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OK, so maybe I'm not the most tech savvy of gamers but I should be able to download and import ROMs for Atari 2600 games, especially as I have two emulators. To be clear I CAN download and import most commercial games from back-in-the-day, with a few exceptions. Mostly a handful of games from 20th Century-Fox and SEGA. But I've had ZERO success with homebrews and WIPs. Since a user at http://highscore.com/ submitted a score for Abyss of Chernobyl: 90 Seconds I've been wanting very much to play it. I have no idea if it's getting a physical release. I hope so. A factor to consider is that I have Doxillion Plus on my PC, which I use to archive all of my ROMs. I download the ROM that I want, and extract it with Doxillion Plus into the Folder of my choice. EMU7800 Version 2.2 (Core 1.4) Once downloaded I import the ROM file into EMU7800. This emulator will import most everything from back-in-the-day, but fails when it comes to some Fox and SEGA games. Stella Version 6.0 Has a ton of ROMs already, but whenever I try to download ANY homebrews, regardless of if they're a WIP or are finished games, Doxillion Plus pops up and I get an error message that reads (as an example) The file "Abyss0.19NTSC.bas.bin" cannot be loaded because its format is not supported in Doxillion Document Converter. What is the snag, and if I purchased a Harmony Cart what steps are involved in downloading ROMs into it? Abyss of Chenobyl is a large game. 64k I believe. Does the Harmony Cart have a size limit as far as individual games are concerned? I performed a search for the Harmony Cart at the AtariAge store but couldn't find it. Any help would be appreciated.

I've been busying ordering games for my Atari platforms, although I'll be adding another retro console to my collection soon, so I'll soon begin purchasing games for it. More on that further down. All listed software (Games) are for the 2600. Recently Arrived, And Shown On My Youtube Channel: Software @eBay Beany Bopper Mega Force Revenge of the Beefsteak Tomatoes Turmoil Recently Arrived, But Not Yet Shown On My Youtube channel: Hardware Atari 5200 Trak-Ball Controller. Boxed. Refurbished by @AwesomeOgre. I traded my spare Boxed Commodore 64 for it. Software @AtariAge Aardvark (CIB) Software @eBay Alligator People (Prototype Reproduction). I already own the cart offered by @AtariAge, however this one uses the same artwork as found on the cover of a DVD release of The Alligator People. Doesn't appear to be from Hozer, but then I've never dealt with them so don't know what to look for. Spacemaster X-7 Ordered, But Hasn't Arrived Yet (Or Even Shipped Yet In Some Cases): Hardware ColecoVision console, being refurbished and modded for Composite Outputs by @AwesomeOgre Software @AtariAge Roach In Space, A (CIB) Seaweed Assault (CIB) Strat-O-Gems Toyshop Trouble Software @eBay Amidar (CIB) Astroblast M.A.D. N.E.R.D.S. (Homebrew; CIB) Star Wars: The Empire Strike Back I had never found a copy of N.E.R.D.S. before, but did tonight while trying to hunt down a decent, and affordable, cart of H.E.R.O. Video by CheapTech https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzuOVLH2NBo I've been wanting to order some ColecoVision games from @AtariAge for obvious reasons. However that option doesn't seem to be currently available. I can't even add them to my AtariAge Wishlist. Strange. Feel free to post your comments below. ?

I've really been wanting an Atari 5200, but what has held me back are the controllers with their infamous poor build quality. I've done some searching online and found a couple of alternatives. Forgive me if their old news, but I think that it'd be great if these were offered for sell through the AtariAge Store. Not as kits but fully built and ready to use. Alternative 1 RetroRGB Controller It looks nice, but what's the build quality like? It appears that this controller can be purchased either in kit form or ready to use. Alternative 2 Atari Jaguar to 5200 Conversion Controller Looks comfy. I've always liked the Jaguar Controller, and $89.99 seems like a reasonable price. Which of these Controllers is best? Can't these controllers be offered via the AtariAge Store?

There is a user at http://highscore.com/ whose main username is deebo who has been creating additional accounts to harass other users and to vote for his own scores and vote no on everyone else's score submissions. One truly despicable example is the account he named OldFartMark, with an altered version of my avatar giving me fangs and a swastika on my forehead. First of all, if you run across this individual be aware of what they are doing, and secondly my avatar there (and everywhere else that I use it) is copyrighted!!! The original artist, in the U.K., sent me a high quality print and the permission to use it for any site that I wish, provided that it was kept unaltered, however he both retained the original and copyrighted it, as he's a professional artist. Many users at the HS site know what's going on with deebo, but I thought I'd add a note here.

Recently while exchanging emails with Michael Thomasson of Good Deal Games I expressed an interest in buying two games for the 7800, both of which were listed on the GDG site as SOLD OUT. Michael told me that he'd go through his Trade Show boxes, in hopes that he'd find additional copies. Well, he did. Both games are shooters, and were being developed by Tynesoft, However, they were both cancelled prior to being completed. When the protos for both games were discovered in 2008 by Curt Vendel they were unfinished and quite buggy. Both games were finished and given the polish that they deserved by Robert DeCrescenzo, Mitchell Orman, and Eckhard Stolberg. Both will now run on a stock 7800 console, NTSC and PAL. Plutos $44.75 Baz Daniels Youtube Play Video Sirius $44.75 The No Swear Gamer Review Video I subscribe to both channels. Hopefully they won't mind me using their videos. Whenever I use someone else's video for a Patreon post I ask for their permission first. But this isn't Patreon. The only exception that I make to this rule is when I promote another Youtube channel on Patreon; I make those posts Public. Besides, I post Patron Only exclusive content at least once each day. Last-night I made 2 exclusive posts. If you have a Youtube channel, please leave a comment if you don't wish for me to promote your channel. Or, if you do. Patreon/Cessnaace Last-night I also received an email from CollectorVision concerning the 3 recently released games that they are offering for the ColecoVision. While I attempted to post this last-night (along with the info on the two 7800 games) here in my AtariAge blog, that blog entry failed to publish, so I'm giving it another try here. I did post about it last-night at Patreon/Cessnaace. I'm just going to copy and paste from the CollectorVision email, but I'll have to add the prices as they weren't in the main body of the email. Jet Ready $65 Featuring: Brand New Game! Amazing Graphics Great Sounds Addictive game! 8 different levels. LIMITED NUMBERS The contains: Box Game Cartridge Instruction Manual Hustle Chumy $60 Featuring: Great Graphics Great Sounds Addictive game! SG-1000 Conversion LIMITED NUMBERS The contains: Box Game Cartridge Instruction Manual Jawbreaker 1 & 2 $55 Featuring: 2 games in 1 Cool Graphics Great Sounds Addictive game! MSX Conversion The contains: Box Game Cartridge Instruction Manual I really would like to purchase these three games, however I do not as yet own a ColecoVision (I really want one though). Recently, I conducted a poll in the Community section of my cessnaace Youtube channel, where I asked my subscribers to vote on which retro console should be my next (retro) console purchase. The choices were Intellivision, ColecoVision, and Atari XE GS. By a wide margin the XE GS received the most votes. So I'm saving up for one (and for a Switch). Plus, I also really want carts of Plutos and Sirius, and I DO own a 7800. Oh, and I do own Hustle Chumy for the SG-1000. Even though it rarely results in any, I'm again asking for comments. If anything it provides me with some feedback.

I'm letting you know ahead of time what these discounts are for, but in all fairness to Michael Thomasson (of GDG) you'll need to watch my video on how to get the discounts. I ordered the items in question. After paying for them he offered to give the viewers of this video a discount on some of the merchandise. You must follow the directions of the video to get the discounts. Items Ordered Michael's book "Downright Bizarre Games: Video Games that Crossed the Line" Hardcover Edition. "Super Cobra" (7800) Hack of Bob Decrescenzo's 2012 "Scramble" for the 7800. Only 50 copies made available for sale. $39.75 "Pit-Fighter" (7800) Unfinished, but playable prototype. Currently on sale for $29.99 (regularly $36.75). Discounts (if you watch the video) $10 off on either edition of the book Additional $5 off on "Pit-Fighter" so $24.99 after watching the video Good Deal Games Unpacking Video (Discount Info) Michael offered to do this for me without my asking, although I did tell him that I was planning to show them when they arrived, plus do a Review Video. Also, he offered me discounts on these 2 items (just to be totally upfront about all this). Good Deal Games Home Page It's like I said in a previous blog entry, the homebrew and retro gaming community is made up of truly awesome people. Thanks Michael for all that you do. This sentiment applies to everyone here at AtariAge as well. ?

