TV Plug & Play Consoles

[Metal Jesus]

http://youtu.be/PneFC0y9eS8

 

TV Plug & Play consoles are a quick and fun way to get your gaming fix. I review four systems and I tell you what I like, and dislike about each.

 

Do you guys collect plug & play consoles? If so, which ones?

[AtariTexas]

The only one I ever played was one that was a large 2600 paddle controller. It had like a dozen games loaded on it......just plugged it into the tv and played. It was good for a quick fix. I still have it somewhere........just dont know where....lol

Edited June 28, 2013 by BadHornet

[cimerians]

I used to buy them but I stopped because I just didn't want to spend the money and they take up some space.

 

The one's I have:

Original Atari 2600 stick with Atari games (awful).

 

A Super Pac-Man stick (My favorite)

 

A Ms. Pac-Man stick (Very good, not the wireless one in the video)

 

A C64 stick (very good)

 

Edit: I also have a Jakks PacMan stick (one of the first releases). The emulation is ok but the picture is very dark. They improved over time.

 

Edited June 28, 2013 by cimerians

[jaybird3rd]

Let's see ... I have the original Flashback and the Flashback 2, a Konami Frogger, one of each of the Intellivision X-in-1 units, a Radica Tetris, several Radica Space Invaders units, the Jakks Atari 13-in-1 Paddle (my favorite besides the Flashback 2), and a Golden Tee Golf trackball unit that I've never used.

 

It's too bad that there apparently aren't many more of these being made. Dedicated plug-n-play games were really popular around the 2003-2005 time frame, as I recall, but it seems that the market pretty much died off in the following years.

[godslabrat]

It was bound to. The packaging and marketing screamed "impulse buy" and "gift for that guy who's impossible to shop for". Someone who really wanted to spend a lot on games and make repeat purchases would have bought a console. And really, the "plug and play" wasn't that much of a gimmick... Is it that hard to put a game in?

 

Not trying to slam the old Jakks machines... Just saying they were designed specifically for people who wouldn't be repeat customers, so it's not surprising they're gone.

 

There was a Justice League one I was tempted to try.

[Nesbroslash]

The only one I ever played was one that was a large 2600 paddle controller. It had like a dozen games loaded on it......just plugged it into the tv and played. It was good for a quick fix. I still have it somewhere........just dont know where....lol

 

aww man, I had one of those. I don't know where mine was either, but I used to love that thing. probably one of the more worthwhile tv games.

 

my actual collection is one of those crappy Atari joystick models, a Flashback 2+, an old Radica Tetris, and probably one or two I can't remember that I lost somewhere.

[Lord Helmet]

Just as an FYI for those that don't know there's an entire forum section on AA dedicated to plug and play and other detected systems:

 

http://atariage.com/forums/forum/19-dedicated-systems/

[Metal Jesus]

Just as an FYI for those that don't know there's an entire forum section on AA dedicated to plug and play and other detected systems:

 

http://atariage.com/...icated-systems/

 

Ah, sorry about that! If a moderator wants to move the thread, that's cool with me

[ComputerSpaceFan]

Awesome video Metal Jesus! Seeing reviews of Plug & Plays on YouTube is a rarity so I really enjoyed it.

[bomberpunk]

one of these PnP's was my first ever experience with Pac N Pal. that made the purchase totally worth it.

[onmode-ky]

The wireless Ms. Pac-Man unit in the video is kind of rare. At the time of release, it was priced as a deluxe model, typically something like $30, compared to the normal plug-n-play price of $20. I got one for my father, but I never got myself one, despite owning all of Jakks' other Namco-series models. That wireless model remains one of the only plug-n-play systems that lets you play Bosconian with an 8-way stick, though, so if you're a Bosconian fan, it's worth seeking out. The only other 8-way stick with Bosconian is Namco Bandai's own Pac-Man Connect-and-Play from last year, which got multiple complaints about the stick (about half of all the system's ratings at Amazon.com are 1 star).

 

a Konami Frogger

 

Of the two Konami models put out by Majesco, this one is a somewhat prettier-looking stick, but the simultaneously released Konami Arcade Classics model is the better value, since it houses Frogger and 5 other titles. They're all the NES versions, though, either the original NES games from the 80s or newly coded for the NOAC if there wasn't an existing NES port. I returned the one I bought mostly because the stick felt terribly flimsy, and I had expected the arcade versions of the games as well (as depicted in the box's screenshots).

 

a Radica Tetris

 

A friend of mine got me one of these a few years ago. I'm not all that into Tetris, but I know for sure I'm at least way better than this rendition of the game allows. The controls are simply infuriating on this thing.

 

Radica also put out a Family Tetris model a couple of years afterward (without the terrible joystick), done by a different developer and possessing multiple difficulty levels.

