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Rik

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Posts posted by Rik

  1. Posted · Edited by Rik

    Sad but true...and let alone anything besides PPII.

    Drop into a "classic" game store with Water Ski and they won't even know what system it's for--and Atari made games that are much rarer than Water Ski. I'm sure games like Mean 18 and MotorPsycho would be recognized as "old Atari games", but they'd have no idea what Water Ski plays on.

    You can say that again!!!!!!!!!a vendor at the flea market I go to didnt even know there was an ATARI 7800,he thought the 7800 was the 5200,as they look the "same,"so he said!

  2. Posted · Edited by Rik

    Best games?I say there's no SUCH thing,Ive seen games reviewed as the worst games of all time in one review,and as the best game of all time in another,its all a matter of opinion and taste.Also,what do you mean by best?,best graphics,best gameplay,best replay value,the categories go on and on and and on.Its like saying "which brand makes the best car"?.I can name several games that are great graphics wise,but have (lack for a better term)crummy gameplay,and vice-versa,so its pointless in my opinion ,cause, if I recommended some games as the"best", they might NOT be the BEST in YOUR opinion!!,and you'll say,"man I thought he said these were the BEST games,but,they SUCK"!BUT,I'd say you cant go wrong with games by IMAGIC,which are known for great sharp graphics,and ACTIVISION,which are known for great graphics and gameplay.

  3. Posted · Edited by Rik

    I can see that the INTV was a weird niche player.

    By 'niche', I presume you mean, "second only to Atari"? It was kind of hard to miss Plimpton's "Intellivision looks more like the real thing!" speeches.

     

     

    We had this basic debate in a Mac thread, too...

     

    Yeah... #2...

     

    in a two horse race...

     

    Is *last*.

     

     

    :D

     

    Or... that FIRST step is a DOOZY between "#1" and #2 and the rest...

     

    Or however you want to look at it.

     

    I'd argue that Intellivision survived long enough to watch itself drop to #4 against Colecovision, Atari 5200, and it's old adversary, the Atari 2600. Depending on how you look at it... this could be a good thing or a bad thing. But I'd *guess* from an overall figures perspective, the Intellivision has more in common with the Odysee 2 than with any of the other systems mentioned here. For a number of reasons.

    Hmm,interesting,could you elaborate on why you think the INTV has alot in common with the ODYSEE 2?

  5. Posted · Edited by Rik

    This is a very silly question, but what do you call those older tiny box adapters that have the female coax end on one side and the little screw-in tabs (to connect to the standard switchbox) on the other side so that you can plug the switchbox into a TV that has only coax? I am looking for a picture of one.

     

    Thanks.

    No question is too silly,and DONT be afraid to ask more!asking questions is ONE of the main purposes of this site to help other fellow members

  6. Posted · Edited by Rik

    I just got INTV THUNDER CASTLE,which I won on E-bay.The graphics in this game have got to be the best ive ever seen for this system,game is pretty damn challenging also.What is everybodys take on this game,?also,do you guys know of any other INTV games with graphics as good as THUNDER CASTLE?.Oh yes,the music was fantastic also!!!!!!!

  7. Posted

    Hello,ive just read reviews for 7800's IMPOSSIBLE MISSION,and read that the NTSC version is complete GARBAGE,and the PAL version is EXCEPTIONAL in every way compared to the NTSC.That seems crazy to me,whats the reason that a NTSC cart is inferior to a PAL cart,and why the heck would the manufacturer do that?

  8. Posted · Edited by Rik

    Yes,bidding wars on ebay can get ridiculous,I won one 7800 cart yesterday,I won MIDNIGHT MUTANTS for the 7800 for $21.50.Thats it for me for ebay though,too friggin expensive!!!!!!!!!!.I did look at the ATARIAGE STORE,but there is no MIDNIGHT MUTANTS available,only a few other available games,but at least the prices are more affordable!but i forgot about the" buying from ATARIAGE members "option though,which i'll try,yes there are other better places to buy them,which i will look into.

  11. Posted · Edited by Rik

    Man, i didnt realize it was gonna be so tough bidding for 7800 carts on ebay,ive been on 5 bidding wars so far,and lost ALL of them so far.I've never had that problen with other game carts,maybe cause there wasnt that many 7800 carts released,anyway ,in all my years of serious collecting,which is 6 years now,i've only found ONE 7800 cart at the numerous thrift shops i go to,and thats the pack in cart POLE POSITION 2,that came with the donated 7800 console.

