vebxenon Posted April 30, 2015 Share Posted April 30, 2015 The NTSC version of the game is a lot harder to find than the PAL version. There's a few games like that, including Alien Brigade and Planet Smashers. Oh, I didn't knew it, here some common NTSC games are very expensive on PAL version. I bought Alien Brigade last year, cartridge only for 22 euros. Hope someday you'll enjoy these games Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andromeda Stardust Posted May 1, 2015 Share Posted May 1, 2015 (edited) The NTSC version of the game is a lot harder to find than the PAL version. There's a few games like that, including Alien Brigade and Planet Smashers. I got an NTSC Alien Brigade last year for $25. Compared to other "underdog" consoles like TurboGrafx, that is really cheap. The only reason 18 Golf is so expensive is because of collectors going after a "complete" 7800 collection because a complete set for 7800 or 5200 are apparently low hanging fruit compared to more popular consoles like NES et al. Some crappy sports title is the rarest game Whoopie! Edited May 1, 2015 by stardust4ever Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Breakpack Posted May 10, 2015 Share Posted May 10, 2015 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CPUWIZ Posted May 10, 2015 Share Posted May 10, 2015 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andromeda Stardust Posted May 10, 2015 Share Posted May 10, 2015 gotta put on your party hats! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DrVenkman Posted May 24, 2015 Share Posted May 24, 2015 So, my wife is going to get me a Harmony cart for Father's Day this year, but before I spend the cash, anyone have any insight whether the Concerto has inched any closer to a release date? I'd rather buy a Concerto, especially if it will support 2600 ROMs as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Living Dead Posted May 30, 2015 Share Posted May 30, 2015 So, my wife is going to get me a Harmony cart for Father's Day this year, but before I spend the cash, anyone have any insight whether the Concerto has inched any closer to a release date? I'd rather buy a Concerto, especially if it will support 2600 ROMs as well. I'm wondering the same thing. Came here to buy the Harmony, but then started reading about Concerto. Guess I'll wait, but for how long? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lynxpro Posted May 30, 2015 Share Posted May 30, 2015 So, my wife is going to get me a Harmony cart for Father's Day this year, but before I spend the cash, anyone have any insight whether the Concerto has inched any closer to a release date? I'd rather buy a Concerto, especially if it will support 2600 ROMs as well. If you are playing a bunch of 2600 games, it might be worth it in the meantime just to get the Harmony, that way you aren't subjecting the 7800's cartridge slot to so much wear and tare. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
78001987 Posted May 30, 2015 Share Posted May 30, 2015 If you are playing a bunch of 2600 games, it might be worth it in the meantime just to get the Harmony, that way you aren't subjecting the 7800's cartridge slot to so much wear and tare. Leaving one cart in the slot all the time is worse for the contact pins than removing it every time. They lose the elasticity and make poor contact with thinner cart boards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tep392 Posted May 30, 2015 Share Posted May 30, 2015 Leaving one cart in the slot all the time is worse for the contact pins than removing it every time. They lose the elasticity and make poor contact with thinner cart boards. Are you sure about that? I didn't think time was a factor with ductile materials. Plastic deformation happens when the yield strength is exceeded and time is not part of the equation as far as I know. Cycles are a factor and will lead to fatigue as carts are inserted and removed, but if properly designed, the springs could have millions of cycles of life. But then I'm an electrical engineer and could be totally talking out my arse. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RevEng Posted May 30, 2015 Share Posted May 30, 2015 Metal springs under constant load (below their yield strength) will experience slow plastic deformation, also known as "creep". 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tep392 Posted May 31, 2015 Share Posted May 31, 2015 But how much load loss do we really get in the connectors? In the spring applied park brakes I've worked on, we conservatively assume 10% load loss over the life of the brake mechanism and our machines can easily run 20+ years. What about the RAM and CPU boards in our 400/800's? How often do they get removed? Is contact load loss an issue? I think it's a non-issue. Corrosion would be a more likely problem if a cart was left plugged in for a LONG period of time. Take the 48K RAM board in my 400 for instance. That board board probably didn't get removed in the 25 years prior to me buying the machine. Corrosion had built up and was causing the board to fail. I cleaned up the contacts and it's worked perfectly since. No issue with contact load loss. