playing it. I never noticed a time in which the colors didn't rotate as I expected them to. Could it be that your TV's colors are such that two colors are very close to each other?

Atari used the "generic" white boxes for paddles as well. I ordered some paddles a few years back and they came in a big white box marked "PADDLE" in black block letters.

Add Pole Position to the list of Atari-made carts that can cause screen jumps. I bought a sealed one from a toy store at an outlet mall a few years back. The screen started jumping as soon as I turned everything on. (The outlet mall was too far away and the $2 I paid for the cart too little to bother returning it. )

Arcade: Do Run Run!, Galaga, Qix, and Super Pac-Man. I'm hard-pressed to think of how the last two would even be feasible without massive flicker. Computer ports: M.U.L.E., Fire Bug (a masterful game from ANALOG magazine), Ballblazer, and Boulderdash.

Actually, it appears to be a rebadge of a rebadge. It sounds exactly like Atari Greatest Hits (product # 99305), which was put out by Hasbro Interactive about a year or two ago. This too was a combination of Atari Arcade Hits 1 and Atari Arcade Hits 2.

This Yahtzee is an amusing diversion... A warning to Stella for Windows users: the display's a little off. The image for the die in the upper-right is repeated, so it looks like you have six dice rather than five, with these two having the same value. It wasn't until I tried the game with PCAE that I figured this out. (I also was surprised by the lower-than-expected scores I got for some items because of it!) Also, it took me a little while to figure out the interface. In order to roll the dice, move the joystick up or down until no die or line item is highlighted. I accidentally rerolled all five a number of times doing this. Otherwise, it's very enjoyable. Nice for a quick game break...

My TV is actually a TV/VCR combo, so I definitely don't want to mess with the VCR part of it. Is there any sort of off-the-shelf device that will convert an Atari switch box output to AV? I'm definitely not handy with electronics (I can use them, but that's it), so I'm hesitant to try cobbling anything together. Thanks Eduardo!

I would like to hook up a Playstation (pre-redesign), an Atari 2600, and a DVD player (eventually, I don't own it yet) all to the same TV. The TV does not have an antenna, so there is nowhere to hook the 2600's switch box. My questions are: 1. What do I need to hook a 2600 up to a modern TV that uses audio/video cables rather than an antenna? 2. Is there something that will allow me to switch between the three systems at will? I've seen boxes that will let you switch between four printers. My apologies if the answers are in the 2600 FAQ. I don't have its handy so I can't refer to it right now.

The new site is very, very impressive. Kudos to everyone who put in such hard work and creativity. I would like to see more information on the authors of the games. Perhaps the best way to start out would be to provide links to known author sites. For example: Rob Fulop Warren Robinett Howard Scott Warshaw This could be particularly useful for the authors of modern games for classic systems.