Psionic

That was not really an "error" per se, Activision just didn't have the 5200 boxes, so they used 2600 leftovers.

Years back, a FuncoLand employee told me that using alcohol to clean game cartridges will eat away at the circuit board and eventually cause the metal connector pins to peel away from the board. He thus advised me to clean my games only with a special cleaning solution that I could puchase at FuncoLand (the cleaning solution contained isopropyl alcohol!). All I know is, I've been cleaning my cartridges with alcohol for 15 years and I haven't had a problem yet. Use alcohol, but use it sparingly, don't over do it. Nintendo used to tell you to clean cartridges with just water and there were warnings on the back of the cartridges saying not to clean with alcohol, benzene, thinner, etc., but I think that was more because those liquids are flammable than they will damage the game. In my experience, water does not work as well in removing dirt and tarnish from the contacts and takes far longer to dry, which makes it more likely to cause rust/corrosion on the metal contacts.

Um, in a word...YES. Cleaning your game cartridges regularly is the most basic requirement of maintaining a game collection. If you don't clean your games, a new 72-pin won't do a thing and you are only contaminating your system connectors with dirty cartridges. Over 100 games? I have over 500 cartridges and I clean my whole collection at least once every year or two. Games that are used regularly should be cleaned more regularly (probably once every month or two or three). Good luck.

That really sucks. Fortunately, everything is in really good shape after all these years. There's no damage anywhere, just some light corrosion on some of the solder points on the board, but this is to be expected after 25 years. Anyway, as far as the repair is concerned, I decided to do it myself after taking it to a local computer repair (wanted $37.50 to fix it) and a local TV/electronics repair (wanted $22 just to look at it!). I went over to Radio Shack and bought a small soldering iron and a spool of light rosin core solder for $13 and added some solder to the weak joint. Took about 5 minutes and it works like new. Thanks guys. I guess my ColecoVision will be my next project when I figure out how to get the damn thing apart...

I took out my 2600 (light sixer) today and hooked it up for the first time in ages. At first, I couldn't get the system to power up. Eventually it did, but I'd get scrambled graphics and it kept turning off. I realized that power jack on the system itself has a loose connection and by wiggling it around, I could get the system to work or not work. I think this might be the only problem, so I decided to open up the system to see what was up. This is actually the first time I've opened it, and not surprisingly, the insides were full of dust bunnies. I cleaned all that up and found a small piece of paper taped to the guts with a stamp indicating my system's "birth": 20 March 1982 . Anyway, I didn't notice any abnormalities, so I looked at the power plug jack and wiggled it a bit. It seems that the solder points (there are 3) where the box meets the board are weak, which allows a slight wiggle that is nonetheless enough to disrupt power. Is this a simple fix? Should I just add some solder or should I desolder the whole thing and resolder it? I have no electronics knowledge whatsoever, so should I attempt this fix myself or take it to someone else? Any suggestions appreciated.

I read an interview a while back with a guy who works for the game developer/publisher and he addressed both Arkanoid and Chase HQ. He said that Taito refused to license Arkanoid for inclusion on the Legends compilations. He wasn't sure exactly why, but he believed it involved legal issues with other companies like Atari and Nintendo over similar ball and paddle games (Breakout and Alleyway, respectively). Chase HQ will not be included due to licensing issues with various car manufacturers (namely Ferrari and Lamborghini) and the high costs associated with renewing such licenses.

I use the stock controllers, since they're all I have. They're not the greatest and take some getting used to, but I kind of like them. I have big hands/long fingers, so I don't have many issues with them, but I could definitely see small children having difficulty. Even so, for all the complaining people do about the CV controllers, they're nowhere near as bad as the Intellivision controllers, which make the INTV nearly unplayable and can't be substituted for.

Well, "rarity" can often be a relative term, and for the most part rarity is determined by supply vs. demand. Many titles that are considered rare are often expensive because the supply (no matter how small or large it really is) does not meet the demand. In some cases, titles may be more "rare" for certain systems simply becuse of increased demand for a copy on a certain console. Other times, there is simply a smaller production run of a game on certain consoles. For instance, the production runs for most titles released for Intellivision and ColecoVision are much smaller than their Atari 2600 counterparts. There are several reasons for this, one them being the fact that there were several million more 2600 systems owned by gamers than either INTV or CV. Another reason for the shortprints of INTV/CV games is the fact that many companies were slow to produce games for these systems and by the time they did, the market was beginning to crash (1983-84) and this halted production. A good example to demonstate this is a game like River Raid by Activision. The game was first released for the Atari 2600 in 1982 and was a huge hit. These are very common. When Activision decided to release games for ColecoVision in 1983, River Raid was one of the first titles they released for the system (along with Pitfall). CV copies are nowhere near as abundant as 2600 copies but fairly common in CV terms. Activision also decided to release games for the Intellivision in 1983, but they were late in entering the INTV market and they only ended up releasing 7 games for the system. Of these, the first few titles (Stampede, Pitfall & Happy Trails) are very common. When the market started to crash, the production runs on subsequent releases (Dreadnaught Factor, Beamrider, Worm Whomper) went way down. For some reason, they held off on releasing River Raid. In fact, it was the last game they released for the system and the production run was very, very small. Consequently, a complete INTV River Raid is worth over $100.

