ekloot

excellent...thanks for the fast reply guys. I really appreciate it. It looks like a fun game that my girlfriend would actually play against me in two player mode lol.

I was just wondering if the the Go Fish! homebrew game is compatible with the atari 7800? Has anyone played the game on the 7800? I just wanted to make sure before I decide to buy it. Thanks.

The store is located at the corner of Harlem Ave. and Montrose Ave. in Harwood Heights, IL. Its called Videogames ETC. They had some new and used atari 7800 and 2600 games. I also bought a couple proline 7800 joysticks there for my 7800. They sell a lot of other used games for other systems as well...and even some refurbished retro systems themselves. Its a pretty cool store. I only found out about it because I used to work only a few blocks away from it. And no...I'm not affiliated with the store or owners in any way...I just thought it was really cool that there was still a store out there that had atari and other retro gaming stuff. Here's the actual address: 4351 N Harlem Ave Harwood Heights, IL 60706 (708) 457-2260

Just out of curiosity...is the Sean Kelly you're talking about the same guy who has a videogames store on the northwest edge of chicago? I've bought a bunch of new and used atari games from his store as well as some controllers. When I first went in that store I couldn't believe how much atari stuff was in there...its a great place.

oh okay, that makes sense. Thanks for the explanation. I thought they might have been using emulators for all those screenshots but I wasn't sure. Thanks for the info.

Hi, I just purchased the atari 7800 Commando cartridge and the in game colors seem to be much darker than in the screenshots that I've seen on atariage. Is this normal? or is there something wrong with my cartridge. I've only played through the beginning of the game so I wasn't sure if the colors change somewhere later in the game though. Could someone who has Commando comment on this? Thanks

hey, I did get the new ballblazer cartridge that I ordered today and it worked fine in my atari so I guess you guys were right and I didn't break anything on the system itself. Thanks for easing my fears until now though

I think I'm confused or missing a joke or something...but how is ballblazer like a racing game where you can shoot the other driver/player...or a stargate sidescrolling adventure game? Or did you just mean ballblazer is a split screen game too?

haha...well it looks like somebody else knows their Stargate Atlantis episodes. This wasn't exactly what I meant by a Stargate game...but definately a good observation on your part. Hey, maybe Stargate Atlantis got some of their inspiration for the Atari Atlantis video game?...who knows.

I always thought they should have made a two player/split screen racing game for the 7800...maybe the cars could shoot rockets or something to knock other players off the track...it would kind of be like mario cart. There could be some wacky stuff on the track for booby traps and maybe some ramps and other stuff. That would be a fun party game for the 7800. And maybe the racing characters could be famous atari characters such as the guy from Pitfall and maybe Pac-man and Ms. Pac-man as well as Qbert and the Kaboom guy and some others. Okay, maybe this is too much like Mario cart but it would still be fun. I also think a Stargate (the tv show) sidescroller or verticle scroller (like Ikari Warriors) adventure type of game would be fun as well if it could be done to look half way decent. Maybe there could be two player simultaneous play using a couple members of the stargate team and the other couple members can just be computer controlled on the screen. I don't know how that one would work exactly but I like the Stargate shows and I like atari games so maybe the two put together somehow could be kind of fun lol. Yeah, I know those aren't very wierd concepts and might not be possible but I thought I'd suggest it anyways.

Yeah I actually tried that...but when i put in the bare board I get absolutely nothing on the screen now...not even the atari logo anymore. I think I'm plugging it in the right way...I guess its possible that I'm plugging it in backwards but I don't think I am...and I'm kind of afraid to try plugging it in the other way because if that is the backwards way I'm afraid of damaging something. Just so I know if I'm plugging it in correctly...should the side of the board with the pokey chip and other chip face away from me when I'm plugging in the cartridge?

No, its not one of the red label ballblazers...and unfortunately I don't own commando otherwise I would try that game. I hear its pretty good anyways. I did try to find out what that crack sound was...but I never could figure it out. The cartridge slot on the atari looks fine (and I looked at it in great detail)...it looks like it is actually pretty well designed to avoid any accidental breakage. But like I said I couldn't find anything obvious that was wrong with the ballblazer cartridge either...even after I took it apart. Like someone else said though, one of the solder joints could have cracked or be a little loose and that might be hard to tell depending on how bad it is. Hopefully the ballblazer cartridge I just ordered off of ebay will be here soon and then I'll know for sure if my atari is okay.

Yeah, I did open the ballblazer cartridge. I couldn't see any damage to it...of course that doesn't mean something isn't broken on it. I did save the board with the Pokey chip on it because I knew people are always looking for those things and I've even kicked around the idea of buying on of those CC2's myself. Thanks for the replies though...it makes me feel a little better knowing that it isn't likely that I damaged the atari itself.

I had this problem too...with the select button as well. For anyone else that has this problem...I found a slightly easier solution to fix it...from someone in these forums actually (so I can't take credit for it myself). I just cut off one of those black little tabs holding the top button cover. Then I took a tiny screwdriver and pryed up the corner of that button cover and sprayed some Deoxit (from Radio Shack) in there using the tiny little nozzle/straw that comes with it. Then I just pressed the button a bunch of times to get the chemical worked in there. After about 10 minutes I repeated this one more time (don't spray a ton in there or anything though). Then I waited another 10 minutes and then used a can of compressed air with a nozzle/straw and stuck it under the button cover again and tried to blow out as much of the remaining liquid as possible. Then I let it dry for a few hours and pushed the button cover back down in place (without the tab that I cut off obviously) and everything was good again. A few weeks later my power button started acting screwy like the select button did...so I did the same thing with the power button and it fixed that too. Just thought I'd post this in case anyone else was having the same problems and was afraid to disassemble the button all the way.

I have a question for any of the atari 7800 gurus here. Here's what happened...the other day I was plugging ballblazer into my 7800 and I thought I heard a crack sound. I got nervous and pulled out the cartridge and then re-seated it. When I turned on the system the game didn't work any more. The most I can get out of it is the Atari logo and then a black screen. However all my other 7800 and 2600 games work fine still. Now, I know that ballblazer has that extra chip on it (Pokey) so it is a little different than all my other atari cartridges in that respect...so is it possible that I damaged something on the atari system that interfaces specifically with that game...or did I just break the game? I know the more logical answer is that I just broke that specific game but since it is different than all the others I can't completely come to that conclusion. I couldn't find any broken parts on the game cartridge but I couldn't find any broken pieces or contacts on the atari either. I have another ballblazer on order through ebay but it might not get here until next week and I really want to know if I damaged something on the atari. If no one has any idea then I guess I'll find out when the new ballblazer game gets here though. Thanks for any info anyone has.