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BEWARE: I have not tested this but, it is so simple and I can see no reason for it not to work. If you have already installed this 32K console SRAM mod, then it won't take much more work to fully populate the RAM space at >8000 to >83FF. That would give you 1024 bytes instead of just 256. It seems to me that disconnecting the CS* from the 6810s and moving that signal over to pin 4 of U504 C2 (first remove the +5VDC from it) should be all that is necessary. I see two possibilities for doing this. I think this might be the easier of the two but, you may find other possibilities that I didn't consider. The signal could be removed from the 6810s by cutting the trace coming from pin 8 of U507. Run a jumper from pin 8 of U507 to pin 4 of U504 C2. Do not forget to remove the 5VDC from pin 4 prior to connecting this jumper, though. Cutting this trace at this point cuts off the connection to U606, pin 12. In all likelihood, you would want to reestablish the connection from U507, pin 8 to pin 12 of U606. This would be required, if you have the defeat switch installed, so the Scratch Pad memory would still be fast memory when the switch is in bypass mode. The 2nd solution I came up with was to pull or cut the CS* pin on BOTH 6810s. Then run a jumper from the hole that is left under pin 11 to U504 C2-4 (again, remove the 5VDC from it first). This doesn't break the connection to pin 12, U606, so nothing more should have to be done. Alternatively, you could remove both 6810s from the board since they will not be used anymore. I intend to leave them in, possibly to be used as a small buffer for another idea with which I have been toying. I made up schematics for what I call the Clulow-Guion 32K upgrade, and I am attaching them to this post. They are intended as an addendum to "Hardware Manual for the Texas Instruments 99/4A Home Computer" by Michael L. Bunyard. The largest difference between the CG32K and the BC32K is the CG32K can be switched back and forth between 0 wait states and the normal 4 wait states using a toggle switch. I don't think you can hot swap it, though I can't offer first hand test results. Even though I am going to use this as a basis for the 1st stage of my own design, I do not intend to use a toggle switch to bypass the zero wait state in mine, so chances are that I never will test a hot swap of this particular mod. I want to be able to hot swap mine via software, and perhaps a mechanical push button. Instructions for the three current Ballmann-based mods are found here: http://www.mainbyte.com/ti99/16bit32k/32kconsole.html Please let me know if you think I'm in error with the schematics or the modification I've suggested. If you try it and it works, please let me know. If it doesn't work... well, that's your fault for trusting me. Clulow-Guion_32K.upgrade.tar.gz

This week my daily driver TI-99/4a console (that's the one with an F18a) broke down. I thought the easiest thing to do was to just swap the mainboard and keep on going for now (I have plenty of spare consoles). Oh boy, was I wrong. The tricky part was to transplant the F18a. I took out the F18a and you guessed it, I managed to break a pin connecting to the VDP socket. Felt like an idiot there. Luckily I was able to solder on another pin to the F18a board, so got the F18a working fine again (took me several hours and multiple attempts putting on that pin. I'm not a hardware guy so was pretty proud of myself doing the soldering without damaging the F18a board) . Anyway, what I noticed after putting everything back together is that when I typed on the keyboard, there was a very fast repeating of the keys while typing. Tried to type "call clear" and got "caaaalllll cleeeaaar" So I thought something was wrong with my replacement mainboard and swapped it again, this time being absolutely sure to be as careful as possible not to damage the F18a. I put the keyboard back on, and got the same behaviour. So this time I swapped the keyboard as well and now everything works as expected. Now here to my question, is there any real logic in the keyboard? I was under the assumption that it's just a matrix you poll. What would explain the above behaviour? At first I thought there could be something wrong with the clock, voltage being slightly of or whatever on the mainboard. But it did not occur to me the keyboard itself could be the culprit. The keyboard in error has the manufacturer "HI-TEK", the one that's working has no manufacturer at all, presume it's made by Texas Instruments (did they even do that?). Anway, long story short. My TI-99/4a is working again and I'm a happy camper. Never thought I'd have such an issue because of malfunctioning keyboard. retroclouds

I'm looking to buy an Atari 7800 Prosystem, I only ask that it be NTSC and include the AC adapter. Thanks a ton!

Atari Lynx Everon Console in Box. PM me, Call me, Stop on by anytime if you have one.

Aside from displaying the ColecoVision logo, what does the system ROM do?

