The Night Phantom

“Porkies”?

Happy to serve. I tried to tone down the outrageousness on the off-chance that someone really would copy it and send it out!

quote: Originally posted by Ze_ro: Dude, you actually bothered to compress a 16k file? Considering how small all these roms are, It's usually not even worth it to compress them. The link Liquid_sky provided points to an AtariAge file containing the Garfield ROM and an associated text legal notice. Among other things, the legal notice states: quote: Permission is granted to distribute the ROM code for the Atari 2600 game, Garfield, provided that the copyright statement in this text file is included with the code. I imagine this is the reason AtariAge has bundled the ROM and text file into a single zip file, rather than distributing an uncompressed ROM all by itself.

quote: Originally posted by Rhindle The Red: AtariAge distributes all the ROMs on the site in .zip form. Eep! You're right, of course; thanks for pointing out what I overlooked! quote: Originally posted by liquid_sky: seems hotmails virusscanner thinks all .bin files are viruses Ya know, I never cease to be astounded by Hotmail. Whenever my opinion of it appears to have hit rock bottom, Hotmail is there to show me how much lower an opinion can sink. I can see it now: From: [email protected] Subject: KABOOM VIRUS PLEASE READ!!! PASS THIS ON TO ANYONE YOU HAVE AN E-MAIL ADDRESS FOR! If you receive an e-mail with an attachment named "KABOOM.BIN" DO NOT OPEN IT!! It is a HIGHLY DESTRUCTIVE "MAIL BOMB"!!! This is actually a very old virus that has been around since 1981! However its destructive potential went mostly unnoticed until the information was announced from Hotmail yesterday morning. Running the virus has already cost countless hours of lost productivity. Microsoft says this is a VERY dangerous virus, even worse than "FISHDRBY.BIN", and there is NO remedy for it at this Time. Pass this warning along to EVERYONE in your address book and please share it with all your online friends ASAP so that this threat maybe stopped. Please practice precautionary practices and tell anyone that may have access to your computer. Forward this warning to everyone that you know that might access the Internet at any time in their lives. Take out classified ads in your local newspaper and SPREAD THE WORD ABOUT THIS VIRUS!!!!!!

Possibly the solution to your problem is addressed on Voch's Stella profile page, which includes this note: quote This memory issue should be immaterial to users of OS X, which employs a different memory model (indeed, I run the Carbonized Stella 1.1.2 on OS X without any crashes or freezes).

You're welcome—glad I could help! Digital Press rates Space Eagle's rarity as a 6 on a ten-point scale similar to AtariAge's rarity index.

Digital Press' Collector's Guide (6th edition) identifies Space Eagle as an alternate title for Froggo's Cruise Missile. The Guide gives Space Eagle's manufacturer as “Hot Shot” in the 2600 “imports” (i.e., non-US) section.

quote: Originally posted by AtariDude: I would have to say it is Star Raiders in my case. The reason is that I have to pull out the special control that goes with the game just to play it. In my collection, too, Star Raiders goes sorely overlooked, though for a different reason. More often than not I'm looking for a quick game or at least a fast-paced game, and a strategy game like Star Raiders doesn't fit the bill. Similarly, “adventure” games like Pitfall II: Lost Caverns and Raiders of the Lost Ark get played infrequently (though ironically enough, Adventure itself gets a fair amount of use).

By the way, the site is back.

quote: Originally posted by Ze_ro: So how much of the book(s) does this game actually cover? The game seems to derive from part of the first novel in the trilogy, The Fellowship of the Ring.

AtariAge is a fount of emulation resources. Try these pages: Beginner's Guide to Emulation 2600 Emulation

As I reported in a previous topic on the same subject, I have never to my recollection had a dream about video gaming. That is, until a couple of nights ago. My dream was not a spectacular one. In the waking world I had been considering finally buying a set of keyboard controllers; in my dream, I found a set in what was supposed to be the original box, strangely already located in a cabinet drawer where I keep most of my Atari-compatible controllers. In my dream I was a little surprised to find them but relieved that I hadn't gone and bought an additional pair. Unfortunately, my cabinet didn't also yield an undiscovered Quadrun or other good find. Not that I would have been able to keep it! Strange that I finally had a video-game-related dream after all these years. Maybe this discussion was the catalyst!

