Mockduck

Released 2/2/24: Frenzy: 7800 $8.99 A homebrew turned official publish? Frenzy: 7800 is a homebrew by Bob Decrescenzo (Fail Safe: 7800) that now has an official publish by Atari on the VCS! Includes the 7800 homebrew of Berzerk as well! Frenzy was the sequel to Berzerk.

I feel lucky to have won a recent eBay auction for a boxed Guardian that is in pretty beat-up shape, and it arrived today! Curious about the unusual-to-me price tag tear-out on the box. The side of the box is fine, so it's not like the whole corner got snagged and torn or something, seems like at some point someone specifically and deliberately tore out the price tag. Wondering if this is a form of record-style "Cut Out"? We know Apollo went bust as this game was ready to release, could this be a byproduct of that? Or is it just some rando weirdness where someone decided they hated the price tag?

Hot dang just won an eBay auction for a BOXED Guardian w/manual! Yes, it's beat up and the tag space is torn, and I paid $200 (with free shipping) for it, but that feels cheap for this one. Kind of surprised there was only one other bid on it. I have seen it boxed exactly once, in immaculate condition, graded and slabbed, with a $3500 price tag... Game is fun, too! I have a loose cart of it in much better shape than this one, might end up swapping carts.

If there ever was another Atari console focused on new physical media, it'd have to also make sure all games that were released physical never received a software update for the most part. I love my physical media, but a download key on a disc doesn't really get you much. How many PS5 physical games will be able to just be popped in and played in a few years? How many today don't require an update to run on the console? So you'd not only have to be the physical media console, but you'd have to go against modern times and only release "complete" games. It's just not how things are done these days.

Fatal Run = INSTANT BUY, $30 is a steal for this one.

Released 1/26/24: Timeline Mission $5.99 The latest from Metgan Games (Basketboom, Doodle Taxi, Escape from PoPo and more)! Puzzle style game. Also available on iOS! Mighty Math $3.99 The latest VCS release from Treefall Studios (Perplexing Orb, Tilting Tiles)

I mean yes if you are an Atari focused retro game nerd who loves 50th and is also a massive vinyl nerd. For less hard-core, maybe not?

Not everyone in the top 8 is a VCS player but most of us are. Neat that the thing I speculated about back in May in my video is actually happening! For anyone interested in watching on Saturday the 27th it will start in the afternoon, with the 10k grand prize round starting around 6p mountain time/8p Eastern. Twitch.tv/alan1gaming Here is the rundown for saturday: All times Mountain: 3 Min Melee, Team Deathmatch, and Last Team standing Tournaments Intro / Rules 9:45 AM - 10:00 AM 3 Min Round Robin Melee Tournament 10:00 AM - 11:15 AM 3 Min Round Robin Awards 11:15 PM - 11:30 PM 5 Minute ARENA TEAM Deathmatch Tournament 11:30 AM - 12:40 PM 5 Minute ARENA TEAM Deathmatch Awards 12:40 PM - 1:00 PM LUNCH / FREETIME 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM 3 Round ARENA TEAM Last Team Standing Tournament 2:00 PM - 3:45 PM 3 Round ARENA TEAM Last Team Standing Tournament Awards 3:45 PM - 4:00 PM BREAK / FREE TIME / EARLY DINNER GET READY FOR THE BIG DANCE 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM 1 LIFE HIGH SCORE KNOCKOUT Tournament introduction / Rules 5:00 PM - 5:30 PM 10 K prize for winner 5 K prize for runner up 2.5k prize for 3rd place Recorded Video introductions for the players / hand out player trading cards 5:30 PM - 6:00 PM 1 LIFE HIGH SCORE KNOCKOUT Tournament 6:00 PM - FINISHED

Seems like a perfectly reasonable deal to me, dunno why you'd think otherwise. Would you feel the same way if there was a boxed Red Sea Crossing in it, then you haggled the person down to $10 after seeing it?

Interesting, I see. Congrats on an amazing bit of luck.

If I saw a 1k game for $5 I would in fact let them know what they had, then if I wanted it I'd pay a fair price. That's just me, though.

Yeah this whole scenario was pretty bad imo. Store owner severely underpaid, arguably ripped off the seller, meanwhile the seller sold it to the store while actively running an eBay auction for it that was getting bids, the highest bidder got ripped off because it was already sold. Only person making out well is the store owner who gave someone pennies on the dollar for it by taking advantage of them. They either now have the cheapest-ever Atari score versus price or will use it to scum flip for cash.

On the positive side, the design of the vinyl looks fantastic, love the gold color and Atari logo on the spindle. I like the music quite a bit! I can't say I love love it, with the exception of VCTR-SCTR, which is reason alone to get this record if you are a record person. On the collector's side, ya know this thing's gonna be an item in the future, bet I see a sealed copy for $200 at a convention in five years.

I hope they correct the two spelling errors in the track listing: "Vector Sector" should be VCTR-SCTR "Hated House" should be "Haunted House" on the final track...

It's interesting with the 2600+ being so easy to grab video from I bet we'll see a lot more content creation about it, maybe worth having a section on the forums for it? "Atari Content Creation" sub forum or something?

It's really great to have an early access style exclusive on the VCS, regardless of the game. I find Food Fight: Culinary Combat to be totally ok in an average sort of way, but I also suck at third (and first) person shooters. Given the options for online multiplayer on the VCS (which we don't pay for, which is nice) this is one of the best available. Here's my look at the game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFG4CYWOzkA

Yes, I've used mine without issue.

Released 1/19/24: Wild Dogs $9.99 A new 2d platformer shooter from 2ndBoss! Polygunr - Sneak Peak (spelled "peak" instead of "peek") FREE Spelling error aside, free game! Demo of the upcoming Polygunr, latest from RetroNinja (BPM Boy).

I like Days of Doom, I thought the tactical combat worked great and while a bit grindy was really nicely done:

In theory it could serve as kind of an Achievements system for the VCS maybe. Otherwise probably just an app linking to the club? Fine, I guess? So far I haven't really seen the Club do much other than initially serve as an NFT hub (bleh) and then have some exclusive physical merch, which is cool.

Weird, I have been using mine without issue, fire button working fine.

Yeah, I've been hearing this as well on my Pitfall! even after a few cleanings.

Good point, would have to be a 7800 edge connector or whatever it's called.

Wow, that is fantastic! Never heard of it. $250 seems like it would have felt expensive back then. Wonder how well/if it actually worked?

I have read anecdotal reports that the new 2600+ cartridge connector, the bit with the teeth where you plug the carts in, might be a bit looser and have weaker pins than original hardware. If this is true, what would happen if you swapped the 2600+ pins with an original Atari 2600 pin connector? Would it (maybe?) resolve some game loading issues like with Activision carts? Would it be relatively easy to do?