MAME 0.201 It’s the end of another month, and time for your scheduled MAME release, with more of everything we know you love. In a last-minute update, we slipped in a major performance for bgfx video output. It’s particularly noticeable when using cropped artwork, and there’s no longer a big performance penalty for bringing up the menu over the emulation on macOS. Another core improvement is support for TAP/TUN networking on Windows, providing a big performance improvement when connecting an emulated system to a network on the host machine. From the department of things considered lost to time, MAME 0.201 allows you to play as Chuby the octopus, in the incredibly elusive Spanish game Night Mare. Unfortunately the sound ROMs were missing, so you won’t be able to hear Chuby speak, and we still need to be on the lookout for the export version known as Clean Octopus. And speaking of rare games from Spain, two more Magnet System titles have been dumped: A Day in Space and The Burning Cavern. Newly dumped versions of supported arcade games include prototypes of Halley’s Comet (Taito) and Dog Fight (Orca), a newer version of the original Master Boy (Gaelco), and the Korean release of Raiden II (Seibu Kaihatsu). A redumped ROM allowed Psychic Force EX to run correctly. The vgmplay logged music player has had a big update in this release, with support for several more sound chips and a comprehensive software list. And this brings us to audio improvements, which seem to have all crowded their way into this release. We have fixes for long-standing sound bugs in Twin Eagle, Targ and Spectar. Sound in Amazing Maze is no longer cut off after thirty seconds or so. There are some big changes for QSound and Taito Zoom ZSG-2 that should make things sound nicer. There’s also preliminary support for the NEC PC-FX’s HuC6230 SoundBox, but be aware it has a DC offset so you’ll hear a big thud when you start or stop it. Recent improvements in NEC PC-98 emulation have seen dozens of titles promoted to working status, and we’ve added another batch of dumps from Neo Kobe Collection. There are a number of fixes that improve TI-99 floppy and cassette support in this release. InterPro systems can now be used via a serial terminal in configurations without a video card or keyboard. At long last, the Apple //c Plus can boot from its internal floppy drive. Other improvements to computer emulation include better keyboard support for Amiga systems, and improved GPU emulation for the HP Integral PC. Of course, you can get source and Windows binaries from the download page.

As usual, whenever I finish another major build I run on over to AtariAge and share the tales of mayhem and mirth. I hope you guys are gonna dig it, it's The Nintendo Snack Pack. After rebuilding every major classic system from the console wars era, I finally brought the remaining two powerhouses of the late-80s/early-90s into one easy-to-carry little console. A light-weight version of the Sega Omega Drive, if you will, featuring a carefully hand-picked list of games for the NES and SNES, running on official Nintendo hardware (emulation, but still). When the NES mini came out, I wasn’t that interested, thoroughly entrenched with Team RasPi & Original Hardware. But when I played my brother’s NES mini and saw that excellent interface, the simple yet rich features, and played on the responsive and authentic controller, I was hooked. And 30 well-picked games was perfect for a guy who never owned anything Nintendo except a GameBoy (SEGA For Life, Baby!). I’ve been wanting to built something Nintendo for a while now, and this was it. I set to work, and created The Nintendo Snack Pack Dedicated Oldschool Entertainment System (DOES). If you’re interested how I built it, visit the buildblog. I wanted the system to be really easy and fun, no brain required, and above all, portable. That’s why the system is fitted with a large 20.000mAh battery and comes with a 12v charger – just carry and play! The system revolves around a SNES mini and a NES mini board stacked on top of each other, which you can switch between via the large vintage-style rotary dial at the front. This dial also allows you to go to other channels, but we’ll get to them later. Each board is hakchi’d and contains a host of platforms and games that can be played via the controller ports at the front, for 1 and 2 player action. The system features a rich 8″ IPS LCD display, running at 1024×768 in 4:3 aspect ratio. Sound is pumped through 1.2watt Logitech stereo speakers for clean & crisp audio, and the whole thing is housed inside a vintage 1972 portable black & white Sony TV-740. The Nintendo Snack Pack has 4 retro channels to choose from, so let’s check’m out! Channel 1: NINTENDO WORLD – Plays the mighty NES, it’s heir to the crown SNES, and Classic Gameboy and GBA games! Of course a channel dedicated to classic Nintendo is fun, but you know what’s more fun than classic Nintendo? Classic SEGA! That’s right, the second mini board is loaded up with everything decidedly NOT Nintendo. Just switch your controller over to the SEGA ports, and Welcome to the Next Level: Channel 2: SEGA ZONE – Play the powerful Mega Drive, Master System, & Game Gear! We even sneaked on a bit of PC Engine, Lynx & Vectrex! All that 8- and 16-bit action getting a bit much? Need a moment to chill, and reflect how to kill that damn boss in Contra Hard Corps? Switch over to channel 3 and chill out with some toons. Channel 3: VIDEODROME – Stream classic cartoons, movies and shows via Chromecast! Classic games are excellent of course, and I enjoy seeing a bit of Ghostbusters over breakfast with the kids, but sometimes you wanna play a little more modern games, right? Well, thankfully this bad boy is equipped with AV RCA input, allowing you to hook up that PlayStation, Saturn or DreamCast for some late-90s polygon action! Channel 4: INSTERT GAME – With oldschool AV you can connect your own console or VHS player! I built this with the idea of making something that would be undeniably fun and flexible, easy to use and portable. What I didn’t consider was how difficult it was to build, especially because I tried following a systematic workflow. This didn’t work out so well, so I went back to building in the manner I had always done: intuitively. Hack and slash, and solder, and fry, and curse, and burn, and replace and finally out from the carnage we get a little treasure that is something I could’ve only dreamed about when I was a kid. A little gaming TV that does it all. Wanna know how I built it? Check out ‘Building the Nintendo Snack Pack’! Wanna know what 30 SEGA Games I chose for channel SEGA ZONE? Check out ‘SEGA’s Fatal 30 for the Nintendo Snack Pack’! Nintendo Snack Pack SPECS: Authentic Nintendo NES Mini Board (Channel 1) Authentic Nintendo SNES Mini Board (Channel 2) 4x Controller Ports (1-2 Player for Channel 1 & 2, respectively) Google Chromecast 2nd Generation (Channel 3) RCA Audio/Video Input (Channel 4) Aluminium Rotary Dial to switch channels 8″ IPS LCD screen in 4:3 aspect ratio, 1024×768 (HDMI/RCA/VGA) Logitech 1.2watt Stereo Speakers (Z120) 20.000mAh 12V DC Battery Vintage 1972 Sony TV-740 Converted Case Dimensions: 25 x 20 x 24 cm, Weight: 2.5kg (5.5lbs)

