-^CrossBow^-

You could add something to the effect about the 7800 originally being called the 3600 but it was a pain to program for and redesigned to later become the 7800. Or mention about one of the numbers given for the 7800 originally was the Atari 9000. Heck just mention that the graphics chip in the 7800 is called Maria. The 7800 or 3600 back then was also to be the original successor to the 2600 but Atari ran outta time and repacked a 400/800 and called it the 5200? Do you have a Factoid about the 4port 5200 not being compatable with the VCS adapter? also...you could add lots and lots of factoids regardng the recent discovery of Protos for the 2600,5200 etc...that have been cropping up. as a side you need to update the Factoid on the "The Lord of the Rings" one to state that a proto was found and appears to be complete according to Thomas. Heck you could add Factoids regarding the screenshots being inaccurate to the actual games...like the ones for Asteroids in the early catalogs...and the one on the 7800 discussion board about the bat in Double Dragon being shown on a level in screenshots on the back of the box...where no bat is actually found in the game there. Okay..that is enough for now...

Actually I did mention this quite a while back. It actually doesn't lock up the console. Did you move the switch back to "B" while it was powered up? It will continue on. What this really is an undocumented "Pause". There was also some discussion a while back about how difficult it would be to incorporate a pause in 2600 games. Many thought it to be almost impossible. However, Kool-Aid Man would tell us otherwise. The brown specs on the left hand side there...are actually the seperate block graphics which eventually make up the Kool-Aid Man guy who crashes through the wall. You guys got your copies for much cheaper than I did. I paid $5 for mine Cart Loose...but I did get the Instructions so I felt it was a fair deal.

I can also remember the first use of Flicker on the 2600 being used for an effect. Can't forget my jaw dropping when I saw the waterfall for Pitfall2...heheh... Looked great to me then...and still convincing now...

You need to add... "Did you know the 7800 was called "Ginger" while in development?" I believe that one is in the FAQ somewhere. Curt Vendel would also be able to confirm this. Also you could add that every 7800 has the Initials JDS in the traces on the bottom of the mainboard. Lots of 7800 stuff that isn't in there... Just a thought.

Funny you mention the scrolling rainbow trick. As that is my favorite effect in any 2600 game. ROTLA and also when you find the Dark Castle in Krull...hehe..the way it rises from the ground in all those rainbow shimmering colors!!!...Gotta love that Rainbow. BTW on best title screens...you have to include Moon Patrol and Centipede. [ 02-13-2002: Message edited by: -^Cro§Bow^- ]

However he has the Colecovision Q*Bert and Parker Released Q*Berts reversed... in other words the one sitting to the right of the Atari Red label version is actually the Colecovision version...and the one in the lower right corner is the Parker Bros. 2600 release. Still cool to see them all together like that heh.

I saw at the flea market today a color picture red labeled Dark Chambers...and a color picture Red Labeled SprintMaster... of course both of these were only released in Red labels. They both had 88 copyrights on them.

Uber... check you email... Ikari Warrriors is numerous out here...

Secret Quest comes first for me... Then Riddle of the Sphinx... Then Raiders of the Lost Ark... I am sure Dark Chambers would be in this list...but I haven't a copy of it for the 2600 nor 7800 yet...I know I know..I have no excuse...

Lemmi: I got your email. However, when I was up there today they did still have Big Nose Freaks Out...and it is indeed in excellent shape. But I was wrong about the price. They actually want 12.99 for the cart...not 4.99. I got that mixed up with a Mission Impossible II cart they had that I had also been looking at. Anyway I am sure that is way too high, I know I would never pay that for an NES cart unless it was Final Fantasy. Anway, let me know either way. Again, sorry for the let down there.

