redsteakraw

Does anyone know why the controller ports are on the back of the machine. It seems to be an interesting design decision that was not emulated really by any other companies unless you count the PC. Did it serve a purpose other than to make room for the woodgrain. Even the Atari 2600 Jr still had the back controller ports but no woodgrain. What gives?

Data informs our decisions it helps us keep track of what we have and what we may want to get. Some people are creating database apps for managing their collections but these rely on outside data providers. I want to add an extra game provider section to Telllico my collection database app of choice as it already can manage everything from movies to book or your own custom collection. I am wondering are there any mostly complete databases of Atari 2600 games that can be downloaded and used? If not are there any open APIs for querying any existing databases that can be used in an Open Source database app? Any information or experience is appreciated.

How many of you want to bet the prototype they showed is some existing board they dropped in their plastic case?

After doing some digging, debian, retroArch and Emulation station all are fine with commercial uses. It is because RetroPie specifically bundles emulators with non commercial clauses they can't legally allow for commercial use. If one stripped down RetroPie to only emulators that allow commercial use one theoretically could have a commercial compatible image. You could rename MAME and use it commercially, Stella(2600) and Gens(sega genesis) are commercial compatible. Doom / Id software source ports are commercial compatible as well. ScummVM is also fine with commercial uses. SNES is probably the biggest hurdle as the emulator most used is explicitly non commercial. The other hard part would be securing legal roms / game licenses so your legal commercial project has something legal to play. So you could make use of much of RetroPie but work would be needed to fork the project and make everything commercially compatible and legal.

Pacman simply was rushed, if they spent the time and released Ms. Pacman's codebase as Pacman the reception would have been better. Pacman is playable but it simply cut too many corners and was too off-putting.

On retropie and non commercial clauses, it is probably because some of the emulators bundled have noncomercial clauses. A company could probably get around that by not shipping with said emulators and giving an option to download and install them. Any UI around retroArch could be used so using retroPIE isn't necessary. Lakka is using an XMB style UI and works just as well.

Atari VCS, or how to hijack nostalgia, exploit you and kill all good will the brand still has. Seriously, without specs or gameplay or a coherent plan this only barely better than the Coleco Chameleon. I feel bad for any dolt dumb enough to back their campaign.

To be honest it was a Sega Genesis, display model with a five game cart switcher. I did get all of the games I brought it up because it is an example of a simple yet obtainable goal.

I just want to say, you are maybe over reaching with this collecting. Collecting should be fun, and it should be based on your own satisfaction. You should choose the versions you like the most, there is no consensus. The text labels can show what modes are without the manual, the artwork labels look good and are well a work of art. You can simple make your own call because this is all down to personal preference. I would suggest pick a small but easily obtainable goal for your collection. For example I recently had a goal completed of getting games that my dentist office had when I was a kid. If you find something you like and it doesn't break the bank you can get it. Just think about what you want and what you don't care about. I personally don't care for Telegames so I pass them up. I won't pay any large amounts on any game that is't fun regardless of the rarity. I am new to collecting but I more or less know what I want. I also play every game, I do so to test them but also to know which ones I personally find the most enjoyable. I have my collection on a bookshelf separated by publisher / in alphabetical order. I have them stacked up. For notable game I want to show off I Have them standing up label side showing. I have Tapper showing now because I love that game and I like the label. Boxes are on a Separate shelf with lose manuals next to them. As for apps I am slowly adding my collection to Tellico as it also can track other collections. I also take pictures of my collection for reference when buying. So have fun and happy hunting!

The Atari 2600 is still getting new 2600 games well into this new Millennium. If you can only have 2 and only 2 Homebrew Games what are your top 2 games. What are your top 2 must own hombrews and why? Feel free to battle it out below for why your 2 are the 2 games.

Try WD-40 and rub out the contacts with an Eraser. Then clean the contacts with alcohol and a qtip and dry with a dry qtip.

This game is worth it it is fast and fun, Kaboom is a great fun game for the paddle controllers Demon attack is also a great one . As for Two player games Outlaw, Surround, Warlords and Combat. Have fun with your new collection. Also Ms Pacman > Pacman arcade and 2600.

Any pics? I am wondering how you actually fit the games on a cd rack as they aren't even a similar shape.

For the games, joysticks or both? Putting the games in the shoebox will not show it off and is one of the most dull looking options.