In this video, just uploaded to Youtube, I show over $500 worth of Atari Homebrew gaming goodness for the 2600 VCS, 7800 ProSystem, and Jaguar. Even so I missed some, so I'll need to do another video. Technically some of these games are Homebrew ports of Arcade games, but there are many that are totally original as well. Most were purchased from Atari Age. I purposely left out the Custom Reproductions that I have ordered, as I'm saving them for an upcoming video. While the above video was uploading, I discovered that I now have a second supporter on Patreon. Supporters get exclusive content, which I plan on expanding what I offer as I go along. https://www.patreon.com/user?u=11084981

Well, I'm fully back, with a new Web Cam and a Blue Snowball ICE Microphone. I decided to cover Draconian, and the extra bit I found from Al in the box.

Game: Draconian System: Atari 2600/VCS/Sears Video Arcade Developer: SpiceWare Publisher: Atari Age Programmed by: Darrell Spice, Jr. Graphics and Level Design by: Nathan Strum Sound Effects, Music, Digitized Voices by: Mike Haas CDF Driver co-written by: Darrell Spice, Jr., Chris Walton, Fred Quimby Cartridge Size: 32K CDF Copyright: 2017 Genre: Shoot 'em Up; Multi-directional scrolling Homebrew Port (Bosconian) Controller: Joystick (Sega Game Pad Compatible) Players: 1 Rarity Rating: H (Homebrew) FROM THE ATARI AGE STORE PAGE: Enemy forces have had the audacity to invade our galaxy and set up occupation forces, operating from space stations that have been strategically placed throughout the five quadrants of our galaxy. (We’re aware that there should only be four quadrants, but interplanetary gerrymandering resulted in there being a fifth one.) Your mission is to choose one of the quadrants, then clear out the enemy forces, one sector at a time. This is an excellent port of the arcade classic Bosconian. It fact it's two ports in one, as it replicates the levels found in the Namco original, and those found in the North American release by Midway. Actually, it contains even more Bosconian goodness. The game includes 5 Quadrants, with 4 Difficulty Modes for each. Kids, Easy, Normal, Hard. The 5 Quadrants are Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, and Epsilon. A = 17 Midway sectors, last 6 repeat (after sector 256 it goes back to sector 1). There are a few repeated sectors within it, 13-15 are a repeat of sectors 9, 5, then 10. B = 22 Namco sectors, last 6 repeat. Likewise there are repeated sectors within it, including some from the A quadrant. Γ = 9 Tribute sectors, all 9 repeat. Stations are arranged to render the initials of key contributors within the radar. Δ = 16 Contest sectors, all 16 repeat. E = randomly generated sectors. These are not repeats of any of the other 4 quadrants, 8 stations are randomly positioned at the start of each sector. Additional Info has been added to the above breakdown of the 5 Quadrants, and was provided to me by SpiceWare. Each Space Station has 6 Weapons Pods, except for the DELTA Quadrant, where there are some sectors with Mega Space Stations (my name for them, as they aren't mentioned in the manual). These larger stations contain a secret hidden inside, which I won't spoil for you here.* Delta Quadrant sector levels designed by Anders Carlsson, Alessandro Ciceri, Steve Damon, Chris Derrig, German Gonzlaez-Morris, James Earl O'Brien. SCORING: All of this lined up properly when I typed all of this in. How it posts is a different story entirely. Asteroids ..................................................10 Points Cosmo Space Mine...................................20 Points I-Type missile............................................50 Points P-Type missile...........................................60 Points E-Type missile...........................................70 Points I-Type formation Leader...........................100 Points P-Type formation leader...........................120 Points E-Type formation leader...........................140 Points Spy Ship.....................................200/400/800 Points Destroy Station Weapons Pod.................200 Points Destroy Station.......................................1500 Points Destroy all ships in I-Type formation........500 Points Destroy all ships in P-Type formation.....1000 Points Destroy all ships in E-Type formation.....1500 Points You begin each game with four ships. You earn extra ships at 20,000 and 70,000 points. Thereafter you earn an additional ship every 70,000 points. So at 140,000, 210,000, 280,000, etc. In an earlier Blog entry I asked what would happen if the player should reach 1 million points, as the font used to display your score during game play appears too large for the additional digit.+ Well, today I found out while playing in the ALPHA Quadrant in the Kids difficulty. In fact I hit 1,332,030 points. The game continued displaying my score just fine. Something that I found interesting was when I earned a 10th Extra Ship. Up until then the game displayed a single digit, as you'd expect, however when I earned the 10th one the game displayed something else. I paused the game long enough to get my wife from the living room. I gave her my Smart Phone and asked her to take a photo of the screen. She took several, but all were too blurry to go by. I thought that it looked like a Capitol H, but my wife said no, it was the Roman Numeral 10 (looks like a Capitol X)**. Since I'm dyslexic I'll go with her assessment, especially as it makes more sense than an H. This is an exceptionally good game. The Melody Board's CDF mode is put to good use, allowing for Digitized Voices without the need of an AtariVox. Features also include TV-Type Detection. Cartridge is compatible with the NTSC, PAL, and SECAM Standards. It should auto-detect which standard you are using, however if for some reason that fails to work you can manually select which Standard to use via the menu. The game also includes a pause feature. If played on a 2600/VCS toggle between Color and B/W to pause. On the 7800 ProSystem simply hit the pause button. Hitting the fire button will un-pause the game. SOUND This homebrew port of Bosconian includes the following voice clips: Blast Off! Alert! Alert! Battle Stations! Spy Ship Sighted! Condition Red!! PACKAGING: Excellent For $35 you get the cartridge, 8 page color manual, and 10" x 14" poster by Nathan Strum. The Box Upgrade is only $15 (while supplies last), bringing the total to $50 (not including Shipping, or Atari Age Annual Subscriber's discount). Of the games for the 2600 that I've reviewed so far, this is easily the best. RANKING: 1 (out of 9) Draconian (Homebrew port of Bosconian) Worm War I Demolition Herby Allia Quest (Homebrew) Naughty List (Homebrew) Tapeworm (with the sound turned down low) Bell Hopper (Homebrew) Alligator People (Prototype) Fire Fly ATARI AGE DRACONIAN PROMOTIONAL VIDEO YOUTUBE VIDEO REVIEW OF DRACONIAN AtariLeaf REVIEWED GAMES IN THE DATABASE AT HIGH SCORE http://highscore.com/ Allia Quest Bell Hopper Demolition Herby Draconian Fire Fly Naughty List Tapeworm Worm War I So only Alligator People is missing from the HS database, although I have requested it. ATARI AGE DRACONIAN STORE PAGE https://atariage.com/store/index.php?l=product_detail&p=1107 OTHER GAMES BY DARRELL SPICE, JR. INCLUDE Medieval Mayhem Stay Frosty Stay Frosty 2 Space Rocks *"A number of the levels entered in the Draconian Δ Quadrant Sector Design Contest have names. Level with the Mega Space Stations is named The hunt for the 4 mukors as the stacked stations appear similar to the boss in the arcade game Blasteroids." -SpiceWare **"It's an X and stands for eXceeds 9 lives, shown if you have 10 or more lives remaining." - SpiceWare +The Maximum Score displayable on the Title Screen is 99,999,999. However while playing only 7 digits will fit on-screen. Additional information added to this review came courtesy of SpiceWare.

Perhaps I should lead off with the news that all missing Quadrants and Difficulty Modes have now been processed and added to the http://highscore.com database. Previously, only scores achieved in the Alpha Quadrant in Normal Difficulty could be submitted at the site. As soon as I received my copy I requested the following be added: Draconian / Quadrant Beta / Sector 1 [Normal] Draconian / Quadrant Delta / Sector 1 [Normal] Draconian / Quadrant Gamma / Sector 1 [Normal] Draconian / Quadrant Epsilon / Sector 1 [Normal] Draconian / Quadrant Alpha / Sector 1 [Kids] Draconian / Quadrant Beta / Sector 1 [Kids] Draconian / Quadrant Delta / Sector 1 [Kids] Draconian / Quadrant Gamma / Sector 1 [Kids] Draconian / Quadrant Epsilon / Sector 1 [Kids] Draconian / Quadrant Alpha / Sector 1 [Easy] Draconian / Quadrant Beta / Sector 1 [Easy] Draconian / Quadrant Delta / Sector 1 [Easy] Draconian / Quadrant Gamma / Sector 1 [Easy] Draconian / Quadrant Epsilon / Sector 1 [Easy] Draconian / Quadrant Alpha / Sector 1 [Hard] Draconian / Quadrant Beta / Sector 1 [Hard] Draconian / Quadrant Delta / Sector 1 [Hard] Draconian / Quadrant Gamma / Sector 1 [Hard] Draconian / Quadrant Epsilon / Sector 1 [Hard] You don't have to stay in Sector 1 of course, however you must begin your game there. Quite abit of effort on my part to type all that for submission purposes as I'm dyslexic. At any rate all requests were processed some time over the past 12 hours or so. So if you are a User there, submit your scores to be voted on. If you're not, then please join us. I do have a question however, and it pertains to scoring. Yesterday (05.09.2019) I was playing in the Epsilon Quadrant in Kids difficulty trying to hit a million points. I wanted to see what would happen if I did, because the font size used during game play is too large to accommodate another digit, however there's room on the title screen. I didn't find out, as I only hit 935,400. http://highscore.com/score/index.php?s=83034 Can anyone out there answer this question? Draconian, by-the-way, is a very good port of both arcade versions of Bosconian. It is therefore highly recommended, and addictive! https://atariage.com/store/index.php?l=product_detail&p=1107 So if you are a User at http://highscore.com and own this game then please feel free to submit your scores (scores achieved via emulation are allowed as long as you submit them in the Emulation category). If you aren't a member yet then please consider joining. It's totally FREE to both join and use.