Ola Retrogamers, A month ago I finished my second prototype of a cool little mini-arcade, powered by a Raspberry Pi, housed in a reimagined 1980's tabletop, with fullsized arcade buttons and joystick: the STAR FORCE PI. I'm currently exploring the possibility to bring this system to a crowdfunding platform, and could use some feedback from some old-school gaming enthusiasts. Check out the attached picture of the finished Star Force Pi prototype, dubbed 'Stormtrooper', and read on: WHY I MADE THIS: I was tired of playing emulated games on the PC with a inappropriate controller, and I was disappointed with options like the NeoGeoX. If you get an arcade mod bartop, they're usually 9inch screen models, expensive, pretty bulky and not portable at all, and a full-sized arcade is just not an option for me. Those iCade's are crap, and handhelds don't quite deliver the same experience. So, I bought a 1984 GrandStand Star Force game, and I stared at it for a month before I decided to go ahead and build my own mini-arcade. I bought an Arcade Kit from hdhardsoft.de, added fullsized arcade controls to it, and it worked! Very well actually. To finish it, I made a video, a poster, a box and a quickguide for good measure and put it onto Facebook and people seem to love it. Originally I was going to make an how-to instructable, but it would mean sacrificing perfectly good tabletop machines for the shell, and that seems such a shame. So, I thought maybe I can build it into something that people could buy via Kickstarter. WHAT'S MY PLAN: I first made a prototype to see if I could do it, then I made a second one to see if I could make it more functional and desirable, and I just finished a third one to send off to the engineer (Hartmut @ hdhardsoft.de) of the internal arcade kit I used so he can develop a custom shield to sit onto the Raspberry Pi inside the mini-arcade (he's on-board, getit). This production piece will be the model for eventual tooling. I've also asked a 3D animator to make some mock-ups of custom housing and started emailing with a production company to get a per-unit-price estimate, so I can have all the elements ready before I go to Kickstarter and detail the plan: a modular mini-arcade that's portable, easy to use and easy to develop for. It's focused on emulation classic systems first of all, but if it gains a decent-sized backing, I want to extend into gamedevelopment (not personally, but in support of developers): The first focus is a solid device, with off-the-shelf components, built into a customizable shell, with full microswitch arcade feedback, good video and stereo sound. The second focus will be to regain the cartridge culture, by approaching developers (NV-DEV:TEAM specifically) and asking if they'd like to bring their game to the Star Force Pi in SD-card form. Of course, this will include cases, manuals, decals etc, in much the same spirit of the TurboGrafX HuCard. The third focus would be on connecting two Star Force Pi's together and play two player games on two devices. Street Fighter II. Head-to-Head. Awesome. WHAT WILL IT DO: Anything it is able to do on the current Raspberry Pi really, we just add the peripherals, put it into an attractive package and at the very least allow you to make your own magic. Actually, that's a bit simplistic, we'll be discussing with the engineer and the creator of PiPlay for a Star Force Pi specific emulator package, who's already providing support for Hartmut's arcade kits. The nice thing is that software is entirely on the SDcard, which means developers control their own content and upgrades, as do you. We'd just be supplying templates for the casing and artwork. Additionally, there's HDMI-out and USB-in on there as well, so for multiplayer, or ScummVM games that need a larger screen sometimes, you can connect it to a monitor and use any USB controller/mouse/keyboard on it. PRICE: I think a fully functional Star Force Pi with power adapter, in packaging, pretty box and fun manual should not exceed 199 euro. It's a psychological pricepoint, anything beyond that would just feel like a rip-off. I spent between 250 - 300 euro on the build, but this can be brought down with a production series. YOUR FEEDBACK: So that's why I'm here! I'm a guy that grew up with Sega, wishing he had a NeoGeo, and am now at the age I can afford one, but can't have 12 systems hooked up and hijack the TV or PC everytime I want a quick game of Splatterhouse! With the Star Force Pi I have my own little desk unit to game directly: no fuss. What do you think? Would you want one? What could we do better? What should I look out for and take care off? I'm just a guy with a screwdriver that wanted to play Metal Slug with proper arcade controls and was small enough to carry around - how can I best share this with other retrogamers? Check out the first video I made showing the 'Stormtrooper' prototype: Cheers!