  13. Posted · Edited by Rik

    Thats my opinion,

     

    That's nice!

     

    you cant compare the 2600 to computer systems,thats another thing altogether,

     

    Where did I even specifically mention the 2600? For all you know I could have meant the Atari 800. :ponder: :D

     

    if you dont like my opinions,tough S$%t,dont read them,everyone has a right their opinions,HAVE A NICE DAY

     

    Nor did I ever say you shouldn't have a right to your opinions, unless of course you're implying I shouldn't have one to mine. :D

     

    By the way, let me give you an opinion on your opinion. I don't think anyone minded too much about you popping in here and shouting at all of us, "The ADAM is A PIECE OF JUNK,ALWAYS WAS..." However, what really was annoying was your questioning of how we use our "outdated piece of equipment". How about this for an answer: why not? :P

     

    Since your stuck on the 2600, I can ask you a similar thing by using your sentence and changing a few words: "Besides,why screw around with an [Atari 2600] when there's modern [Gamecubes, Playstations, and X-Boxes] that out perform the [2600] to infinity.Sorry,but thats how i feel,and each to his/her own also.Thank you!" :ponder:

     

    Ah, well, have a nice day! :grin:

     

    Garak (my apologies on the hijacking of this thread.)

    Thats cool!!!IM not OFFENED in any way ,either,by your responds,i respect your response,you're the one who's OFFENEDED,if you're so EASILY OFFENED,and cant read posts with an open mind,the question should be,"why are you on these forums"im NOT afraid to speak my mind,and you cant always get everyone to AGREE on things,My opinion on the ADAM has nothing to do with the other classic gaming systems either!

  16. Posted · Edited by Rik

    Maybe I just got a lot of newer equipment, or only the very first stuff was junk.

     

    Clearly you must be referring to ONLY the hardware, because pretty much all the application software that Coleco pumped out was very bug ridden no matter when it came out. And if Coleco cared, they sure didn't show it. I don't remember them ever offering any bug fixes for anything -- instead it seemed like they tried to keep it all "hush hush".

     

    I personally never had an earlier revision or saw ANY of the problems others complained about. But again, those problems seemed to be laid on the early adopters mostly, same as it happens today
    .

     

    You've never seen any of the SmartWriter or SmartBasic bugs? I've already mentioned the glaring SmartWriter line-and-a-half bug built right in to the R80. And the SmartBasic listing-inserts-random-spaces bug. These bugs are just the tip of the iceberg. AdamCalc messes up if you enter formulas beyond a certain row and column. I could go on and on. You've never seen any of this? How is that possible?

     

    Yes, earlier adopters expect some bugs. However the general public does not. The hardware got better, the software did not. Coleco didn't seem to care, so the general public quickly left.

     

    I'm not saying this to put down the Adam -- I actually like it quite a bit. But you need to take off those rose-colored glasses and look at it for what it really was.....

    Very well put ,couldnt have said it better!for what it really was....... A HEADACHE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  17. Posted

    That's tellin' him, Garak! Young Ferengis can be so annoying... :D

     

    I know, I can't believe some of these young Ferengi have the lobes to post things like that these days. :D

     

    Garak

    Okay, calm down, the harsh critisms towards the ADAM,the reason for that is that my best friend got one for CHRISTMAS back when it first came out,and it wasnt cheap either,about $600.00 cdn,and they werent an exactly a RICH family, QUITE POOR TO BE EXACT,but the parents scraped enough money together fo it,which him and his sister wanted BADLY.And all i can remember is him(bill) my friend ,telling me they had to return the thing because of endless problems,and they wanted their money back,seeing the disappointment for the parents was crap too!Would i want one?DEFINENATLY NO,wouldnt use it at all.About the only thing i saw good on the system,was the keyboard.MAYBE there were some ADAMS that worked okay without problems,but it got a bad name,too bad,it had potential.Im blown away by the knowledge of the numerous members on this site,im sure an ADAM can be tinkered and modified with to make it a better functioning system anyway.Funny how ordinary people with no fancy engineering degrees have made faulty classic gaming consoles better,as well as AMAZING homebrew games that blow away the corporate originals!proving that fancy degrees mean nothing in the real world.