How do you organize your collection and manage the various cables, controllers and oddly shaped carts? the 2600 has various different shaped carts, if you stack them you can't easily stack the Matel games. what are some of your setups for storing / displaying your games. Large stacks are a pain to take a game in the middle out and easily end up in a mess when doing sso. When it comes to controllers, the joysticks are rather large and won't fit in a standard ziplock bag and the paddle controllers can get a bit messy. Given that some controller are needed for some games you simply can's leave one controller in your system. How do you prevent the ugly rat's nest of controller cables / av cables and everything else. So give your suggestions, show some pics and help the whole community reduce clutter.

While you may not know what each variation or special item does you can get an idea and be able to play enough to at least have fun. That is all a kid really would want or expect. With E.T. you won't even have fun without reading through all of it's convoluted mechanics. Take surround, Enduro, Defender, Bezerk, barn storming, keyston kapers and river raid. You can pick them up and have fun without having to read anything. The atari joystick ony has one button so it was rather easy to find things out through trial and error, that is except E.T. Most kids don't read or if they do it is usually after some frustration. Most people kids don't need to read the manuals.

E.T. Sucks because it was convoluted and was not designed for it's target demographic. Kids don't read much and many where used to just picking up a game and playing it. There was no real expectation that you would need to read a manual to at least be able to play the game. Pacman, Space invaders and all of the other hits were self evident, and you are able to pick them up and play them. E.T. while trying to be groundbreaking missed the mark, a simple playable game would have been far more better received than what was delivered. So lets say you read up on how to play it, it still isn't that fun you basically are collecting items and avoiding the annoying people, while falling into holes. Furthermore the whole hole mechanic isn't necessary, simply removing the holes and placing the objects on the ground where they would be visible and apparent would have been preferable. Simple obstacles like bushes would be far better and creating tension between ET and while the agent was chasing him. If you think about it then what you have is at it's base pacman, collect items(pellets) and avoid Humans(ghosts). So why not just make a simple pacman clone with the ET cutscene and intro screen / music? Making the game convoluted took away the fun factor for many people as well as caused many to simply not understand how to play it at all. At it's core it was Pacman just pretending to be something bigger and more. If you put even the VCS pacman vs ET side by side and see which one is more fun, Pacman easily is the winner. The 2600 isn't capable of convolution because it isn't easy to add tutorial levels or extra in game explanations because there was no space for that. So simple is better when you are on limited hardware and targeting kids as the major demographic. Because of the design decisions failings it makes ET suck, and an example of a bad game.

Sharing is caring, maybe if we give you the care bear stare it would warm your heart enough to share your pornographic rom hack.

Cats vs, dogs, toilet paper over or under there are many epic choices but this one may be the most important one! So you have a collection and have tones of carts how do you organize / stack them and why is that the best way. Do you organize by rarity, alphabetical, cart type, publisher, color, date or some combination there of? Lets duke it out in an all out comment battle of which way is the right way.

I would say must own are Demon Attack, Kaboom and Flappy most over rated are Space Invaders and PacMan

What are your Must Own and most Overrated games in your collection. You know which games tend to be played the most or are the shining example of what makes the Atari 2600 great. You also may have heard hype about a game, played it and was underwhelmed what are your choices for the best and the overrated. Homebrews do count so feel free to post you favs and you disappointments.

I recently got a bunch of titles I was looking for but some I am looking to get are: Outlaw, SSSnake, Surround, Smurf, Millipede, Dolphin, Pitfall 2, Pac Man, Pac Man Jr, HERO, ET, Porky's, Star Wars Arcade, Star Wars Return of the Jedi, Mario Bros, Custard's Revenge(and similar adult titles) and any racing controller game / controller set.

Will do, solid advice. I know how to solder and have soldered other electronic projects just never on a console before. I have a 3d printer / solder setup so I guess I could do a bit of modding if I found something that peeks my interest. So far as far as controllers I use a regular joystick or a Sega Genesis controller, I will look into the micro switch mod though. My dream setup would be an actual arcade button / joystick setup(maybe even sega genesis compatible) if I was going to go for the non traditional controller route. I will check out the microswitch mod.

Right now I am simply trying to learn the ins and outs of the system, I want at least all of the popular(and the most fun games). I don't care too much about the boxes I mainly want the carts with a preference toward full label and the artistic rendition variant if possible. I would be happy If I can get a heavy sixer but that is a long term goal, I have paddle controllers but no racing ones(and no racing controller games). I wouldn't mind a super charger / cassettes but that is a long term goal anyway and not a priority ATM. I will do a bit on Ebay and will see if I can get doubles off of anyone that is looking to offload them. Thank you for your advice.

Thanks for the advice! Who or what is hozer?