mattkain

Manhunter by Sierra On-Line. After playing Manhunter New York and Manhunter San Francisco, I was ready to take the battle with the Orbs just about anywhere. I think Manhunter London was planned, but sadly never ended up being part of the Sierra plan. Matt Kain

Slightly off topic (and probably already posted somewhere), but has anyone ever seen this clip of a vectrex on Charles in Charge? Strange choice for a system to use in the show. On a related note, does anyone remember how on Growing Pains whenever they would bring up videogames, Ben was always playing some fictitious NES game called Super Beato Brothers (or something like that)? I always wondered why they didn’t just use Mario. I’m fairly certain that there was at least one episode where the secondary storyline revolved around Ben’s quest to obtain the new Super Beato Brothers game. I've tried to find clips, but with no luck. There's also an episode of Square Pegs where one of the characters gets addicted to Space Invaders. It used to be on Youtube, but I think it's been removed. MattKain

For those who are interested... More from California Games: Mountain Dew Tapper: Budweiser Tapper: What exactly was Mello-Yellow Q-bert? Were there ads integrated into the gameplay or did an ad appear on the title screen? Does anyone have a screenshot? Does anyone have any screens of the Pizza Hut ads from TMNT? I vaguely remember this... MK

Are those from California Games? That game had some other great ads for stuff like Santa Cruz Skateboards, Ocean Pacific...

Wow! Tang? Dentyne? I've never seen any of those before. Thanks for posting that. M

What are some examples of classic video games that contained in-game advertisements? Pole Position and Tapper are the first two that come to mind (Marlboro, Pepsi, Budweiser)? Can anyone think of any others? Feel free to post screenshots - I'd love to see some more examples. Matt Kain

I did a little more digging and found the address of the flea market where GLCB was unearthed. It looks like the place is still in business (!) so it might be worth a look for someone in the area (who knows?). Anyway the place is simply called "The Kenosha Flea Market" and is located at 5535 22nd Ave. in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Right up the street at 6114 22nd Ave. is the Salvation Army that I mentioned in an earlier post. Thank you google. http://maps.citysearch.com/map/view/10991538 I even found a neat little blog entry about the place: http://www.notifbutwhen.com/2/2006/10/keno...-ron-olsen.html Anyway, I'm back in the country and struggling to get my schedule back to normal. I'm still planning on selling the cart, but I have been pretty swamped with work and trying to move. Once things calm down, I'll worry about the cart. Hopefully I'll have an update in the upcoming weeks. Thanks, Matt

No, it wasn't Seven Mile Fair. It was way too ghetto to even be mentioned in the same breath as SMF. This place was right in downtown Kenosha. It was just mixed in with all the other storefronts, very easy to miss since I don't recall much in the way of a sign, and it was in the upstairs of a building (making it even tougher to spot). This place literally looked like it was going to be condemned. There was next to no lighting inside and half the vendors appeared to be selling stolen goods. It was small for a "flea market" too - about twice the size of your average thrift store. In fact, even though it called itself such, it really wasn't much of a "flea market." It was more like a big vacant upstairs of an old office building that got rented out by some sketch ball so he and his buddies could unload stolen car stereos (and Atari protos). Anyway, I swear it was within a few blocks of either a Salvation Army or a St. Vinney's. I remember a few months after finding Charlie Brown I scored a motherload of 5200 games right down the street at the Salvation/St. Vincent. It was memorable since the 5200 lot was filled with treasures (Frogger II, Gyruss, Miner 2049er, Montezuma's Revenge, Pitfall 2, Stars Wars the Arcade Game, Beamrider, and tons more - it was my best 5200 loot ever). I couldn't believe the luck I had in that neighborhood. Oh, the memories. Whatever the case, the place must be gone by now. MK

That, sir, is correct. It's a side view (at least of his head) - you can tell because the nose switches sides based on which way he moves. It's a little hard to tell in the video, but very obvious when watching the game on a TV. I still think the graphics on Charlie are incomplete. He at least needs eyes and maybe a mouth (although it wasn't uncommon in the original comic to see side views of Charlie with no mouth - see the above link). Again, look at how detailed the graphics are in Big Bird. It might be just speculation, but I'm convinced that the head was not finished. MK

