Lord Thag

I'll second the Encounter at L-5 vote. I like it too. Solar Storm is another great twitch game by Imagic that gets no love. I like it better than Kaboom! myself.

Sunlight? What's that?

Maybe we can get some talented people to show us what the 7800 really can do with some great homebrews, hmm? Hint hint

The stick will be a little bigger than the size of a neo-geo stick, and a bit thicker too. Dunno yet what it will look like, as it depends on whether we use fiberglass, or something else for the case. Ideally, it will have the same visual style as the big black beast, with a silver strip, and logo of course. Since we're just going to be making these for ourselves, and have decided not to sell them, Infotari can't do much about it. Even if we did decide to sell them, other companies release third-party hardware all the time, so it shouldn't be a problem.

Gorf, Missile Command, Star Wars The Arcade Game, Gyruss and Kaboom will not work with a digital stick, due to the reason just mentioned. We plan on adding keypad functionality to our sticks, probably by using smaller buttons arranged in traditional 'phone' fashion. We can build the stick with an analog arcade joystick, but they run upwards of $100, and neither my friend or I are willing to drop that much cash for compatability with a handfull of games, since a digital stick is around $15. What I plan to do (if we ever finish ) is write up a how-to and submit it here. Anyone more electrically experienced is welcome to clean it up and draw circuit diagrams if they want. Hopefully, the end result will be easy-to-follow instructions so you all can build these joysticks yourselves. And let me tell you, (having used the prototype), you will NEVER want to go back. Play control is incredibly tight, and you can really cut loose on those fire buttons. Beamrider and Dreadnaught Factor (two of my favs) are awesome with the new stick. The Pac-Man games are fantastic as well. Anyone who has ever used a competition pro stick will know what I mean.

Heh. The bachelorette special edition pack

I'll second Airlock and Frankenstein's Monster. I actually like swordquest as well, and put in hours as a kid trying to figure them out. I think it would be cool (since we have the answers now) to retroactievly make a bunch of riddles/puzzles that point to the correct solutions, so you can, umm, actually PLAY the things and win. That was why they stunk. There was no logic to the solutions, just trial and error. If someone were to supply the logic, who knows? They might be fun. Dunno why I like 'em. Maze Craze is one most folks don't like, but is crazy fun multiplayer with gads of options. Good bite-sized gaming!

and now you know....the rest of the story

No PCB should be necessary, but we talked about selling kits as you mentioned. The only hard part is the fiberglass case that we are making, but you could do a wooden case easy. The electronic stuff is simple. I'll keep you all posted.

Still have my vader, but it needs a new power switch. Still have all my games too. They're hiding somewhere in my Wall Of Many Games, which I have leveled up until it gained a +5 bonus vs all forms of exercise

Sure The power button on the main console helps as well

Thanks for the info people. Just so you all know, you do not need a materplay interface to use an arcade digital stick with the 5200, you just need to get a few of the proper resistors and solder them to the connections on the stick, so that the 5200 can read the proper min/mid/max values of resistance off of the stick. It looks to be about 35-40 dollars to build. I don't think I'm going to want to put in the effort of building a bunch of these for the price that everyone seems willing to pay, but I will write up a how-to (it's quite simple) when the stick is finished. We're also adding an extra cord to make it 2600 compatable as well. I'll try to borrow my friends camera and post some pics when we're done.

Oh, and it WILL NOT require a working 5200 stick to start the game. We're building the start/pause/reset/ into it. That's the plan anyway. This will not be a rebuilt joystick, but rather re-engineered from the ground up new controller. We can use an analog stick too, that is actually easier (but much more expensive). I'll keep you posted.

It's going to be 25$-35$ at least, and that's just for the parts. Add all the buttons, joysticks and such, as well as the framing and fiberglass treatment, and you get at least that. Any suggestions for how we could build it cheaper? I'm all ears...

I've heard of the Arcadia 2001 on and off for years. My question: Is it any fun to play, and if so, what are the fun games? I may pick one up sometime, but I would like to get the skinny on it first. Thanks all!

The 'F' in Channel-F actually stands for 'funky', not fairchild, btw I got one awhile back and my impression (after turning it on and laughing) was that it is playable only in the sense that if you move the joystick, something happens on screen. It doesn't happen very fast, mind you, nor does this mild form of interaction actually result in anything resembling fun. When you can measure screen pixels with your pinky finger, and the score is sometimes an optional feature, it's time to stick it on the shelf, no? It does look nice sitting up ther, though.

A friend and I have been working on a 5200 joystick using actual arcade parts. We have, as of yesterday, tested a *very* gimmicked up version of it, and played several games with it. We are looking into how much it will cost to build, and if it is economical enough, possibly build and sell them. So far, it uses a digital 8-way arcade stick (analog is doable too) with buttons for start/pause/reset (those are untested so far) and two fire buttons. We may or may not add a keypad later on. What I would like to know is what you guys feel would be a fair price for a 5200 arcade stick, and any comments or questions. If we don't end up building them, we will post the how-to online. Anyone interested?

The best way to play popeye? With a joystick! Oh, a fire button helps too

Mars, possibly AA no longer sells them due to copyright infringement.

I got my 'sixer from one of those sleazy movie/game store owners who always try to rip you off. You know, the type that try to sell you pac-man and combat for 5$ a pop Fortunately, he had no idea what he had, and I ended up getting the 'sixer for quite cheap. Take that, sleazebag!

Dear gods, even this forum is haunted! There I was, watching my screen in fear, having read of the strange and supernatural horrors of the NES, and BAM! More and more writing kept appearing in the thread, and there were NO HANDS WRITING IT!! It's devil's magic I tell you! Help! If there is one constant in the universe, it's that dumb people are the basic building blocks of society. The bid is up to 177$ I think I'll send the winner a free copy of Taboo, the Sixth Sense

It plugs in the cart port, and you plug the carts in the intellivoice. They are fairly common, as I've seen at least five floating around where I live, and we don't get a whole lot of classic game stuff around here. A lot of people don't like the INTV, but it's one of my favorite systems.

You should be able to resell all of that and make about twice what you paid.

Looks nice! I keep mine either on a bookshelf, or in one of those stackable tupperware drawer things.

Rescue on Fractalus doesn't end, you just fly up to the mothership and then return to the planet in a more difficult area. Fun game though.