onmode-ky

That dino cartridge is probably just leftover stock, too; see the second paragraph in this post of mine from last year. It's been part of a "deluxe" package before. However, and I'm not sure why, the Amazon.com link no longer corresponds to the same SKU as it did at the time I wrote the post, now just being a double of the other cartridge-included SKU I mention in that paragraph. onmode-ky

Thanks for the album. Now we know that the CV and INTV FBs both use a Titan CPU and a 2-MB SDRAM chip, and also that the CV FB uses a 2-MB NOR flash memory chip while the INTV FB uses a 4-MB NOR flash memory chip (M29W320FT). Are Intellivision games generally larger than ColecoVision games? It could also be that AtGames' Intellivision emulator program is significantly bigger than their ColecoVision one. To me, the use of NOR flash is also interesting, not so much because I know a whole lot about the applications of NAND versus NOR flash (I don't), but just because Jakks Pacific's plug-n-play systems, after moving from ROM to flash memory, use NAND instead (in my experience with their products, at least). Both companies use flash memory as secondary storage for their game software, so it's kind of odd that the types used differ. I guess it could be as simple a decision as "this is what our processors work with"; the microcontrollers used in Jakks' products are specifically described as supporting NAND, so maybe the Titan's design happens to specifically support NOR. Just a layman's guess, though. onmode-ky

I expected to see a few posts here from people playing Velocity 2X (new PS4/PSV cross-buy/save game which has, as expected given its pedigree, gotten really good reviews), but maybe those people are too busy being addicted to the game to post. A pattern I've seen some people talk about, maybe not entirely in jest, is "play Destiny until you need a break, then play Velocity 2X until your fingers hurt," flipping between the two (presumably with rest and food somewhere in there). It's free on PS+ this month. Disclaimer: I've known the developer for several years and do indeed want the game to do well. Because it's awesome! onmode-ky

Life of Pixel, the platformer in which a pixel takes a tour of video/computer gaming hardware history, is on sale directly from its developer, Super Icon, for $2, cross platform (PC + Mac) and DRM-free. I think the sale started yesterday and will run for 4 days (so, 3 more days? I'm not sure, since I swear their Humble Widget said "ends in 4 days" both yesterday and today). Also, if you scroll up from where my above link takes you, there's a link to a free demo, namely the game's C64 world. Incidentally, the game is on Steam Greenlight, so if you're a Steamy fellow, vote away. It got into the top 100 some time ago, but since it's not Greenlit yet, I assume it still needs more votes. I'm not familiar with how Greenlight works. onmode-ky

Would anyone with an Intellivision Flashback be willing to open theirs up and confirm if the chips on the PCB match these from the ColecoVision Flashback? - M12L16161A (2 MB SDRAM) - SST39VF1602C (2 MB NOR flash memory) FYI, these are usually described as 16Mbit instead of 2 MB, hence the "16" being in their names. Also, the processor itself is probably glob-topped like with the CV FB, so we only have the system's debug/test mode to confirm whether or not it's also a Titan chip--speaking of which, has anyone here done that (hold the controller's two bottom side buttons while booting)? Basically, I'm curious whether the CV and INTV FBs are using the same hardware. Come to think of it, if anyone here has the Atari FB5 as well, I'd love to hear whether that matches, too. The debug/test mode entry method for the FB4, at least, was to hold Start + Select while booting, so please do give that a shot on the FB5. onmode-ky

Actually, according to what Bill L. said here, the AtGames' Genesis models this year are still using their RedKid-series Genesis-on-a-chip implementation. Progress! Consistency! onmode-ky

For those of you out there with an FB5: could someone do me the favor of making a YouTube video showing all of the FB5's main menu pages (legibly)? I'd like to see the ordering of all the games, as well as how the titles are abbreviated, if they are (e.g., Return to Haunted House was listed, and alphabetically ordered, as "Haunted House II" on the FB4). I'm seeking this info for my website's Retro Plug-n-Play Video Game System Contents page. Originally, I'd planned to get this info from Bill L.'s video overview, but I don't think poor Bill's even going to have the time to make that now. Thank you in advance. onmode-ky

Based on your first-hand experience with the FB system, then, are you still interested in distributing the product? It sounded to me more like retroillucid's concern was whether the AtGames products would even pass Canadian FCC testing. So AtGames could pay for the testing but end up failing, and then they would have to spend more money to revise the product and resubmit for testing; all of that might not be worth the time and effort. onmode-ky

