Plug-n-Play reviews?

[jboypacman]

I was wondering today if there is any sites that have Plug-n-Play reviews? For the Namco TV games and the various other ones.Thanks for any info or links.

[PressureCooker2600]

I used to have a few of the Namco ones....with Pac-Man on the sides. They're decent for the price.....as long as they're around 14.99 or less.

[webmonkees]

Not familiar with any game reviewers of the games, but I'll give my opinion on the arcade classics..

 

I have the namco pac and ms-pac, mostly for the extra games. One I bought for 50 cents and the other 8 bucks, used of course.

 

As far as I know, these systems are based on NES-on-a-chip, with a bit more dedication in the reprogramming

to use the original arcade game structure, albeit with a compromise of putting the scores on the

side for games that used vertical monitors. (most games covered by the classics series) Galaga and Xevious are exceptions to that.

 

The gameplay is pretty authentic, but there are a few glitches here and there that are only noticeable to the true gaming nut. Such as me.

 

..the music is a bit off on the games, like they didn't go to enough trouble to properly synthesize it (I have the NES Galaga,

and the music is dead-on as far as I remember, just the Bosses were a bit off color but I fixed that with a graphics editor

 

..the controls are... adequate. A real joystick helps the 'experience, but since most Midway games used a joystick on the left and fire button on the right, it's a bit

backwards. I took my .50 cent one and wired in a connector for my arcade control panel, which solved that problem..

 

On a technical level, there's some crossover noise from the video signal that bleeds into the audio on bright screens.

 

They really need a power adaptor plug, as they can eat batteries, especially if you forget to turn it off like I do sometimes.

 

Not had any interest in the other games they've put out, so can't tell you on that..

 

X-play might have reviews, but I doubt it. Browse the Amazon.com listings, often people will share their opinions on a particular game there.

 

Aside:

Overall, it's less complicated than using a computer emulation, but a modded x-box running Mame is the best to-tv translation, with the bonus

of running emulations of about every home console made. Legality may vary on that, of course.

 

If they ever bring out a trackball-based Atari classic arcade box, of course I'll be in line for the thing. Maybe petition the makers of the Flashback?

 

I'd love a Centipede-Millipede-Missile Command combo. But it's much simpler cheaper to bring out the software-based ones..

[workingstiff]

I have the Atari Joystick and Paddle from Jakks pacific. The Stick is pretty good, but I did notice that Yar's revenge is a bit off. The Paddle is even better IMO, probably not 100% accurate but the paddle feels like the original and plays great! These are hard to find now, unfortunatly.

 

I have a space invaders plug and play from some company (I forget). Space invaders is good but none of the other games stand out. It looks cool, though.

Edited November 30, 2007 by workingstiff

[PressureCooker2600]

The Atari Paddle PnP is the best, IMO.

[onmode-ky]

If you don't mind reading old reviews from this very forum, take a look at the Plug & Play Reviews thread from a few years back, and I also wrote some mini-reviews in this post. Also, I made a Jakks Pinball TV Game FAQ Available thread, which (obviously) discusses that specific plug-and-play game.

 

As far as I know, these systems are based on NES-on-a-chip, with a bit more dedication in the reprogramming

to use the original arcade game structure, albeit with a compromise of putting the scores on the

side for games that used vertical monitors. (most games covered by the classics series) Galaga and Xevious are exceptions to that.

 

The early ones may have been NOAC-based, but the newer ones seem to be based on 16-bit Sunplus or Winbond architectures.

 

My current complete collection of plug-and-play games, with some thoughts for each:

 

- Namco 1 - my first TV Game (well, I bought the Atari joystick one first but returned it). It has well-documented inaccuracies, but it's what made me a big fan of Pac-Man, too. When I was a kid, I never could spend the money to play enough Pac-Man to get any good at it, so it didn't really interest me then. This stick also introduced me to Bosconian, and I ended up with a high score of 595,960, reaching Level 25. It's a bit different, somewhat easier than the original Bosconian, with no 8-way control, no voice, and no post-firing missile control. On this stick, I just about never play Dig Dug or Rally-X.

