madhatter667

Button mashed my way through the Simpson's arcade title today.

Add Galaga '88 to the list.

No pics at the moment. Most of my NES collection is in storage. First, you picked a good system to collect for. There are a lot of very good games, and some excellent arcade ports. Galaga is almost a dead ringer for it's arcade cousin. Bubble Bobble, and Rainbow Islands are great ones too. Gyruss, Gauntlet. Second... recommendations... depends on what you want to play. There are some good early RPGs that sorta set the bar on here. Dragon Warrior (any of them, 4 being pretty amazing), Final Fantasy wasn't bad, Zelda, There's a couple of Ultimas, Destiny of an Emperor. Anything from the Castlevania series. Gradius, River City Ransom, Rampage, RC Pro-Am is a fun little racer, Punch Out, Q Bert, Pacmania, Strider, Metal Storm, all of the SMB games, Shadowgate is a good point and click adventure, Kirby, Lolo, Adventure Island, Double Dragon series (3 is a pain). Battletoads, but the speeder bike stage will have you throwing the controller (it is passable). Started with a 2600, then NES, and it just kept going from there. Lol.

I'll check back when I get paid. If it's still there I may grab it.

My last 1040 looked better, but my previous 520 had a lot more yellowing. Lol.

Because a)some of it actually isn't rare, the prices are just inflated, and the scarcity a false one, and b) a few years ago, you actually could, and for decent prices.

So I popped into another local thrift. Nothing in the way of multisync monitors. I went back to the thrift where I found the NEC multiync 195VX. Still there. Grabbed it. It was cheap. Worth the gamble. $7. When I get the cable, I can add it to the wiki list as either compatible, not, or partially. They have the same resolution, same aspect ratio, same screen size, and I think even same (published) operating frequencies. Here's hoping.

No, the Arcadia was loose, no box, no carts.

Not sure how I missed the 1040 part on the board listing. I scanned it for "B" and only saw the 520. Lol. Need more caffeine.

Ok. So. I got the ST in hand. The funny bit is that it came packed in an Amiga 500 box. The auction page made it sound/look a lot worse than it is. Yes there is some yellowing. I've seen worse (still going to clean it up a bit), and some scratches/dings. But given what I see these going for on auction these days, I grabbed what I could as I could. Lol. My first one was in better cosmetic shape. Le sigh. Anyways, I don't have a monitor yet, because it is an STf, and when I sold my ST computers off, I sold the monitors too. Working on that. However, I plugged it in, and it powers up, and the disk drive kicks in. I know it is a sort of superficial test, but that seems like a good sign to me. I started tearing into it, to get a feel for it, and to take a look at the condition of the components. The disk drive has some dust in there that I would like to clean out. They keyboard is yucky, so I am going to have to tear that down. From what I can tell, the PSU looks good. No bulged or leaking caps. The shielding is a little dingy, but it's shielding, so who cares? All of the insulating/non-conductive strips are still in place. The case has been opened before, as I can see little ding marks on the bottom case around the screw holes. I have a Rev B motherboard? Atari-wiki puts this model board as a 520? Seems off/odd. It's definitely a 1040 case, with integrated floppy. All connector pins are nice and shiny. All sockets that I could get to seemed tight. Looks like the bottom case has been washed at some point in its life. There is ink bleed on the serial number, and someone had put tape over it to protect it. My TOS chips seem to have hand written stickers on them, and it seems someone had serviced this machine in 1994? I've attached pics so far. Any idea what TOS revision this is based on the writing? Google has given me zero hits when entering that number string in. I put it all back together, and placed it back in the box for now to keep it out of the sun. I kind of want to do retrobright on it. Buuuuut another part of me wants to just get a new set of keys, and paint the case something like a metallic blue, or gloss black or something. It's not in minty condition, so who cares? Use a little Epoxy to fill in the scratches, make it all rad looking. Pop the plastic off the floppy drive, and paint to match. Thoughts, ideas, suggestions?

This model was not on the wiki page at all. It was a Multisync 195VX.

So far, I've beaten: Double Dragon 2 (NES) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (arcade) Golden Axe (arcade) I've been lazy. Lol.