Several of 2014's scheduled plug-n-play releases have now appeared in stores (some earlier than intended, in the case of AtGames' Flashbacks), so I thought I'd add a new post about the new developments to this thread. Incidentally, this is my 600th AtariAge forum post. On the retro gaming front, the ColecoVision Flashback, Intellivision Flashback, and Atari Flashback 5 (possibly also the 2014 edition of the Sega Genesis Classic Game Console, though I'm not sure if I just have some crossed wires in my memories; can anyone confirm?) showed up at Toys 'R Us stores over a month before AtGames' planned release date. As told in one of the main Flashback threads (the CV FB one or the INTV FB one), by a store manager to one of us (nurmix?), the Flashbacks had the October 1st release date marked in their databases, but unlike most "hold until X day" products that TRU deals with, no warning notices were on the shipping boxes. Therefore, the systems were put onto the shelves, with only the cash registers flagging them as pre-release when someone tried to buy one. I surmised that maybe the warning notices were missing because AtGames, being new to picking a specific date of release for their products (as far as I can recall, they've never done this before), didn't know about the protocol. Earlier last month, also on TRU shelves (legitimately ), the first 2014 Jakks Pacific products began showing up. The TMNT Hero Portal TV Game system appeared first, followed by the DC Super Heroes model, and the final, Power Rangers model is at least available from TRU's online store. More recently, these showed up at my local Walmart. I picked one up, and lo and behold, the processor was not under a glob-top, but rather what looks to me like a Quad Flat Package--with the chip model number printed on it! It's a Generalplus GPL32612, meaning that Jakks' plug-n-play video games have moved from 16-bit, unSP-architecture microcontrollers to 32-bit, ARM-architecture microcontrollers: plug-n-play's equivalent of a generation transition. Elsewhere on the PCB was a 128-MB NAND memory chip, double the secondary storage of Jakks' previous largest sizes (Jakks' gun games this year--of which I've seen the new Walking Dead entry on eBay so far but nowhere else--are also using 128-MB NANDs, so it's across the board for the TV Games line). Still, even with the technology having been updated for the first time in 6 years, the Hero Portal games don't really look a ton more advanced than recent products in Jakks' TV Games line. Maybe this is because their go-to chip for the last half decade, the GPL16250, was already pretty capable, with VGA resolution, a large color palette, hardware sprite scaling, and basic 3D capabilities. At any rate, these Hero Portal titles aren't really an ideal demo for any new capabilities; the main games are 2D beat 'em-ups. I think the foreground graphics are polygonal, but the camera is always a side view, so it's not easy to tell. The main clue is the high animation frame rate. In some of the mini-games, you do get to see some objects from multiple angles, though. Speaking of the mini-games, it appears that all 3 Hero Portal games use the same set of mini-games (with different graphics, of course), including shooting gallery and infinite runner types, as well as vehicular combat types with viewpoints similar to OutRun and Space Harrier. Similarly, all 3 games seem to share level layouts to some degree, plus certain background graphics. I guess that's how they could build 3 new games on completely new hardware in a short time. :/ onmode-ky P.S. I've updated the first post in this topic with the CPU details for the ColecoVision Flashback and DC Super Heroes Hero Portal system, as well as a new packaging evolution entry for Hero Portal.

Thanks for all the info! Very helpful. Regarding Long Drive Golf, that game was specifically called out by Intellivision Productions, in their PR material for the Intellivision X2 15 and Intellivision 10 2nd Edition plug-n-play systems, as being newly created, "in the spirit of Intellivision," rather than being based on an actual Intellivision game. Based on your description, it seems that Hockey game is also an independent creation, unrelated to the prior Intellivision hockey titles. Yes, I confirmed with Bill L. that Tennis and Soccer on the Flashback are the 2-player-only games, back when the game lists were first released. It struck me as odd, but I didn't look into it any further, since I had plenty of other Flashback-related research to do already. onmode-ky