MAME 0.200 Todays MAME release has two consecutive zeros in the version number! The only other time that happened was over twelve years ago! Although MAME version numbers are are just an incrementing number, by a series of coincidences, MAME 0.200 delivers several major changes. First of all, if youre building MAME with Microsoft Visual Studio (MSVC), youll need Visual Studio 2017. Weve dropped support for Visual Studio 2015. Starting this month, were building the official Windows binaries with GCC 7.3 this probably wont affect you (we still support building with GCC 5 and up). Were mirroring tagged releases at GitLab (source only) and SourceForge (source and binaries), so if for some reason youre unable to access GitHub, youll still be able to download official MAME releases. MAME 0.200 includes replacements for the memory system and callback API. This will enable new functionality and make MAME development more straightforward. The artwork layout system has also had an overhaul which opens new possibilities. Weve tried our best not to break things, but if you do find something wrong, let us know at MAME Testers, or on our IRC channel #mame on the freenode network. In arcade emulation this month, we have a number of new versions of supported titles, including a very rare prototype of Led Storm Rally 2011 and three more Street Fighter II': Champion Edition bootlegs. Dreamcast/NAOMI colours are greatly improved thanks to snickerbockers, and cam900 fixed some graphical effects in Gals Panic 3 and Billiard Academy Real Break. Enik Land improved emulation of the Sega Master System, Game Gear and Mega Drive VDPs, covering more corner cases. The really exciting emulation improvements this month are on the computer side. There are lots of improvements for UK home computers, including better Camputers Lynx tape support (with lots of additions to the software list), re-worked Acorn System emulation, and support for Acorn Bus slot devices. Weve got a brand-new modernised Apple IIgs driver, with improvements in just about every area. Also, Wayder updated the Sharp 68000 software list, correcting and organising the entries and adding the latest clean dumps. But even more exciting is the fact that, thanks to Patrick Mackinlays gargantuan effort and persistence, the CLIPPER-based InterPro 2000 workstation now works well enough to install and run CLIX (a UNIX operating system). As far as we know, this is a first for MAME. The improvements to SCSI, CD-ROM, and serial emulation also benefit other emulated computer systems. Instructions are on the MAMEdev wiki if you want to try it out. As usual, you can get source and Windows binaries from the download page.