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andromeda Stardust Posted May 31, 2015 Share Posted May 31, 2015 Leaving one cart in the slot all the time is worse for the contact pins than removing it every time. They lose the elasticity and make poor contact with thinner cart boards.Do you have evidence to back your claim? My Best AV modded 7800 is practically new but all my other consoles have been around the block and I'm probably not their first rodeo. With the exception of the ZIF NES connector, I've never had read issues with any console. These are all 20-30+ years old and they hold up fine. I leave carts in the slots all the time when I'm done playing. If anything it helps keep the dust out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RevEng Posted May 31, 2015 Share Posted May 31, 2015 But how much load loss do we really get in the connectors? In the spring applied park brakes I've worked on, we conservatively assume 10% load loss over the life of the brake mechanism and our machines can easily run 20+ years. What about the RAM and CPU boards in our 400/800's? How often do they get removed? Is contact load loss an issue? I think it's a non-issue. I was originally just replying to the assertion about time not being a factor, which was incorrect, but I don't think anybody has a definitive word on this one way or another. Like you, I suspect this isn't an issue for the lifetime of the owner. But creep is a real thing, so it's just a question of how much loss over how much time. In automotive, where higher temperatures and mechanical vibration are present, and where components are designed for a 10 year lifespan, creep for electrical connectors is a real design consideration. Personally I wouldn't be comfortable dismissing creep entirely on a site that has discussions on how to "time capsule" a console for later generations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DrVenkman Posted May 31, 2015 Share Posted May 31, 2015 Hate to break it to folks who don't believe it, but RevEng is exactly right. Creep is a thing and it does exist. Firearms enthusiasts see it in ammunition magazine springs which are kept loaded for long periods. It occurs in automotive parts, as RevEng points out. I know from professional experience it occurs in aerospace applications where materials remain under tension or compression for extended periods of time. It doesn't happen instantly but it does occur on the time frames we're talking about (years to decades). My 7800 is 31 years old this year and it does indeed have some signs of loosened spring tension in the pins of the cart slot. Last year I disassembled the console and used a wooden toothpick to gently bend the pins back into shape. And yes, it did improve contact force and prevented some of the glitches I was seeing in several of my carts. But enough about creep - I just wanna know whether to buy a Harmony cart in a few weeks or wait for the Concerto if it's getting close. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
78001987 Posted May 31, 2015 Share Posted May 31, 2015 I cant speak to the scientific equations being tossed around here, but from purely anecdotal experience, I have two 7800s, ive had for over 5 years. One was my main playing unit, which I left carts in all the time - specifically a CC2, and the other was my backup unit for another room, which sees very little use, and no cart in the slot as it is in a closed tv table. I noticed a year or so ago that the one with the cart in all the time now has a lot of trouble with thin board Activision carts, specifically Pitfall II and Hero. I have to hold them in a precarious position to get them to register, and if the console gets jostled during gameplay, they crash. The other light duty console doesnt do this and all carts contact well. This was not the case when I bought them both. Take this for what its worth - its not hard science. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
