Voxel

That depends on your skill level. You can open up the potentiometers and clean/oil them and reset the wiper arm for good contact. You can just squirt some oil into the potentiometers and have a play on the console and wait until the jitter settles down. You can believe the words of many and replace the potentiometers altogether. You'll need to find a compatible set, similar to the ones in the Pong Console. You may be able to find ones like in the paddle controllers for the VCS 2600 and adapt them to fit.

Thought some more and was wondering if a bonus missile is feasible, where a tanq shoots a bonus pop up and an off screen missile is fired at the opponent, would be like getting some air support. Was also thinking if more than one random mine could be implemented as so far I've not hit a single mine during play testing and another one may change that.

Megablast! by Thorsten Karwoth. It pushed the hardware to where slowdown is visible during big explosions. That's pushing the hardware to its' limits, more than pulling off clever hardware tricks.

Whilst looking at ebay listings I came across the following: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Atari-Pong-Console-Model-C-140-With-Instructions-c-1970-039-s-Parts-or-Repair-/402830178350?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2047675.l2557&nma=true&si=56wSaQrrYUfT40zCyMF0OMtKi6o%3D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc It's clearly Super Pong, however the ninth image is visibly a Pong Doubles box. Shame about the condition though. As a note the battery lid indicates the console is factory reconditioned. Would be interesting if this was a Pong Doubles that was converted to Super Pong (pure conjecture).

Glad to know what the terrain colours mean. At the moment there is a random mine on the playfield. Would be nice to have other items on the playfield like a bonus life, or faster shot, or speed or a shield. Faster shots, speed, or shield could even be temporary and be denoted by colour (seeing as you like using colours for the terrain). As it is you can nudge the opponent into an obstacle, which might add to the play strategy. Much like Combat the closer you're to the opponent the more rapid you can shoot them. I'm thinking you could have maze type levels too.

Thanks for this. Here's some inspiration:

@DrVenkman That's some great work. Knowing Sega borrowed from Atari makes some sense. I've also purchased a third party light gun for the C64. Should pull my fingers out and test it for Atari compatibility as Commodore also borrowed from Atari and those Commodore light guns go for cheap. Link: http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/52968/Defender-64-Light-Gun/

Can't remember if I tried it on the 6 switch or the Jr, but it worked fine alternating the players to control Mr. Yo-Yo. This was tested on an Uno cart. I don't recall if I tested the firing though.

Watch a few videos on opening a 2600, if you are unsure about how to go about it. You remove the five screws and open it as if it's a clam shell opening on the left hand side, with the pivot on the right hand side (when facing the console), this stops you from damaging the ribbon connector. There are clips inside the case, so you may need to wiggle the top and bottom halves to open. Firstly open the console give it a clean out (it may well need one). Some fluid would have gone into the switches and run down the ribbon into the connector. So oil the ribbon connector and remove any residue. Then oil the switches and give them a wiggle. Oil the console ribbon under the switches where contact is made. Secondly you may have fluid in the colour trimmer. It's the trimmer you access from underneath the console. You'll see the access hole going through the vents to the circuit board (it's the only access hole which has a visible component). Remember it's position and put a drop of oil on it (3in1 will do) and give it a few turns, then reset it's position. If any of the chips are socketed then you can oil the pins and remove/clean and reseat them. You can mop up the excess oil, though it will not short any components. Connect up the console and look for any indication of colour, which will tell you if the above areas need further work.

The WIP plays okay, will be nice to see how this develops. I like the speed of movement for the tanqs, will keep players on their toes.

Got to agree. In comparison to modern tech folks may see vintage tech as an irrational want. However with today's out of control tech, I think vintage is simpler. Many may forget our early achievements in computing, where just storing and retrieving data from an address, or adding two numbers and having the value returned was an accomplishment. Whilst I have other devices that can perform similarly, I still have this irrational want for this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hewlett-Packard_9100A

Always wanted to put together a P4EE on the 478 socket. https://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/Pentium_4/Intel-Pentium 4 Extreme Edition 3.4 GHz - RK80532PG0962M (BX80532PG3400F).html Think that was the final evolution of the original P4 on that socket. It's hyper-threading and clocks 3.4GHz. Think I've still got a compatible Asus motherboard somewhere. Would be great for warming the house in winter. It's 32bit so would have run XP 32bit with its' 3.5GB limit. Would have been good for some older games/computing giving some built in DOS capability. Maybe one day.

From memory I've an XEGS light gun or two boxed away, somewhere... I can remember opening one up back in the late 80's and was surprised how little electronics it contained and certainly would agree it's a modified light pen (from when I opened my light pen, which would have been around the same time). I've acquired the odd light gun from buying Pong clones and have yet to buy a DB9 joystick extension cable and see if one can be wired up to work on an XEGS, it's somewhere on the back burner.

Forgot to add the colours are the same. In the bottom right image for the LCD the colours were cycling as I pressed pause, where as in the CRT images I did not pause the game. The game speeds appear similar between the CRT and NTSC.

PAL CRT and LCD comparison below.

"Hello, I would like to know why we find atari 2600 games with burgundy boxes and the burgundy cartridge with the manual in black and white, and the same game with a gray box and a gray or burgundy cartridge with a color manual. We see it with Pole Position or the game of Tennis or Mario Bros for example. There is a different packaging. I can't tell if this is normal and if there is a reason for it. Thank you for helping me with my future purchases." Je pense que c'était le marketing / la budgétisation et le choix de la direction Atari de la journée. Les manuels en noir et blanc étaient certainement la réduction des coûts de Tramiel, car le 2600 Jr était un système bas de gamme à l'époque. I think that was marketing / budgeting and the choice of the Atari management of the day. Black and white manuals were certainly Tramiel's cost cutting, as the 2600 Jr was a low end system at that time.

Agreed. If you could, just to make sure they're the same colors you're seeing on the CRT. Thanks! Will do.

Responded to the other post, however for completeness of this thread, I'll post here too. Below is how the game looks on a PAL 2600 Jr. I'll play test a bit on the weekend when I have more time.

Here is a comparison of the NTSC and the PAL ROM on a PAL 2600 Jr (long rainbow) on a CRT. Could test on an LCD TV if required.

Nice game. Like the foo fighters title screen.

Responded to your other post, I'm in the UK and can test too.

I'm in the UK, will be happy to test it.

I'm interested in 2 please.

For the old FX series, I think the main difference was additional print styles (proportional, italic etc). The modern (D)FX line has extra fonts (NLQ) and is really fast. Quite rugged for modern standards (not that you'd guess from the plastic used).

Got Tempest Elite. Lance, provided excellent customer service to solve my issue.