 

- Namco 2 - I thought the ports on this unit were all great. Control in Ms. Pac-Man is touchy, due to the 8-way stick (and it's the stick, not the programming; I have played real arcade Ms. Pac-Man with an 8-way stick, and it's just about impossible), but I adapted fairly well and don't have too many problems now. Pole Position controls fantastically. That game was by far the favorite on this stick for both my father and a friend. Galaga seems pretty accurate to me. I can't comment on Mappy's accuracy, since I never played the original. Xevious even has the Sol Citadels and flags in this port, as well as the EVEZOO easter egg. That really impressed me.

 

- Classic Arcade Pinball - the 3 tables in this are proprietary, but they're not bad at all. I was impressed and absorbed enough that I wrote that entire FAQ mentioned earlier. The "force feedforward" nudge feature makes this one very distinctive video pinball game. Some of my high scores have increased since I wrote them in that thread, incidentally (though not by that much).

 

- Atari Paddles, 2-player version - Digital Eclipse worked their retro reproduction magic and made this one a real treat. The inclusion of arcade Warlords alone made this worth the original $30 MSRP. Paddle control is very smooth, and the menu interface works very well, even displaying mappings of game variants to variant ID numbers.

 

- Commodore 64 30-in-1 - I really just got this as a novelty. The only games I played on C64s back in the 80s were educational games at school. With the minimal instructions included with the stick, I couldn't really get into any of the games. I did find the hidden stuff pretty interesting, though.

 

- Atari Flashback 2 - great purchase. I think mine is a Revision B. I don't actually play mine much, nor do I ever intend on modding it, but it has plenty of great games. I seem to play Millipede more than any other single game. Explored Adventure II and liked what I saw but never finished it.

 

- Dragonball Z (TV Game) - this stick has 3 games. I don't like the fighting game very much, and the pinball table turned out to be too easy for me (seriously, I beat the whole table 3 times and still had 9 balls left when I quit, and I do think that was on the "hard" mode), but the third game is the best ball-and-paddle game I've played since Warlords. That game alone is absolutely worth more than the $4 I paid for this one. If only this game could have been taken out and made available as a 2-player (I mean both players being human) game.

 

- Capcom - 3 games on this one, and I like them all, but 1942 is the one that sold me right when it was first announced in a press release. The buttons don't feel very arcade-like, but it doesn't really distract from the experience. I don't know Commando and Ghost 'N Goblins too well, but 1942 seems pretty close to the original to me. The only thing I can definitely point to as being different is the sound's choppiness when you do a roll. That's nothing to think about even when you go on a 6-hour (maybe it was even more?) binge of 1942, though.

 

- Namco 3 - the revamped port of the original Pac-Man is on this one (even if you can't tell from graphics and gameplay, the sound is obviously different from the Namco 1 stick's Pac-Man). Most likely, it's the same port as on the Wal-Mart GameKey for the Namco 2-with-GameKey-port stick. I have no idea how accurate the other 3 games are, but I think they're all fun. Pac & Pal was a particularly interesting change of pace from typical Pac-Man gameplay. The stick has a 4-way "notch plate" inside to keep you from hitting any diagonals, though it makes things troublesome sometimes.

 

- Namco 4 - I wish they'd kept the design style of the first 3 Namco sticks, but it's not too bad, I guess. It certainly isn't as disconcerting as the DBZ stick, which is bright green and shaped like a dragon. Anyway, this stick also has the notch plate, as well as all the games that are on the Namco 3. The main selling point is that the Namco 1 stick's games are back here in their revamped, presumably more arcade-accurate versions.

 

I don't own the wireless Ms. Pac-Man stick, but I gave it as a gift to my father. Ms. Pac-Man seems a bit easier to control in this one than in the wired stick. However, Pole Position is harder; the steering feels less . . . hmm, less forgiving, somehow. Bosconian is one of the 2 extra games on the stick (the other being New Rally-X), and this Bosconian is the same as the one on the Namco 4 stick, except that you actually do have 8-way control here.

 

That's all I have.

 

onmode-ky