You mean a Tengen Tetris like this: heheh...Funco just got this in... Cost... 6.99 Now it belongs to the Childlike Empress for display in the Ivory Tower Museum. [ 02-09-2002: Message edited by: -^Cro§Bow^- ]

Lemmi: My local Funco has a Loose Big Nose Freaks Out for like 4.99. Its in great shape far as I can tell. Want me to grab it for ya? I won't charge anything extra to grab it. Just the cost of the cart and the shipping to get it to you. Let me know. Don't know how long she will stay there. [ 02-08-2002: Message edited by: -^Cro§Bow^- ]

This might be a totally wasted idea...but this concerns the original poll on the main character being a "Dot" or square, or detailed elf..whatever. What if you made it a Square that has a shadow effect behind it and then you could put some legs on that square. That way you keep him a square but you would also add some small detail to him. Heck you could make him look kinda like the QB guy but square and only maybe 2 colors. Like Yellow Square with green tights or leggins...or red ones...or who knows. Maybe silver colored to convey the look or armor or something. Anyway just thought it would be funny as heck to see a Yellow Square with Legs and a happy face running around the highly detailed Adventure 2 world. Would totally keep some charm I think. Something kinda like this: Can't grade me on my artwork...this is just an idea of what I was talking about. Don't Lynch me!!!

Well, Touchdown is fairly common. But Double Dragon on the 7800 isn't all that common. At least not so to the point that game would be cheap. Double Dragon with a crappy label would be a good deal at the $6 you paid for both. So basically you got a good deal on a 7800 used Double Dragon, and got Touchdown thrown in for free.

Well, they can be fixed yes. Jittery paddles are the rusult of dirty/corroded potentiometers in the paddle itself. What you do is go to radio shack or other electronics store and purchase some "Tuner Cleaner" Take the paddle controller apart and then try to spray the tuner cleaner into the potentiometer itself. Then spin the paddle knobs back and forth like a million times...(only half kidding...). And then you should be good to go. I have done this several times with several of my paddles with good results. The only problem is that I have to repeat this with them every few weeks sometimes. I think the only sure method to fixing jittery paddles it to replace the potentiometers themselves. I do think these are fairly common and can be had for cheap. They are very similar to the ones the 5200 uses. Probably the same?

I advise against using a 2600 power supply in the 7800. The 7800 draws a bit more power than the original 2600 power supply can handle. I would only use a 2600 power supply assuming you only play 2600 games on your 7800. But if you do actually play any 7800 games then you really should use a higher amperage adapter. The 2600 adapter is only 9 volts, .5 amps but the 7800 is 9 volts and a full 1 amp. I once used a 2600 power supply on a modified 7800 but after less than 5 minutes of play the 2600 power supply began to make a very loud and audible "BUZZ" also the power supply was too hot to touch comfortably. I recommend using a 5.5 mm barrel inline power plug and then using a Genesis model 1 power supply as that power supply is almost the exact voltage and amperage needed to power a 7800 safely. Just my cautious recommendation. [ 02-07-2002: Message edited by: -^Cro§Bow^- ]

Well...I didn't forget about the SNES version. The original post stated which one was the best one for the NES. So I stick by my guns and vote for #2 still. However, your only half correct on the SNES version being the best. It is fun...but I still love firing up Hyperstone Heist on the Genesis!!!...Oh Yeah!!!

Well for one...most of them simply have the name of the game handwritten on a similar label style. Most protos actually have a short 8.3 format name of the game typed or handwritten on the label along with a Revision of the build and build date. Also...lots of actual true protos weren't even in cases but were just the boards themselves. Most of the lab loaners were the final releases given to magazines..etc for review just before release. Tempest can of course correct me on this...but I think that is the bulk. Matt...I learned all of this reading up on your website!!! Excellent and only source IMHO for Atari Proto information.