I received a massive package from Atari Age yesterday containing every game making up the 6 orders that had not shipped earlier. I also received a package from a seller on eBay containing a Homebrew that I've never seen for sale at Atari Age, Good Deal Games, or Packrat Video Games. Here is a breakdown of every game that I've received over the past few days. Atari 2600/Homebrews 2005 Mutigame Multicart Hunchy Jetman M-4 Marble Jumper Nightrider Rocket Command Zirconium BerZerk: Voice Enhanced Version Draconian (Boxed) Box being shipped separately Elevators Amiss Go Fish! Juno First Lady Bug I meant to order the Boxed Edition, but it slipped my mind when ordering Phantom II / Pirate Warring Worms: The Worms (Re)Turns Atari 2600/Custom Reproductions Assault Gas Hog River Patrol Atari 7800/Homebrews Bentley Bear's Crystal Quest (POKEY) Lava Lamps & 8-Track Theatre via eBay So far I've played Lava Lamps & 8-Track Theatre, Go Fish!, River Patrol, and Draconian, in that order. Go Fish! was hard for me to stop playing. It's just so addictive, but I finally moved on to River Patrol. This is a game that I've already enjoyed playing via emulation. An original cartridge is just too pricey for me. I played several games of it, but as it turned out my first game was my best. So I'll submit that score to http://highscore.com to be voted on. Draconian is really good too. Here is a complete list of every Homebrew, Prototype Reproduction, etc. that I own (as of now) for the various Atari Gaming Platforms. All game titles followed by an Asterix (not the French comic character, but the * character) are currently not in the http://highscore.com database, but I have submitted requests for them, unless that game has no scoring component, in which case why bother? All game titles which are followed by a Plus Sign (+) have had my requests processed (within' the past 24-hours) and so are in the http://highscore.com database now. Most games are in the database. All games were purchased at Atari Age unless otherwise noted. Atari 2600/Homebrews 2005 Mutigame Multicart Hunchy Jetman M-4 Marble Jumper Nightrider Rocket Command + Zirconium + Alfred Challenge Alien Attack (Good Deal Games) + Alien Revenge! (Good Deal Games) + Allia Quest AStar Astronomer (Boxed; Packrat Video Games) Backfire Bee-Ball Berzerk: Voice Enhanced Blinky Goes Up (Boxed) The Byte Before Christmas (Multicart; Boxed) Bell Hopper Christmas Adventure Naughty List Santa's Scabs + Chetiry Colony 7 Conquest of Mars Crazy Brix Draconian Elevators Amiss Explosive Diarrhea (Packrat Video Games) FailSafe ++ was already in the system, but my requests for A/b and b/A Difficulty Settings have been added Flappy Galactopus * Go Fish! * Juno First Lady Bug Mappy (Boxed) * Mental Kombat Oystron Phantom II / Pirate Pinata (Multicart; Discontinued) aka Piñata in the database. Why or how this happened is still a mystery. Fix-It Felix Sr. Flipside Heart Break * Joyride Ping * Power Off! (Boxed) Rainbow Invaders Space Game (Boxed) * Stay Frosty 2 Stella's Stocking (Multicart) Cold War Elf Dash Grandma's Revenge Stay Frosty Tossing Cookies Super Cobra Arcade (Boxed) * This Planet Sucks! Thrust+ Platinum Edition Warring Worms: The Worm (Re)Turns X3V0LuX Atari 2600/Custom Reproductions Assault Demolition Herby Gas Hog River Patrol Atari 2600/Prototype Reproductions Alligator People * Pleiades (Boxed) Turbo (Boxed) Atari 2600/Demos Amiga Boing! Demo 2.0 Atari 5200 OK, so I don't own a 5200 SuperSystem. I really wanted this game in my collection though, so here it is. Beef Drop Atari 7800 ProSystem/Homebrews Asteroids Deluxe Astro Blaster Beef Drop VE Bentley Bear's Crystal Quest (Boxed; POKEY) Crazy Otto Frenzy (Boxed) Lava Lamps & 8-Track Theatre + Meteor Shower (Blue label) Meteor Shower (Red label) Jr. Pac-Man Worm! Atari Jaguar/Jaguar CD OK, so I don't as yet own the CD-ROM drive. I DO own a Jaguar though. Treasure Island Dizzy (Boxed; Clear Shell option) Jagware Collection 1.0 (Case) Kobayashi Maru: Final (Case) Atari Lynx Tournament Cyberball Zaku (Boxed; Super Fighter Team; Discontinued) I have a policy of only submitting game requests at http://highscore.com once I actually own the game. Please Follow, Like, and Comment.

Last night I went and placed another order here at Atari Age for two home brews for the 2600. Typically I order one expensive game or two low to mid-range priced games with each order, although occasionally when money's tight one low to mid-priced game. The $500+ covers games only. I haven't bought any hardware that I can think of since March 6th. Why March 6th, I hear no one ask. Quite simple really. March 6th is when I purchased an Annual Atari Age Subscription, which entitles me to a 5% discount on all Atari Age Store purchases. I wanted to see if an Annual Subscription pays for itself, taking into account my spending habits (I'll renew it regardless of the out-come of this little experiment). Al will tell you how anal I am about maintaining records on my orders. THUMBNAIL IMAGE A photo I took 2 months ago gathering together my then recent shipments from Atari Age and sellers on eBay into one box PRIOR TO PURCHASING ATARI AGE ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION 09.22.2010 thru 02.28.2019 SUB-TOTAL $1,436.61 This includes 2 orders still being processed at the time of purchasing the subscription, so they weren't eligible for the 5% discount. Order 21876 $83 Order 21905 $83 ORDERS PLACED WITH ATARI AGE AFTER PURCHASING ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION 03.06.2019 to the Present Order 21928 $60.35 Shipped Order 21936 $52.85 Shipped Order 21960 $29.10 Shipped Order 21961 $43.35 Shipped Order 21990 $79.25 Shipped Order 21995 $74.50 Shipped Order 22010 $52.85 Shipped Order 22036 $79.25 Shipped Order 22108 $52.85 Shipped SUB-TOTAL $524.35 GRAND TOTAL $1,960.96 Update I received an email from Al. All pending orders have now shipped, so I've edited this entry to reflect this fact. This encompasses 6 orders. So some great gaming goodness is headed my way. Going by past experience they should arrive quickly. While I am now also buying Home Brews and Hacks from Packrat Video Games and Good Deal Games, I'm continuing to buy the bulk of such games from Atari Age. Speaking of Good Deal Games ... Michael Thomasson of Good Deal Games and myself are working to give Home Brews for the Sega Master System physical releases. If you are at all interested in this I have posted info on this at SMS Power! http://www.smspower.org/forums/17452-GetYourSMSHomebrewPublished

