The Night Phantom

I'm not crazy about cell phones either. I'm with Mountain King—ultimately, I'd prefer the "big screen." However, I can't always be near one, and I would like to have my cake and eat it too with mobile versions of my favorite games. But not on cell phones: rather, I'd want to play them on the palmtop computer I already own. Indeed, I'm looking forward to Infogrames' Centipede and Asteroids for the Palm OS. There are already a number of unlicensed hacks of classic games for palmtops, but I would like to see more officially licensed versions, assuming the quality is kept high.

Both my parents played on the 2600 from time to time (usually against me), but most of all I remember my mother playing Space Invaders. I'm not sure she actually liked the game, although it's possible she did. Like it or no, she really got into it. By that I mean that she took the game a little too seriously. When the Invaders got a little too low and a little too fast and were raining laser bolts in her direction, she would cry out in a high-pitched voice such things as "Ohhh—they're coming after meeeEEEE!!!" or just plain "eeeEEEEEEEEE!!!!" Mom was never a calm, rational person to begin with, but her video game panic was a revelation. I shudder to think how she might have reacted to Robotron: 2084.

I imagine we're supposed to believe the handles are joysticks, although it's not entirely clear the handles can move thus. Frankly the whole thing looks more like a chair with a power tilting feature. I don't think it could possibly be the ultimate gaming controller-chair. I suspect that honor would go to a chair with armrests. You know, the kind you sit in while commanding, "Ahead warp 6, Mr. Sulu!"

I also prefer normal chronological order. I don't know how much complexity the UBB system permits, but maybe you could have a link at the top of the page whose anchor is the first new post, or the very last post, or something along those lines.

Where possible, I too like to obtain complete games (to open and play, of course!). But for the rarer items, I'll settle for just the cartridge. Thanks to resources like AtariAge's own 2600 manuals section, it's no longer necessary to have the actual physical manual to figure out the more inscrutable games. Still, the manual and box are often works of art in their own right, and they contribute to the zeitgeist we nostalgic VCS fans seek to capture. However, keeping boxes around can take up a lot of space. So, I flatten 'em! Most 2600 games' boxes have flaps that can be unfolded to permit flattening the box without damaging it. (Parker Brothers boxes, however, aren't so easy.) Once the box has been flattened, I place it in a sleeve which in turn goes into a binder, alphabetized for easy access. Manuals and other inserts go into another set of binders, and cartridges are stored separately.