Ransom

I agree, it's ridiculous. I've never waited in line to buy a console, and I don't plan on starting now. And as for paying an extra $50+ online or buying an overpriced bundle, that's right out as well. Nintendo and the retailers will get my money when I can walk into the store and buy the console at the MSRP any time I please. Until then, they won't get a dime. I have hundreds of boxed games for nine different systems -- I won't be bored. (And if it turns out that the Wii is surpassed by the time they become common in the stores, guess what? I'll have saved $250!)

What is the most visually beautiful Atari 2600 game? Which visual display really shows off what can be done with the system by an artistic programmer?

Star Raiders on the 8-bit Atari takes me back right away. So does AD&D on the Intellivision and Adventure on the 2600. As far as systems I don't own any longer, Venture on the ColecoVision would bring me right back as well (but it's not enough reason for me to own a CV).

Try going somewhere on your island, pressing the crops (3) key, then pressing the Enter key. Do you still get the raspberry?

Great trade with BigO!

Thank you for the wonderful and complete reply, A.J.!

Here's my top 10: 1. BattleWheels 2. Stun Runner 3. Klax 4. Battlezone 2000 5. Rampart 6. Road Blasters 7. Ms. Pac-Man 8. Joust 9. Super Asteroids and Missile Command 10. Lemmings

The only one I know of is jzintv, but it hasn't had an update in nearly two years. It's at 1.0 beta, but in my experience it needs some work to make it function well.

Press Escape, then shift-< (Clear)

Since Best Electronics is all out of anti-static guards, what are you doing when you find a 2600A that needs a new one? What's the danger of not having the anti-static guards in place? Usually I find them half-torn -- that is, still intact from one side to the other, but not on both the top and bottom across the hole, just on the bottom. Is that enough "protection"?

At what point can we expect to see wide-spread component failure in our systems, such as of the capacitors? Should we all be madly replacing components now, or is it not likely to be a problem in our lifetimes?

I agree, Genesis controllers seem to be the best bet. If she likes game pads or the arcade style, both are available. My wife prefers the Genesis arcade controller.

Congratulations! As long as you're happy with what you paid, who's to say it was a bad deal? In my opinion, a working 2600A is worth paying $25. Once you include shipping, I don't think you'd get it for too much less than that online. Have fun!

What, no bids yet?! C'mon you chickens, bid like a robot!

What a rare find!

I still prefer the Wico bat joysticks to all others.

I wish that Warner had been a bit more far-sighted about the video game industry and had kept Atari. I wish they'd released the XEGS instead of the 5200, but at the 5200's price point and with 2600 compatibility built in. Imagine: all your games and controllers will work with this new system, but you can also use all these great cartridges in the 8-bit computer catalog, with more on the way! It would have been an easy sell. Then they could have started work on a next-generation computer. The 2600 would slowly fade away, the XEGS would be the standard gaming system, and they could come up with a 16-bit computer to compete with IBM and Apple going forward. But that would presuppose that Atari had been well-run at the time, when it clearly wasn't. Each division competing with the others instead of with their real (external) competition. Pumping out shitty games in the belief that anything with the Atari name on it would sell -- and wouldn't tarnish their most valuable asset, their corporate brand. And trying to compete with Commodore when the real money was clearly at the Apple and IBM price points. And, most of all, not respecting their programmers and engineers, who then left the company in droves and started competing firms like Activision and Imagic. Scratch that. Thinking about it, I wish Nolan Bushnell had found a way to fund Atari's growth in the 70s so that it would never sell to the idiots at Warner.

I'm trying to come up with some elegant solution to the problem of carts dropping down to the bottom of those cheap Atari boxes they used in the late XL/XE era. Has anyone already solved this problem? I'm thinking maybe a small styrofoam insert would do the trick, but if there's something easier or cheaper...

Thanks for the link! It's depressing to think how many companies all over the world function in much the same way as he describes Atari (mal-)functioning in the early 80s.

A lot of the later games are only on the 7800. Midnight Mutants was one of the big reasons for me to get back into the 7800. I stand corrected. I just looked through the list of all 7800 titles, and there are a few 7800 exclusives. For me, though, it's not enough to justify having a 7800 around. But I certainly understand why some might.

Lord Helmet, already mentioned above, did great by me!

Overwhelmed? Not really. Not any more. I just try to exercise good judgment on what I buy, rather than being compulsive about it like I used to. For the current systems, I really prefer multiplayer games -- and preferably cooperative multiplayer games. Beyond that, I might pick up one or two games a year, such as the latest Mario or something of that sort. I mean, let's face it -- most of us here already own so many games, we could never buy another one and we'd still have plenty to play for the rest of our lives. We can all afford to be picky about what we buy, and when we buy it. That's a good position to be in.

After Adventure, my #1 favorite game for the 2600 is 'No Escape.' There's never been another game like that, before or since. You might want to check it out sometime.

The 7800. I just can't get past its sound. The games are good, graphically and play-wise. But there's nothing that I know of that's only available on the 7800, so I'd rather play the less graphically beautiful 8-bit versions of games and have better sound. That's why I ended up selling off my 7800 collection in the mid-nineties when storage space became an issue. The 2600 gets a pass on sound because there is a lot of very good content for that console that is only available on it. There's just no alternative if you want to play those games. So I put up with it. As for the 5200, I have mixed feelings. I have a very fond place in my heart for the console and actually owned one when it came out as well as in the 90s. Many games on it are slightly better than on the Atari 8-bit. But I can't justify the cost of a 5200 (plus upgraded joysticks, a video upgrade, and all the games) nor the space it would take up given that I have an Atari 8-bit computer. I love the Lynx and I like the Jaguar. But my fave will always be the Atari 8-bit computer line...specifically, the 1200XL.

Which of those offers some form of cooperative play? I suppose for our purposes we might define cooperative as a game in which the players cannot destroy one another or otherwise shut one another out of the game, and in which they have a shared goal (destroying all the aliens, etc.). Having two different point displays doesn't matter, IMO. I can think of a couple... - Space Invaders - Atlantis Would Dodge 'Em qualify?