First up, I received 2 orders from Packrat Video Games that were shipped together. Astronomer Limited Boxed Run. Includes Box (numbered), Box Protector, Cartridge, Manual, Insert, Refrigerator Magnet which has the same artwork that graces the front of the box. This is a 4K game programmed by Alex Pietrow. Available in either NTSC or PAL standards. For use with either a Joystick or Paddle Controller. Copyrighted 2018. When I originally placed my order this boxed edition was listed as Sold Out! The owner of Packrat said that he could send me a Limited Boxed Run copy as he had set aside some extra boxes. At some point after this the boxed edition was again available, but in limited supply. I posted about this in a previous Blog entry. I just checked and the boxed edition is again listed as Sold Out! Cost $35 + $4.50 for shipping = $39.50. If you wish to buy a loose copy, with Cartridge and Manual, the cost is $18 (not counting shipping). This game is reportedly included in the RetroN77. A viewer of my Youtube channel in Holland confirmed this to be true (shipped from the U.S.). http://www.packratvg.com/astronomer.html Explosive Diarrhea Cartridge + Manual. This is a 2K game. Programmed by Chris Read. Copyrighted 2014. Cost $20 + $4.50 (S & H) = $24.50. Currently this game is available in the NTSC standard only. http://www.packratvg.com/ed.html Both of these games from Packrat Video Games are in the http://highscore.com database. Arriving shortly afterword came 2 home brews for the 2600 from Good Deal Games. I must say that their speed, packaging, and communication skills are exceptionally good. Alien Attack Cartridge + Manual (printed on a single sheet of paper). Programmed by Edward Smith. 24 Copies were made for the April 2018 Midwest Gaming Classic. While there is nothing on the site indicating that this a reproduction copy, the Good Deal Games logo is quite evident on the cartridge label. Cost $24.75. Alien Revenge! Cartridge only. The manual is available digitally. Game programmed by Edward Smith. 24 Copies were made for the April 2018 Retro Game Con. This is the sequel to Alien Attack, although their play styles are completely different. The first is a vertical shooter, while this follow-up plays, well, like an arcade game I recently saw played in an evidence video at http://highscore.com , but I'm forgetting the name of it currently. You are in command of an orbiting power station, which is square. You fire at the enemies as they come at you from all sides, including the top and bottom. Cost. $22.75. UPDATE I submitted requests at http://highscore.com for both Alien Attack and Alien Revenge! to be added. Both are now in the system there. http://www.gooddealgames.com/inventory/Atari%202600.html As always, I have more games coming. From Atari Age I have a (2600) multi-cart with 7 games + 6 home brews for the 2600 + 1 home brew for the 7800 + 3 Custom Reproductions for the 2600. 7 + 6 + 1 + 3 = 17. I have another order coming from Packrat, which consists of just one (boxed) game. So 18. Plus 2 games (both for the 2600) ordered via eBay consisting of 1 home brew that I've ONLY seen on eBay, and one game from back-in-the day. So 19 games total. This reminds me of a bit from the movie Clue (the first one; the good one) where the Butler and Miss Scarlet argue over the number of shots fired from the gun (and thus the number of bullets remaining).

I went AWOL on my Youtube account https://www.youtube.com/user/cessnaace/ several years ago due to illness, injury, and a dead computer. While I was AWOL my account stayed constant at an average of 1,828 subscribers. Since my return not only have I not gained any new subscribers, I've lost a handful of the ones that I already had. This probably has to do with my having to rely on recording videos with my Smart Phone. I have posted two Polls on my channel within' the Community section. Please consider taking the Polls. They are both short and would help me greatly. https://www.youtube.com/user/cessnaace/community Meanwhile ... Steps That I've Already Taken In Preperation For Upgrading My Youtube Channel Replaced the PC that died. Bought an expensive microphone which produces high quality results. Installed Audacity. Steps On The Agenda Upgrade PC Graphics Card to one that can handle capturing high-resolution play footage. Buy a Video Capture device to capture play footage from consoles. Buy a new Web Camera. Switch from the Smart Phone to a High Quality Digital Camera. Money is tight for us at the moment. Very tight. But I will NOT stop gaming. Nor will I stop buying games. That's in my DNA!

OK, another series within' my Blog here. So sue me (no, don't do that). There are so many Home Brews, Hacks, and Reproductions that I keep running across that I don't own for my collection. I want physical copies of these games but they seem to no longer be available. How have I discovered these no-longer available gems? Well, there are several ways actually. Youtube Play Videos Submitted for voting at http://highscore.com Internet Searches Pre-Loaded into my current emulator, EMU7800. I downloaded it for FREE at the Miscrosoft Store. While there was one 1 Home Brew for the 2600 (Oystron), there are many for the 7800. Included some Prototypes as well. I'll start off with 4 games that I wish to own. Game: Lasercade System: Atari 2600/VCS Type: Prototype Reproduction (20th Century Fox) Programmer: Lee Actor A 3-D shooting gallery. Blast the targets before the time expires, but be sure to avoid hitting the rotating mirrors or you may just be your worst enemy and blast yourself. Originally designed by 20th Century Fox, Lasercade was eventually released at the 2007 Classic Gaming Expo, complete with a unique label, box and instructions. I found it listed at Good Deal Games as Sold Out! Game: Plutos System: Atari 7800 ProSystem Developer: Tynesoft Type: Prototype Reproduction Genre: Shoot 'em Up - Vertical Scrolling This is a good shooter for the system, so naturally I want a physical copy. YOUTUBE VIDEO REVIEW OF PLUTOS The No Swear Gamer Game: Santa Simon System: Atari 7800 ProSystem Type: Home Brew Publisher: Atari Age Released: 2006 Programmer: Matthias Luedtke This Holiday take on the classic Simon game was one of many Home Brews for the 7800 that was Pre-Loaded into version 2.2 of EMU7800. This could be re-released as one game on a Holiday Multi-cart. My current best score is 14 (via emulation of course), although the current World Records at http://highscore.com are 20 (on actual hardware), and 22 via emulation (held by S.BAZ). Game: Sirius System: Atari 7800 ProSystem Developer: Tynesoft Type: Prototype Reproduction Genre: Shoot 'em Up - Horizontal Scrolling I have the finished game in EMU7800, but I want a physical copy. YOUTUBE VIDEO REVIEW OF SIRIUS The No Swear Gamer HERE IS A COMPLETE LIST OF HOME BREWS AND PROTOTYPES PRE-LOADED INTO EMU7800 (VERSION 2.2) All are for the 7800 ProSystem unless otherwise mentioned. All Prototypes are finished versions Apple Snaffle (2010) Arkanoid - 0911 (2011) Armor Attack II (2013) Asteroids Deluxe (2007) b*nQ (2007) Beef Drop (Demo Version; 2006) Bentley Bear's Crystal Quest (2012) Crazy Otto (2010) Donkey Kong XM (2013) FailSafe (2009) Frenzy / Berzerk (2013) Frogger (Demo; 2005) GATO (Prototype) Harry's Hen House (2009) Jr. Ms. Pac-Man (2009) Jr. Pac-Man (2009) Jr. Pac-Man - Tunnels (2009) Klax (2002) Meteor Shower (2011) Moon Cresta (2011) Oystron (v. 2.9; 2600) PacArcade (2011) Pac-Man - 320 (2011) Pac-Man Collection (2006) Plutos (Prototype) Q-bert (2005) Rip Off (2012) Robot Finds Kitten (2004) Santa Simon (2006) Scramble (2012) Sirius (Prototype) Space Duel (2007) Super Circus AtariAge (2010) Super Pac-Man (2008) Tubes (2004) Wasp - Standard Edition (2009) Worm - 0703 Are there any that you are looking for that I missed? Or do you know where physical copies of the featured games can be obtained?

Well, it's finally happened. I received an Invoice from Packrat Video Games for 2 of the games that I ordered. But there are additional games that I have ordered from them. There's Important news on the Packrat front further down the page. For the first order of business I'd like to make mention of a PAL Exclusive that I received the other day from the U.K., and that's Meteor Defense, published by ITT Home Vision in 1983. This game was released in different countries under different titles. PAL Game: Meteor Defense aka: Astrowar, Astro War, Astro-War, Dead Ray, Missile War, Sternen-Kampf, Sterngreig, War 2000, etc. System: Atari 2600/VCS/Sears Video Arcade Publisher: ITT Home Vision Copyright: 1983 Genre: Shoot' em Up! Horizontal Scrolling Players: 1 Controller: Joystick (Sega Genesis Game Pad Compatible) Origin: Europe Rarity: Undetermined http://highscore.com Yes, it's in the Database Purchased via eBay from a seller in the U.K. Cartridge $13.35 + $4.55 (S & H) = $17.90. I inserted the cartridge into my Atari 7800 ProSystem (NTSC) and the game displayed in Black & White. I expected this as the most likely possibility. I played several games like this and then made the following video, which I posted to my Youtube channel. Today, after playing several games of "Millipede" for the 7800 I removed that cartridge and thought that I'd play "Meteor Defense." I inserted it into my 7800, and what do you suppose happened? The game played as before, only this time in full color! I don't really have an explanation for this. YOUTUBE VIDEO OF METEOR DEFENSE IN COLOR Packrat Video Game 1: Astronomer (2600 Home Brew); NTSC Standard; Limited Boxed Version (#35 of 34). Includes game box, box protector, cartridge, instructions, Stargazers insert, Astronomer refrigerator magnet. $35 + $4.50 (S& H) = $39.45. I hear some of you thinking, "#35 out of 34?" When I placed the order I lamented that the Limited Box Run was sold out. His response was "I kept a couple of spares and put them aside for people like you." I STILL don't know what that means, but I'll take it. Packrat's site listed the Limited Boxed Version as Sold Out! It is now listed as There are a few remaining boxes left! Game: Astronomer System: Atari 2600/VCS/Sear Video Arcade Publisher: Packrat Video Games Programmer: Alex Pietrow Copyright: 2018 Genre: You are an Astronomer searching the heavens for stars. That would make the Genre Star Gazing? Cartridge Size: 4K Players: 1 Controller: Joystick or Paddle Rarity: Home Brew http://highscore.com Yes, it's in the Database YOUTUBE PLAY VIDEO OF ASTRONOMER GRay Defender PACKRAT PAGE FOR ASTRONOMER http://www.packratvg.com/astronomer.html Packrat Video Game 2: Explosive Diarrhea (2600 Home Brew). Cartridge and Manual only. $20 + $4.50 (S&H) = $24.50. So a total of $64 for these 2 Home Brew games. Game: Explosive Diarrhea System: Atari 2600/VCS/Sears Video Arcade Publisher: Packrat Video Games Programmer: Chris Read Copyright: 2014 Genre: Action Cartridge Size: 2K Players: 1 Controller: Joystick Rarity: Home Brew http://highscore.com Yes, it's in the Database YOUTUBE PLAY VIDEO FOR EXPLOSIVE DIARRHEA ILLSeaBass PACKRAT VIDEO GAMES PAGE FOR EXPLOSIVE DIARRHEA http://www.packratvg.com/ed.html PACKRAT VIDEO GAMES SITE http://www.packratvg.com OTHER HOME BREW GAMES (etc.) ON ORDER Atari Age except where otherwise noted. Al has informed me that everything will ship out together this week. ATARI 2600 2005 Mutigame Multicart -Hunchy -Jetman -M-4 -Marble Jumper -Nightrider -Rocket Command -Zirconium Assualt (Custom Reproduction) Berzerk: Voice Enhanced Draconian Elevators Amiss Gas Hog (Custom Reproduction) Juno First Lady Bug River Patrol (Custom Reproduction) Spaceman Splorf: Planet of Doom (Packrat) Warring Worms: The Worm (Re)Turns Atari 7800 Bentley Bear's Crystal Quest -POKEY Please Like, Comment, and Follow. Even this little entry took me over two hours to put together.

