Andromeda Stardust Posted July 14, 2014 Share Posted July 14, 2014 Sorry. I tried to quote people, but It didn't work. I'll just say this. I might use an emulator for an atari or snes, and since my uncle might even get his out and give it to me, And I DO own old and new consoles respectively (Ps2, n64, sega master system from another uncle, xbox 360 that I dont use anymore, but then again who does? And an nes out of a dumpster) so I THOUGHT that getting an atari would be the answer, but if I have to wait a bit for my uncle to pull his atari out of his friends house (told me yesterday I could have it. Coolest uncle ever), then I can wait, I guess. EDIT: also have a sega nomad and game gear. Yeah, it worked. I got 4 backtrack messages in my email. BTW, the page is acting screwy. It keeps refreshing incessantly in Firefox. Sorry I haven't been online in a while, so let me answer to some of this. The thing is, I own lots of later games (ps2, n64, xbox360 , also found an nes in a dumpster that still works) and I love them. But not only is atari cheap, but it's classic. I always liked watching the old commercials and news about it. And if I don't get it, whatever. But at this point I might even wait a little because my uncle said he would give me his atari. If not, then I'll get one when I'm older. I might even consider that. I should try more of the games as an emulator maybe. I might also try that. I have the flashbak 4. It didn't even have any activision games. Awesome you rescued that NES from an early grave. I played around with Emulators for a while. You just can't really develop a love for the hardware until you own the actual system. Flashback 2 had two Activision games which were removed from Flashback 2+ and later consoles. It's a licensing issue but the current rights holders of Activision seem reluctant to license any of their old games. Sucks but maybe in the future if the licenses change hands again things may change. Activision made some of the best 2600 games IMO well worth it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
32 bit gamer Posted July 15, 2014 Author Share Posted July 15, 2014 UPDATE: my favorite game store is having a Hagglefest. They have atari's for 50$ with 40 games a paddle 2 joysticks, but if I can haggle, probably 25$ worth it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chas10e Posted July 15, 2014 Share Posted July 15, 2014 sounds like fun !!! the price given is more than fair ... but if you can get the price down it would be even better .... nice of uncle to pony up his unit for you if things go the way you desire, a spare unit is good to have Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fiddlepaddle Posted July 15, 2014 Share Posted July 15, 2014 40 games and a tested system for fifty bucks (or less)? Worth it... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andromeda Stardust Posted July 15, 2014 Share Posted July 15, 2014 Dude, buy it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freewheel Posted July 15, 2014 Share Posted July 15, 2014 Yeah, that's a hell of a price already. If you can get them down to $25? Insane deal. And personally, a big part of the enjoyment of collecting is getting things cheap. Any idiot can go on Ebay and overpay for a "rare" item, but building a collection without overspending is a real accomplishment. You really need to share your general location, so that I can visit this store. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dashv Posted July 15, 2014 Share Posted July 15, 2014 (edited) You should consider documenting your collection. As you get old like me you'll start forgetting what you do and do not have. Vgcollect is the best I've found for this. It has a great community and it's free: http://www.vgcollect.com Edited July 15, 2014 by dashv 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VectorGamer Posted July 15, 2014 Share Posted July 15, 2014 You should consider documenting your collection. As you get old like me you'll start forgetting what you do and do not have. Vgcollect is the best I've found for this. It has a great community and it's free: http://www.vgcollect.com I use RFGeneration.com and I'm happy with it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freewheel Posted July 15, 2014 Share Posted July 15, 2014 I'm a bit old-school. I just use a handful of Excel spreadsheets with some basic counting and summation. Personally I'm not the "blue-label-with-German-subscript, version 5.4a" type of collector, so a simple list of games I have vs published titles is sufficient. I find that basic rarity information (the AA ratings are some of the best and most accurate; I wish we had similar for all 80s consoles) is sufficient to know if I'm getting a "good price" on something or not. And especially whether it's worth picking up a spare. Plus, it works on damn near everything (especially mobile devices). So many of these online databases have websites that cause problems on small devices. Agreed in general, tracking this stuff is important. When it was dozens or even a few hundred games, I could remember most of it. Now that I'm approaching 2000 carts and 600 optical, there's just no way I remember anything beyond the most common and the most rare that I have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+wongojack Posted July 15, 2014 Share Posted July 15, 2014 In case you don't find one locally. I've still got this one available. http://atariage.com/forums/topic/221290-cheap-2600-console-more/ I've got more games for it than that too. Probably have spare paddles for ya. If interested, send me a PM. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freewheel Posted July 15, 2014 Share Posted July 15, 2014 Wow, Atari stuff sure is cheaper in the US. I can get $150 for a Vader with sticks, paddles, and 30 or so fairly common games up here in Canada (via our version of Craigslist). This is probably why 3/4 of my 2600s have come from Craigslist when I'm on vacation down there. Still looking for Super Action Controllers? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy Climber Posted July 15, 2014 Share Posted July 15, 2014 You will always be underwhelmed going backwards (Dreamcast > SNES/Genesis > NES > ATARI) and I would be lying if I said I played my atari more than newer, more powerful systems but that being said you SHOULD own an atari 2600 because of one main reason HOMEBREWS It's one of the biggest homebrew scenes around and nothing is cooler than being a part of the magic of new (old) games. Homebrew playing/collecting is a lot of fun and the atari 2600 is one of the best systems to homebrew collect for. Lots of activity, lots of new developers, affordable price points and a huge following You will not run out of homebrews to collect and more keep getting made. Even the out of print ones are pretty easily found and the programmers really push a lot of these games to the true limits of the atari Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
