bcostin

I'm trying to get an new SIO2PC setup working with my XEGS. I'm new to all of this, and I haven't used an Atari 8-bit for anything but cartridges in a looong time. I'm probably missing something obvious. Everything seems to be hooked up correctly, and the green LED turns on when the cable is plugged into the Atari, but the XEGS never seems to even attempt to boot from the virtual SIO2PC drive with the disk images I have tried. As far as I can tell the software (the standard DOS app, current version) doesn't register any activity from the Atari at all. I'm not quite sure how to force the system to attempt to boot from disk. I can hold down various combinations of Start/Option/Select, but I'm not sure what's appropriate. Should it attempt to book from the "drive" automatically, or what? The external keyboard is disconnected (it also uses the SIO port, and I've only got one of those). When the power switch is turned on, the system just starts the built-in Missile Command game as though nothing's happening. Of course, the problem may be something else on the PC end. My only other Atari 8-bit is disassembled at the moment with a video problem. I can put it back together to test this with if necessary, but I wanted to check for other ideas first.

Gakken was a foreign distributor of handheld games. Different companies had individual marketing, licensing, and distribution rights for different parts of the world. The game technology itself was sometimes developed by one of these companies and spun off. Other times the hardware was created by anonymous OEMs that did the technical work and then licensed everything to various third parties to actually sell. According to Clint Dyer's great handheld reference site, that game was the Japanese release of the Coleco Pac-Man game sold here in the states. (Which would make sense considering the name, too, since the original Pac-Man game was released as Puckman in Japan.) http://users2.ev1.net/~rik1138/Gakken/Supe...PuckMonster.htm

I have a Colecovision that does something similar. Garbled sprites, followed by the game freezing completely. I haven't finished diagnosing the problem (I have a spare console) but I have it on good authority that it's a dirty power switch. That may be a place to start.

I have happy memories of getting the big blue Tron joystick and both games for my birthday one year. Unfortunately my joystick also broke shortly thereafter. At least it still looks cool on the shelf. I'd reccommend getting both. Deadly Discs is definiately a fun game (though it would be even better if there were an option to make the discs "deadly" on their return trajectory, too.) Adventures of Tron isn't bad either, but I never liked it as much as Discs. I just never got the hang of it. It's an interesting variation on the usual platfomer, though.

Aha. I couldn't find the adjustment potentiometer on the mainboard because that's not where it is. It's actually on the back of the computer, behind a small hole in the metal frame that holds the RAM expansion and OS modules. Those clever little engineers. Oh well, I had to open up the case to fix a few sticky keys anyway. The article archive on this web site helped me find the adjustment: http://www.page6.org/issues/issue_08/Issue...are%20Facts.htm Unfortunately adjusting the pot doesn't seem to have helped. I tweaked it a bit in both directions and the display is still in glorious monochrome. Maybe a faulty RF modulator? A bad chip? Evil spririts? I suppose it's time to buy a video cable and see if the composite output has the same problem...

Thanks, rdemming, I found another reference to that adjustment via Google. I opened up my 800 last night and located the RF modulator, but I didn't see the adjustment pot nearby where I expected it to be. I'm going to try cleaning the RCA jack mounted on the board (where the external cable connects), so I'll take a closer look for that potentiometer at the same time.

I haven't had a chance to use my Atari 800 in a few weeks. I just hooked it up to my gaming TV via the RF output and, to my consternation, the display has no color. Everything seems to work correctly otherwise, it's just all in B&W. I know it's not the TV. Unfortunately I don't have a composite video cable with the DIN connector, so I can't test the alternate video output. The RF cable on the original 800 is built in, rather than a jack, so I can't easily swap RF cables, either. Has anyone else seen this happen? Any ideas?

Yes. It's a fun game. The action is repetitive, but the variety of different demons and the steadily increasing difficulty keep it interesting. The graphics and sound are also nicely done, and impressive for the 2600.