Game: Tapeworm System: Atari 2600/VCS/Sears Video Arcade Publisher: Spectravision Catalog Number: SA-205 Programmer: ? Cartridge Size: ? Copyright: 1982 I like to credit the programmer when I do a review, but I couldn't find out who it was through my research. Genre: Snake Controller: Joystick (Sega Game Pad Compatible) Players: 1; 2 (alternating) Rarity Rating: 3 FROM THE MANUAL Please welcome to your T.V. set our hero "SLINKY" the SPECTRA-WORM. Good OL' SLINKY loves fruit, and knows where to get it. The Trouble is, that before SLINKY can get to the fruit, he has got to eat all those fattening beans first. Every time SLINKY eats one of those beans he gets longer and longer, making it awfully tough to get around. Especially since he has got to stay in the bean patch all the time. Some time poor "SLINKY" gets all tangled up which is no good at all! And then these two villains "SPANKY" and "BEEKY" are always trying to make a meal out of "SLINKY". So, SLINKY wants you! To get your bean and fruit finding joystick of yours and help him out. "SLINKY'S" DIET Bean Apple Orange Grape Stawberry Banana BEEKY'S AND SPANKY'S DIET IS SLINKY !!! I didn't change a single word or punctuation mark. I typed every word of the above from the manual scan at Atari Mania. Every time that I typed "Slinky" all that I could think of was the TV commercial for the Slinky toy (which I had as a child. To this day I drive people crazy singing it). It’s Slinky; it’s Slinky. For fun it’s a wonderful toy. What walks down stairs, alone or in pairs, and makes a slinkety sound? A spring, a spring, a marvelous thing! Everyone knows it’s Slinky. It’s Slinky; it’s Slinky. For fun it’s a wonderful toy. It’s fun for a girl and a boy. But what I remember is the :30 TV Commercial. The song is even longer. FULL :60 TV COMMERCIAL FOR SLINKY Anywho, back to the task at hand, and my review of Sl..., er Tapeworm. This game isn't bad, but it does make sounds that hurt my ears. I'm talking about whenever Beeky or Spanky are on-screen. OK, I admit it. Whenever I type Spanky I think of the ancient "Our Gang" comedies, aka, "The Little Rascals." I'm old so that explains that, I think. There are 5 patches that Slinky must make his way through, eating the beans one at a time until the fruit can be reached. When he eats a bean the next one will appear. If he fails to reach the bean before the Beetle at the bottom of the screen reaches the fruit displayed on the bottom-right of the screen, more beans will appear. It's tempting to delay reaching the fruit by traveling in a circle, and if the game rewarded you by giving you bonus points for the length of his wormness once he has eaten the last bean and makes it to the fruit, it might be worth it. But it doesn't. So it isn't. Patch 3 is in the dark. The screen will light briefly (about :02 seconds) after Slinky eats a bean. If you hit the Fire button that will also light the screen for the same length of time. It's tempting to hit the Fire button repeatedly. Don't! Each time you use this feature you lose one of the beans that you've collected. Loose them all and you lose a life. SCORING The Patches appear in the following order: Apple Patch. Each bean is worth 5 points. Fruit 50 points. Orange Patch. Each bean is worth 10 points. Fruit 100 points. Grape Patch (Night). Each bean is worth 15 points. Fruit 150 points. Strawberry Patch. Each bean is worth 20 points. Fruit 200 points. Banana Patch. Each bean is worth 25 points. Fruit 250 points. With the Difficulty Switch set for A your worm is on a diet. I score fewer points this way (A Position). If it's in the manual I missed it. A bonus worm is awarded every 1,000 points, but you can only have 4 at a time. The game will allow a maximum of 30 beans per patch. Maximum Score: 9,995 points. YOUTUBE TAPEWORM PLAY VIDEO HOW TO PLAY HOME VIDEO GAMES, VOL. 2: THE HOT NEW GAMES: TAPEWORM SEGMENT (1982) I really struggled as to where to place Tapeworm in the ranking. I moved a few games in the end from how I was originally going to rank them. I originally ranked Tapeworm 7th, but figured with the sound turned way down it should rank higher. Don't get me wrong here, I like every game that I've reviewed so far to some degree, with the exception of Fire Fly. RANKING: 5 out of 8 Worm War I Demolition Herby Allia Quest (Home Brew) Naughty List (Home Brew) Tapeworm (with the sound turned down low) Bell Hopper (Home Brew) Alligator People (Prototype) Fire Fly REVIEWED GAMES IN THE DATABASE AT HIGH SCORE http://highscore.com Allia Quest Bell Hopper Demolition Herby Fire Fly Naughty List Tapeworm Worm War I OTHER GAMES PUBLISHED BY SPECTRAVISION Rarity only listed if above 5. P = Prototype Bumber Bash - Rarity 9 Challenge of Nexar (Own) Chase the Chuck Wagon - Rarity 8 China Syndrome Cross Force Gangster Alley Gas Hog - Rarity 8 Kreuzer - P Mangia - Rarity 10 Master Builder - Rarity 8 Planet Patrol (Own) Super Baumeister - Rarity P Please Like, Follow and Comment. I spent 5 hours on this thing, including the new lyrics to the tune of the Slinky jingle that I wrote as a review of Tapeworm. Be thankful I decided to not include it, although that was an hour wasted.

Or, Atari PAL Log: My Experiences Playing PAL Games On My NTSC Atari #1 Kind of a long title for an on-going series, so I shortened it a tad bit. I know that I can't possibly be the only one living in an NTSC country collecting PAL releases for their Atari, so I thought that I'd share my experiences with these games. Oh, I've only begun to collect PAL games for Atari platforms to be sure, but I figured that this would be a great time to start covering these releases. I've certainly got a long history of collecting PAL games for my NTSC Sega Master System though, but the list of PAL games that I own for the SMS is extensive and, well, where would I begin? I'll be doing a new log whenever I have a new batch of PAL releases to discuss. I'm already aware of some of the technical issues that I'm liable to experience, as I worked as a Television Broadcast Engineer for 25 years. Test Machine Atari 7800 ProSystem; NTSC I have the RF output connected to a Coaxial (F-Type) to Female Adapter, which is connected to the RF Coaxial Input of an old VHS VCR. I am feeding the Composite Output of the VCR to a Composite Switcher, which is connected to an HD Flat-screen TV. No Upscale device is currently being used, although I do own one. PAL GAME #1 2-Pak Special: Planet Patrol / Wall Defender Publisher HES Country of Origin Australia Rarity Rating Undetermined I bought this cartridge on eBay from a seller in Germany for $11.26 + $5.64 (S & H) = $16.90. Cartridge only. HES released several (10 I believe) of these 2-Pak Specials. The label for this release is blue with nothing to identify the publisher. No Catalog or Part number either. It does feature a menu to select which of the two games to play. Experience Displays in Black & White, but is otherwise fine. No graphical glitches. Sound is similar to the NTSC release that I own. I'm speaking of my NTSC cartridge of Planet Patrol, as I don't as yet have an NTSC release of Wall Defender. PAL GAME #2 Mission 3000 Publisher Bit Corp Country of Origin Germany Rarity Rating 3 This is the re-release I bought this game from a seller in the U.S. (Florida) for $8.98 + $3.70 (S&H) = $12.68. Cartridge and Box, but no manual. Bit Corp, like HES, released many games for the 2600. This one they released 3 times. My only other experience that I've had with Bit Corp that I'm aware of is that I own a Bit Corp Gamate, and several boxed games for it. The Gamate is one of the systems in the database at http://highscore.com/ Experience Plays flawlessly. In color as well. The eBay seller warned that this game was PAL and not compatible with American hardware. I'm sure that was stated just in case, well, you know how some people are. That was a statement, not a question by-the-way.* The only other thing worth mentioning is that the sound effects sound different than they do through emulation (EMU7800, Version 2.2), which is why I don't review games that I've only played via emulation. *The seller and I have exchanged emails since I originally posted this entry. He did, in fact, mention the 'not compatible with American hardware' part for the reason that I speculated. He already knew that this cartridge worked on an NTSC system. Please Like, Comment, and Follow. My next blog entry will be a game review.