32 bit gamer Posted July 16, 2014 Author Share Posted July 16, 2014 About owning an atari 7800, I heard demon attack doesn't fit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mipaol Posted July 16, 2014 Share Posted July 16, 2014 (edited) UPDATE: my favorite game store is having a Hagglefest. They have atari's for 50$ with 40 games a paddle 2 joysticks, but if I can haggle, probably 25$ worth it? Very good deal, if you like Atari 2600 enough to start a collection I'd go with that offer in a second. Plenty of resellers out there would try and charge that just for a good condition system alone. Edited July 16, 2014 by mipaol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+wongojack Posted July 16, 2014 Share Posted July 16, 2014 About owning an atari 7800, I heard demon attack doesn't fit. That is true - the Imagic games don't fit (and some others) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy Climber Posted July 16, 2014 Share Posted July 16, 2014 About owning an atari 7800, I heard demon attack doesn't fit. Get Demon attack in the blue activision case Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karokoenig Posted July 16, 2014 Share Posted July 16, 2014 Get Demon attack in the blue activision case Or shove it into an old Pac Man cart. These things breed like rabbits as soon as you start collecting. Don't get me wrong, I like Pac Man. Still have to spend the 4,5 hours to roll it some day. It's just that there are so many of it... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rex Dart Posted July 16, 2014 Share Posted July 16, 2014 I'm a bit old-school. I just use a handful of Excel spreadsheets with some basic counting and summation. I do the same, but now I keep it on Google Drive so I can access it anywhere. Really useful! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dashv Posted July 17, 2014 Share Posted July 17, 2014 I exported mine from VGCollect to CSV and turned it into a Retron 5 compatibility sheet which I'm sharing as a google doc. I just like VGC because they capture way more information about the games than I would. The community in their forums is also very friendly and I've gotten some good deals on rare items there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bixler Posted July 17, 2014 Share Posted July 17, 2014 As a 20-year old who wasn't exposed to anything earlier than the N64 until relatively recently, I would say go for it. The Atari 2600 is a beautiful thing to have. I love mine to death. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mockduck Posted July 27, 2014 Share Posted July 27, 2014 I wonder if you ended up getting that Atari deal? If so, cool! If not, you should keep an eye on Craigslist, or look around for flea markets/thrift stores, and you should be able to get an Atari 2600 with the various hookups and basic controllers for between $30-50, possibly even with some games to go with it. One nice thing about the 2600 is you can pick up lots of loose commonly-found carts super-cheap. Perhaps as low as a quarter a game! If you do want to expand your collection, keep an eye out here (Atari Age), eBay, and local places for game bundles; you can often find deals like 20 games for $20-30 bucks. Just a few tips: 1. Make sure you ALWAYS clean your carts with rubbing alcohol and q-tips prior to putting them into your console for the first time after buying them. Make sure to let the carts sit for a couple of hours to dry off, too, before putting them in the machine. There are a lot of carts that have become dirty and dusty over time, and it'll keep your console alive a lot longer if you do this. Also, it will reduce the number of times you put a cart in your console and it doesn't work. 2. Put a dust cover or something like that at least over the spot where the carts go into the Atari. As others have said, it will make it so your console will work longer without having to clean it out. 3. Don't pay more than, say, $2-3 for common carts. Unless you really want a specific game, I suppose. If it's in its original box you'll pay quite a bit more, perhaps, but that's okay, if you like to collect the boxes. 4. One of the things that can go pretty quickly on an Atari is the joysticks. However, you can buy new joysticks (they are still being either made as reproductions, or are restored older joysticks) online. Also, make sure to get a set of paddle controllers! The paddle games are some of Atari's best. If you ended up getting a Genesis, SNES, or Dreamcast, I'm sure you'll enjoy those as well. Really, you can't go wrong - they are all great consoles with lots of fun games on them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torr Posted July 27, 2014 Share Posted July 27, 2014 Yeah, please update us with what you did get after. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
32 bit gamer Posted July 27, 2014 Author Share Posted July 27, 2014 Sorry. Internet has been broken. They were sold out. My uncle is bringing his on thanksgiving. He lives far away. Can't wait. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jinks Posted July 27, 2014 Share Posted July 27, 2014 Imagic games dont fit in the 7800?? News to me. I have to tell my 7800 that tho as it has played them all already..bad 7800.. Some games are tight but they all fit. Youll learn more about...nevermind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jinks Posted July 27, 2014 Share Posted July 27, 2014 Buy a 7800. Collect 7800 homebrew and but 100 or so 2600 carts on the cheap Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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