Went to a big thrift today. Still monitor hunting. Still struck out. At least there was some neat stereo gear. Though most of it was over priced as well. I blame hipsters. Lol. Some decent tape decks, one TT that had promise (but was missing parts, some more expensive than others). There were a couple XBoxes, and a handful of grey PSXs, but that was about it. No games worth a damn, and they were as above all sports oriented. Sad times. I don't know how much I like the moniker of retro gaming... it's just gaming, at least in my own head. Lol.

So far struck out at 4 thrift stores with monitors. One had an NEC multisync, but the monitor only went down to 31kHz, so no go. Still hunting, but that's the nature of the beast. Suppose I will try a couple other places between now and payday, and if that fails, start watching eBay. Lol.

Man, I hit, what... 1 Value Village, and 2 Goodwills today. I was hoping to score a monitor to use with an ST computer I have coming in (using resources between here, another wiki page, and Best Electronics), and one store had only a handful of monitors, none of which were compatible, the other had several monitors (none compatible) that looked like someone had played a game of football with them, and the other store had none at all. Game stuff? The Value Village had an Arcadia 2001 priced at $20. If it were payday... maybe on sheer novelty factor, but that's about it. The other store had an old PSX, and the other had an original XBox (no cables, controllers or anything else for the latter two). Very slim pickings out there. Even some of the deals to be found on the old school stereo stuff is nonexistent these days. I couldn't reliably replace my tape deck or standalone CD player if they broke... we can forget about a decent turntable. I know everything dries up eventually. Last time I saw a TT at a thrift it was an incomplete (no headshell, counterweight, or mat), and abused, plastic shelled, I want to say Gemeni branded DJ table... not even a table made for listening, and it was priced at $99. Some really good dope was smoked the day that one was priced.

As someone who has a collection (small) of Famicom, and famiclones, I will argue that there is a collector market for pirate/bootleg stuff... both hardware and software. There are also pirate/unofficial original titles. Given how fast I have seen batches of these sell out when someone gets a hook-up, there is a demand for them. Even the multicarts can be in demand if there are good or rare titles on there. Some games are almost impossible to find in original format, and bootleg is about the only way to get it (or the only way to afford it). It's all fun and games. Really.

At this point, I have more games that I haven't played in the collection, than games that I have. Even on Steam. One I haven't played in years on end? The Legend of Zelda. Same goes for any of the Final Fantasies, or even Dragon Warrior titles (which I really enjoy). Time just not as available for it as an adult. I still enjoy them when I can. I don't care if it is only once every few years I break them out, and complete them, they're still fun. I also still enjoy the aesthetics of them. Another one that I beat on 360, but haven't even fired up on Steam is Deadly Premonition. Got it on sale, and I know that game is kooky, creepy fun. I also know it's an investment of many, many hours, and I am *still* working on Fallout 3. Lol. Part of why I've been playing older arcade, and arcade ports lately... they're quicker consumption.

So what I am reading is that with the right monitor, and the Best cable, I don't need to worry about the Ambrey box. I'm a bit of an opportunist, so I'll keep my eyes open, and do more reading on those lists.

It seems that any multisync monitor that can go down to 15KHz should work? I notice Best has a list on their website of monitors; I am guessing that is the compatible list. It could be that I am tired... but is the Ambrey box required to get color display/lower res (ie: gaming) out of the multisync monitors? Or is that device specifically designed to be a catch all piece? Going on what I can see on eBay at the moment, I can get a multisynch for less than what I could get an SC1224 for. Man that's a bummer.