To avoid confusion: please note that this post is about Techno Source's Intellivision plug-n-play systems, not the Flashback. Extremely belated thanks to both you and nurmix for your help on this. I realize you've put the system back into "the vault" already, but might you have any insight regarding the other sports games on Techno Source's "X2" 2-player system? - "Baseball" = Major/Big League Baseball, World Championship Baseball, or neither? - "Football" = NFL Football, Super Pro Football, or neither? - "Hockey" = NHL Hockey, Slap Shot: Super Pro Hockey, or neither? - "Soccer" = NASL Soccer, World Cup Soccer, or neither? - "Tennis" = Tennis, Championship Tennis, or neither? I think that in most of these cases (all of them? I'm not too familiar with the Intellivision library), the most obvious difference is that the older release has no 1-player mode. So: 1. Were there any games on the X2 system that had no 1-player mode? If so, which? 2. Which of the above sports games already had a 1-player mode in the older release? 3. Were any of the X2 system's sports games totally unlike the Mattel/INTV games? Thanks in advance (because it might otherwise be late, like with this post!) to any help, from anyone. onmode-ky P.S. On topic: does anyone else find it odd that the Flashback's soccer and tennis games are the original releases, not the presumably "better" ones from INTV Corp.? Is there an obvious reason for this?

Ooooohhh, I've figured out what I misunderstood now. I interpreted "conversely" to mean "unlike [all of] what's described in the previous paragraph" rather than your intended "unlike the CV FB's single method of entry to the debug/test mode." Thus, I read the bit about top left + bottom right and top right + bottom left as conflicts to what was previously stated, rather than as an addendum to it. Okay, all is clear now. Hmm, so the FB4's "hold Start + Select while booting" method doesn't work on FB5 as well? That's unexpected. Still, if both the CV FB and INTV FB are Titan-based, and the Atari FB3 + FB4 were Titan-based, and the Atari FB5 still uses an arcade-mimic Space Invaders port that looks identical to the one on the FB4, the chances are pretty high that it's Titan-based as well. But, admittedly, it would still be nice to have the debug/test mode entry method down for FB5. Some of the accounts from people who have tried to get CV and/or INTV Flashbacks (i.e., from earlier in this thread, in the corresponding Intellivision thread, and maybe also in the "Hunt for [X] Flashback" threads) from Toys 'R Us have cited fine values in the low thousands of dollars. Regarding the value of a set street date, it's about occupying as much consumer mindshare as possible, to generate greater demand. If all your marketing focuses on one point, then that point becomes a sort of critical mass for interest from potential customers. If you instead have things happening piecemeal, then what happens is that while hype builds in some areas, hype dissipates in others--people sometimes give up when they can't find something right away. Sure, special-interest groups like us don't, but we're also not the majority of the customer base. Here's one way to think about it: have you ever thought, "Hey, I should go see that new movie!", but then you couldn't for some reason or another, and then you just forgot about it entirely? Here's a summary of what we know so far (full game lists at Bill's Armchair Arcade site): ColecoVision Flashback (Titan ARM processor) - base overlay set: Ken Uston Blackjack/Poker, Fortune Builder, The Dam Busters, War Room - Dollar General's additional game: Antarctic Adventure - Sam's Club's additional overlays: [unknown] - debug/test mode entry method: hold both side buttons on the controller while booting Intellivision Flashback - base overlay set: Astrosmash, Buzz Bombers, Crown of Kings (AD&D: Cloudy Mountain), Minotaur (AD&D: Treasure of Tarmin), Night Stalker, Space Hawk, Space Spartans, Utopia, Word Fun, World Championship Baseball - Dollar General's additional game: [Major/Big League] Baseball - Sam's Club's additional overlays: [unknown] - debug/test mode entry method: hold any two side buttons on the controller, not including "top left + top right," while booting We don't know anything yet about the alternate editions for the Atari Flashback 5 or the 2014 Sega Genesis Classic Game Console (and I think Bill said the 2014 Sega Genesis Ultimate Portable had no alternate editions). onmode-ky