There are a couple of new games coming for the 2600 from Packrat Video Games. RAM-Pong doesn't have any info on it yet, so I'll focus on the one that does. In fact I've already ordered a copy. Funds are short at the moment for me and all but Packrat builds everything by hand and is a one-man operation, so hopefully he won't send an invoice to our Pay Pal account until late next week. Game: Spaceman Splorf: Planet of Doom System: Atari 2600/VCS/Sears Video Arcade Publisher: Packrat Video Games Programmed by Andreas Gustafsson Game Size: 8K TV Type: NTSC or PAL Controller: Joystick Players: 1 Game Description from the Packrat site (I expect this will be in the manual as the story element) You are Splorf, Space Corp Sanitation Engineer 5th Class, Lavatorial Division. A small yet vital cog in the corporate machine. You are good at your job. The rumors have reached even the lowest levels of Methane Station; the harvest ships have brought disastrous news concerning the defensive system protecting Space Corp's interests from space pirates and fierce competitors! "You there", a middle manager shouts at you, "Commander Splix needs a volunteer! Get your lazy plarp up to level 17 immediately!" The rumours were true! Exploding gasteroids have damaged the disintegration fence above planet doom, and Commander Splix wants you to fix it! Repairman Splorf to the rescue... It looks like it might be in the same style of play as Bell Hopper (itself a good game programmed by Tomas Härdin). You can't go by a single screenshot though, so it may be a shooter for all I know. http://www.packratvg.com/pictures/splorf5.jpg Price: Cartridge and Manual = $25 http://www.packratvg.com/pictures/splorf2.jpg Limited Boxed Run = $40 http://www.packratvg.com/pictures/splorf1.jpg The Limited Box Run is being limited to 100 copies, the first batch of which will be available exclusively at the Midwest Gaming Classic. The remainder will be for sale on the Packrat Video Gaming site some time in late April (yes, I realize that I ordered a boxed copy before they are even available, but the Packrat site let me do it). https://www.midwestgamingclassic.com/ http://www.packratvg.com/pictures/splorf6.jpg Here's a link to the game's page: http://www.packratvg.com/splorf.html Packrat makes home brews and hacks for the Atari 2600, Vectrex, and Odyssey 2 / Videopac. I've noticed that some of their games are also available here at Atari Age, although some have different label art. ATARI 2600 GAMES COMMON TO PACKRAT AND ATARI AGE A-VCS-tec Challenge Backfire Dark Mage Jammed Okie Dokie Skeleton+ This Planet Sucks! I own Backfire and This Planet Sucks! I bought both from Atari Age. Strangely, Packrat's release of This Planet Sucks has no exclamation point in the title. Atari Age is faster at filling orders, but you can take your pick as to which to order from. Personally, I go with Atari Age, except for the games that are Packrat exclusives. ATARI 2600 GAMES EXCLUSIVE TO PACKRAT VIDEO GAMES Astronomer (Ordered)* Cosmic Bowling (Hack) Dragon Chase (Hack) Explosive Diarrhea (Ordered) The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Muncher Packrat (Hack) Pressure Cooker Spaceman Splorf: Planet of Doom (Ordered) Space Invaders Vector Traffic Cop *Astronomer has been added to the database at http://highscore.com/

Game: Allia Quest System: Atari 2600/VCS/Sears Video Arcade Publisher: Atari Age Original Publisher: ebivision Programmer: Igor Barzilai Cartridge Size: 4K Copyright: 2001 Genre: Shooter (Vertical) Controller: Joystick (Sega Game Pad Compatible) Players: 1 Rarity Rating: H (Home Brew) In this review I will be borrowing heavily from my review of Allia Quest that I posted to the Atari Age Store Page. Full disclosure - I rated it 5.0 out of 5.0. FROM THE MANUAL It was a simple enough mission, return the ceremonial pants that the Prince of the Agrob system had left behind on his latest diplomatic mission to your home world. The journey to planet G45 was a pretty boring affair. Or so you thought! Not far into your mission, a squadron of ships appears on your radar, but it's not a welcoming committee! After the surprise of shots echoing against your hull, you scramble to get the ship into combat mode, knowing that your simple delivery mission has now turned into a fight for your life! This is a highly addictive vertical shooter originally published by ebivision. This was their second game following the disappointing Alfred Challenge. There are 8 alien races that you must battle in the game. They come in waves. This game takes time and patience to get use to the different varieties of alien ships and the formation and movement patterns of each. I have my own name of each of them, based on how they look, such as Eyeballs, Flying Carpets, Klingon Battle Cruisers, Lanterns, etc. The game has different names for them of course. Each enemy formation must be destroyed completely before the next formation of enemies will appear. Remember, each enemy has its own pattern as far as how it moves in formation. But the formation an enemy uses will stay the same from one level to the next. Once you have destroyed the last ship in the last formation you will hear a bleep tone. That not only indicates that you are moving on to the next level, but have also earned an extra ship. You have to keep track of how many ships you have in your head, because it's not displayed. An interesting feature of this game is that if you move to the left or right of center far enough you will see another formation mirroring the one in the center. They can take you out as well, but then you can destroy them as well. As you advance each level these 'mirror' formations will move closer to the one in the center, forcing you to thread the needle so to speak. This is a very good game considering that it's only 4K in size. Actually, this is a good game. Period. STRATEGY: After you learn the formation patterns (the way the ships move), you must learn the art of 'the dance.' You must weave as they weave, learning their rhythms as you go. I generally let the first wave go, so that I can get a clean shot of their under-bellies as they appear from the top of the screen. I will only shoot 4 in one pass. 5 is pushing it. There are times that I feel that I have reached the highest score that I am ever going to be capable of, but then go and top it, so never give up! CONTROLLER OF CHOICE: Sega Genesis 3-button game pad. Not only is it more responsive than the standard 2600 Joystick, but it's much more comfortable during long sessions. ATARI AGE ALLIA QUEST PROMOTIONAL VIDEO KNOWN ALLIA QUEST HIGH SCORES: 77,800 Achieved by Scott Stilphen / Atari Compedium http://www.ataricompendium.com/game_library/high_scores/high_scores.html 56,000 Achieved by Mark (MSH) / High Score This would be me. Score achieved with both Difficulty Switches set for A. http://highscore.com/scores/Atari2600/AlliaQuest/79967 52,000 Achieved by Mark (MSH) /High Score This would be me (again). Score achieved with both Difficulty Switches set for b. http://highscore.com/scores/Atari2600/AlliaQuest/80001 RANKING: 3 (out of 7) 1) Worm War I 2) Demolition Herby 3) Allia Quest (Home Brew) 4) Naughty List (Home Brew) 5) Bell Hopper (Home Brew) 6) Alligator People (Prototype) 7) Fire Fly OTHER GAMES PROGRAMMED BY IGOR BARZILAI Merlin's Walls (ebivision) https://atariage.com/store/index.php?l=product_detail&p=302 Pac-Man (ebivision; w/Eric Bacher) Power Off (ebivision; w/Eric Bacher) https://atariage.com/store/index.php?l=product_detail&p=299 EBIVISION GAMES OFFERED BY ATARI AGE Alfred Challenge (own) Allia Quest (own, obviously) Merlin's Wall Pesco Power Off! (own; Boxed) Thanks to Nathan Strum for informing me of Pesco, a game I didn't remember as an ebivision title.