For those who missed it, here's the link again: Everyone who has expressed interest in the game, hold tight. I'm going to be gone visiting my out-of-town GF this weekend (she has first dibs on my time), and then I'm off first thing in February for a few weeks of business in Korea and Japan. In all honesty, I just want to get this off my hands and get it into the hands/collection/2600 of someone that has time to deal with it. Sorry that I have so little time to post or answer PMs, I've just had my life go in some strange directions lately (I'm sure many can relate), and this has forced me to both be on the road frequently and deal with some new, unforseen issues. Anyway, the game is safe and not going anywhere for the moment. As mentioned (and those who read the original 2600 Connection article way back in 1996 know), the game was originally discovered and purchased by my brother, and we have always agreed that whatever happens to the cart would be a joint decision. At this point we've decided to sell the cart. Exactly how and when is unclear, but it will most likely be via an auction in late February or early March. Not really interested, and I wouldn't have the time. No clue. Avoid stuff I guess. I've never really been able to figure the gameplay out. There are also moments where lightning flashes in the back, but I'm not sure if there are any in the video (or they don't show up very well). Ha, ha. Yup, it's real. I'm not too surprised that the graphics look so good. Check out the graphics on Big Bird's Egg Catch, also by Christopher Omarzu. Look at how good Big Bird looks: http://www.atariage.com/screenshot_page.ht...twareLabelID=31 In fact, I'm fairly certain that the graphics are incomplete. It's hard to see in the video, but Charlie is missing facial features. I'm sure he would at least have gotten some eyes in the final version. Matt Kain

Let's see... it's been over 10 years so I only have a vague idea, but here goes. It was a flea market in Kenosha. Not an outdoor flea market, mind you, but an *indoor* flea market. The flea market was located on the second floor of an old, somewhat dilapidated building. I remember it being really dirty and poorly lit inside. I wish I could remember the street name... it was definitely in a downtown area because there were plenty of other shops around it. In fact, I believe that either the Salvation Army or the Saint Vincent De Paul store was down the street from it (only a few blocks or so). The vendor was an older woman who had no idea where the carts came from (she also had a Snoopy proto). My brother was the one who actually found and bought the game. $2 each for GLCB proto and the Snoopy proto. I went back the next week, but the woman didn't have anything except some commons. I never scored anything at that place again. Oh well, that's all I remember. Anyway, the game is currently not in my possession – it’s back with my brother, the discoverer and co-owner. Things have changed significantly for me in the last half year, and the game is going to be sold. I'll give an update later when I have more time to write. In the meantime:

It's true. There were a few hurdles earlier that prevented the game from being dumped, and right now I'm just in the middle of a rash of work-related and personal travel that is keeping me pretty tied up at least until after New Year's (I'm actually home right now, but I leave again in about 48 hours). I'm also thinking about moving soon which could compicate this further. To be blunt, I have quite a bit on my plate, and Atari is just not a very high priority in my life right now. Anyway, to be honest, I've been toying with the idea of selling off most of my video game collection, including the Good Luck Charlie Brown cart. I don't play anymore, don't have room for my collection, and, in the case of the GLCB cart, I feel it would be better off in the hands of someone who still has a passion for gaming and collecting. If I do sell, I'm not really sure what the best approach would be. Ebay? Private auction through PMs? Oh well, sorry I don't make it to the forums much. Life just has me very fried right now. I'll try to check in when I have time. Hope all is well, Matt Kain

Um, if it doesn't have an RF input, it isn't a television. Are you saying you only use video monitors in your house? That's exactly what I'm saying, yes. But my 9" does indeed have an RF jack in the back, so we're okay. Otherwise I have a VCR which I'm fairly certain has an RF input. I still haven't received a modded 7800 though. I'll let you know when this happens. matt

I am going to be sending my modified 7800 to him, just have not gotten around to it yet. Yup. Once I get the modded 7800, I'm going to roll up to SF and try to have TheRedEye give me a hand with the dump. Keep the faith - sooner or later everyone will be able to take a hack at GLCB. Matt Kain

I think you're right - a true price guide would be filled with too much uncertainty, and prices would fluctuate too much for it to be of much worth. Let me think out loud for a minute: I agree with your method of polling collectors in different regions, but it would require collectors to either take copious notes of everything that they see in the wild (a massive endeavor) OR purchase everything that they come across in the wild. Simply looking at the contents of their collections wouldn't work since most collectors might pass on purchasing a game if they already have 1 or 2 copies of it. Example: collector A might have 1 copy of Atari 2600 Quadrun and 1 copy of Atari 2600 Pitfall! However, this doesn't imply that they have equal rarity. Collector A might have skipped over 30 copies of Pitfall! in the wild because he already owned a copy and saw no reason to purchase another. Again, I love the idea of gathering information from collectors in different regions, but it seems like the only way to get a true account of regional rarity is for groups of collectors to take notes on *everything* they see in the wild. However, collectors then need to be sure that they don't count an item twice ("I was at this flea market last week - is that the same copy of Swordquest that I counted last time?"). Or what about the problem of multiple collectors spotting the same item and counting it twice (Collector A counts a copy of Swordquest at a flea market and then Collector B shows up the next day and counts the same copy of Swordquest)? I suppose that each regional collector needs to be spread out enough so that there is no overlap. Just some thoughts. Matt Kain

This raises a question that I've had in the back of my mind for years: what is the best methodology for generating an accurate rarity guide? Is the most sound method to simply poll collectors and see what games (and how many copies of each game) they have in their collections? Do you consult so-called expert collectors (people who have spent years collecting for a system) and find out which games were easy for them to find and which games were difficult for them to find? Do you dig into industry history and try to find out how many copies of a game were manufactured and sold? If one were to generate a price guide, could tracking prices on ebay be used as a starting point? I've seen many price guides out there for many systems, but I have never seen any documentation concerning how these guides were compiled. Any thoughts? Matt Kain