Thanks, Bill! It looks like we may have one or two of AtGames' latest offerings covered now, but it will definitely be helpful to get full coverage straight from the source. Actually, you found exactly what we were looking for; as Flojomojo noted, the first word on the screen in your pictures is "Titan," the name of a known AtGames ARM processor, used in both the Atari FB3 and FB4 (I neglected to remember to ask someone to check the FB5). Thanks! Can you confirm that the debug/test mode on the INTV FB says it's built on Titan, too? By the way, your TV seems to have quite a serious case of overscan. You may want to consider searching the Web for the way into your model's technician mode, where you would be able to adjust the display attributes, including shrinking the image enough for all the text in those debug/test screens to become viewable. I'm a little confused by the above. Was the first occurrence of "Intv FB" in that text supposed to be "CV FB"? The way it's worded, it looks like you're giving two conflicting button sequences for the INTV FB; one says "hold the two bottom side buttons," but the next paragraph says "Top Left and Bottom Right" or "Top Right and Bottom Left." But, if the first paragraph was meant to be all CV FB, what does "two bottom side buttons" mean? The ColecoVision controller only has two side buttons, no? I'm sorry if I'm asking very confused questions; I actually have 0 experience with both the ColecoVision and Intellivision controllers. Nice find! Also interesting to see that he contracted for DMC/AtGames from 2005-2007, besides being a senior software engineer for them now. The resume notes seem to indicate he may have worked on the RedKid (Genesis) and Noza (SMS/GG) chips during those years, given their references to 68K and Z80. So . . . AtGames ported over the wonky sound [in]fidelity from their Genesis systems, eh? onmode-ky

Thanks for the pictures, rev (by the way, I just realized that your username could be interpreted as "Revolution Ika," or "Revolution Squid" in Japanese . . . uh, is that what it actually is?). Unfortunately, I didn't see anything on the board that hinted at which AtGames chip runs the system (does anyone else see anything helpful?). The two socketed chips on the board are a DRAM module and a flash memory module. I hope someone can dig out the debug/test mode! onmode-ky Edit: Okay, those aren't socketed chips, but I've forgotten what that packaging form is called. The glob-top, of course, covers up the CPU.

I think it's also possible that AtGames did not even know about the Warning labels normally applied to the shipping boxes for products with a specific release date. As far as I can remember, no previous AtGames products have had a set release date; with the Atari FB3 and FB4, didn't they just appear in stores without any particular date having been stated beforehand? And, none of their 2013 products (the FB64 and Sega 60-in-1) had any announcement before suddenly showing up on store shelves--we didn't even know they were coming at all. I'm just guessing, of course, but perhaps AtGames' lack of experience doing this kind of product launch is what left off the Warning labels that TRU would have expected. A planning error, rather than a miscommunication. By the way, off-topic request to nurmix: the next time you talk to Keith Robinson, could you ask what happened to Night Stalker Gen2? It was announced, and a prototype was demoed, but then it just vanished into the ether. Switching topics again, the following is a copy-pasted request from a post I just made in the CV FB topic, with slight edits. It applies to participants of this thread as well, so: REQUEST to anyone who already has a CV and/or INTV FB! Can someone boot up the system(s) while holding down the Reset button on the base unit? I'd like to see if this brings up a debug/test mode that may reveal which of AtGames' processors is powering the system. Pictures or video footage in particular would be great. Many thanks in advance! With the Atari FB4, there were several buttons on the base unit, and you held only the Start and Select among them while booting to get the debug/test mode. It looks like the CV and INTV FB only have Power and Reset buttons on the base unit; I get the feeling that maybe their button sequence for debug/test isn't as simple as just holding down the only non-Power button while booting. Still, unless someone wants to try doing various random stuff on the controllers at boot, this is the closest analog to the FB4 debug/test button sequence. Also, is anyone brave enough to take apart their Flashback and see if the PCB (or any socketed chips on it) has anything noteworthy written on it? Yes, I'd really like to determine what processor AtGames has deployed for these new Flashbacks. onmode-ky