Here's a sneak peak at the games that I have ordered, so they will probably appear in future installments of Feeding My Atari. And of course, future installments of Game Review. I currently have 5 Atari Age and 2 Pack Rat orders being processed, and some eBay stuff. ATARI 2600 / HOME BREWS All Games From Atari Age Unless Stated Otherwise 2005 Mutigame Multicart Hunchy Jetman M-4 Marble Jumper Nightrider Rocket Command Zirconium Astronomer (Pack Rat Video Games) This game is being referred to on some sites as Astronomer 2600. BerZerk: Voice Enhanced Draconian Elevators Amiss Explosive Diarrhea (Pack Rat Video Games) Juno First Lady Bug Warring Worms: The Worm (Re)Turns ATARI 2600 / CUSTOM REPRODUCTIONS Atari Age Assault Gas Hog River Patrol ATARI 2600 / NTSC eBay Demolition Herby ATARI 2600 / PAL VERSIONS eBay Planet Patrol / Wall Defender 2-in-1 (this arrived today) Meteor Defense (PAL Exclusive) Mission 3000 A.D. (Boxed) ATARI 7800 / HOME BREW Bentley Bear's Crystal Quest - POKEY Notes I am continuing to see home brews for sale on eBay for more than they are being sold for here at Atari Age. Sorry, I'm not spending $30 (plus shipping) for games that I can get here for $19 (plus shipping). I'm sure some of you have noticed that Pack Rat is slow. They are a one-man operation with no inventory is why. He produces each cartridge one at a time. I did receive an email about two weeks ago saying that my orders are approaching next-in-line status. Yes, I already own a Custom Reproduction of Demolition Herby. I ordered it when ratty looking cartridges were popping up on eBay for between $50 to $75. Well, a few nights ago I was searching thru eBay and found a near-mint NTSC cart (handle) for $24.98, with FREE shipping. I jumped on it! Why purchase PAL carts? Well, I ordered the 2-in-1 from Germany to see if it would work with my NTSC set-up. It does, but in black & white. I was recently told by another user at http://highscore.com that he has had this same experience on some releases, while some PAL carts will run in color but with a vertical bar that rolls. I've seen videos of this and it's except-able to me. Other PAL games run fine. I see no reason not to collect PAL carts, especially as some are PAL exclusives. Tonight I bought Mission 3000 A.D. (Boxed), and Meteor Defense (PAL Exclusive). Meteor Defense is one of those games that I've seen playing on an NTSC console in color, but with the rolling vertical bars. No one has yet told me if the first Warring Worms game is still available somewhere. Is this classified information that I'm requesting? Oh, I achieved a score of over 400,000 points on Worm War I; Game 1; B/B. That explains the image for this entry.

Not much added since my last entry, although I still have several Home Brew orders still being processed by Atari Age and Pack Rat Video Games, and a PAL standard 2-in-1 winging its way here from Germany. Here's what I've just added. All are for the Atari 2600. All are purchases made via eBay: Bermuda Triangle (Data Age, 1982). Developed in-house at Data Age. Complete Boxed Copy. The Challenge of Nexar (Spectravision; 1982). This game was actually developed by Sirius Software and licensed by Spectravision for them to publish. Sirius also developed the first four games published by 20th Century-Fox, which includes Worm War I (see my review of Worm War I for further details). It's easy to spot the games Fox licensed from Serius, as they all have a red label. Tapeworm (Spectravision; 1982). This one was developed in-house at Spectravision. This is a Snake style game. The other 2 Snake style games that I own are both Home Brews. Worm for the 7800, and NESnake 2 for, well, the NES of course. There are two more Snake style games that I want and are Home Brews as well, and I've Wishlisted them. Serpentine for the 7800 and Warring Worms: The Worm (Re)Turns for the 2600. The latter is the follow-up to the original Home Brew Warring Worms game, which sadly I don't own. Can any one tell me where I can find a copy? Interesting that all 3 games were released in 1982. The only game to require cleaning of the ROM pins to get to work was Tapeworm. Admittedly the seller listed it as 'untested.' It now works perfectly. TOTAL COST OF EACH GAME Bermuda Triangle $15 + $7.50 for Economy Shipping = $22.50 (also = over charged for shipping) The Challenge of Nexar $7.99 + $4.53 for Standard Shipping = $12.52 Tapeworm $10 + $3 for Expedited Shipping = $13 Was the full title of the original Warring Worms game Warring Worms: As the Worm Turns? if not I think that would make a good title for a third game in the series.

Game: Naughty List System: Atari 2600/VCS/Sears Video Arcade Publisher: Atari Age Programmer: Mike Saarna Cartridge Size: 32K w/SARA RAM Copyright: 2011 Genre: Action Controller: Joystick (Sega Game Pad Compatible) Players: 1 Rarity Rating: H (Home Brew) One of four games included on the Multi-cart "The Byte Before Christmas" Bell Hopper See Game Review #5 Christmas Adventure Naughty List Santa's Scabs GAME DESCRIPTION The Elf Union has gone on strike! In Naughty List you play as Santa. Your mission is to drop packages full of explosives onto the ugly union buildings, completely destroying them. Each package you drop needs to hit the building dead-center to cause destruction. Packages that miss the mark have no effect. Larger buildings will need multiple hits to reduce them to rubble. But your mission isn't as easy as it sounds. Your reindeer are tired from delivering presents, so as you fly over the block your deer will drop closer and closer to the buildings. If you smash into a building you'll lose a deer, and you only have three to spare! And take care not to drop packages onto innocent bystanders below! -From the manual GAME PLAY On many stages you will have to contend with construction equipment that will raise the buildings so that they meet Elf Union Height Requirements. Dropping packages onto the bulldozer has no effect on it. It's challenging enough when they work to raise buildings that were once tall and fully erect, but then they eventually start to elevate buildings to make them taller than they were to begin with. This bulldozer moves at a steady pace across the screen from left to right. This game is quite addictive. Between stages you will see large Christmas Trees in their natural habitat, a forest. There's no game play during these brief seconds, but it's still a nice touch. Holding down the Fire button (button B on a Sega Control Pad) will trigger auto-fire. As your reindeer descend lower with each pass, the auto-fire will increase in speed. It's tempting to use, especially when at high altitudes and when the row of buildings is long, but I have found that I do better when I fire, er drop, each package individually. GRAPHICS The graphics are quite good, although the buildings look very much like, 'um, male appendages. The dome atop the buildings brings this home. When the construction equipment moves in and the buildings start to rise in height, well some might make the same observation that I have. The Pixel Art is credited to Illya Wilson. Good job Illya. ATARI AGE PROMO VIDEO FOR THE BYTE BEFORE CHRISTMAS Naughty List starts at the 3:53 mark PACKAGING AND ARTWORK Both are outstanding! The Label and Manual Artwork is by Brian Ostrowski. It would look great under anyone's Christmas Tree. The Byte Before Christmas is still available here at Atari Age. The cartridge and full-color 16 page manual cost $30, with the box costing an additional $20. Those prices are assuming that you aren't a subscriber entitled to a discount. Boxes may not be reprinted once they run out. You can order this game for either the NTSC or PAL60 standards. The manual states that you can toggle to PAL50 using the TV Type switch. https://atariage.com/store/index.php?l=product_detail&p=1041 RANKING: 3 (out of 6) 1) Worm War I 2) Demolition Herby 3) Naughty List (Home Brew) 4) Bell Hopper (Home Brew) 5) Alligator People (Prototype) 6) Fire Fly

