The Night Phantom

N.B. this issue has been previously discussed.

quote: Originally posted by rasty: And the wheel becomes a paddle? It's a driving controller, silly!

quote: Originally posted by King Atari: One thing I'll say about the game, I like it. It's pretty good for 80's nostalgia, as was the movie (look close and you can see an Atari in the living room, and the brother is later heard talking about "Space Invaders". Maybe that was a deal Atari and Spielberg struck). One of the shirts Mike (the older brother) wears is a screenshot of Space Invaders (apparently the Taito coin-op, not an Atari version).

quote: Originally posted by StanJr: ESB is fun simply because you can shoot virtually endless amounts of AT-AT's. There's no real strategy or anything, but its mindless fun for several minutes between other games. There is some degree of strategy involved. The manual even contains a strategy section. (At least, my copy does; AtariAge's Empire Strikes Back HTML manual seems to stop after the first page.) quote: Originally posted by StanJr: OH MY GOD, have you seen this thing! Long after Lucas is dead and buried will he roll over in his grave because of this While it doesn't hold up as well now as when I was eight, The Star Wars Holiday Special isn't all bad. I maintain the cartoon adventure (in which Boba Fett is introduced) is pretty cool.

quote: Originally posted by Ze_ro: 6. Any chance they accept PayPal? It's a lot cheaper for me than using money orders and crap. Oops! I neglected this one. Although I should think crap would be quite cheaply available, yes, you can use PayPal, according to Hozer's ordering information page. Hozer's account is [email protected]

quote: Originally posted by Ze_ro: Couple of questions of my own: Unlike you, I am going to take “couple” literally and offer only two answers. Maybe someone more knowledgeable than I can address the rest. quote All of my Hozer carts are in the classic Atari cases. I don't know if any other case style is ever used. quote Most of mine (homebrews and hacks) did come labeled. The sole exception is A Better Pac-Man. I ordered my copy when it first came available, and it might be that labels simply weren't in supply yet, or perhaps my labelless cart was an oversight. (In this particular case, it's not a big deal; the hack author's dedicated Web page offers label images for download.)

quote: Originally posted by liveinabin: I must be the only person on earth who hates their 'empire strikes back' game. Probably! quote The fact that the AT-ATs always end up reaching the Echo Base shield generator (if they don't destroy all your snowspeeders first) might make the game seem pointless, but remember that you are buying time for the Rebels' evacuation—a worthwhile endeavor indeed!

quote: Originally posted by Scorpio: I have a question about Hozer Video Games. Is there an extra shipping-and-handlimg charge added on to the price of the game? I have been to the Hozer web site (http://webpages.charter.net/hozervideo/) and I read the page about ordering, but it doesn't say anything about S&H charges. “Randy's full 2600 list” on the Hozer Web site does clarify the S&H issue: quote: My part of the fee is ONLY for my time, parts, postage, and labor and NOT IN ANY WAY for the actual contents of the cart! So, no, there is no additional charge to tack on.

AtariAge's Laseresal 2600 page and the author's own page about the game are somewhat vague on the identity of the arcade game that inspired this effort. It looks like the original was Space Laser (a.k.a. simply Laser). How should we pronounce “Laseresal”? Knowing would help the word-of-mouth! Right now I'm leaning toward a pronunciation reflecting the word's palindromic nature: LAY-zur-ZAYL.

quote: Originally posted by StanJr: the only 2600 games that have actual voice FX are Quadrun and Open Sesame. Thanks to the magic of the Kid Vid controller, both Smurfs Save the Day and The Berenstain Bears feature voice. Of course, the voices come from the audiocassette component of the games, not the actual 2600 cartridges.

quote: Originally posted by StanJr: MAYBE now it won't take so long to save the world. Stan-el Wow...it's as if Clark Kent had been bitten by a radioactive spider, or Peter Parker had come from Krypton. Supervillains beware!!

quote: Originally posted by Atari-Jess: I think that sometimes when you talk to new gamers they kinda go away from trying atari when they find out that lots of games have no end... sad really. What could their rationale be? They enjoy only finite, limited entertainment? Not that games with endings can't be fun and challenging, but why categorically exclude all endurance games?

Some homebrews are original. You can find originals, hacks and other stuff at Hozer Video.

quote: Originally posted by Smart Patrol: Whoops! Sorry to be redundant. The second post hadn't come up yet. Oh, I thought you meant redundant about the double signature. No problem: you provided additional facts and viewpoints, for which I, at least, am grateful.