Most people know LJN because of the pile of rather dubious games they released for the NES (some, imortalized in reviews by the Angry Video Game Nerd). This weekend, I discovered they made a console too. I found one at a Goodwill for fairly cheap with three cartridges included. It wasn't working quite right when I got it, necessitating taking it apart to figure out the issue. Turned out it had carbon dot buttons, much like the Atari 5200. Some aluminum foil later and it works fine again... such as it is. The LJN Video Art is a "edutainment" product released by LJN in 1987. Consisting of a console using interchangeable cartridges and a single specialized joystick, it can not exactly be classified as a game console, since its functionality is that of an electronic coloring book. Cartridges contain uncolored line art images that are displayed on the television screen. The "player" then uses the specialized controller to move a cursor on the the screen to color in the images. Colors may be chosen using a slider on the top end of the controller. Buttons on the console itself allow the player to change the background color, change the cursor to an eraser and change the "page" to a new image. The nine (or more) available cartridges came with a story book to use in conjunction with the Video Art console. I'm going to hook it up for my Video game party this weekend, along side Pong. It'll be fun to see which one of my firends wastes much time on this... thing. Does anyone have one of these? Thoughts? Memories? Head shakings?

Hello all, I'd like to begin by saying that I am by no means a negligent/careless owner. I was never rough with my Jag. However, despite this, it stopped working a while back for reasons currently beyond me. The last few times I'd played it, it had serious controller issues; on Cybermorph, the T-Griffon wouldn't stop jetting forward and moving upward, while on Tempest 2K, I couldn't stop shooting. Not long after these incidents, my Jag failed entirely, and won't even power on. All I know is that these consoles are very sensitive to electrical mishaps (shorts, overloads, etc.), and that something to do with the controller inputs failed/shorted out, and this somehow eventually led to total failure. Yet if that is the case, wouldn't that mean that one of my controllers is defective and causes shorts? I've no soldering skills, and even less of a clue on how to find the replacement parts necessary for this system, so the chances of me fixing this are slim. For the meantime, I've purchased a new Jag system (I shouldn't have to explain how expensive they've become), so I want to ensure that this doesn't happen again. The main things I want to know are: *What caused this? *Is this (cheaply) fixable? *What can prevent this? Sorry about the long post, but as a long-time Atari fan, I just want to ensure the fun doesn't stop here. Please feel free to ask me anything you'd like to know.