78001987 Posted May 31, 2015 Share Posted May 31, 2015 Also - climate change and global warming is real. Now where is batari with an update on the Concerto? :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lynxpro Posted May 31, 2015 Share Posted May 31, 2015 I cant speak to the scientific equations being tossed around here, but from purely anecdotal experience, I have two 7800s, ive had for over 5 years. One was my main playing unit, which I left carts in all the time - specifically a CC2, and the other was my backup unit for another room, which sees very little use, and no cart in the slot as it is in a closed tv table. I noticed a year or so ago that the one with the cart in all the time now has a lot of trouble with thin board Activision carts, specifically Pitfall II and Hero. I have to hold them in a precarious position to get them to register, and if the console gets jostled during gameplay, they crash. The other light duty console doesnt do this and all carts contact well. This was not the case when I bought them both. Take this for what its worth - its not hard science. Yeah, but Activision PCBs suck. Well, at least their 5200 ones do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andromeda Stardust Posted June 1, 2015 Share Posted June 1, 2015 5200 LOL. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lynxpro Posted June 1, 2015 Share Posted June 1, 2015 (edited) 5200 LOL. Yeah, funny. I too laugh at a console with a built in POKEY, a ZIF cartridge slot, 16K RAM, pause and select buttons on the controller, 4-joystick ports, and the most kick-ass accessory controller ever [the CX-53 Trak-Ball]. How much of that does the 7800 have? Oh, wait... Edited June 1, 2015 by Lynxpro Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
78001987 Posted June 2, 2015 Share Posted June 2, 2015 Yeah, funny. I too laugh at a console with a built in POKEY, a ZIF cartridge slot, 16K RAM, pause and select buttons on the controller, 4-joystick ports, and the most kick-ass accessory controller ever [the CX-53 Trak-Ball]. How much of that does the 7800 have? Oh, wait... the controllers were horrible. The game library is just as anemic as the 7800s. The graphics are barely better that the 2600. But it does have pokey. And a cool trakball that is bigger that the 7800 and works with 3 games. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GaryH917 Posted June 2, 2015 Share Posted June 2, 2015 (edited) the controllers were horrible. The game library is just as anemic as the 7800s. The graphics are barely better that the 2600. But it does have pokey. And a cool trakball that is bigger that the 7800 and works with 3 games. What an asinine statement Edited June 2, 2015 by GaryH917 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
78001987 Posted June 2, 2015 Share Posted June 2, 2015 What an asinine statement It was meant to be a joke. Neither the 7800, nor the 5200 ever really saw their full potential realized. They both had fairly small games libraries, and horrible joystick controllers. I was being sarcastic, because it looked like this thread was going down one of those really stupid "The 5200 is bettah than the 7800!!!" "Nuh-UH!!!" type schoolyard arguments. We've had enough threads like that in here. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andromeda Stardust Posted June 3, 2015 Share Posted June 3, 2015 And a cool trakball that is bigger that the 7800 and works with 3 games. Centipede, Missile Command, and what else? Getting OT, but can Centipede be played with a joystick? Should the day ever come that I walk down the road of 5200, I'll definitely be adding it to my list of custom arcade joysticks as I can't imagine actually using the stock "flop" sticks. But digital joysticks may have issue with the few games that use analog, like say Tempest homebrew? True pot-based analog joysticks are unobtainium. Might as well throw in a pool cue and a trackball encoder at that price range. The beast would also need at least 19 buttons although the keypad need not be full sized arcade buttons. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lynxpro Posted June 3, 2015 Share Posted June 3, 2015 (edited) Centipede, Missile Command, and what else? Getting OT, but can Centipede be played with a joystick? Should the day ever come that I walk down the road of 5200, I'll definitely be adding it to my list of custom arcade joysticks as I can't imagine actually using the stock "flop" sticks. But digital joysticks may have issue with the few games that use analog, like say Tempest homebrew? True pot-based analog joysticks are unobtainium. Might as well throw in a pool cue and a trackball encoder at that price range. The beast would also need at least 19 buttons although the keypad need not be full sized arcade buttons. Centipede, Millipede, Pole Position, Missile Command, Realsports Tennis, Realsports Soccer, Galaxian, Tempest, Super Breakout, Xari Arena… I think Space Invaders and Kaboom will work too. Tempest isn't "homebrew". Keithen Hayenga didn't get a chance to finish it at Atari Inc. A few years ago when the source code was found, he expressed an interest in finishing it and so he did. It was a long delayed original release. Keithen's a very cool guy, by the way. He worked on webOS until HP sold the whole shebang to LG. Edited June 3, 2015 by Lynxpro Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
AtariAge on Instagram
Watch us on YouTube
Chat on Discord
Recommended Posts