Is there a definitive source for gauging the rarity of NES carts? I used to use the old Mike Etler rarity list, but surely this is out of date by now (unless it has been updated). If anyone can point me to a website, word doc, price guide, etc., it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Matt Kain

Yup, my boss has an old Commodore filing cabinet in his office as well. I've already told him that I've got dibs on it when he retires. Matt Kain

Tempest, I was going to PM this to you, but I see no reason not to post it. I looked at your gameplay description for GLCB on AtariProtos.com, and it appears to be dead on. The only additional thing that I can remember is that every so often when Charlie's kite hits an obstacle, he'll flip over onto his head (I suppose a cute way of signifying that you lost a "life"). If I recall correctly, this doesn't happen every time, but seems to only occur sporadically (it might have been determined by which obstacle hit your kite, but I can't recall exactly). I also seem to remember that there's nothing built in that allows you to continue play or move on to your next "life" once your kite hits an obstacle. The game would simply freeze, and you had to hit reset to play again. Now if only we could find that leaf raking screen... Matt Kain

TheRedEye, I sent you a PM. Did you get it? MK

Let me summarize the two best current options: 1. We send the tools to dump the ROM to Zach (assuming he's experienced), and I head up to Sacramento to meet him. 2. We wait a couple months until I'm in CPUWIZ's neighborhood, and I let him dump the ROM. Both seem workable. Matt Kain

It takes Windows 98? I'm running XP. I could also borrow a Windows ME system from someone, if that would help. ME will work also, just Win2K and WinXP are problematic, because they take over the ports and lock them. The 7800 method is the safest of them all, risking the extraction of the EPROM's could be problematic, if done by someone who does not do this on a daily basis. I do have an EPROM programmer that can read 2532's, but I am reluctant to send out a $300 piece of equipment, especially to someone who does not know what an EPROM is. No offense. I agree. I think we should make sure that someone experienced removes the EPROM and handles the dump. This rules me out. Again, another option is to wait a couple months, and I'll probably be down in your area, CPUWIZ. This might be our best bet. Matt Kain

Would your EPROM dumper be able to be run on an XP machine? Would it be easier just to send it to me? I guess the only problem is I've never removed an EPROM from the chip (nor do I have the tools to do so) or hooked an EPROM dumper up - I would hate to make a mistake. Is it easy enough that I could do it on my own? The process doesn't sound very tough. On the other hand... Zach, do have experience using an EPROM dumper? It sounds like you do. We could always get the dumper to Zach and then the two of us could meet up. Thoughts? Sorry everyone for all the hassle. We'll get this done eventually. Matt Kain

Yeah, that's something that we should keep in mind. If we can get the proper hardware to *anyone* in my area, we should be able to get it done. Zack is definitely an option. He's about a 2 hour drive from me - I'd be willing to make the trip up to Sacramento. Batari, I'm a little confused about what dumping methods aren't "safe." I don't want to take any risk with the cart. Could you clarify what the unsafe method that Zack mentioned entailed? Is it your opinion that dumping GLCB would NOT be as safe as dumping an ordinary cart? I'm not sure that I understand why... Before we jump the gun with shipping hardware or taking roadtrips, let's ensure that we have a method that will put the cart in as little danger as possible. Thanks, Matt Kain There are at least three ways to dump the cart. 1. An EPROM programmer 2. A modified 7800 3. My "poor man's cart dumper" 1 and 2 are safe. #3 was invented by me last summer. It requires only a 2600, a programmable cart and two wires. The programmable cart copies a short routine to 2600's RAM and spins in a loop while you remove the programmable cart and insert the cart to dump. Since this must be done while the power is on, there is a fairly remote possibility that something will go wrong and damage something. But the possibility still exists. #3 could be made safe with some effort. But instead of expending that effort, I'd see if someone can do #1 or #2 for you instead. I asked if the chips were 2532 because I have an EPROM programmer but it will not read 2532's. I think I understand - thanks for clarifying. Is there anything I can do to help determine if the EPROMS are 2532's? Pardon my ignorance, but I'm assuming that the two large chips with the orange stickers are the EPROMS. Is this correct? Thanks, Matt Kain

Yeah, that's something that we should keep in mind. If we can get the proper hardware to *anyone* in my area, we should be able to get it done. Zack is definitely an option. He's about a 2 hour drive from me - I'd be willing to make the trip up to Sacramento. Batari, I'm a little confused about what dumping methods aren't "safe." I don't want to take any risk with the cart. Could you clarify what the unsafe method that Zack mentioned entailed? Is it your opinion that dumping GLCB would NOT be as safe as dumping an ordinary cart? I'm not sure that I understand why... Before we jump the gun with shipping hardware or taking roadtrips, let's ensure that we have a method that will put the cart in as little danger as possible. Thanks, Matt Kain