Hi all, I believe that retro gaming is now officially an asset bubble. If it was about experiencing original classic Atari games on the original console, adding it to your collection and then sharing information and pictures about the console and/or games - adding something to the community - cool. But these devices are being flipped, like assets. So, again I firmly believe we are deep in a retro gaming bubble. Not a high-end one like houses. As in, the ramifications will not mean that you have to sell your car, or you will loose your house. But in time, there will be people that will have a stack of investments (sorry... games) that they paid insane prices for, and will not be able to recover that ... investment. All the classic bubble hallmarks are at play here. Lets look at the classic 5 steps of a bubble:- 1) Displacement - This is when investors (as apposed to fans of retro-gaming due nostalgia, preference to the different older-style of gaming experience, the type that will add to the community, not just ask how much is this item worth-types, etc..), become interested in this "new" potential revenue stream. We are now seeing more and more people "express" an interest in retro-gaming devices and software. More and more people are aware of this, and more opportunities become available for people to invest (take) or fuel (add) to the growing retro-gaming market (like the NES/SNES mini classic for example). 2) Boom - Prices rise very slowly at first, and then BOOM!!! That game you was looking to get, that was only a couple of quid, is now 10's of pounds (and that is just for starters). And then momentum kicks. Like a stone rolling, the prices keep on rising, and at an accelerated rate. This is the boom phase. Those of us that have been playing old consoles for years, will have seen the prices of these consoles fall when they were originally superseded, and then start to rise (gently as wear/tear/damage - just the ever reducing stock of these devices/games happens) over time. But until the last few years, those increases have always been pretty gentle. Also, a key factor of this phase is recognition. Playing old consoles, or retro-gaming, is now "a thing". When you have news media, that is normally total divorced from the subject matter starts giving the "new asset" wide coverage. You seen the articles:- That old console in the attic could be worth 100's!!!!!! Top 10 games what used be worth pennies, but are now worth 100's. These are all indicators. Remember how many property programs popped up on TV during the housing market boom? This breeds the attitude "fear of missing out on that once in a lifetime investment" (NES classic anyone?). It also breeds the air of competition. Someone proudy shows their recent acquisition of the "rare" blah blah blah game. It's not a good game, but only a small number were produced. This also really drives prices up. But this uniquely gets other previously savvy retro-gaming collectors spending more than they normally would. Before they would have a spending cap of X per game. This cap slowly creeps up to Y, and then Z etc.. This is rocket fuel to the boom phase. This also increases the number of retro-gamers (investors). 3) Euphoria - In this phase, with free flowing credit and a some-what level of economic security, (and the fact that alot of people that grew up with these consoles are at the age where they may have disposable income) caution is thrown to the wind. The mindset moves to "gotta get them all" before someone else does, and miss out an opportunity to flip for a profit. Prices in this phase sky-rocket even further. You then start to get "market experts". They talk up the market. You've seen game X on eBay, been watching, debating if you should get it or not. You then see You-tuber ILUVRETROGAMESCOZTHEYAREKEWL99SAUSAGE talking about game X. Before you have finished watching the video, you check again on eBay, and the price has gone up because this popular You-tuber mentioned it, and maybe used the word rare at some point. These experts fuel the market, fuel desire, competition. This drives down levels of rational thinking. This also breeds and feeds the "greater fool theory". This theory works on the prinicple, that it doesn't really matter how much I spend on X, because there will always be a "greater fool" that will buy it off me .... for more. During this phase, you will see the introduction of new, weird and wonderful valuation measures and metrics (e.g. PlayStation one release model (SCPH-1001) is now known as the Audiophile due to having RCA presentation and a slightly better DAC - a term that has been used to greatly exaggerate the value of the console in the mind of the lesser researched/informed "investor"), all touted to justify the relentless rise in asset prices. 4) Profit taking - At this point, anyone who "is into retro-gaming" as an asset, and have the smart money mentality, will start cashing out. Impressive complete collections start becoming more and more available. This is because the "smart money" is heeding the warning signs. They are "selling out" and taking profits (which is being provided by the "greater fool") while the profits are available. If someone that would normally be completely divorced from gaming suddenly starts showing interest and some level of newly acquired savvy regarding the asset (like grandma suddenly knowing the difference between her sons old heavy sixer and a light sixer that she found in the attic), saturation point has been breached. You will see record levels of fakes at this time. And even good ones too, as the prices they can potentially sell for, justifies the extra effort from the counterfeiter. We are talking about it gets to the point that near expert levels of appraisement is required. At this point, I want to talk about the "mythical" scalper. A scalper does not exist per say. What does exist is someone with more contacts, money or savvy than you to get the item you want, or got it sooner, thus cheaper than you. And then having the savvy to know that they can charge an inflated price when they decide to flip that item. Look, if everyone decided they will not spend more that £55 on a NES classic, how long to do think the "scalpers" would try and charge £200? If the "greater fool" exists, then greater prices exist. At this point, the bubble of choice has hit saturation point, it can then only take even a minor event to prick the bubble. But once pricked, the bubble is not likely to inflate again. That event could come in any shape or form. Unlike the housing, where is it some what clear what elements can cause a down-swing in the market, in retro-gaming, it harder to predict. A general loss of interest? A better more exciting (read - new) "investment" comes along, maybe? The Ataribox proves to be WAY better than anyone thought (100% perfect 2600, 5200, 7800, STe and Jaguar emulation?), thus killing the desire for anything else? Serious down-swing in the general economy (that makes people focus on the essentials, not frivolous). Retro-gaming stops being "hip". Fakes and badly repaired/modded hardware (you know - that "eBay mint" console that looks worst than an out of date dog's dinner)? It could be all of these or just one or two. It's hard to call. But the realty is that we are seeing a bubble grow, and it will pop. And when it does, phase 5 bites down. 5) Panic - If you are collecting retro-gaming equipment for the love of it and not an asset (e.g. you was doing it before it became a thing - you know when it was just called gaming or playing on my old Atari), this is the only stage that doesn't adversely affect you. In fact, this is the phase you will like. If you are in it for the profit, and you are still in it at this point - whoops!! In the panic phase, asset prices reverse, and hard. And often (as history has shown) at a more ferocious pace. Coming down far faster, that when they were on the rise. Investors at this point will flood the market in attempt to find that one last "greater fool" to buy at an apparently more reasonable price. The problem is, at this point there are no more "greater fools", just the "greatest fools" fighting to get as much back as possible, reducing their loses on a cartridge that they bought at the height of the market for £200 for example, and are now not getting any response on trying to sell it for £30. So that is my take on this subject. I think we are clicking from phase 3 into phase 4. And boy are we going to see some crazy when the SNES mini classic comes out. All the people that "missed out" of the first with the NES, will be on a mission (impossible mission?) to get one. Competition, desire and a complete lack of rational thinking is gonna kick in. Anyway, just by reading this, you can tell I am NOT even close to being an expert. This probably reads more like the mussing of a mad man. But I'm a fan, and I find things like this interesting and fun to discuss. So please let me know if you agree, disagree. I would really love to read your thoughts/ideas on this? Is this something we what to happen? It would make prices cheaper, but then you will be less likely to get devices like the NES/SNES mini classic and other ideas that can make retro-gaming interesting. Looking forward to reading your thoughts.