Jr. Pac-Man is certainly the best official Pac-Man game for the VCS in terms of fidelity to the arcade, but my skills are too meager to keep up with it for long. So, my favorite remains Ms. Pac-Man. If, like Ze_ro, we count unofficial Pac-Man-style games, I think I would still award the prize to Ms., but I agree that Lock 'n' Chase (also an arcade conversion) is a lot of fun. However, we would be remiss in overlooking Rob Kudla's Pac-Man redux (actually based on the Ms. Pac-Man ROM), perhaps the best of the VCS hacks to date, certainly more faithful to the arcade than even Jr. (Too bad Ebivision's Pac-Man remains unavailable!)

quote: Originally posted by marty: Everyone called it a computer chip, i corrected them. Hey—the 2600 is not called the Video Computer System for nothing!

A number of Atari-related dreams have already been recounted in a previous topic. Interesting (and slightly eerie) stuff!

quote: Originally posted by legeek: the bonus items do the following all for a brief period: >one of them stops the water from rising The “stopper” looks like a red inverted triangle with a black ring on top. quote The “stop sign” resembles a red square standing on one of its corners. It prevents Mary from jumping and pacing, but not if higher ground is accessible. quote The “oil can” (if that's what it's supposed to be) is a white inverted triangle with a short black horizontal line on top. quote This item looks like a set of golden blocks. When the powerup is active, both the crane and the blocks not yet part of the pile are brown. Warning: blocks can turn back to the usual hazardous gray in mid-fall, crushing poor Mary! quote The “1”, “2”, and “5” each earn the player 100 times their face value. quote: and an item that looks just like Mary (I wonder what that does!) Bonus life! quote It's not a bird—it's a plane (were you expecting Superman?) and it causes you to drop your blocks if it touches them or the line holding them. Save Mary appears finished, and it was one of the better long-missing games to surface in recent times. Have fun!

When we were kids, my cousin told me her cat was fascinated by Pac-Man for the Atari 8-bit computers. When the game was in play, this cat would climb atop the television and peer down at the screen. I wonder if it was the background siren that attracted her notice. Now, what would the cat have thought of Mouse Trap?

quote: Originally posted by StanJr: I think Junie is trying really hard to provide a service currently monopolized by Hozer. quote: Originally posted by HozerVideo: Please don't accuse me of having a monopoly, either. A guy that has a monopoly doesn't go out of his way trying to help others get into the business. You can apologize for that crack any time you feel like it. I have done a lot for a lot of people for a long time, doing what I can to help all I can. For what it's worth, I think you (Randy a.k.a. HozerVideo) may be a little confused about the words monopoly and monopolized. A monopoly does not imply untoward action or intent. It simply is a situation in which someone has exclusive ownership, possession, or control. If you happen to be the only person doing what you've been doing for the VCS community, then you have a de facto monopoly. It's a weak monopoly, sure, in part because of your own willingness and efforts to “share the wealth.” But I see nothing factually or morally wrong in StanJr's description. It's not an accusation. Perhaps you've been bombarded by too much Microsoft news coverage.

quote: Originally posted by Ze_ro: Give Infogrames a break... Hey, give us a break! I for one was not criticizing Infogrames, merely pining for the glory days.

quote: Originally posted by liquid_sky: sorry if my use of ******* was too prolific.. Man, do you have something up your asterisk!

quote: Originally posted by Junie: No new Atari system then? What a bumer Agreed. It just doesn't seem right.

quote: Originally posted by Ze_ro: In reality, the oxide/rust on the metal is actually just a very thin layer, and there is basically no danger of the entire trace rusting off... unless you have a 100 year old cartridge or something. Ah, that must be why there are no century-old video games lying around...

quote: Originally posted by liveinabin: King Kong wouldn't have featured the trade center as its set in the 30's The King Kong manual specifically states the setting is the Empire State Building, as in the original 1933 film. Note, however, that the 1976 film remake is set in the contemporary era and in it, Kong does climb the World Trade Center. Although the building color in the VCS Spider-Man game changes after the completion of each level, and although the manual explicitly states that these are different buildings, I tend to think of them all as the Daily Bugle Building. Sentimentalism, I suppose.

quote: Originally posted by twit: Finally, there is already a glut of "Review" sites on the net. The information is already out there in varying forms. Why does it have to be duplicated? Good point. One possible alternative would be for AtariAge to provide links to reviews appearing on other sites. Of course, that in itself might pose quite the administrative nightmare...

The point/goal of Quadrun is to show off voice synthesis on the 2600 and to incorporate a shooting strategem in an offbeat way. Have fun!