     

    It's just like anything else-- software and hardware today are no better. First revisions are called First revisions because they are almost never the FINAL revision. Just like Sony, IBM, Microsoft, Sega, (add names here) still today, they find problems, they fix problems. They find improvements, they make inprovements. Coleco was in that same boat, but much earlier in the race. The technologies weren't perfect, the designs weren't flawless, but over time they got better.

     

    By the 'R80' SmartWriter revisions, the system was running pretty smooth. I personally never had an earlier revision or saw ANY of the problems others complained about. But again, those problems seemed to be laid on the early adopters mostly, same as it happens today.

     

    I feel for the family who went out of their way to get one early, and were let down, but that is why MOST people wait to see if a technology pans out as a must have-- Blueray DVD, PS3, Xbox 360 even to some extent. To compare the Adam at it's release to the Adam when it was axed, is like comparing a child at birth to the same child years later-- it grows and it improves. In Adam's case, there seemed to be nothing BUT room to improve from inception, and improve it did.

     

    Also, as for the Adam floppies I mentioned earlier, no luck-- the guy I gave em too 2 months ago sold the whole lot for $50. Shame as I paid about $100 just to have them shipped to me.... So hard to find true collectors these days who enjoy the hobby for the hobby and don't try to make a buck at every turn. :(

     

    Glad I found this place though, I think! :)

     

    Also, Inky-- if you have all those discs, I have a 5 1/4" floppy drive for the PC you can have if it means converting them! :) Also, welcome, Bob!

     

    Murph

    Yes,very GOOD points,especially to never buy new technology,until the bugs are ironed out,and the price goes down,like the new BLUE RAY player,ive already heard a few problems.

  18. Posted · Edited by Rik

    Jack Tramiel?is he still alive?man,he was up there in age back then!cant seem to find info on what hes doing today.Saint or Sinner?,id say he was in it mainly for the money,like most execs and those in high places,ENRON ANYONE?,ANYWAY,like his son SAM'S company, FROGGO,those are probably the WORST games ever!probably was planning to make his millions or a handsome amount so he could retire comfortably,or to buy his cocaine,as far as JACK goes,he made pretty bad mistakes,which obviously didnt help,id say hes both SAINT AND SINNER,cant blame Jack for everything,CORRUPTION and GREED,the ever so famous traits of humans is more to blame,but its us the fans that suffer the most by their F#$%^K UPS .NOTE ,EXXON should of been ENRON

  19. Posted

    I thought those came with Atari computers? Anyway, it doesn't matter which direction you use it in. I've had one for years and i've never noticed any problems with whatever I use it on.

    Okay,thanks for the reply,guess im overly worried about it,these collectors items tend to make me that way.

  20. Posted · Edited by Rik

    That's tellin' him, Garak! Young Ferengis can be so annoying... :D

     

    I know, I can't believe some of these young Ferengi have the lobes to post things like that these days. :D

     

    Garak

    Okay, calm down, the harsh critisms towards the ADAM,the reason for that is that my best friend got one for CHRISTMAS back when it first came out,and it wasnt cheap either,about $600.00 cdn,and they werent an exactly a RICH family, QUITE POOR TO BE EXACT,but the parents scraped enough money together fo it,which him and his sister wanted BADLY.And all i can remember is him(bill) my friend ,telling me they had to return the thing because of endless problems,and they wanted their money back,seeing the disappointment for the parents was crap too!Would i want one?DEFINENATLY NO,wouldnt use it at all.About the only thing i saw good on the system,was the keyboard.MAYBE there were some ADAMS that worked okay without problems,but it got a bad name,too bad,it had potential.Im blown away by the knowledge of the numerous members on this site,im sure an ADAM can be tinkered and modified with to make it a better functioning system anyway.Funny how ordinary people with no fancy engineering degrees have made faulty classic gaming consoles better,as well as AMAZING homebrew games that blow away the corporate originals!proving that fancy degrees mean nothing in the real world.

  22. Posted · Edited by Rik

    I just bought my 7800 off ebay, boxed and virtually like new for $25. The Pole Position II Cartridge was still in its taped bubble wrap and the protective plastic was still over the controllers and main panel. I'm siked!

     

    Anyhow, my question is this. I hooked up the system and saw the red power light go on, then it went out. I thought "oh crap", an eBay lemon. I was just about to take it apart to look at the on/off switch, and happen to slightly hit the power supply connector and the unit turned on. So its just that my power supply connector is a little sensitive.