That's an interesting article. Does anyone happen to have the original illustrations?

I found a ColecoVision at a yard sale that was covered in dust, grime, and some kind of spilled adhesive. It was in a big, ragged cardboard box buried under a tangle of speaker wire and other junk. I bought the whole box for $5. When I got it home I found that box also contained the steering wheel controller, the VCS adapter, a few cartriges and manuals, and a set of Wico bat-handle joysticks. Once I got it all cleaned up it worked great.

Welcome to the board. It's good to see that some young un's still have good taste in games. I'm 31, BTW. I've been an Atari player since 1978, a year or two after they discovered electricity. Old? Me?

I got a pair of Coleco Super-Action controllers today, packed in their original styrofoam. for $3.00. One Super-Action baseball overlay, but no games. I've been looking for a pair of these controllers on eBay lately, so I'm happy.

Oops, I meant Beauty and the Beast. I don't know why I typed Lock N' Chase (which, of course, already exists for the 2600)

Good suggestions. I like the idea of breathing new life into some of the early titles. They often don't get the attention they deserve.

I'd like to see Shark! Shark! ported to the 2600. Lock N' Chase would be nifty, too.

FWIW, that same brief review also appears word-for-word on page 101 in the 2600 section of EG's 1984 Software Encyclopedia, 2nd Annual Edition, which is conveniently sitting here by my computer. The formatting of the numerical ratings at the top is slightly different, but the text is the same. This particular issue has no game photos or artwork, just B&W newsprint pages of reviews, most recyled from the first edition, I imagine. This same issue also has a "review" of Coleco's Lady Bug (their spacing) for the 2600 (p94). A good imagination and a talent for rewriting promotional copy were apparently job requirements for game reviewers even back then.

I like Venture; the creepy atmosphere of the game appeals to me. Yeah, it's a bit repetitive, but many games of the era are equally so. For a somewhat different point of view: http://www.notmydesk.com/my_desk/vision/venture.html

Wow, that looks fantastic! Nice collection, too. I wish I had the skill to build something as functional and professional looking as that. I'd probably just end up cutting off a finger or two, and then I'd have a hard time holding a joystick. Just out of curiosity, what are the outer dimensions of the cabinet?

For a while the only console in my neighborhood was the 2600, except for a guy down the street with a decidedly non-threatening Odyssey2, so I never really took a side in the first round of the console wars. A few years later I was drooling over Electronic Games and wishing my parents would buy me a Colecovision or a 5200, and I remember some vague brand loyalty for the 7800 when it finally came out, but by then I was spending my gaming budget on my C64 and it was kind of a moot point. Computers, though, were another story. One year I got a VIC-20. and the next year my best friend got an Atari 800. That was a source of much debate over many games of Jupiter Lander and Missile Command. In retrospect I was definitely on the losing side in that argument, but I never would have admitted it back then.

Demon Attack and Laser Gates, at least judging by the amount of time I've played them. I like Dragonfire, too, but I've never been very good at it.

Demon Attack and Laser Gates, at least judging by the amount of time I've played them. I like Dragonfire, too, but I've never been very good at it.

Demon Attack and Laser Gates, at least judging by the amount of time I've played them. I like Dragonfire, too, but I've never been very good at it.

Space War was a favorite for my sister and me. It's fun careening around the sun, bouncing all over the place and trying to aim at each other. The weird color combinations and spotty physics didn't bother me much back then. I still enjoy it, in fact, but I would love to see someone do a more faithful adaptation of the game; I know the 2600 can do better.

When it comes to arcade translations, I think Rampage has to be included. A lot of Activision's titles were clearly inspired by arcade games, but reinterpreted in such a way as to best leverage the 2600's strengths and avoid its limitations. Unfortunately that pragmatic approach doesn't work as well when you're obliged to re-create a licensed version of an arcade hit.

I'll buy boxed games if they're available, but I try to leave sealed games for people who appreciate them as collectibles more then I do. I feel guilty opening them.