Game: Bell Hopper System: Atari 2600/VCS/Sears Video Arcade Publisher: Atari Age Programmer: Tomas Härdin Cartridge Size: 32K w/SARA RAM Copyright: 2011 Genre: Action Controller: Paddle; Joystick Players: 1 Rarity Rating: H (Homebrew) Bell Hopper is one of four homebrew games released on the multi-cart The Byte Before Christmas Bell Hopper Christmas Adventure Naughty List Santa's Scabs I will review each game separately. I've mentioned before that I intend to review every Atari 2600/VCS game given a physical release, ranking everything together on one list. So homebrews & hacks, releases from back-in-the-day (including PAL exclusives), along with prototype reproductions, will all be ranked on the same list. With multi-carts I will review each game on the cart separately however. The one requirement that I have is that I must own a physical copy of a game before I review it. Emulators are fine, but they don't always replicate the same experience as playing it on actual Atari hardware. I am currently using an Atari 7800 ProSystem to play games for the 2600. Game Description: Humanity slept. The animal kingdom did not. The most magical of all creatures, the bunny rabbits, sensed that an evil magical deed had been performed. Being the keepers of good, the rabbit elders knew they had to undo this wrong. They sent forth their youngest jumper. He alone was pure enough to see the magical sky bells, and he alone could jump high enough to ring them. The elders watched him leave on his journey with much anticipation. Would he be able to play the bell song and wake up humanity from the ill slumber? -From the manual. You are a rabbit. You start by jumping up and touching one of the bells falling from the sky. Once you touch a bell you, the rabbit, will hop upwards toward higher bells. If you attempt to hop onto a bell and miss you will fall. All is not lost however. If you skipped some bells on the way up, they are available to hop onto as you fall. So you may want to skip some on the way up. It's what the manual suggests and it's good advice. As you ascend you will encounter birds. Hopping on one will double your score. SCORING When you hop onto a bird it will double the score that you have earned up to that point. It is because of this that massive scores are possible. In fact, it's possible to hit a high score of over 20 digits! Quite a bit more. After reaching a large enough score the game quits displaying a numerical score and instead displays a mathematical equation, which will first have to be converted to a numerical score before being submitted to High Score. For example: 4.14e17 would come out to 414,000,000,000,000,000. Another example, if I interpret the manual correctly, could be 6.32e32, which would be the same as 632,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000. The manual doesn't tell you how to convert such a high score, but it does include one example. 8.14e19 equates to a numerical score of 81,400,000,000,000,000,000. So the 8.14 represents the first three digits, and the e19 tells us that there are 19 digits after the first. That's how I figure it. CONTROLLERS: If you wish to use a Joystick, plug it into Port One. If you wish to use a Paddle, plug it into Port Two. The Paddle controller seems to be the most precise method. This is an enjoyable little game. I quite enjoy it. I can't play it on a frequent basis, because it would turn me into a nervous wreck if I did. But that's me. Bell Hopper is a demake of Winterbells. Placed 5th in the game development competition at Assembley Summer 2011. The Byte Before Christmas is still available here at Atari Age. The cartridge and full-color 16 page manual cost $30, with the box costing an additional $20. Those prices are assuming that you aren't a subscriber entitled to a discount. Boxes may not be reprinted once they run out. You can order this game for either the NTSC or PAL60 standards. The manual states that you can toggle to PAL50 using the TV Type switch. https://atariage.com/store/index.php?l=product_detail&p=1041 I am the current World Recorder holder at http://highscore.com with a score of 536,707,160,240. I am currently the only one with a score there for Bell Hopper, so I invite you to join (it's FREE) and post a higher score. Then, I will attempt to regain my title from you. http://highscore.com/scores/Atari2600/TheByteBeforeChristmas/26372 PACKAGING AND ARTWORK Both are outstanding! The Label and Manual Artwork is by Brian Ostrowski. It would like great under anyone's Christmas Tree. ATARI AGE PROMO VIDEO FOR THE BYTE BEFORE CHRISTMAS Bell Hopper starts at the 2:37 mark. RANKING: 3 (out of 5) 1. Worm War I 2. Demolition Herby 3. Bell Hopper (Homebrew) 4. Alligator People (Prototype) 5. Fire Fly Please comment, like, and follow. I have several more games coming, so my next Blog entry will be for either my Game Review series or Feeding My Atari series.

Game: Worm War I System: Atari 2600/VCS/Sears Video Arcade Developer: Serius Software Publisher: 20th Century-Fox Programmer: David Lubar Serial/Catalog Number: 11001 Copyright: 1982 Genre: Shooter Controller: Joystick (Sega Game Pad compatible) Players: 1 or 2 (Competitive or Cooperative) Game Variations: 9 RARITY RATING: 3 (Scarce) Your mission, as a master tank commander, is to drive through the city of Teriyaki and blast away as many Worms and Blocks as possible without running out of fuel. That's the closest the manual gets to a story. Are these gigantic mutated Worms from Earth, or are they invaders from the planet Slitheron? Who knows, and more to the point, who cares? This game is just plain fun to play. It's a blast shooting the Worms with your tank's blaster cannon. I was first exposed to this game when I saw a play video of it at http://highscore.com , so I downloaded the ROM .bin file into my emulator. I tried it out. I had so much fun playing it that way that I had to buy a physical copy. Fortunately I scored (sorry to hit you with pun) a manual at the same time. SINGLE PLAYER VARIATIONS Game 1: The "Obstacle Course" begins with side Wall Segments and a clear playing field. Obstacles appear after the first group are demolished and grow denser with each round. That's what the manual says, however sometimes you start off with worms and sometimes you don't, in a random fashion. Game 2: The "Straightaway" maintains a clear playing screen. Game 3: "Invisible Worms: uses Game Variation 1, but Worms are only visible during brief flashes that light up the screen. 2 PLAYER COOPERATIVE VARIATIONS Game 4: Uses the same screen as in Variation 1. Game 5: Uses the same screen as in Variation 2. Game 6: Uses the same screen as in Variation 3. 2 PLAYER COMPETITIVE VARIATIONS Game 7: Uses the same screen as in Variations 1 and 4. Game 8: Uses the same screen as in Variations 2 and 5. Game 9: Uses the same screen as in Variations 3 and 6. Both Difficulty Switches come into play (there I go again) with this game. The Left Difficulty Switch is used to control the movement of the Worms. A Position = Random Worm Movement. B Position = Fixed Worm Movement. The Right Difficulty Switch concerns your tanks's Brake Response. A Position = Slower Break Response. B Position = Faster Break Response. Personally I prefer to use Position A on the Left Difficulty Switch. Maybe it's the way my mind works, but I find the Worms moving in a fixed pattern more difficult than if their movements are random. So with Games 1 and 3 I prefer the Difficulty Switches to be set for A/B. FUEL You start off with 99 units of fuel. The game ends when you run out of fuel. If you are playing Game Variations 7, 8, and 9, the game ends when both players' tanks run dry. You lose fuel when you run into a Worm (10 fuel units), a Block (5 fuel units), and while you move forward (1 fuel unit for each Wall Segment). You gain fuel by driving through a Pagoda Gas Station. The faster you pass through it the more units of fuel that you gain (1 to 12 units). Worms attack in groups. You will start off by encountering 1 Worm, then 2 at once, then 3, eventually reaching 6. SCORING In the first attack group you earn 20 points for each Worm destroyed. The amount of points that you get increases after each group. After a wave of groups you will receive bonus points! HINTS BY PROGRAMMER DAVID LUBAR AND I To avoid being totally clobbered by hordes of Worms, pull back on the stick whenever a new group is appearing. Do this as soon as you exit a Gas Station. If a fuel Pagoda appears on top of a block, carefully shoot away the block, or try just to nick the Pagoda. If you miss and shoot the Pagoda Gas Station instead it will explode, killing all of the remaining Worms on screen, which will trigger the next wave of Worms. ​ You don't receive any points by killing Worms this way (not that I've noticed anyway). You won't lose any fuel doing this, but it will take longer before you gain any fuel because you have to shoot the entire next wave first. When you are refueling, you are safe from collisions. Use this to move over inconvenient Blocks.​ Actually, the best time to move over inconvenient blocks is right as the game starts awarding you bonus points. While that is happening you can re-position your tank and pass over those blocks that are in the way, and you aren't in a position to shoot. The far left and right sides of the screen are safe spots, but don't hang there too long. If you don't shoot Worms, you won't bring on any Pagodas. If a Worm has reached near the bottom of the screen I move as fast as I can toward the nearest wall, while accelerating enough to get past him. Or her, we don't know if these Worms have a gender. WORLD RECORD RUN AT HIGH SCORE FOR GAME 1; B/B (w/Play Video) http://highscore.com/scores/Atari2600/WormWarI/67399 ANOTHER PLAY VIDEO (from S.BAZ, a regular at High Score) :60 SECOND AMERICAN TV COMMERCIAL FOR WORM WAR I GAME RANKING: 1 (out of 3) CURRENT RANKING OF REVIEWED ATARI 2600/VCS GAMES: 1. Worm War I 2. Demolition Herby 3. Alligator People (Prototype) My favorite way to play is to shoot as many Blocks as possible, so I will frequently hold off on shooting the last Worm in a group until I've shot as many Blocks as possible (thump thump thump). This comes in handy, because while I'm busy racking up points I'm also clearing the screen at the same time. You never know where the Gas Station will appear. Worm War I is in the database at http://highscore.com for the Atari 2600. Game 1 is the default. Difficulty B/B is the default for a Novice score, whilst Difficulty A/A is the default for Expert. Game 1, Difficulty B/A and Difficulty A/B are as well. Game 3 is included too, for both Difficulties B/B and A/A. It is also in the High Score database for the Atari 400/800/XL/XE line of computers. All games in the High Score database include an emulation category. Other Atari 2600 Games Programmed by David Lubar Bumber Bash Challenge of Nexar Fantastic Voyage Flash Gordon My Golf River Raid II Sentinel Spacemaster X-7 A special thanks to those who have posted comments to my Blog entries, such as RetroRob, carlsson, and johnnywc (yes, I know who he is). Mind blown.