Sega actually made an attempt to reacquire the "Zaxxon" mark, as detailed in this trademark application filing, but they were denied a few months ago. I can't understand the legalese used in the decision explanation, but their "Paris priority application date," which would have backdated their filing to a month before Coleco's, was not admitted. However, according to that listing's International Registration Information, it seems that Sega still owns the "Zaxxon" mark outside the US. One weird thing about Coleco's ownership of the "Zaxxon" mark in the US is that their application used original Coleco products (as in from the 80s) for the "specimen" image portions--and some of those had "Sega" plainly written on them. At that link, click on the Documents tab, then the Specimen documents, and look at the pages. One of them is even a picture of Coleco's Atari 2600 Zaxxon cart, with "ZAXXON and Sega® are trademarks of Sega Enterprises, Inc." plainly written on it. I didn't get a response to the above request yet, so I'll try again, this time with some corrections and an attempt at boosted visibility: REQUEST to anyone who already has a CV and/or INTV FB! Can someone boot up the system(s) while holding down the Reset button on the base unit? I'd like to see if this brings up a debug/test mode that may reveal which of AtGames' processors is powering the system. Pictures or video footage in particular would be great. Many thanks in advance! With the Atari FB4, there were several buttons on the base unit, and you held only the Start and Select among them while booting to get the debug/test mode. It looks like the CV and INTV FB only have Power and Reset buttons on the base unit; I get the feeling that maybe their button sequence for debug/test isn't as simple as just holding down the only non-Power button while booting. Still, unless someone wants to try doing various random stuff on the controllers at boot, this is the closest analog to the FB4 debug/test button sequence. onmode-ky P.S. Is anyone brave enough to take apart their Flashback and see if the PCB (or any socketed chips on it) has anything noteworthy written on it? P.P.S. At my local TRU store, an employee answered with a simple "No" when I asked if they had the CV FB, so I suspect they already had someone [try to] buy one, after which they removed them from the shelves. That store did have two of the brand new Hero Portal "Skylanders-lite" plug-n-play systems from Jakks Pacific, though (specifically, the TMNT and DC Super Heroes models), so it wasn't a completely unproductive visit. Not that I bought anything.

I don't know how complete it is, but the "Nintendo Mini Classics" Wikipedia entry lists several releases, by a number of different distributors over the years, with the most recent being dated 2007. Also, EntertainmentEarth.com has what looks like a preorder up for another run of Nintendo Mini Classics, attributed to a firm called "Global Holdings" (I say it looks like a preorder because I think this site uses the same terms for both yet-to-release products and items that are just projected to restock at some future date). I'm not sure to what degree the Mini Classics line can be used to gauge Nintendo's willingness to license out DK for the Coleco tabletop recreation, though. The Mini Classics concept, and maybe even the "blueprints" for actual manufacturing execution, seems to be something Nintendo owns and licenses out, whereas the tabletop is third party through and through. Don't forget their SMS/GG-on-a-chip implementation, the Noza (of which, linking back to the main thread topic, Coleco Holdings had a release in 2006). Continued below . . . Which website were you guys referring to? If you meant Coleco's US trademark registration for the "Zaxxon" mark, the application for that was filed by Coleco Holdings in November 2012. It's not something that's been around since the 80s. If you're talking about a website discussing the Zaxxon IP itself and its copyright ownership, I don't know anything about that, but the mark (the word) in the context of computer/electronic games is registered to Coleco since August 2013. Curiously, the registration entry says, "Use in Commerce: Jun. 01, 2006." I'm not sure what normally goes in that field, but the last use of "Zaxxon" in commerce is surely not so far back as 2006. We should kind of worry about it, too, though, because if something has not been fully squared away through all relevant legal processes, and an injunction (?) is successfully filed by someone, products relating to the disputed properties could get pulled from shelves, no? It would be Coleco's problem to handle, but we would lose out, too. Please note, this is just hypothetical and is not a statement of future likelihood. The thing is, though, this is classified as a toy, not a video game. Games, movies, music, etc. have set release dates, but toys usually just go out whenever they're ready. If you ask a toy company when X new product will hit stores, they'll just give you a response like "should be sometime in August." So, these AtGames "toys" having been assigned actual release dates is not a typical situation for retailers. (boldface is mine) I'm confused. Are you saying you have or have not confirmed that the CV FB's controllers are backwards compatible with the original CV? I've always been under the impression that the 12-second wait is a ColecoVision BIOS operation, meaning it's not actually in any game code. Thus, running the original game ROMs has nothing to do with it. Can you (or anyone else who has picked up an early CV FB) give examples of the cosmetic changes you're seeing on some opening screens? Request to anyone who already has a CV and/or INTV FB: can someone boot up the system(s) while holding down the Start and Select buttons on the base unit? I'd like to see if this brings up a debug/test mode that may reveal which of AtGames' processors is powering the system. Pictures or video footage in particular would be great. Many thanks in advance! onmode-ky

The PC (and Mac) version is new, only out for about 1 or 2 months. It's a significantly expanded version of the game, with at least 4 new worlds, off the top of my head (the original had 9 worlds; the new ones I'm thinking of are Amiga, Apple II, SNES, and Genesis). Also, there's a whole new set of something like 50 collectibles, hidden ones this time, so even the old levels have new areas. Lastly, there's now an assortment of vehicles available in certain levels. As shown in the trailer, there's a car, a jet pack, a bubble, and I think I saw a skateboard and mine cart, too? Oh, and the PC/Mac version also has online leaderboards for each level, for the speed-runners. onmode-ky