You guys have sparked my interest for the NES once again. I actually have a huge selection of used NES loose and some boxed to choose from here in my town. One place has well over 200 hundred NES games. Many are the same...but have different prices depending on Label Condition. As an example of the decents deals to be had there. I picked up a Boxed Micro Machines that used to belong to a video store for $5. However the label has lots of wear...and the switch on the back was actually removed and then someone (Rental Store?) actually soldered a NES Lockout chip to the MicroMachines board so that the switch wouldn't be needed! I guess they gutted a SMB cart or something for it. Also I once picked up a Gyromite for .50 cents...and of course upon opening it...I find a Famicom 60 pin to NES 72 pin converter inside it!!! As for the Tengen games...I have seen at least 5 Tetris loose in the Tengen case which usually goes for about 5-10 bucks here. I picked up my Toobin' for 3.99. So some good deals can be found. My Gauntlet however is the NES official version in the NES case. But I have seen several Tengen case ones for 3.99 or so. Just last week in fact.

HMMM... Just to let everyone know... #74 is Allocated...to me. Or it was last I heard...Andrew?

Uber You got that Right!!! Solaris is still in my book the ultimate in showing off the 2600. Hell it looks like a Nintendo game! The Corridor segments are really something to behold and even still I look at amazement when I pop in Solaris and see those craters on the planet surface rushing underneath me...and the saturn like planet in the background. I have only played Secret Quest in emulation as I don't actually own this cart yet. It is on the list however, and I do agree that as gameplay quality goes...Secret quest is awesome. Too bad it didn't randomize the maze layouts as that would have made Secret Quest about the best adventure game on the 2600 ever!

Okay...we have at our use at least two very good solutions that I have seen. If the original SMS used the Pause button for accessing additional screens...then this goes right up there with what we already mentioned about using the difficulty switches or select, pause...etc on the 7800 for this. The other solution is to follow an Indy 2600 way in that you could program the console to use a second controller in port 2. Basically you could set it up so that if you just move the stick at all or press the button it would bring up your options. Then you select what you want/need with the either the primary joystick or secondary and then make your selections with either the fire button on the secondary or primary joystick. While two joysticks may seem cumbersome, it is at least easier to keep a second controller nearby rather than the whole 7800 console itself. BTW, I suppose you guys never got very far in F18 and F14 as both of those use combos of the various 7800 switches to access or do certain things in the game. F18 requires you to always be at arms length of the console since you dropped your bombs with one difficulty switch and lowered the gear with the other. I still had fun playing those games regardless of whether I had to have two controllers or use the console switches. To me the fact that it is possible at all on the these vintage machines is "magic" to me. If you have to insist on only using one controller then you are actually limiting yourself quite a bit. Afterall you could really go gung ho and make a game that uses a 7800 proline in port 1 and a keyboard controller/touchpad in port 2 to access things. Star Raiders did this...and while I am not a fan of the game simply because I feel the keypad doesn't work well enough for this it still sold pretty dern well and is a very decent game to boot. Limit you imagination of the use of the console...and you will limit the quality and effort that can be put into a program for the console.

Hmmm...and here I just picked up a picture label combat and frogger for you for a buck each!... Wish you would have told me you were gonna bid on some of those as I wouldn't have picked them up. I have enough dupes. Well... I can still look for some of the other games you mentioned that you didn't win...like Phoenix..etc. Oh well, yet one more extra combat. Just let me know Inky if you dont' want me to pick anything else up or if you do...let me know when you bid on something so I won't pick it up until after the auctions. Thanks,

7800 Xenophobe was the sole reason I wanted the 7800 in the first place!!! Yes...it is good. I actually prefer it over all other home console versions I have played...The Lynx has the best port, and Nintendos looks good..but the colors are faded and it seems like they only used a palette of like 4 colors on the NES for that game. The 7800 version doesn't have quite the variety of the others...but the gameplay is 100% intact. Ikari Warriors and Commando are other must haves for that system.

Hehehe...Aimee is being modest. Aimee we aren't looking at the plane. That pic is all you girl! Now mine on the other hand...just makes me out to look like I am crazy or something... Maybe I am....