The Southern-Fried Gaming Expo (SFGE) is a 3-day fan convention focused exclusively on gaming. The expo is held June 8-10 at the Renaissance Waverly Hotel in Atlanta, GA, and boasts over 250 full-sized arcade games, pinball machines and console systems, along with tabletop gaming, vendors, special guest speakers, a film fest, live music, wrestling, tournaments and more! SFGE is a family-friendly event that will be fun for all ages. Special Guests: STEVE RITCHIE As a pinball designer, Mr. Ritchie has created some of the most popular and best-selling games of all time including Firepower, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Terminator 2: Judgement Day, ACDC, and the recently released Star Wars. Steve joined Atari as one of their earliest employees in 1974 and over the course of his career has worked for Williams, Bally/Midway, and currently designs games for Stern Pinball. Mr. Ritchie’s talents are not limited to pinball, however. Many gamers will recognize his voice as that of Shao Kahn (“FINISH HIM!”) in the groundbreaking Mortal Kombat video games. JOHN JACOBSEN For the past twelve years, and over 500 episodes, John Jacobsen has been a co-host on one of the longest running independent video game shows, and Xbox Live Community Podcast Of The Year, The Video Game Outsiders on the comedy network, Riotcast. In 2007, John was sucked into the classic arcade collecting world. His first machine was a Donkey Kong, his second a Ms. Pac-Man, within a year he turned his basement into his own personal arcade. Soon after John got his first arcade game, he started a website and weekly YouTube series called “John’s Arcade” and he immediately had a passionate following. Each week John takes his viewers on his arcade adventures in the form of road trips across the country visiting notable private and public arcades as well as gameplay and tech videos. John also shows his viewers how to restore and fix classic arcade games in a “you can do this!” type presentation. John’s Arcade currently has approx. 32,000 subscribers and over 6 million Youtube views. John’s Arcade can also be seen on over a dozen public access channels across the USA. In late 2016, John and his long time friend Jay, took their hobby the next level. Partnering with the Hangar Pub and Grill and Amherst Brewing in Amherst, MA, they put over 30 arcade machines on location in a busy college town. RICH SOMMER Tabletop fanatic and host of the popular Cardboard! podcast, Rich Sommer will be making his first trip to the Southern-Fried Gaming Expo this year. Although his love for gaming is well-documented, you may better recognize Rich from his role as Harry Crane on 92 episodes of the popular AMC drama Mad Men or recurring appearances on Netflix’s Glow, The Regular Show, or Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later. Rich will be speaking at two panels that will be immediately followed by meet and greet sessions.' ORIN DAY Some of your favorite pinball games wouldn’t be the same were it not for the skills of our newest guest, Orin Day. Mr. Day was part of the development team of Data East Pinball and remained on board when that company became SEGA pinball, and finally stayed through the transformation into the Stern Pinball we all continue to enjoy to this day. Mr. Day has programmed and developed software for over 20 of the best games in pinball including Baywatch, Independence Day, South Park, and more. We’re glad to have Mr. Day as a special guest at SFGE 2018! Additional guests listed on website and more to be announced. Photos from our 2017 event. Checkout our 2018 promo video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKsk55EfD48 SFGE memberships are available online and you can save $5 with coupon code JOYSTICK. www.GameATL.com

I'm mainly looking to see what other systems are owned by those who own Atari 8-bit computer systems. But, if you're devoted to playing a lot of Atari 8-bit on emulation, or if you're a former dedicated Atari 8-bit computer owner, go ahead and vote too. Personally, I only own a 2600 at the moment, which was the system my family used when I was young (needs the TIA replaced). I wouldn't mind having a 7800, as it covers the 2600 and then all of its own. But I'm in no hurry to get one, as I don't find the 7800 library all that great. I'm yet to find a compelling reason to get a 5200 when I own all of its games, some converted, to play on the 8-bit computers. None of the other consoles interest me, although I see the Lynx as a much more attractive system, now that its video can be fed to a monitor (after being modded). I have little interest in the other Atari computers; for their era, I'd rather own a Mac -- which I do (Quadra 605, in need of a cap job).