So, I did a thing. I used to have a 1040, and sold it years ago, because I needed money badly. Thing is, I really liked it. I know that I am never gonna get one again for as cheap as I paid for the ones I had before. I nabbed one off auction. It's not complete (no monitor, or power cable), and I will admit I am taking a gamble on an untested item. Hoping it isn't a live and learn issue. Cosmetically it needs some help. Gonna have to tear it down, clean it out, probably retrobrite the case, keys, and see if I can't do the same for the floppy drive plastic. It's not perfect, it's kind of a project, and I am ok with that (even if I have to do some repairs, I'm willing to give it a shot). Watched some videos on the teardown/clean up process. Not too worried about that. Are the capacitors on the PSU something that one needs to seriously worry about in terms of accidentally getting shocked? One video said 400v. That doesn't seem like the worst ever. I've been zapped by ignition coils a couple times when I was younger. Lol. But seriously, is that an extra hazardous area to deal with on these? Can I tinker a 1040 to the point where it will run with an Ultrasatan? Lotharek's site says TOS 1.4 or higher, nothing about RAM requirements (some threads say 4Mb). I know that it is possible to upgrade TOS versions. Again, like with the Ultimate Cart for 8 bits, I am new to using something other than original equipment (in this case disks). I have a lot of .st disk images. I had a pair of ST computers some time ago, I never tinkered with upgrading them, they worked for the stack of disk games that I had, and that was pretty cool at the time. The machine from auction is a 1040STf, so it has monitor output only, no RF. I keep reading about converters for converters to allow use of VGA monitors. Is this actually a thing? Are there other period monitors that are compatible (color) that will cost less than the SC1224? I'm not as worried about the peripherals being all Atari like my last ST rigs were (though that was nice). Are the 13pin DIN cables also waht are referred to as RGB? Or is that a different connector type/mod? I've never done anything beyond run the standard video interface on a given system... but I have to admit that the various a/v mods (RGB. composite, S Video) are really neat, and to some degree tempting, though they would push my knowledge envelope. Anyways, a little excited, a little nervous, and really hoping that it doesn't get wrecked in shipping. Also... there's a LOT I still don't know. Lol.

So, I have a number of 8 bit ROMs, Is there a known complete A8 ROM set for the Ultimate? I grabbed the files linked here, but I also have the Atarimax EXE Archive (which if I understand right, the EXE files will work on the UC)? I also have the A8 Best Game Pack, which, while zipped files, could be unzipped to a different folder, and I have the Vjetnam archive of games. I'm super new to using anything other than original hardware and software... can you run an Atari floppy disk image (what is that, an .ATR?) off the Ultimate, or is that the territory of the SIO2SD only? Anyone know where to find archives of A8 floppies? I cut my teeth on the 2600, but like the 8 bit stuff more.

So, I have found that I really like some of the other earlier computer stuff. The emulator I found most useful on my PC for ZX Spectrum was Speccy. A few odd bits though. 1. Has anyone gotten a USB connected game pad to function? Are there any ZX emulators that support one? 2. Some ROMs don't seem to load. Is this an emulated machine problem (as in do I need to select a different model from the menu), or is it more likely that my ROM is corrupted? I tend to use a 128k model as the go-to at the moment. Over all, pretty neat though. Lots of interesting titles.

"Been years since I found anything of interest. " - This is also the case on my end. Back in 2004-approx 2010 I was having a lot of luck finding good stuff at decent prices. I can't even find junk now.

Just another thing I'll be wanting to keep an eye out for. Lol.

Hey all. I've been messing about a lot with emulation. The only classic computers that I currently own are Atari 8bits (used to have some STs as well). I enjoy these plenty. With that said, I've been gaming on BlueMSX (pretty fun program, want to track down a real one), but I also nabbed Speccy, which is a ZX Spectrum emu. I am a bit surprised. It's very bright and lively, seems to be responsive, with some interesting ports. It seems most games were cassette, which outside of the Supercharger, I never experienced. From what I can find from a quick Google search, Sinclair was an English company. I can't find a lot of reference regarding US sales from what bit I did dig up. I am guessing the real hardware runs on 220V and outputs to PAL? I can find 5 million units sold, not counting clones. Was there a Timex equivalent/compatible model? I am finding that the more I play with the older computer stuff, the more I like it. The various A8s (have 800XL, 130XE, and XEGS), the MSX, the Spectrum. They all either are, or seem really fun. I haven't messed around much with the C64 stuff yet, nor have I found a good Amiga emulator. It seems that there are flash memory/SD interfaces for the Spectrum like there are for some of the other platforms. I find that I like the idea of games on more modern interfaces very appealing due to durability/longevity, and space saving (regarding the physical space a library takes up). Though looking at it, the Spectrum, MSX, Amiga, ST, are all cores that are available for FPGA/MIST, which is a thing that also intrigues me, though not quite sold on it yet. Though I can say that the USB power, and VGA output makes it a pretty easy thing to sell across regions, which matters a bit since I am in the USA. I generally like playing on the original hardware, but have turned to emulation recently as a way to keep things compact for the moment, but also as a way to try out a few things that I otherwise have not had access to. I was anti-emulation for a fairly long time. Lol. One part amused, with a dose of curiosity, and a bit of "how do I proceed from here?"