Hello and I got a 5200 an a 7800 today!

[Shephda]

Hello all,

This is my first post here. I'm an avid collector and gamer.

 

I got both a 5200 and a 7800 today for Christmas! I also got a Coleco but that's for another board. :-)

Anyway, looking forward to posting here and meeting you all. Hope everyone had a great Christmas and Happy New Year.

 

Dan

[thebiggw]

Hello all,

This is my first post here. I'm an avid collector and gamer.

 

I got both a 5200 and a 7800 today for Christmas! I also got a Coleco but that's for another board. :-)

Anyway, looking forward to posting here and meeting you all. Hope everyone had a great Christmas and Happy New Year.

 

Dan

 

Congrats!!

[Shephda]

Hello all,

This is my first post here. I'm an avid collector and gamer.

 

I got both a 5200 and a 7800 today for Christmas! I also got a Coleco but that's for another board. :-)

Anyway, looking forward to posting here and meeting you all. Hope everyone had a great Christmas and Happy New Year.

 

Dan

 

Congrats!!

 

Thanks!

I have so much work to do to make room for the new toys.

BTW, I like the Yars avatar!

 

Dan

[thebiggw]

Hello all,

This is my first post here. I'm an avid collector and gamer.

 

I got both a 5200 and a 7800 today for Christmas! I also got a Coleco but that's for another board. :-)

Anyway, looking forward to posting here and meeting you all. Hope everyone had a great Christmas and Happy New Year.

 

Dan

 

Congrats!!

 

Thanks!

I have so much work to do to make room for the new toys.

BTW, I like the Yars avatar!

 

Dan

 

Yars has been one of my all time faves (obviously)

If you hunt and peck around the AA site there are mods you can do for both of those consoles, if your handy with a soldering iron. Check out Longhorn He has some great tips as well as kits available to mod the 2600. His mod for the 7800 is near completion and he is taking orders last I heard.

[Cebus Capucinis]

You got a 5200 and a 7800 for Christmas, eh?

 

Looks like CebusCapucinis is getting a 5200 and 7800 for December 26th, compliments of your house at midnight.....

 

Excellent gifts! You'll enjoy them quite a bit, well aside from the 5200 which sucks. But that's just my opinion.

[tz101]

I also got a Coleco but that's for another board.

 

I am envious

[Ransom]

Three new systems at once! Whew! I don't think I could handle that.

 

Congrats!

[Shephda]

Hello all,

This is my first post here. I'm an avid collector and gamer.

 

I got both a 5200 and a 7800 today for Christmas! I also got a Coleco but that's for another board. :-)

Anyway, looking forward to posting here and meeting you all. Hope everyone had a great Christmas and Happy New Year.

 

Dan

 

Congrats!!

 

Thanks!

I have so much work to do to make room for the new toys.

BTW, I like the Yars avatar!

 

Dan

 

Yars has been one of my all time faves (obviously)

If you hunt and peck around the AA site there are mods you can do for both of those consoles, if your handy with a soldering iron. Check out Longhorn He has some great tips as well as kits available to mod the 2600. His mod for the 7800 is near completion and he is taking orders last I heard.

 

Yars was the first game I ever "turned over", played that for hours and finally busted 1M points.

 

Thanks for the tips I'll check them out.

 

Dan

[Shephda]

You got a 5200 and a 7800 for Christmas, eh?

 

Looks like CebusCapucinis is getting a 5200 and 7800 for December 26th, compliments of your house at midnight.....

 

Excellent gifts! You'll enjoy them quite a bit, well aside from the 5200 which sucks. But that's just my opinion.

 

I'm watching you pal!

I'm looking forward to see if I think the 5200 sucks like most others do.

 

Dan

[Shephda]

I also got a Coleco but that's for another board.

 

I am envious

 

I was very surprised, I got me the 7800, my wife got the 5200 and my son (who I collect video game systems with) got me the Coleco Vision with the 2600 add-on and the track ball add-on.

Yeah, I'm very lucky and to top it off I have a week off work to play with them.

 

Gotta find room first. LOL

 

Dan

[Shephda]

Three new systems at once! Whew! I don't think I could handle that.

 

Congrats!

 

Thanks!

This was my year for vintage gear for sure.

 

Dan

[KevinMos3]

Congratulations! Sounds like a great Christmas. I hope you enjoy those... I'm sure you will.

[Ransom]

 

I'm looking forward to see if I think the 5200 sucks like most others do.

 

Dan

 

One word of advice: get a BEST Electronics 5200 controller. Otherwise, there's a much higher probability you'll miss out on enjoying the great 5200 games.