Many of us buy and sell consoles over the years, but some have stood the long test of time. So what consoles computers have you had since you were under 18 years of age? It's surprisingly few for me... Tell us about your childhood consoles that you still love and cherish. What are their stories? Computers: Mac--I have a Mac Classic that I acquired on the cheap when I was in high school. It is sadly not running currently and I believe it just needs new caps on the motherboard and PSU. Got this computer for free from a computer lab at my high school which was retiring it. PC--My high school HP is still in my parents basement. The computer itself is unremarkable but has a Voodoo 2 or 3 in it which I need to salvage for posterity for some point. I may have it framed, or use for a Windows 98' PC build. This was the "family computer" but I paid for the Voodoo 2 out of pocket with part time work. Consoles: NES--My original NES was sent to an authorized repair center to have the 72 pin connector replaced. I was pissed to realize they gave me another (more worn) console as a replacement!! Still...that was my early teens and I still have that NES toaster to this day. I've since defeated the 10-Nes chip and replaced the 72 pin connector at least one more time. It's currently in storage as my NES toploader is my go-to, but I will probably be hooking it up to my living room TV soon as I now have the space/capacity for it. The NES was a Christmas gift around 1990 or so. N64- My high school N64 (black launch model) was stolen at a party, but the translucent orange funtastic machine I replaced it with is still in my possession, bone stock with the Nintendo Ram Upgrade only, and is hooked up to the big flat screen at my parents for when I visit there. Paid for out of pocket with summer job money. Gamecube- My launch edition black gamecube was fried when my roomates in Germany (Army) plugged it directly into the wall instead of a transformer. I replaced it with a Platinum edition GameCube which I still have to this day and is currently in storage. It was my last purchase at 18 that qualifies. It will be coming out soon to keep my Wii U company in my gameroom, as the Wii U is moving downstairs having been replaced by my switch. Paid for with my earnings while in the military. Every Atari, Sega, Panasonic, Nec, Phillips, or Microsoft was acquired after, either new or at Play N' Trades. I wish I still had my childhood Super Nintendo but my parents never bought me one!! lol. I had to put my N64 on layaway as it was with "the bank of mom" Speaking of which, please do add fun stories of how you PAID for your consoles back in those years.

Hello everyone! I have a very interesting and rare piece of Japanese gaming on sale. Another news is that if you're interested in buying it thru Paypal, I can offer it to $660 ! Check it out at: https://www.ebay.com/itm/263452554146 Keep in touch if you're interested!

I have recently acquired an atari 2600 in box for 20 dollars.the box says "PROMOTIONAL USE ONLY NOT FOR RESALE" on the front and sides. I've also noticed that on the bottom of the system it says "promotional use only not for resale". And the switches seem to be less shiny than the regular 4 switch model. Does anybody know how many units were made of this, and how people still have these models to sell and keep?

So a friend asked me to look over his ColecoVision cause it stopped working correctly. Thoughts on what I should trouble shoot here from the picture and the fact there is no sound? Carts have been cleaned and worked in another system so really not sure where to go with this now. Suggestions are surely welcome here. Thanks

ive just leared of the little oddity known as "marx tv tennis". its an electro mechanical pong console, I never would have guessed such a thing existed. I know electromechanical arcade machines were popular before affordable displays became avalible, and ofcouse in timeless classics like pinball and skiball, but never had heard of such technology in a home console. does anyone know of any other electromechanical home consoles? the marx tv tennis 1974 odd isn't it? you know, in that I must find one now kind of way.

Hey everyone, I'm looking to sell an Atari 2600 "Vader" console that is having some issues. I took a chance on it at a thrift shop and cleaned it up a little bit but in my testing the unit, it does not play any games. It successfully receives power but does not display anything when a game is inserted. It does, however, power on when no game is inserted and displays random lines/video patterns and varying audio tunes. Not sure if this is a easy fix or not, but figured someone on here would be up to the repair task! I would be happy to include the console manual, power supply and an RF adapter for plug and play on a modern TV. Shoot me an offer and I can get you a shipping quote if you provide your zip code. Thanks!

The animation at the very beginning isn't so great (fun story though), but after that, it's pretty fun and informative.