 

a Golden Tee Golf trackball unit that I've never used

 

You should give it a go. Maybe your opinion will differ from mine, but I thought it was quite well done for the level of technology. The courses are actually modeled in 3D space, with polygonal grounds, and ball trajectories can even go between trees (scaled sprites)--or bounce off one and screw you over.

 

one of these PnP's was my first ever experience with Pac N Pal. that made the purchase totally worth it.

 

Pac & Pal was the highlight of the Super Pac-Man system for me, too (the game also appears on the two Jakks Namco-series compilations that followed this one). I thought it was more fun than both Super Pac-Man and Pac-Man Plus, and I'd never played any of the three before.

 

onmode-ky

[Eltigro]

I haven't been a big fan of the plug and play type systems, not real sure why even. Maybe they just seem too limited or the games (in the ones like the Spongebob or Scooby systems) don't interest me. That Ms. Pac Man one looked really nice. I used to have the Playstation Namco Museum vol. 1 game that had Bosconian. Seeing it in the video reminded me of how much it looks like the multidirectional parts of Thunder Force II.

[akator]

I've got several in a bedside cabinet. An 8' RCA cable extension from the TV allows me to swap whatever PnP I'm in the mood for without having to get out of bed. Laziness Convenience at it's best.

[Jess Ragan]

Has anyone ever opened one of those Golden Tee Golf games? I'd love to see what makes them tick. I was able to mod a Sega Arcade Pad (aka Master System trackball) to work with a home computer, but the performance is pretty damn lousy. Replacing the encoder wheels hasn't helped... that just confuses the trackball.

[moycon]

Very nice reviews! Always wondered what type of games were on those plug and plays!!

[Segataritensoftii]

I mostly owned the commonest ones; the original Pac-man stick, the original Atari 2600 stick with the mediocre emulation, the Activision stick, a Power Rangers stick with abysmal games, the Spongebob stick...

 

I seem to remember the Spongebob stick having this elaborate 50-level Donkey Kong clone on it.

[Algus]

I won a Jakks Pacman stick from the lottery once. It is one of my favorite pieces in my collection. My primary source for my Bosconian addiction as well.

[onmode-ky]

Has anyone ever opened one of those Golden Tee Golf games?

 

I don't have access to it anymore, but opening one up is how I determined that the system has an 8-MB SDRAM chip. If you're specifically curious about some aspect of the trackball, though, I don't recall anything really noteworthy about it. . . .

 

the original Atari 2600 stick with the mediocre emulation, the Activision stick

 

Just to clarify, these were ports to different hardware (I believe both of these two particular systems were built on Winbond W55x-series microcontrollers), not ROMs run in emulation. Also, both of these sticks were ported by the same (now defunct) developer, DC Studios. Note the contrast versus the later Atari Paddles plug-n-play, developed by emulation specialists Digital Eclipse, who really did do a partial emulation solution on that project.

 

My primary source for my Bosconian addiction as well.

 

I know what you mean. As I recommended in my previous post in this thread, you should try to find the wireless Ms. Pac-Man stick, so you can get some good 8-direction Bosconian going. The 4-direction version on the first Namco TV Game is what I played the most, but 8-way gameplay is how it was in the arcade.

 

onmode-ky

[Jess Ragan]

Well, I was just wondering about the mechanics of the trackball itself. What are the encoders like? Does the ball set on twin metal rods? Is the ball billiards-sized and could it be replaced with an 8-ball? That sort of thing. As I've mentioned before, I was able to wire up a Sega Sports Pad to a computer mouse, but it made for a lousy trackball... you had to roll it and roll it and roll it to make the damn cursor go anywhere.

[onmode-ky]

Is the ball billiards-sized and could it be replaced with an 8-ball?

 

Of your questions, this is the only one I can answer. As I remember it, the ball is a little smaller than a billiards ball.

 

As for the issue you described with excessive rolling needed to move the cursor, isn't that something that could be adjusted in software? Although I suppose if the trackball subsystem were simply physically incapable of detecting small motions, that wouldn't work (does not apply in the case of this game, though).

 

The Jakks Golden Tee plug-n-play can be found for pretty cheap nowadays (though I think the time has passed when it was being cleared out of the big-box stores at less than $10), if you're willing to foot that bill to check it out yourself. If you get it from a store like Walmart and are careful during box opening and system disassembly, you can even return it if it doesn't meet your expectations (or just keep it and play the game itself ).

 

onmode-ky

[Jess Ragan]

Of your questions, this is the only one I can answer. As I remember it, the ball is a little smaller than a billiards ball.

