christianscott

its not basement made, at least not by me. i found two of these around boston and 6 others have turned up in places like michigan, illinois, new jersey so thats a pretty effective basement operation. its built around the a standard vec with a custom cabinet and time/coin op control electronics. so far no one has determined the exact history of the minicade, its credited to ESI corp copyright 1983, who they were we dont know.

the original vectrex arcade machine...still beggin for quarters http://www.foodtastesgood.com/mini-cade/

that diagram illustration on your page is exactly the device i use, with the afore mentioned extras. with careful wiring and planning you could handle dozens of systems this way, at one point i had over 20 consoles on one set. the trouble for me became the wires, it just got too messy so i had to rethink the plan. i hooked all my RCA systems up to the TV and my RF to the com. monitor via the VCR trick. this makes testing out new cartridge finds on any of the 20 some systems a lot less frusterating.

i liked the sound of the game from the ads i saw but i cant play games that keep switching camera angle, well i can but i choose not to since it frusterates me. i really wanted to like fear effect but got sick having to rethink the controller every scene. you know what i mean by tomb raider style? is it like that?

is the thing an over the shoulder cam game ala tomb raider or cinematic game like dinocrisis and resident evil?

they're becoming scarce but such devices do exist, naki made some and they should be available on ebay but more the point head to radio shack (you've got questions, we've got cell phone offers). the device you want to look for is intended to allow multisource VCR dubbing and switching but the main thing is that it allows you to swap between 4 RF sources, these can of course be connected (option 4 on box one is box two etc...) its even possible to bring this altogether with your RCA cable systems via an RF modulator or a VCR's inputs (most VCRs allow for both RCA and RF input/output). perhaps i'm not doing the best job of explaining this stuff but once you have the hardware in hand it will make sense to you. my advice is to be persistant at radio shack, they'll undoubtably misunderstand you and try to upsell you something, do what i do---act like you're a mad scientist and reveal as little of your secret plan as possible.

hi harry, how about a link to your website with the comparisons? is it just me, i honestly think the graphics on the NGP look far better than the lynx, although i have only had the chance to play 5 games on it. thats the one area where the lynx wins easily, i've picking lynx games up for under $5 whereas ngp games cost more than the system itself in many cases...and then theres the Nomad.

like i said at the top i'm not a system specs expert, i was just thinking of how similar the joust games were on both machines. all love for the lynx aside i'd say that the Nomad and the neogeo pocket beat the lynx long before the GBA came around. maybe also the wonderswan but i've never had the chance to play one of those.

you'll be joining the small ranks of dedicated pong collectors, unlike the atari this is not a crowded market. the truth about pongs is that nearly all of them have the same chip set under the hood so in the end you're collecting the shell not the game. that being said a lot of people like to collect the early atari/sears pongs such as stunt cycle. coleco made a great tank game that is also highly sought after. if you're looking for a good pong faq check this out http://www.chez.com/slydc/sdc01.htm go to the FAQ section and read the very in depth pong section, sly writes the best faqs. oh and theres always the atari age pong forum, i've never been there but i hear its nice i have a few pongs up for trade if you feel like jumping in.

i just came across a copy of video pinball with a P on the end label but it sure doesnt play in PAL, what is the deal?

the euro issue 7800 control pad is the best for those who prefer a NES style controller. a wico ball stick is pretty nice, for out and out coolness though i gotta go with the tron joystick! oh and the worst i've ever played with is that damn fasterblaster button pad.

its one of the series of pongs that magnovox made in the 70's, there are about 5 versions of this, all of which do more or less the same things in a different colored shell. the white one i want to say is an ody1000 but i'm not sure, a quick visit to ebays completed auctions section will clear it up for you. if you want to recapture your childhood these consoles usually sell for under $15 on ebay.

i'm not a system specs wizard so i dont know the facts on which console was better at what i'm just talking in terms of feel. so experts speak up, was the lynx roughly a portable 7800?

tabletop or pocket sized?

lucky me scooped up a PSone for 20 bucks at a flea today, but so what, its just a little PSX without a screen to go with it right? so has anybody here gone that route and shelled out for a screen, anybody seen any great deals for a screen. i want a cheap one... tell me your experiences, how do you like it, is it really a portable system, is the set up akward? better than a GBA?

have you ever played with a virtual boy? it has the most ergonomical controllers ever made. nintendo designed them to be used with out being able to see them and thus created a very intuative design. i'd say the second best would be the dual shock psx, who would have ever thought you could work those little mushroom joysticks so well with your thumbs? worst controllers... 5200, channel f, intv

sega develops a lot of great games but they have to be the worst hardware maker ever. i'm knocking the power of their systems but rather the feel and toughness. if you see a sega CD, 32X, Gen2 odds are better than not that the system is broken. sega produced great handhelds in horrible bodies and never managed to make controllers half as well as nintendo does. they also missed the boat on RF and AC cables, nintendo keeps theirs fairly standard from system to system but sega fans have to go on wire quests to enjoy their machines. so does anybody else see the Xbox as sort of a dreamcast2? look at the controller even, the windows thing, the games...very similar.

i have a "corpse killer" sega cd in cardboard

river raid took scramble and changed the camera angle, the idea that you can fuel up like that is one of those weird video game laws like first aid kits being scattered through out abandoned tombs... the smooth control of the ship and the pacing were nice, perhaps the best feature was the audio, great use of sound effects. i hated how the sides of the river would make your ship crash though. i think this type of gameplay was perfected in xevious

under $15. pongs just dont have the appeal of the cart consoles, the telestar arcade however is worth a good bit, thats the three sided thing with the small shiny triangular carts. its not to say there are not some rare pong systems, hundreds of companies jumped into the pong market back in the 70's, you could go for years gathering them all up.

a power base for $5.99 is worth it for the value alone, you might find as i did that using a powerbase is an easy way to save space on your shelf. i'm one of those guys with tons of boxes, which i'd be happy to trade. loose SMS and GEN carts fit perfectly into cassette tape holder, i use the wall mounted ones.

a collectors best friend is a palm pilot, i credit mine with hundreds of remembered finds. my tactic is to create a memo of a systems entire cart list and then whittle it down as i find them, over time the NES list has shrunk from 4 memos to 1! the trouble is you cant alway find and easy cut and paste list online, most sites use spreadsheet style lists that turn to muck out side of their natural enviroment. i'd like to find or inspire someone more skilled to create a palm system game collector's resource. what i really need now is straight A-Z no frills genesis list. uhmm that was all i had to say about that...

to be honest with you everything but the flight commander stick is dirt common and on its own will not fetch much. sell that by itself and sell everything else off as individual systems with the carts included for max profit. the guy offering you $185 is not trying to rip you really, thats about what i'd pay for the lot.

pros include the solid cart connection which stops the blinking screen problem and the dogbone controller which is kinder on the hands for long play sessions. cons include certian controller problems like the zapper and the four player if i remember correctly. other points are the lack of RCA A/V outs and a problem i have heard others mention but never seen with the 7 toploaders i've had, some sort of lines that appear on the screen. its also cooler looking and takes up less space. if you're a serious NES player its worth the money... oh and they are not as rare as you might think, its more that people want them so bad they will pay more for them.

the sears video arcade II, ie the 2800 or the all black 7800esque console. it looks great and is easier to keep dust out of than the grill of a 2600. its kind of rare, the power LED is a great feature. i'm biased as this was the system i owned as kid, and i still have it with the box. the controllers are great for me although some prefer a classic 2600 stick and paddles.