[tz101]

 

I'm looking forward to see if I think the 5200 sucks like most others do.

 

Dan

 

One word of advice: get a BEST Electronics 5200 controller. Otherwise, there's a much higher probability you'll miss out on enjoying the great 5200 games.

 

Or, if you are a little mechanically inclined like me, just buy new flex circuits and pots from Best Electronics and install them yourself. Also, while inside the controllers, use a paper punch to create some round dots out of a sheet of aluminum foil, then use super glue to glue these to the carbon contacts on the back of all rubberized controller buttons. Allow the aluminum dots to dry, reassemble the controllers with the new Best parts, and presto, you'll be gaming like its 1983 once again.

[Mirage]

Yes, not EVERYONE thinks the 5200 sucks. It's probably my favorite console overall. It's the 7800 that I don't care for... so give them both a shot and come to your own opinion. I agree about getting the Best gold controllers. And make sure you get the Trak-Ball for the best experience. You'll also need the joystick coupler (or make your own) for Robotron and Space Dungeon. Once you have all those items, 5200 gaming really comes to life.

 

Have fun!

 

BTW - We like Coleco here too, it's okay to talk about it as well!

[Gorf]

The 5200 is a great system it's the original non centering controllers I dont like, unless the game

is better suited for them. Unfortunately most of the good games are not better suited for them.

 

I think they sould have just did a centering joy and sold paddles seperately for games like breakout

and such.

[tz101]

The 5200 is a great system it's the original non centering controllers I dont like, unless the game

is better suited for them. Unfortunately most of the good games are not better suited for them.

 

I think they should have just did a centering joy and sold paddles separately for games like breakout

and such.

 

Replaced the flex circuits, stick rubber boots, and pots with new ones from Best, and guess what, the sticks are centering. Even games like Pac Man and Ms. Pac Man play nicely with the new rubber boots. What a difference new parts can make.

[Ransom]

Replaced the flex circuits, stick rubber boots, and pots with new ones from Best, and guess what, the sticks are centering. Even games like Pac Man and Ms. Pac Man play nicely with the new rubber boots. What a difference new parts can make.

 

Yup. While it doesn't center perfectly (and the boots do get looser over time), it's good enough for most purposes.

 

For me, the 5200 sticks are like any other controllers. If the game's made with the controller in mind, then it all works out well. Otherwise, the game doesn't belong on the system. For a positive example, consider Pole Position on the 5200. It's excellent with those controllers -- much better than with digital sticks. You can really weave in and out a lot better on the 5200. Pac-Man? Sure, that works fine. It's not like you come to a stop in the middle of a corridor if you center your stick anyway. That's sort of a controller-neutral game. But Super Breakout? That game was designed for and needs a paddle controller. The 5200 stick works for it, but you always know it's second best. The game plays to the weaknesses of the stick rather than to its strengths.

 

Same with the Intv controllers. Astrosmash masks the controller's weaknesses by offering an autofire option. Space Hawk does the same by making your "shots" get bigger the farther they travel. AD&D and Tron Deadly Discs play to its strengths by offering directionally independent movement and firing. But Space Armada, with the constant need to press those tiny and poorly placed side buttons, is a game that wasn't properly designed for the system and its controllers.

 

Heck, even the standard Atari digital controllers suffer from game/controller matchup problems. Look no further than 2600 Defender. Or Choplifter! on the A8. Or Track and Field on either. Games that are mismatched to the controller do no one any favors.

 

The problem was that, in the old days, people tried to force games onto every system, no matter the consequences, when they should have been designing different games for every system, given the radically different controllers at the time.

 

We sort of have the same problem today, thanks to motion control. It's not good for everything. Not every game should be on the iPhone/iPod Touch. Not every game should use the Wiimote's motion sensing capability. But there are games that either can do very well, that others can only do poorly. Why not play to the systems' strengths?

 

...

 

Sorry...I'll get off my soap box now.

[Gorf]

Replaced the flex circuits, stick rubber boots, and pots with new ones from Best, and guess what, the sticks are centering. Even games like Pac Man and Ms. Pac Man play nicely with the new rubber boots. What a difference new parts can make.

 

No argument here as I have heard that this is the case but my point is, if Atari had released this system

like this in the first place, I think it would have outsold the Coleco, allowed for more coleco ports to

find there way on the 5200 first and pretty much help Atari maintain the spot in VG history they should have

kept. I can't tell you how many times I heard people complain about the 5200's sticks while comparing them

tot he coleco's...yes they were not gaga over the coleco sticks but the self centering aspect certainly was

a selling point over the less than acceptable 5200 sticks.