     

    After adjusting it a bit, its not really a big deal, but is this the case with all 7800 power connectors. There seems to be nothing wrong physically with it, its just a little sensitive due to its shallow design. On a side note, I don't know who designed the PS connector that goes into the 7800, but its a pretty weak design.

     

    Thanks!

    Yep,I had the same problem the first time i hooked up my 7800,that puny little power plug wasnt plugged in all the way into the console,what a stupid, retarded,unnecessary design that is,it seems those idiot designers want to make things hard for us,that type of connector is the type you see on cordless phone batterys,and a headache to find an equivalent.

  23. Posted · Edited by Rik

    Every Atari branded switchbox I've seen has the "to computer" marking. I've never seen one with a coax wire sticking out and the Atari brand--all those have had screw terminals.

     

    Even so, I think there are many brands of switchbox you can use as long as they are the manual kind.

    I was refering to my rf cable that has a box spliced into the cable itself ,that cable runs from the console to the switchbox,,usually the rf cable is just a simple cable with a phono plug on each end,one end to the console,the other end to the tv game switchbox.,ive never seen one with the box on it,Atariage member ALLAN,said its just something put on to prevent interference,just as long as i know it wont damage my 7800,i bought it loose,so i wanted to make sure this rf cable was alright to use. (----- = rf cable)

     

    console------box----------------------------tv game switchbox

  24. Posted

    Hi,just got a complete 7800 today,at a thrift shop.I was wondering what the original" rf "(i think its called),cable looked like for the 7800,you see,the one i got,has a 1.5 inch by 2.5 inch box on the rf cable,about 6 inches from where the rf plugs plugs into the console,ive never seen these.Is this the right cable?cause i dont want to damage the console,i was lucky enough everything works!Thanx guys!!!!!!

     

    Is there an Atari symbol on the box? These are for the Atari computers but it should work fine. There's a metal ring inside the box. It helps with preventing interference.

     

    Allan

    Yes,thers's an ATARI symbol on it ,and it says "TO COMPUTER",thanx for your reply!

  25. Posted

    Regarding the resolution, honestly, who really would have cared back then? :)

     

    I never heard any of my NES owning friends who played on my 7800 comment "say -- the resolution of your system seems very low compared to the resolution of my NES!". Ever. Heck, I didn't even know the 7800 had "lower resolution" on most games until I came here.

     

    The reality is, in the grand scheme of things, the NES and 7800 are both extremely low resolution systems. The way some tell the story, you'd think the 7800 had identical graphics to the 2600 while the NES was capable of high end CAD design. ;-)

     

    Now, back then, I collected pretty seriously for the 7800 so I had a pretty broad selection of games. And when my friends commented on the 7800, it was more comments like:

     

    "Geez -- the sound on this really sucks".

     

    "A lot of the games seem really short! Is this thing even capable of playing long games like my NES" (biggest comment until stuff like SCRAPYARD DOG started to appear).

     

    "The thing does a really good job moving a lot of guys on the screen at the same time" (people got irritated by NES flicker").

     

    "It seems to have a lot of colors, but they sometimes seem dull". (Ballblazer was common at my place and people always loved that Lucasfilm logo)

     

    "The quality of graphics seems spotty ... some games have way better graphics than others". (Some people thought Xenophobe, Ball Blazer, Tower Toppler and Alien Brigade were sharp while others like Double Dragon and Rampage were lacking).

     

    A few people also noticed that it seemed a little sluggish but not a common comment.

     

    At the end of the day though, none of my friends (who owned 2600 systems and then NES systems) ever had any doubt that the 7800 was anything other than competition to the NES. I suppose it helped that I had a healthy collection of later games as opposed to stopping with stuff like Choplifter but still.

     

    Certainly, when my friends played POLE POSITION II when that system came home for the first time, no one said, "Geez -- the resolution seems poor on this." they said "great graphics, but why does it only have four race tracks and why does the sound suck?"

     

    Again, what hurt the 7800 more was not what GCC didn't do, but what Jack Tramiel didn't do. If I were to redo the 7800, I'd have done a couple of things (added better sound, maybe composite jacks, brightened the color and found a way to maximize the performance of scrollers on it) but I wouldn't have wasted my time on matching NES resolution. I'd focus on developing competitive games. ;-)

    I agree the 7800 game sound effects arent that great,pole position 2,sounds just like enduro for the 2600,the engine sound anyway,you'd figure sound on a 7800 would sound better.The 2600 still rules for me anyway.

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