Good stuff, although no Spy Hunter...

Who knows, the sky's the limit with that kind of stuff, most Nutting machines other than Computer Space are very rare. But even if Computer Quiz did come out before Space War (I'm not sure if it did), it's not really a "predecessor", since it's not a video game at all, just a primitive electronic arcade quiz game: http://www.arcade-museum.com/game_detail.p...mp;game_id=1637

I really don't know much about MAME, to tell you the truth, I can't even get it to work on my computer. As far as building a MAME machine, I'm not sure what's involved, but I'm sure there are plenty of others here that can help you with that. You can most definitely save $$ by doing it yourself. Good luck.

I can't believe more people voted for the 7800 than the Master System, that's sad. Oh well, this is AtariAge I suppose...

Well, not an original machine at least, but you can play it in MAME.

Obviously the game exists, as you've seen, but I believe the game was a Japan-only release. It was released over there in both cabinet and cocktail form. I've never seen a U.S. flyer for the game or any other evidence that it was released state-side. I heard a rumor a while back from somebody on here that Nintendo has the sole U.S. machine in one of their breakrooms at Nintendo HQ in Redmond, but I don't know if there's any truth to that, probably just an urban legend. The game has a horizontal montitor orientation like Popeye and similar graphics, so if it were released here at all, it probably would exist as a conversion kit. As you mentioned, the game was released for the 2600 by Parker Brothers as part of the "Arcade Game Series". It seems odd that they'd release this game, but supposedly it was included in the deal when they got the rights to do the home versions of Popeye. 2600 Sky Skipper is okay, but I wish they'd released a ColecoVision version, which could have been much better. But it's not hard to understand why they didn't given Nintendo's relationship with Coleco and the fact that the game was not a big hit.

This post is so ridiculous it's not even worthy of comment.

I don't know what the production run was, but the original price was $35.90.

I haven't played my Master System in quite a while, but I don't recall anything like that.

Well, it could be the console, but I doubt it. I don't have problems with any other games. My console does not appear to have the power switch issues which commonly cause graphic problems. And three faulty carts out of 20+ really isn't too bad. Only River Raid appears totally dead. Upon further inspection, I found a small paper insert in the Centipede box that says the following: NOTICE If you don't see the ATARI logo in color when you insert your game cartridge and turn on your system, simply press the RESET key. So apparently, my copy of Centipede is not unique. My copy of Defender has a similar insert, but does not appear to have this problem. Has anyone experienced any problems like this with Atarisoft cartridges? River Raid, as stated, appears to be totally dead. I suspect it's just a factory dud, because all of my other Activision cartridges work fine with my console. Smurf Rescue is a notoriously buggy game (Smurfette's "striptease", etc.), so again, I'm not so sure it's my console or my copy of the game that is the problem. Unfortunately, I do not have another console to test these games on. If anyone is familiar with the ColecoVision system, and Activision and Atarisoft cartridges specifically, any suggestions you have would be appreciated.

I recently picked up a ColecoVision system and some games. I've noticed a few problems that I'd like your thoughts and/or help on: 1. Actiplaque: I've opened factory sealed copies of Centipede and Defender and found both cartridges to have actiplaque on the picture label and end label. Is this common on Atarisoft games? Interestingly enough, the Activision games I have (Beamrider, Pitfall & River Raid) are completely actiplaque free. 2. Label peeling: Several of the games I have (both new and used) have moderate to severe label peeling. What type of glue do you guys recommend (if any) to reattach these? 3. Other game problems: -Centipede- This game came new from a sealed box, but appears to be somewhat defective. When I turn on the power switch, one of two things happens: either I get a very scrambled black and white title screen, or I get a blank screen with a low buzzing noise. In either case, if I press the reset button, the game begins normally and has no other visible problems. Anyone else ever hear of this? -River Raid- This game, also new from a sealed box, appears to be DOA. When I turn on the power switch, I get the screen that appears when no game is inserted, so this cart appears to be totally dead. -Smurf Rescue- This game is used but in mint condition. It seems to be somewhat defective. The game will occasionally reset by itself a few seconds after you select the difficulty level and begin play. I know this game is notoriously buggy, so has anyone else ever experienced this? I would also note that I have cleaned all of these games (even though two of them were new) and I still experience these problems. And I know that ColecoVision systems aren't the most reliable, but my system is in great cosmetic shape and none of the other games I have (about 20) have any problems that I have seen. Any suggestions you guys have would be appreciated.