 

As for the issue you described with excessive rolling needed to move the cursor, isn't that something that could be adjusted in software? Although I suppose if the trackball subsystem were simply physically incapable of detecting small motions, that wouldn't work (does not apply in the case of this game, though).

 

The Jakks Golden Tee plug-n-play can be found for pretty cheap nowadays (though I think the time has passed when it was being cleared out of the big-box stores at less than $10), if you're willing to foot that bill to check it out yourself. If you get it from a store like Walmart and are careful during box opening and system disassembly, you can even return it if it doesn't meet your expectations (or just keep it and play the game itself ).

 

onmode-ky

 

Believe me, I tried adjusting the mouse sensitivity. It helped, but not enough. It's entirely possible that the technology is primitive and just not up to snuff. I've heard negative reviews of the Sega Sports Pad before (the Video Game Critic's Dave Mrozek was not kind to the peripheral), but I chalked up its deficiencies to the limited number of teeth on the encoder wheels. However, when I replaced the wheels, it didn't help at all. Either the trackball is just junk or I should have used metal for the wheels rather than plastic.

 

Anyway! If I had the money, I would definitely take a gamble on a Golden Tee Golf game. I've seen them on eBay and Amazon for around ten dollars... it wouldn't be a significant investment at all. How's the sensitivity in the game itself? Can it recognize subtle differences in movement, and when you spin the ball hard, does the onscreen ball react accordingly? How are those buttons? I don't like the way they're sunken into the unit, but practically anything has got to be better than the buttons on the Sega Sports Pad.

 

Thanks for the information, by the way! I'll hunt on YouTube for videos of the game in action.

[xg4bx]

Cool idea for a video. The only ''plug n play'' I've ever owned was one that I bought at KB years ago for like $2. It contained Commodore 64 games.

[moycon]

Cool idea for a video. The only ''plug n play'' I've ever owned was one that I bought at KB years ago for like $2. It contained Commodore 64 games.

 

I have this one. We played a lot of game on that thing! My c-64 doesn't work anymore so it was perfect to play some of those old games!

[onmode-ky]

How's the sensitivity in the game itself? Can it recognize subtle differences in movement, and when you spin the ball hard, does the onscreen ball react accordingly? How are those buttons? I don't like the way they're sunken into the unit, but practically anything has got to be better than the buttons on the Sega Sports Pad.

 

The Golden Tee trackball is pretty sensitive. You can roll very slowly, and the onscreen golfer will indeed animate his/her swing as if in slow motion (which is also a testament to the large number of frames available for that animation). Roll very hard, and you do hit the ball much harder. The reaction of the onscreen ball is to disappear. It was tiny to begin with! The camera then switches angles, and you see the ball come down wherever you hit it. Being accurate, getting the ball to go where you want it to, that's hard, though, and I couldn't really tell whether it was due to bad input reading or a poor understanding of golf shot mechanics on my part.

 

The buttons are not particularly memorable, good or bad. I don't recall them being problematic in any way, though that might be partly due to the fact that they're not used for any intense purposes. I fathom they're sunken in like that to prevent players from accidentally pressing them while rolling the trackball hard. You could be swinging and end up suddenly changing the direction you're facing, for example. Now, for action games, those buttons might result in some frustration.

 

Thanks for the information, by the way! I'll hunt on YouTube for videos of the game in action.

 

I saw one video where they basically trashed it--but then again, it was one of those things where they went into it intending to trash it. It was 4 people making a video of themselves being kind of nuts hanging out and playing a game together. I think the fundamental source of the bad vibes toward the game was the fact that it looks so primitive compared to modern golf games. It does indeed look like something out of the 90s, but that's because the level of sophistication of the hardware is just about somewhere between the SNES/Genesis and PS1/N64, rudimentary 3D mixed with sprites in VGA-resolution graphics, plus sampled audio. From a technical standpoint, a $40 MSRP toy isn't going to be able to compete with even last-generation console golf.

 

Cool idea for a video. The only ''plug n play'' I've ever owned was one that I bought at KB years ago for like $2. It contained Commodore 64 games.

 

Wow, I got mine at KB for $15, and it was already a sale price. That one uses a C64-on-a-chip, by the way, so it runs the original binaries right on the hardware, as opposed to being all ports or using an emulation layer. However, if I remember right, its implementation of the SID has some resistors connected improperly or something, so you have to do some soldering if you want it to sound correct.

 

onmode-ky

[Jess Ragan]

The screen on mine was pretty funky, too. There was this weird "heat haze" effect that made the graphics less crisp than they should have been. Was there a fix for that, too?

 

Now I heard that you could turn this particular TV games unit into a full-fledged Commodore 64, with a keyboard and everything. I'll need to dig up some tutorials on this, I think. I have a C64 but it's in absolutely wretched shape.