Indeed. If I were to take a wild guess, it dumps them because it's easier to architect, based on what parts are easily available today. You either slurp the whole cartridge ROM into your system RAM and then do all your operations from there, or you build yourself custom hardware + low-level drivers + libraries so that the emulator you write can do real-time reading of the cartridge's instructions and data. Not impossible, but likely comparatively time-consuming. However, I note again that this is just my wild guess. I found the end credits for Gran Turismo 6; check this out. At the very end, there's a loooooong list of company credits. It is, however, not a true copyright screen but rather is entirely under a "With the Kind Cooperation of" heading. Still, the list is made up of not just car companies, but even things like Coca-Cola. Cars need refreshment, too. I wonder if, in sponsoring a NASCAR car, you give NASCAR the right to do whatever they want with your on-car logo without any further involvement from you in licensing matters. That would put every car sponsor under a NASCAR copyright credit (and eliminate a lot of fine print). Sponsors of NASCAR events would probably be different. Anyway, that's going far off topic. I went ahead and investigated ALL 60 (61) CV FB GAMES on my own, and what we're looking at in terms of original IP owners/publishers/developers is a staggeringly long list. Here it is: coleco/spinnaker/interphase/xonox/data east/broderbund/universal/imagic/sydney/spectravideo/circuits and systems/stern/epyx/sunrise/taito-atarisoft/big five/micro fun/parker brothers/sierra/midway/exidy/sega/carousel/philips probe 2000/krause/team pixelboy/gutierrez/spectral associates/digital press/konami (the hyphen in "taito-atarisoft" derives from the fact that the only Taito-IP game is also the only Atarisoft-published game, Jungle Hunt) There's definitely no way that the number of rights holders involved with the CV FB is actually that high. I wonder how much smaller it is. Hmm, that's an interesting question. I'd forgotten that the word "Zaxxon" does appear on Sega products currently available on the market. You'll get no argument from me there. onmode-ky

Yes, but the thing with this "Beach Volleyball" that makes me unsure is that the port of Spiker! on the Intellivision 25 was named "Volleyball," not "Beach Volleyball." Thus, I'm wondering if maybe "Beach Volleyball" is one of the Intellivision-inspired games that were put on the X2 15 and 10 2nd Edition, like Astrosmash 2 and Space Armada 2. Consider how "Golf" on the Intellivision 25 menu was a port of Chip Shot: Super Pro Golf, while the golf game on the 10 2nd Edition is a newly programmed, "fake" Intellivision game, Long Drive Golf, and is just a driving range game; perhaps the relationship between 25 "Golf" and 10 2nd Edition "Long Drive Golf" is the same as the relationship between 25 "Volleyball" and 10 2nd Edition "Beach Volleyball"? That's a possibility. Or, maybe it's simply a port of Spiker!, and the addition of the word "Beach" is just someone's accursed whim. Thanks! I hope they surface during your excavations. onmode-ky

Where did you hear that date? The most narrow window I know of is "by the end of 2014." I do know that localization work is still in progress, because Xseed-affiliated Jess continues to tweet about it fairly often. Here's a PC game deal I'd like to share: Life of Pixel on Desura is 60% off ($2.79) for at least part of this weekend. Yes, I'm pushing this game again, because it seems like a game that should be popular with AtariAgers. VCS levels, ZX Spectrum levels, C64 levels, NES levels, and more? No-brainer! And yes, it's also fun. onmode-ky

I can save you the trouble: That's a (super blurry) phone picture I took last year in a Walmart, showing the bottom of an Atari Flashback 64 box. Note the individual copyright notices for each Taito-licensed game. Are you sure? All that stuff could be in the game's credits; have you looked there? Sony's games' credits are paaaaaaainfully long. . . . Back when games had manuals, that kind of babble could also be found in the fine print at the back. Anyway, in the case of the ColecoVision Flashback, I think all companies involved would be REALLY eager to get their names in some customer-visible print. "Hey, we own this mostly forgotten stuff that you want! Remember us!" No, none of AtGames' Genesis clones these past few years have used emulation. Their SD-equipped portables have been using GOACs, same as their cartridge-capable systems and all-in-one systems. If the new portable is emulation-based, it will be their first one--or at least their first one in recent years, since I still haven't confirmed that their Genesis plug-n-play systems prior to ~2008 were already using GOAC implementations. Their Titan ARM implementation was supposed to be for Genesis emulation as far back as 2005, but then some lawsuits happened which may have been where they got their original RedKid GOAC. onmode-ky