It depends on how they're programmed. Probably the majority of 2600 games are designed with no end in mind. In many cases you can end up “rolling over” the score (i.e., the score flips back to zero and then proceeds to mount all over again). A relatively easy one to roll over is Space Invaders (at least, I presume it's easy since even I manage to do it frequently). Some games do have a specific, finite goal in mind and are hence “beatable.” These include Pitfall!, Pitfall II: Lost Caverns, Adventure, and Raiders of the Lost Ark, to name a few of the most popular. Some games are similar to the first type but stop at a specific score. Kaboom!, for instance, ends at 999,999 points. A few other games proceed in other ways; for example, a round of Frogs and Flies lasts only three minutes (less, if you get bored and shut the console off...).

In the Supercharger setup, the tape recorder is merely a means of loading the game into memory. Once the game is loaded, you should stop the tape anyway. Sorry, no game pause here.

Perhaps it's the original, unrevised version.

If I recall correctly from my trip to see Monsters, Inc. this weekend, the E.T. poster and/or trailer gives the “special edition”'s theatrical release as being in February (in the US). I've heard from some reputable sources on the Web that the DVD release is slated for summer 2002, and that it will include both the original theatrical version and this new edition. 2002 is, of course, the 20th anniversary of the release of the original movie, as well as of the classic game.

My method might be heretical among this crowd, but here goes. To save space, I separate the cartridges from the boxes. I actually flatten the boxes and put them into a binder. Most of the boxes are made in such a way that this can be done without damaging (i.e., bending or tearing) the boxes. In some cases, you may have to undo a little glue, but otherwise it's usually a matter of untucking the top and bottom flaps and then pressing down the box so that one of the spines (depending on the particular box design) becomes flush with the front. A notable exception is the standard Parker Bros. box, which is a quality product that doesn't take well to my methods. For most other boxes, though, no problem. Once flattened, the box goes into an Avery sheet protector (taped at the top to prevent the box from slipping out), then into a three-ring binder. All this work (which really isn't all that tough) keeps the boxes out of the way until I want to look at that fabulous cover art and those witty game descriptions.

quote: Originally posted by StanJr: Video Olympics is cool and all, but I feel cheated by the name. They should have called it PONG Olympics. Maybe you feel better about the Sears version (Pong Sports)?

quote: Originally posted by finguz: if not, do they make an atari 2600 'controller' other than the joystick or paddles, ya kno like a regular controller like nes, genesis, snes, n64, playstation, etc etc...... A “regular” controller? Joysticks and paddles are regular controllers. Atari defined regular controllers. In Europe Atari distributed a joypad (CX78) which resembles the NES directional pad. I'm not aware of its ever having been marketed as a 2600 controller per se (it was bundled with the 7800 there), but it is compatible.

I'm looking forward to this one. Death Race 2000 is one of my favorite films, and it looks like you're working on a fun adaptation. Do carry on! [ 11-04-2001: Message edited by: The Night Phantom ]

Atari Video Olympics (a.k.a. Sears Pong Sports): that's what it's all about.

quote: Originally posted by Junie: I know on my Atari Sixer and even some on my 4 Switch have problems with some carts. For example the Silver label and Red label carts are slightly larger than the other carts (Honest, compare them) and you almost have to break the cart in half to get it in, and most times it can't be done. On my Maria (7800) I don't have any problems with any carts, they all seem to easily fit. I have the opposite problem: My six-switcher accepts all carts easily, but my 7800 balks at the cases for my Imagic games No Escape! and Star Voyager. I've never had any trouble with Demon Attack, however, but it's easy to see why, as its casing is different. My No Escape! and Star Voyager casings have a sort of “handle”, whereas the shape of my Demon Attack cartridge resembles that of a standard Atari-made cartridge. The “handle” cartridges each have a slightly trapezoid-shaped mouth on the end that plugs in, and probably the width of the base of that trapezoid is the problem.

I have an Activision Robot Tank manual which is all-black text on an all-white background—no images whatsoever (unless you count the Activision logo). There is no programmer information in this manual, which differs in other ways from the HTML Robot Tank manual on AtariAge. My manual also lacks patch information, instead presenting information about NORAD. The introduction to the manual is also slightly different.