I am aware of those details (I'm the person trying to identify who programmed the ports, Techno Source or a subcontracted Chinese developer), hence why I referred above to Techno Source's products as "NOAC Intellivisions" (NOAC = Nintendo-on-a-chip). The fact that they are ports rather than emulations, though, does not invalidate my question. The ports are intended to mimic actual Intellivision games; I want to know which sports games they are intended to mimic. As an analogy, if someone puts the NES port of Gyruss in a compilation but renames it "Gybob," we can still recognize that it's a[n inaccurate] rendition of original arcade Gyruss. If the Techno Source ports are so unfaithful that no one can tell which Intellivision sports games they're meant to resemble, that's an acceptable answer, but if they're not so far gone, then I can update my data with more useful info than the simple sports names that are currently there. Soooooo, anyone have either of the X2 15 and 10 2nd Edition models? I know you're out there! onmode-ky

The preorder dates say October. Bill had mentioned earlier that the upcoming Genesis portable might have savestate capability. If so, it could be a gain from a paradigm shift, going the emulation route rather than using the RedKid-series chip. However, until Bill gets his review samples, we won't know for sure if AtGames made that change. Well, I certainly don't have enough copyright knowledge to confirm or refute anything about our Bump 'N' Jump ponderings, but I think I may have found the answer to my earlier question about whether G-mode inherited Data East's American trademarks. Here is what G-mode owns in the way of US-registered trademarks. Note that the mark "Data East" is dated 1991 and is listed as "registered and renewed." So, that one looks inherited. However, almost everything else is dated December 2004, which is almost a whole year after G-mode acquired their Data East properties. That is, G-mode "manually" applied for those American marks after already having the properties in Japan. It looks like they simply didn't grab the "Bump 'N' Jump" mark, leaving it open for Coleco Holdings to nab. Anyway, as for whether G-mode has any involvement in the ColecoVision Flashback, it occurred to me that the answer will become plain in due time: when the system releases, we can just see whether the packaging, manual, and/or system say anything like "Copyright G-mode." My bet's on it not being there. We should see if "Copyright Sega" is there, too, since both "Zaxxon" and "Space Fury" are Coleco-owned marks now (are there any other Sega games in that list?). Maybe the ColecoVision Flashback will turn out to be a good lesson on trademarks and copyrights! onmode-ky

While going over Bill's list of Intellivision Flashback games, I realized that certain sports are represented on the system by more than one game (in case it wasn't obvious, I'm not well versed with the system). So, for example, if I say "the Intellivision soccer game," I could mean either [NASL] Soccer or World Cup Soccer. Therefore, I went to update my records covering what games were in the Techno Source NOAC Intellivision plug-n-play systems, to clarify which particular games were in those. For the Intellivision 10 and Intellivision 25 systems, that was simple to do, because there's an IntellivisionLives.com page for those two which shows exactly which original titles are replicated on them (e.g., what's listed on the Intellivision 25 as "Golf" is meant to be Chip Shot: Super Pro Golf). However, I can't find any such resource for the later pair of Techno Source Intellivision plug-n-play systems, the Intellivision X2 15 (a 2-player system with 15 games) and the Intellivision 10 2nd Edition. Does anyone here have one or both of these? I'd like to clarify what the following games listed on these two systems are: - Baseball - Beach Volleyball - Football - Hockey - Soccer - Tennis In particular, what the heck is Beach Volleyball? The only Intellivision volleyball game I found doesn't have "Beach" in the title, and it was called plain old "Volleyball" on Intellivision 25. Is this a newly made game for these systems, like Long Drive Golf, or is it just Spiker! Super Pro Volleyball as on Intellivision 25, but inexplicably renamed? I'm also reordering these NOAC Intellivisions' game lists in my records. Typically, I try to have games listed in the order they're in on a system's main menu, but it seems my Intellivision 10 and 25 lists are in the order of the instruction manual--which, YouTube proved, is not the same as the main menu order. I can't find anything on YouTube showing the main menus for either the X2 15 or 10 2nd Edition, unfortunately. If anyone knows and can give me the proper ordering for these, please do! onmode-ky